In this and the next couple of chapters, St. Paul is preparing them for his next visit. That is why in this chapter we see him responding to several charges and suspicions which they have raised against him, and warns that he will exercise strict discipline if it is necessary when he arrives. We know that there were many detractors who came to Corinth and were casting doubt on his Apostleship. This is why he returns to his own defense in this chapter to defend his conduct and his authority. Regarding his conduct they accuse him of writing harsh letters and then being weak when he visited them in person. He explains that, in part, he does not want to use harshness in front of them. Regarding his authority, he says it is the same, in word, when absent, and when with them. When he is gentle in front of them it is a choice he is making and he pleads with them to not put him in a position to use his authority to discipline them to bring them back to Christ. When the false teachers evaluate themselves they do 2 things: 1) they set the measure, in other words they decide their standard by comparing themselves to themselves and 2) they compare themselves by themselves not by those who are superior to them. The result of these 2 things is that they are unwise because a person should evaluate themselves according to the measure of God and not a measure they set for themselves.

Chapter 8 is about the principles of giving. To ensure that he was not misunderstood in the last chapter of accusing the church in Corinth of being mean in giving, St. Paul presents an apology for his zeal in exhorting them to practice that grace (1-5). Then he goes on to give some instructions concerning the well-received gift, and how to practice it. While St. Paul writes about the collection for the Church in Jerusalem, he writes that he doesn’t need to bring it up because he knows of their willingness to send these contributions. He writes to them to ensure their gift is ready, while explaining their gift should be one of generosity and not one of compulsion. He did not want to show up and talk to them about contributions because if he did they might give them in front of him out of embarrassment and he did not want to put them in that position. Another reason is if they were not ready when he arrived it would be embarrassing for them (Corinth) and for St. Paul - imagine if some people from Macedonia came with him and saw the Corinthians were not ready. This would be embarrassing for them when they began the collection a year earlier. He also discussed the idea of sowing and reaping. We reap what we sow. So if we sow scarcely or abundantly that is what we will reap.

In the previous chapter, St. Paul continued a discussion about how we perfect our holiness, his joy at the Corinthians repenting, returning to God and the Church. He discussed Godly vs worldly sorrow and he shares his joy regarding their interactions with Titus.

St. Paul begins a new topic in this chapter. He discusses collecting donations for the Jerusalem church.

We previously discussed how collecting donations for that church accomplished many things including, helping those who were in need in Jerusalem, assists believers in living out their faith, and helps to grow relations between Churches who were mostly made up of Jewish followers of Christ with those who were mostly Gentile followers such as in Corinth.

The Corinthians had already agreed to help the Jerusalem church as he asked them in 1 Corinthians 16. However, the money had not been collected so with great care he brings it up again in this chapter offering them an opportunity to fulfill their commitment.

Remember, St. Paul’s whole goal with this epistle is to get peace back and reconcile the people with him. In the last chapter he was speaking to the people who felt alienated. Telling them to come back to Church and that if they do not come back to church, they will end up joining a different community, away from God. He reminded them that they are different people now. They have been baptized and follow Christ so they cannot go back and follow one of those communities because you can’t have fellowship with them anymore. You have been transformed and no longer have anything in common with those people, those who worship pagan gods.

In other words, he appealed to them to not associate with the world. He continues this idea at the beginning of this chapter. St. Paul begins by talking about how we perfect our holiness, then his joy at the Corinthians repenting and returning to God and the Church. He discusses Godly vs worldly sorrow and he shares his joy regarding their interactions with Titus.

In this chapter St. Paul speaks about his spiritual ministry, the sacrifice he is making for the Gospel, and about his authenticity as an apostle, because he wants the Corinthians to believe in his message - he is an authentic apostle and this message he delivers comes directly from Christ.

This is important because there are a number of false prophets who are jealous of St. Paul and speak out against him, so the more people trust in him, the more they will listen to his message which is the message of salvation.

St. Paul has been defending his apostleship and explaining the nature of his service. In chapter 4 he explained that in spite of the suffering, in spite of the false accusations, in spite of hardships he faces he will not lose heart/hope. In this chapter he gives some reasons why he will continue to be hopeful. He says that even if they killed him (tent) he will be raised with the glorious body (a house not made with hands but prepared by God). He is confident we will go to heaven and be raised with Christ. This confidence is based on the Lord giving us the Holy Spirit as a guarantee. Here in the flesh we see God by faith, not by our eyes but when we are raised we see Him face-to-face. This is why we walk by faith here. He discusses how we must live our life and remember that eventually we will be raised before the throne of God and give an account of ourselves.

Near the end of the chapter he reflects on his ministry. Knowing that he will be before God to be judged keeps him motivated to preach about Christ and to persuade people. It is not just the fear of God but his love of Christ that compels him. Also, he does not judge people on their appearance because he knows once people accept Christ they are a new creation in Him.

Having talked about the mutual relationships of love between the shepherd and his flock (Chapter 2), and having revealed the glory of the ministry of the New Covenant, entrusted to him (Chapter 3). Here St. Paul continues to discuss his ministry, and the importance of faithfulness in ministry amid labors and afflictions. And warns the Corinthians about getting distracted by the devil to focus on this world which is temporary and get pulled away from Christ, who is eternal.

In this chapter, St. Paul reveals that the ministry of the New Covenant is a ministry of the Spirit that grants life; and not a ministry of the deadly letter, which is the Old Covenant, the law of Moses. St. Paul presents a comparison between the gospel of the New Testament and the literalness of the law, without denigrating the law in itself. He also shared that there is glory in the Old Covenant but it is not comparable to the glory with Christ.

The ministry of the New Covenant is not formal like a teacher giving something to his disciples, but a ministry of love. St. Paul bears his disciples in his heart, to become his readable message by all people. Reading the heart of Paul, all would find the souls ministered by Christ inscribed by the Holy Spirit. His ministry is a reflection of the glory of God. The ministry of the New Covenant is an entrance to eternal glory. There is no comparison between the splendor of the glory of the righteousness of Christ, and the glory of the mortal face of Moses.

Additionally, we take a moment to discuss St. Paul's view of the Law of Moses in the context of Jewishness.