<p>8:11 <i>But now complete the doing also- </i>See on :10.</p><p><i>That as there was the willingness to want to give, so there may be the completion of the desire also, according to your ability- </i>Again there seems a contradiction; Paul has said that they began actually giving a year ago (:10), but now a verse later he downgrades that to saying that they had only expressed a willingness to give, and he urges them to now complete or (AV) 'perform' what they had intimated. We get the consistent impression of weak argumentation, because Paul is seeking by any means possible to get them to actually donate. &quot;according to your ability&quot; is an attempt to render a difficult and ambiguous Greek phrase; the GNB may be better with &quot;do it with what you now have&quot;, as if to say 'As you haven't been actually collecting funds, well OK, just give what you right now have in your pocket'. This would mean that his claim that they had begun 'actually giving' a year ago (:10) was at best exaggerated. The loose logic in argumentation arises it seems from a desire by all means to get something out of them, in order to make the grand concept come true- of Gentile Corinthian Christians giving funds towards the welfare of conservative orthodox Jewish Christians in Jerusalem.</p><p>Paul&rsquo;s focus upon the positive is really tremendous, especially coming from a man so far spiritually ahead of the weak Corinthians. He commends their &ldquo;readiness&rdquo; to donate, whilst pointing out they are more talk than action; and later speaks to others of &ldquo;<i>our</i> readiness&rdquo;, identifying himself with the Corinthian brethren whose lack of actual action had got him into so many problems in fulfilling what he had confidently promised on their behalf (2 Cor. 8:11,12,19). He even gloried to others of their &ldquo;readiness&rdquo; (2 Cor. 9:2), whilst clearly not turning a blind eye to their failure to actually produce anything concrete. &nbsp;</p><p>The allusion here may be to Mk. 12:43. Paul saw those generous ecclesias as the widow with one mite, and also as rich Mary giving what she had (Mk. 14:8 = 2 Cor. 8:11). This reveals his sensitivity; he knew some of them were poor, some rich. Yet he saw they were all making a real effort. And he understood this in terms of characters in the Gospels.&nbsp;</p>