SUMMARY.--The Reason for Sending Titus to Corinth.
Giving a Sowing.
An Abundant Harvest to the Cheerful and Liberal Giver.
The Unspeakable Gift.
1, 2. The ministering to the saints. Contributions to supply
their needs.
It is superfluous. They were fully instructed, and had begun the
work. Yet he does write and explain why in
verse 2.
2. I know the forwardness of your mind. This is why it seemed
superfluous to write.
Achaia was ready a year ago. The churches of the province of
Achaia, of which Corinth was the capital. The province embraced all
southern Greece, including Athens and Cenchreæ. They had begun
the collection "a year ago"
(8:10).
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3-5. Yet have I sent the brethren. See
8:17, 18, 22.
He sent them so that they would surely be prepared when he came.
4. Lest haply if they of Macedonia.Acts 20:4
named certain brethren of Macedonia who did attend him. If these should
find Corinth unprepared with the collection when Paul came, after what
he had said, it would fill him with shame.
5. Therefore. Hence, he thought it needful to send the brethren
that the work might surely be conducted to completion, and the
collection ready.
As a matter of bounty. As a free gift, cheerfully bestowed; not
something
extorted from them (see Revision).
6-9. He which soweth bountifully. Giving is not a sacrifice, but
rather a sowing. As the farmer gives his seed to the earth, and then
reaps as he has sown, so giving is a sowing. If there is a spare
sowing there will be spare reaping; if liberal sowing, liberal
reaping. See the same principle expressed in
Exod. 25:2;
1 Chron. 29:14, 17; Ps. 102:9; Luke 6:38; Acts 20:35.
The lesson of this verse is,
give generously. The
next verse
teaches
how to give.7. Every man according as he purposeth. The giving must be
cheerful. It is the cheerful giver whom the Lord loves.
Where one gives by compulsion, or to secure popular applause, or
grudgingly, he is not approved.
8. God is able to make all grace abound towards you. To bestow
upon you every blessing, temporal as well as spiritual. He is able to
make up all you part with and more. The faithful steward will be
trusted with more.
9. As it is written. In
Ps. 112:9.
It is said there of the man who feareth the Lord: He does not hold
tightly but dispenses abroad by giving to the poor.
His righteousness, or right doing in giving,
remaineth forever. That is, he is supplied with means to keep it
up.
10-14. He that ministereth seed to the sower. God, who can, and
does, bless charitable giving, [151]
will do so in the case of the Corinthians.
The fruits of their righteousness will be increased, for their
means will be increased.
11. Being enriched. This explains how the fruits of
righteousnesses are increased. As they are enriched it tends to
bountifulness, and this causeth
thanksgiving to God.
12. For the administration of the service. Two things result
from the bountiful giving. (1) The wants of the saints are supplied.
(2) Their thanksgiving for the relief glorifies God.
13. They glorify God. That the Corinthians had become subject to
the gospel and God's means of succoring their temporal wants. Some
Judaizing Christians at Jerusalem doubted whether the Gentile churches
were really churches of Christ. Such a gift would tend to open their
minds and remove their prejudices, an object very dear to the heart of
Paul.
14. And by their prayer for you. Thus, filled with affection for
you, and longing for you on account of the proof they had of God's
grace to you, they glorify God by prayer for you.
15. Thanks be unto God for his unspeakable gift. The Corinthians
were asked to give; they were cited to the example of Christ
(8:9);
but now Paul bursts out in thanksgiving to God for his gift, which
language cannot describe--Jesus Christ and his gospel. It was that gift
which broken down the old enmity and bound together Jew and Gentile in
love, so that Jewish Christians would pray, thank God for, and long for
Gentile Christians like those that Corinth.
