Question: When one speaks about giving on the first day of the week (1 Cor. 16:1-2), is it biblical for one to give something other than money itself? In other words, if the congregation needed a van, would that count as one’s offering if he gave it (patterned after 1 Cor. 16:1-2), and would that be a part of the treasury?
First Corinthians 16:1-2 reads, “Now concerning the collection for the saints, as I have given orders to the churches of Galatia, so you must do also: On the first day of the week let each one of you lay something aside, storing up as he may prosper, that there be no collections when I come.” Additional instruction that the apostle gave to the Corinthian church appears in 2 Corinthians 9:7, which reads, “So let each one give as he purposes in his heart, not grudgingly or of necessity; for God loves a cheerful giver.”
Ordinarily contemporary persons suppose that contributions would certainly be in the form of money (i.e., coins, currency or checks), but the passages cited do not define the form of the prosperity that one purposes to give back to the Lord. Anciently in biblical times, the tithe (which specified the quantity whereas the specific quantity is not specified in the New Testament) included heavy proportions of non-monetary contributions. The tithe was “the tenth part both of the produce of the land and of the increase of the flock, enjoined in the Mosaic law to be devoted by every Israelite to the servants of the sanctuary, and to the hospitable meals provided on the festivals for the poor and needy (Lev 27:30-33; Num 18:21-32; Deut 12:5-18; 14:22-29; 26:12-14)” (McClintock and Strong Encyclopedia. CD-ROM. Seattle: Biblesoft, 2000.) The tithe was the divine command about giving that predated the divine command for giving under the New Testament.
So, “Yes!” It might be a little heavy for the collection plate, but one could give a van to the Lord out of the abundance of his prosperity and according to the purpose of his heart. The van would be as much a part of the financial resources (treasury, if you must) as coins, currency, checks and church property, just in a different form than most contemporary gifts to the Lord.
