them “in Christ,” even though he has every right as an apostle to do so. Here he exercises that right! Paul does not have a direct command from Christ concerning the collection, but he does have the example of the Macedonians on the one hand (8:1–8) and that of Jesus on the other (8:9). Since the Macedonians have graphically illustrated what an experience of God’s grace looks like in the life of believers, Paul can use their “earnestness” in giving as a criterion for “testing”12 the genuine nature