Continuing to study our theme, let us read Acts11:29,30: "And the disciples, every man according to his ability, determined to send relief unto the brethren that dwelt in Judea: which also they did, sending it to the elders by the hand of Barnabas and Saul." Now, while it is not necessarily implied that these gifts were placed in the treasury of the Antioch church, they certainly constituted church-treasure once they were transferred to the hands of the elders of the Judean churches, and remained such until distributed to the poor among the "brethren." Therefore, the Judean churches had treasuries.

    Let us now consider I Corinthians 16:1,2, which reads: "Now concerning the collection for the saints, as I gave order to the churches of Galatia, so also do ye. Upon the first day of the week let each one of you lay by him in store, as he may prosper that no collections be made when I come." Let us hear the comments of J. W. Garvey and Philip Y. Pendleton on these verses: "The word "thesaurizoon", translated "in store," means, literally, "Put into the treasury;- and the phrase "par' heauto," translated "by him," may be taken as the neuter reflexive pronoun, and may be rendered with equal correctness "by itself." Macknight thus renders these two words, and this rendering is to be preferred. If each man had laid by in his own house, all these scattered collections would have had to be gathered after Paul's arrival, which was the very thing that he forbade. . . . It was put in the public treasury of the church, but kept by itself as a separate fund." - Commentary on First Corinthians, p. 61, Standard Pub. Foundation, Cincinnati, Ohio.

    The order therefore, which Paul previously gave to the churches of Galatia and then extended to the church at Corinth was, that every member should contribute to the store or treasury of the church, when they assembled upon the first day of the week, so that when Paul arrived to receive their "afore promised bounty", it would be ready -evidently in a special fund in the treasury-to be dispatched to Jerusalem. His order and their compliance with it did not institute a treasury in the church at Corinth, but rather involved their use of it for the receiving and distributing of their gifts for "the poor among the saints" at Jerusalem.

    Did the early churches maintain treasuries other than when benevolent emergencies were present? Let us continue the study from another viewpoint. Paul to the Corinthians wrote: "I robbed other churches, taking wages of them that I might minister unto you" (2 Cor. 11:8). How could churches pay wages to Paul unless these churches had resources -treasuries from which to pay them? Certainly, they could not. The same apostle penned these words: "Ye yourselves also know, ye Philippians, that in the beginning of the gospel, when I departed from Macedonia, no church had fellowship with me in the matter of giving and receiving but ye only; for even in Thessalonica ye sent once and again unto my need" (Phil. 4:15,16). Again, it stands without argument, that the church at Philippi could not have had fellowship with Paul in meeting his physical needs unless they had a treasury! With regard to "desolate" widows, Paul again wrote: "Let none be enrolled as a widow [to be supported by the church - GJP] under three-score years old" (I Tim. 5:9). "If any woman that believeth hath widows, let her relieve them, and let not the church be burdened; that it may relieve them that are widows indeed" (I Tim. 5:16).
 Surely these passages not only show that New Testament churches had treasuries but that no real church work can be done without a treasury. To even call in question this fact does not reflect a healthy attitude toward either the Lord's church or the work that he has given it to do.