Here I hope the brothers and sisters will be able to see what the actual relationship between an apostle’s financial source and his occupation is. When you look at Peter with his company and Paul with his company, you can see a straight way. If you read the Gospels, you cannot see the straight way there, because they contain only half of the matter. What Paul did in the church was a little different or perhaps more advanced. Here you can see that an apostle must leave his job completely. Please remember that in this matter Paul and Peter were the same; Paul also was a person who left his job completely. In reading those ten or more chapters in Acts, who would imagine that Paul was a tentmaker? When I read the book of Acts, my impression is that Paul was an apostle. When I read the book of Acts, I get no impression that Paul was a tentmaker. Perhaps those who make tents consider that Paul was a tentmaker. However, I acknowledge that Paul was an apostle, not a tentmaker. Only those who make tents, whose hearts are in tentmaking, who want to make money in tentmaking, who live in tents, and who pay attention to tents, would, according to their views and judgment, consider Paul to be a tentmaker. But I think that even a very simple believer, a very common believer, would get only one impression while reading Acts, that is, that Paul was an apostle appointed by God. You would not get the impression that Paul was an artisan in making tents. You would not notice that Paul was a tent craftsman. You would see clearly that he was God’s worker.
Therefore, as far as the service of an apostle is concerned, one must leave his occupation. However, this refers to a person for whom fishing is an occupation. The man who needs to leave the occupation of tax collecting is the one for whom tax collecting is an occupation. The man who needs to leave the craft of tentmaking is the one for whom tentmaking is an occupation. If tentmaking was an occupation, then this occupation had to be left behind. If it was not left behind, one could not be an apostle, because the service of the apostle would be rather difficult for him. Why does God require people to leave their occupations in order to be an apostle? It is because apostleship is an occupation, and a person cannot have two occupations. In particular, the occupation of an apostle does not allow a person to take a second job. Paul said that we are ambassadors of Christ. If we are ambassadors, we have no way to take a second job and no way to have another occupation. All of our time is for working as an apostle; we have no time to spend on other matters.
Therefore, Paul’s tentmaking was not an occupation; the tentmaking of Aquila and Priscilla was not an occupation either. Even Luke’s being a physician was not an occupation.
What do we see here? We see that Paul was sent by the Holy Spirit to go out from Antioch and travel to various places to work. There is a great difference between the situation today and the situation in those days in the matter of transportation. In those days, if the brothers in Antioch had some money and material things to give to Paul, they could not go to the post office to remit the money. Neither was there a bank, express air mail, or telegrams. In the New Testament there are quite a few cases in which gifts were sent in person. Paul himself did this when he was in Antioch. The first time he went out was not for gospel preaching but to carry money to Jerusalem. I often think that our doing such things could be uplifted—first you send money and later you go out to preach the gospel. The first time he carried money to Jerusalem as an ambassador of the church. Later, when Paul received gifts, they were carried to him by people sent from various churches. You see how difficult it was without letters, telegrams, and airplanes. All those who went out for the gospel took nothing from the Gentiles. The apostle Paul was different from the apostles in Jerusalem.
To go out from Jerusalem did not take long, and the journey was short. One could return in a short time and have no financial difficulty because he could take sufficient money for the trip to Samaria and Caesarea and return after a period of time without needing to take anything from the Gentiles. This was easy because both Caesarea and Samaria were localities with churches. Later, Paul’s work started from Antioch, and God gave him another way. The way was for him to go to the Gentiles, yet take nothing from the Gentiles, and continue to go out, not returning in a short period of time like the apostles in Jerusalem. He kept going from place to place. Therefore, we can see that the matter of support was very difficult. One could not take enough money along, and neither could one take anything from the Gentiles.
This is also different from the gospel preaching in the Gospels. In the Gospels one went to the cities and lived in the house of a generous man. One did not need to bring his staff or his purse. However, when the Lord was about to depart from the earth, He told His disciples that he who did not have a staff needed to bring a staff, he who had no purse should prepare a purse, and he who had no clothes needed to prepare clothing. The situation had become different. The gospel was not to be preached to Jews but to Gentiles. John made it very clear that we should take nothing from the Gentiles. Therefore, we can see how heavy the burden on Paul was at that time, not only for himself, but also for the brothers who were together with him.
When they started out from Antioch, there was only Barnabas and Paul. Later, when they went out, there were others who went with them, one of whom was Titus. On the way Timothy was added, Luke was added, and later Silas was also added. As they went, the company became larger, and the further they went, the more the number of people increased. Later, Priscilla and Aquila also came along. They preached the gospel along the way in locality after locality. Then Paul said that he worked with his own hands to supply his own needs and the needs of his co-workers. Let me tell you, this was not a matter of occupation; his occupation was apostle. But when there was the need along the way, he personally worked with his own hands to provide the support for himself and for those who were with him.
This was a very good thing. Alford tells us that in those days, in order to make a tent, you needed to use a certain dye to color the tent material. The dye was very strong, and the color did not easily fade. When a hand was corroded by the dye, the skin would be damaged. Therefore, Paul could tell the Ephesians to behold his two hands. This was a very great matter. Therefore, I hope the brothers could see the financial problem of the apostles: If various churches can send support, thank God; but if various churches cannot send support, it does not mean that we should take other occupations or change our occupation as apostles. This is the problem today. Our occupation is as apostles. But I may make tents today in order to have this occupation. Today, in order that I and the brothers with me can be apostles, I may make tents. Making tents was not Paul’s occupation. Paul’s occupation never changed. From the time he was called in Damascus, his occupation never changed. In order that the young men who were with him could have a supply, he made tents. Because he knew how, Paul made tents with his own hands when Timothy, Titus, Silas, and Luke were with him, to supply their needs. Behold, these two hands!