It might surprise you to learn that while Americans are some of the richest people in the world, Christian Americans are unlikely to give to their church. According to Grey Matter Research and Infinity Concepts, 26 percent of American evangelicals do not give any money to church.[1] The same study reveals that 42 percent of American evangelicals who do give to church give only 1 percent or 2 percent of their income.[2] While we are among the richest people in the world, we give very little of that money to a local church to support godly ministries.
In one of Paul’s letters to the Corinthians[3] he praises one group of churches that did not have much money, yet they gave a lot. The Roman province of Macedonia was an area that Paul visited on his second missionary journey. While on that second missionary journey one of the churches provided substantial financial support to Paul (Phil 4:15-20). When Paul was writing instructions to the Corinthian church about giving, he declares the Macedonian churches a great example of giving based on their circumstances (2 Corinthians 8:1-2). Paul essentially says that even though they were extremely poor, they gave to Paul. Next Paul moves on to describe the Macedonians’ contribution (2 Cor 8:3-5).
Paul writes that the Macedonian church gave more than necessary, “For I testify that according to their ability, and beyond their ability” (2 Corinthians 8:3a). The word “for” is the Greek word hoti which is a causal word that introduces evidence in 2 Corinthians 8:3-5 for the Macedonian churches’ generosity described in 2 Corinthians 8:1-2.
Paul then says the Macedonian church gave without anyone asking them, “they gave of their own accord” (2 Corinthians 8:3b). The word “accord” is the Greek word authairetos which is used two times in the New Testament (here and 8:14). This word “pertains to being self-chosen.”[4] It describes a voluntary free-will decision to commit to an action. In other words, the Macedonians gave spontaneously without prompting and without pressure from others.
Paul continues and declares that the Macedonian churches gave and wanted to continue giving, “begging us with much urging for the favor of participation in the support of the saints” (2 Corinthians 8:4).Apparently the Macedonian churches asked to participate because they wanted to give. They saw giving not as an obligation but a privilege in spite of their poorness (2 Cor 8:2). Have you ever heard someone beg for an opportunity to give? That’s what the Macedonian churches did!
Paul reveals that the Macedonian churches gave more money than expected and they gave more than just financial aid, “and this, not as we had expected, but they first gave themselves to the Lord and to us by the will of God” (2 Corinthians 8:5). Perhaps the Macedonians provided financial aid to Paul but also personally helped him with giving gifts or belongings that he might have needed. They were whole-heartedly dedicated to Paul and the spread of the gospel.
As we read about the Macedonian example of giving we learn that giving is something we do even when we don’t have much. Paul is using an argument style that was common in Jewish life as well as Greco-Roman life that we now call “from the lesser to the greater.”[5] His message to the church in Corinth was that if the poor destitute churches of Macedonia can give so much from so little, how much more should the Corinthians give from their position of wealth! This is an encouragement for us to give to others no matter how much or how little we have.
[1] “The Tithing Tenth,” Christianity Today, January-February 2022, p. 22.
[2] Ibid.
[3] The apostle Paul wrote four letters to the believers in Corinth. We don’t have the first letter Paul wrote to the Corinthians (1 Cor 5:9). The second is 1 Corinthians which was written from Ephesus (1 Cor 16:8). The third was a “sharp letter” Paul wrote and was carried by Titus (2 Cor 7:8-12), but we don’t have it. 2 Corinthians is technically Paul’s fourth letter that was written seven months after 1 Corinthians.
[4] William Arndt, Frederick W. Danker, Walter Bauer, and F. Wilbur Gingrich, A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2000), 150.
[5] In Hebrew it was called qal wahomer. In Latin it was called a minore ad maius.