‘Οὐ κατ’ ἐπιταγὴν λέγω.’ Paul’s Fundraising Appeal in 2 Corinthians 8:7-12 and Implications for the Church Today

Abstract

At a time when Christian preachers employ all forms of gimmicks to persuade people to give, examining Paul’s model of appeal in the collection for the saints, particularly 2 Corinthians 8:7–12, would prove helpful. Paul avows that he is not commanding the Corinthians and takes pains to demonstrate that. This paper, therefore, employed a lexico-grammatical method of exegesis to explore Paul’s preferred approach and what it portends for the church’s rhetoric at fundraising towards ensuring results, on one hand, and integrity, on the other hand. It discovered that for Paul and Christian giving in general, sounding authoritative while calling for funds would inadvertently compromise the ethics of freewill giving, which is at the core of Christian generosity. Rather an appeal to the people’s gracious endowments, the earnestness of their love, free will and proportionate giving would be more fruitful and girded with integrity; the kind of giving acceptable to God. Keywords: Corinthians, Freewill Giving, Fundraising, Paul’s Collection, Proportionate Giving