What does the above passage teach us?

Back to Study the Book of Second Corinthians

That the person who gives to the poor has an abiding righteousness and honour in the Presence of the Lord.

Paul is not concerned here about the support of the ministry. The eighth and ninth chapters of Second Corinthians have to do with giving to the poor, particularly the poor believers.

If Paul were referring to the support of the ministry he would have been using passages from Malachi, Exodus, Leviticus, or Nehemiah.

Perhaps today we need to pay more attention to aiding our fellow members of the Body of Christ and less attention to supporting various "Gospel" programs of dubious worth.

In any case, the application of the eighth and ninth chapters of Second Corinthians to the support of Gospel programs is at best a secondary application, and we must keep this in mind in order to correctly grasp Paul’s meaning.