Paul revealed his plan to visit Corinth soon after Titus and his two companions arrived to motivate the Corinthians further to complete their collection and have it ready to go to Judea. Chapter 9 continues the subject of chapter 8.
9:1 Even though Paul said he felt no need to go on writing about the importance of this collection, he did so in this chapter. However the emphasis in the verses that follow is primarily on Paul's plan to come to them. It is only secondarily on the additional motivation this visit placed on the readers to get the collection ready (cf. Phile. 21-22).
9:2 Paul said he told the Macedonians that the Corinthians had been ready a year ago. Evidently he meant that they had been ready to start collecting a gift rather than that their gift was ready to go to Judea (8:6, 10). Their enthusiasm a year ago had diminished since then (8:11), but they had been eager to participate in the offering project. It is this initial attitude that Paul commended here. Apparently the Corinthian Christians were taking the lead in their province that also included churches in Cenchrea and probably other communities. This explains his reference to Achaia.
9:3-4 Paul planned to bring some Macedonians with him to Corinth. The "if"does not imply doubt about this possibility in the Greek text. The first class condition in the Greek text describes a condition Paul assumed to be true for the sake of the argument. In this case we could translate the Greek word for "if"as "when"(cf. John 12:32; 1 John 2:28). Nevertheless there was a possibility that Paul and his Macedonian companions might find the Corinthians unprepared when they arrived. Paul evidently mentioned his intention as an added inducement for the Corinthians to complete their collection.
"There were two situations Paul wished to avoid. One was that his repeated and confident boast to the Macedonians about the Corinthians' eagerness to help' (v. 2) and their expected readiness' on his arrival should turn out to be without foundation (v. 3). The other was that when the delegates of the Macedonian churches (not to be confused with the two companions of Titus) arrived at Corinth with Paul on his forthcoming visit (12:14; 13:1-2), the Corinthians would be still unprepared and this would lead to his acute embarrassment--not to mention that of the Corinthians themselves (v. 4)."234
"He is not afraid that they will refuse to give, but he is afraid that they may be dilatory for want of organization. It will produce a bad impression if the money is not ready when it is wanted. He carefully limits his anxiety to this particular.'"235
9:5 The brethren in view here are Titus and his two companions. The Greek word translated "bountiful gift"(eulogian, lit. good word) usually reads "blessing"elsewhere. The Corinthians' gift would be a blessing to the Judeans. That is, it would be an occasion for the Jerusalem believers to bless or thank God for their gift. The word also implies a sizable blessing. Paul assumed that his readers would collect a substantial sum of money and that generosity rather than covetousness would motivate them. Paul was contrasting two attitudes to giving, generously or grudgingly, rather than two ways of securing the gift, simple reception or extortion.
The subtle pressure that Paul put on his readers, which comes through especially forcefully in this section, raises a question as to his method of motivating his readers. Was he making it almost impossible for them to give from proper motives by stressing lesser motivating factors so strongly? Evidently Paul realized that the Corinthians might not follow through with their commitment unless they wanted to do so very strongly. After all, they had procrastinated a full year. The fact that he motivated them from several different directions does not indicate that what he presented as the proper primary motivation for giving in chapter 8 is secondary. If his primary arguments failed by themselves, these secondary arguments would add force and hopefully move his readers to do what was right.
"So far from opportunistically playing off one church against another, as is often concluded from this passage, Paul is, rather, seeking to preserve the reputation of the Corinthians in a situation of potential misunderstanding in which they would have lost face."236
