Now concerning the collection. 1 Corinthians 16:1-4 Collection in church U. R. Thomas. This is in close connection with the sublime argument about the resurrection. There is no gulf between doctrine and duty; rather, most intimate union between the hope of heaven and details of common life on earth. Duty is the fruit of rightly believed doctrine; character is the index and result of creed. I. THE GIFT OF PROPERTY IS GOD'S SPECIAL SERVICE, AND THE IMPULSE OF ALL GODLY MEN. It may be in His service in commerce and art, but in religion and philanthropy it is specially devoted to Him. Love must give. Lovers of God give to Him. Jacob at Bethel; David asking, "What shall I render?" etc.; Mary bringing the alabaster box. II. THE GIFT OF PROPERTY TO GOD IS ENJOINED AS AN OBLIGATION IN SCRIPTURE. There are — 1. Literal commands. (1) To the Hebrews, tithes, etc. (2) To the Christians, as in this chapter. 2. Promises of consequent blessings. "Prove Me now herewith," etc.; "It is more blessed to give than to receive." III. THE GIFT OF PROPERTY TO GOD SHOULD BE SYSTEMATIC. 1. Universal. "Every one of you." 2. Thoughtful. It is to be by a laying by, which means frequent thought, and on the first day of the week, when associations may well make the thought sacred. 3. Proportionate. "As God hath prospered." 4. Thoroughly unselfish. Here was a Gentile subscription for the needs of Jews — Corinth caring for Jerusalem. ( U. R. Thomas. )

Benson Commentary 1 Corinthians 16:1 Now concerning the collection for the saints, as I have given order to the churches of Galatia, even so do ye. 1 Corinthians 16:1-2 . Now concerning the collection — During the apostle’s eighteen months’ abode at Corinth, he had exhorted the brethren there to undertake the making a collection for the poor saints in Judea. But the divisions in their church, it seems, had hitherto hindered them from beginning it. The apostle therefore here requests them to set about it immediately, and directs them as to the mode of proceeding. The saints in Judea were, it appears, at this time, in great straits, both on account of a famine, and the persecution to which they were exposed. As I have given order, or a charge, Greek, ??????? , to the churches of Galatia — It is probable the apostle gave these orders to the churches of Galatia when he went throughout Phrygia and the region of Galatia, establishing the churches, as mentioned Acts 16:6 . And he may have received the collections made by these churches when, in his way to Ephesus, where he now was, he went through all the churches of those parts in order, as related Acts 18:23 . 1 Corinthians 16:2 Upon the first day of the week let every one of you lay by him in store, as God hath prospered him, that there be no gatherings when I come. 1 Corinthians 16:2-4 . Upon the first day of the week — So ???? ???? ???????? here signifies, the Hebrews using the numeral for the ordinal numbers, as Genesis 1:5 , The evening and the morning were one day; that is, the first day; and also using the word sabbath to denote the week, as Luke 18:12 . I fast twice, ??? ???????? , in the week. So Mark 16:2 , ???? ??? ???? ???????? , early the first day of the week. Let every one of you lay by him in store, &c. — Not the rich only: let him also that hath little gladly give of that little, as God hath prospered him — Increasing his alms as God increases his substance. According to this lowest rule of Christian prudence, if a man, when he has or gains one pound, give a tenth to God, when he has or gains ten pounds, he will give a tenth to God; when he has or gains a hundred, he will give the tenth of this also. “And yet,” says Mr. Wesley, “I show unto you a more excellent way. He that hath ears to hear let him hear: Stint yourself to no proportion at all; but lend to God all you can.” That there be no gatherings — No necessity of making any particular collections; when I come — From these last words it is inferred that ?????????? , here rendered laying by him in store, signifies to put his charity into a common box; because, if they had kept it at home, there would have been need of gathering it when the apostle came. But the words ??????? ??? ’ ????? ?????? , let every one place it with himself, admit not of this sense; nor, when each of them had done this, could there be any necessity of making collections; or, as that expression imports, soliciting the charities of others, but only of receiving the contributions thus laid by for the use of the saints. We may observe here, that from the beginning, the Christians were wont to assemble on the first day of the week, called by them the Lord’s day, to perform their religious worship. “This day being the Lord’s day,” saith Dionysius, bishop of Corinth, “we keep it holy.” “On Sunday,” saith Justin, “all Christians in the city or country meet together, because that is the day of our Lord’s resurrection; and then we read the writings of the prophets and apostles. This being done, the president makes an oration to the assembly, to exhort them to imitate and do the things they heard: then we all join in prayer, and after that we celebrate the Lord’s supper.” — See Whitby. And when 1 come — When I am arrived at Corinth; whomsoever ye shall approve by letters — Signed by the members of your church, or their representatives; them will I send to bring your liberality — Greek, ??? ????? ???? ; literally, your grace; that is, the fruit of your grace, or, your free gift, to Jerusalem, to be there distributed among the poor Christians. And if it be meet — If it be thought proper; that I also should go — Thither on this occasion; they shall go with me — That they may witness for me that no part of the money received has been withheld, but that the whole of it has been delivered with the greatest fidelity, to be employed solely for the purposes for which it was contributed. 1 Corinthians 16:3 And when I come, whomsoever ye shall approve by your letters, them will I send to bring your liberality unto Jerusalem. 1 Corinthians 16:4 And if it be meet that I go also, they shall go with me. 1 Corinthians 16:5 Now I will come unto you, when I shall pass through Macedonia: for I do pass through Macedonia. 1 Corinthians 16:5-9 . Now I will come unto you — If Providence permit; when I shall pass — Or rather, when I shall have passed; through Macedonia; for I do pass through Macedonia — I purpose going that way, that I may visit the churches there, and receive their collections. And it may be that I will abide, &c. — That I shall continue some time; yea, and winter with you — Having spent the summer and autumn in my progress through Macedonia. That ye may bring me on my journey — That some of you may accompany me a little way, and help me forward toward Jerusalem, or whithersoever else I go — Through whatever parts I may pass thither. For, &c. — As if he had said, I speak of coming at some future time; for I will not see you now — In my way from hence to Macedonia. But I trust — That the little delay, which this plan may occasion, will be made up to your satisfaction; for I purpose to tarry a while with you — When I come, which the necessities of the churches of Macedonia will not at present give me leave to do. But I will tarry at Ephesus until Pentecost — A plain intimation this that he was now at Ephesus, and consequently that the inscription added at the end of this epistle, which tells us it was written from Philippi, is far from being authentic. Indeed, this may be gathered also from the salutations in the close of this epistle, which are not from the churches of Macedonia, but from Asia. And, it may be affirmed in general, that, as Dr. Doddridge justly observes, no credit is to be given to these additions, which have been presumptuously made to the epistles, and very imprudently retained. For a great door and effectual is opened to me — “The door of a house being a passage into it, the opening of a door, in the eastern phrase, signified the affording a person an opportunity of doing a thing. See Colossians 4:3 ; Hosea 2:15 . The apostle’s long abode at Ephesus was owing to his great success in converting the Ephesians, and such strangers as had occasion to resort to that metropolis. But about the time this letter was written, his success was greater than common. For many, who used curious arts, the arts of magic and divination, were converted, and burned their books, containing the secrets of these arts, Acts 19:17-20 . This so enraged the idolaters at Ephesus, but especially the craftsmen, that they raised the great tumult described Acts 19:23-41 .” — Macknight. Therefore the apostle adds, and there are many adversaries — Many opposers, who, (he hereby insinuates,) if he were to leave Ephesus immediately, might perhaps take advantage of his absence, to the great injury of the new-planted church there. 1 Corinthians 16:6 And it may be that I will abide, yea, and winter with you, that ye may bring me on my journey whithersoever I go. 1 Corinthians 16:7 For I will not see you now by the way; but I trust to tarry a while with you, if the Lord permit. 1 Corinthians 16:8 But I will tarry at Ephesus until Pentecost. 1 Corinthians 16:9 For a great door and effectual is opened unto me, and there are many adversaries. 1 Corinthians 16:10 Now if Timotheus come, see that he may be with you without fear: for he worketh the work of the Lord, as I also do . 1 Corinthians 16:10-12 . Now if — In the mean time; Timotheus come, see that he may be with you without fear — Of any one’s despising him for his youth. Encourage him in his labours; for he worketh the work of the Lord — The true ground of reverence and love to pastors: those who do so, none ought to despise or discourage; but conduct him forth — Bring him forward on his journey; in peace — And do all that you can to make it commodious and agreeable to him; that he may come unto me — At Ephesus, as soon as possible; for I look for him with the brethren — Namely, Erastus, who had been sent with Timothy to Corinth, ( Acts 19:22 ,) and Titus, who carried this letter, and another brother, whose name is not mentioned; (see 2 Corinthians 12:17-18 ;) perhaps also some of the Corinthian brethren, whom the apostle had desired Titus to bring with him to Ephesus, having need of their assistance. As touching Apollos — For whom many of you have so high a regard; I greatly desired him to come to you with Timothy and the other brethren — Having an entire confidence in his friendship, prudence, and fidelity, and hoping that his presence among you might have been particularly useful at this crisis; but his will was not to come at this time — Perhaps lest his coming should increase the divisions among them; but he will come when he shall have convenient time — Jerome says, Apollos actually went to Corinth, after the disturbances had ceased. But whether in this, Jerome delivered his own opinion only, or some ancient tradition, is uncertain. 1 Corinthians 16:11 Let no man therefore despise him: but conduct him forth in peace, that he may come unto me: for I look for him with the brethren. 1 Corinthians 16:12 As touching our brother Apollos, I greatly desired him to come unto you with the brethren: but his will was not at all to come at this time; but he will come when he shall have convenient time. 1 Corinthians 16:13 Watch ye, stand fast in the faith, quit you like men, be strong. 1 Corinthians 16:13-14 . To conclude. Watch ye — Against all your seen and unseen enemies; stand fast in the faith — Seeing and trusting in Him that is invisible: quit you like men — With courage and patience; be strong — To do and suffer his will. Let all your things be done with charity — Namely, your differences about worldly affairs, mentioned chap. 6., your disputes concerning marriage and a single state; (chap. 8.;) your eating things sacrificed to idols; (chapters 8., 10;) your eating the Lord’s supper; (chap. 11.;) and your method of exercising your gifts, chapters 12., 14. In all these ye ought to have a regard to the good of your neighbours, that ye may not occasion each other to sin. 1 Corinthians 16:14 Let all your things be done with charity. 1 Corinthians 16:15 I beseech you, brethren, (ye know the house of Stephanas, that it is the firstfruits of Achaia, and that they have addicted themselves to the ministry of the saints,) 1 Corinthians 16:15-16 . Ye know the house, or family, of Stephanas, that it is the first-fruits of Achaia — That he and they were the first converts in that province; and that they have addicted themselves — According to the rank in which Providence has placed them, and the abilities which God hath given them; to the ministry of the saints — To the supplying of their temporal and spiritual wants, both in promoting the progress of the gospel, and succouring the afflicted. That ye also — In your turn; submit yourselves to the admonitions of such; so repaying their free service. And to every one that helpeth with us, and laboureth — That labours in the gospel, either with or without a fellow-labourer. 1 Corinthians 16:16 That ye submit yourselves unto such, and to every one that helpeth with us , and laboureth. 1 Corinthians 16:17 I am glad of the coming of Stephanas and Fortunatus and Achaicus: for that which was lacking on your part they have supplied. 1 Corinthians 16:17-18 . I am glad of the coming of Stephanas, &c. — This Stephanas is supposed by many to have been the son of Stephanas mentioned 1 Corinthians 16:15 . He, with Fortunatus and Achaicus, are supposed to have been the messengers sent, by the sincere part of the Corinthian church, with the letter mentioned 1 Corinthians 7:1 . For that which was lacking on your part they have supplied — They have performed the offices of love which you could not supply, by reason of your absence. For they have refreshed my spirit — By their obliging behaviour and edifying conversation, as I doubt not they have often refreshed yours, by their ministrations among you; or will refresh yours by informing you of my success in preaching the gospel. 1 Corinthians 16:18 For they have refreshed my spirit and yours: therefore acknowledge ye them that are such. 1 Corinthians 16:19 The churches of Asia salute you. Aquila and Priscilla salute you much in the Lord, with the church that is in their house. 1 Corinthians 16:19-21 . The churches of Asia — Especially those of Ephesus and its neighbourhood; salute you — With all Christian affection, heartily wishing you peace and prosperity. Aquila and Priscilla — Formerly members of your church, ( Acts 18:2 ; Acts 18:18 ,) but who at present are with me; salute you much — With singular Christian love; in the Lord — In his grace and Spirit. These worthy persons lived in Corinth all the time the apostle was there. And when he departed, they accompanied him to Ephesus, ( Acts 18:18 ,) where they remained till after he left Ephesus to go to Jerusalem. For when he returned to Ephesus, he found them there, as is plain from their salutation sent to the Corinthians in this letter, which was written from Ephesus. But they seem to have left Ephesus about the time the apostle departed to go into Macedonia. For in the letter which he wrote to the Romans from Corinth, they are saluted as then residing in Rome. With the church which is in their house — The Christian congregation which assembles there. All the brethren — Who labour with me in the gospel, or are members of the church here; greet you — Wish you all felicity. Greet ye one another with a holy kiss — See on Romans 16:16 . The salutation of me Paul with mine own hand — What precedes having been written by an amanuensis. See 2 Thessalonians 3:17 ; Colossians 4:18 . 1 Corinthians 16:20 All the brethren greet you. Greet ye one another with an holy kiss. 1 Corinthians 16:21 The salutation of me Paul with mine own hand. 1 Corinthians 16:22 If any man love not the Lord Jesus Christ, let him be Anathema Maranatha. 1 Corinthians 16:22 . If any man love not the Lord Jesus — In sincerity, but is secretly alienated from him in heart, while he calls himself his servant, preferring some secular interest of his own to that of his Divine Master; if any one be an enemy to Christ’s person, offices, doctrines, or commands; let him be Anathema Maranatha — Anathema signifies a thing devoted to destruction, and it seems to have been customary with the Jews of that age, when they had pronounced any man anathema, to add the Syriac expression, Maranatha, that is, the Lord cometh; namely, to execute vengeance upon him. See note on Romans 9:3 . We may add further here, “Anathema Maranatha, were the words with which the Jews began their greatest excommunications, whereby they not only excluded sinners from their society, but delivered them to the divine Cherem, or Anathema; that is, to eternal perdition. This form they used, because Enoch’s prophecy concerning the coming of God to judge and punish the wicked, began with these words, as we learn from Jude, who quotes the first sentence of that prophecy, 1 Corinthians 16:14 . Wherefore, since the apostle denounced this curse against the man, who, while he professed subjection to Christ, was secretly alienated from him in his heart, it is as if he had said, Though such a person’s wickedness cannot be discovered and punished by the church, yet the Lord, at his coming, will find it out, and punish him with eternal perdition. This terrible curse the apostle wrote in his epistle to the Corinthians, because many of the faction, but especially their leader, had shown great alienation of mind from Christ. And he wrote it with his own hand, to show how serious he was in the denunciation;” and he inserted it between his salutation and solemn benediction, that it might be the more attentively regarded. “Estius says, from his example, and from the anathemas pronounced Galatians 1:8-9 , arose the practice of the ancient general councils, of adding to their decisions, or definitions of doctrine, anathemas against them who denied these doctrines.” Be this as it may, let it ever be remembered that professing Christians, who do not sincerely love their Master, lie under the heaviest curse which an apostle could pronounce, or God inflict. Let the unhappy creatures take the alarm, and labour to obtain a more ingenuous temper, ere the Lord, whom they neglect, and against whom they entertain a secret enmity, descend from heaven with unsupportable terror, and pronounce the anathema with his own lips, in circumstances which shall for ever cut off all hope, and all possibility of its being reversed! See Macknight and Doddridge. 1 Corinthians 16:23 The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you. 1 Corinthians 16:23-24 . The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ — All the blessed tokens and effects of his favour; be with you — And rest upon you for time and eternity! My love — My most sincere, tender, and affectionate regards; be with you all in Christ Jesus — Who is our peace, and the bond of our union with God and one another. There is a great propriety and beauty in this manner of ending an epistle, in which the apostle had so sharply reproved the Corinthians. By assuring them of his love, he showed them that all the severe things he had written proceeded from his anxiety for their eternal welfare, and thereby removed the prejudices which his reproofs might otherwise have raised in their minds. Amen — An expression which I add in testimony of my sincerity and seriousness in this and in all the things I have written. 1 Corinthians 16:24 My love be with you all in Christ Jesus. Amen. Benson Commentary on the Old and New Testaments Text Courtesy of BibleSupport.com . Used by Permission.

Expositor's Bible Commentary 1 Corinthians 16:1 Now concerning the collection for the saints, as I have given order to the churches of Galatia, even so do ye. Chapter 25 THE POOR IN closing his letter to the Corinthians, Paul, as usual, explains his own movements, and adds a number of miscellaneous directions and salutations. These for the most part relate to matters of merely temporary interest, and call for no comment. Interest of a more permanent kind unfortunately attaches to the collection for the poor Christians of Jerusalem which Paul invites the Corinthians to make. Several causes had contributed to this poverty; and, among others, it is not improbable that the persecution promoted by Paul himself had an important place. Many Christians were driven from their homes, and many more must have lost their means of earning a livelihood. But it is likely that Paul was anxious to relieve this poverty, not so much because it had been partly caused by himself as because he saw in it an opportunity for bringing more closely together the two great parties in the Church. In his Epistle to the Galatians Paul tells us that the three leaders of the Jewish Christian Church-James, Peter, and John-when they had assured themselves that this new Apostle was trustworthy, gave him the right hand of fellowship, on the understanding that he should minister to the Gentiles, "only," he adds-"only they would that we should remember the poor, the same which I also was forward to do." Accordingly we find him seeking to interest the Gentile Churches in their Jewish brethren, and of such importance did he consider the relief that was to be sent to Jerusalem that he himself felt it an honour to be the bearer of it. He saw that no doctrinal explanations were likely to be so fruitful in kindly feeling and true unity as this simple expression of brotherly kindness. In our own day poverty has assumed a much more serious aspect. It is not the poverty which results from accident, nor even that which results from wrongdoing or indolence, which presses for consideration. Such poverty could easily be met by individual charity or national institutions. But the poverty we are now confronted with is a poverty which necessarily results from the principle of competition which is the mainspring of all trade and business. It is the poverty which results from the constant effort of every man to secure custom by offering a cheaper article, and to secure employment by selling his labour at a cheaper rate than his neighbour. So overstocked is the labour market that the employer can name his, own terms. Where he wants one man, a hundred offer their services; and he who can live most cheaply secures the place. So that necessarily wages are pressed down by competition to the very lowest figure; and wherever any trade is not strong enough to combine and resist this constant pressure, the results are appalling. No slaves were ever so hunger bitten, no lives were ever more crushed under perpetual and hopeless toil, than are thousands of our fellow countrymen and countrywomen in our own time. It is the fact that in all our large cities there are thousands of persons who by working sixteen hours a day earn, only what suffices to maintain the most wretched existence. Every day hundreds of children are being born to a life of hopeless toil and misery, unrelieved by any of the comforts or joys of the well-to-do. The most painful and alarming feature of this condition of things is, as everyone knows, that it seems the inevitable result of the principles on which our entire social fabric is built. Every invention, every new method of facilitating business, every contrivance or improvement in machinery, makes life more difficult to the mass of men. The very advances made by civilised nations in the rapid production of needful articles increase the breach between rich and poor, throwing larger resources into the hands of the few, but making the lot of the many still darker and more poverty stricken. Every year makes the darkness deeper, the distress more urgent. Here individual charity is unavailing. It is not the relief of one here or there that is needed; it is the alteration of a system of things which inevitably produces such results. Individual charity is here a mere mop in the face of the tide. What is wanted is not larger workhouses where the aged poor may be sheltered, but such a system as will enable the working man to provide for himself against old age. What is wanted is not that the charitable should eke out by voluntary contributions the earnings of the labouring classes, but that these earnings should be such as to amply cover all ordinary human wants. "Money given in aid of wages relieves the employer, not the employed; reduces wages, not misery." What is wanted is a social system which tends to bring within the reach of all the comforts and the joys of life which men legitimately desire, and which does not tend, as our present social system does, to overload a small number of men with more wealth than they need, or desire, or can use, while the millions are crushed with toil and pinched with semi-starvation. What the working classes at present demand is, not charity, but justice. They do not wish to seem to be indebted to others for support which they feel they have toiled for and earned. They require a social system, in which the honest toil of a lifetime will be sufficient to secure the toiler and his family from the dangers and degradation of utter poverty. That a change is desirable no one who has spent two thoughts on the subject can doubt. The only question is, What change is desirable and possible? Is there any organisation or social system which could check the evils resulting from the present competitive system, and secure that everyone who is willing to work should be furnished with remunerative employment? Socialists are quite convinced that the whole problem would be solved were private capital to be converted into cooperative or public capital. Socialism demands that society shall be the only capitalist, and that all private captains of industry and capital be abolished. No return is possible to the state of things in which every man worked by himself with his own hands and at his own risk, producing his one or two webs, tilling his one or two acres. It is recognised that far more and better products can be produced where manufactures are carried on in large factories. But on the socialistic principle these factories must be owned, not by private capitalists, but by the State, or at any rate by cooperative societies of some kind. This is the essence of the demand of Socialism: that "whereas industry is at present carried on by private capitalists served by wage labour, it must in the future be conducted by associated or cooperating workmen jointly owning the means of production." The difficulty in pronouncing judgment on such a demand arises from the fact that very few men indeed have sufficient imagination and sufficient knowledge of our complicated social system to be able to forecast the results of so great a change. In the present stage of human progress personal interest is undoubtedly one of the strongest incentives to industry, and to this motive the present system of competition appeals. And although socialists declare that their system would not exclude competition, it is difficult to see what field it would have or at what point it would find its opportunity. Certain departments of industry are already in the hands of the State or of cooperative societies, but the organisation of all industries and the management and remuneration of all labour demand a machinery so colossal that it is feared it would fall to pieces by its own weight. Still it is possible that ways and means of working a socialistic scheme may be devised; and it is quite certain that if any system could be devised which is really workable, and which should at once save us from the disastrous results of competition and yet evoke all the energy which competition evokes, that system would forthwith be adopted in every civilised country. As yet, however, no such social system has been elaborated. General principles, ruling ideas, theories, paper plans, have been enunciated by the score; but, in point of fact, there is no system yet devised which appeals either to the common sense and instincts of the masses, or which stands the criticism of experts. And some of those who have given greatest attention to social subjects, and have made the greatest personal sacrifices in behalf of the poor and downtrodden, are inclined to believe that no such system can be devised, and that deliverance from the present wretched state of matters is to be found, not in compulsory enactment, nor even in the sudden adoption of a different social system, but in the application of Christian principles to the working of the present competitive system. That is to say, they believe that true progress here, as elsewhere, begins in character, not in outward organisation, or, as it has been put, that "the soul of improvement is the improvement of the soul." They consider that the present system rests on unchangeable laws of human nature, but that if men worked that system with consideration, unworldliness, and brotherly kindness, the present evil results would be avoided. Or they believe that it is at any rate useless to alter the present system violently by mere legislative enactment or by revolution, but that if it is to be altered, it can effectually, and permanently, and beneficially be so only under the pressure and at the dictation of an improved public opinion. Appeal is confidently made to the mind of Christ by both parties, both by those who trust to the enforcement of a socialistic scheme, and by those who believe only in the social improvement which results from the improvement of the individual. By the one party it is confidently affirmed that were Jesus Christ now on earth He would be a communist, would aim at equalising all classes and at commuting private property into a public fund. Communism has been tried to some extent in the Church. In monastic societies private property is surrendered for the good of the community, and this practice professes to find its sanction in the communism of the primitive Church. But the account we have of that communism shows that it was neither compulsory nor permanent. It was not compulsory, for Peter reminds Ananias that his property was his own, and that even after he had sold it he was at liberty to do what he pleased with the proceeds. And it was not permanent nor universal, for here we find that Paul had to ask contributions for the relief of the poor Christians of Jerusalem; while we see that there were rich and poor in the same congregations, and that such duties as almsgiving and hospitality, which could not be practised without private means, were enjoined upon Christians. It is also obvious that many of the duties inculcated in the Epistles of Paul could not be discharged in a society in which all classes were levelled. It is perhaps of more importance to observe that in probably the most critical period of the world’s history our Lord took no part in any political movement; nay, He counted it a temptation of the devil when He saw how much inducement there was to head some popular party and compete with kings or statesmen. He was no agitator, although He lived in an age abounding in abuses. And this limitation of His work was due to no superficial view of social movements nor to any mere shrinking from the rougher work of life, but to His perception that His own task was to touch what was deepest in man, and to lodge in human nature forces which ultimately would achieve all that was desirable. The cry of the poor against the oppressor was never louder than in His lifetime; slavery was universal: no country on earth enjoyed a free government. Yet our Lord most carefully abstained from following in the steps of a Judas the Gaulanite, and from intermeddling with social or State affairs. He came to found a kingdom, and that kingdom was to exist on earth, and was to be the ideal condition of mankind; but He trusted to move and mould society by regenerating the individual and by teaching men to seek in the first place not what "the Gentiles seek"-happy outward conditions-but the kingdom of God, the rule of God’s Spirit in the heart, and the righteousness that comes of that. It was by the regeneration of individuals society was to be regenerated. The leaven which contact with Him imparted to the individual would touch and purify the whole social fabric. In any case the duty of individual Christians is plain. Whether needless and unjust poverty is to be relieved by social revolution or by the happier and surer, if slower, method of leavening society with the spirit of Christ, it is the part of every Christian man to inform himself of the state of his fellow citizens and to bring himself in some practically helpful way into connection with the wretchedness in the midst of which we are living. To shut our eyes to the squalor, and vice, and hopelessness which poverty too often brings, to seclude ourselves in our own comfortable homes and shut out all sounds and signs of misery, to "abhor the affliction of the afflicted," and practically to deny that it is better to visit the house of mourning than the house of feasting-this is simply to furnish proof that we know nothing of the spirit of Christ. We may find ourselves quite unable to rectify abuses on a large scale or to discern how poverty can be absolutely prevented, but we can do something to brighten some lives; we can consider those whose hard and bare lives make our comforts cheap; we can ask ourselves whether we are quite free from blood guiltiness in using articles which are cheap to us because wrung out of underpaid and starving hands. It is true that anything we can do may be but a scratching of the surface, the lifting of a bucketful out of an overflowing flood which should be stopped at the source; still we must do what we can, and all knowledge of social facts and kindly feeling and action towards the oppressed are helpful, and on the way to a final settlement of our social condition. Let every Christian give his conscience fair play, let him ask himself what Christ would do in his circumstances, and this final settlement will not be long postponed. But so long as selfishness rules, so long as the world of men is like a pit full of loathsome creatures, each struggling to the top over the heads and crushed bodies of the rest, no scheme will alter or even disguise our infamy. The method of collecting which Paul recommends was in all probability that which he him: self practised. "Upon the first day of the week let everyone of you lay by him in store, as God hath prospered him, that there be no gatherings when I come." This verse has sometimes been quoted as evidence that the Christians met for worship on Sundays as we do. Manifestly it shows nothing of the kind. It is proof that the first day of the week had its significance, probably as the day of our Lord’s resurrection, possibly only for some trade reasons now unknown. It was expressly said that each was to lay up "by him"-that is, not in a public fund, but at home in his own purse-what he wished to give. But what is chiefly to be noticed is that Paul, who ordinarily is so free from preciseness and form, here enjoins the precise method in which, the collection might best be made. That is to say, he believed in methodical giving. He knew the value of steady accumulation. He laid it on each man’s conscience deliberately to say how much he would give. He wished no one to give in the dark. He did not carry out in the letter, even if he new the precept, "Let not thy right hand know what thy left hand doeth." He knew how men seem to themselves to be giving much more than they are if they do not keep an exact account of what they give, how some men shrink from knowing definitely the proportion they give away. And therefore he presents it as a duty we have each to discharge to determine what proportion we can give away, and if God prospers us and increases our incomes, to what extent we should increase our personal expenditure and to what extent use for charitable objects the additional gain. The Epistle concludes with an overflowing expression of affection from Paul and his friends to the Church of Corinth; but suddenly in the midst of this there occur the startling words, "If any man love not the Lord Jesus Christ, let him be Anathema." "Anathema" means accursed. What induced Paul to insert these words just here, it is difficult to see. He had taken the manuscript out of the hand of Sosthenes and written the Salutation with his own hand, and apparently still with his own hand adds this startling sentence. Probably his feeling was that all his lessons of charity and every other lesson he had been inculcating would be in vain without love to the Lord Jesus. All his own love for the Corinthians had sprung from this source; and he knew that their love for the Jews would prove hollow unless it too was animated by this same principle. They are serious words for us all-serious because our own hearts tell us they are just. If we do not love the Lord Jesus, what good thing can we love? If we do not love Him who is simply and only good, must there not be something accidental, superficial, unsafe, about our love for anything or anyone besides? If we have not learned by loving Him to love all that is worthy, may we not justly fear that we are yet in danger of losing what life is meant to teach and to give? Trying to reach the truth about ourselves, do we find that we have attained to see and to love what is worthy? Can we say with something of Paul’s conviction and joy, "Maranatha"-"The Lord is at hand"? Is it the true stay of our spirit that Christ rules, and will in His own time reconcile all things by His own Spirit. The Expositor's Bible Text Courtesy of BibleSupport.com . Used by Permission.