In these chapters Paul talks at length about giving, three whole chapters are devoted to the topic. Paul is coordinating a contribution among his churches to meet the needs of churches who are experiencing hardship. The Corinthian church had promised to participate in the collection, and Paul is encouraging them to follow through. In asking for this Paul spends a lot of time describing the spirituality of giving and its role in Christian life and fellowship.
Perhaps the most famous passage from these chapters is Paul's description of a "cheerful giver":
Each person should do as he has decided in his heart—not reluctantly or out of compulsion, since God loves a cheerful giver. (2 Cor. 9.7)
But I think the most fascinating text comes a chapter earlier, a passage where Paul describes his "principle of equality" among the churches and Christian believers:
And in this matter I am giving advice because it is profitable for you, who began last year not only to do something but also to want to do it. Now also finish the task, so that just as there was an eager desire, there may also be a completion, according to what you have. For if the eagerness is there, the gift is acceptable according to what a person has, not according to what he does not have. It is not that there should be relief for others and hardship for you, but it is a question of equality. At the present time your surplus is available for their need, so that their abundance may in turn meet your need, in order that there may be equality. As it is written: "The person who had much did not have too much, and the person who had little did not have too little." (2 Cor. 8.10-15)
"It is a question of equality."
"In order that there may be equality."
The word "equality," so powerful in our own time and place, is used only three times in the New Testament, and two of those times occur right here in this passage. The other reference comes from Colossians 4.1, where masters are asked to treat their bondservants "justly and fairly/equitably" because masters have their own master in heaven. Here in 2 Corinthians, though, the equality is economic in nature, financial proportionality between Christians.
Basically, Paul argues that there shouldn't be wealth disparities among Christians, no haves and have-nots in the Kingdom of God. This is as radical a notion as the Old Testament vision of the year of Jubilee, where debt slaves were set free every fifty years, but it gets far less attention and conversation. According to Paul, any fiscal surplus I currently have is "available" to meet the needs of others so that, at a later time, should I find myself in want, the excess of others will "in turn" be available to meet my needs. The goal is "equality," were resources are shared back and forth in an economy of giving.
To underline the principle of equality, Paul harkens back to the collection of manna in Exodus 16.18. Here's that passage in context:
This is what the Lord has commanded: ‘Everyone is to gather as much as they need. Take an omer [scholars estimate this to be about 3 lbs.] for each person you have in your tent.’”
The Israelites did as they were told; some gathered much, some little. And when they measured it by the omer, the one who gathered much did not have too much, and the one who gathered little did not have too little. Everyone had gathered just as much as they needed.
Then Moses said to them, “No one is to keep any of it until morning.”
However, some of them paid no attention to Moses; they kept part of it until morning, but it was full of maggots and began to smell. So Moses was angry with them.
This is an interesting text for Paul to cite. The "equality" here is divinely enforced, it's not an act of charity. Gather much or gather little, everyone gets the same. God dictates an economy of equality. Consequently, Paul seems to cite this text not as an example of giving but as God's vision for human fiscal relations--specifically, equality. In the Kingdom of God there should be no one who has "too much" in relation to those who have "too little." And to accomplish this vision in the Kingdom of God, Paul encourages the church into practices of radical sharing.
Through cheerful giving, says Paul, there should be fiscal equality among the children of God.
