2 Corinthians 8
Upon reading 2 Corinthians, I came upon the passage of 2
Corinthians 8. I know I have read it before, but I mulled the passage for many
days and resolved I must delve into it. While reading 1 Corinthians last month,
I found Paul’s letter to the believers in Corinth to be one of censure and
disappointment in them. While reading 2 Corinthians, I find censure and
disappointment are not the reasons Paul was writing to the Corinthians then. In
2 Corinthians, we find Paul writing commending them on having disciplined the
disobedient and becoming unified. Paul tells them he has heard this good news
from Titus whom Paul sent to Corinth.
Paul had
a couple of other reasons for writing to the Corinthians again. One of those
reasons was to express his regret at not returning to Corinth yet. Another is
to spur them on to complete that to which the Corinthians pledged themselves to
God and the apostles. Chapter 8 is the crux of the latter point. This one made
itself very visible in my mind this week.
What was
Paul writing to the Corinthians with his letter to them called 2 Corinthians 8?
Paul was writing to spur the Corinthians finally to give as they had pledged of
themselves for the poor in Jerusalem. There is no definitive cause of the
poverty in Jerusalem. Some people have conjectured that because Jerusalem had
so many pilgrims arriving each day, the hosts and other residents were
impoverished from having to give food and shelter to them. Another conjecture
put forth for the poverty of Jerusalem is a famine which may have occurred in
Palestine around 46 A.D. Whatever the cause, the Christians in Jerusalem asked
Barnabas and Saul to encourage Jesus' followers in the Diaspora (the areas outside
Judea) to contribute toward the poverty of Jerusalem and either bring the funds
back themselves or have it sent to the leaders in Jerusalem. (see Acts
11:29-30)
Before,
Paul had spoken to the Corinthians concerning the need in Judea and Jerusalem. (see
1 Corinthians 16:1-3) They had responded to the plea by Paul over a year before
this letter (vs. 10). Paul encouraged them to complete this collection and send
it on to Jerusalem (vv. 6 & 11). What caught my attention was what Paul
said next to them. They abounded in everything, faith, utterance, knowledge,
earnestness, and love. Yet, they had not done the next step and given money to
the poor in Jerusalem.
Why had they not acted upon
the desire God placed in their hearts? We are not exactly sure, but we know
that Paul mentions what they did have. The Corinthians had these graces from
God: faith, utterance, knowledge, earnestness, and love. They had faith to
believe God had sent the Messiah. They had the Holy Spirit in them and so were
able to teach and preach the Gospel. They had knowledge of the God of Israel,
His promised Savior, and God’s provision of the Savior through His son, Jesus. The
Corinthians were earnest, convicted, regarding the need to provide for the poor
and they expressed their love for the apostles and other believers. Why then
does Paul not only exhort them to complete this action, but holds up the action
of the poor Macedonians as an example of those who had less than the
Corinthians yet had already given to Jerusalem? The Macedonians gave not just
of their surplus but of their own poverty to be able to help their impoverished
brothers in Jerusalem (1 Corinthians 8:1-5). What the Corinthians did not appear
to have was the ability to put their inward heart’s desire into action.
This
brought to mind the question: How can they say they are believers if their
faith does not have actions? It was James who said in James 2:17-18 (NASB), “Even
so faith, if it has no works, is dead, being
by itself. But someone may well say, “You have faith and I have works;
show me your faith without the works, and I will show you my faith by my
works.” Christ spoke of this kind of faith as similar to the Pharisees faith,
the men who knew the Law so well, but who were not practicing what God really required
in their lives. Jesus said that true faith had to surpass the faith of the
Pharisees to be considered children of God (Matthew 5:20). Jesus did not mean
that our actions would win our way into heaven, but that the faith that came
from truth, which when enacted, would show we are truly the children of God. True
faith brings with it actions of love by us that shows God’s love for Him and
others.
This
is what kept prodding my thoughts this week. Paul was comparing the Macedonians
to the Corinthians to prod the Corinthians into action, the action to which
they committed from a heart full of God’s love. In the fervor of hearing about
the plight of the believers in Jerusalem, the Corinthians pledged themselves to
aid them. In the year since the Corinthians heard this message, their
earnestness did not result in action. This made me wonder how often we are
caught in this trap for one reason or another. How often do we fail on our
follow-through to do the thing that we pledged as service because of God’s
moving in our hearts? We may have faith, utterance, knowledge, earnestness, and
love as the Corinthians. Unless people can experience God through our faithful
actions, unless we follow-through on that which we committed to do because of
God’s moving in our hearts, how will others know or hear of God’s love? Faith
without works is dead, James 2 says.
Consider
it another way, when you believe, the Holy Spirit, whom Christ promised to give
to His followers, comes to live in us. As we grow in Christ, in our
relationship with God, the Holy Spirit gives us spiritual gifts and helps us
grow them. As we exercise these gifts, we will bear fruit of the Spirit. You can
see now, that unless our lives, as followers of Jesus, bear fruit, we show to others
around us and ourselves that we are not growing more Christlike. One of two
possibilities may have occurred for this to be so. Either we were never taught
how to be more Christlike and grow more in our relationship with Him, or we
never truly had accepted Jesus into our hearts and lives. If the latter is the
case, we may be comparable to the packed dirt, the rocky ground, or the thorny
soil upon which the seed fell. In any of these places, the roots could not be firmly
established and the seed would not have taken hold in a person’s life (see
Matthew 13). I pray none of us were any of these latter.
I
pray that we are all growing to be more Christlike so that His fruits of love,
joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, meekness, and
self-control are seen in us and experienced through us (Galatians 5:22-23). I
pray that our faith leads to actions quicker than the Corinthians’ expressed
the love which God moved in them toward the poor in Jerusalem. Paul’s
gentleness when he approached the Corinthians’ delay in action relieved me. I
am grateful that our Father in heaven is also gentle, merciful, and forgiving
toward us for our delay in action. Yet, now that God brought our inaction to
our attention, we must no longer delay in acting upon His prodding of our hearts
and minds.
What
is it that His Spirit in you compelled you to commit to do for God? You may not
have even spoke your commitment aloud, but you and God both know what you promised
Him you would do when He stirred your heart. Now is the time to act upon the
gracious gift of faith God has given you by putting your faith and love to
work. May we each join with Christ to do whatever He has pressed upon our
hearts, not only so we can have completed that task, but so that the recipient
can receive the gift God had planned to give them through you. Someone may be
waiting upon your action and promise to God. What is keeping you from following
through with God to them?
