more gratuitous historical retrojection: Paul and Temple tax...

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There is an unusual reference to tithing in 1 Cor 16:1-4.  It has been presumed that this refers to a collection Paul took up from the communities he was evangelizing, to e transmitted back to the faithful in Jerusalem.  It is doubtful, however, that this was what the money was for.

1 Cor 16:1-4:

πρερι δε της λογειας της εις τους  αγιους, οστερ διεταξα ταις εκκλησιας της γαλαταις, ουτως  και υμεις ποιησατε.  Κατα μιαν σαββατου, εκαστος  υμων, παρ τιθετω θησαθριζων οτι εαν ευοδωται, ινα μη οταν ελθω, τοτε λογειαι γινωνται.

* And about the collection which is for the holy ones, just as I directed the communities of Galatia, so too you should do.  Each first of the week, each one of you puts by for himself, saving that which he might have prospered in, so that when I do not come, there will be collections.  

This verse is usually translated “On the first day of every week, each of you is to put aside and save, as he may prosper, so that no collections be made when I come.”  This is not, however, consistent with the grammar of the verse:  the negative μη is directed at the verb ελθω  “I come,” which then translates:  “I do not come.”

Otαν δε παραγενωμαι, οθς εαν δοκιμασητε δι επιστολων τουτους πεμψω, απενεγκειν την καριν υμων εις ιερουσαλημ.  Εαν δε αξιον η του καιμε πορευεσθαι, συν εμοι πορευσονται.

 * When, however, I do arrive, if you have approved someone, I will send these (collections) by letters, to carry your favor to Jerusalem.  And if it is worthy of me to travel also, they will go with me.

It has been assumed that this refers to donations sought from early Roman communities that were being sent back to early Jewish Christian communities.  There are two fundamental problems with this assumption:    the first is that we have no documentation whatsoever that there were early “jewish Christinan” communities in Jerusalem.  That has simply been a matter of speculation, based on the presumption that there was a community of Jesus’s followers in Jerusalem at around the period when Paul wrote.

Since we do not have a date for Paul’s writing, we do not have any evidence to support that hypothesis.

The second problem is one in which it is wise to know a friendly classical scholar, because it is well-known in classical scholarship (though not in “religious” scholarship), that it was against Roman law to move money within the Roman empire,  with one single exception:  payment of Temple tax to the Temple in Jerusalem.

It is possible that Paul might have taken the risk of smuggling money from Rome to Jerusalem (because hidden movement of items that are not permitted to be carried in transit is smuggling).  It is less certain, however, that nascent Christians, whose incomes were taxed by the Roman Empire, and therefore whose sudden decrease in income would be noted by the same, would be willing to put themselves at risk.

Therefore, it is more likely that the money Paul was collecting from his congregations was NOT money to support a nascent Jewish Christian community in Jerusalem, but an already-existing Temple, whose active participants were obligated