3rd Missionary Trip - Lorin

tant principles about Christian giving of money. The New Testament never mentions tithing, as is true of the Old
Testament. But Jesus and the apostles generally, and Paul in particular, speak a lot about sacrifical giving of self
to God and out of that comes proper generosity in financial giving etc. (v. 5). The principle of sacrificial giving is
defined primarily by Jesus in Luke 21:1-4 regarding the giving of the impoverished widow at the temple in Jerusalem.
In essence, sacrificial giving is measured more by what we have left after giving than by the amount we give.
Why? Because giving tests our faith commitment to God and our willingness to trust Him unconditionally. Thus it
was in Macedonia that the churches gave generously (ἐπερίσσευσεν εἰς τὸ πλοῦτος τῆς ἁπλότητος αὐτῶν, v. 2)
out of their extreme material poverty (ἡ κατὰ βάθους πτωχεία αὐτῶν, v. 2). Therefore they set an example worthy
to be followed not only in Corinth, but universally by Christian communities over all time.
2 Cor. 8:16-24 (plans)
16 Χάρις δὲ τῷ θεῷ τῷ δόντι τὴν αὐτὴν σπουδὴν ὑπὲρ ὑμῶν ἐν τῇ καρδίᾳ Τίτου, 17 ὅτι τὴν μὲν παράκλησιν
ἐδέξατο, σπουδαιότερος δὲ ὑπάρχων αὐθαίρετος ἐξῆλθεν πρὸς ὑμᾶς. 18 συνεπέμψαμεν δὲ μετʼ αὐτοῦ τὸν ἀδελφὸν
οὗ ὁ ἔπαινος ἐν τῷ εὐαγγελίῳ διὰ πασῶν τῶν ἐκκλησιῶν, 19 οὐ μόνον δέ, ἀλλὰ καὶ χειροτονηθεὶς ὑπὸ τῶν ἐκκλησιῶν
συνέκδημος ἡμῶν σὺν τῇ χάριτι ταύτῃ τῇ διακονουμένῃ ὑφʼ ἡμῶν πρὸς τὴν [αὐτοῦ] τοῦ κυρίου δόξαν καὶ προθυμίαν
ἡμῶν, 20 στελλόμενοι τοῦτο, μή τις ἡμᾶς μωμήσηται ἐν τῇ ἁδρότητι ταύτῃ τῇ διακονουμένῃ ὑφʼ ἡμῶν· 21 προνοοῦμεν
γὰρ καλὰ οὐ μόνον ἐνώπιον κυρίου ἀλλὰ καὶ ἐνώπιον ἀνθρώπων. 22 συνεπέμψαμεν δὲ αὐτοῖς τὸν ἀδελφὸν ἡμῶν
ὃν ἐδοκιμάσαμεν ἐν πολλοῖς πολλάκις σπουδαῖον ὄντα, νυνὶ δὲ πολὺ σπουδαιότερον πεποιθήσει πολλῇ τῇ εἰς ὑμᾶς.
23 εἴτε ὑπὲρ Τίτου, κοινωνὸς ἐμὸς καὶ εἰς ὑμᾶς συνεργός· εἴτε ἀδελφοὶ ἡμῶν, ἀπόστολοι ἐκκλησιῶν, δόξα Χριστοῦ.
24 τὴν οὖν ἔνδειξιν τῆς ἀγάπης ὑμῶν καὶ ἡμῶν καυχήσεως ὑπὲρ ὑμῶν εἰς αὐτοὺς ἐνδεικνύμενοι εἰς πρόσωπον τῶν
ἐκκλησιῶν.
16 But thanks be to God who put in the heart of Titus the same eagerness for you that I myself have. 17 For
he not only accepted our appeal, but since he is more eager than ever, he is going to you of his own accord. 18
With him we are sending the brother who is famous among all the churches for his proclaiming the good news; 19
and not only that, but he has also been appointed by the churches to travel with us while we are administering this
generous undertaking for the glory of the Lord himself and to show our goodwill. 20 We intend that no one should
blame us about this generous gift that we are administering, 21 for we intend to do what is right not only in the Lord’s
sight but also in the sight of others. 22 And with them we are sending our brother whom we have often tested and
found eager in many matters, but who is now more eager than ever because of his great confidence in you. 23 As
for Titus, he is my partner and co-worker in your service; as for our brothers, they are messengers of the churches,
the glory of Christ. 24 Therefore openly before the churches, show them the proof of your love and of our reason
for boasting about you.
In vv. 9-15, Paul continues his focus on the giving of the Corinthians to this relief offering. This offering
had been planned at Corinth a year before the writing of Second Corinthians, probably due to a visit by Paul to
Corinth not recorded in Acts (cf. 8:10). 165 But it had languished and had not been completed as promised by the
Corinthians (vf. 8:11). Titus’ initial visit was intended in part to re-invigorate the congregation to complete what
they had earlier promised to do. That objective had only been partially accomplished through the first visit of
Titus. Now Paul is hoping that it will get done. The value of Titus’ first visit was to help him get excited about this
task from having direct contact with the Corinthians, something that happened (v. 17).
Paul continues to mention the sending of ‘a brother’ back to Corinth with Titus (vv. 18-19), and then in
vv. 22-24 a second unnamed brother is mentioned as accompanying Titus back to Corinth. Much rather useless
speculation exists in the commentaries about why Paul didn’t name them as he did Titus. What Paul did was
to affirm them in glowing terms regarding their qualifications to assist Titus in helping the Corinthians complete
the offering ahead of Paul’s visit. After all, the Corinthians would know the names of these men, and what was
of much greater importance was Paul’s endorsement of them as fully qualified to help Titus in the city. The chief
motivation for sending a delegation of three or more men back to the city is expressed clearly in vv. 20-21. With
the handling of money Paul goes to great lengths to keep the entire process completely transparent and ‘above
board.’ These two brothers have already been authorized by other churches to work with Paul in collecting and
then in Jerusalem depositing this offering with the leaders of the church there. Thus they were official representatives
of churches not just in Macedonia but prior in both Asia and Galatia (χειροτονηθεὶς ὑπὸ τῶν ἐκκλησιῶν,
v. 19; ἀπόστολοι ἐκκλησιῶν, v. 23). What Paul now wanted the Corinthian church to do was a public display of
approval of the ministry of these men (v. 24). This would be communicated back to the churches that had already
contributed to the offering and elected these men as their representatives. They would recognize that the Corin-
165 Some will see the reference to the promise to take up the offering coming out of Titus’ first visit to Corinth, but I am not
persuaded of the correctness of this.
Page 433