Upon the first day of the week let every one of you lay by him in store, as God hath prospered him, that there be no gatherings when I come.
First day of the week - already kept sacred by Christians as the day of the Lord's resurrection, the beginning day both of the physical and of the new spiritual creations; it gradually superseded the Jewish seventh day Sabbath (Psalms 118:22-24; John 20:19; John 20:26; Acts 20:7; Revelation 1:10). So the beginning of the year was changed from autumn to spring when Israel was brought out of Egypt. Three annual feasts were kept on the FIRST day of the week; the feast of wave, offering of the first sheaf, answering to the Lord's resurrection; Pentecost, or the feast of weeks, typical of the fruits of the resurrection in the Christian Church (Leviticus 23:11; Leviticus 23:15-16; Leviticus 23:36); the feast of tabernacles at harvest, typical of the ingathering of the full number of the elect. Easter was kept as a holy Sabbath (Exodus 12:16). The Christian Sabbath commemorates the beginnings of the respective works of the Three Divine Persons-creation, redemption (the resurrection), and sanctification (on Pentecost the Holy Spirit being poured out). Jesus came to fulfill the spirit of the law, not to cancel or lower its standard. The primary object of the Sabbath is holiness, not merely rest: "Remember that thou keep holy the Sabbath day." Compare Genesis 2:3, 'God blessed and sanctified it, because that in it He had rested,' etc. "Remember" implies that it existed before the giving of the law from Sinai, and refers to its institution in Paradise (cf. Exodus 16:22-23; Exodus 16:26; Exodus 16:30). "Six days shalt thou labour:" the spirit of the command is fulfilled whether the six days' labour be on the last six days or on the first. A perpetual Sabbath would be the highest Christian ideal; but living in a world of business where this is not yet realized, if a law of definite times was necessary in Paradise, it is still more so now.
Every one of you - even those in limited circumstances.
Lay by him - though there be not a weekly public collection, each is privately to set apart a definite proportion of his weekly income for the Lord's cause. The Lord's day, reminding us of His love to us, is the best day for contributing through love to Him.
In store - abundantly: the earnest of a better store laid up for the given (1 Timothy 6:19).
As God hath prospered him - literally, 'whatsoever he may be prospered,' may by prosperity have acquired (Matthew 25:15-29; Greek, Acts 11:29; 2 Corinthians 8:12).
That there be no gathering when I come - that they may not then have to be made, when our time ought to be employed in directly spiritual things. When men give once for all, not so much is given. But when each lays by something every Lord's day, more is collected.