2 Corinthians 8:2

trial The Greek word is always used of that which has been tried and has stood the test See notes on 1 Corinthians 11:19 and James 1:12 in this series. The meaning here is that tribulation has brought out the genuine Christian qualities of the Macedonian Churches. For this tribulation see 1 Thessalonians 1:6; 1 Thessalonians 2:14; Acts 17:5.

affliction Translated more usually tribulation. See note on ch. 2 Corinthians 1:4. The Apostle refers to the persecutions which they shared with him, which, if not endured in the proper spirit, would have shut them up in the contemplation of their own sorrows, instead of making them anxious to relieve those of others.

the abundance of their joy and their deep poverty Cf. 1 Corinthians 1:26. "In spite of their troubled condition they had displayed great joyfulness, and in spite of their poverty they had displayed great liberality." De Wette. The Geneva Version instead of -deep poverty" has the poverty which had consumed them even to the very bottom. The literal rendering of deepis down to the depth, or according to depth. "Munificence," says Chrysostom, "is determined not by the measure of what is given, but by the mind of those who bestow it." Cf. Luke 21:3. "The condition of Greece in the time of Augustus was one of great desolation and distress … It had suffered severely by being the seat of the successive civil wars between Caesar and Pompey, between the triumvirs and Brutus and Cassius, and lastly, between Augustus and Antonius … The provinces of Macedonia and Achaia petitioned in the reign of Tiberius for a diminution of their burdens, and were considered deserving of compassion." Arnold's Roman Commonwealth. Corinth (see Introduction to First Epistle), from its position, would no doubt recover more speedily from such a condition of depression.

the riches of their liberality (singleness, Tyndale and Cranmer, simplicity, Rhemish, after Vulgate). It is worth remarking that nowhere, save in 1 Timothy 6:17, does St Paul use the word richesof material, but, with that one exception, solely of moral or spiritual wealth. Dean Stanley remarks on the fact that both the Greek word translated liberality, and its English equivalent, have a double meaning, the original meaning of the Greek word being singlettess of heart, absence of all selfish motives (see ch. 2 Corinthians 1:12), and that of the English word the habit of mind engendered by a state of freedom.