Administering the Gift

9 Now concerning ^(A)the ministering to the saints, it is superfluous for me to write to you; ² for I know your willingness, about which I boast of you to the Macedonians, that Achaia was ready a ^(B)year ago; and your zeal has stirred up the majority. ^3 (C)Yet I have sent the brethren, lest our boasting of you should be in vain in this respect, that, as I said, you may be ready; ⁴ lest if some Macedonians come with me and find you unprepared, we (not to mention you!) should be ashamed of this ^[a]confident boasting. ⁵ Therefore I thought it necessary to ^[b]exhort the brethren to go to you ahead of time, and prepare your generous gift beforehand, which you had previously promised, that it may be ready as a matter of generosity and not as a ^[c]grudging obligation.

The Cheerful Giver

^6 (D)But this I say: He who sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and he who sows ^[d]bountifully will also reap ^[e]bountifully. ⁷ So let each one give as he purposes in his heart, ^(E)not grudgingly or of ^[f]necessity; for ^(F)God loves a cheerful giver. ^8 (G)And God is able to make all grace abound toward you, that you, always having all sufficiency in all things, may have an abundance for every good work. ⁹ As it is written:

¹⁰ Now ^[g]may He who ^(I)supplies seed to the sower, and bread for food, ^[h]supply and multiply the seed you have sown and increase the fruits of your ^(J)righteousness, ¹¹ while you are enriched in everything for all liberality, ^(K)which causes thanksgiving through us to God. ¹² For the administration of this service not only ^(L)supplies the needs of the saints, but also is abounding through many thanksgivings to God, ¹³ while, through the proof of this ministry, they ^(M)glorify God for the obedience of your confession to the gospel of Christ, and for your liberal ^(N)sharing with them and all men, ¹⁴ and by their prayer for you, who long for you because of the exceeding ^(O)grace of God in you. ¹⁵ Thanks be to God ^(P)for His indescribable gift!

A Pattern of Self-Denial

9 Am ^(A)I not an apostle? Am I not free? ^(B)Have I not seen Jesus Christ our Lord? ^(C)Are you not my work in the Lord? ² If I am not an apostle to others, yet doubtless I am to you. For you are ^(D)the ^[a]seal of my apostleship in the Lord.

³ My defense to those who examine me is this: ^4 (E)Do we have no ^[b]right to eat and drink? ⁵ Do we have no right to take along ^[c]a believing wife, as do also the other apostles, ^(F)the brothers of the Lord, and ^(G)Cephas? ⁶ Or is it only Barnabas and I ^(H)who have no right to refrain from working? ⁷ Who ever ^(I)goes to war at his own expense? Who ^(J)plants a vineyard and does not eat of its fruit? Or who ^(K)tends a flock and does not drink of the milk of the flock?

⁸ Do I say these things as a mere man? Or does not the law say the same also? ⁹ For it is written in the law of Moses, ^(L)“You shall not muzzle an ox while it treads out the grain.” Is it oxen God is concerned about? ¹⁰ Or does He say it altogether for our sakes? For our sakes, no doubt, this is written, that ^(M)he who plows should plow in hope, and he who threshes in hope should be partaker of his hope. ^11 (N)If we have sown spiritual things for you, is it a great thing if we reap your material things? ¹² If others are partakers of this right over you, are we not even more?

^(O)Nevertheless we have not used this right, but endure all things ^(P)lest we hinder the gospel of Christ. ^13 (Q)Do you not know that those who minister the holy things eat of the things of the ^(R)temple, and those who serve at the altar partake of the offerings of the altar? ¹⁴ Even so ^(S)the Lord has commanded ^(T)that those who preach the gospel should live from the gospel.