NT Giving & Receiving

This study covers,

• Paul's collection for the saints, which he details in the Second Letter to the Corinthians, specifically chapters eight and nine.
• Paul's teaching on the support of those who minister to the body. Should they be fully suppported by believers, or should they work with their own hands to support themselves, or a combination of the two?
• Peter's warning of false teachers who roamed the land and infiltrate the Ekklesia, looking for those whom they might "make merchandise of."
• How the Emperor Constantine influenced the development of the use of Church buildings and the eventual adoption of dividing the body of Christ into two classes: the clergy and the laity, a division unknown for the first three centuries.
• How the Church functioned for the first six centuries without using the Old Covenant principle of the tithe. However, by AD 585, the tithe was adopted as the primary means of supporting the Church's missions and ministries.
• A study extra: What Paul means when he speaks of Jesus becoming poor, so that we might be rich. This is related to his teaching on Jesus "emptying Himself," as found in the letter to the Philippians. The basis for this teaching is found in Isaiah's prophecy of the Servant of the Lord, Isaiah 52-53.