2 Corinthians 8:18 Commentary and Bible Study

Verse 18 brings us to something which is curious at first but very instructive about the priority of the gospel. Human curiosity has always come to this verse and said – who was this second brother? And much of the print in the commentaries is dedicated to trying to decide who the second brother is who is not named. All kinds of suggestions are made. I suppose the most popular suggestion is Luke, but there are all kinds of reasons advanced why it could not have been Luke. And then Barnabas is advanced, but there are more reasons given as to why it could not have been Barnabas. Silas is proposed, but it is unlikely to have been Silas because he was already known to the Corinthians so he would not have been introduced in this manner as though he were a stranger to them. And then Aristarchus is suggested by many esteemed people, but there are reasons why it could not have been Aristarchus too, who incidentally was a Macedonian himself. In a sense, if you want a suggestion, the favourite is probably Tychicus, for the simple reason that nobody has got any reason why it should not be Tychicus, but that is not really a good reason for supposing it would have been him.Paul tantalising does not name the second brother. Neither does he name the third brother who is in the party, who is coming up in a moment. So the question is, ‘Why does he not name him?’, because he usually does name the messengers. The first suggestion made is that to name him might take away attention from Titus, and the point is being made that Titus is the official representative of the apostle.But even more important there are incidental things which are very important and if you named the person, you might just obscure them. The first and the chief one is this – ‘We have sent with him, the brother [unnamed], whose praise is in the gospel throughout all the churches’, which means, who is praised for his preaching and upholding of the gospel by all the churches that he has hitherto visited. Among those churches he is acclaimed as a gospel man. He preaches frequently and constantly, persuasive, clear gospel sermons, calling to sinners to repent, exhorting, remonstrating, appealing to them. But why do you need a gospel man, we might ask, to collect money for the relief of Jerusalem, which is where the people of God who are very numerous are in poverty? Why do you want a Gospel man? Well, for the reason that this brother, this unnamed brother, will clearly also be preaching and ministering as well as collecting. But for other reasons too: because it shows his heart and because the Bible, the New Testament, the apostle Paul, does not want relief work ever to become as important or more important than the gospel. So they make sure they have somebody who is first and foremost known for his concern for the gospel and his preaching of the gospel. He will not go out of balance; he will not drift from the mark; he will not get it wrong.