Corinthians 8

Completing the Collection for the Saints

8:1 Now we make known to you, brothers and sisters, the grace of God given to the churches of Macedonia,

The Greek word for "grace" is χάρις  (chars), meaning a gift given by the one true God of the universe. God is wealthy, nice and generous. Judgment is His "strange work", but He loves to give. God gives grace to all who believe. God goes down to the slave market in the satanic world system, purchases slaves who have been blinded by Satan, gives them tremendous gifts of great power, sets them free, and then asks them to co-reign with Him forever. This kind of generosity is grace.

Macedonia was the birth place of Alexander the Great. The churches of Macedonia were Philippi, Thessalonica, and Berea. All of these churches were founded by Paul during his second missionary journey.

8:2 that during a severe ordeal of suffering, their abundant joy and their extreme poverty have overflowed in the wealth of their generosity.

These there Macedonian churches were very poor, but they still gave out of their extreme poverty.

8:3 For I testify, they gave according to their means and beyond their means.

They did so voluntarily, there was no guilt speech about tithing to manipulate them into giving. They simply gave according to and beyond their means. All of the giving was voluntarily. The tithe was part of the Mosaic law. It was a yearly agricultural gift of 23.5% of the Israeli crops and herds. When Christ died, the entire Mosaic Law, including the tithe, disappeared.

The church now operates by grace giving. Each individual is free to give as led by the Holy Spirit. The church is to give like the Macedonians. They give according to their means, beyond their means, and voluntarily.

8:4 begging us with great earnestness for the blessing and fellowship of helping the saints.

The Greek word for "begging" is δέομαι (deomai), meaning to urgently beg. The Macedonian church urgently begged that they could give to the helping of the saints!

8:5 And they did this not just as we had hoped, but they gave themselves first to the Lord and to us by the will of God.

The Macedonians gave far more that Paul could have imagined. The reason for their generous giving was that they had placed the Lord first in their lives. They knew this was God's will, so they were obedient.

8:6 Thus we urged Titus that, just as he had previously begun this work, so also he should complete this act of kindness for you. 

Titus had traveled to Corinth a year later to deliver Paul's first harsh letter. At that time, Titus asked the Corinthians to take up a collection for the mother church in Jerusalem.

8:7 But as you excel in everything – in faith, in speech, in knowledge, and in all eagerness and in the love from us that is in you – make sure that you excel in this act of kindness too.

The Greek word for "excel" is περισσεύω (perisseuo), meaning to abound and overflow. Because of God's grace, the Corinthians were overflowing in everything. They overflowed in their faith, or belief in God. They overflowed in their ability to communicate God's word. They overflowed in their knowledge of God. They  overflowed in their eagerness to do God's work. They overflowed in their love of Christ. Paul asked them to overflow in their giving as well. 

8:8 I am not saying this as a command, but I am testing the genuineness of your love by comparison with the eagerness of others.

When Paul taught about giving, he did not use the manipulative and intimidating methods of many modern pastors today. He did not demand a tithe. He did not tell the Corinthians that they would prosper materially if they gave more sacrificially, like many of our prosperity preachers falsely teach today. Under the Mosaic Law, the Israeli were promised material prosperity in response to their obedience in not just giving, but by keeping the entire law. When Christ died, the Mosaic Law ended. Tithing is no longer in effect. The Christian now has liberty to give as he felts led by the Spirit. The Christian is now called to suffer, not to prosper materially. Prosperity teachers attempt to enforce the outdated Mosaic Law tithing system on believers.

8:9 For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that although he was rich, he became poor for your sakes, so that you by his poverty could become rich.

The wealth of Christ is His deity, as He is possessor of all things. The poverty of Christ is His humanity, because at His incarnation, He became a man of material poverty. He became poor for the sake of the Corinthians. It was the poverty of Christ that actually made the Corinthians rich. The Corinthians became rich by their salvation, their new citizenship, the rewards that they could possibly receive in heaven, and by their co-reigning leadership position that they will share with Christ during the Millennial Kingdom. 

Imagine that Christ was living in the heavenlies as the second person of the Trinity. At His incarnation, He placed Himself into the womb of a virgin in Nazareth, was born in a manger in Bethlehem, died on a dirty wooden Roman cross, and then was placed dead in a deep, dark cave. Christ became poor so that we could become rich.

8:10 So here is my opinion on this matter: It is to your advantage, since you made a good start last year both in your giving and your desire to give,

Paul was not commanding the Corinthians to give any specific amount. It was his opinion that generous giving would be to their advantage.  They might receive abundantly more from God in either material blessings, spiritual blessings, or eternal rewards.

8:11 to finish what you started, so that just as you wanted to do it eagerly, you can also complete it according to your means.

Titus had started this Jerusalem giving program a year earlier. They may have stopped the giving program after Judaizers came into the congregation and accused Paul of being a huckster out for money. Paul asked the Corinthians to finish this giving program by giving not by tithe, but according to their means. The Corinthians had evidently made a pledge, so Paul expected them to keep it. 

Should Christians make pledges to God? The Christian has the liberty to make or not make pledges. We often make pledges on our house, or car, or on a loan, so why not make pledges to God. However, if one uses his freedom to make a pledge, God expects him to keep it.

Beware of churches and organizations who ask you to sign a pledge to give a certain amount of money to their cause each month. Many times, this is an emotional gimmick to get more money out of you. This type of emotional-gimmickry-giving is nowhere in the New Testament.

8:12 For if the eagerness is present, the gift itself is acceptable according to whatever one has, not according to what he does not have.

Paul asked the Corinthians only to give if they were eager to give. God loves a cheerful giver. The Corinthians were only to give out of what they had. They were not asked to give if they were in debt. Modern prosperity teachers falsely teach that believers are to demonstrate faith and give out of one's poverty so that God will bless the giver and remove their poverty. This is unbiblical. 

8:13 For I do not say this so there would be relief for others and suffering for you, but as a matter of equality.

The Greek word  for "equality" is ἰσότης (isotasis), meaning equal portion. The divine principle is that God gives more to other believers, but it is their responsibility to give to other believers, so that there is a balance or equilibrium among the saints. 

8:14 At the present time, your abundance will meet their need, so that one day their abundance may also meet your need, and thus there may be equality, 

Paul is not teaching socialism. Socialism is when the government forces its citizens to give everything to the government so that the government can distribute the profits equally among the people. Socialism produces a society that will not produce products at a high production rate, because the government is corrupted by men who are totally depraved and evil. Greedy socialist leaders will keep most of the profit for themselves.  This government corruption discourages the social worker to a point where they begin to produce less and less product. After all, the social worker is getting the same paycheck for producing fewer products, so why work so hard?

The divine principle is that the church, not the government, is to take care of their own church members. They are to care for the members in their local congregation. They are not to feed the hungry on the street. By doing so, they may be feeding those of the satanic world system. If a beggar on the street comes to you, one should ask him to which local church does he belong. If he has no church, then he needs to ask Satan to feed him, because that is who he is serving. If he has a church, then the saints in his local church are responsible for taking care of his needs. It is the church, not the corrupt government of the satanic world system, that is to set up welfare programs for their own church members.

If a believer is blessed materially, then he is to meet the needs of those in his own local church, no one else. In the future, it may be that the one materially possessed may be on the receiving end. He may be blessed materially by others who he assisted.

During this time period, the church of Jerusalem needed help. Maybe in the future, the Corinthians may need help, and Jerusalem can return the favor.

8:15 as it is written: “The one who gathered much did not have too much, and the one who gathered little did not have too little.”

Paul quoted from Exodus 16:18. God provided Israel all of the manna that they needed. Paul will also supply the church with everything that they need. 

The Mission of Titus

8:16 But thanks be to God who put in the heart of Titus the same devotion I have for you,

God gave Titus the same love for the Corinthians that Paul possessed. Titus wanted as much as Paul to take an offering to Jerusalem.

8:17 because he not only accepted our request, but since he was very eager, he is coming to you of his own accord.

Titus was so excited about collecting the offering for Jerusalem, that he paid his own expenses to Corinth.

8:18 And we are sending along with him the brother who is praised by all the churches for his work in spreading the gospel.

Paul was going to send a very popular evangelist along with Titus. The identity of this evangelist may have been kept secret in order to arouse excitement in the community.

8:19 In addition, this brother has also been chosen by the churches as our traveling companion as we administer this generous gift to the glory of the Lord himself and to show our readiness to help.

This could have been Luke or Trophimus or some other well-known teacher. The purpose of the collection was to glorify Christ and to show fellow believers in Jerusalem that their evangelistic efforts among Gentiles had been so successful, that the Gentiles wanted to assist them and bless them materially.

8:20 We did this as a precaution so that no one should blame us in regard to this generous gift we are administering.

There were many hucksters who were falsely proclaiming that Paul was teaching for money. Paul wisely chose other men to handle the finances so that this collection could not be used as an attack against him.

8:21 For we are concerned about what is right not only before the Lord but also before men.

Paul wanted the eyes of men to know that they had not done anything financially dishonorable. 

8:22 And we are sending with them our brother whom we have tested many times and found eager in many matters, but who now is much more eager than ever because of the great confidence he has in you.

Paul  appointed trusted and reliable men, not singular but plural, to take care of the finances.

8:23 If there is any question about Titus, he is my partner and fellow worker among you; if there is any question about our brothers, they are messengers of the churches, a glory to Christ.

Paul used his apostolic authority to appoint these men as messengers of the churches.

8:24 Therefore show them openly before the churches the proof of your love and of our pride in you.

The Corinthians were to accept them and give them their collection as evidence of their love for Christ. Christians who love Christ love to give. A great many of Christians like to talk about how we love Jesus, but we are not willing to sacrifice much for Him. Paul is urging the Corinthians to show the evidence of their love.