Ronald J. Sider: Chapter Summary And Analysis

Ronald J. Sider writes a compelling and thought-provoking book about affluent and wealthy Christians in a world that is getting increasing needy. One of his chapters covers the topic of economic relationships among God’s chosen people. After reading the chapter, I was surprised to see several differences among the Jerusalem church and the twenty-first-century church. I discovered that the early church was much more generous with their money and resources and this challenged me to think critically about my own personal wealth and how the community of wealthy believers are using their money. Sharing of money and wealth can be seen as early in the law but it wasn’t until Jesus’s time that the sharing really began and was lived out. Jesus’s …show more content…
94). Paul sees the most intimate form of koinonia through the taking of communion. When someone takes communion, he or she is participating in the wonders of what Christ did for us on the cross and with believers everywhere. Paul saw an inequality taking place with communion when wealthy believers would partake in communion but poor believers would go hungry. Paul went so far as to say that the wealthy Christians were abusing the blood and body Christ shed for us on the cross and that they do not even partake in communion at all. Paul not only uses koinonia for sharing in communion but also in financial and economic sharing. Paul gives several guidelines for giving. The first is simple—give all you can. The second was that giving should be voluntary. In the third guideline, Paul boldly suggests that economic equality should be the standard among believers. Paul supports his claim about economic equality among believers with the story of manna in the wilderness. He says that just as the manna was shared equally in the wilderness as desired by God, so should wealth be evenly distributed