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1. Ministering. Here referring still to the offering.

It is superfluous. The line of thought begun in ch. 8:1 continues without interruption. In ch. 9 Paul adds further exhortation concerning the collection for the poor at Jerusalem. Lest the Corinthians feel that Paul dwells at unnecessary length on the subject, he explains the reason for writing so fully about it. Their plans a year ago had been interrupted by dissension and party spirit that had arisen between members in Corinth. In the meantime, by way of encouraging the churches of Macedonia to respond in a similar way, Paul had pointed to the original readiness of the Corinthians to participate in the project. Unless the believers at Corinth should complete the collection without further delay, it would appear to the Macedonians that Paul’s boasting to them of the Corinthians was baseless. This verse is a subtle and courteous way both of expressing confidence in their readiness to proceed at once with the collection and of inspiring them to do so, thus vindicating Paul’s confidence in them (cf. 1 Thess. 4:9).