The fellowship among the churches also includes the matter of the contribution among the churches. For example, under Paul’s ministry, the Gentile churches made a contribution to help the churches in Judea (Rom. 15:25-27, 31b). There was a fellowship of love, a communication in love, between the Gentile and Jewish saints. The Gentile saints communicated with the Jewish saints by means of giving practical, material things. The Gentile believers had it in their heart to care for the material needs of their Jewish brothers, and they offered their possessions as the expression of their desire to take care of the needs of the saints in Judea.
Romans 15:26 says, “Macedonia and Achaia have been pleased to make some contribution for the poor among the saints in Jerusalem.” Actually, the word “contribution” here is not the best translation of the Greek word koinonia. This contribution was a kind of communication, and this communication was an aspect of the fellowship among the churches, for when we have fellowship we have communication to the uttermost.
The contribution among the churches is a matter of the saints caring for one another by the grace of God given to them (2 Cor. 8:1-6; 9:1-2). In 2 Corinthians 8:1 Paul says, “We make known to you, brothers, the grace of God which has been given in the churches of Macedonia.” This grace is the resurrected Christ becoming the life-giving Spirit (1 Cor. 15:45) to bring the processed Triune God in resurrection into us to be our life and life supply. Grace is actually the Triune God becoming life and everything to us. By this grace the Macedonian believers overcame the usurpation of temporal and uncertain riches and became generous in ministering to the needy saints.
If we give by such a grace, what we give will become grace to others. We give material things to help them, but these material things are accompanied by a spiritual grace. When we supply needy saints with material things in the proper way, in spirit and with life, life and spirit go with this supply. As a result, the needy ones are supplied not only with material things but also with the riches of life.
Concerning the contribution among the churches by the grace of God, Paul says that in material things there should be equality among the churches. Second Corinthians 8:13-15 says, “This is not to others relief and to you affliction, but by equality: at the present time your abundance for their lack, that their abundance also may be for your lack, so that there may be equality; as it is written, He who gathered much had no excess, and he who gathered little had no lack.” God’s principle is to have equality. The principle of equality is illustrated by the receiving of manna in the Old Testament (Exo. 16:18). If an Israelite gathered more, God sovereignly arranged for him to have no excess. If someone gathered less, by God’s sovereignty that one had no lack. Those who were rather feeble and were not able to gather much manna did not have any lack. The divine way is that those who gathered little had no lack and those who gathered much had nothing over. This is the principle of equality, God’s heavenly way of balancing the supply of material wealth among His people,
We should follow this principle today concerning material possessions. Those who have been favored by God with material things should be faithful to use them to care for the needy saints and for the full-time workers. As the saints share their abundance with others, there will be equality, not only among the saints in a particular locality but among all the churches. Our giving to produce equality indicates that we are in the fellowship of the Body, that is, in the fellowship among the churches.
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