Jensens survey of the old testament adam 475
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Every Christian is to minister in some way
in God’s vineyard, as a witness of the gospel.
Paul was a preacher-teacher-missionary, but
his testimony about his experiences can be
applied to any kind of Christian service,
when the universal, timeless principles are
identified.
B. CHRISTIAN GIVING (8:1—9:15)
This passage is the New Testament’s
classic treatise on Christian giving. The
setting is that of a fund-raising project that
the Corinthians had begun a year earlier.31
In his
rst letter Paul called this a
“collection for the saints” (1 Cor. 16:1).
Some of the Jewish Christians living in
Jerusalem were poverty-striken, and it was
the apostle’s conviction that nancial help at
that time would carry them through the
critical experience. Paul was also wise
enough to know that the spiritual bene ts
derived from the project by the donors
would far outweigh the monetary worth of
the gift itself. He saw here the implications
of a communion of saints, and a reminder of
the greatness of divine grace. It is no
wonder then that he devoted such a large
amount of the epistle to the mundane
subject of fund-raising.
Various explanations have been o ered as
to what brought on this poverty situation at
Jerusalem. Some of these are mentioned
below:
Augustine suggests
that
the
poverty at Jerusalem was the
result of the community of goods
(Acts iv. 32)… without careful
organization of labour. … But
there were other causes. Jerusalem
had a pauperized population,
dependent on the periodical in ux
of visitors. The Jewish world, from
Cicero’s time at least, supported
the poor of Jerusalem by
occasional subventions. As the
Christian Jews came to be
regarded as a distinct body, they
would lose their share in these
doles; and the “communism” of
Acts iv. 32 was but a temporary
remedy. Most of the converts were,
therefore, poor at the outset. They
were probably “boycotted” and
otherwise persecuted by the
unconverted Jews (1 Thess. ii. 14;
Jas. ii. 6; v. 1-6), and their position
would be similar to that of Hindoo
Christians excluded from their
caste, or Protestants in the West of
Ireland.32
The setting is far removed from all of us,
but the timeless principles that are involved
bridge all the gaps. Observe in the passage
the two supreme examples: Christ’s gift (8:9)
and God’s gift (9:15).
C. CREDENTIALS OF PAUL’S MINISTRY
(10:1—13:10)
Paul devotes four chapters (or thirty
percent) of the entire letter to vindicating
his apostolic ministry. At one point in this
section he states bluntly why such a
vindication is necessary: “since you are
seeking for proof of the Christ who speaks in
me” (13:3). Not all the Corinthians were
guilty of such suspicion or antagonism. In
fact, most of them were with Paul, and were
anxious to support his ministry in every way
(read 7:16). The instigators of opposition to
Paul were men from outside the Corinthian
