NOTES for Co2 8:16-24
Speaking about the collection of aid for communities in distress, Paul mentions that this is also done as a witness before people. It might seem to be a purely internal church matter with no direct relation to witness. But things are not so simple.
Of course, if Christianity were merely another new religion, matters would be somewhat different. Every organisation, including religious ones, has its own “back room” which outsiders are not shown. But the point is that Christianity is not a new religion; it is a new life. There can be no “back room” here. Or rather there can be, but it will be in full view of God and people, for life itself, the very process of the daily existence of an individual or a church community, becomes the witness.
If any duplicity becomes visible here, if there proves to be a hidden underside that outsiders had better not see, the whole witness will come to nothing. This does not mean that no one will ever believe Christians, but that Christianity will come to be regarded as an ordinary religion, and the church as an ordinary religious organisation living by the same laws and rules as any other religious organisation. Then witness will become false witness.
For authentic Christianity is life in the Kingdom, and the authentic Church is the Body of Christ. Integrity of life is needed here not in order to prove something to someone, but so that we ourselves may live the life of the Kingdom. In that case, however, church life does not and cannot have a front and a reverse side. Every work of the church is either done in the Kingdom and according to the laws of the Kingdom, or ceases to be church work in the true sense of the word.
The apostle understands this perfectly, and so he says that even what might appear to be a purely internal church matter, such as mutual aid between church communities, is done “before people” as a witness to the Kingdom. For in the Church with a capital C, things are not done otherwise, at least as long as that capital letter remains meaningful.