Quote:
Originally Posted by aron
Yet what if Chicago believers sent funds to help the poor of Detroit, and Detroit's believers helped the poor of Flint...
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If the reader wonders why I mention Detroit helping Flint Michigan, my reference was Acts 11 and 12, where a famine occurred, and the church in Antioch sent aid via Barnabas and Paul to help Jerusalem. Whether it was food, money, goods or some combination we don't know, but it was collected, sent, and distributed - I believe the RecV translated
diakonon as "this dispensing" in 12:25. Probably not coincidentally, Paul later continues and expands this theme in his writings, to the Romans (15:25-32), the Corinthians (I Cor 16:1-4), the Macedonians (2 Cor 8:1-4), and Luke then concludes with Paul saying that he's returning with "alms for my nation."
Now, we no longer have Paul coming by the local churches, to collect for the poor of Jerusalem. But Detroit can care for Flint just as Antioch and Macedonia once did for Jerusalem. When the angel told Cornelius, "Your prayers and alms have ascended as a memorial offering before God", I ask if there's anything in Peter's subsequent message, or Luke's story, that overturns this. Where did Peter or anyone preach or suggest that alms to the poor, once lauded, were now superseded? No, Paul's word in Acts 24:17 rather confirms the Lukan message.
Peter told Cornelius that Jesus displayed a pattern of "good works" toward those in distress (10:38), and Cornelius'
same pattern in v. 31 now pointed this reverent, seeking gentile to Jesus the [Jewish] Messiah and Saviour of the World.
And my larger point is that when Paul wrote Timothy ask him to make the Ephesians heed teachings that resulted in God's economy, which is in faith, how do we know that this isn't what he meant? If you give to the least of these my brothers, you give to me - that was the original command of the Master, and now Paul was extending this beyond Jerusalem to the wider world. Remember that the gospel flowed out from the center: "You shall be my witnesses in Jerusalem, in Judea, in Samaria, and to the uttermost parts of the earth" - Paul was going abroad now, to Macedonia and Corinth, then hopefully to Rome, Gaul and even Spain, and was returning with "alms for my nation." And his word to the gentile churches was, "You owe the Jews" for the gospel. (Rom 15:27)
How so? Paul's bringing funds back to the poor of Jerusalem was a way to tie the Macedonians, the Achaeans, the Romans, the Corinthians, the Spaniards, with the law-keeping Jews of Judea. Now the "two" are "one" - see Ephesians 2:15,16. The Jews send out the gospel of peace through Paul, and the gentiles send back acknowledgement through Paul. There is one body. Jesus is it's cornerstone, its head, yet Paul's reciprocal travels effect to knit together this one body.
And going back to Detroit and Flint: in the early manual of instruction for the gentiles called "Didache", the word on alms was, "Let your alms sweat in the palms of your hands, before you know who to give them to." Paul was now gone, probably Peter, James and John as well, and Jerusalem had been razed by the Romans in AD 70. Now instead of saving up for Paul's visit a la 1 Cor 16:2, the recipients of Didache had to figure out who was truly needy, and worthy of the Lord's rescue. Detroit may not send to Flint but to Mississauga Ontario, who knows? They have to hold this gift before the Lord, and inquire.
I say, look at the larger and consistent pattern of behaviours in Acts and Paul's epistles, tie them back to the commands Jesus gave to the Twelve, and ask yourself what Paul meant by "God's economy." What is more consistent with the overall pattern of the NT: "masticate the processed God and become God" or "do [good] unto others, even as you'd have them do to you" and "give to those who can't repay you"? I'm inclined to say, the latter is more consistently supported by NT Scripture and aligned with Jesus' central message.