When Paul penned or dictated 2 Cor 8 he opened it with a traditional salutation to open the door to the conversation to follow. Originally, it might have run something like, “Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, and Timothy and Silvanus, our brothers, to the assembly of God which is in Corinth: Grace to you and peace from God our father and the Lord Jesus Christ.” Though one of the most stable elements of the letter, Paul always adapted it to fit his purpose for writing.
In all cases except Galatians a thanksgiving or blessing followed that alerted the addressees to the purpose of the letter and the key issues it would address. This precursor of the letter’s agenda might have read, “I thank God always for the gifts of grace (charis) you have received from God in Jesus Christ, am thankful for your partnership in the gospel and your labors of love, and am persuaded that every gracious work begun in you will come to completion on the day of the Lord Jesus.” The thanksgiving most often is positive and offers an ideal construction of their gifts and graces that may be in question. In the immediately preceding 1 Corinthians, for example, Paul thanks God that the Corinthians have been enriched in speech and knowledge (1 Cor 1:5-6), but later corrects expressions of those gifts that are sharply divisive. In this letter also the thanksgiving would have expressed not only praise for their gifts but also in that praise was
implicit a fervent expectation that the Corinthians would complete the languishing offering project.
Since Paul’s letters would only decades later be recognized as scriptural, a later editor who faced new challenges would have been free to excise these traditional epistolary elements to fit chapter 8 into the larger letter construct we know as 2 Corinthians. According to this admittedly hypothetical construction, what remains is the body of the letter transmitting Paul’s request, his commendation of Titus and the “brothers,”
and his supporting exhortations.
Paul opens the letter with an appeal to the Corinthians to follow the example of the Macedonian churches and to complete their offering for the
“saints” (in Jerusalem) as an act of piety, love, and solidarity. He introduces a Gentile co-worker, Titus, and two anonymous “brothers” coming to complete the offering effort begun “last year” in Corinth, but whose completion lagged. Titus will lead the delegation, and the accompanying
“brothers” will assist with the completion of the project and guarantee the integrity and honesty of the process.
Macedonian Example of Generosity (8:1-7)
Paul often uses parakalō, “I appeal to you,” (1 Cor 1:10) or one of its cognates to flag the opening of the body of a letter or to introduce new information. Here instead he uses a cognate, gnōrizomen, “we want you to know” as he does elsewhere to open the body of the letter or make an important transition (2 Cor 8:1; see also Phlm 8-9; 2 Cor 1:8; Gal 1:11; 1 Thess 2:1; Phil 1:12). Paul appeals to the example of his favorite churches in Macedonia: “We want you to know (gnōrizomen), brothers and sisters, about the grace of God that has been granted to the churches of Macedonia.” Though impoverished and oppressed, their “ministry,” i.e., gift (diakonia), was a tool of the “grace of God” (charin theou). Later we shall return to consider the agenda embedded in Paul’s appeal.
The strong verbal ties of vv. 1-4 to 1 Cor 16:1-4 indicates some historical association (Mitchell 2005, 321-37). “Grace” (charin) stands for the collection in 8:1, 4, 6, 7, 19 and 1 Cor 16:3 (see NRSV textual note). In both passages the collection is for the “saints” (1 Cor 16:1; 2 Cor 8:4), and still later this “grace” will become a “priestly service” (leitourgia) in 2 Cor
9:1, 12-13 and Rom 15:16. These linguistic ties hardly guarantee that 2 Cor 8 followed immediately on the heels of 1 Cor 16, but shared concerns over the oversight of the offering process and the attempt in each to develop a protocol for the delivery of the offering strengthen that presupposition.
When to these is added the evidence cited earlier that put the Titus mission of chapter 8 ahead of 12:17 and the “painful visit” of 2:1, then the case for placing 2 Cor 8 soon after 1 Cor 16 is strong indeed.
The long, rambling, overloaded sentence in vv. 1-5 starkly contrasts the abject poverty and open-handed generosity of the Macedonians. By lifting up the outpouring from the dirt poor Macedonians, did Paul intend to shame the Corinthians into action? What could Corinthian slaves give? Had the Corinthians used their mostly underclass or even destitute state to excuse a weak or tardy response? Was the Macedonian example a corrective? More likely Paul cited the Macedonian example less to shame the “affluent” than to give an example worthy of emulation (v. 3). There were indeed some persons of means in the Corinthian cell of converts, e.g., Phoebe, his patron in Cenchreae; Gaius, his host in Corinth; Erastus, the city treasurer; and Prisca and Aquila, Paul’s co-workers (Rom 16:1, 3, 23), but by Paul’s own admission “not many” were so advantaged (1 Cor 1:27). Paul’s appeal is broad, and his hope is that all will participate in this good work to whatever degree they are able.
Consequently, Paul encouraged completion of the offering as an act of religious devotion (diakonia; NRSV: “ministry”) and a shared gesture of care (koinōnia; NRSV: “sharing”). No mere act of individual piety, the offering shared in God’s great drama of salvation that linked in a common embrace the apostle and his “pagan” (Gentile) converts with the saints in Jerusalem and signaled the dawn of an incandescent new age after which nothing could ever again be the same.
Verse 5 voices the divine antecedent to the Macedonian participation in the offering: “they gave themselves first to the Lord and, by the will of God, to us.” As a consequence of the self-giving of the Macedonian converts, Paul and his cohorts were able to dispatch Titus (v. 6) who “already made a beginning to complete this work of grace (charis) among you also” (AT).
Was the “beginning” of Titus’s work in Macedonia or Corinth? We can hardly know with certainty, but since the reference to it comes on the heels of the Macedonian example, and since Titus goes unmentioned in the list of founding missionaries in Corinth (Paul, Silvanus, and Timothy, 2 Cor 1:19),
this anticipated mission might have been Titus’s first visit to Corinth. But in the end it makes little difference. Paul now sends him to lead a delegation to complete the offering that was already underway before he wrote 1 Cor 16:1-4, and he sent Titus to Corinth not only to bring the offering to completion but also to deal with Corinthian suspicions about himself and to deal with their tepid response to the offering appeal.
In v. 7 the introduction concludes with generous praise (captatio benevolentiae) to assure the good will of the recipients and to encourage their offering effort. In spite of his recent stinging rebuke of pretentious and arrogant converts (1 Cor 4:8-21; 5:2; 6:5; 11:17-22), he now commended the Corinthians (as in 1 Cor 1:5-7) for excelling “in everything” (en panti)
—in faith (pistei), speech (logō), knowledge (gnōsei), zeal or earnest commitment (spoudē), and “your love for us” (agapē, RSV). (There is strong manuscript support for reading “your love for us” [RSV] rather than
“our love for you” [NRSV]. Although the NRSV translators went for the more difficult reading that is often preferable, the introductory clause in v.
7, “Now as you excel in everything. . . .” seems to require reading “your love for us” to follow.) The order ascends serving as the base waiting for its capstone: “in order that you may excel in this grace (chariti) also” (v. 7).
Without the benefit of an imperative, command, demand, or even an expression of want (NRSV adds “we want”), Paul ever so subtly forged a link between these named charismatic gifts, sometimes on display (1 Cor 12–13), and this very practical, earthy, charismatic act—namely the offering. Thus Paul gently proffered a test of their abounding excellence and the sincerity of their love. He asked them to make good on their pledge of “last year” to complete the collection project.
Paul’s Appeal (8:8-9)
Paul seeks to persuade rather than command by lifting up the “zeal”
(spoudēs, NRSV: “earnestness”) of the Macedonian assemblies to test the genuineness of the Corinthians’ love (v. 8). Was this a tactful, diplomatic gesture inspired by Corinthian grumbling about his imperious manner (2 Cor 1:24)? The issue was complex, for Paul claimed to be an apostle of Christ, a claim that, if considered legitimate, made him an authority figure
by definition. And yet there is another side as well. He referred to the Corinthians as his “beloved children” whom he sired (1 Cor 4:4), as babes whom he nursed (1 Cor 3:2), and as “brothers and sisters” in God’s family (over 20 times in 1 Corinthians alone) with whom he was bonded. So, the balance was delicate. As an apostle of Christ, he represented his Lord’s authority, and under that mandate he had threatened his misbehaving
“children” with a switch (e.g., 1 Cor 4:20-21); he had uttered a curse on divisive and selfish converts (1 Cor 16:22); he had pronounced judgment on an egregious offender in Corinth from a distance (1 Cor 5:1-5); and he would soon warn that he would wage war against his harshest critics (10:3- 6). So, even though Paul was capable of great acts of tenderness and care, some, we learn from 1:24, resented his high-handedness. That criticism, doubtless, stung and moved Paul to tread a fine line between tactful persuasion and urging obedience to the Lord’s mandate.
Verse 9 is an ad hoc formulation wedding the gospel story and the Corinthian context. Let us listen: “For you know (ginōskete gar), don’t you, the grace of our Lord Jesus [“Christ” absent from earliest mss], that though he was rich, yet for your sake he became poor, in order that by his poverty you might become rich” (a modified version of the RSV translation). With ginōskete (“you know”) Paul reminded his readers of what they once knew but were prone to forget (also 1 Thess 1:5; 2:1, 2, 11; 3:3, 4; 4:2; 5:2 with the synonym oida). The corporate memory was short, and Paul’s reminder called the Corinthians back to their place as participants in the great cosmic drama. This creedal statement provides the theological grounding of and motivation for the offering project.
Some think v. 9 echoes Phil 2:6-11, an early hymn of the mythic descent of the preexistent Christ, who humbled himself, took the form of a slave, and became obedient unto death on a cross. God raised him up, so it continues, and set him at the right hand of power in a heavenly seat from whence he would rule and bring all to obedience. The resemblance, however, between that creedal statement and v. 9 is faint. Second Corinthians 8:9 lacks any reference to Christ’s return to God’s side from whence he will rule, and any juxtaposition of the rich Christ becoming poor in order that the destitute might become rich is wanting in Phil 2:6-11.
Moreover, v. 9 is tied to the Corinthian context in an entirely different way than is the Philippian hymn, which calls for the imitation of Christ’s
humiliation. It is unlikely, therefore, that v. 9 was inspired by the marvelous hymn in Phil 2:6-11.
Given the socio-economic status and religious pretensions of the Corinthians, the passage throbs with biting irony. Some, perhaps many, of the Corinthian poor proudly claim to be charismatically rich and therefore superior (1 Cor 4:8). Their new status as creatures of the end time effects a status reversal that is startling. Here, however, Paul links participation in Jesus’ salvific act (richness) with the obligation to share in the offering project as a gracious act for the “poor.” The emphasis is hardly on the imitation of Christ; it is on the “grace” (charin) of the Lord Jesus that motivates an anticipated “gracious act” of giving by the Corinthians.
Advice to Complete the Offering (8:10-12)
While Paul ended vv. 8-9 with a rich christological statement, he began vv. 10-12 with a matter of practical issue: he offered “advice” (gnōmēn) rather than a command. Although in 1 Cor 16:1-4 he encouraged weekly contributions to a common fund so it would be ready when he arrived, now he urged the completion of what was earlier begun. Alive to the charge of being imperious and autocratic, he “advises” rather than “orders.” His advice in v. 10c, however, appears in a cumbersome, nigh untranslatable sentence. Taking some liberty to give it sense, Plummer’s fluid translation well captures the intent of Paul’s Greek: “To offer an opinion, and not give a command, is the method which is suitable to people like you, who were to the front, not only in doing something, but also in desiring to do something, as long ago as last year” (Plummer 1915, 242).
Plummer’s translation has many virtues. It draws no contrast between doing and willing and makes no suggestion that doing is easier than willing.
Moreover, the rendering of the adverbial phrase “as long ago as last year”
(apo perysi) is preferable to “a year ago” in the RSV. If written soon after the beginning of the New Year, the phrase, “last year” could refer to an interval of no more than a few weeks, and if scribed near the year’s end, it could refer to a period nearly two years previous.
Guesses abound about the length of the interval. Furnish has ten or eleven months (1985, 406), Lüdemann hazards sixteen months (1980, 133-
43), and Betz allows for as few as three but no more than eighteen months (1985, 64-65). While we simply cannot know the span’s length with any certainty, if 2 Corinthians 8 followed soon after 1 Corinthians an interval as short as three months is possible. However, if Paul left Corinth in the fall of 52, the earliest one could hope to make a delivery of the letters by sea would have been five months later with the resumption of the shipping season. Given the dangers from stormy weather and hazardous seas, most shipping ended in late October and did not resume until the following April.
Depending on Paul’s location when he wrote 2 Corinthians 8, the gap between the writing of 1 Corinthians and 2 Corinthians 8 might have been relatively short (if written from Macedonia), or somewhat longer if written from Ephesus. The safest guess, therefore, is that some time between three and six months elapsed between the writing of the two letters.
In v. 11 the chapter’s only imperative appears advising the Corinthians to complete the project “now” that they began last year. Echoing sacrificial protocol, it allows that if the “readiness” to make an offering out of what one has and not out of what one does not have is present, gifts from the hands of poor and rich are equally “acceptable.” This not an uncommon view in antiquity (e.g., note the widow’s two copper coins, Mark 12:41-44) surely was intended to embolden the Corinthian underclass, however destitute, to make some contribution, even if small, to the collection project.
Gifting between Equals (8:13-15)
As he often does, Paul began v. 13a with a negative statement of what he did not mean, followed by a positive remark of what he did intend (v.
13b). The contrast is obviously for emphasis: First (negatively), he recognized as unfair any relief for the saints in Jerusalem paid for with Corinthian hardship or affliction. Then (positively) in the interest of
“equality” (isotētos) he restated a truism—the better off were obligated to share with the needy (v. 14a). In this case those in want were the poor among the saints in Jerusalem. Although Jerusalem is nowhere mentioned in 2 Corinthians, the destination of the gift could be assumed. Doubtless, Paul offered a careful explanation when he originally introduced the offering proposal, an explanation which we are not now privileged to hear.
Although the emphasis on “equality” as the antithesis of greed and as the basis of harmony in the city was commonplace in the Greek world (Betz
1985, 68), Paul’s interest was hardly to apply this principle generally. He aimed to foster a unity of Greek and Judean, of Jewish and Gentile believers (9:6-15). He hoped to foster a vital reciprocity between the Corinthian and Jerusalem followers of Christ (8:14). Whether he realistically envisioned a time or circumstance when the saints in Jerusalem would materially assist the needy in Corinth we simply cannot say. At least, on principle, Paul did not rule out such an eventuality (“their abundance may be for your need,” v. 14b). In Rom 15:27 Paul later invoked another principle, namely that Gentiles who received the “spiritual gift” from the Jerusalem church should now reciprocate with “material [or fleshly]
things.” However, the partnership of mutual give and take that Paul advocated here would allow neither party a superior position. If the Corinthians make a gift without at least hypothetically recognizing a reciprocity from the Jerusalem holy ones, they can as benefactors assume superiority. If the saints in Jerusalem assume the role of divine agents without any reciprocity from the Gentiles then they become superior. In Paul’s formula and God’s economy of giving there is no superior and inferior. Given his early experience with the Corinthians, Paul had good reason to worry about tendencies toward a form of religious puffery that assigned others an inferior status. He also was concerned that Gentile believers would disassociate themselves from their “spiritual” moorings in the religion of Israel. Either implicitly or explicitly, the Jerusalem collection offered a corrective to those sectarian tendencies.
Exodus 16:18 (LXX), which Paul cited almost verbatim, aptly reinforces his point in v. 15. The Israelites in the Sinai who “gathered much had nothing left, and those who gathered little lacked nothing” (AT). When shared, there was enough manna for all; when hoarded, the loss was total. A near contemporary of Paul, Philo of Alexandria, appealed to the same passage to underscore the importance of “equality” and mutual responsibility (Her. 191). We see, therefore, that Paul, Philo, and the Corinthians all inhabited a world that affirmed this emphasis on equity.