Imagine the journeys of the Apostle Paul. Your mind’s eye likely places him in the Areopagus or finds him explaining the gospel from the Hebrew Scriptures to a crowded synagogue. Perhaps you envision him hunched over a table crafting one of his letters by the Holy Spirit’s inspiration. Or perhaps you imagine him somewhere in a desert, on a mountain, or crossing a sea—somewhere along the 10,000 dangerous miles his mission took him. When Paul finally reached one or another metropolis, the dangers of the open road were only exceeded by the vitriol and violence with which people rejected his message. In 2 Corinthians 11:25–27, Paul paints his own picture for us: “Three times I was beaten with rods, once I was stoned, three times I was shipwrecked, I spent a night and a day in the open sea, frequently on journeys, in danger from rivers, in danger from robbers, in danger from my own people, in danger from Gentiles, in danger in the city, in danger in the country, in danger at sea, in danger from false brothers, in toil and hardship, often without sleep, in hunger and thirst, and often without food, in cold and insufficient clothing.”
But have you ever considered that Paul or one of his close traveling companions, in the face of all these circumstances and dangers, would always need to keep a watchful eye on the group’s money bag? I imagine that this minor detail would have frequently occupied the minds of Paul and his companions. The threat of robbery was present both in the city and out on the road (Acts 17:9). Perhaps they carried a coin pouch of thicker leather disguised inside a burlap food sack. They were likely to always have it tied to the waist or over the shoulder. They kept it close while they slept. Missionary travels involve such practical concerns.
However, Paul never gives the impression that these missionaries’ main concern was whether they could afford their next night’s lodgings. Neither greed nor their oft-empty bellies were the primary motivators for such loss-prevention measures. Further, Paul was adamant that his mission was not about trading the gospel for coin (1 Cor. 9:15–18; 2 Cor. 11:9; 1 Thess. 2:5, 9). Neither was money management an unfortunate necessity for sustaining the “real” work of gospel proclamation. Paul’s great concern for the money bag was not an anxiety that distracted him from the mission. Rather, that ordinary, jangling leather pouch was one of the most tangible parts and constant reminders of God’s great mission to save the world by giving his Son.
MONEY AND MINISTRY
It is easy to forget that from the very beginning, Paul’s itinerant ministry was married to a concern for the poor (Gal. 2:10). Specifically, part of Paul’s ministry was to take up a collection from the various Gentile churches in order to support the believers living in Jerusalem. He explains this “collection for the saints” in 1 Corinthians 16:1–4, directing the church in Corinth to follow the pattern of the churches in Galatia to set something aside on the first day of each week. That way, Paul or a co-worker could collect the gift upon their arrival and bring it to Jerusalem (see also 2 Cor. 8–9; Rom. 15:25–29). This monetary gift from Gentiles to Jews, the logistics of which occupied much of Paul’s ministry, was a boots-on-the-ground fulfillment of the mystery that was hidden for ages, but now revealed in Christ. God, in Christ, was at work to create the one new man out of both Jew and Gentile (Eph. 2:11–22). This collection was a profound enactment of the unity of Christ’s body. Once Christ destroyed the dividing wall of hostility, the “new man” took its first steps in the form of a world-wide “benevolent offering.” So, Paul’s careful stewardship of this offering (and of his own financial support received from churches) was simply one expression of his “stewardship of God’s grace” (Eph. 3:2). Getting that money to Jerusalem was part of the gospel mission itself (Rom. 15:15, 28). Perhaps this was part of Paul’s adamance that he personally return to Jerusalem despite the warning about his certain imprisonment (Acts 21:12–14).
ON GOLD AND GRACE
Paul repeatedly identifies the collection for the Jerusalem believers as divine grace (or charis, see 2 Cor. 8:1, 6, 8). Also, the Macedonians understood that participating in this collection was itself a charis (the same Greek word is behind the ESV translation “favor” in 2 Cor. 8:4). Paul explains that this monetary gift between believers was grounded in the fact that Christ’s self-gift had made the Corinthian believers rich (8:9)—not rich in money, but in the grace (charis) it takes to give out an “abundance of joy,” even in the face of your own affliction (8:2). In sum, by God’s grace the Macedonians had taken part in the grace of sharing God’s grace with others. In this case, the tangible expression of God’s grace that was passed from Gentile believers to Jewish believers happens to be financial. However, the riches of God’s grace can be shared among believers in countless other ways, such as when a believer employs their spiritual gift by comforting a grieving sister or when a church member takes a meal to a family in need.
Take another example from Paul’s life. The Philippians had provided Paul monetary support (4:10–14), they had prayed for him (1:19), and when Paul was in jail they sent Epaphroditus to personally minister to him, even at the risk of his own life (2:25–30)! Paul described this as their “partnership in the gospel” (1:5) and called the Philippians “partakers with me in grace” (1:4). The word for “partakers” can also be translated co-sharers, or better, “co-fellowshipers in grace.” In Paul’s eyes, the Philippians had properly expressed Christian fellowship. Fellowship means not only resting in our union with Christ and one another, but actively sharing and partaking of Christ with one another through any manner of giving of ourselves, just as Christ gave his very self, from prayer to personal encouragement to monetary gifts. Yes, even putting money in the offering plate is an example of sharing in the grace of Christ. Offerings are not the unfortunate necessity we use to keep our churches running. Part of God’s gift to us in Christ is that, through our union with him, we can use everything we have—our prayers, our words, our time, our money—to share God’s grace with one another.
FELLOWSHIP WITH GOD THE GIVER
God’s gospel invites us into fellowship with the giving God. What theologians call the intra-trinitarian fellowship—how the persons of the Godhead relate to one another—can be described as the divine persons eternally giving themselves to one another in love. “Self-giving” is a characteristic of the God we image. This giving God has a plan to create a people for himself through giving: God has given the Son to save the world (John 3:16). Christ Jesus has given himself for this task (Gal 1:4), giving up his life for unworthy recipients (Rom 5:8). Jesus gave the Holy Spirit to the church to protect her, guide her, and unite himself to her (Luke 24:49; Acts 2:2–3). Paul tells us that Christ also gave us the apostles, prophets, evangelists, shepherds, and teachers. Why? So that, through them, Christ might “equip the saints for the work of the ministry, for building up the body of Christ” (Eph 4:12). The Holy Spirit has also given every believer spiritual gifts. Why? Paul says it is for the “common good” of the church (1 Cor. 12:7), for “building up the church” (1 Cor. 14:12). The Father gives the Son and the Spirit, the Son gives himself and the Spirit, the Spirit gives gifts to believers, and so also believers united to Christ give themselves to one another as part of God’s mission to establish a people for himself.
“Self-giving” is a characteristic of the God we image.
From beginning to end, giving is God’s plan for church building, including our own material and financial giving. Like Paul, we have been graced in Christ with an integral role in God’s redemptive plan to spread his name over the whole world. When we obey the call to be cheerful givers (2 Cor. 9:7), we faithfully image our self-giving God. The reason we can give cheerfully—even in the face of afflictions—is that Christ first gave himself for us (9:15). For Paul, generosity among God’s people is not a display of our wealth or of what we have done to be able to give such great gifts. Rather, Christian giving is a demonstration of what Christ has done to make us rich in the grace we share with one another. Whatever we have to give, and however much of it we give, we all participate in the same grace and all join God’s grandest mission to save the world through giving.