inth arrived, they should find them unprepared, not so much to then- disgrace, as to his mortitication, vs. 1-4. He sent the brethren, therefore, that every thing they intended to do might be done in time, and be done cheerfully, v. 5. It was not only liberality, but cheerfulness in giving that the Lord required, vs. 6. 7. God who commanded them to give could and would supply their wants, and increase their graces. They would be the richer and the better for what they gave, vs. 8-10. What he had at heart was not so much that the temporal sufierings of the poor should be relieved, as that God might be glorified by the gratitude and mutual love of believ- ers, and by the exhibition of their Christian graces, vs. 10-14. What are our gifts to the i^oor compared to the gift of Christ to us? V. 15.
1. For as touching the ministering to the saints, it is superfluous for me to write to you.
This is not a new paragraph, much less, as some have con- jectured, a separate writing. It is intimately connected with the preceding. In the last verse of chapter 8, he exhorted them to receive the brethren with confidence, for indeed it is super- fluous to write about the collection. He exhorted them to show their love to the brethren who were to visit them, for they needed no exhortation to liberality. This is another of those exhibitions of urbanity and rhetorical skill with which the epistles of Paul abounds. The 8e answering to the /neV ot this verse is by some said to be found in verse 3. ' It is not necessary indeed to write, hut I send, &c.' Or, if the connec- tion between vs. 2 and 3 forbid this, the /xeV may be taken as standing alone, as in 1 Cor. 5, 3. 11, 18. So De Wette. Con- cerning the ministering (Trepl Trj<s SiaKovtas.) The word is often used not only for the ministry of the word, but also for the service rendered in the collection and distribution of alms. Acts 6, 1. 12, 25. Rom. 15, 31. To the saints. All believers are called aytot in the sense of sacred, i. e. separated from the world and consecrated to God, and as inwardly renewed and ' purified by the Holy Spirit. 8, 4. Acts 9, 13. Rom. 1,7. 8, 27. The saints referred to were of course the poor believers in Jerusalem for whose benefit Paul instituted this collection in the several churches which he had founded. 1 Cor. 16, 1-3. Jt is Siq^erfluolCS for rne {rr^pia-arov /xot Icrri) to icrite {to ypa</)eu',
the infinitive has the article because it is the subject of the