“All Or Nothing”

Friday, January 24, 2014

In 2 Cor. 9:12-14, who is the ‘all’ he is speaking about in verse 13 when he says that the liberality of your contribution is given to them and to ‘all’?

Sincerely,
All Confused

Dear All Confused,

2 Corinthians 9 is discussing the kind and generous giving of the christians from Corinth.  Paul had requested that the congregations in Galatia, Macedonia, and Achaia take up a collection for the needy christians in Judea (1 Cor 16:1-5).  Paul was hoping that the Corinthians would stand by their promise to give liberally to the needy saints.  Paul reminded them to be cheerful givers (2 Cor 9:5-8).  He spent the rest of chapter nine exhorting them that their gift would do much good and bring glory to God (2 Cor 9:10-12).  The ‘all’ referred to in 2 Cor 9:13 is in reference to how the Judean christians would give thanks for the much-needed financial relief and also glorify God for the good that was done by the Corinthian church to ‘all’ the needy saints – not just those in Judea.  Since the Corinthians behaved with such brotherly kindness to the once-despised Jews (Corinth was a primarily Gentile congregation), they would not likely refuse to do good to ‘all’ needy saints.

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