Tool Beta
The Ancient World Behind the Text
Pick a passage anywhere in the New Testament. See the customs and ideas a first reader knew without being told.
2 Corinthians 8:1-15, The Macedonians' giving and the manna
Paul holds up the generosity of the poor Macedonian churches, appeals to Christ who became poor, and asks the Corinthians to finish their gift so that there may be equality, as there was with the manna in the wilderness.
2 Corinthians 8:1-15, in every translation this tool compares.
Paul urges the Corinthians to complete their gift for the Jerusalem believers, holding up the Macedonian churches, who gave generously out of hardship and poverty. He says he is not issuing an order but testing the reality of their love, and points to Jesus, who gave up his riches to make them rich. They started the collection a year earlier and should finish it in proportion to what they have; the aim is a fair balance, as with the manna in the wilderness, when no one had too much or too little.
- {"u":"https:\/\/jayms.com\/bible-study-tools-2\/ancient-world-ideas\/collection-for-jerusalem\/","n":"The collection for Jerusalem","s":"Paul gathered money from his mostly Gentile churches for the poor believers in Jerusalem, much as Jews everywhere sent the temple tax to the holy city.","r":""}
- {"u":"https:\/\/jayms.com\/bible-study-tools-2\/ancient-world-ideas\/almsgiving\/","n":"Gifts to the poor","s":"Giving to the needy was one of the three pillars of Jewish piety, with prayer and fasting. Greeks and Romans had nothing quite like it.","r":""}
- {"u":"https:\/\/jayms.com\/bible-study-tools-2\/ancient-world-ideas\/patrons-and-benefactors\/","n":"Patrons, clients and benefactors","s":"Favors in the Roman world came with strings. A patron gave help and protection, the client paid it back in loyalty and public honor, and rulers who gave gifts to the public were hailed as benefactors.","r":""}
- {"u":"https:\/\/jayms.com\/bible-study-tools-2\/ancient-world-ideas\/friendship\/","n":"Friendship, and the friend of Caesar","s":"The ancient world prized friendship: loyalty to the death, goods held in common, secrets shared. The same word covered a patron and his dependents, and friend of Caesar was a title a governor could not afford to lose.","r":""}
- {"u":"https:\/\/jayms.com\/bible-study-tools-2\/ancient-world-ideas\/wilderness\/","n":"The wilderness","s":"The dry, empty country beyond the Jordan where John preached, Jesus was tested and a crowd was fed. It was hard ground, and it was where Israel's story with God began.","r":""}
Speakers used old city rivalries, such as Macedonia's and Corinth's, to spur their hearers (Keener and his notes). Philippi was prosperous, but its wealth had not reached the poor, and persecution may have deepened the believers' hardship (the cultural backgrounds notes; Keener; Carson, Moo and Morris). Inscriptions praised benefactors who gave as much as they could and beyond (the cultural backgrounds notes). The word for sharing was used in business documents for a partnership, and giving according to one's means was the biblical rule (Deuteronomy 15:14), which the Macedonians went beyond (Keener and his notes). Because cities sometimes forced wealthy donors to fund public works, appeals stressed that giving was voluntary (Keener and his notes). Friendship meant equality and sharing all things (the cultural backgrounds notes; Keener); the ESV Study Bible prefers fairness to equality. Other Diaspora Jewish writers used the manna of Exodus 16:18 to urge equality (the cultural backgrounds notes; the CSB Study Bible). The need in Jerusalem was famine (the cultural backgrounds notes) and, Carson, Moo and Morris add, persecution; they think Paul feared the intruders' demands for support were draining the fund. Wright calls the collection a benchmark that Jewish and Gentile believers belong together.
- Craig S. Keener, The IVP Bible Background Commentary: New Testament, introduction to 2 Corinthians 8:1-9, and on 8:1, 8:2, 8:4-5, 8:8 and 8:13
- NIV Cultural Backgrounds Study Bible, notes on 2 Corinthians 8:1-9:15, 8:2, 8:3, 8:4, 8:13, 8:14 and 8:15
- ESV Study Bible, study note on 2 Corinthians 8:13-14
- CSB Study Bible, note on 2 Corinthians 8:15
- N. T. Wright, Paul for Everyone: 2 Corinthians, comment on 2 Corinthians 8:1-7
- D. A. Carson, Douglas J. Moo and Leon Morris, An Introduction to the New Testament, ch. 9, 1 and 2 Corinthians, Occasion, Historical Reconstruction
