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 8:16-9:15, Envoys for the collection and the cheerful giver
Paul commends Titus and two brothers appointed by the churches to carry the gift, takes care that no one can fault him in handling it, and urges the Corinthians to have their promised gift ready, since God loves a cheerful giver.
2 Corinthians 8:16-9:15, in every translation this tool compares.
Paul sends Titus and two other trusted believers, chosen by the churches, to collect the gift, taking care that no one can accuse him of mishandling such a large sum. He wants the Corinthians' promised contribution ready before he arrives with Macedonians, so that his boasting about them is not exposed as empty. Generous sowing brings a generous harvest, God delights in those who give gladly, and their gift will lead many to thank God.
- {"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\/letters-of-recommendation\/","n":"Letters of recommendation","s":"A traveler often carried a letter from someone his hosts trusted, vouching for him and asking them to receive him. Such letters opened homes, synagogues and churches.","r":""}
- {"u":"https:\/\/jayms.com\/bible-study-tools-2\/ancient-world-ideas\/ambassadors\/","n":"Envoys and ambassadors","s":"An ambassador spoke for one state to another, in Paul's day usually as the emperor's legate in the East. The way an envoy was received honored or insulted the one who sent him, and communities chose respected envoys to carry their gifts.","r":""}
- {"u":"https:\/\/jayms.com\/bible-study-tools-2\/ancient-world-ideas\/temple-tax\/","n":"The temple tax","s":"Every year free adult Jewish men across the empire paid two drachmas toward the temple in Jerusalem. After AD 70 Rome went on collecting the same sum for a pagan temple.","r":""}
- {"u":"https:\/\/jayms.com\/bible-study-tools-2\/ancient-world-ideas\/honor-and-shame\/","n":"Honor before a crowd","s":"Public standing was the currency of the ancient Mediterranean. People competed for honor and dreaded being shamed in front of others.","r":""}
Verses 8:16-18 work as a letter of recommendation for Titus and his companion (Keener; the cultural backgrounds notes), and the CSB Study Bible and the Zondervan dictionary take Titus as the carrier of this letter. Jewish men everywhere paid a half-shekel tax to the temple each year, and Diaspora communities sent respected people to carry it to Jerusalem (the cultural backgrounds notes; Keener); Wright adds that pilgrims traveled in sizable groups, since a known shipment of money invited robbery. Josephus says the Jews of Babylonia stored it in Nehardea and Nisibis: "they made use of these cities as a treasury, whence, at a proper time, they were transmitted to Jerusalem." By boasting of Corinth to the Macedonians Paul staked his own honor on the gift (Keener and his notes). God loves a cheerful giver adapts a line that the Greek translation added to Proverbs 22:8 (Keener and his notes). The Corinthians did give in the end (Romans 15:26). Some scholars treat chapters 8 and 9 as separate letters; the cultural backgrounds notes and Carson, Moo and Morris answer that the thought runs on, and that the brothers of 9:3 assume chapter 8's introduction.
- Craig S. Keener, The IVP Bible Background Commentary: New Testament, on 2 Corinthians 8:16-18, 8:20-21 and 8:23-24, introduction to 9:1-5, and on 9:7
- NIV Cultural Backgrounds Study Bible, notes on 2 Corinthians 8:1-9:15, 8:17-18, 8:20, 9:2 and 9:7
- CSB Study Bible, note on 2 Corinthians 8:16-17
- N. T. Wright, Paul: A Biography, ch. 13, Jerusalem Again
- Josephus, Antiquities of the Jews 18.9.1, trans. William Whiston
- D. A. Carson, Douglas J. Moo and Leon Morris, An Introduction to the New Testament, ch. 9, 1 and 2 Corinthians, Other Alleged Interpolations in 2 Corinthians, 2 Corinthians 8-9
- J. D. Douglas and Merrill C. Tenney, Zondervan Illustrated Bible Dictionary, entry Paul
