Useful Bible Studies > 2 Corinthians Commentary > chapter 8
Titus had only just come from Corinth to see Paul. Now Titus was going back to Corinth at once. The plan was that Titus would go there ahead of Paul, to prepare the church for Paul’s arrival.
On his previous visit to Corinth, Titus had shown that he had the skills to make arrangements between people in churches. Several years later, Paul asked Titus to use the same skills to organise the churches on the island called Crete (see the Book of Titus). For now, however, Titus’ task was to arrange the collection of a large gift.
The purpose of that gift was to help the poor Christians in Judea. More than a year earlier, Corinth’s Christians had decided that they wanted to give*. At that time, Paul was in Ephesus. He sent Corinth’s Christians instructions about how they should collect the money*. The intention was to bring together the gifts from the churches in Galatia and Macedonia, with the gift from Corinth. A large group of Christians would then travel together to take all the gifts to Judea*. Paul travelled with them.
Paul did not want to collect the people’s gifts himself when he came to Corinth. He would only spend 3 months there, during the Winter*. He needed to use that time well, to declare God’s message and to make Corinth’s church stronger*.
So, Paul needed to send someone else to collect the gift. Titus had begun to do that when he was previously in Corinth. Paul wanted Titus to complete that task, and Titus was eager to do it*. So, Titus returned to Corinth.
Next part: Paul’s opinion about the church at Corinth (8:7)
* See complete article for these Bible references.
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