Context No. 2510 of 4322 · 2 Corinthians

2 Corinthians 9:1-5: in context

1It is indeed unnecessary for me to write to you concerning the service to the saints, 2for I know your readiness, of which I boast on your behalf to those of Macedonia, that Achaia has been prepared for the past year. Your zeal has stirred up very many of them. 3But I have sent the brothers so that our boasting on your behalf may not be in vain in this respect, that, just as I said, you may be prepared, 4lest by any means, if anyone from Macedonia comes there with me and finds you unprepared, we (to say nothing of you) would be disappointed in this confident boasting. 5I thought it necessary therefore to entreat the brothers that they would go before to you and arrange ahead of time the generous gift that you promised before, that the same might be ready as a matter of generosity, and not of greediness.

Paul is finishing his arrangements for the collection for the poor in Jerusalem, and he wants it handled a particular way. He sends brothers ahead so the Corinthians' gift will be ready in advance, prepared as a willing, generous offering, and not something scraped together under pressure at the last minute. He is careful with the words: it should be a matter of generosity, not of extortion.

The concern is not only that they give, but how. A gift arranged ahead of time, from a settled and willing heart, is generosity; the same amount squeezed out under last-minute pressure is something meaner, even if the number is the same. Paul takes trouble to protect the spirit of the thing, to keep it free and glad rather than grudging. It is a useful check on my own giving and serving. Have I planned it, so it flows willingly, or do I let it become a reluctant, cornered response to pressure I could have gotten ahead of?

Is my giving planned and willing, flowing from a glad heart, or a grudging response squeezed out under last-minute pressure?

Sources

2 Corinthians 9:5: arrange ahead of time the generous gift that you promised before, that the same might be ready as a matter of generosity, and not of greediness.
2 Corinthians 9:2: for I know your readiness, of which I boast on your behalf to those of Macedonia.
2 Corinthians 9:7: not grudgingly, or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.