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2 Corinthians

2 Corinthianschapter 8

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Speaks with:2 Corinthians 8×52 Corinthians 9×6Exodus 35×4James 2×3Philippians 2×3Romans 12×2

Summary

Chapter summary

The grace of God bestowed on the Macedonian churches. In a great trial of affliction, their deep poverty abounded unto the riches of their liberality. They first gave themselves to the Lord. Paul urges the Corinthians to abound in this grace also. Ye know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ. Though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, that ye through his poverty might be rich. Titus and a brother will gather the collection. JFB reads the chapter as the apostolic theology of Christian giving grounded in Christ's self-impoverishment.

Context

Epistle · Paul — 2 Corinthians overview

  • A. 1–7 Deep Poverty Overflowing in Generosity
  • B. 8–15 He Became Poor So You Might Become Rich
  • C. 16–24 Honest Handling: Brothers Sent to Carry the Gift

The outline

  1. A.Deep Poverty Overflowing in Generosityvv. 1 to 7

    Read vv. 1 to 7 →

  2. B.He Became Poor So You Might Become Richvv. 8 to 15

    Read vv. 8 to 15 →

  3. C.Honest Handling: Brothers Sent to Carry the Giftvv. 16 to 24

    Read vv. 16 to 24 →

The world behind this chapter

2 Corinthians 8
When
Written from Macedonia · c. AD 55–56
Where
The relief fund for Jerusalem, and the poor churches of Macedonia who had already given.
Who first heard it
Wealthy Corinth, which had begun the collection a year earlier and not finished it.

The history

Macedonia's churches — Philippi, Thessalonica, Berea — were in a province that had suffered economically, and Paul says plainly that they gave out of extreme poverty and beyond their means, begging for the favour of taking part. Holding them up as the example to rich Corinth was a deliberate reversal of the usual direction of honour.

Public giving in a Greek city was normally competitive and commemorated. Benefactors funded buildings, games, and grain, and got inscriptions and statues in return. Paul uses the language of that world — grace, generosity, service — while stripping out the monument.

The financial controls he describes are the heart of the chapter's practicality. Titus and two other men, one chosen by the churches themselves, will carry the gift, so that no one can blame him about this generous fund. He says outright that he aims at what is honourable not only before the Lord but in the sight of men.

Handling large sums in cash across provinces was genuinely open to suspicion, and a travelling teacher taking money was exactly the figure a Corinthian cynic expected to be a fraud.

What it meant to them

The theological centre lands in one sentence the Corinthians could not miss: though he was rich, for your sake he became poor, so that by his poverty you might become rich.

The standard Paul then sets is not a fixed amount but fairness — give according to what you have, so that abundance now supplies need, and their abundance may one day supply yours. He explicitly refuses to command it.

Sources cited

Every work MannaFest builds on →

The text of this chapter

This page carries no textual note on 2 Corinthians 8. Where this site has examined a place the manuscripts differ, the examination is in the manuscripts room. Every place this site examines →

This page draws on Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory; John Calvin, Commentaries; John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the New Testament and Matthew Henry, Complete Commentary.

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