Knowing The Word in 2 Corinthians 9:1-2, The Collection

1 Now it is superfluous for me to write to you about the ministry for the saints, 2 for I know your readiness, of which I boast about you to the people of Macedonia, saying that Achaia has been ready since last year. And your zeal has stirred up most of them.

Paul is playing the churches against each other. He makes the collection an issue of his honor and of the Corinthians, forging a link between himself and his estranged converts. He wants them to stand up and be benefactors for the financially stressed church in Jerusalem. They will be honored together or shamed together in the sight of God and the newly planted churches in what is today modern Greece. Macedonia is northern Greece and Achaia is southern Greece and includes the church in Corinth.

I’m glad to be alive—to breathe and walk; to laugh and cry; to see life’s beauty and its grandeur. I know, too, its beastliness, squalor; its poverty, disease and hate. As I give thanks for all my blessings, give me, Lord, the will to share with others what I have so undeservedly been given. Make me loving, courteous, considerate; give me a listening ear, a compassionate heart and a generous mind. Let me live my life in your sight for others so that they, too, may find you and give thanks.

Brother John Charles Vockler