Paul's words at 2 Corinthians 11:8:
Paul said, "I robbed other churches by taking pay [from them] to minister to you."
The New World Translation even admits that Paul robbed other congregations by accepting provisions in order to minister to the Corinthian church.
The KJV says that Paul robbed other churches, taking wages of them, to do service to the Corinthian church.
The original Greek text for 2 Corinthians 11:8 reads as follows:
allav ekklhsiav esulhsa (5656) labwn (5631) oywnion prov thn umwn diakonian
oywnion (transliterated as Opsonion) means a soldier's pay, allowance or that part of the soldier's support given in place of pay [i.e. rations] and the money in which he is paid.
No paid preachers in the 1st Century?
by Honesty 4 Replies latest watchtower beliefs
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Honesty
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Fleshybirdfodder
Well, he was a mysogynist, a homophobe, a control freak and a wacko... why not add thief to the resume? No offense to the Christians on the board, but we really know scant about what actually happened among the "congregations" at that time. I know the official WT position is that he supported himself as a tentmaker (I guess there weren't many janitorial positions available at that time), but I don't doubt for a moment that he profited from the generosity of his followers. Thanks for the analysis, very interesting!
FBF
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Narkissos
Of course most preachers in early Christianity had some sort of financial support. The main difference of the Pauline mission is that it generally depended, not on the host or receiving communities (which was the Jewish-Christian model according to the Synoptics and 1 Corinthians 9) but on the sending ones and perhaps even more on wealthy private sponsors (the patrons of the Roman society). The type of funding is reflected in the message. Paul's Gospel was much more friendly to wealthy people and (Roman) institutions than, say, Matthew or the epistle of James.
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Leolaia
To develop Narkissos' point a bit further, the story of Lydia of Thyatira in Acts 16 is a one example of support from a wealthy patron. Paul is described as preaching to a group of women in Philippi and "one of those listening was a woman named Lydia, a dealer in purple cloth from the city of Thyatira, who was a worshiper of God [i.e. a Gentile God-fearer]. The Lord opened her heart to respond to Paul's message. When she and the members of her household were baptized, she invited us to her home" (v. 14-15). Purple cloth was highly profitable, and the allusion to "members of her household" (which refers not only to family members but servants, slaves, etc.) indicates that she would have been quite wealthy. In the next chapter, Paul converts well-to-do women in Thessalonica, "a large number of God-fearing Greeks and prominent women" (17:4, cf. v. 12).
There were limits to the extent to which itinerant teachers could accept support from homes and churches in their travels. According to the Didache, if they stay too long in any one place or take away anything more than bread or even ask for money from benefactors, they were to be regarded as "false prophets". Not quite the same as the experience of "circuit overseers" today.