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2 Corinthians 08 General Notes
Structure and formatting
Chapters 8 and 9 begin a new section dealing with the gift from the churches in Greece to the poor believers in Jerusalem.
Some translations set apart quotations of the Old Testament by indenting them. The ULB and other English translations indent the words in 8:15 that are quoted from the Old Testament.
Special concepts in this chapter
Gift to the church in Jerusalem
The church in Corinth started preparing a gift of money for the poor believers in Jerusalem. The churches in Macedonia also have given generously. Now, Paul is sending Titus and two other believers to Corinth to encourage the Corinthians to give generously. Paul and the others will carry the money to Jerusalem because they want people to know that it is being done honestly.
Other possible translation difficulties in this chapter
We
It is likely that Paul's usage of the pronoun "we" represents at least Timothy and himself. It is possible that it may also include other people.
The use of paradox
A paradox is a seemingly absurd statement that appears to contradict itself, but it is not absurd. This sentence in 8:2 is a paradox: "the abundance of their joy and the extremity of their poverty have produced great riches of generosity." In 8:3 Paul explains how their poverty produced riches. Paul also uses riches and poverty in other paradoxes. (2 Corinthians 8:2)