2 Corinthians 8:10

And herein I give my advice See 2 Corinthians 8:8.

for this Either (1) -that I advise and not command," or (2) -this proof of your love."

expedient Rather, profitable. The word expedientin the A.V. is never, as in modern English, opposed to right. See note on 1 Corinthians 6:12. Wiclif and the Rhemish Version render here by profitable. See Luke 16:9 and 1 Timothy 6:18-19.

begun before i.e. before the Macedonian Churches. See ch. 2 Corinthians 9:2.

but also to be forward Literally, to will (margin, be willing). There is much difference of opinion among the commentators concerning the apparent inversion of the natural order in this sentence. But it would seem that the Apostle, as we might expect from such passages as ch. 2 Corinthians 3:3; 2 Corinthians 3:6; Romans 7:6, &c., attaches more importance to the motivethan to the action. They not only had begun to do the work, but they had resolved to do so upon a full persuasion that it was the right thing to do. Their conduct was due to no mere transitory impulse, but was the deliberate conviction of the heart. To this "readiness to will" (see next two verses) the Apostle appeals, and invites them to further action on the ground that the principle on which they acted was just as true now as it had been in the previous year. See note on ch. 2 Corinthians 9:7.

a year ago Better, perhaps, last year (the former yeere. Wiclif; ab anno priore. Vulgate). St Paul probably speaks as a Jew. But it is uncertain whether he refers to the Jewish civil or ecclesiastical year, the former of which began with the month Tisri, answering to part of our September and October, the latter with the month Abib or Nisan. The former is more probable, for the Apostle must have been writing too near the commencement of the latter to give any force to his remark. See 1 Corinthians 16:5; 1 Corinthians 16:8, and ch. 2 Corinthians 2:12-13.