Chapter 4 - The Burden of Support

The Dorian Principle, A Biblical Response to the Commercialization of Christianity By Conley Owens Chapter 4,

The Burden of Support Difficulty vs. Obligation I've always enjoyed telling riddles.

It's one of my favorite pastimes. Others might inform you that I enjoy torturing people with riddles.

Once I've started the enigma, I refuse to give hints beyond answers to yes or no questions. Whenever a brave soul agrees to this experience, the first riddle

I usually tell goes like this, Joe is afraid to go home because the man with the mask is there.

Where is Joe? I'd prefer to let you struggle to determine the answer through carefully thought out questions, but despite advances in technology,

I cannot do that through this book. I will just have to tell you the answer. Third base,

Joe is a baseball player afraid of stealing home base because the masked catcher protects the plate.

The fun of this particular riddle lies in the fact that the hearer typically imagines a scene from a horror movie.

What hidden villain awaits Joe at his house? Usually, it isn't until the end of the process that the riddle solver begins to reorient his thinking around other scenarios such as sports.

Similar to the diversion of this riddle, when Paul speaks of burdening his churches through ministry fundraising, people often assume his concern revolves around the notion of imposed difficulty.

He does not accept money because he wishes to avoid placing undue hardships on anyone. However, our investigation from the previous chapter and the various triangle diagrams we developed should lead us to wonder whether he instead speaks of imposed obligation.

In this chapter, we will examine how Paul uses the notion of burden to describe his financial disposition toward three churches, the

Church of Philippi, the Church of Thessalonica, and the Church of Corinth. As we do, we will see that Paul's mentions of burden do not primarily refer to difficulty, but to a direct obligation between man and minister that contends with an obligation mediated by God.

Corinth and Thessalonica Paul occasionally uses the word burden to explain his refusal of funds from the

Corinthians and Thessalonians. For in what were you less favored than the rest of the churches, except that I myself did not burden you?

Forgive me this wrong. Here for the third time I am ready to come to you, and I will not be a burden, for I seek not what is yours, but you.

For children are not obligated to save up for their parents, but parents for their children. For you remember, brothers, our labor and toil.

We work night and day that we might not be a burden to any of you while we proclaim to you the gospel of God.

1 Thessalonians 2 .9 For you yourselves know how you ought to imitate us, because we were not idle when we were with you, nor did we eat anyone's bread without paying for it, but with toil and labor we worked night and day that we might not be a burden to any of you.

2 Thessalonians 3 .7 -8 Specifically, Paul claims that his refusal of Corinthian and Thessalonian support stems from his unwillingness to burden them.

A common understanding of these verses says that Paul does not wish to impose undue hardship on these churches.

Certainly the word burden frequently emphasizes difficulty, but the picture complexifies when set in contrast to the apostles' disposition toward the church of Philippi.

Philippi Writing to the Corinthians, Paul hyperbolically claims that he has robbed the churches of Macedonia in order to avoid burdening them.

I robbed other churches by accepting support from them in order to serve you.

And when I was with you and was in need, I did not burden anyone, for the brothers who came from Macedonia supplied my need.

So I refrained and will refrain from burdening you in any way. 2

Corinthians 11 .8 -9 In writing to the church in Philippi, the most prominent church in Macedonia, Paul confirms that no other supported him.

And you Philippians yourselves know that in the beginning of the gospel, when I left Macedonia, no church entered into partnership with me in giving and receiving except you only.

Another hint that Paul received Philippian aid appears in Acts, when Silas and Timothy join him from Macedonia.

Though Paul had been working as a tentmaker, Acts 18 .3, and reasoning from Scripture only on the

Sabbath, Acts 18 .4, he began to preach full time when they arrived, Acts 18 .5.

This seems to imply that Paul's companions arrive with finances from Macedonia so that he no longer needs to work.

Not only in Corinth, but also in Thessalonica, Paul receives aid from Philippi, Philippians 2 .25,

4 .16 -18. So why this disparity between Philippi and Corinth slash

Thessalonica? Burden as Difficulty If we entertain the idea that Paul does not wish to impose undue hardship, then we might conclude that the churches of Corinth and Thessalonica are impoverished compared to the church in Philippi.

This position is, however, untenable. Nothing suggests uniform poverty among the

Corinthians. Instead, we see that they were mixed socially. When Paul says that not many are of noble birth, 1

Corinthians 1 .26, he implies that some are. Additionally, we see that there are some who are well off, 1

Corinthians 11 .21. The Mediterranean area as a whole economically boomed during the first century.

Philippi, on the other hand, evidences more signs of poverty. Paul describes the

Philippians as giving beyond their means, 2 Corinthians 8 .4, and Paul goes as far as to describe it as robbery to take money from them, 2

Corinthians 11 .8. If either the church in Corinth or Philippi could be charged with penury, it would be the

Philippian church. More importantly, with his repeated emphasis on sacrificial giving, the apostle seems to have no prohibition on receiving funds from those who would find it economically difficult to give.

As we have already seen, he repeatedly expresses a willingness to receive financially from the

Corinthians in the form of propempo support, yet considers this no undue hardship.

The notion of burden, then, must indicate something other than difficulty. Burden as Obligation In each instance where Paul expresses an unwillingness to burden the

Corinthians or Thessalonians, he refers to the act of receiving support particularly in the context of initial ministry.

After he speaks of his labor to avoid burdening the Thessalonians, the apostle describes himself as a father of young children, 1

Thessalonians 2 .11, and a nursing mother, 1 Thessalonians 2 .7. This language of immaturity indicates the

Thessalonians' initial conversion in contrast to their existence as an established church.

Undoubtedly, Paul refers to the same incident when he mentions burdens in 2

Thessalonians 3 .8. Paul also speaks of the Corinthians as his children, but more importantly, he recalls how the signs of an apostle were performed when he first avoided burdening the

Corinthians, 2 Corinthians 12 .12 -13. This, presumably, refers to his initial arrival.

On the other hand, Paul never considers it a burden when he accepts money from firmly established churches.

He does not say that he burdened other churches so that he would not burden the Corinthians, but that he did not burden anyone at all, 2

Corinthians 11 .9. In other words, his reception of money from the more established

Philippian church does not count as a burden, even though he robbed them, 2

Corinthians 11 .8. On its face, 2

Corinthians 12 .13 may suggest otherwise, for in what were you less favored than the rest of the churches, except that I myself did not burden you?

But the irony present in the verse more likely only indicates that his non -burdensome actions toward the other churches would count as burdens if applied to the

Corinthians. Besides, it would be difficult to justify the apostle's behavior if he actually did treat his congregations with partiality,

C .F. James 2 .1. But why does it matter that circumstances of initial ministry correlate to Paul's concern?

Quite simply, new converts are likely to offer money in exchange for the gospel. Thus, Paul tells the

Corinthians that if he were to accept their offer, his preaching would no longer be free of charge.

One who pays for ministry incurs burden because the whole notion of payment presumes some sort of debt, something that is owed.

In other words, Paul uses the word burden to refer to the direct obligation imposed by ministerial reciprocity.

This becomes more apparent in another verse where he uses one of the same Greek roots, beros, to speak of demands.

Nor did we seek glory from people, whether from you or from others, though we could have made demands as apostles of Christ, 1

Thessalonians 2 .6. To be clear, Paul does not employ some special protocol to reject money on initial visits and accept it on others.

Neither does he reject money while he is with a congregation and accept it while he is away.

On the contrary, he willingly receives from the first Philippian he evangelizes, Acts 16 .15,

CF Philippians 1 .5, and he indefinitely continues to reject the

Corinthians gift, 1 Corinthians 9 .15, 2 Corinthians 11 .12.

He rejects support most frequently in the context of initial visits, but that is because reciprocity is most frequently offered in the context of an initial visit.

The Apostle only receives support as co -labor, and when he arrives in an unevangelized area, there are rarely co -laborers to be found.

Philippian partnership. In contrast to the passage we have examined regarding the

Corinthians and Thessalonians, Paul willingly receives from the Philippians. As you might guess, rather than reciprocity, their offerings of material support constitute co -labor.

Paul especially evidences this co -labor by his use of the Greek word koinonia, often translated as fellowship or partnership.

Koinonia frequently refers to functional partnerships rather than merely the mutual trust that corresponds to such partnerships.

For example, Luke uses it to speak of a business cooperative between fishermen,

Luke 5 .10. So when the Apostle repeats this word in his epistle to the

Philippians describing their mutual relationship, the concept of a joint business venture should color our understanding of their contribution.

Additionally, the unparalleled commercial terms used in Philippians 4 .10 -20 indicate that the

Philippians do not offer a gift to Paul so much as a shared resource for achieving gospel -oriented purposes.

In other words, they operate as investors, funding a skilled laborer and a common enterprise.

Since they both aim for promotion of the gospel, their transaction does not imply a direct obligation to Paul and thus is not characterized by necessity or by proportional exchange.

Those who share the same Lord organically work together to pursue the same goals. Notably, Julian M.

Agaru, in what is likely the most advanced study on the relationship between Paul and the

Philippians, reaches the same conclusions. Regarding the mutuality of the relationship, he writes that rather than exchanging finances -slash -goods -slash -services,

Paul and the Philippians contribute to a common fund, and that in this model the contributions need not have been of equal amount or of similar kind.

In other words, the typical quid pro quo exchange of reciprocity is absent. Rather, Paul and the

Philippians labor together, the Philippians supplying venture capital and Paul supplying skill, time, and energy.

This resolves an additional mystery about the book of Philippians. Why the thankless thanks?

That is, Paul writes this letter on the occasion of receiving aid from the Philippians while imprisoned,

Philippians 114, 410. Yet not until the very end of the epistle does he directly acknowledge their contribution,

Philippians 410 -20. Even then, rather than highlighting the blessing it is to him personally, he emphasizes his sufficiency without it,

Philippians 411 -13. The notion of co -labor illuminates the

Apostle's otherwise unexpected behavior. The epistle lacks the typical gratitude of a thank -you letter because rather than giving to Paul, the

Philippians give primarily to God. The Apostle commends them for their faithfulness in the matter of his poverty, but their shared purpose is greater than his own well -being.

In the words of David Ibriones, recipients merely pass on the commodity of another as mediators or mutual brokers.

In this way, both mediating parties equally share a vertical tie of obligation to God, which partly, though not completely, disentangles the horizontal ties of obligation to each other.

Put simply, because of the divine third party, obligation ceases to be primarily between Paul and the

Philippians. Ibriones reckons Paul and the Philippians as mediating parties exchanging resources, gifts originating from God being given to one at the hands of the other, but tacitly identifies

God as mediating the obligation between the two. Paul's description of the

Philippians' gift as sacrifice solidifies this mediated obligation. While the

Philippians render material support ultimately to Paul, the religious term sacrifice indicates that, in a more immediate sense, they render it to God.

Just as Old Testament Israel sacrificed to God by giving to his priests, the

New Testament Church often sacrifices to God by giving to his ministers. Conclusion.

The Dorian principle resolves this problem of burden nicely, contrasting reciprocity with co -labor.

If the Corinthians or Thessalonians exchange material support for the gospel, they implicitly acknowledge themselves indebted to the gospel proclaimer, burdened.

However, if Paul anticipates or even expects their co -labor, he does not burden them because he suggests no direct obligation to himself.

Instead, they find themselves directly obligated to Christ, one whose burden is light.

Matthew 11 30. This conclusion aligns with Paul's consistent use of this term in the active voice.

He is concerned that he will burden them, not that they may be burdened in general.

Those who offer support as co -labor may give out of their obligation to God, but the