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 ... 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. .. 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... 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