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NOTES for Co2 8:1-15

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1 Moreover, brethren, we do you to wit of the grace of God bestowed on the churches of Macedonia;
2 How that in a great trial of affliction the abundance of their joy and their deep poverty abounded unto the riches of their liberality.
3 For to their power, I bear record, yea, and beyond their power they were willing of themselves;
4 Praying us with much intreaty that we would receive the gift, and take upon us the fellowship of the ministering to the saints.
5 And this they did, not as we hoped, but first gave their own selves to the Lord, and unto us by the will of God.
6 Insomuch that we desired Titus, that as he had begun, so he would also finish in you the same grace also.
7 Therefore, as ye abound in every thing, in faith, and utterance, and knowledge, and in all diligence, and in your love to us, see that ye abound in this grace also.
8 I speak not by commandment, but by occasion of the forwardness of others, and to prove the sincerity of your love.
9 For ye know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that, though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, that ye through his poverty might be rich.
10 And herein I give my advice: for this is expedient for you, who have begun before, not only to do, but also to be forward a year ago.
11 Now therefore perform the doing of it; that as there was a readiness to will, so there may be a performance also out of that which ye have.
12 For if there be first a willing mind, it is accepted according to that a man hath, and not according to that he hath not.
13 For I mean not that other men be eased, and ye burdened:
14 But by an equality, that now at this time your abundance may be a supply for their want, that their abundance also may be a supply for your want: that there may be equality:
15 As it is written, He that had gathered much had nothing over; and he that had gathered little had no lack.
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In all the communities he had founded, Paul collected aid for the brothers of the Jerusalem church. Since the previous year, the Corinthians had wanted to take part in the ministry to the saints (believers) in Jerusalem (4). Now Titus, at Paul’s request, is ready to come to Corinth and give the brothers the opportunity to carry out what they desired. In his letter to them, Paul therefore gives attention to this matter, preparing them properly for the ministry ahead.

In mentioning the churches in Macedonia, which were “willing according to their ability, and beyond their ability” in their ministry to the saints, the Apostle tests the sincerity of the Corinthians’ love by the zeal of the Macedonian brothers. Through the example of those who, amid a great trial of affliction, overflow with joy (2), Paul shows the Corinthians how to make their gift pleasing to God.

His heart rejoices when he sees the zeal of the Macedonians, who gave more than anyone had hoped to receive from them: “they gave themselves first to the Lord and then to us by the will of God,” the Apostle writes (5). This complete devotion to God enriched their deep poverty: “if the willingness is there, the gift is acceptable according to what one has, not according to what one does not have” (12).

One cannot help recalling the poor widow who put two small coins into the temple treasury (Mark 12:42-44). Others, who were rich, put in much, but it was the poor woman who gladdened Jesus’ heart because, out of love for God, she put in everything she had—all her livelihood.

Such sincere love and devotion to God make every offering pleasing to Him.

Other notes

 
For Co2 8:1-15
1 Moreover, brethren, we do you to wit of the grace of God bestowed on the churches of Macedonia;
2 How that in a great trial of affliction the abundance of their joy and their deep poverty abounded unto the riches of their liberality.
3 For to their power, I bear record, yea, and beyond their power they were willing of themselves;
4 Praying us with much intreaty that we would receive the gift, and take upon us the fellowship of the ministering to the saints.
5 And this they did, not as we hoped, but first gave their own selves to the Lord, and unto us by the will of God.
6 Insomuch that we desired Titus, that as he had begun, so he would also finish in you the same grace also.
7 Therefore, as ye abound in every thing, in faith, and utterance, and knowledge, and in all diligence, and in your love to us, see that ye abound in this grace also.
8 I speak not by commandment, but by occasion of the forwardness of others, and to prove the sincerity of your love.
9 For ye know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that, though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, that ye through his poverty might be rich.
10 And herein I give my advice: for this is expedient for you, who have begun before, not only to do, but also to be forward a year ago.
11 Now therefore perform the doing of it; that as there was a readiness to will, so there may be a performance also out of that which ye have.
12 For if there be first a willing mind, it is accepted according to that a man hath, and not according to that he hath not.
13 For I mean not that other men be eased, and ye burdened:
14 But by an equality, that now at this time your abundance may be a supply for their want, that their abundance also may be a supply for your want: that there may be equality:
15 As it is written, He that had gathered much had nothing over; and he that had gathered little had no lack.
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In his letters Paul often turns to the theme of mutual help among Christian churches...  Read more

In his letters Paul often turns to the theme of mutual help among Christian churches. And in his letter to the Christians of Corinth he mentions the help he received from the churches of Macedonia during his ministry in that province (vv. 1-6). It is clear that he is speaking not only about donations, but also about the participation of the Macedonian Christians in all of Paul's affairs that involved supporting his missionary work in Macedonia. And the apostle, of course, does not emphasize by chance that his Macedonian brothers gave themselves to God and to him himself as God's minister (v. 5). For him, it seems, precisely this attitude toward ministry is the true attitude of the inhabitants of the Kingdom.

From the point of view of our world, not yet transformed, one can invest everything one has, including oneself, only in an absolutely reliable undertaking with a guaranteed return, the kind that does not exist in a fallen world. And if a person decides to devote himself to something without reserve, he is clearly acting no longer according to the laws of this world, but according to the laws of the Kingdom. Yet if in other matters a certain half-heartedness in self-giving may sometimes be possible, following the principle "do not put all your eggs in one basket," in the matter of witness to Christ and to the Kingdom it is impossible and unacceptable. Here it is all or nothing.

And yet, in a way that at first glance seems paradoxical, complete self-giving does not in this case mean that the one who gives himself loses everything. The readiness to give everything turns into its opposite side: it proves not to be as burdensome as it might have seemed. When everyone is ready to give everything he has, it turns out that in material terms no one demands "everything" from him. On the contrary, in this respect a certain balance is eventually established, in which no one lacks anything, though clearly no one lives in luxury either (vv. 11-15). But the issue is not merely a fair distribution of material goods. For the apostle, it seems, such mutual help among the churches is nothing other than a projection of the relationships of the Kingdom into the material sphere. After all, only in the Kingdom, when you give everything, do you receive immeasurably more than you gave. And the fact that the laws of the Kingdom can determine people's relationships in our world, which is being transformed but is not yet fully transformed, was visible proof that the Kingdom truly had, in the Savior's words, "drawn near" - drawn so near that it can already shape people's relationships in our world, if only people themselves want it.

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For Co2 8:13-15
13 For I mean not that other men be eased, and ye burdened:
14 But by an equality, that now at this time your abundance may be a supply for their want, that their abundance also may be a supply for your want: that there may be equality:
15 As it is written, He that had gathered much had nothing over; and he that had gathered little had no lack.
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Paul proposes a simple rule: help should not become a burden to anyone, so that some are impoverished by giving it while others receive support at the cost of the ruin of those helping them. In everything, the apostle says, there should be...  Read more

Paul proposes a simple rule: help should not become a burden to anyone, so that some are impoverished by giving it while others receive support at the cost of the ruin of those helping them. In everything, the apostle says, there should be a fair balance. This does not, of course, mean dividing everything equally, but that each community should give as much as it can without burdening itself. Such a rule fully corresponds to the spiritual condition called poverty in the Bible.

Indeed, a poor person, if poverty is understood precisely as a spiritual condition, considers nothing in this world his own. He does not believe that he has a right to this or that property, to social status, or even to the talents and abilities he possesses. A poor person considers that all this has been given to him for use, not as property or possession. If so, he needs exactly as much of all these things as will allow his life to flow freely and fully, neither constrained by a lack of necessities nor burdened by a surplus of what is superfluous.

Since Paul regards the Church as the Body of Christ, the life of church communities must follow the same principle and obey the same logic. If a surplus of certain material goods has formed in one of them, this most likely means that another community, or other communities, lack those same material goods. It remains only to understand where and how the surplus should be redistributed so that everyone has enough for a normal life.

This happens quite naturally, just as naturally as the spiritual life of Christians is formed in the Kingdom, of which the Church is the manifestation on earth. The apostle evidently sees no need to disrupt the course of this natural process by creating, for example, special structures devoted specifically to material mutual aid within the Church. He knows from his own experience that the breath of the Kingdom blows where and as it wills. The main thing is not to hinder it, but to follow it.

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