Paul the tentmaker

The apostle Paul was a powerful preacher, an insightful teacher and a passionate missionary to the Gentile nations. He was a highly educated man with a respected position in the Jewish temple, at least until he had a radical conversion and became a follower of Jesus.

He was also a tentmaker. At least while he stayed in Corinth with Aquila and Priscilla, who also shared the same occupation.

Acts 18:2-4 There he became acquainted with a Jew named Aquila, born in Pontus, who had recently arrived from Italy with his wife, Priscilla. They had left Italy when Claudius Caesar deported all Jews from Rome. Paul lived and worked with them, for they were tentmakers just as he was.

Each Sabbath found Paul at the synagogue, trying to convince the Jews and Greeks alike.

A lot of Christian practice has been piled on this brief reference. In it's modern Christian usage "tentmaker" has come to mean a Christian missionary worker who relies entirely on their own income or supplements donations with other means of support. Entire books have been written on this. (It seems to me that altogether too much is made of this considering that in the very next verse, once Silas and Timothy arrive, he resumes full time preaching.) This metaphorical meaning has taken on so much of a life of its own that very little thought is given to any other possible meaning or metaphor contained in this reference.

But TENTMAKING has so much more potential as a Christian metaphor than a tired reference to Paul having a practical job skill.

For starters, a tent can be a metaphor for a family or household and by extension a church congregation. Paul was a metaphorical "tentmaker" when he worked to build up and establish the church in various towns and cities.

In 2 Corinthians 5, (writing to the church still led by Aquila and Priscilla the tentmakers) he says that our bodies are like tents, meaning that our existence here is temporary at most and that our permanence is in Heaven.

Tents were also used by shepherds (from times long before Paul and into the present day!)

In Acts 20 as farewelling the leaders of the church in Ephesus Paul refers to himself as their shepherd.

Acts 20: 28 “So guard yourselves and God’s people. Feed and shepherd God’s flock—his church, purchased with his own blood —over which the Holy Spirit has appointed you as leaders. 29 I know that false teachers, like vicious wolves, will come in among you after I leave, not sparing the flock. 30 Even some men from your own group will rise up and distort the truth in order to draw a following. 31 Watch out! Remember the three years I was with you—my constant watch and care over you night and day, and my many tears for you.

In my opinion each of these trains of thought are just as helpful and no bigger a stretch of meaning to the ordinary implications made about how Christian workers ought to be supported. But my personal favourite is this one:

If you want to be like Paul, learn how to make a tent and be prepared to live in it! This might mean living with less physical comforts for the sake of the kingdom. Build a tent, not a castle - a residence that is always ready to move if God sends you in a new direction. Keep yourself on a nomadic footing. Be ready to Go! Be ready for movement! Be like Paul, a tentmaker, help others be ready to move and follow the leading of the Holy Spirit for the sake of the Kingdom!

If we must read into the fact that Paul was tentmaker I wish it was not the beginning of a discussion on finances but rather a discussion on our posture. In missions "tent making" should refer to those who go further than the city out into the parts of the world where you can't rely on the comforts of civilisation. Paul's work as a "tentmaker" should remind us not about how he spent certain hours of the day but of how he journeyed to where the people lived to share the gospel. It should remind us to go in dependance on God with what we can carry with us. It should remind us that we must go and live among the people we desire to reach not build a compound or temple for them to come to. I wish that "be a tentmaker like Paul" was code-word for willingness to move, not for depending on your own financial support.

It doesn't feel like a stretch that "tentmaker" should symbolise "mobility" rather than a certain financial setup.

Update:

Tentmaking is also a big picture "design pattern" running through the whole Bible. When James, the leader of the church in Jerusalem, came to terms with this new thing that God was doing bringing Gentiles into the Kingdom he used the words of Amos the prophet to explain that he could see that this had always been part of God's desire.

Acts 15:

15 The words of the prophets are in agreement with this, as it is written:

16 “‘After this I will return

and rebuild David’s fallen tent.

Its ruins I will rebuild,

and I will restore it,

17 that the rest of mankind may seek the Lord,

even all the Gentiles who bear my name,

says the Lord, who does these things —

18 things known from long ago.

19 “It is my judgment, therefore, that we should not make it difficult for the Gentiles who are turning to God.

James saw that the Gentile's welcome into the Kingdom was described metaphorically as the rebuilding of David's tent. And Paul was the tentmaker.

We have made a metaphorical meaning to Paul's being a tentmaker. But the truth is the Bible already has one, a different one.

If you want to be like Paul, learn how to make a tent and be prepared to live in it!