The Collection for the Saints

Two chapters of the letter are devoted to a very concrete matter: a collection of money that Paul organizes in his Churches to relieve the poor Christians of Jerusalem. Far from making it a simple question of administration, he draws from it a lasting teaching on the Christian meaning of giving, which is neither a tax nor a calculation, but an overflow of the grace received from God.

A Collection for Jerusalem

The mother Church of Jerusalem, tried by famine and poverty, needed help, and Paul was very keen that his communities, born of the pagan world, should support it. This gesture was not only charitable: it sealed the unity of the Church. The nations, which had received from the believing Jews the treasure of the Gospel, rendered to them in turn a share of their material goods, and the money that passed from one end of the world to the other declared that the Body of Christ is one. To encourage the Corinthians, Paul cites to them the example of the Churches of Macedonia, poorer than they, which had given far beyond their means, not by constraint but in overflowing joy. “in the midst of the many trials that afflicted them, their overflowing joy and their deep poverty overflowed into riches of generosity.” 2 Corinthians 8:2

Christ Who Became Poor

The model of giving, however, is neither Macedonia nor any man, but Christ himself, whose whole lowering was a gift. Rich with the very richness of God, he freely chose the poverty of our condition, to fill us with his life. “though he was rich, he made himself poor for your sake, so that by his poverty you might become rich.” 2 Corinthians 8:9 Here is the heart of all Christian generosity: it only imitates this movement of Christ, who stripped himself to enrich others. The Christian who gives strips himself a little to enrich his brother, in the image of the one who wholly stripped himself for him. The gift, far from impoverishing the one who makes it, makes him like Christ, and Paul sees in it a way of already living the equality willed by God, where the surplus of some fills the lack of others.

God Loves a Cheerful Giver

Paul finally says how one is to give. Not by constraint nor with regret, as one pays a debt, but freely, in joy, for it is the heart that gives far more than the hand. “Let each one give as he has decided in his heart, without regret or compulsion; for God loves a cheerful giver.” 2 Corinthians 9:7 And he promises that God never lets himself be outdone in generosity. To the one who sows generously, God gives back generously, not so that he may hoard, but so that he may give again. “whoever sows sparingly will reap sparingly; whoever sows generously will reap generously.” 2 Corinthians 9:6 Thus charity, far from exhausting the one who practices it, opens a circle of grace: God fills the giver so that he may overflow in turn in good works. “And God has the power to fill you with every grace, so that, having always and in everything all you need, you may still have a surplus for every good work.” 2 Corinthians 9:8 The gift received calls for the gift made, and everything rises, in the end, in praise to God.