2 Corinthians 8:10

And herein I give my judgment: for this is expedient for you, who were the first to make a beginning a year ago, not only to do, but also to will.

Expedient for you ... Paul ever had in mind the best interests of his converts; and, regardless of what they may have thought about it, it was to their advantage to acquire and improve the grace of giving.

A year ago ... As Hughes supposed, "It would seem that their original zeal in this matter had flagged."[17] He further suggested that this slackening zeal might have been due to natural apathy, or to mistrust of Paul induced by false teachers; but the simple fact of Corinth having been a troubled, factious and sinful congregation was more than enough to have diminished their interest in any kind of giving to further the work of the Lord. When trouble strikes a church, the collection is the first thing to suffer.

"It was about a year before this that Paul in his first epistle had suggested the contribution; ... and they had begun to obey."[18] This obvious reference to 1Corinthians shows how little need there is to suppose that there was a "severe letter" in the interim. The blame which Paul tactfully imputed to the Corinthians here is inherent in the fact of their having been the first to act, apparently with enthusiasm; but they had suddenly grown cold. Paul's mention of his not "commanding" them carried the implication that it was then merely a matter of their doing what they had already promised and committed themselves to do.

[17] Philip E. Hughes, op. cit., p. 303.

[18] Adam Clarke, op. cit., p. 349.