Was Paul a Fundraiser?
By Jeff Ward
When it is pointed out that Paul engaged in fundraising activities in Phillippians 4, some respond by saying something like this:
“Paul was not accepting a “seed money” for blessing like the TV preachers. He was just accepting small gifts for his own personal needs. It was not something that could be called ‘fund raising’.”
Paul seemed to be taking up a collection for “the poor” in Jerusalem as we see in Romans 15:25-26. At very least, he is acting in a fiduciary pass-through capacity. He alleges in Galatians 2:10 that the Jerusalem church leadership was anticipating his funds, however, no record is found of him actually bestowing any “gift” upon them throughout the book of Acts. It was not mentioned in the first visit in Acts 15 when he visited for the “Council at Jerusalem”. Paul’s second visit to Jerusalem includes a rather icy meeting with James in Acts 21:17-26, such a gift would have perhaps made a big difference in communicating good will. He apparently also collected from those at Corinth in 1 Corinthians 16:1-4 on behalf of “the poor”.
So far, we’ve only seen evidence of Paul delivering funds in the same way a courier might do. However, his handling seems to go deeper than that. In 2 Corinthians 11:8, Paul is defending himself against what he considers false accusations. He informs them he “robbed other churches taking wages of them to do you service.” This seems to be the repurposing of funds away from their original purpose.
Still, there is even more evidence that Paul had at his disposal large amounts of money. While incarcerated at Jerusalem in Acts 24:26, Paul is approached by Felix who wished to extort a bribe from him. Antonius Felix is a character well-known to historians. His father-in-law was Herod Agrippa I who demanded the head of John the Baptist. His whole family were well known for their corruption, but they were not small-timers. He wasn’t looking for “Spam and Ramen” pennies that a truly impoverished evangelist might travel on. These were what we would call today part of “the swamp”. In Paul, he sniffed out what he believed to be big money, big enough to warrant the time and effort of a governor.
So to recap:
- Paul channeled charitable funds collected for “the poor” in Jerusalem.
- Paul is seen soliciting/collecting funds in several locations at different times, suggesting this was a regular pattern.
- Paul scrutinized himself for misappropriating funds.
- Paul was targeted by big-league con-man.