“Lay By Him In Store”
Next to the phrase “help meet” (Gen. 2:18), the phrase most often used and misunderstood from the King James translation of the Bible is Paul’s command to “lay by him in store” on the first day of every week (1 Cor. 16:2). Since this command relates to a weekly expression of worship, we would do well to seek a clearer understanding of it.
First, what is the original language? In Greek, Paul uses four words: par’ heauto titheto thesaurizon. The first word is a preposition meaning “by, alongside.” The next word is a reflexive masculine pronoun meaning “himself.” The next word is the verb, an action word meaning “to set, put, place.” And the last word is a participle denoting “gathering, storing up, keeping in reserve.” A literal translation would read something like, “each of you is to put something beside himself, storing it up.”
An interesting detail we get from the literal translation is that each member was to keep the collection “beside himself,” that is, in his own home, and not deposit it into a church account as we do today. The simple reason for this is that at this early stage churches had no treasuries to secure their working funds. These days, a church bank account would be more expedient for storing the Lord’s money than hundreds of individual collections. That said, it’s interesting that Paul wanted it to be done “on the first day of every week,” when they gathered on the Lord’s Day for worship. This shows that giving was considered a necessary part of the weekly collective worship, not just in Corinth but in all the churches (cf. v. 1).
The ESV renders this, “On the first day of every week, each of you is to put something aside and store it up, as he may prosper, so that there will be no collecting when I come.”
The context is always helpful in understanding a passage of Scripture. We know that Paul and Barnabas had received instructions from the apostles in Jerusalem to remember the poor in Judea, which, Paul says, they were happy to do (Gal. 1:10). In Romans 15:26, we gain some insight into how Paul planned to do this. He had been collecting financial aid for the saints in Judea from Gentile congregations in Macedonia and Achaia, which includes the church at Corinth. His first letter to the Corinthians, where we find the phrase we are studying, does not say much about this collection, but he devotes two whole chapters to it in the second letter (2 Cor. 8-9). He wanted the funds to be ready upon his arrival, so in 1 Corinthians 16:2, he commands the Corinthian saints to begin a weekly collection to be stored up so that he did not have to spend precious time fundraising when he came to visit them.
The King James rendering is a bit stale, since we don’t speak of “laying money.” We “deposit” or “contribute” it. And we “store” food, not dollars.
Even though the wording “lay by him in store” sounds a bit awkward to twenty-first century ears, we know what it means. Everyone who loves the Lord will obey this command to give to the Lord regularly, as he prospers, with a cheerful heart (2 Cor. 9:7).
Drew Kizer