8:16. Titus with the same keen interest in your welfare as I have. For he has been so much encouraged that he is more than eager to visit you of his own accord. And we are sending with him our brother whose fame in spreading the Good News is in all the Churches. And not only so. For he is also the one who has been selected by the Churches to accompany us on our journey to Jerusalem when we take this expression of your generosity, whose collection we are superintending, that the Lord may be honored and our readiness to so honor him shown. We are taking special care that no one should find fault with us in the superintendence of this great collection. For we are making arrangements which are honorable, not only in the sight of God, but also in that of men. We are sending with Titus and the brother just named, another brother whose earnestness we have often put to the test in many ways, and we now find him even more zealous than ever for the work among you, because of his great confidence in you. If you wish to know about Titus, he is my associate and fellowlaborer in your interest. If you wish to know about our brothers, they are delegates of the Churches and an honor to Christ. So give them and the Churches which they represent a proof of your love, and show how well founded is my boasting about you. 2 COR. 9: 1. COLLECTION FOR CHRISTIANS. 105 It is needless for me to write to you about the collection for your fellow-Christians. For I know your willingness to help, and am always making it the occasion of boasting about you to the Macedonians. I tell them that you in Greece have been ready for a year past. And your zeal has been an incentive to most of them. I am sending our brothers, then, so that what we said about you may not prove to be an empty boast, and to enable you to be as well prepared as I have been saying you are. And I am doing this the more, so that, if any Macedonians should come with me, and find you unprepared, we, on our part, to say nothing of you, may not feel ashamed of our present confidence. So I think it necessary to urge our brothers to visit you in advance of myself, and arrange for the completion of the gift which you have already promised. Then it will be ready as a gift should be, and will not look as if it were being given under pres sure. But remember this: He who sows sparingly, Will reap also bountifully. For Let each one give just as he has previously resolved, not grudgingly, or as under pressure. it is the cheerful giver whom God loves. And God 9:8. is able to give you an abundance of his every blessing so that your every want may in every respect and at all times be abundantly supplied, and, as a result, you may give abundantly to every worthy cause. Just as it is written : He scattered broadcast, he gave to the poor. His goodness continues forever. Now he who abundantly supplies seed to the sower, And bread for food, Will supply and multiply your seed sown, ness. So, then, being made rich in everything, you are rich, also, in every kind of generosity. And it is that which, through us, is calling out thanksgiving to God. For the rendering of this service not only supplies the necessities of your fellow-Christians, but it also results in abundant thanksgivings to God. For through the evidence afforded by the service you thus render, you cause them to praise God for your fidelity to your profession of faith in the Good News of the Christ, as well as for your generosity in sharing with them and with everybody. In their prayers also for you, they express their longing to see you, because of God's surpassing goodness as displayed in you. Thanks be to God for his indescribable gift. 2 COR. 10: 1. MEEK BUT MIGHTY. 107 Now I, Paul, myself, beg you by the meekness and gentleness of the Christ, I, who while among you am abjectly humble in my bearing towards you, but, when away from you, am bold in my language to you,‚—I beg you not to make me show my boldness, when I am again with you, by the confident bearing which I calculate I shall venture to adopt towards some of you who calculate that we are living as if we are under the influence of our carnal nature. We have a carnal nature, but our method of waging war against sin is not determined by it. For our weapons of war are not carnal, but are wonderfully effective for the overthrow of the fortresses of evil. And we effectively overthrow hostile arguments and every barrier raised against the knowledge of God. And if any one is devising evil against the Christ we cause him to desist from his purpose and to submit to him. And we are fully prepared to punish every act of disobedience when once your obedience has in every way been made complete. For You look at the outward appearance of things. If any one considers himself Christ's, let him think it over again in his own mind and come to the conclusion that just as he is Christ's so also are we. even if I boast too much about our authority which the Lord gave us for the purpose of building you up and not for the purpose of tearing you down, I 10: 8. am not ashamed. seem as if I am overawing you by means of my letters. For "His letters," they say, "are impressive and vigorous, but his bodily appearance is weak, and his speaking contemptible." Let any one who says such a thing as that be assured of this, that what the words of our letters show us to be when away from you, that also will our deeds show us to be when with you. For we have not the audacity to class ourselves or compare ourselves with some of those who indulge in self-recommendation. On the other hand, when such as they are, measure themselves by themselves, and compare themselves with themselves, they show a lack of discernment. We, though, will make no boast which goes beyond the limits of our own work. On the contrary, we will confine ourselves to the limits of the sphere to which God limited us when he permitted us to come as far as Corinth. For we are not overreaching ourselves as we would be doing if we were not in the habit of coming to you. For, not only is this the case, but it is also the fact, that we were the first to reach you with the Good News of the Christ. We are not, then, unreasonably laying claim to other men's labors. But it is our hope that, with the increase of your faith, our influence among you may be very greatly extended within the sphere of our activity. For in this I say this so that it may not |