II. CORINTHIANS 8, 19. 209

This brother was entitled to confidence, and misfht safely be intrusted with the contributions of the Corinthians, not only on the ground of his general reputation, but also because he had been elected for the very purpose of taking charge, together with Paul, of the money collected for the saints. Chosen, X€ipoTovr)Su<;, literally, chosen by the stretching out the hand, therefore popularly. The word, however, is con- stantly used for selection or appointment without reference to the mode. Thus Josephus speaks of the king as having been vTTo Tov -^€011 Ke)^€LpoTovr)ixei'o<;. Ant. vi. 4. 2. See Wetstein. Of the churches, probably by the churches of Macedonia. To travel icith us, o-wckSt^/xos t7/xcoj/, i. e. elected our travelling com- panion. Acts 19, 29. With this grace. The word x^P^? means either the disposition, or that which is its expression or mani- festation, i. e. either kindness or a kindness. Any free gift is therefore a grace. Here the grace intended is the alms col- lected for the poor. Which is ministered by iis, i. e. of which we are the administrators. Paul had undertaken to adminis- ter the benefactions of the Gentile Christians among the brethren at Jerusalem, and the brother referred to had been chosen to travel with him and assist him in this service or ministry. To the glory of the same Lord^ i. e. of our common Lord. The natural construction of this clause is with the im- mediately preceding words. ' This gift is administered by us to the glory of the Lord.' The only objection to this is that it requires the preposition Trpos to be taken as expressing dif- ferent relations in the same sentence. 'Administered vrpos 8o^av .... Kttt TrpoSvfxiav v/xuiv (or, rjixdv), i. e. to promote the glory of the Lord and to prove your readiness.' Meyer and others therefore refer the clause to x^f-poTovrj&ei^ ; ' chosen that by his co-operation Christ may be honoured and my (rjp-Cjv) readiness to labour in the gospel, unincumbered by such cares, may have free scope.' But this is unnatural, and supposes too much to be supplied to make out the sense. If the common text, which reads vfxwv, be retained, the sense is plain as ex- pressed in our version. ' The ministration of this gift is for the manifestation of the glory of Christ and of your readiness or alacrity (in giving).' The oldest manuscripts as well as the ancient versions, however, read rnxCjv, which almost all the modern editors adopt. The sense then is, that the gift served to promote the glory of Christ and to prove the apostle's will- ingness to serve the poor.