But thanks [be] to God, who gives the same diligent zeal for you in the heart of Titus.
Paul has been urging the Corinthians to finish the gift they promised for poor believers in Jerusalem. Now he turns to the men who will carry it. His first word is not praise for Titus but thanks to God, because the care in Titus' heart came from God.
So where did that eagerness come from? Paul gives the credit to God's grace.
The apostle thankfully acknowledged the grace of God, which gave Titus the same eager feeling for the Corinthian saints that he himself had in this matter. So Titus met Paul's wish. Yet he was so eager that he needed no asking, and was ready to set out to them on his own.
The verse says the care was the same. It was not a weaker copy of Paul's concern. One writer ties it back to what Paul wrote earlier in this letter.
He can thank God that the same care that filled his own heart for the people of God also filled the heart of Titus (compare verse 16 with 2 Corinthians 7:12).
This changes how the Corinthians should welcome him. Titus arrives carrying more than an apostle's instructions.
God had put into the heart of Paul's true fellow worker a zeal which went beyond his own wish. So if Titus came to them again, they should regard him less as Paul's messenger than as God's.
Paul had urged Titus to go. Titus accepted — and would have gone anyway.
In verse 16 Paul thanks God for putting such concern for the Corinthians in the heart of Titus that he was willing to go to them, even without Paul urging him. So Titus gladly received Paul's call to go, and went of his own accord. No doubt this applies to the recent visit of Titus. It also applies to his willingness to return to Corinth with this present letter.
The care God gave Titus was for a plain job: collecting and delivering money. Three men took it on. None of them treated it as a step down.
Paul had urged Titus to take up this service, and he on his part did so with willingness and eagerness. He did not count a service of this kind as beneath him. Nor did the unnamed brother who was a gifted evangelist. Nor did the second unnamed brother of verse 22. He was a man of diligent zeal in many things, though perhaps not a gifted preacher, and not an apostle's delegate as Titus was. All three clearly saw that carrying and handling these funds was no small service. The gifts were an expression of divine love working in the hearts of the saints.
Titus did not go alone. Paul sent two other men with him.
In the rest of the chapter we see the Apostle's care that the handling of the saints' gifts should be above suspicion, not only in the sight of the Lord, but also in the sight of men.
Titus moved quickly. That mattered for a church that had been slow to finish what it promised.
Such a servant of the Lord as Titus answered the apostle's heart at once. How well suited that was to comfort the saints and to stir them up to a holy zeal! Paul and Titus were both confident that grace had truly worked in the Corinthians, whatever appearances suggested to those who judged on the surface. That grace would yet flow through them in abundance, to God's glory.
- Source. The care in Titus' heart did not start with Titus. God put it there, so Paul sends his thanks up to God, not across to Titus.
- Sameness. What God gave Titus was the very care that filled Paul — the same burden for the same people, in a second heart.
- Standing. The care came from God, so Corinth was to welcome Titus as God's messenger, not just Paul's errand-runner.
- Spontaneity. Titus said yes and needed no pushing. Care that comes from God shows itself in eagerness, not mere duty.
- Service. The task was handling other people's money for the poor. Titus and two other men treated it as work worthy of a servant of Christ, done openly before God and men.
For he received indeed the entreaty, but, being full of zeal, he went of his own accord to you;
Paul is raising a relief fund for poor believers in Jerusalem, and he asks Titus to finish the job at Corinth. This verse tells us how Titus took that request: he agreed to go, and his heart had already run ahead of the asking.
Paul had to urge the Corinthians about their promised gift. He did not have to urge the man he sent. Achaia is the region of Greece where Corinth stood.
The collection was for the poor Hebrews, but Paul sent a Greek to get it ready... Titus, whom the apostle asked to go ahead to Achaia, needed no pressing to take up this work. The Achaians were ready to promise; Titus was ready to go... He went when Paul asked him, but he went of his own accord. His heart anticipated the apostle's request.
The verse before this one credits God with putting that care into Titus. So Titus's readiness did not come from his own good nature.
Where did this readiness come from? Was it the natural kindness of the human heart bubbling up? The apostle traces it all to its right source — God. It was the grace of God given to the churches of Macedonia. It was God who put the same earnest care in the heart of Titus for the Achaians.
That also changes how the Corinthians should welcome him.
God had put into the heart of Paul's true fellow-worker a zeal which went beyond his own wish. So if Titus came to them again, they should regard him less as Paul's messenger than as God's.
The verse holds two things together that we often keep apart: Titus took the exhortation, and he moved on his own initiative.
In verse 16 Paul thanks God for having put in the heart of Titus such concern for the Corinthians that he was willing to go to them, even without being urged by Paul. So Paul's exhortation to him to go was gladly received, and Titus went of his own choice.
The same freedom runs through Paul's whole handling of the collection. He will not turn giving into a command, and he says why.
If we gave only because God commanded us to, we could no longer call our giving grace. It would be done under the compulsion of law. No, the eagerness and zeal of the Macedonians was meant only to stir them up. The giving he asked for was to be an expression and proof of their sincere and genuine love. Love always delights to give.
The job Titus hurried to was collecting and carrying money — work some would count beneath a servant like him.
Paul had urged Titus to take up this service, and he for his part did so with willingness and eagerness. He did not count a service of this kind as beneath him. Neither did the unnamed brother who was a gifted evangelist, nor the second unnamed brother of verse 22, a man of diligent zeal in many things... All three recognised that carrying and handling these funds was no small service. The money was given as an expression of divine love working in the hearts of saints.
Trusting the man did not mean sending him alone.
There can be no doubt that Paul had full confidence in Titus. Even so, he arranged for two other brothers to travel with him, to protect Titus and his reputation. That way at least two witnesses would confirm everything. He valued his fellow-worker Titus, and he did not want any shadow of suspicion to fall on him.
Titus arriving eager, not reluctant, was itself part of the appeal to Corinth.
It was well suited to comfort the saints and to stir them to a holy zeal, when a servant of the Lord like Titus responded so quickly to the apostle's heart. Both men were confident that grace had truly worked in the Corinthians. It would yet flow through them richly, to God's glory — whatever appearances suggested to those who judge only by the surface.
- God starts it. Paul traces the eagerness of Titus past his own character to its right source: God put that care in his heart.
- The heart runs ahead. He accepted the appeal, yet his heart had already run ahead of what Paul was about to ask.
- Grace takes no orders. Paul will not command, because giving under compulsion stops being grace and turns into law.
- Willing hands take low work. Titus and the gifted evangelist sent with him did not count the handling of other people's money beneath them.
- Trust still needs witnesses. Paul sent two brothers with Titus, so that no shadow of suspicion could fall on his fellow-worker.
but we have sent with him the brother whose praise [is] in the glad tidings through all the assemblies;
Paul sends a second man with Titus to Corinth. He never gives his name. He gives a reputation instead — praise in every church for gospel work. Who was he, and why send him at all?
The description was enough for the first readers. It is not enough for us. One writer runs through the guesses and settles none of them:
The Corinthians knew him so well by this description that they needed no name. Men of other times have found it so vague that it fits many people equally well, and no one in particular with any certainty. Of one thing we may be sure. Whether or not Luke was meant, the phrase "whose praise in the gospel" says nothing about his writing the inspired account of our Lord. That written account is what led many of the ancients to apply the description to him. It gives no more ground for him than it does for Mark. Some have suggested Barnabas and Silas, others Aristarchus, Gaius, Trophimus. But we do know this much: whoever he was, the assemblies chose him to travel with the apostle and the rest who were to carry the offering of love from the Gentile saints to their poor brothers in Judea.
Another writer stops guessing and asks what the praise itself points to:
Some have guessed at who he might have been, but let us leave him where this verse puts him — unnamed. He was praised, no doubt, for the ability and power with which he praised a Name. That Name is the very heart of the gospel: the Name of our Lord Jesus Christ.
His reputation was for gospel work, and it reached Corinth before he did:
In this happy service Titus had a companion who needed no commendation to their love. The Corinthians had heard of him: as an evangelist, every church knew him and praised him.
(Where the ESV says he was famous for his preaching, older translations read "whose praise is in the gospel" — the wording the writers here use.)
Money for the poor believers in Judea was passing through a few pairs of hands. Paul's answer to any whisper about it was more witnesses:
In the rest of the chapter we see the apostle's care that the handling of the gifts of the saints should be above suspicion — not only in the sight of the Lord, but also in the sight of men... So that all may be above suspicion or question, he sends two other brothers with Titus. One of them, note, has more than the apostle's approval: his praise is in all the assemblies, and the assemblies chose him to administer this bounty. The need of the saints is met, the glory of the Lord is maintained, and every occasion for question is avoided.
The next verse adds that the churches themselves chose him. One writer finds an older pattern behind that, and a line it must not cross:
Here we see an important principle in exact accordance with the direction the twelve apostles gave in Acts 6. The Christian people gave the money, so they were free to choose the administrators. This was as wise as it was gracious... But in no case did they interfere with the ministers of the word. These the Lord gave, not the church.
This is public honour for a servant of Christ. One writer weighs what to make of it:
But we must not forget there was a brother, whose name we do not know, whose praise in the gospel was in all the churches. I am sure he did not seek that praise, but he was a man whom the Lord delighted to honour. We seek the praise of God first, always. Even so, I judge, we need not ignore our brothers' praise altogether. But let us also remember how easy it is to have our eyes turned towards men rather than to our Lord alone.
- Praise, not name. Paul names no one. He points to a reputation for gospel work. Luke, Mark, Barnabas, Silas — every guess stays a guess.
- Praise earned. His fame came from preaching, so he needed no letter of introduction at Corinth.
- Praise trusted. Paul paired him with Titus so the money would be handled above suspicion — before men as well as before the Lord.
- Praise confirmed. The churches chose him. Those who give the money choose the men who carry it. Ministers of the word are a different matter: the Lord gives them.
- Praise received. He never chased the honour. The Lord delighted to honour him anyway.