Superfluous (). All the same he does write. “The writing” ( ) ought to be superfluous.

Fuente: Robertson’s Word Pictures in the New Testament

1) “For as touching,” (peri men gar) “For indeed concerning,” with reference or relation to – to show that the matter is right and needful at this time, Act 20:35.

2) “The ministering to the saints “ (tes diakonias tes eis tous hagious) “the ministry to the saints,” the needy saints at Jerusalem, the collection for them, Act 11:29; Rom 15:26.

3) “It is superfluous for me to write to you “ (perisson moi esten to graphein humin) “it is superfluous for me to write to you all,” to you who were really the first church to make a beginning to raise special alms help for the poor brethren of Judea, 2Co 8:10; 1Th 4:9; Gal 2:10; Act 24:17.

Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary

This statement may seem at first view to suit ill, or not sufficiently well, with what goes before; for he seems to speak of a new matter, that he had not previously touched upon, while in reality he is following out the same subject. Let the reader, however, observe, that Paul treats of the very same matter that he had been treating of before — that it was from no want of confidence that he exhorted the Corinthians, and that his admonition is not coupled with any reproof as to the past, but that he has particular reasons that influence him. The meaning, then, of what he says now is this: “I do not teach you that it is a duty to afford relief to the saints, for what need were there of this? For that is sufficiently well known to you, and you have given practical evidence that you are not prepared to be wanting to them; (704) but as I have, from boasting everywhere of your liberality, pledged my credit along with yours, this consideration will not allow me to refrain from speaking.” But for this, such anxious concern might have been somewhat offensive to the Corinthians, because they would have thought, either that they were reproached for their indolence, or that they were suspected by Paul. By bringing forward, however, a most, suitable apology, he secures for himself the liberty of not merely exhorting them, without giving offense, but even from time to time urging them.

Some one, however, may possibly suspect, that Paul here pretends what he does not really think. This were exceedingly absurd; for if he reckons them to be sufficiently prepared for doing their duty, why does he set himself so vigorously to admonish them? and, on the other hand, if he is in doubt as to their willingness, why does he declare it to be unnecessary to admonish them? Love carries with it these two things, — good hope, and anxious concern. Never would he have borne such a testimony in favor of the Corinthians, had he not been fully of the mind that he expresses. He had seen a happy commencement: he had hoped, that the farther progress of the matter would be corresponding; but as he was well aware of the unsteadiness of the human mind, he could not provide too carefully against their turning aside from their pious design.

1. Ministering. This term seems not very applicable to those that give of their substance to the poor, inasmuch as liberality is deserving of a more splendid designation. (705) Paul, however, had in view, what believers owe to their fellowmembers. (706) For the members of Christ ought mutually to minister to each other. In this way, when we relieve the brethren, we do nothing more than discharge a ministry that is due to them. On the other hand, to neglect the saints, when they stand in need of our aid, is worse than inhuman, inasmuch as we defraud them of what is their due.

(704) “ Ou vous espargner en leur endroit;” — “Or to spare yourselves as to what you owe them.”

(705) “ Vn titre plus magnifique et honorable;” — “A more magnificent and honorable designation.”

(706) “ Ceux qui sont membres d’vn mesme corps auec eux;” — “Those that are members of the same body with themselves.”

Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary

THE SUPERIOR GRACE

2 Corinthians 8, 9

IN the content of these two chapters we have Pauls counsel on a subject of first concern to every local church. Paul was a peripatetica travelling evangelist, but he had the heart of a pastor. On that account there were times when he settled down for a one, a two, and on one occasion, a three year work at a single center (Act 20:31). But while even his longest pastorates were short, he reckoned himself an overseer of all the churches that he originated, and even a counsellor of some of those that others had founded.

Pauls travelling was not the product of indolence; he was not one of those men who disliked work, and so accumulated a few sermons and by moving from point to point, eased his labors by their repetition.

Possibly in human history there is not an instance of any man who accomplished more in the same length of time than did Paul. When writing this Epistle (2Co 11:23) he speaks of himself as in labours more abundant. His history justified the remark. The amazing thing is that a man who had some permanent affliction (2Co 12:9-10) could possibly have accomplished so much. It is a proof of the Divine power that rested upon him, renewing him daily for the most arduous task, enabling him not only to preach incessantly, but to supervise the young struggling churches that he had called into being.

The wisdom of Pauls counsel has been proven by twenty centuries of application, and though we are so far removed from him this morning, the words of this days study are as applicable as if they had been written for the special occasion of the coming week and the financial campaign anticipated.

In looking through these chapters, it appears probable that we can arrange their content under these headings The First Gift, The Gospel Agents, and Intelligent Giving.

THE FIRST GIFT

The first gift is that of self to the Saviour. Paul, in writing to these Corinthian brethren, reminds them of

the grace of God bestowed on the Churches of Macedonia;

How that in a great trial of affliction the abundance of their joy and their deep poverty abounded unto the riches of their liberality.

For to their power, (he bore) record, yea, and beyond their power they were willing of themselves

to receive the gift, and take upon them

the fellowship of the ministering to the saints.

And this they did, not as we hoped, but first gave their own selves to the Lord, and unto us by the will of God.

The key sentence in 2Co 8:1-5 is found in the phrase, they first gave their own selves to the Lord, and unto us by the will of God.

Thats the key-note of a true and competent church life. That is the explanation of an effective church organization. A converted church membership is absolutely essential to a vigorous and spiritual church life. The church that is made up of unregenerated people, that is crowded with children of the world, that strives to increase its enrollment, irrespective of the Spirit, is neither a sound spiritual nor successful body.

You cant build a living temple with dead stones. You cant cultivate the old nature so that it will produce the fruits of the new creature in Christ. You cant get grapes from thorns, nor figs from thistles (Mat 7:16). The self-centered life will not indulge in sacrifice, and the self-centered man or woman will not deny the desires of the flesh in behalf of spiritual interests.

Men sometimes marvel that the multitude of churches make so little progress. A year ago Mr. Carroll, a Washington statistician, produced a certain amount of consternation in the ecclesiastical world by calling attention to the fact that one-third of the churches in the Baptist, Methodist and Presbyterian denominations had gone through the year without winning a soul to Christtwelve thousand churches and more with not a redeemed man to their credit! Had Mr. Carroll as carefully investigated the contributions of churches, he would have found a kindred condition: namely, that tens of thousands of members had made little or no sacrifice whatever for Jesus sake; and had he deduced a logical conclusion, he would have been compelled to say that the failure to fruit, either in winning men to Christ or giving to Christian causes, was due to the fact that the members of these churches had failed to take the first step of the Christian life, namely, to give themselves to the Lord. I want you!

Aquilla Webb tells the story of a sixteen-year-old girl who was a chronic invalid, and whose mother was a pleasure-loving woman who preferred society to time with her shut-in daughter. While abroad in Italy, the mother remembered the coming birthday of her daughter, and purchased and sent her a rare and beautiful Italian vase. The nurse brought it to the girl, and commented upon its beauty and upon her mothers thoughtfulness in getting it to her just on time. To which the girl said, Please take it away. It is not her gifts I want it is my mother herself.

The principle is the one to which Paul here refers. Our gifts are only acceptable to God after we have made to Him the supreme gift of self.

The practice of giving is inherent in regeneracy. The new man in Christ Jesus will undertake new things. His whole attitude of life is influenced by his loyalty to the Lord. The regenerated spirit becomes an antagonist of the flesh and consequently is set into instant conflict with selfishness.

The intensity of that conflict will be determined by the vigor of the new-born soul. If one would watch the warfare between the old nature and the new creature, he can get a kaleidoscopic view by studying the 7th of Romans, where Paul, the author of our text, is presenting in detail his personal experience and tells us:

I know that in me (that is, in my flesh,) dwelleth no good thing: for to will is present with me; but how to perform that which is good I find not.

For the good that I would I do not: but the evil which I would not, that I do.

Now if I do that I Would not, it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me.

I find then a law, that, when I would do good, evil is present with me.

For I delight in the Law of God after the inward man:

But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members.

O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death?

And when he sees that his conflict is not in vain, that the Spirit is to have the victory against the flesh, he shouts in sheer gratitude, I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord. So then with the mind I myself serve the Law of God; but with the flesh the law of sin (Rom 7:18-25).

Len G. Broughton is credited with having the record to a report that a certain Baptist church made to its annual association meeting: Members received, none; members dismissed, none; members died, none; members married, none; given to missions during the year, nothing. The report was followed by the comment, Brethren, pray for us that during the next year we may hold our own.

The pastor, therefore, whose unrighteous ambition leads him to build a big membership in the interests of reputation and in answer to his personal pride, is playing a foolish part indeed. The very size of his congregation, compared with the pitiful sacrifices that unsaved people can ever be brought to make, will become his shame; and the very objective of a good reputation as a successful church-builder, will be defeated by a selfish, unsacrificing assembly.

If, therefore, we would build here a church that is worthy the description the Body of Christ, let it be understood that no name should be recorded on these rolls until there is adequate evidence that that one has first given himself to the Lord and then unto us by the will of God.

But look further into our text and let us note that Paul pleads for the exercise of giving in equity.

It seems that Titus had been the teacher and that he had not been remiss in telling them both the duty of giving and teaching them the grace of the same; and now Paul reinforces his fellow-laborer by urging that they abound in that grace, and also by instituting the comparison of their contribution to that of others, reminding them that their sincerity was proven by the measure of their sacrifice and illustrating by the example of Christ.

Ye know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that, though He was rich, yet for your sakes He became poor, that ye through His poverty might be rich (2Co 8:9);

and then he adds,

And herein I give my advice: for this is expedient for you, who have begun before, not only to do, but also to be forward a year ago.

Now therefore perform the doing of it; that as there was a readiness to will, so there may be a performance also out of that which ye have.

For if there be first a willing mind, it is accepted according to that a man hath, and not according to that he hath not (2Co 8:10-12).

Certainly there is a similarity between men of all ages. Under the teaching of Titus certain men had made pledges and had failed to pay them, and Paul is reminding them here of the indefensibleness or even the dishonesty of the same, saying, As there was a readiness to will, so there may be a performance also out of that which ye have. The willing mind is a good thing, but only when reinforced by the willing hand.

We rented a house to a fat, inland man who promised the rent in advance. Month succeeded month and he paid none. When seen, he reaffirmed his intention; but finally, when urged to provide something on the eight months past due, he moved out between days.

A certain gentleman promised us a sum of money due, and he sent us a check; but when we took it to the bank on which it was drawn, they reported no funds. If we vow, we are to pay our vows. There are few churches in the world that do not have some such as he found at Corinth. They pledge but they pay not. By the pledge they make for themselves a reputation at the time, of generosity. In the failure to pay, they trust the pastor and the treasurer to be silent and hope that the church public is ignorant of the refusal to perform the pledge. Paul says, Do you understand what that means? Such men are eased and their brethren burdened, Certainly it cannot be otherwise.

When I was a lad on the farm, we had much clearing to do and heavy work of varied kinds. Not a day but a log was to be carried, or some enormous load that taxed the strength of the two or three or four or five boys that were working together. The load would be lifted off the ground and carried to the shoulder level, and if one man shirked, the shoulders of the others must bear the additional weight; and if one man dropped his end of the log, as sometimes he did, the shoulder of the other took the shock and carried the consequent sore. We were brothers in the flesh and we loved one another and we stood together and worked together, and, when occasion arose, we fought together. But about the heaviest strain that was ever put upon our fraternal affection occurred when one boy, tiring of his load, dropped his end of the log, throwing not only the entire weight, but the jar and shock, to the shoulder of his fellow.

I have often said and I believe it to be true that fellowship in Christ is above, better and sweeter than the fraternity of blood; but it is a truth, as Paul here plainly states, that brotherhood is strained indeed when some capable man eases himself and throws the part of the load that he should bear, upon the already burdened shoulder of his own brother in the church, and thereby disturbs that equality for which Paul here pleads.

But the Apostle takes a further step, and for our information and inspiration as well, we should follow him, As it is written, He that had gathered much had nothing over; and he that had gathered little had no lack (2Co 8:15).

The reference is to the old day when God sent His manna from Heaven and when greedy men gathered more than the days needs demanded and thought to store it up, but found it spoiled on their hands; and trusting men gathered less, yet had no lack. How often have we seen these principles illustrated in church life. A great task is undertaken, a tremendous and costly enterprise is to be put forward and some man of means concludes that he will make big reservations instead of big sacrifices. He has plans for the future and plethoric hopes, and he reserves, in the interest of investment, and lo! a few months and the investments have turned out poorly. He held back more than was meet and it tended to poverty. He selfishly retained and the worms hatched in the middle of the manna; and impossible as it seemed, consumed the same. Then I have seen others who, at the call of God, said, It doesnt look as if I can afford it, and yet all that I have, came to me from above, from the Father of lights and for the sake of His cause, it is a pleasure to sacrifice, and lo in a month, the gift has been made up to him and more.

More than once have I seen both sides of this truth illustrated, and witnessed the absolute and scientific demonstration of the sacred sentence, There is that scattereth, and yet increaseth; and there is that upholdeth more than is meet, and it tendeth to poverty.

A certain merchant of Chapham, England, received news of a failure that involved him in an enormous loss, and within a few minutes a country preacher called at his office to collect a subscription he had made to the country church. Learning of the merchants failure, the minister apologized, saying that he was sorry and he hoped the merchant would just dismiss the whole matter from his mind. To which the noble-hearted Christian man answered, My dear sir, the wealth I have is not mine, but the Lords, and may be He is going to take some more of it out of my hands. If this be true, I should certainly make the best use of what is now left; and instead of paying that subscription, heres my check for its double. A man who imagines that his future and fortune are independent of Gods favor, has no God at all.

How can I, Lord, withhold Lifes brightest hour From Thee; or gathered gold, Or any power?Why should I keep one precious thing from Thee,When Thou hast given Thine own dear Self for me!

Commentary, speaking of this text, tells us: Vast enterprises are never born of masses, but of individuals; apostles first, and then churches; Bunyan, and two centuries of literature for the poor and illiterate; Watts and the sacred poets following; Raikes and Wesley; Martyn and Judson; successors multiplied because of their forwardness.

The volunteer is commonly the leader, and worthy to be the Captain.

A call for loyal soldiers comes to one and all;Soldiers for the conflict, will you heed the call?Will you answer quickly, with a ready cheer,Will you be enlisted as a volunteer?

Chorus:

A volunteer for Jesus, a soldier true!Others have enlisted, why not you?Jesus is the Captain, we will never fear;Will you be enlisted as a volunteer?

Yes, Jesus calls for soldiers who are filled with powr,Soldiers who will serve Him evry day and hour;He will not forsake you, He is ever near;Will you be enlisted as a volunteer?

He calls you, for He loves you with a heart most kind,He whose heart was broken, broken for mankind;Now, just now He calls you, calls in accents clear,Will you be enlisted as a volunteer?

And when the war is over, and the victry won,When the true and faithful, gather one by one,He will crown with glory all who there appear;Will you be enlisted as a volunteer?

THE GOSPEL AGENTS

There are three of these mentioned in this connection, Titus and two unnamed companions.

Titus was a volunteer in this mission service.

The language of the text is: Thanks be to God, which put the same earnest care into the heart of Titus for you. For indeed he accepted the exhortation; but being more forward, of his own accord he went unto you (2Co 8:16-17). It is not surprising that we hear of this man again. Later Paul will be writing to him. He was a worthy co-laborer indeed. He was one of those men who do not have to be sent on missions, who do not require a long and eloquent argument to impress them with duty. He was not a Moses, making the excuse of slow speech, nor a Jonah, disobedient to the Divine voice; but, like Isaiah, a volunteer, saying, Send me. The late war taught us the meaning of volunteer, and compelled us to think of the contrast between the volunteer and the conscripted soldier. The first commands respect; yea, he excites even admiration. The second associates himself with either cowardice or lack of patriotism. The first gives promise of a good soldier; the second prophesies an untrustworthy servant.

Titus first co-laborer enjoyed a good reputation with the Church.

We have sent with him the brother, whose praise is in the Gospel throughout all the churches;

And not that only, but who was also chosen of the Churches to travel with us with this grace, which is administered by us to the glory of the same Lord, and declaration of your ready mind:

Avoiding this, that no man should blame us in this abundance which is administered by us:

Providing for honest things, not only in the sight of the Lord, but also in the sight of men (2Co 8:18-21).

The handling of funds by a minister is always attended with danger and involves the utmost delicacy; and it requires integrity of the highest sort. Paul appreciated that fact and proposed a company of brethren who were so esteemed that none could suspect them. His wisdom here is increasingly evident. The church of God has suffered no little at this point. The preacher who handles church or mission funds with carelessness brings against Christianity a bitter criticism, and when he handles such funds with dishonesty, he not only degrades his own profession, but destroys the worlds confidence in Christianity itself. Honesty is everywhere regarded as essential even to the transaction of secular business, and any failure whatever in handling funds intended for sacred uses, strikes the church of God a mortal blow, and brings disrepute to the entire Christian profession.

That is why people look with a large and justifiable degree of suspicion upon preachers who come to present personal enterprises, and who are eager to secure personal ownerships of properties supposedly devoted to the Lord. And that is why there are thousands of faithful ministers of the Gospel whose hearts bleed today over the administration of funds contributed for the express purpose of sending the Gospel abroad, but are being diverted to the non-commissioned end of mere education, while other funds were intended to build institutions upon that solid base of the Bible itself, and are now diverted to the ends of propagating the unbiblical philosophies of Modernism.

Instances of such dishonesty in the sight of the Lord, and in the sight of men are drying up the fountains of benevolence! Denominational leaders who have proven themselves untrustworthy, are fatally stabbing the very cause for which they speak. The man who is dishonest in carnal things cannot be trusted in the things of the Spirit. The greatest single barrier of Christian benevolence today is the misapplication of moneys given by godly men and believing women. The unbeliever on the foreign field, and the ministerial skeptic in the home landthese have done more damage to the cause of missions than all the Rousseaus, Paynes, and Ingersolls of the past.

The third companion of Titus was a collection-expert.

We have sent with them our brother, whom we have oftentimes proved diligent in many things, but now much more diligent, upon the great confidence which I have in you.

Whether any do enquire of Titus, he is my partner and fellowhelper concerning you: or our brethren be enquired of, they are the messengers of the Churches, and the glory of Christ.

Wherefore shew ye to them, and before the Churches, the proof of your love, and of our boasting on your behalf (2Co 8:22-24).

We sometimes say that these are the days of the expert, but the specialist has always been in demand. Peter was a specialist as an evangelist. Paul was a specialist as a speaker and writer. John was a specialist as a pastor. And here we have an expert in the collection of funds. The development of such a man, then, is not modern. There is nothing new under the sun. The existence of such a man was needful, and is to this day. The praise of Mr. Moody has long been in the mouths of the believing multitudes, and he was able to turn men to Christ in mighty numbers. He was an expert evangelist. Hodge, of Princeton fame, was an expert in training men for the ministry. Broadus was an expert in teaching; Clough a world-wonder in mission work. But the gatherer of funds is nonetheless Gods man, and little less essential to the highest success of the church. Dr. Frank Divine of New York is undoubtedly Gods gift to the church-building enterprise. Solomon has lived in history for centuries, and he is not more famed as the rich ruler of Israel than for his service and leadership in the construction of the temple. But his job in temple building was comparatively small beside that which Divine has wrought in our day. This church, at least, has a debt of gratitude to God both in his equipment and appointment, to this end. He discovered us to ourselves, and thereby made these sanctuaries possible. How marvelously the combination here suggested is suited to the objective to be accomplished! Titus an ordained minister of the Gospel, and an active agent in gathering funds; an unnamed co-laborer, whose reputation with the churches was such that all that he touched was believed to be safe, and this expert in inciting the spirit of benevolence! It was a trio of efficiency, created and employed by the Holy Spirit in the interest of the old first church at Jerusalem.

Mark now the progress of our studies as they bring us to the question of

INTELLIGENT GIVING

To this the ninth chapter is devoted entirely, and it involves three suggestions:

First, Intelligent giving is giving after careful consideration. Paul declares that this has long been before their minds, that he had boasted about their readiness to the people of Macedonia, and that Achaia also had been ready for a year, provoked, however, as had been others, by the zeal of the Corinthians.

The matter of benevolence is not a subject of mere emotion. It should never be the product of but a moments reflection. .On the contrary, time, thought, and prayer should precede giving. I have sometimes wondered if the poverty in the first church at Jerusalem might not have been the product of emotional giving. And yet let this be said in their defense, namely, that they studied doctrine, exercised fellowship, celebrated the Lords Supper, and engaged in prayer, all of which is recorded to their credit.

Previous to the record of their benevolence all that believed were together, and had all things common; and sold their possessions and goods, and parted them to all men, as every man had need. It is our candid conviction that but for the counsel and prayers through which this church passed for years, the contributions they made to construct these buildings would have been impossible. It is by teaching, by understanding the significance of types and symbols, by a long continuance in prayer, that the soul grows in likeness to its Lord, and the unselfish sacrificial spirit is strengthened. That spirit is far more sensitive to contributions than is the gathering of material wealth. James Denny in his volume on Second Corinthians reminds us of the fact that the first generation of Methodists in England, and the men who in 1843 fought the good fight of the faith in Scotland, illustrated this law, In a great trial of affliction the abundance of their joy and their deep poverty abounded unto the riches of their liberality. For years the Salvation Army was the scoff of the upper tens but finally the children of fortune discovered that their contributions to Christianity were small beside those that the poorest of the poor, under Booths leadership, were making. That shamed these sons of wealth into silence first, and forced from their lips commendation afterwards. The prayerful, thoughtful church will grow in benevolent giving.

Paul also calls attention here to a second feature essential to all benevolent success, namely:

It is to be done in a cheerful spirit. Every man according as he purposeth in his heart, so let him give; not grudgingly, or of necessity: for God loveth a cheerful giver (2Co 9:7) This, of course, is a spiritual axiom. God could love no other kind of giver. We sometimes imagine that there can be no other kind of giver, that unless men give cheerfully they would not give at all, but, alas, such a view ignores known features of human nature. Men give from all sorts of motives: for the sake of reputation, for the sake of show, to escape the condemnation of their fellows, out of fear that if they did not give God would withdraw His favor. There are many unworthy motives that may lead to giving, and sometimes even large gifts are animated by any other than a cheerful spirit. Louis Albert Banks, in his volume, Windows for Sermons contributes this amusing story told by the late Eugene Field. He said:

When Lawrence Barretts daughter was married, Stuart Robson sent to the bridegroom a check for five thousand dollars. Miss Felicia Robson, who attended the wedding, conveyed the gift.

Felicia, said her father, upon her return, did you give him the check?

Yes, father, said the dutiful daughter.

What did he say? asked Robson.

He didnt say anything, replied Miss Felicia, but he shed tears.

How long did he cry?

Why, father, I didnt time him; but I should say, however, that he wept fully a minute.

Fully a minute! roared Robson. Why, I cried for an hour after Id signed it!

Robson has his fellows in the church of God. Their offerings are baptized in tears.

The widow who gave two mites, her all, never cried over it; not a tear is recorded, though she had nothing left. The members of the old first church at Jerusalem sold their possessions, and goods, and parted them to all men, and never voiced a grief. Joses, surnamed Barnabas, put his farm up at auction, and brought the proceeds and laid them at the Apostles feet, with a hallelujah shout. But Ananias and Sapphira, in order to keep up appearances, brought to the altar a part of one sale they had just made, and then both of them died of heart failure. God loveth a cheerful giver.

Finally: To give under the direction of the Spirit is to grow in soul.

God is able to make all grace abound toward you; that ye, always having all sufficiency in all things, may abound to every good work.

Being enriched in every thing to all bountifulness, which causeth through us thanksgiving to God.

For the administration of this service not only supplieth the want of the saints, but is abundant also by many thanksgivings unto God;

Whiles by the experiment of this ministration they glorify God for your professed subjection unto the Gospel of Christ, and for your liberal distribution unto them, and unto all men;

And by their prayer for you, which long after you for the exceeding grace of God in you.

Thanks be unto God for His unspeakable Gift (2Co 9:8-15).

To grow in grace, grow in the knowledge of the Lord; to have sufficiency in all things; to abound in every good work, oh! what a blessing! In other words, to be a man in Christ!

There is a theory still regnant with certain scientists that mans body is filled with vestigal remains, namely left-overs that have no function to perform in the human anatomy. But almost daily the Divine intent of some one of these is discovered. We know now that the appendix increases the mucus surface, and makes its contribution to health. We know now that the thyroid glands are producers of iodine, and preservers against cretinism. We know now that the pineal gland, once supposed to be an extinct eye, is the most important appointment of the entire body, and determines its growth. If it should fail to function, a child could not develop into manhood, but infancy in size would link itself to senility, and the world would be filled with the pitiful sights of aged babies. In the things of the Spirit, the pineal gland is the Holy Ghost. If He indwells, dominates, and determines, spiritual growth is insured, and manhood and womanhood in Christ are effected. Is anything more pathetic than the sight of a baby that has failed in development? Yes, one thing: the sight of a soul that remains in infancy, marks no progress, attains to no stature in Christ, and exhibits no graces of godliness. This I say, He which soweth sparingly shall reap also sparingly; and he which soweth bountifully shall reap also bountifully Let us, then, glorify God in our subjection unto the Gospel, and grow by our distribution unto all men, thanking Him for His unspeakable gift, the presiding, indwelling, and developing Holy Spirit.

Fuente: The Bible of the Expositor and the Evangelist by Riley

CRITICAL NOTES

2Co. 9:1Connected, in word [, in both cases] and in fact, with 1Co. 15:1, which belongs to the initiation of this collection, this ministration for the poor saints of the Church at Jerusalem, as this does to the conclusion of the financial effort. Superfluous.Yet he had been dealing with it, in chap, 8, and here urges motives to liberality (2Co. 9:6 sqq.). Was there no need to speak of it? Was this Christian simplicity of truth? Yes (see Homiletic Analysis). Connect 2Co. 8:24; 2Co. 9:1; 2Co. 9:6. Show ye them. I have no need to speak to you. Yet I will remind you that, etc. Cf. 1Th. 4:9; 1Th. 5:1.

2Co. 9:2. Forwardness of mind.This clears the readiness of from doubt. Not their preparedness of arrangement to make up and send their contribution (2Co. 8:19). Provoked.As the occasion of the journey of Epaphroditus to Rome once stirred up these same Macedonians, always liberal-hearted, and proving it by repeated gifts to himself, and called forth their generosity to him in his prison in Rome, so that the winter-dormant stem of their liberality was touched as with the breath of spring, and flourished again, i.e. broke out into blossom and practical fruit (Php. 4:10 sqq., A.V.). Your behalf (R.V.).Of course not implying any desire or request of theirs that he would.

2Co. 9:3. The brethren.Viz. mentioned in 2Co. 8:16 sqq. In this behalf.In this particular detail, on this point, viz. your having all in readiness.

2Co. 9:5. Covetousness.Which would hold back even the devoted, promised, collected money to the last moment; not releasing, or paying over, one moment earlier than was necessary.

2Co. 9:6. Bountifully.See margin, and notice how this verse takes up the word for bounty in 2Co. 9:5. Really, literally, blessing (2Co. 9:5) with blessings (2Co. 9:8). Thence, makes blessing, full of associations of Gods gifts in measure and manner of bestowment, lead on to the style and spirit of giving in 2Co. 9:7.

2Co. 9:7. Grudgingly.Out of (a heart filled with) sorrow at having to part with the gift. Pro. 22:8 is quoted from LXX., not the Hebrew.

2Co. 9:8. All.Good instance of Pauls (instinctive, not formal) rhetoric. Always tends to amplificative, cumulative phraseology. Piles up prepositions only slightly differentiated, or phrases nearly synonymous (e.g. Rom. 10:12), or vaguely large (as here, all). All might (Col. 1:11), all prayer (Eph. 6:18), all knowledge (1Co. 13:2), all acceptation (1Ti. 1:15), etc.; q.d. Whatever the meaning in which you need to conceive of it, whatever the form in which it needs to shape itself in manifestationI mean all that! Grace.Here in a special, narrowed sense; nearly equivalent to the means wherewith you may be able to give. Connection: Do not hesitate to give; do what is right; God will see to it that your own need is supplied. Cf. the same principle illustrated in Mal. 3:10, andless closely parallelin Php. 4:19 : You have supplied all my need; my God will supply all your need. [Compare also the four-faced cherubim of the Chariot, Eze. 1:15-17; and the really connected foursquare of the Heavenly City, Eze. 21:16. Everything of God is foursquare in its completeness; His City approachable, and giving entrance on all sides, from all quarters, to redeemed man. Similarly, all grace in its widest meaning stands in the midst of mans needs, foursquare, exactly meeting our need and our request, from whatever side we approach it.]

2Co. 9:9.Psa. 112:9, quoted from LXX. (111). Abideth.Q.d. is never to be exhausted (Stanley). Too narrow.

2Co. 9:10. Supplieth.The usage lying at the root of this word in Greek may furnish the preacher with vivid illustration of (say) Php. 1:19. A wealthy Greek citizen had to assume, as a public duty, the whole expense of the training and maintenance of the Chorus for a new play. God will provide all the needed expense. Seed food.Clear reminiscence of Isa. 55:10. (See homiletic development.) Righteousness.In the narrow sense of the Psalm quoted, primarily.

2Co. 9:11.Difficult to choose between bountifulness and simplicity, as in Rom. 12:8; 2Co. 8:2, and 2Co. 9:13. The direct, and simply open, mind runs close with the simply opened hand; no after-thought, or reserve, or regret in either. Everything all.A cumulative phrase again.

2Co. 9:12. Administration.Same word, in slightly varied aspect, as ministering in 2Co. 9:1. Service.The word (classically) used of a public burden assumed and discharged as in 2Co. 9:10. But must not be pressed here. Aboundeth.Note how this word recurs, 2Co. 9:1 (Greek), 2Co. 9:8.

2Co. 9:13.Sense made clear in Professed means openly avowed and confessed; not, of course, pretended subjection. Distribution.Your contribution, Literally, your fellowship, or communion. Word is polar; at the action end it is communicating, at the feeling end it is community of heart. Includes both, for the Corinthian contribution was an emphatic expression of the new community between Jew and Gentile.

2Co. 9:15.At first sight unsuggested, irrelevant. So much so, that Speakers Commentary, in loc., pronounces the application to Christ too wide a deviation from the immediate context to be admissible. (But see Homily under 1Co. 16:22.)

HOMILETIC ANALYSIS.Whole Chapter

We have:

A. Christian courtesy exemplified (2Co. 9:1-5).

B. Christian giving described (2Co. 9:6-14).

C. Gods giving and gift the model and motive (2Co. 9:15).

A.
I. Consistent with thorough, transparent simplicity of truth.

1. The Christian is to be courteous (1Pe. 3:8, not to be quoted). Yet is to speak the truth (and do the truth also), though in love (Eph. 4:15). Often a real, practical difficulty to discover the exact line, between the nicely balanced conditions and the closely pressing, subtle perils, of unfaithful kindness, on the one side, and of harsh and repellent fidelity on the other. Truth at all costs, and with all risks, of course; but, wherever possible, loving, or at least courteously spoken, truth; and this both for the sake of the person concerned, and for the success of rebuke administered, or the improvement desired. A friend may in kindness wound; an enemy may in malice kiss (Pro. 27:6). If the friend can do his work with a kiss, so much the better.

2. Paul himself shows how possible it is to pay a well-turned, serviceable compliment with the most perfect truth. Act. 24:10 (to Felix), Act. 26:2-3 (to Agrippa), were quite true and appropriate things to say; Act. 24:2-3 (Tertullus to Felix) was notoriously untrue. [Very courteouslyaccepting the correction (though not too courteously made), and acknowledging a measure of fault in himselfdid he recover himself, after his outburst of not unjustifiable indignation before the High Priest (Act. 23:5). On Pauls courtesy, see Howson, Hulsean Lectures, Character of St. Paul, ii.] Jowett, Stanley, and others call Paul a gentleman, who, in 1Co. 13:4-7, draws The Portrait of a Gentleman.

3. Here Paul, dealing with these suspicious, proud, touchy Corinthians, some of them not too well affected towards himself, displays Tact and Truth.

(1) I, not to say you (2Co. 9:4), delicately shifts the heavier pressure of possible shame to the shoulders which ought not to have it to bear.

(2) Quite true that both would certainly have to share the burden, if by their unreadiness they make its incidence necessary at all; his Christian love offers, as it were, to assume the heavier share, whilst, suggestively leaving the way open to their own love, to save shame both to him and them.

(3) Also it was quite true that, as matter of absolute necessity, it was superfluous for him to say even as much as he had said in chap. 8 The Corinthian contribution to the Relief Fund was evidently substantially ready, and had been ready a year ago. At most, what was wanted was the closing up of the accounts. What he adds here is to quicken the finishing up of the business; there never had been any need to suggest to, or press upon, their forward mind the making of a collection. His courtesy is perfectly truthful. So also 2Co. 9:6, I want you to have what you really deserve, the credit of seeming, not covetous but, liberal.

II. Gives full recognition of excellence.And this both to themselves and to other Churches. [Rising to a higher example: The Head of the Churches (Rev. 2:3, passim), even in the case of the most unfaithful Church, gladly acknowledges every point which can be praised, even though He must (like Paul here) complain of half-finished work (2Co. 3:2, R.V.). See how He (to Ephesus, 2Co. 2:6, after 2Co. 9:4-5) returns to praise a point of excellence, so to speak forgotten in 2Co. 9:2-3.] No need for a Christian to stint or grudge deserved praise. To many temperaments a very needful factor in their improvement. May, as here, be consecrated to the subserving of the interests of the work of God.

III. Is prudent and business-like.

1. He has used Corinthian forwardness as his lever, to move the not illiberal or tardy, Macedonian Churches. He now lays his plans, and takes his measures, to ensure that there shall be no miscarriage, after so much has actually been done towards the desired result. His repeated and confident laudation of them must not have a not very creditable conclusion and comment, in an only almost ready collection. Beforehand, beforehand, beforehand is, and has been, his watchword (2Co. 9:5-6, Stanley); a true business principle. [Nelson said he beat the French fleets by always being a quarter of an hour before time.] No need for a Christian man to be worse than a man of the world, wise in (and for the purposes of) his generation, in such points of practical sagacity. Friction would be saved within the Church, and often scandal from without, if business prudence and good sense were always consecrated to the management of its finances. Business as well as Courtesy may be sanctified to the highest ends.

2. Is there any suggestion of prudence in handling even his friend Titus, in the fact that, in regard to this business, he always speaks of exhorting Titus, rather than enjoining or directing? (2Co. 8:6; 2Co. 8:17; 2Co. 12:18; 1Co. 16:12; but so also Timothy, 1Ti. 1:3).

3. The need of such courtesy of character, and good sense and business aptitude, in the management of men and affairs in the Church, is a strong appeal and claim for their consecration to Christ by those who are endowed with them. [Cf. Num. 10:31 : Thou (Hobab) mayest be to us instead of eyes; i.e. his experience and training in desert life were wanted, though the host had Jehovah and the Pillar in their midst.]

B. Christian giving is described.

1. It is literally blessing (= bounty), in this section of the New Testament, and here only. [So LXX., Gen. 33:11; cf. the beautiful Hebrew of Pro. 11:25, a soul of blessing.] As in the similar use of grace for this Corinthian gift, the Divine word is borrowed for the expression of human love between brethren and brethren, Church and Church. [So in the Psalm quoted (2Co. 9:9), his righteousness (with special application to this almsgiving) endureth for ever, is the repetition as to man of the same phrase in the preceding Psalm (Psa. 111:3) used of God, His righteousness endureth for ever. (May we venture to give this a similar speciality of application, and say, His almsgiving to a needy world endureth unwearied and inexhaustible?) No doubt righteousness means more than this, in both instances.] The Christian giver is Gods almoner and representative, if his gift is the outcome of a love in his heart for man caught from Gods philanthropy (Tit. 3:4). His gift mirrors Gods gift on a smaller scale; his giving should, in his purpose and manner, be like Gods blessing.

2.
(1) It is sowing; a disposing of ones wealth which brings back again itself with interest, itself multiplied manifold. The old epitaph has truth in it:

Here lies a man, men thought him mad;
The more he gave the more he had.

The giver is not the poorer by so much, when he has parted with his gift; he is the richer by so much, in that he has that and all it is to bring by Gods blessing.

(2) Does the farmer return from his field saying grudgingly, and with a sorrowful heart (2Co. 9:7), There! All that good seed thrown away and lost? Yet some Christian givers go forth weeping bearing this precious seed, forgetting that they may complete (in this borrowed sense) the sentence of the Psalm.

(3) The wise sower does not even sow of necessity, only going out to his fields in the Spring because, if he do not, he will starve in Winter; and, still less, because of what his neighbour farmers are doing, and what they will think and say of him, if he too do not scatter some seed!

(4) The giver who understands that he is a sower goes forth to his giving cheerful; a holy hilarity may rightly pervade every heart, when a Church is assembled to make some great financial effort for the cause of God.

(5) Like sowing, too, in this: Sowing and Harvest are connected in two ways. In Gal. 6:8 Paul reminds the Galatians [who, as Caesar testifies of the Western Gauls, their kindred, were inclined to be money-loving] that, in kind, what a man sows he reaps. Here he says that, in measure, as a man sows so he reaps; whether sparingly, or, as God Himself sows when He gives, with blessings (R.V. margin), i.e. with a heart in his sowing, his giving, which would gladly make all he gives, in intention and effect a blessing. Stint your field of seed, you stint your barn of sheaves. You may choose the measure of your reaping.

3. Such almsgiving is a service (2Co. 9:12), a liturgy in the classical sense, a burden which is obligatory upon those citizens of the kingdom of God whom God has made able, and has officially and formally appointed by making them able, to sustain it for the good of others, their less able fellow-citizens. And yet,

4. It is a ministration, a diaconate. The wealthy man, or Church, must not remember too vividly his superiority in ability, even whilst he serves and discharges his liturgy (= administers this service, 2Co. 9:12), lest he become the Lord Bountiful to his poorer fellow-citizens in the kingdom of God, instead of the almoner of the true Bountiful Lord. He is the servant on Christs behalf, of his brethren, fulfilling the office which was first, and most gloriously, held by his Master (Mat. 20:28, same root word). Again,

5. Here are the motives which should encourage and regulate giving.

(1) As he purposeth in his heart (2Co. 9:7), admirably expository of the meaning simplicity (2Co. 9:11); no by-motives, no consideration of any reflex effect, such as winning the commendation of his fellows; his giving should be the simple, direct, unaffected, unmodified expression of himself (for as the man thinketh in his heart so is he, Pro. 23:7).

(2) If the stress be laid upon purposeth, there come into view some further considerations. There is giving which is almost without purpose; it is done upon the spur of the moment, the mere offspring of the passing impulse, aroused, and dying, with the momentary, accidental occasion which appealed to it. There is no thought of the gift before the moment of its bestowal, hardly any a moment after. There is no principle of benevolence appealed to or trained; and such giving easily becomes the refined selfishness which cannot bear to see or hear of what is painful, and merely buys off the unwelcome, momentary contact with it. There is none of the loving, careful thought about the gift or the assistance, which often gives to even a small kindness its chief value to the recipient, and is always one of its most valuable features to the giver, in its effect upon his own heart and character. Such giving is not rooted in character at all; it is the merest, hasty, perishable, fungoid growth upon the surface of impulse. It does not belong to a plan and habit of benevolence, carefully and considerately formed as in the sight of God, and as an expression of gratitude to Him and a recognition of our stewardship. [Such purposeless giving does some good, and has sometimes a beauty. But it is only the fitful, wild, chance music called forth from the strings of an olian harp by the variable force of the breath of impulse or occasional appeal. A settled, steady, purposeful, provided-for benevolence, which chooses its objects, and considereth (say) the poor, is the more beautiful, ordered, coherent melody and harmony of a trained player upon a well-tuned heart.] Purposeth speaks, then, of the judgment, as well as of the will, brought into consecrated service.

(3) The covetous man (2Co. 9:6) does as he purposeth in his heart, indeed. Covetousness may betray itself, as Paul suggests, not only by entirely refusing to part with anything, but by slowness to give, or to redeem ones promise to give; by not making up the last amounts of the total, until the latest moment when shame or necessity makes it possible to keep the gift in ones own power. The antidote to this incipient covetousness is the heart of blessing (2Co. 9:6).

(4) To encourage giving, the fulness of resource and supply we have in God is suggested. (See Separate Homily.) Little faith, much fear, in regard to their own future and its supply, rather than little love or benevolence, may narrow the liberality of a man or a Church. Cant afford to part with so much. Pauls words (2Co. 9:8) extend far beyond the immediate occasion; they are a great principle opening out, leading us out, in many directions; in the direction of every conceivable need; but in this place they mean: Do what is right, what His work or the needs of the poorer brethren call for. Trust Him that, however much you spend, you shall not be spent out. He is able to supply you with all needed grace, that you may supply them your gift and grace. No matter what demand may be made upon you, you may cast back your demand upon Him; He will respond, and see to it that, for this requirement, as for all others, you shall always have all sufficiency. Nay, it shall be no mere question of sufficiency, whether of His giving or your ability. He will give, and abound, that you also may abound for and in view of every good work which may present its claim upon you. He will not simply make you a full reservoir, from which others may be supplied. He will fill you to the overflow, and will make you a living well, which is itself always full, and is also ever flowing over, to supply needy ones around. Your righteousness [cf. the variant reading in Mat. 6:1] shall be an inexhaustible fountain for others. Let His ability and full supply embolden you to large doing and to large ventures in benevolence. I called it sowing, and, even so, all you sow shall not only keep you in necessary food; it shall provide more seed for more sowing of the same sort (2Co. 9:10). [Observe may abound unto every good work; enriched unto all bountifulness. It is an end in itself, worthy that God should provide you against it, that you should be able to exercise benevolence. Giving is no ad libitum, dispensable accompaniment of a Christian life. The Christian should work (Eph. 4:28), plan, gain, that he may have something to give. Also observea large general principle alsothat Gods gifts, of all kinds, are not given only for our own sake; our temporal good, our gifts of character, of religious knowledge and experience, are all to be the means of bounty to others; they were given for that.] Lastly,

6. We have the happy issue and effect of such Christian benevolence. The need of the poor saints is suppliedthat is much; but it is more that Gods altar is loaded with the offering of their thanks. God Himself is glorified by this abundant praise, for it is His grace in you which prompts the charity; you are manifestly a triumph of the power of the Gospel, and not least does it glorify Him that, Jewish Christians though they are, their heart goes out in grateful, admiring, yearning affection to you Gentile Christians. Your gift draws closer the bounds of living, loving unity in the Church of your common Lord.

C. Gods giving and gift the model and motive (2Co. 9:15).

1. Gods Christ is also, like theirs, a grace and a blessing. How it has enriched us; and how He Himself was first enriched unto all bountifulness! Rich beyond our expression or conception, but not for Himself only; to Himself it was an end in itself that He might sow in our needy world bountifully with blessings. He, too, had all self-sufficiency [see the Greek word, 2Co. 9:8] in all things which His nature and happiness required. In Himself there was (to speak in childrens stammerings) another Self, the Son of His love (Col. 1:13), Who could receive and give love, as love must in its very nature desire. Yet He created, and so provided Himself with new objects upon which His heart might pour out its bounty. He must be giving; must be going out of Himself to make others happy. Further,

2.
(1) His gift is the expression of His character. It sits well upon him, this habit of giving. He is clothed with bounty in all His manifestation of Himself, and the robing fits perfectly; it is the expression of Himself. He has put Himself into His unspeakable Gift, and into the manner of His giving. As the Corinthians should do. [Note also that the consummate expression of Gods character, His greatest mercy, is a Gift. His children speak as if He loved to take away, rather than to let them keep, anything dear to them. They are afraid to make full surrender of their Isaacs, lest they should really have to slay their sons; though God does not want the Isaac, unless it has become an idol; He wants them, their will, their whole heart, and whole self. They half-look out for some trial or bereavement, after a great blessing. Yet the one great Precedent He has set for all His dealing with us, the one conclusive Index to His real mind and heart toward us, is a Giftan unspeakable gift. He had rather give, or let us keep, than take from us, if it be safe for our welfare. He had rather say Yes than No to our prayers. He does not value or enjoin upon us sacrifice, self-denial, for their own sakes; they are only means to an end. He will accomplish His training of His children with the minimum of pain and surrender and loss. His love is donative rather than privative. God is by His very nature a Giving God.] [Note also,

1. A Gift, not a Loan. We shall need, and may keep, the Christ He gives us, to all eternity. Neither in caprice, nor in change of plan, will He ever revoke, or take back, His bounty. We may cast it away; He has no purpose to take it away.

2. A Gift, for which nothing has to be paid by us. Nothing, of course, could buy it; but we may have Christ, and all that goes along with and is contained in Him (2Co. 1:20, R.V.), for the asking and the taking.]

(2) He gives as He purposeth. His purpose (Romans 8, passim, etc.) is of course an anthropomorphism. To Him Who sees at once perfectly, in all its completeness, first and last, His whole design, any such word as implies consideration, possible modification of first thoughts, laborious comparison of ends with means, patient, persistent maturing of a plan, is quite inapplicable. Yet we see Him act as men do when they purpose, and in this Gift of His we see an end carefully considered, proposed to Himself, secured by admirably chosen means, in the fulness of time, after being prepared for through many centuries, each of which, in its whole character and conditions, contributed something to the perfection of the execution of Gods purposed bounty to fallen man. His was no impulsive Giving, the act of a moment without consideration or after-care.

(3) In His heart. Human language again. But there is human giving which is admirable and very effective in its well-judged, well-timed assistance, but which is hard, stern, and apt to become mechanical. On the other hand, there is giving which has all these elements, contributed by a perfect judgment, but which has them all made warm and tender with a pervasive love. The heart infuses itself into the judgment. Gods mercy is tender mercy.

(4) His bounty also aboundeth, by many thanks givings, unto God. Indeed, when human bounty calls them forth, it is awakening part of that great chorus of praise, whose increasing volume will fill heaven to eternity.
3. His Gift is the motive of all acceptable, all real, Christian feeling. Other motives may be consistent, and may co-exist with his; some motives are entirely incompatible with this, and will either expel or be expelled by this; e.g. ostentation, mere love of praise, the deliberate laying oneself out to win a reputation for bountifulness [as did Ananias and Sapphira, desiring to have the praise which everybody was giving to Barnabas, but to have it at the cheapest possible rate]; the more sordid aim to make a profit out of such a reputation. But even the sympathy, pity, love, etc., which are consistent with it, lose their last touch of perfectness and of acceptableness with God, if they are not accompanied by, and indeed are not born of, the grateful love which springs from a sense of our indebtedness for the Unspeakable Gift. To awaken real, active, Christian benevolence let men betake themselves to Calvary, and stand beneath the cross; considering what, in all directions, it means that He should hang there. (See this followed out in Separate Homily.)

SEPARATE HOMILIES

2Co. 9:8, first clause. A general truth, which may be pressed, beyond the particular, immediate application of it by Paul. Widen also Grace.

God is able all grace abound.This rebukes,

I. Narrow Giving.

1. God loveth a cheerful giver; He has amongst His children many fearful ones. They restrict their gifts to religious and charitable purposes, not because they are niggard, but because timid. [Old, sadly true witticism applies to many: Some men give, according to their means; some according to their meanness. Not so here, but] they are apprehensive about the possibilities of the future. It is not one umbrella, but a stock of them, which can alone give them any approach to rest and security against the rainy days which, to them, loom many and dark in the future. Addison has acutely noted in the Spectator how the fear of seeming poor makes some men prodigal beyond their means, whilst the fear of being poor makes some save beyond their need. It makes some Christians narrow in their givings. They do not feel comfortable without a fair, growing reserve behind them. If they are close-handed, it is not primarily from want of love, but from want of faith.

2. Text bids them remember that they have behind them a Reserve,God; and then let them launch out into all suitable, all needful, liberality to poverty or the cause of religion. Let Him, His fulness of supply, His ability to provide in any possible emergency, become real to them, and their fearful heart will readily yield to its truer, its native instinct, and open their hand more widely. [The possibility of being stripped of all, except God, is however often met with the same instinct of heart, as prompted the lady-passengers reply to the captain of a steamer in great peril at sea; said he, We must now trust in God, Madam. Said she, Captain, has it come to that?]

It rebukes,

II. Narrow Living, in a spiritual sense.

1. All Churches are weakened, their work is often crippled, by the meagre, narrow, ineffective life of their members. Very much of the effort of the pastorate has to be expended in keeping them not below what is the minimum of requirement and experience, if there is to be a definitely, distinctively, Christian life at all.

2. Such members lament their own failures, and shortcomings (calling by this too-indulgent name some plain faults and sins). Yet they have no idea of being, or doing, better. They have no hope of any higher life, whether in the half-technical sense or in any other. At most that is a beautiful ideal, but quite unattainable by ordinary people, under the ordinary conditions of life. They admire a higher, larger, fuller, more satisfying, victorious life in a far-off way, but without making effort or extending hope towards it. With the best type of them it is not spiritual indolence, though it may degenerate into it. The confession of failure may by often repetition lose its original contrition or compunction, and even become to them a virtuous humility. They do not pretend to the great things, the great doings, of some people! God forbid such spiritual blindness or pride!

3. But there is no virtue in being poor in attainments when God would have them rich, and has made provision for their enrichment. Or in being hampered by evil habits, enshackled and embarrassed and made ineffective, when God can give, and desires to give, liberty and victory (1Jn. 5:4; 1Jn. 5:18, etc.). There is no modesty, or humility, if the son of a wealthy father lives in narrow circumstances, half-starving, in rags, when he may draw upon his fathers wealth. What cannot your Father do? Is such a life His probable ideal and purpose for His children? Will it even enable them to answer His design in having a Church? Is it any glory to Him that such should be the best lives the world sees in His family? [This may be enlarged upon.]

4. Call things by their right names. Some things grace does not pretend to remedythese are infirmities; some things it is meant to remedythese are sins, if allowed. Shortcomings may mean that Christians are human, or that they are low down in grace; these latter grace is meant perfectly to remedy. God is able. There is no humility in repeatedly yielding to, even though confessing and bewailing, temptations or habits, which God has made provision for overcoming. Connect with Christs words: That they might have [life] more abundantly. (Same root word as here.) Words-worth wrote to Lady Beaumont, in May 1807, of the purpose of his poetry: To add sunshine to daylight, by making the happy happier. In higher fashion, that is Gods desire for us Therefore:

It rebukes, III. Narrow prayer and faith.

1. Ask and expect large supplies of mercy, peace, strength, providential guidance,everything.

(1) According to His riches in glory (Php. 4:19). As the boys at a public school are provided with clothes, pocket-money, etc., more or less liberally as their fathers can afford to do it; each providing for his son according to his riches, greater or less. So God according to His riches.

(2) According to your faith, according to Thy word; couple these. See man and God looking into each others heart. Man sees the willingness; God sees the want. Utter need here; all supply there. Help me; fill me! Let Me help; let Me fill. Is all that infinite, ready, pledged fulness, to be constrained, constricted, hindered, measured by, the gauge of mans faith? An ocean can only pour into the vessel plunged into it what the vessel can hold, or the neck will admit. God promises; God is able to give, abundantly to give; how large is, not the need, but the basket of faith? He is honoured by expecting more from Him. Elizabeth said laughingly to importunate Raleigh, When will you have done asking? When your Majesty has done giving! God loves that kind of shamelessness (Greek of Luk. 11:8). Meer Jaffier, Nabob of Bengal, took Clive into his treasury at Moorshedabad, set open before him door after door of treasure-chambers full of gold, silver, gems, and bade him ask for his own present. Clive, when charged in after-years with wrongful enrichment at the expense of native princes, replied, as to this particular instance, By, I am astonished at my own moderation. I asked twenty lacs of rupees, when a word would have made it forty. Pauls words lead us into Gods treasury of all grace, and invite us to ask and receive, that our need may be filled. God is not honoured by any moderation in our prayers or faith. There are limits to the literal, crudely conceived answer to prayer. God is not merely the obedient worker-out of every erroneous, selfish, or whimsical wish of His people [like the familiar of some medival Faust]. But, in the larger view of the purpose and scope of His promise, and provision of all Grace, within the wide, all-including, lines of the life of grace, there is nothing needful we may not ask, and should not ask.

May add, IV. Not as the world giveth give I; true of the Father as of the Son. World gives such gifts as it has, up to a certain point; sufficient for some surface needs of our nature, and going a certain way; but not all grace, nor going all the way, to the uttermost. [In the summer days we may do with an empty grate, or gilded shavings; but when the winter time for age and heart come upon men, the world cannot give the real fire which alone can serve the souls necessity.]

2Co. 9:15. The Unspeakable Gift.

1. Unspeakable a wonderful word. The root is also in exegesis. The two-fold prefix to this root is graphic in the idea it suggests. A gift of whose whole meaning there can be no adequate exegesis, we might say; or, more exactly, whose whole contents no guide can explore and open up, and exhibit to his fellow-explorers. They may strike paths across the whole extent of thought covered by it; may strike them out in many, intersecting directions. They will discover much; on either side of any path so marked out and followed, will be a wealth of beautiful and helpful truth. But they are never at an end of all discovery. They never will be. Even the study and scrutiny of heaven, with its wider knowledge and appreciation of, not only the facts and the mercy in any individual redeemed life, but of the bearings of the Gift upon the history of our whole Race, and, perhaps, of unknown and unnamed races in other worlds, and that study pursued with new helps, and new powers, and with Himself perpetually before their eyes, will only bring mind and heart back again and again to the same conclusion,Unspeakable.

2.
(1) Stand at the Cross and think backward along the line of His one continuous existence, in glory which He had with His Father before the world was, in the bosom of the Father, before all things began to be through Himself; think forward, as again He leaves the world and goes to the Father, and He assumes the throne of the majesty on high; forward again through, and past, the mysterious moment when He delivers up the kingdom to God, even the Father, only to receive and exercise the more glorious authority of a yet greater, an eternal, kingdom. At the Cross remember that the three-and-thirty years on earth are an episode, a subsection of the whole unbroken life of The Son, stretching backward and forward with the absolute eternity of God. Remember that He is at that point touching His lowest of voluntary kenosis; that that humiliation is the mid-point of the history of the Son of God, obedient, even to this degree, that He should die on a cross, a malefactor, and forsaken even of God. Remember Who He is; why He is there, thus; what it means of self-surrender on His part, and of devoting love (Rom. 8:32) on the Fathers part;Unspeakable!

(2) Consideras He had donethe case of fallen, lost manhood, in its sin; and that sin the source of an outflowing stream of consequent misery, shame, fear, suffering, here; consider how it must have flowed on through eternal ages, broadening, deepening, darkening, and must still flow on, except so far as modified by His grace and its blessed effects. Consider what, in even one redeemed life, here and hereafter; and what in the totality of all redeemed humanity; are the happy effects of that Gift, another stream, broadening, deepening, more and more gloriously bright, through eternal ages. Unspeakable! Endeavour to conceive the revolutionising change which would come over, and pervade, everything in human life and in the worlds condition, if now the grace of this Gift, and its whole effect upon Life, History, Providence, Morals, were withdrawn. What a cataclysmic deterioration and ruin of all! The gift which gives so much, and holds back so much,Unspeakable!

(3) Eph. 3:10 widens the view almost beyond our grasping. What if the thirty-three years of His earthly life, and if, especially, the Friday afternoon of Calvary, be the central point, around which turns and pivots the history of the principalities and powers in the heavenly places, and indeed of the whole creaturely Universe? Unthinkable, not to say Unspeakable!

3. Yet where is the wonder, when remembered that it is Gods unspeakable gift? If He has expressed Himself in it, how can the contents of the gift be put into human thought and language? And, with a more homely turn to the thought, Such a gift is just like Him, as said an old believer, of some smaller and yet heart-astonishing mercy. The principle of his words is true of this crowning, consummate gift. Only it is not like all else He does; All else He does is like this. What shall we not expect after this! (Rom. 8:32 again). All grace, abounding, indeed! What shall we not do, and give, having such an Example, and debtors for such a mercy!

2Co. 9:15. (Alternative suggestion for a Homily.)We may take the last subsidiary thought suggested by this verse, and follow on this line: This first, greatest, unspeakable, Gift is a measure of all Gods after-gifts to us. What, how much, may we not expect?

I. God has thus set a precedent.The principle lies in Psa. 68:10, when the whole verse is quoted. Thus: The deliverance from Egypt was the birthday, and in a sense the greatest day of the nations life. It receded farther and farther into the past, but never sank out of sight below the horizon of the national view. The remotest distance of long antiquity never became a dim distance in the case of this event. It stood out, vast, clearly definite. That beginning of all Gods dealings with the covenant nation, as such, fixed the style and the scale of all His dealings with them. The prophets, e.g., who cheered the hopes of the Babylonian exiles, appealed to this. It was a Godlike beginning of their history; every after-step might be expected to be Godlike too. So Calvary and the Lamb of God are in thought, though not in time, the starting-point of Gods redemption for, not one nation, but the race. That was the Worlds Passover and Exodus. It had been seen, dimly, from the gate of Eden. It grew clearer as the race, in its four thousand years pilgrimage, approached it. We have passed it to-day. Time is leaving it behind. But it, too, does not grow dim in the distance. And we may measure every hope of redemption, every petition for mercy, every request for even temporal deliverance, by that Precedent, The Unspeakable Gift. He began with that! He will not fall below that level!

II. God then began what He designed and desires to finish.Jesus never more Godlike than when He bowed His head and cried, It is finished! Finished work is the characteristic of Gods work. Just as the deliverance from Egypt (Psalm quoted above) was not intended to stand alone, but was the beginning of a great redeeming work whose crowning particular was to be a Settlement in Canaan; so that unspeakable gift and the finished work of Calvary, with its imitative sequel in the new birth in our own heart, was not intended to stand alone. A perfected moral renewal, a life in perfectly renewed surroundings, and fitted for a perfected, eternal serviceHoliness in Heavenwas the intended, the implied, sequel of the Gift. Into Canaan was the corollary of out of Egypt. Into Holiness, up to Heaven, is the corollary of the Gift on Calvary. We are only asking, then, for what is in effect provided and assured, when we ask for all grace abounding, all sufficiency, etc.,all needful to bring us into all the Holy Consequences, our whole Heritage of blessing. God laid such a glorious Foundation; will He not finish the building?

III. [Is it too human to say it?] God sunk so muchinvested so muchin the gift of His Son to our race, that He will not lose all, for lack of following it up. We may receive the grace of God in vain, certainly (2Co. 6:1). But we may, at all events, count upon Him. It cost that much to bring a believer up to his present point. God will not willingly let go all that the God of the Unspeakable Gift!

2Co. 9:15. A subordinate thought may be developed into a Christmas sermonGods Unspeakable Gift. The benevolence of Church to Church recalled to Pauls mind the benevolence of God to a needy, lost world; the root and source of all human benevolence, and especially of all Christian bounty. (Develop as in previous homiletics.) The bounty of the Christmas season necessarily recalls it to us. Christmas is pre-eminently the childrens festival. The overflow of affection to the children at this season is closely connected with the fact that when God blessed the world with His Unspeakable Gift, that Gift was a Child, and not at once a full-grown man. Why? The reason is in its fulness unspeakable, no doubt; past human exegesis. Yet we may see some reasons:

I. He was thus grafted into, welded to, the race upon which we spring.He thus sprang from it also. Cf. the angels. They are so many independent creations of Gods will; men spring generation out of generation. Angels are, probably, from the first all contemporaries in age. We are successive. They are many; we are One. A full-grown Christ sent into the world, would have been one more individual added to the millions of the race; a man with men. But He is born of the race, Man with men. Perhaps He could not really have been our Redeemer had He not thus been of us.

II. His life thus better parallels our spiritual life.He shares temptation with us; we share the cross with Him. In a Christian life as well as in Christs life there are a Crucifixion, a Resurrection, an Ascension into the heavenly places (Eph. 2:6, etc.). Our life is hid in God, along with Christ. And to make the parallelthe more than a mere parallelcomplete from the first, there is a Birth for Him, as there is a new birth for us. It is only in Johns Gospel that we find the words, Ye must be born again. But in the Synoptics Christ put the truth into visible form. Took a little child and set him in the midst, and said, Except as little children ye shall not enter into the kingdom. The man enters into the kingdom as a child; he must be born again. The lesson is thus symbolised to the very eye, when we see the King entering the kingdom by the gate of birth. Gods Gift was born into the world.

III. He has thus ennobled humility.His religion has had to ennoble the word itself. The world scorned the thing and depreciated the word. Christianity brought Humility forth from obscurity, robed her in honourable garments, and made her a queen amongst the virtues, the flower and perfecting of holiness. Socially, Jesus chose to begin at the lowest round of the ladder. The child of a country carpenters wife is the Redeemer of the race. Pride cannot live where that fact tells. Pride is subtle; may be strongest in the very class from which Christ sprung. No pride like poor folks pride. But whether high-class or poor-class pride, it must die in the presence of the fact that Gods Unspeakable Gift made His appearance amongst us, a peasants swaddled infant lying helpless in a mere make-shift cradle, a manger in an Eastern khan.

IV. He has thus learned, by living it, a perfect sympathy with our human life, and that from the beginning of it.Has skipped no stage of it, up to manhoods prime. When man has passed his prime, the forces which make for disintegration and death begin to turn the scale against those which make for recuperation, nutrition, growth, life. The man begins to die from the earliest moment when the balance turns against life. Jesus never passed the point of prime, but in the prime of manhood met Death in its prime of strength and conquered it. From birth to manhood life is victorious; it is the best of our life. And all that best He knew, knew from its beginning. There is no stage of our lifeits infancy, its childhood, youth, early years of gathering strength, first years of toil, manhood of breadwinning and responsibility and strugglewhich He has not learned to understand, as having lived through it. When we pray for help, He has the sympathy of experience with all stages, even the earliest.

V. Above all, the Gift thus became the childrens Christ.If Christian children have so happy a Christmas Day, they owe it to Christ. At the very best, no father or mother in heathen lands, of old time or now, quite think of children and deal with them as true Christian parents do. No classical poet ever drew poetry from childhood. Infanticide cannot live in lands where a Christ is known, Who was Gods Unspeakable Gift, and yet was a baby. A baby is a holy thing for His sake. Childhood is a happy time and holy, because of His childhood. Every boy may feel that Christ understands him. And every girl too; for just as no woman ever feels that, because He is a man, Christ does not understand her, so no girl need fear that, because He was a boy, Jesus does not understand her. In His perfect manhood there was perfect childhood, boyhood and girlhood all in Him. Say to the child: Jesus was once exactly of your age, to a minute; He was exactly your height once, to a hairs breadth. If you had gone, A.D. 5 or 6, into Nazareth to seek Gods Unspeakable Gift, you would have found a lad of eight or nine at school, wearing a little close-fitting cap, and a loose garment tied round with a sash, sitting on the ground, spelling His letters from a passage copied out of the Hebrew Bible, or writing upon a piece of board with chalk. He understands about going to school, and holidays, and play. He understands childrens troubles, and what childrens sins are, though He never did any. Gentle and obedient, patient and diligent and truthful, we may depend He was; the model of all that is right for boys and girls, as well as for men and women. God gave His Unspeakable Gift to children.

V. The wonder of it! The central figure of History is Jesus of Nazareth, Gods Christ. When the time was come to bring His Only Begotten into the world, God took a little Child and set Him in the midst.

Fuente: The Preacher’s Complete Homiletical Commentary Edited by Joseph S. Exell

Appleburys Comments

Ministering To The Saints
Scripture

2Co. 9:1-5. For as touching the ministering to the saints, it is superfluous for me to write to you: 2 for I know your readiness, of which I glory on your behalf to them of Macedonia, that Achaia hath been prepared for a year past; and your zeal hath stirred up very many of them. 3 But I have sent the brethren, that our glorying on your behalf may not be made void in this respect; that, even as I said, ye may be prepared: 4 lest by any means if there come with me any of Macedonia and find you unprepared, we (that we say not, ye) should be put to shame in this confidence. 5 I thought it necessary therefore to entreat the brethren, that they would go before unto you, and make up beforehand your aforepromised bounty, that the same might be ready as a matter of bounty, and not of extortion.

Comments

superfluous for me to write to you.Paul had spent considerable space in this letter giving direction concerning the offerings for the saints and commending Titus and his associates for the part they were to have in assisting the Corinthians in preparing their offering. Indeed it was superfluous to go on writing to them about the matter, for he knew that they were eager to do their part. He had been boasting to the people of Macedonia saying, Achaia has been ready for a year. Just how many months had gone by since they had begun to make preparation is not clear, but the Corinthians knew exactly. The zeal of Achaia had aroused many of the Macedonians to action.

But I have sent the brethren.While it was not necessary to go on writing to them about their offering, it was necessary to say some additional words about the mission of Titus and his associates. He was sending them to make sure that his boasting about their preparedness had not been in vain. He did not want the Macedonians, some of whom had volunteered to go with him to Corinth, to find the Corinthians unprepared. This would embarrass him, to say nothing about what it would do to them.

as a matter of bounty and not of extortion.The word translated bounty is commonly, within proper context, translated blessing. It meant words that were well spoken about praise that was well deserved; it meant blessings that benefitted those who received them. Out of this concept comes the thought of bountiful giving that brings benefit to others. Paul had clearly indicated that this was the type of gift that Macedonia was preparing and he did not hesitate to suggest that Achaias gift should be of the same kind. He did not want a poor showing on their part to demonstrate an attitude of greediness that would keep them from parting from their material wealth.

Stingy, miserly people do not give in such a manner as to suggest that their giving is a blessing to either themselves or to others.

Fuente: College Press Bible Study Textbook Series

Butlers Commentary

SECTION 4

Compulsion (2Co. 9:1-7)

9 Now it is superfluous for me to write to you about the offering for the saints, for I know your readiness, of which I boast about you to the people of Macedonia, saying that Achaia has been ready since last year; and your zeal has stirred up most of them. 3But I am sending the brethren so that our boasting about you may not prove vain in this case, so that you may be ready, as I said you would be; 4lest if some Macedonians come with me and find that you are not ready we be humiliatedto say nothing of youfor being so confident. 5So I thought it necessary to urge the brethren to go on to you before me, and arrange in advance for this gift you have promised, so that it may be ready not as an exaction but as a willing gift.

6 The point is this: he who sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and he who sows bountifully will also reap bountifully. Each one must do as he has made up his mind, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.

2Co. 9:1-4 Conscientiousness: Chapter nine is clearly a continuation of the subject of chapter eight. The Greek conjunction gar is translated Now (2Co. 9:1) and connects chapter nine to the subject matter of chapter eight. The most persistent problem of stewardship facing a preacher is the problem of motivation. Stewardship is plainly commanded by God in the Old Testament and by Christ in the New Testament. But commanding free-willed creatures and getting them to obey commands are two different matters. Mans freedom to choose will not be violated by a just and righteous God. God will not coerce or exact or force offerings from people (neither should preachers!). Paul calls upon two facts of the human experience to motivate the Corinthians to give: Self-respect and Selectivity.

Paul was boasting (Gr. kauchomai, sometimes translated glorying) of the readiness (Gr. prothumian, passionate eagerness) of the Corinthians (2Co. 9:2 ff) to take up an offering for the saints in Judea to the Macedonians. He boasted of the Macedonians to the Corinthians (2Co. 8:1-5)! This is true of Pauls communications to all the churches. He praised one church to another as a motivating factor. While you find Paul criticizing the conduct of one church after another in his epistles to each of them, you never find him criticizing one church to another!

Paul says, It is superfluous (Gr. perisson) for me to write to you about the offering for the saints . . . and then continues to write to them about it! He has already (2Co. 8:8-15) written that he knows of their readiness and their beginning, but there remains the problem of their completing it. He tactfully softens his lengthy exhortation on giving by this superfluous statement of his boasting about them to the Macedonians. Self-respect or conscientiousness is a worthy virtue. Paul was jealous for his own reputation (2Co. 8:20-24) so he appeals to the Corinthians to be careful to fulfill what he has boasted of them to the Macedonians. An appeal to conscientiousness in a Christian is really an appeal to the reputation of Christ! The Christian guards Christs reputation when he guards his own self-respect. That should be a highly motivating factor in his every action as a Christianand especially in giving!

He told the Macedonians that Achaia (Roman named province of southern Greece which included the cities of Corinth, Athens, Sparta, Olympia, Delphi, Thebes and Cenchreae) had planned (Gr. pareskeuastai, perfect passive, had made preparations and was continuing to make preparations) to give to this special benevolence a year ago. Information about the zeal of the Corinthians stirred up (Gr. erethisen, provoked, excited) most of the Macedonians.

But he sends the brethren (the three mentioned in 2Co. 8:16-24) to prod the Corinthians into completing what they had begun the year before. The very presence of these brethren (two of them specifically chosen by the churches themselves for this purpose) will urge them to finish their collection. Paul is urgent! He wants to spare the Corinthians, himself, and the reputation of Christ of any shame should some Macedonians decide to accompany him to Corinth for the reception of the offering and find no offering to receive! The Greek word kataischunthomen is a combination of kata and aischuno, shamed-down, an intensive form of the word for shame and is translated, humiliated. Paul is definitely appealing to self-respect as a motivation.

2Co. 9:5-7 Choice: The second motivational factor Paul appealed to was the freedom every Christian has to choose how, when, and how much he will give in any offering he makes unto the Lord. There is no legislation whatsoever in the New Testament as to method, frequency, or amount in the matter of Christian giving. We repeat, the emphasis in the N.T. is upon stewardship (accountability, wise management, motive, attitude, faithfulness). Of course, since the New Testament is a dispensation of grace, infinite grace, it is simply assumed that a Christians giving will be liberal and generous. Paul might be saying (2Co. 9:5), I consider it necessary to send these brethren to you in Corinth to arrange the completion of the collection ahead of my arrival there because I do not want my presence to be the reason why you give. (see 1Co. 16:2; 2Co. 1:24). The RSV translates the Greek word pleonexian as exaction; the word literally is covetousness or greed. The RSV also translates eulogian as willing gift; the word literally is, well-thinking. What Paul means is what he wants the Corinthians to give happily, and not grudgingly coveting for themselves what they are giving.

It is imperative that preachers solve the problem of stewardship and giving without coercion of any sort. Christians must be left free to choose whether they will give, when they will give, and how much they will give. Even the Lord Jesus, when asked about giving, left the questioners free to decide, when he said, Render unto Caesar the things that are Caesars and unto God the things that are Gods. While Paul teaches (1Co. 16:1-24) there should be a congregational consensus about collections and some specified time and order as to their being taken, he leaves every saint free to decide for himself about his contribution to the collections.

Nothing will intensify the problem of stewardship and giving more than coercive, manipulative, deceitful methods used to motivate it! Paul would not even appear in Corinth until after the offering was completed lest his apostolic presence (without any threats or duress) make the brethren there feel compulsion. Ray Stedman writes (pg. 163):

What a contrast to many Christian leaders, evangelists and others today who insist that you wait until they come before any offering is taken. They want to put the squeeze on, to tell emotional stories of deathbed experiences, to hold up pictures of crying children to twist your heart, to use competitiveness and rivalry as a means of extracting more funds. This is a terrible thing. It scorns the spirit of grace in a congregation. So this helpful guideline says, do not give to organizations or people who habitually rely on emotional appeals to get you to give. . . . Now we ought to hear needs, but habitual appeals on that basis are wrong, because it is the wrong basis on which to give. . . . In Poland, I was told of organizations that were actually stockpiling Bibles in warehouses because they could not get them into the Soviet Union. But they were still making appeals to people to give for more Bible purchasing when they actually had warehouses full that they could not move. That is the wrong kind of appeal. When we learn of something like that we should stop giving, because we are responsible for what we do.

Nothing will solve the problem of stewardship and giving more than the preaching and practice of the grace of God. Paul, in fact, begins (2Co. 8:1), and ends (2Co. 9:15) the entire dissertation on giving by appealing to the GRACE of God! The apostolic word (and practice) tells us, more preaching of the grace of God equals more willing, cheerful and generous giving! So when will the church restore the apostolic doctrine about stewardship and giving?

The apostle says, The point is this: he who sows sparingly (Gr. pheidomenos, thriftily, forbearingly) will also reap sparingly, and he who sows bountifully (Gr. eulogiais, well-speaking, praising, blessing, benevolently, frankly, liberally) will also reap bountifully. Stedman explains (pg. 164):

The closest analogy to giving that we have in life is the farmer going out to sow his crop. Giving is more than distributing your funds or resources, it is a process that will return something to you as well, like a farmer who sows seeds in the spring. He scatters seed out upon the ground, and he cannot gather it up again. It looks as though it is lost to him, and it is. He actually has to give up control of it and the use of it. He throws it away into the ground where it deteriorates, rots and is seemingly lost. . . . But it is not lost; it is not gone. Let it fulfill its appointed process and the farmer will have it back again and much more besides. That is what God designed. The return is proportionate to the sowing. If a farmer sows a little amount of seed, that is what he will get back, a small and niggardly harvest. If he sows bountifully and scatters prodigally, he will receive a prodigal harvest in return. The analogy is clear. If you give just a little bit, then what you get will be a little bit, too. But if you give abundantly, what you will get will be abundant also.

But the rewards that the New Testament promises are never ultimately material rewards. The Bible promises not the wealth of things, but spiritual wealththe wealth of character. The man who is generous in giving to the Lord and to others will be loved, respected, sought after for advice, honored, helped when he himself is in need; free of the character-shriveling vices of envy, covetousness, anxiety, and loneliness. People who do not give liberally and cheerfully are self-centered. The boundaries of their experience are extremely limited. They are never satisfied. They have no purpose beyond themselves. Self is the highest goal to which they aspire or shall ever attain.

Paul uses the Greek word hekastos signifying specifically, each one. No man is to decide for another what he is to give! The Greek word proeretai is from pro and haireo. Haireo is the word from which we get the English words heresy and heretic, and means, a self-willed choice. Add the prepositional prefix pro and add the phrase, te kardia, then we have an emphatic statement that each one must do as he has made up (purposed) his mind. . . . Paul expects every Christian to make up his mind to give something; but only what he, himself, has decided to give. No other person is to make any decision for him in this matter. It is, in fact, unwarranted for one Christian to even suggest (unless requested to do so by the individual) to another how much he should be giving. The New Testament course to follow is to teach the unsearchable grace of God and suggest that giving must be decided in each persons heart according to his appreciation of that Infinite grace.

Any approach to motivate people to give that would cause reluctance (Gr. ek lupes, out of sorrow or regret) would be hypocritical. It would destroy the giver! This passage condemns forever the heathen pragmatism in the philosophy of so many preachers and religious leaders today who practice any kind of gimmick or emotional coercion because it works! Works for whom? Reluctant, coerced, giving does not work for the giver. And God does not need that kind of money! God doesnt need any money! God wants willing, cheerful, liberal givers who give because they have made up their own hearts to give. God does not need our money, but we need to give!

The Greek words ex anagkes are translated under compulsion in the RSV and NASV and necessity in the KJV. The words mean, out of distress, constraint, what must needs be. If Christian work, benevolent, educational, evangelistic, missionary or any other, must be supported by bringing people (Christian and non-Christian) under distress or compulsion, it is not Christian work! So, while Christians need to give, being coerced to give out of gimmickry or manipulation or circumventing the mind by appealing to the emotions does nothing but spiritual harm to the giver. It is altogether possible this is the reason Paul was so reluctant to take financial support (1Co. 9:12 b, 1Co. 9:15; 1Co. 9:18; 1Th. 2:9; 2Th. 3:7 ff) for his ministry. He would burden no one. He was careful that no man be pressured into giving out of compulsion or necessity. He made no pleadings for money. He coerced no one. He had every right to be supported financially (see our comments, First Corinthians, chapter nine) but forfeited his rights for the sake of others. This does not mean, of course, that preachers, missionaries and other full-time workers in para-church activities should not be salaried and supported by those who benefit from their ministries (see Gal. 6:6, etc.). But it does focus the searching light of apostolic doctrine and example upon modern religious excesses in coercing and cajoling money from people. It does strip the facade of false spirituality from all the manipulative schemes in todays religious-financial flim flam! Much modern religious fundraising methodology is justified under the umbrella of public relations. But public relations is often merely a euphemism for deceit, manipulation, self-serving pragmatism, and ethical relativism! If it works, it must be righteous is from the devil, not from God!

Finally, Paul says, hilaron gar doten agapa ho theosfor a cheerful giver God loves. The Greek word hilaron is translated cheerful and is the word from which we get the English word, hilarity, hilarious. In the Septuagint (Greek version of the Hebrew O.T.), the word hilaruno translates a Hebrew word lehatshiyl, to cause to shine. Cheerful giving makes the soul and the spirit of a man shine with the image of the Infinite Giver! Paul is evidently borrowing from Pro. 22:8 as it appears in the Septuagint (LXX) when he says, God loves a cheerful giver. The Greek word hilaron is used by the LXX in Pro. 22:8 where the phrase is, God loves a cheerful and liberal man . . . That phrase does not appear in the Hebrew text in Pro. 22:8 or in any of our English versions. But since the phrase is here confirmed as inspired from the pen of an apostle, and since the principle is taught in other Biblical injunctions about giving, its absence in the Hebrew text in Pro. 22:8 poses no problem. In the LXX the Greek word eulogei is literally, thinks well, whereas Paul uses the Greek word agapa literally, loves, in 2Co. 9:7. The word hilaron is used only one other time in the N.T., Rom. 12:8, enjoining the one showing mercy to do so with cheerfulness (hilarity). It is also interesting that the Greek word dotes, translated, giver appears in Pro. 22:8 in the LXX and in the N.T. only here in 2Co. 9:7. Deu. 15:7-11 warns Gods people not to harden their heart against giving to the poorbegrudging any help to the needy. Israelites were expected to give freely and open handedly because there would always be poor people in the land. William Barclay notes an ancient rabbinical saying which goes to receive a friend with a cheerful countenance and to give him nothing is better than to give him everything with a gloomy countenance. The people gave with hilarity to build the Tabernacle (Exo. 36:2-7) and to build the Temple (1Ch. 29:1-30). There were undoubtedly many other times when Israelites gave cheerfully (such as the widow observed by Jesus in the temple treasury, Mar. 12:41-44). Zacchaeus, upon conversion and repentance, gave half of his goods to the poor and was ready to make restitution four-fold to anyone whom he might have defrauded (Luk. 19:8-10). The Macedonians (2Co. 8:4) clearly were cheerful givers, begging Paul for the favor of giving to help the Judeans. Paul quotes Jesus as saying, It is more blessed (Gr. makarion, happiness) to give than to receive (Act. 20:35).

How many people have you observed happy to givegiving hilariouslybegging for the favor of giving? Most give grudgingly! Most hang on to their money until they are pressured or manipulated through their emotions to give to some emergency need. When the offering is taken in your congregation are people stumbling over one another for the opportunity to put something in the plate? Are they laughing or smilingare they enjoying it? Do members of your congregation ever ask the elders, May we have the privilege of giving beyond our means? Do most people in your church conceive of their giving as done to support the preacher or pay the bills of the church?

There is a reason human beings are reluctant to give their money to the Lord. But it is very subtle. It is hinted at in 2Co. 8:5. Money, itself, is merely a medium of exchange. But that for which it is exchanged is life! Each person who works, expends his time, energies and talentshimselfa large portion of his life. In exchange he receives money (coins and currency or other material properties). So when a person gives his money, he is actually giving just that much of himself! Those unwilling to give themselves to the Lord, are unwilling to give their money to the Lord. To pretend that one has given himself to the Lord and then to be unwilling to give his money to the Lord (or to give grudgingly) is rank hypocrisy. Only those who have first given themselves (first, in priority) will be those who give hilariously. At the same time, some will give their money (grudgingly) having never given themselves. Paul said, If I give away all I have, and if I deliver my body to be burned, but have not love, I gain nothing (1Co. 13:3). Why we give is so important, what we give becomes almost irrelevant! (see Mat. 6:1-4).

Fuente: College Press Bible Study Textbook Series

IX.

(1) For as touching . . .The division of chapters in the English version, unfortunately, gives the impression of the introduction of a new subject. In reality there is no new topic, and all flows on with unbroken continuity. This is part of the appeal to their self-respect begun in 2Co. 8:23-24. You will pardon, he practically says, my words of counsel as to the necessity of prompt action; as to the general duty of that ministration to the saints you have shown that you need no instruction.

Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)

Chapter 9

THE WILLING GIVER ( 2Co 9:1-5 )

9:1-5 It is superfluous for me to write to you about this service designed to help God’s dedicated people, for I know your eagerness, about which I have boasted for you to the Macedonians, for I have told them that Achaea has been ready since last year, and the story of your zeal has kindled the majority of them. But, all the same, I am sending the brothers, so that, in this particular matter, the boast I made of you may not be proved empty, so that you might be all ready, as I said you were. I do this in case the Macedonians should arrive with me and find you unprepared, and, in case, if that should happen, we–not to mention you yourselves–should be ashamed. I think it necessary to invite the brothers to go on ahead of us, and to get your promised bounty in order in good time, so that it should be ready as if you were eager to give and not as if I were forcing it out of you.

As many of the early fathers noted, there is a delightfully human touch in the background of this passage. Paul is dealing with the collection for the saints at Jerusalem. But now it becomes clear that he has been encouraging the Corinthians to generosity by quoting the example of the Macedonians ( 2Co 8:1-5), and at the same time encouraging the Macedonians by quoting the Corinthians! And now he is just a little afraid that the Corinthians may let him down! It is typical of Paul and of the greatness of his heart. For the whole point is that he never criticized one Church to another; he praised one to another. No bad standard by which to test a man is whether he delights in retailing the best or the worst about others.

There are at least four ways in which a man may give a gift.

(i) He may give as a duty. He may discharge the claims of generosity but do so as one pays an account or sends a remittance to a tax-collector. It may be done as a grim duty and with such a bad grace that it would be almost better not to do it at all.

(ii) He may give simply to find self-satisfaction. He thinks far more of the pleasant feeling that he has when he makes the gift than of the feelings of the person who receives it. There are people who will give a penny to a beggar rather because of the glow of satisfaction they get than from any real desire to help. Such giving is in essence selfish; people who give like that give to themselves rather than to the recipient.

(iii) He may give from motives of prestige. The real source of such giving is not love but pride. The gift is given not to help but to glorify the giver. In fact the chances are that it would not be given at all if it were not seen and praised. It may even be that the giving is done in order to pile up credit with God–as if any man could put God in his debt.

(iv) None of these ways of giving are wholly bad, for at least the gift is made. But the real way to give is under love’s compulsion, to give because one cannot help giving, to give because the sight of a soul in need wakens a desire that cannot be stilled. This is in fact to give in God’s way; it was because he so loved the world that he gave his Son.

Paul’s great desire is that the gift of the Corinthians should be ready and not have to be collected at the last moment. An old Latin proverb says, “He gives twice who gives quickly.” That is always true. The finest gifts are those made, before they are requested. It was while we were yet enemies that Christ died for us. God hears our prayers even before we speak them. And we should be to our fellow men as God has been to us.

THE PRINCIPLES OF GENEROSITY ( 2Co 9:6-15 )

9:6-15 Further, there is this–He who sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and he who sows bountifully will reap bountifully. Let each man give as he has decided in his heart. Let him not give as if it hurt him to give or as if it was being forced out of him, for it is the happy giver whom God loves. God can supply you with an overflowing measure of every grace, so that because in all things at all times you have all sufficiency, you may excel in every good work. As it stands written, “He scattered his seed, he gave to the poor; his righteousness remains for ever.” And in every point you will be enriched for every kind of generosity, that generosity which, through you, produces thanksgiving to God. For the ministration of this act of voluntary service not only fills up the lacks of God’s dedicated people, but it also does something special for God through the many thanksgivings it produces. Through your generosity the reality of your Christian service will be so signally proved that they will glorify God because of the way in which you obey your creed, which looks to the gospel of Christ, and because of the generous way in which you have shared with them and with all men; and they will pray for you and long for you because of the surpassing grace of God which is upon you. Thanks be to God for the free gift of God he gave to us, the story of which can never be fully told.

This passage gives us an outline of the principles of generous giving.

(i) Paul insists that no man was ever the loser because he was generous. Giving is like sowing seed. The man who sows with a sparing hand cannot hope for anything but a meagre harvest, but the man who sows with a generous hand will in due time reap a generous return. The New Testament is an extremely practical book and one of its great features is that it is never afraid of the reward motive. It never says that goodness is all to no purpose. It never forgets that something new and wonderful enters into the life of the man who accepts God’s commands as his law.

But the rewards that the New Testament envisages are never material. It promises not the wealth of things, but the wealth of the heart and of the spirit. What then can a generous man expect?

(a) He will be rich in love. This is a point to which we will return. It is always true that no one likes the mean man and generosity can cover a multitude of other sins. Men will always prefer the warm heart, even though its very warmth may lead it into excesses, to the cold rectitude of the calculating spirit.

(b) He will be rich in friends. “A man that has friends must show himself friendly.” An unlovable man can never expect to be loved. The man whose heart runs out to others will always find that the hearts of others run out to him.

(c) He will be rich in help. The day always comes when we need the help which others can give, and, if we have been sparing in our help to them, the likelihood is that they will be sparing in their help to us. The measure we have used to others will determine the measure which is given to us.

(d) He will be rich towards God. Jesus taught us that what we do to others we do for God, and the day will come when every time we opened our heart and hand will stand to our favour, and every time we closed them will be a witness against us.

(ii) Paul insists that it is the happy giver whom God loves. Deu 15:7-11 lays down the duty of generosity to the poor brother, and Deu 15:10 has it, “Your heart shall not be grudging when you give to him.” There was a rabbinic saying which said that to receive a friend with a cheerful countenance and to give him nothing is better than to give him everything with a gloomy countenance. Seneca said that to give with doubt and delay is almost worse than not to give at all.

Paul then quotes from Psa 112:3; Psa 112:9 –verses which he takes to be a description of the good and generous man. He scatters his seed, that is he sows it not sparingly but generously; he gives to the poor; and his action is to his credit and joy forever. Carlyle tells how, when he was a boy, a beggar came to the door. His parents were out and he was alone in the house. On a boyish impulse he broke into his own savings-bank and gave the beggar all that was in it, and he tells us that never before or since did he know such sheer happiness as came to him in that moment. There is indeed a joy in giving.

(ii) Paul insists that God can give a man both the substance to give and the spirit in which to give it. In 2Co 9:8 he speaks of the all-sufficiency which God gives us. The word he uses is autarkeia ( G841) . This was a favourite Stoic word. It does not describe the sufficiency of the man who possesses all kinds of things in abundance. It means independence. It describes the state of the man who has directed life not to amassing possessions but to eliminating needs. It describes the man who has taught himself to be content with very little. It is obvious that such a man will be able to give far more to others because he wants so little for himself. It is so often true that we want so much for ourselves that there is nothing left to give to others.

Not only that, it is God who can give us the spirit in which to give. Robert Louis Stevenson’s native servants loved him. His boy used to waken him every morning with a cup of tea. On one occasion his usual boy was off duty, and another had taken over. This boy woke him not only with a cup of tea but also with a beautifully cooked omelette. Stevenson thanked him and said, “Great is your forethought.” “No, master,” said the boy, “great is my love.” It is God alone who can put into our hearts the love which is the essence of the generous spirit.

But in this passage Paul does more. If we read into its thought, we see that he holds that giving does wonderful things for three different persons.

(i) It does something for others. (a) It relieves their need. Many a time, when a man was at his wit’s end, a gift from someone else has seemed nothing less than a gift from heaven. (b) It restores their faith in their fellow men. It often happens that, when a man is in need, he grows embittered and feels himself neglected. It is then that a gift shows him that love and kindness are not dead. (c) It makes them thank God. A gift in a time of need is something which brings not only our love but also God’s love into the lives of others.

(ii) It does something for ourselves. (a) It guarantees our Christian profession. In the case of the Corinthians that was specially important. No doubt the Jerusalem Church, which was almost entirely Jewish, still regarded the Gentiles with suspicion and wondered in its heart of hearts if Christianity could be for them at all. The very fact of the gift of the Gentile Churches must have guaranteed to them the reality of Gentile Christianity. If a man is generous it enables others to see that he has turned his Christianity not only into words but into deeds as well. (b) It wins us both the love and the prayers of others. What is needed in this world more than anything else is something which will link a man to his fellow men. There is nothing so precious as fellowship, and generosity is an essential step on the way to real union between man and man.

(iii) It does something for God. It makes prayers of thanksgiving go up to him. Men see our good deeds and glorify not us but God. It is a tremendous thing that something we can do can turn men’s hearts to God, for that means that something we can do can bring joy to him.

Finally, Paul turns the thoughts of the Corinthians to the gift of God in Jesus Christ, a gift whose wonder can never be exhausted and whose story can never be fully told; and, in so doing, he says to them, “Can you, who have been so generously treated by God, be anything else but generous to your fellow men?”

Before we go on to study 2Co 10:1-18; 2Co 11:1-33; 2Co 12:1-21; 2Co 13:1-14 of our letter, let us remember what we have already seen in the introduction. There is a most surprising break between 2Co 9:1-15 and 2Co 10:1-18. Up to 2Co 9:1-15 everything seems to be going well. The breach is healed and the quarrel is over. 2Co 8:1-24; 2Co 9:1-15 deal with the collection for the Church at Jerusalem, and, now that that practical matter is dealt with, we might expect Paul to draw to a close. Instead, we find four chapters which are the saddest and the sorest chapters Paul ever wrote. It makes us wonder how they got there.

Twice in 2 Corinthians Paul speaks of a severe letter that he had written, a letter so stern that at one time he almost regretted ever having written it ( 2Co 2:4; 2Co 7:8). That description does not at all fit 1 Corinthians. So we are left with two alternatives–either the severe letter is lost altogether or at least part of it is contained in these 2Co 10:1-18; 2Co 11:1-33; 2Co 12:1-21; 2Co 13:1-14. All the likelihood is that 2Co 10:1-18; 2Co 11:1-33; 2Co 12:1-21; 2Co 13:1-14 are the severe letter, and that, when Paul’s letters were being collected, it was placed here by mistake. To get the right order of things we really ought to read 2Co 10:1-18; 2Co 11:1-33; 2Co 12:1-21; 2Co 13:1-14 before we read 2Co 1:1-24; 2Co 2:1-17; 2Co 3:1-18; 2Co 4:1-18; 2Co 5:1-21; 2Co 6:1-18; 2Co 7:1-16; 2Co 8:1-24; 2Co 9:1-15. We may well believe that we are reading here the letter which it hurt Paul most of all to write, and which was written to try to mend a situation which came near to breaking his heart.

-Barclay’s Daily Study Bible (NT)

Fuente: Barclay Daily Study Bible

d. By need of their promptly sustaining his boasts in their behalf to the Macedonians, 2Co 9:1-5 .

1. For Alludes to our boasting in last verse, and thereby closely connects the language.

Ministering The contributions to the saints at Jerusalem.

Superfluous And so he writes here not so much about the ministering itself, as about finishing it promptly, in order to verify his boasts in their behalf if any Macedonians should visit Corinth soon, as, indeed, they might in company with himself when he should come to Corinth.

Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

3. And he exhorts them to make a liberal contribution, 2Co 8:1 to 2Co 9:15.

a. By the Macedonian example, 2Co 8:1-8 .

St. Paul, as above remarked, hoped to win the Corinthians to himself only by bringing them to a higher plane of piety; and as they have so done and come into his full confidence, as noted last verse, he now draws them out to self-sacrifice in behalf of Christianity. “No man,” said Captain Webb, our early soldier preacher, “is fully converted, until he is converted in the pockets.”

Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

‘For as touching the ministering to the saints, it is superfluous for me to write to you, for I know your readiness, of which I glory on your behalf to those of Macedonia, that Achaia has been prepared for a year past, and your zeal has stirred up very many of them.’

Note the connecting ‘for’ which connects the chapter with his words in chapter 2Co 8:24. It reads as though it is as a result of his mentioning of his glorying in the Corinthians in the previous verse that he now writes as he does.

This verse must surely be seen as a piece of delicate diplomacy. Having urged on them incentives for them to make their gifts, including the self-sacrificing giving of the Macedonians, he now back-pedals a little and assures them that he realises that what he has said was in fact superfluous, and need not have been said, because he does indeed know of their present readiness to collect funds for Jerusalem, and has already boasted about it to the Macedonians. The fact of the matter is that he had not only informed the Macedonians that Achaia has already been collecting funds and had been ready for a whole year to contribute towards the collection, but that he had actually done this to such an extent that their zeal had aroused others to give.

It may also be that he is bearing in mind that he is speaking in his letter to two audiences. The main church in Corinth, with whom he had been at cross purposes, who may have slackened their zeal for the Collection, and the other churches in the area known locally as Achaia, around Corinth, who may not have been involved and may have therefore have continued collecting apace. And he would know that his letter would be read in both places, with the right emphasis being passed to each by the bearer. (That is why such a pastoral letter can sometimes appear to be saying two slightly different things. And he would certainly not be the only writer to repeat himself from a slightly different viewpoint when he has a point that he desperately wants to get over).

Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett

Further Reasons Why They Should Reveal Their Generosity ( 2Co 9:1-15 ).

It is often noted that this chapter appears to repeat to some extent the ideas in chapter 8, yet from a different angle, and seems to begin almost from scratch. And this has caused some to think that this is a separate letter. But this is not only unnecessary and not supported by any manuscript evidence, but ignores the niceties of his situation.

He has finished off chapter 8 with a reference to his ‘glorying’ on their behalf, something which in fact is not otherwise mentioned in chapter 8 but is clearly explained in chapter 9, and the mention of ‘the brothers’ in chapter 9 assumes their introduction in chapter 8. In fact, his very mentioning of his glorying on their behalf may well be precisely what pulled him up short and made him realise that he had up to this point been less than tactful. We might see him as realising that here were the Corinthians, with whom he had just recently been reconciled, who had been the first to take a real interest in the Collection (1Co 16:1), having newcomers to the idea thrust in their face as an example, and lauded to the skies, while they could argue that it was they who should be held up as an example.

It was true that on him the eager self-sacrifice of the Macedonians had made a great impression, but he probably suddenly recognised that it might not be seen in the same light by the touchy Corinthians. Indeed their pride might well be hurt. Thus 2Co 9:1 sees him hurriedly trying to assure them that in fact he does recognise that what he has said might seem a little superfluous in the light of the fact that they have already proved their readiness, and goes on to stress that in reality they had been the example that he had used to spur others on to take up the idea of the Collection with enthusiasm.

Thus his point about the self-sacrifice of the Macedonians might now, he hoped, be taken for what it was, an example of sacrificial giving, but not as a suggestion of their having failed. There may even be a case for suggesting that he had had a break in his letter writing which had made him recognise how tactless he had been, so that on again taking up his pen he sought to put matters right. (Such bursts of realisation often come out of the blue when least expected).

Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett

A PLEA CONCERNING THE PAYING OF THEIR ‘DEBT’ TO THE JERUSALEM CHURCH BY MEANS OF ‘THE COLLECTION’ WHICH WAS TO BE FOR THE RELIEF OF THE EXTREME POVERTY OF THE SAINTS IN THAT CHURCH AND WHICH WOULD ITSELF BE A CONTRIBUTION TO THE FORWARD GOING OF THE OVERALL PURPOSES OF GOD ( 2Co 8:1 to 2Co 9:15 ).

This next section of the letter deals with Paul’s activities in collecting money for “the poor among the saints in Jerusalem” (Rom 15:26). He had declared his great concern for the poor in Gal 2:10, and that it was genuine comes out in that he seems to have encouraged the churches to gather these funds over a period of about five years (52-57 AD), seeking to obtain them from the churches in Achaia (Rom 15:26; 1Co 16:1-4; 2 Corinthians 8-9); Galatia (Act 18:23; 1Co 16:1); Macedonia (Act 19:22; Acts 2 Corinthian 2Co 8:1-5; 2Co 9:2; 2Co 9:4), and Asia Minor (Act 20:35).

But he saw it as more than just an act of loving charity, he saw it as having at the heart of it the fulfilling of the ancient prophecies of the overt uniting of Israel and the Gentiles as one under the One God of the whole world.

Delegates from most of these regions, and possibly from all, were to accompany Paul when he took the gift to Jerusalem (Act 20:4). They wanted it to be an act of fellowship and encouragement as well as an act of giving, an overt declaration of their oneness in Christ.

The recipients were to be the Jerusalem church who were seemingly on the whole especially poor and in need. The very prominence of their position counted against them. Becoming Christians, and particularly being baptised, might well have eventually resulted in social and economic ostracism within Jerusalem’s society where Judaism dominated the whole way of life. At various times Christians were discriminated against and victimised.

The communal sharing of goods that the early Christians in Jerusalem practised demonstrated levels of poverty already in existence among the Jerusalem converts right from the beginning (Act 6:1), and it would be exacerbated by the fact that ageing Jewish Christians (like their Jewish compatriots) would come to live in and around Jerusalem in their final days so that their bodies would be there ready for the day of resurrection. The communal sharing in the beginning may have helped in the short term, but it could not solve their economic problems, and it inevitably left those who gave so sacrificially, in a worse position to help in the long term (compare Act 2:44-45; Act 4:32; Act 4:34-35).

But the whole of Palestine in fact suffered from lack of food around that time due to a famine that arose during the reign of Emperor Claudius in 46 AD (Act 11:27-30) and lasted some years, and as the mother church of Christianity, the Jerusalem church would undoubtedly have a larger number of visitors to give hospitality to than did others, as well making some provision for those who went out from it.

And finally there was the fact that all Jews in Palestine, including Jewish Christians, had to pay double taxes, to Rome and to the Jewish authorities. All these things then would contribute to the poverty of the Jerusalem church.

But why did Paul devote so much of his time and energy to raising and delivering this collection? Undoubtedly the first reason was because of his love for his needy Christian brethren (Rom 12:13; Rom 13:8; Gal 6:10). He also believed that this gift would bring glory to Jesus Christ (2Co 8:19), and that it would help to level out by mutual assistance God’s provision for His people’s physical needs (2Co 8:13-15). Moreover, it provided a visible demonstration of the equality of status that existed between Gentile and Jewish Christians (Eph 2:11-22), and would undoubtedly reduce the tensions between them. The Jerusalem church tended to be very conservative and ‘Jewish’, and while Acts 15 had laid down the position with regard to Gentile Christians, not all would have been convinced. A genuine expression of loving concern could therefore only help to improve the relationships.

He probably also hoped that God might use it in order to allay Jewish suspicions about Christianity, and about his own mission to the Gentiles (compare Act 11:2-3), demonstrating that it did not see Jews as enemies. It also illustrated the spiritual indebtedness that the Gentiles owed to their Jewish brethren (Rom 15:19; Rom 15:27; 1Co 9:11), and was personally a way in which he could partially compensate for his own earlier persecution of the Jerusalem saints (Act 8:3; Act 9:1; Act 26:10-11; 1Co 15:9; Gal 1:13; 1Ti 1:13), which had undoubtedly largely in the first place contributed to its poverty.

But above all Paul almost certainly saw in the entry of his large Gentile contingent, with their munificent gift, into Jerusalem, a partial fulfilment of the prophecies which spoke of the Gentiles and their riches flowing into Jerusalem in the last days (Isa 2:2-5; Isa 60:5-22; Isa 61:6; Mic 4:1-5; Hag 2:7). It fulfilled the vision of the one ‘Israel of God’ (Gal 6:16).

So Paul wrote as he did in the following two chapters of 2 Corinthians in order to facilitate the Collection, which he clearly considered to be of great importance, and to bring out its significance, while at the same time laying out a philosophy of Christian stewardship for all time, and defending himself against charges that some would make against him..

This is certainly not the first time that the Corinthians had heard about this collection. Paul’s abrupt mention of “concerning the collection for the saints” in 1Co 16:1, and his subsequent discussion of it, emphasises that he had spoken to them about it previously at some length, and that it was well known and of interest to them, and 2Co 8:10; 2Co 9:1-2 below indicate that their interest had continued, even though the controversy that had developed between them and Paul may well have contributed to some delay (2Co 2:5-11; 2Co 7:12).

However now that Paul had learned that the Corinthian congregation were responding more positively to him again, he sought to reintroduce the subject and press for its completion, beginning by describing the generosity of the Macedonian churches, and then expressing his confidence in their own anticipated generosity to the glory of God.

He begins in chapter 8 by stressing how eager the Macedonians were to have their full part in the Collection, and stresses their example of self-sacrifice, probably hoping that it would be an incentive and example to the Corinthians to give as well, following this up with the example of self-giving of Jesus Christ Himself and what he saw as the approach that they should now take. Then he informs them that Titus and two others will be coming to see them partly for this purpose.

And he finishes the chapter by mentioning the glorying he has engaged in on their behalf before the other churches.

But this seemingly pulls him up short as he suddenly realises how tactless he has been. Here he had been, lauding the Macedonians without any thought that the Corinthians who were reading his words might have been priding themselves on being the first to be involved in the Collection, and without having mentioned how he had in fact been glorying in their zeal. Even the sending of the three men could be seen as suggesting that without them the Corinthians could not be depended on to act. So he hurriedly does an about face in chapter 9 and assures them that he realises that what he has been saying has actually been unnecessary because it is they who have been involved in the project from the beginning, and explains that the reason that the three men are coming is simply so as to ensure that when the Macedonians pay them a visit they might not be caught out unprepared, and as he has already stated (2Co 8:20-21) in order to protect his own reputation.

In his infectious enthusiasm he then adds further reasons why they should be forward in giving, and finishes by giving thanks for God’s glorious gift of Jesus Christ. This adequately explains why there seem to be two accounts of his appeal to the Corinthians, while also explaining their dependence on each other.

Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett

The Collection for the Saints 2Co 8:1 to 2Co 9:15 forms the second division of this Epistle. In this section Paul challenges them to fulfill their commitment and make a sacrificial offering for the poor saints at Jerusalem. Now, for those in Corinth who will be reconciled to Paul as their spiritual authority, he gives them a charge of giving an offering to the poor saints in Jerusalem (2Co 8:1 to 2Co 9:15). This is their opportunity to prove their loyalty to Paul (2Co 8:8). For those who are still rebellious, Paul will execute his divine authority over them (2Co 10:1 to 2Co 13:10). This lengthy passage on giving begins with the example of the Macedonians giving out of their deep poverty. It ends with a promise from God’s Word that giving generously will cause all of God’s grace to abound so that they have an abundance to give on every good occasion. The Corinthian believers had experienced the grace of salvation, the gifts of the Spirit operating in their lives, understanding in God’s Word through the teachings of Paul and Apollos, as well as various miracles and healings. Now, God wanted them to experience financial blessings. In other words, financial sowing reaps financial blessings. Although they may begin their efforts of sacrificial giving out of poverty, it will lead them down a road of financial prosperity.

Outline – Note the proposed outline:

1. The Example of Christian Giving 2Co 8:1-6

2. The Exhortation to Give 2Co 8:7-15

3. The Arrangement to Give 2Co 8:16 to 2Co 9:5

4. The Benefits of Christian Giving 2Co 9:6-15

Paul’s Exhortation on Giving 2Co 8:1 to 2Co 9:15 forms the second major division of this Epistle. In these two chapters Paul deals with the issue of the collection for the poor saints at Jerusalem.

Its Background – It has been suggested that Paul borrowed the concept of this collection from the customary Jewish Temple tax. This tax was fixed at a certain amount and made mandatory for all Jews. It finds a similar purpose with Paul’s collection in that it made provision for the poor within local Jewish communities. Thus, is served as an ideal model to use within the local churches. However, Paul structured it differently to fit the Gentile churches and found it necessary to refer to Old Testament Scriptures supporting such an offering (2Co 8:15; 2Co 9:9).

Order of Events – The topic of this offering is mentioned in four places in the New Testament: Act 24:17, Rom 15:26-28, 1Co 16:1-4 and these two chapters. By examining these four passages we can suggest an order of events. It seems that the Corinthians had heard of this project prior to Paul writing to them about it, perhaps through Timothy (2Co 9:2). He is possibly answering their inquiries in 1Co 16:1-4 as to how this collection is to be gathered. Because of the trouble that arose in the church at Corinth, Paul decided to send Titus with the “severe letter” in an attempt to set the problem in order, as well as deal with this collection also (2Co 8:6; 2Co 8:16-17). Having met up with Titus in Macedonia and wrote 2 Corinthians. He sent this letter to Corinth by the hands of Titus, accompanied by two brothers to finish organizing for this collection (2Co 8:18-24; 2Co 9:1-5). When Paul did make his visit to Corinth shortly thereafter (2Co 13:1), he received this offering (Rom 15:26-28) and made his way back to Jerusalem around the time of Pentecost (Act 20:16) where he offered it to the churches there (Act 24:17). We call this time Easter, so this could easily be called an Easter offering.

Its Purpose – We must note that Paul had agreed with the “Pillars” of the Church in Jerusalem when they first recognized and approved his apostleship to the Gentiles that he would “remember the poor” (Gal 2:10). Thus, this collection not only strengthened his relationship with these church leaders in Jerusalem, but it bore witnesses to his authenticity as a true apostle to the Gentiles. The distress in Jerusalem was great, and for such a great offering to come from Gentile believers spoke loudly of their genuine conversion and godly love. This is one reason that Paul stresses that the offering must be given willingly, and not begrudgingly. Thus, this offering from Gentile believers to Jewish believers was used as a tool to unite the church in Jerusalem with the Gentile churches he had founded. As Alfred Plummer points out, it was only fitting that if the Gentiles had been allowed to share in the spiritual blessings of the Jews, then the Jews ought to share in the material blessings of the Gentiles. [69] We see from Paul’s final visit to Jerusalem that he had many enemies there because of his missionary work. There appeared to be false reports and misunderstandings as to Paul’s doctrines and motives by this Jewish community of Palestine, and even the Jewish converts there. Therefore, this offering was used to demonstrate his good will towards the Jews in general as Paul made efforts to keep peace between his churches and Jerusalem. For if these Jewish emissaries were accusing Paul and his churches of being fractured from the mother church in Jerusalem, this was an opportunity for him defend his apostleship and demonstrate his unity and love to these Jewish saints in Jerusalem.

[69] Alfred Plummer, The Second Epistle of St. Paul to the Corinthians, in The International Critical Commentary on the Holy Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments, eds. Charles A. Briggs, Samuel R. Driver, and Alfred Plummer (Edinburg: T. & T. Clark, Ltd., c1915, 1985), 230.

This offering also directly benefited the Corinthians. In order to understand why Paul is asking for such an offering from them in this manner, we must look at the underlying theme of this great epistle of 2 Corinthians. The secondary theme of 2 Corinthians is about a lifestyle that reflects mature sanctification. It is intended to show us the believer’s lifestyle when he has come to maturity in the faith. A Christian life then reflects a lifestyle of sacrifice. We also see in 2 Corinthians how Paul’s sacrificial service brought him into God’s favor, which was manifested as an abundance of divine revelations. While the theme of 1 Corinthians reflects this process of sanctification by the Holy Spirit in its early stages, and it shows us the manifestation of this process being expressed through the operation of the charismatic gifts balanced with the love walk. 2 Corinthians takes sanctification a step further into the mature, sacrificial Christian service, which involves suffering. With such a sacrifice comes an abundance of God’s grace.

Now the believers at Corinth could not all become apostles and ministers of the Gospel. They could give financially unto the Lord, and this could be done sacrificially. This is exactly what Paul the apostle is asking them to do. We must understand that our financials and material possessions are the manifestation of our labours. When we give these to the Lord sacrificially, we are actually giving him our labours. Thus, Paul is trying to get them to step out into a lifestyle of sanctification in its mature stages. It means trusting in the Lord at a greater level for daily provision. This is what we see taking place in the ministry of Jesus Christ as He sent out the twelve apostles without their daily provisions. Jesus wanted them to learn to look to divine providence and divine provision for their daily needs as they sacrificially served the Lord. Paul is offering the same lessons for the Corinthian saints.

Its Application to Us Today – We can apply this passage in 2Co 8:1 to 2Co 9:15 to our daily lives when our pastor asks the congregation to serve in the ministry of helps, or to give sacrificially in a special offering. Such commitments from the congregation take a sacrifice. It does not come easily, but it is well pleasing unto God. Our finances are a measure of our physical labours, and when we give financially, we are essentially giving our labours. Note:

Heb 13:16, “But to do good and to communicate forget not: for with such sacrifices God is well pleased.”

This is part of the struggle that moves us into a higher calling. Such struggles are what stops many believers from entering into the deeper life with God. In Paul’s first epistle to the Corinthians, he has asked the church to deal with internal strife, fornication, and offenses among the brethren so that they can enter into the love walk of the Christian faith and operate the gifts of the spirit properly. His second epistle asks the Corinthians believers to take a further step and learn to suffer for Jesus’ namesake in divine service. In 2Co 8:1 to 2Co 9:15 Paul will give instructions on sacrificial giving, which serves as the final step in our sanctification prior to forsaking all and following Jesus in the full-time ministry. We see this in the lives of the apostles as Jesus called each one to forsake all and follow Him.

Paul’s Exhortation on the Motive For Giving Note how often synonyms for willingness are used by Paul in 2Co 8:1 to 2Co 9:15 in this discourse on giving. Paul is clearly emphasizing the fact that giving must be done with the right motive, willingly from a pure heart.

1. 2Co 8:3 – “they were willing of themselves” – – Really, verses 2-5 emphasize the willingness of these churches.

2. 2Co 8:8 – “the forwardness of others” – Their eagerness and diligence is the focus of Paul mentioning the churches of Macedonia in verses 2-5.

3. 2Co 8:10 – “also to be forward” or willing –

4. 2Co 8:11 – “there was readiness to will” –

5. 2Co 8:12 – a willing mind” –

6. 2Co 8:16 – “the same earnest care into the heart to Titus” –

7. 2Co 8:17 “being move forward” –

8. 2Co 8:18 – “of his own accord” –

9. 2Co 8:19 – “your ready mind” –

10. 2Co 8:22 – “often times proved diligent” –

11. 2Co 8:22 – “much more diligent” –

12. 2Co 9:1 – “the forwardness of your mind” –

13. 2Co 9:2 – “your zeal” –

14. 2Co 9:5 – “as a matter of bounty, and not as of covetousness” –

15. 2Co 9:6 – “He which sowth bountifully shall reap also bountifully” Amplified, “Generously that blessings may come” –

16. 2Co 9:7 – “not grudgingly (sorrowful) or of necessity compulsion), for God loveth a cheerful giver –

17. 2Co 9:11 – “to all bountifulness” –

18. 2Co 9:13 – “your liberal distribution unto them” –

The theme of this discourse on giving could well be summed up in Isa 1:19:

Isa 1:19, “If ye be willing and obedient, ye shall eat the good of the land”

Mark Carillo said “If our income belongs to God, then our outcome will be blessed.” [70]

[70] Mark Carillo, “Sermon, Sunday Night Service” (Calvary Cathedral International, Fort Worth, Texas) 22 July 2007.

Two Examples of Giving – Two examples of giving are mentioned by Paul to exhort the Corinthians to give:

1. The churches of Macedonia (verses 2-5).

2. Jesus Himself (verses 9).

Fuente: Everett’s Study Notes on the Holy Scriptures

Paul Offers Reconciliation to the Church at Corinth Having explained his ministry of reconciliation in the previous section (1-7), Paul now tests the obedience of the Corinthians after calling them to be reconciled unto God. For those who answer his call, Paul gives them an opportunity to prove their loyalty to him by participating in the collection of the saints (2Co 8:1 to 2Co 9:15). For these church members Paul’s words are a sweet savour of Christ resulting in life (2Co 2:15-16) resulting in their edification (2Co 13:10). For those who reject his call, Paul launches into an apologetic message to defend his right as an apostle over the Corinthians (2Co 10:1 to 2Co 13:10). He then warns them of his upcoming visit in which he is ready to use sharpness according to the power which the Lord had given him for edification and for destruction (2Co 13:10). So, for the rebellious, Paul’s words are “the savour of death unto death” (2Co 2:15-16).

Outline – Note the proposed outline:

A. The Collection for the Saints 2Co 8:1 to 2Co 9:15

1. The Example of Christian Giving 2Co 8:1-6

2. The Exhortation to Give 2Co 8:7-15

3. The Arrangement to Give 2Co 8:16 to 2Co 9:5

4. The Benefits of Christian Giving 2Co 9:6-15

B. Paul Exercises Apostolic Authority 2Co 10:1 to 2Co 13:10

1. Paul Declares His Authority 2Co 10:1-18

a) Paul’s Defense Against False Charges 2Co 10:1-11

b) Paul’s Claim to Apostleship 2Co 10:12-18

2. Paul Boasts of His Credentials 2Co 11:1 to 2Co 12:21

a) Mental: A Godly Lifestyle 2Co 11:1-15

b) Physical: Jewish Ancestry & Christian Suffering 2Co 11:16-33

c) Spiritual: Revelations & Miracles 2Co 12:1-13

3. Paul Executes His Authority 2Co 12:14 to 2Co 13:10

Fuente: Everett’s Study Notes on the Holy Scriptures

The Arrangement to Give In 2Co 8:16 to 2Co 9:5 Paul explains to the Corinthians how he has made arrangements to collect their offering. He is going to send Titus along with another brother whom they knew well, perhaps Timothy or Erasmus or another close companion of Paul (2Co 8:16-23). He asks them to give in order to prove their love and Paul’s boasting of them (2Co 8:24). Paul then reminds them of their willingness a year ago to give when this project was first presented to them (2Co 9:1-2). He will send the brethren ahead of his coming in order to prepare the offering for his arrival (2Co 9:3-5).

2Co 8:16  But thanks be to God, which put the same earnest care into the heart of Titus for you.

2Co 8:16 Word Study on “thanks be to God” The Greek construction or [74] or some variation of this phrase is found no less than thirteen times in the Greek New Testament (Luk 17:9, Rom 6:17; Rom 7:25, 1Co 10:30; 1Co 15:57 , 2Co 2:14; 2Co 8:16; 2Co 9:15, Col 3:16, 1Ti 1:12, 2Ti 1:3, Phm 1:7 [t.r.], Heb 12:28). It is properly translated in a variety of ways; “I am grateful to God,” or “I thank God,” “Let’s give thanks,” or “with thanks to the Lord.”

[74] Kurt Aland, Matthew Black, Carlo M. Martini, Bruce M. Metzger, M. Robinson, and Allen Wikgren, The Greek New Testament, Fourth Revised Edition (with Morphology) (Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft, 1993, 2006), in Libronix Digital Library System, v. 2.1c [CD-ROM] (Bellingham, WA: Libronix Corp., 2000-2004), 2 Corinthians 8:16.

2Co 8:23 Comments – Paul uses the words “fellowprisoners,” “fellowlabourers,” and “fellowhelpers” in a number of his epistles. These words go deeper in meaning than just describing their personal relationships with Paul. It also describes their spiritual relationship with him in the sense that they were partners and partakers of Paul’s sufferings as well as his heavenly rewards. In other words, these words describe people would receive the same rewards in heaven that Paul would receive because they stood with him during these difficult times.

2Co 9:5 Comments – Paul asked for a missions pledge from this congregation.

Fuente: Everett’s Study Notes on the Holy Scriptures

Paul’s Final instructions concerning the Collection.

The example set by the readiness of the Corinthians:

v. 1. For as touching the ministering of the saints, it is superfluous for me to write to you.

v. 2. For I know the forwardness of your mind, for which I boast of you to them of Macedonia, that Achaia was ready a year ago; and your zeal hath provoked very many.

v. 3. Yet have I sent the brethren, lest our boasting of you should be in vain in this behalf, that, as I said, ye may be ready,

v. 4. lest haply, if they of Macedonia come with me and find you unprepared, we (that we say not, ye) should be ashamed in this same confident boasting.

Paul’s kind diplomacy and pastoral tact is evident in every line of this admonition. In an almost apologetic manner he writes: For so far as the ministry which is intended for the saints is concerned, it is superfluous for me to be writing to you. Of the need of the brethren in Judea and of the necessity of the collection for them the Corinthians had been convinced long ago, aside from the fact that they were fully aware of their Christian duty to help all such as were suffering. That fact, therefore, the apostle did not feel called upon to stress; on that point they needed no further instruction. His suggestions concerned only the time and the manner of making the offering.

The apostle takes this opportunity of acknowledging with proper praise their stand in the matter of this collection: For I know your willingness, which I praise of you to the Macedonians, that Achaia was fully prepared a year ago; and your zeal has provoked the majority. It was a source of the greatest pleasure and gratification to Paul whenever he could make a favorable report concerning any person, particularly when such information would tend to encourage and incite others to make progress in sanctification. And here was a splendid opportunity, since, as he had stated above, chap. 8:10-11, the Christians of Corinth had accepted the obligation and stated their readiness to take part in the proposed collection for the poor at Jerusalem when he first laid the matter before them. The Corinthian congregation, as we here learn, had not been alone in passing favorable resolutions with regard to the project, but the other congregations of the province had declared their willingness to join them in their charitable undertaking, and Paul could make his boast accordingly. The result had been that the churches of Macedonia and the majority of their members had been inspired to a like zeal; they had come to the front all the more promptly and liberally, as Paul had written above, chap. 8:1-4; they had even, in turn, proved an example to the Corinthians by forging ahead of them in the actual execution of the ministry.

For that reason Paul, feeling that the Corinthians only needed encouragement to complete the work as soon as possible, tells them: At the same time I have sent the brethren, that our glorying about you might not be rendered void in this respect, in order that, even as I said, you may be fully prepared, lest, if any Macedonians should come with me and find you unprepared, be brought to shame we (that we say not, you) in this confidence. As the apostle had said, the Corinthian Christians indeed knew their duty and had declared their willingness to perform the same, but he was anxious for them to carry out their intention soon. That was the reason why he sent Titus and his two companions with this letter, to remind them of their promise, and to urge them to have their collection finished by the time he himself could come. For it was probable that some of the brethren of Macedonia might make the journey to Corinth with him. If it appeared then, upon his arrival with these brethren, who knew of his confident boasting concerning the Corinthians, that the collection had not yet been completed, the situation would be most embarrassing. It would bring shame upon the apostle, who had spoken so confidently of their eagerness to help in this emergency; but still more would it redound to the shame of the Corinthians, not only because they had not lived up to his expectations, but also because they would stand before the Macedonian brethren as negligent in their Christian duty. Paul felt sure, incidentally, that their love for him was stronger than their solicitude for their own honor. Note: Though the love of Christ should always be the supreme motive of a Christian congregation with regard to all works of holiness, the fact that their pastor, too, may suffer in his good name on account of their remissness may also be urged under circumstances.

Fuente: The Popular Commentary on the Bible by Kretzmann

EXPOSITION

Encouragement to the Corinthians to fulfil their promises by giving speedily (2Co 9:1-5), amply (2Co 9:6), cheerfully (2Co 9:7), and thereby earn God’s blessing (2Co 9:8-11) in a cause fruitful of blessed consequence (2Co 9:12-14). He concludes the subject with a heartfelt thanksgiving (2Co 9:15).

2Co 9:1

For. This word shows that he is continuing the same subject, and therefore excludes the supposition that this chapter is a separate letter or fragment. No doubt, however, the express mention of the collection after he has been practically writing about it through the whole of the last chapter looks as if he had been interrupted, or had left off dictating at the end of the last verse. Such breaks must often and necessarily have occurred in the dictation of the Epistles, and doubtless help to account for some of their phenomena. Perhaps, on reperusing the last paragraphs before resuming the subject he observed that, after all, he had not directly mentioned the contribution, and therefore explains that he thought it superfluous to do so. To the saints. The poor Christians of Jerusalem (2Co 8:4). Superfluous. Because the subject had been already fully brought to their notice by himself and by Titus.

2Co 9:2

I boast of you; literally, I am boasting. The tense shows that he is writing from Macedonia, probably from Philippi (2Co 8:24). Achaia (see 2Co 1:1). Was ready a year ago; has been prepared since last year. Your zeal hath provoked very many; literally, zeal from you hath stimulated the majority. “Zeal from you” means zeal which emanated from the Corinthians and aroused emulation in others.

2Co 9:3

But. Though it is needless to write to you about this collection, I sent the brethren to make sure that all I had said about you might be justified by reality. In this behalf; i.e. about this matter, or, as we might express it, “in this direction.” He seems to have felt more uncertainty about their liberality than about other matters (2Co 7:4).

2Co 9:4

They of Macedonia; rather, Macedonians; i.e. any friends from Macedonia (Act 20:4). Shall Achaians have to blush before Macedonians? We, that we say not ye. Nothing can exceed the delicacy of this touch. St. Paul asks them to be ready with their contributions for his sake, not for their own; that he may not have to blush for his generous words respecting them, whereas really the discredit would be simply theirs. Confident boasting; rather, confidence. The reading “of boasting” is not genuine here. For the word hypostasis in the sense of “confidence,” see 2Co 11:17; Heb 3:4. The use of the word to represent the “Persons” of the Blessed Trinity is later. The other sense of the word, “substance” (or underlying base of attributes), is found in Heb 1:3.

2Co 9:5

That they would go before unto you. The triple repetition of the word “before” shows how earnest St. Paul is in the matter. The Corinthians had promised largely; it was evident that there had been, or that there was ground for fearing that there might be, some slackness of performance. St. Paul was so unwilling to have seemed inaccurate in what, he had said about them in Macedonia that he wished to give them ample notice before the Macedonian delegates arrived. Your bounty, whereof ye had notice before; your previously promised blessing, bounty; literally, blessing. The mere word should have acted as an inducement to generosity. See the use of the word to express a generous gift in Gen 33:11; Jdg 1:15, etc. (LXX.); Eph 1:3. In this sense it resembles the Hebrew berachah (Jos 15:19, etc.). As a matter of bounty, and not as of covetousness; as a blessing, and not as an extortion; i.e. as a free gift of your own, and not as something which I had wrung from you, or “got out of you” (2Co 7:2; 2Co 12:17, 2Co 12:18). It is less likely that the word pleonexia refers to the “parsimony” of the Corinthians, as though the smallness of their gift would show their greed for large gains.

2Co 9:6

But this I say. The Greek only has “But this.” The ellipse can hardly be “I say.” It is an accusative used absolutely”as to their.” Compare “But one thing” (Php 3:14). Shall reap also sparingly. In the Greek the more emphatic order is “sparingly also shall reap.” The metaphor of the harvest implies that the more generous the gift the richer will be the return; and that “withholding more than is meet” will only tend to poverty (Pro 11:24, Pro 11:25; Pro 19:17; Pro 22:9). Bountifully; literally, with blessings; Vulgate, in benedictionibus (comp. Gal 6:7, Gal 6:8). Bountifulness blesses both him that gives and him that takes.

2Co 9:7

In his heart. The heart must not only go with but anticipate the hand. Grudgingly; literally, from grief (Exo 25:2; Rom 12:8). A cheerful giver. The phrase is from the addition to Pro 22:8, which is found in the LXX.; except that “loveth” is substituted for “blesseth.” Compare “He that showeth mercy, with cheerfulness“ (Rom 12:8). The rabbis said that cheerful kindness, even if nothing was given, was better than a morose gift.

2Co 9:8

To make all grace abound toward you. God can give you such abundant gifts that you will not feel the loss of a generous contribution to his service. Sufficiency. The word autarkeia (1Ti 6:6) in the Stoic philosophy was used for the perfect independence which enabled a man to stand alone. The term is here softened and Christianized to express the contentment which arises from the full supply of all our needs by God. The affirmations of the original are as emphatic as language can make them. They express that the man who places all his trust upon God will be “perfect and entire, lacking nothing” (Php 4:11, Php 4:19).

2Co 9:9

As it is written. The quotation is from the LXX. in Psa 112:9. He hath dispersed abroad. He has been a large and generous giver. The poor. The word here used is penes, which does not occur elsewhere in the New Testament. It means moderato and honourable poverty, whereas in classical Greek ptocheia implies disreputable pauperism and mendicancy. His righteousness. Meaning here his good deeds. The word is often rendered “pity” by the LXX. (eleemosune, from which word comes our “alms”), and this word occurs as a synonymous reading in Mat 6:1. Remaineth forever. Because

“Good deeds never die.
They with the sun and moon renew their light,
Forever blessing him that looks on them.”

2Co 9:10

He that ministereth. The verb used is epichoregein, to furnish abundantly. At Athens a choragus was one who furnished a chorus, and as this was a leitourgia (or “public service”), involving great expense, and often discharged with extreme munificence, the verb came to imply “provide abundantly.” St. Paul may (so to speak) have “picked up the word” at Athens. Seed to the sower (Isa 55:10). Both minister. The true reading almost certainly is “will both supply bread for food, and will multiply your seed for sowing, and will increase the fruits of your righteousness” (see Isa 55:10, LXX.). The fruits of your righteousness (Hos 10:12, LXX.). In “righteousness,” as in all things else, it is God only who “gives the increase” (1Co 3:10).

2Co 9:11

To all bountifulness; rather, to all simplicity, or “singleness of heart” (2Co 8:2). Through us. We are the agents in collecting and distributing your gifts (2Co 8:19, 2Co 8:20). Thanksgiving to God. From the recipients of your single-hearted generosity.

2Co 9:12

For the administration of this service. The word “liturgy,” here rendered “service,” is used in the same connection in Rom 15:27. Generally it means “religious service” (Act 13:6; Php 2:17; Heb 10:11). Here it more resembles its classic sense of “a public office discharged for the good of the state,” such as undertaking the office of a choragus (see Rom 15:10). Not only. St. Paul is anxious to emphasize the religious side of the contribution fully as much as its philanthropic object. Is abundant. It overflows as it were in the form of thanksgivings to Galatians

2Co 9:13

By the experiment of this ministration; rather, by the test (of your love) furnished by this ministration (2Co 8:2). For your professed subjection; literally, for the submission of your confession to the gospel of Christ. And for your liberal distribution unto them; rather, and for the simplicity of your fellowship towards them. A large contribution would prove two things; namely,

(1) that the Corinthians showed due subjection to the truths and duties which they theoretically accepted as resulting from the gospel; and

(2) that they were united to their Jewish-Christian brethren and to all others in single-hearted fellowship. It is very doubtful whether haplotes ever means “liberality,” and koinonia is here better understood of “communion” than of “communication.” Unto all men. For if the Corinthians behaved with such brotherly kindness to the once-despised Jews, who were now their Christian brethren, they would be not likely to refuse fellowship with any others.

2Co 9:14

And by their prayer for you. These words are joined by our Authorized Version with “glorifying God.” The saints at Jerusalem would, in consequence of the proved sincerity of the Corinthians, glorify God with thanksgiving for their faithfulness and kindness, by prayer for them. The Revisers take the clause with the following participle, “while they themselves also, with supplication on your behalf, long after you by reason of the exceeding grace of God in you.” This is the only right view of the construction. Long after you for the exceeding grace of God in you; literally, yearn for you because of the grace of God which overabounds to you.

2Co 9:15

Thanks be unto God. Nothing ever seems so much to disburden the full heart of St. Paul after deep emotion as an utterance of thanksgiving (Rom 7:25; Rom 9:5; Rom 11:33; 1Co 15:57; Gal 1:5; 1Ti 1:17). The thanksgiving here is like a great sigh of relief. The subject of it is perfectly general. It is not a mere “Amen” uttered, as it were, by St. Paul at the end of the thanksgivings of the saints at Jerusalem which he has been presupposing; but an offering of thanks to God for the issues of grace in general, all summed up in one act of “inestimable love” (Joh 3:16; Rom 6:23; Rom 11:33; Eph 3:19).

HOMILETICS

2Co 9:1-5 – Paul’s directions for collecting the contributions of the Corinthian Church.

“For as touching the ministering to the saints,” etc. The work of collecting was entrusted to Titus and a brother whose praise was “throughout all the Churches,” and probably to other Christians more or less distinguished. Concerning the collecting of their subscriptions, three things are observable in Paul’s own conduct.

I. HE RECOGNIZED THEIR MERITS. “For as touching the ministering to the saints, it is superfluous for me to write to you: for I know the forwardness of your mind, for which I boast of you to them of Macedonia that Achaia was ready a year ago; and your zeal hath provoked very many.” He gives them full credit for what they had already done. They had so much cheered him some months before with the readiness with which they had entered into his beneficent enterprise, that he had boasted of them to those of Macedonia and Achaia, and he assures them that their zeal had stimulated, or “provoked very many.” We may be assured that Paul not only credits them for what they had done, merely as a matter of policy or politeness, but as a matter of justice. It is right that goodness in others should be recognized wherever found, and that we should with a hearty frankness praise them that do well. This is a duty sadly neglected.

II. HE RESPECTED THEIR REPUTATION. “Lest haply if they of Macedonia come with me, and find you unprepared, we (that we say not, ye) should be ashamed in this same confident boasting.” The apostle knew human life and the circumstances that influence it, and he apprehended that, had the members of the Corinthian Church been called upon suddenly, without any previous advice, to complete the beneficent work into which they had entered so readily some twelve months before, they might not be able on a sudden either to do justice to their own reputation or to justify the high praise he had given them. The reputation of Christian men should always be sacredly respected. Reputation is social power; deprive a man of this, and he is powerless in society; deprive a Church of this, and you leave it as infirm as a merchant without credit. Respect for the reputation of good men is the duty of all. No man can deprive me of my character, hut he may of my reputation, and without my reputation my social influence is nil.

“The purest treasure mortal times afford
Is spotless reputation; that away,
Men are but gilded loam or painted clay.”

(Shakespeare.)

III. HE STUDIED THEIR CONVENIENCE. “Therefore I thought it necessary to exhort the brethren, that they would go before unto you, and make up beforehand your bounty,” etc. “Every one knows,” says Robertson, “how different is the feeling with which we give when charity is beforehand, from that which we give when charitable collections come side by side with debts and taxes. The charity which finds us unprepared is a call as hateful as that of any creditor whom it is hard to pay. Paul knew this well; he knew that if the Corinthians were taken unawares their feelings would be exasperated towards him with shame, and also towards the saints at Jerusalem, to whom they were constrained to give. Therefore he gave timely notice.” Special duties have times and seasons. There are moods of mind, and passing circumstances so unfavourable as to render their discharge almost impossible, hence men’s conveniences have to be studied. The apostle, in recognizing merits, respecting reputations, and studying conveniences, should be taken as an example by all Christian ministers in dealing with their people.

2Co 9:6-15 – The way and worth of genuine beneficence.

“But this I say, He which soweth,” etc. Our subject isThe way and worth of genuine beneficence.

I. THE WAY OF GENUINE BENEFICENCE. What is the method of its operations? How does it develop itself?

1. Bountifully. “But this I say, He which soweth sparingly shall reap also sparingly; and he which soweth bountifully shall reap also bountifully.” The apostle does not intimate, still less dictate, the amount of contribution he required, but what he requires is bountifulness. Nothing niggardly or from restraint, but with a full, open, generous heart. A man may give bountifully who only subscribes a mite, and niggardly who subscribes his ten thousand pounds. In the fifth verse Paul says, “The same might be ready, as a matter of bounty, and not as of covetousness.”

2. Deliberately. “Every man according as he purposeth in his heart, so let him give.” A spurious charity gives from impulse or pressure. There is a species of eloquence which extorts money, which the giver regrets as soon as he has parted with it. Genuine charity acts not thus; it forms a generous purpose, and from that purpose it acts, as love always acts, on the universe.

3. Cheerfully. “Not grudgingly, or of necessity.” There are those who part with their contributions as if they parted with their life blood. They have been wrung from them, and they groan when they are gone. Genuine charity acts not thus; its greatest happiness is in giving. In sooth, he who gives reluctantly never truly gives at all. “God loveth a cheerful giver.” His own happiness is in giving; he rejoices in the happiness of the creation, and to be happy there must be giving.

II. THE WORTH OF GENUINE BENEFICENCE. The most valuable thing in the universe is genuine, practical love, or charity.

1. It is a most valuable thing in its issues.

(1) It confers happiness on the man who practises it. Every act of it is to him a seed of life, a seed which in his own soul, as in a garden, will germinate and grow, and will produce fruits, delectable to the moral tastes, and strengthening to the moral powers of the soul, imperishable fruit. The more of these deed germs he sows, the more abundant the harvest. “He which soweth sparingly shall reap also sparingly, and he which soweth bountifully shall reap also bountifully.” He will be “blessed in his deed; ” in truth, there only is blessedness to be found.

(2) It ensures the blessing of the Almighty.

(a) He sees that the man of charity shall lose nothing by his contributions. “God is able to make all grace abound toward you; that ye, always having all sufficiency in all things, may abound to every good work.” The God of goodness sees that no man shall be really injured by his goodness. “In all thy gifts show a cheerful countenance, and dedicate thy tithes with gladness. Give unto the Most High according as he hath enriched thee; and as thou hast gotten, give thee with a cheerful eye. For the Lord recompenseth, and will give thee seven times as much” (Ec 35:9-11).

(b) He sees that his beneficent deeds shall be blessed forever. “His righteousness remaineth forever.” A good deed is a seed that will go on multiplying forever. Beneficence, after all, is righteousness.

(3) It alleviates the distress of mankind. “For the administration of this service not only supplieth the want of the saints, but is abundant also by many thanksgivings unto God.” What hushes the sorrows of the distressed, heals the wounds of the afflicted, relieves the poverty of the indigent, dispels the darkness of the ignorant, etc.? Practical beneficence. It is, indeed, through this that God helps the world to rise from its fallen condition of guilt and misery.

(4) It is promotive of universal worship. “Whiles by the experiment of this ministration they glorify God for your professed subjection unto the gospel of Christ.” And “which causeth through us thanksgiving to God.” The tendency of practical beneficence is to turn the world to the universal worship of the one God, the Source of all good.

2. It is a most valuable thing in itself. “Thanks be unto God for his unspeakable gift.” What is the “gift” here? Undoubtedly charity, or practical love. Has Paul here a special reference to Christ? Be it so. The value of that gift was the love which it expressed, incarnated, and diffused. The gift of love is the highest gift. The greatest thing in the universe is mind, the greatest thing in mind is love, and the greatest element in love is practical philanthropy.

HOMILIES BY C. LIPSCOMB

2Co 9:1-5 – Reference to his former argument; its completeness; why he resumes the subject.

Reviewing the reasoning on the duty of Christian beneficence, the apostle concluded that he had expounded the subject in a manner so clear and explicit as to make any addition “superfluous” on the score either of logic or of appeal. Recall the argument for a moment, and see if he was not justified in this opinion. The appeal was for the poor of the Church at Jerusalem. Macedonia was depressed and sorely troubled, Achaia was internally agitated by Judaizers and free thinkers; and between this upper and nether millstone the young Churches were well nigh ground to powder. St. Paul himself was greatly afflicted. But he had strong faith in Christ and in human nature under the influence of Christ’s grace, and having this confidence he was hopeful, resolute, and courageous. Macedonia had done nobly. Corinth would not fall below the standard he had set for their generosity. Full of heart, he presses the claim of the occasion, bat his zeal and anxiety never betray him into using a false motive or into pushing a true motive too far. The “rod” is not threatened. All through, the appeal is to the best elements of our nature, for he recognizes, as “the sacred writers constantly recognize, the fact that the freest and most spontaneous acts of men, their inward states and the outward manifestations of those states where good, are due to a secret influence of the Spirit of God which eludes our consciousness. The believer is most truly self-determined when determined by the grace of God” (Hodge). We have seen that the apostle never loses sight for a moment of the one inspiring motivethe love of Christ towards us and his Divine sacrifice in our behalf. Equal with God and infinitely blessed, he left his glory, assumed our flesh took its infirmities, bore its sins, endured its shame and humiliation, and expiated its guilt. The abnegation was so complete that he depended on the Holy Ghost for wisdom, fortitude, and strength. A man of prayer, he sought the Spirit’s aid on every occasion, and was so dependent as to say, “I do nothing of myself.” Every adventitious help was set aside; loneliness and sorrow were his self-chosen lot; and he made himself the poorest of men, that he might show how supremely he rested upon the Father in his mediatorial work. But poverty and sorrow were not thus borne for their own sake, nor, indeed, was it the circumstances of his lot, but the lot itself, that marked the greatness of his condescension. The argument of St. Paul is directed to one point, viz. what Christ was and what he became, so that the contrast between his earthly position and that of other men is not so much as hinted at, but the whole force is thrown upon the contrast as to his being “rich” and becoming “poor,” that we “through his poverty might be rich.” On this basis Christian beneficence was founded. Christian “equality” was a natural sequel. For this was, in the order of Providence, the one specific and preeminent sphere in which Christian conscience and affection and humane impulses would most fully and freely combine to glorify God in Christ. On no other ground could a Church be a spiritual human community, and hence the stress laid on human virtues sanctified by the grace of Christ. There is emulation; how he exalts it! There is imitation; how he emphasizes it! There is prudence; what an excellence it is to protect our good from being spoken of as evil! After such a presentation of gospel truth and its effective enforcement, he might well say that it was “superfluous” to write concerning “the ministering to the saints.” One bright spot had all along lingered on that murky horizon; “Achaia was ready a year ago; and your zeal hath provoked very many.” Men who are backsliding in religion do not lose their hold all at once on the Christian virtues. Happily for us, some of these virtues are stronger than others, and these act as a breakwater against the incoming surges of temptation. One or more qualities exist in us that are more receptive of grace than other qualities, and they are specially resistant of decay. As in physical disease life would often succumb were it not that some organs have so much more functional vitality than others, so in religious life, a single vigorous principle or sentiment may save us from spiritual death. So it was with the Corinthians. Despite of their corruptions, they had one redeeming excellence, viz. the “forwardness” of their “mind” in this benevolent enterprise of helping the poor saints in Jerusalem. God honoured this trait of their character. Many a virtue had gone down under the pressure of worldliness and carnality. This survived, and it was capable of being evoked into healthy and energetic action. St. Paul knew his opportunity. He saw the good in these erring brethren. If he had not, he could never have seen the evil. And seeing the good so clearly, he recognized it and laboured for its immediate development in a very earnest form. The true growth would choke out the weeds, and to this he directed his wise husbandry. Every way the prospect was encouraging. Yet he would make assurance doubly sure. He had boasted of the Corinthians. If they should not be ready in time with the collection, “we [too delicate to say, ‘ye’] should be ashamed in this same confident boasting.” On this account he sent Titus and the deputies to “make up beforehand” their bounty. It must be “bounty,” not a matter of “covetousness.” Postponing the work might open the way for selfishness to suggest reasons for less giving. Love of money might have a sudden quickening. Risks were numerous when men believed that the heart of today would be the heart of tomorrow. Satan was mightier at some times than at others, and Christian men were not always quite themselves. “Make up beforehand.” The right thing was ennobled by doing it at the right time, and the right time was now. “Withhold not good from them to whom it is due, when it is in the power of thine hand to do it.”Debts of love mature when the heart is first warmed by the Spirit. Fatting off invites covetousness. “Beforehand” is the watchword of the bountiful soul.L.

2Co 9:6-9 – Correspondence between Christian sowing and reaping.

There was nothing of chance or luck in the operations of beneficence. It was a transaction with God, who had instituted certain laws for its government.

1. As to the law of proportion. If they sowed sparingly, they reaped sparingly; if bountifully, they reaped bountifully. This was natural law. It was also spiritual law. If the law met them everywhere, addressed the senses and the soul, and enforced itself both in providence and grace, surely they could not but give very profound heed to a principle which was so amply illustrated.

2. As to the spirit of giving. The law was spontaneity of sentiment”according as he purposeth in his heart, so let him give;” and again, it was cheerfulness of feelingnot “grudgingly, or of necessity; for God loveth a cheerful giver.” On this aspect of giving, the apostle had delivered his mind without reservation. Freedom here was scrupulously insisted on. To be Christ-like it must be wholly self-directed. It must be born directly of the Spirit. Vast and indeed sacred as human agency is, there are seasons when the Spirit bids it retire, and he takes the soul into his solitary communion.

3. The element of recompense is stated. “God is able to make all grace abound toward you.” Blessings used rightly would bring other and larger blessings. Benevolent contributions were disciplinary. The act was educative. If a man gave because of his love to Christ, if he gave willingly and cordially, if he gave freely, then he was being trained as a giver, and of course was, in this particular, a growing man. Any sort of arrested development in goodness is bad enough, but this checking of progress in charity is peculiarly harmful. Worldliness rushes back with an overwhelming current. Avarice, denied its food for a time, has a voracious appetite. And, therefore, the very urgent need of growth in this sentiment, which the apostle argues in a manner uncommonly forcible. Spiritual blessings are assured. “All grace abound toward you.” Temporal blessings are promised. “Always having all sufficiency in all things, may abound to every good work.” There was to be an “all sufficiency,“ an overflowing measure on God’s part, so as to furnish the means or resources for continued and enlarged benevolence, or otherwise the growth would stop. “Every good work” has a very broad signification. We take it to mean a very wide and generous activity in kind deeds, an “enthusiasm,” not for “humanity,” but for Christ in humanity, and a desire and a purpose expanding in the ratio of new blessings, spiritual and temporal, to pour forth its heart in ministration to others. “God is able.” Yet we must not forget that he never resigns his Divine sovereignty in a promise or to a promise, but is infinitely wise and considerately tender in the administration of providential blessings. To elucidate his meaning, St. Paul quotes from Psa 112:9, “He hath dispersed, he hath given to the poor, his righteousness endureth forever.” The rule is that God gives us what we have in order that he may give us more. There is a future in everything, a future in every seed, a future in every dollar honestly made, a future in every blessing God bestows. But it is for him alone to order this future, so as to “make all grace abound” in us, and to enable us to “abound to every good work.”L.

2Co 9:10-15 – Unity in nature and grace; manifold results of beneficence; thanksgiving.

St. Paul had spoken in the sixth verse of the law of the spiritual harvestproportion of reward in reference to quantity, so much sowing followed by so much reaping. But there is another lawa grain of corn or wheat produces many grains. In some instances hundreds of seeds come from one seed. Seeds multiply seeds, and the harvest of a county may sow a large territory. Nothing in the vegetable kingdom is on a stinted scale. Omnipotence touches a clod of earth, and in a few months it is transformed into bread; but this is not all the wonder, for that clod has yielded far more than it received. Thus it is that, in the physical world, labour becomes accumulative, producing over and above its own wants a vast surplus, which goes to feed those who are unable to work. Not abundance but superabundance is the lesson nature teaches. We make enough to supply necessities, comforts, and luxuries; enough to meet artificial wants; enough to compensate for impotence, idleness, and dissipation; enough to allow far a waste that can scarcely be computed. So it is in spiritual things. The productive power is immensely rewarded. This striking correspondence was in his view when St. Paul said, “He that supplieth seed to the sower and bread for food, shall supply and multiply your seed for sowing, and increase the fruits of your righteousness” (Revised Version). The fact is always grander than the figure and hence we may believe that the fruits of righteousness will infinitely surpass the work done. Observe now that this was a present thing as well as a future thing. Just then a gracious influence was spreading through the Churches and uniting them in closer fellowship by reason of a common interest in behalf of Jerusalem. And, furthermore, they should be “enriched in everything to all bountifulness,” no lack of seed for sowing, fruits of righteousness abounding, and especially their liberality should cause thanksgiving to God. This idea of thanksgiving fills a large space in his mind. It becomes in the twelfth verse “many thanksgivings.” What joy would it bring to Jerusalem! How far would the glad tidings spread! Not only for the pecuniary aid afforded, but for this new and cheering evidence of their obedience unto the gospel of Christ, what praise would ascend to God! If we could transfer ourselves into the position of these early Christians and enter into their feelings, especially those of the Jerusalem Church, we should realize the apostle’s meaning where he lays such a stress on the results of this Gentile beneficence. But we can hardly approximate this state of mind. The loneliness of the saints at Jerusalem, the large sacrifice of property after Pentecost, the loss of employment because of professing faith in Christ, the destitution and suffering that had befallen them, the growing disturbances with Rome, the increase of bitter strife among the Jews, the darkness with its prophetic woes descending on the doomed city, parties becoming more and more virulent in their antagonisms to one another, and amid it all, the “poor saints” subjected to all sorts of insult and grievance, give us but a general idea of the misery and wretchedness they were enduring. It was all very real to St. Paul. No such earthly reality as Jerusalem occupied his intellect and heart. Was he looking forward to the day (as Stanley suggests) when he should stand in the holy city and witness the gratitude of the Church for this great benefaction? Likely enough; but whether so or not, it is certain that his soul overflowed with joy. It was a grand proof of brotherhood between Jewish and Gentile Christians. It was the perfecting link in the chain that was to bind them together. It was a blessed testimony to the divineness of the gospel Contemplating the gifts, he rises in a moment to the Divine Gift, and exclaims, “Thanks be unto God for his unspeakable Gift!”L.

HOMILIES BY J.R. THOMSON

2Co 9:2 – The contagion of zeal.

The interest which Christians living in distant lands learned, under apostolic guidance and by the spiritual tuition of the indwelling love of Christ, to take in one another’s welfare, was an evidence of the introduction into humanity of a new moral power, a principle of universal love and brotherhood. It is very instructive to see the congregations of Macedonia and of Corinth rivalling one another in the benevolent enterprise of relieving the wants of the mother Church at Jerusalem. Paul evidently encourages this beneficial emulation.

I. ZEAL IN CHRISTIAN BENEVOLENCE IS IN ITSELF GOOD. The languid and unemotional, the cold and calculating, however they may pride themselves upon their justice and reasonableness, are not the people who do the good, the benevolent work of the world. It is good to be zealously affected in a good cause.

II. THE CONTAGIOUSNESS OF ZEAL IS FOUNDED UPON THE SOCIAL NATURE OF MAN. We are members one of another, and it is not desirable, it is not possible, for any person, for any community, to be indifferent to the welfare of others. And the conduct of each has some influence upon the conduct of others. It is not easy to be zealous when all around are unconcerned and inactive, whilst, on the other hand, the spectacle of zealous devotion and self-denial is stimulating and encouraging.

III. THIS EMULATION MAY BE CARRIED TO A PREJUDICIAL EXTENT. It cannot but be acknowledged that emulation may lead to ostentation. Who can question that the motive of some givers to charitable and religious instutions is impure? One wishes to excel another, for the pleasure of triumphing over him, or of cutting a more important figure in the eyes of his fellow men. And thus the true motive is lost sight or, and a moral injury is wrought.

IV. YET IT IS WELL TO FEEL THE FORCE OF A GOOD EXAMPLE AS A PRACTICAL MOTIVE TO ZEALOUS SERVICE. We may learn from the case of others what may be done where there is consecration, self-denial, and prayerful effort. Our apathy may be rebuked, our flagging benevolence revived. It is when the coals are not only kindled, but put together, that the fire burns clear and bright, and gives forth its genial warmth.T.

2Co 9:6 – Sowing and reaping.

This is one of those natural analogies which are common to all languages and to all ages. There is sowing and reaping in the history of the individual; the moral bias of his youth may determine the direction of his after life. There is sowing and reaping in the experience of a Christian community; its founders may impart to it an impulse the consequences of which shall be discernible in distant generations. And in this passage the apostle reminds his readers that giving is a kind of sowing, and that, as the husbandman reaps as he has sown, so shall it be in the experience of all benefactors. The liberal shall reap abundantly; the grudging and sparing shall gather a slender crop.

I. THE LAW OF CORRESPONDENCE BETWEEN SOWING AND REAPING IS A JUST LAW. It is an appointment of a God of righteousness. It is in harmony with the principles of his government. Its maintenance is evidently productive of the welfare of Christian society.

II. THIS LAW IS ONE THE OPERATIONS OF WHICH WE CAN IN SOME MEASURE TRACE.

1. It may be observed that illiberality stunts the spiritual stature of the giver, whilst generosity promotes his growth. There is noticeable in large-hearted and generous natures an expansion which is its own reward; a happy disposition, a constant satisfaction in the result of gifts and efforts; a width of view which removes such from the petty and miserable emotions of envy, jealousy, and suspicion.

2. In connection with this it may be remarked that the treatment of the generous by others is in itself a rich reward. The liberal man is honoured, appreciated, loved. Small services, slight tokens of respect, are offered him which are evidences of deep feeling, and which cannot be received without gratification. It may be left to observation whether the reverse of this picture is not equally justwhether the mean, selfish, and niggardly do not suffer personal deterioration, and whether they do not receive from their neighbours a merited contempt.

III. THERE ARE OPERATIONS OF THIS LAW WHICH IT IS BEYOND OUR POWER TO TRACE. If we believe that the results of earthly labour extend into the future eternity, what a solemnity does this conviction impart to the principles upon which we are accustomed to act! The labours of the evangelist, the teachings of the pastor, the gifts of the supporters of religion, all bear fruit in the world to come. The nature and the measure of the harvest are largely determined by the way in which the field is tilled and sown in time. A motive this to that diligence and devotedness which is commended in the text by the inspired apostle. Only sow liberally, and by all waters, and, even if you sow in tears, it is promised that you shall reap in joy.T.

2Co 9:7 – “A cheerful giver.”

Paul here supports his appeal for liberality by a quotation from Old Testament Scripture. The words are almost literally those of the Septuagint Version of the Book of Proverbs. If the most powerful and practical motive to benevolence and especially to almsgiving is that which comes from the incarnation and from the cross of Christ, still all revelation enjoins and commends a virtue which is always beneficial to the giver, even when the advantage to the recipient is questionable.

I. GOD HIMSELF IS A CHEERFUL GIVER. There is no grudging in his benevolence. If he shows mercy, he delights in mercy. If he gives, he gives with open hand and smiling face.

II. CHEERFULNESS IN THE GIVER ENHANCES TO THE RECIPIENT THE VALUE OF THE GIFT. “One may give with his hand and pull it back with his looks.” Some benevolent characters give with such a grace that those who receive at their hands think more of the giver than of the gift. Even a trifle in such case is more welcome than a handsome donation from an unsympathizing and uninterested donor. A foreign scholar waited upon a theological professor in London, who was a man well known for his exquisite grace and suavity of manner, to lay before him his position as one of peculiar destitution. That he was assisted, and assisted generously, is certain; but as he left the house he was heard to break forth into the exclamation, “Oh, the modus, the modus, the modus!“ i.e. the manner of the giver in the bestowal of his liberality.

III. CHEERFULNESS IN THE GIVER REACTS UPON HIS OWN SPIRITUAL NATURE. He who gives coldly, ungraciously, and grudgingly, is none the better for the act. But the ready, liberal, and cheerful giver is a happier and a more truly Christian man, because of the spirit in which he has discharged a duty and rendered a service.

IV. THERE IS A SPECIAL RECOMPENSE ASSURED TO THE CHEERFUL GIVER. “The Lord loveth him.” The Lord sees his own character reflected in that of his servant; he witnesses in the generous and unselfish spirit the fruit of the redemption wrought by his Son, and of the fertilizing operation of his own gracious, free, and beneficent Spirit.T.

2Co 9:8 – Abounding grace and abounding service.

Christianity does not come to men, saying, “This is pleasant,” or “This is expedient,” or “This is what society expects from you, and therefore do it.” It comes saying, “This is what God does, and what God requires you to do.” It lays the basis for human duty in Divine acts. So with liberality, as in this passage.

I. THE ABUNDANT RESOURCES GOD PUTS AT THE DISPOSAL OF THE CHRISTIAN.

1. Men are at their best estate altogether dependent, having in themselves nothing, but want, weakness, and sin.

2. All grace is in God; he has both the power and the disposition to supply every want. It is his nature to bestow; he is the God of grace.

3. His grace not only gives, it abounds to us. The gift of his Son is the proof of inexhaustible love. So with the gift of his Spirit. In fact, in the gospel there is a generosity of bestowment; no withholding and no grudging.

4. Christians, as his people, are thus partakers of Divine sufficiency. “All things are yours;” such is the deed of gift in which the heavenly Father places at the disposal of his family all the resources of his nature and liberality.

5. The liberality of God extends through every stage of individual life, and through every period of the Church’s history. His bounties and favours are as the leaves of the forest, the waves of the sea, the stars of the skyunnumbered and innumerable.

II. THE CORRESPONDING REQUIREMENTS AND EXPECTATIONS OF GOD FROM HIS PEOPLE. Religion consists of two partswhat God does for us, and what God demands from us.

1. It is taken for granted that the Christian life consists in “good works;” that the disciple of Christ is naturally a worker, whose energies and possessions are to be consecrated to God in his Son. Gifts, services, sympathy, speech, aid,such are the manifestations of the spiritual life which the Lord of all desires and beholds.

2. Here is implied a relation between God’s works and those of his people. His abounding gifts are to be regarded as

(1) the example of ours;

(2) the means of ours, for we can only give others what he has given us;

(3) the measure of ours, as liberal and generous; and

(4) the motive to ours, inasmuch as we are constrained by the love of God and by the cross of Christ.T.

2Co 9:11 – True enrichment.

The encouragement which the apostle here addresses to the Corinthian Christians, in order to stimulate their liberality, is appropriate to all professed followers of the Lord Jesus. Paul urges that the liberal helper of others is in every respect the wealthier and happier for his generosity. It is not the highest motive, but it is sound and powerful and effective.

I. THE HUMAN NEED OF SUCH ENRICHMENT. Impoverishment is the lot of multitudes; but whilst many are deeply sensible of their temporal needs, it is too often the case that, with regard to spiritual possessions, they boast that they are rich and increased with goods, and know not that they are poor. In fact, we have nothing which we have not received from the free bounty of him who is the Giver of all.

II. THE DIVINE AUTHOR OF SUCH ENRICHMENT. The God of nature supplies the need and relieves the poverty distinctive of our bodily and physical state. The God of grace provides liberally for the wants of the soul, saying to his child, “Son, thou art ever with me, and all that I have is thine.” “In everything,” says

III. THE VARIETY AND PLENTITUDE OF THIS ENRICHMENT. “In everything,” says the apostle. He appears to teach that, as a general rule, it is the ordinance of Providence that the way of liberality should be the way of prosperity. All have known fortunate and wealthy niggards; and all have known generous men who have come to poverty; but such cases are the exception. And if generosity is the way to temporal abundance, a liberal spirit is sure to acquire virtues and excellences. Faith, hope, and love,all are cultivated in the exercise of liberality; progressive enrichment is the recompense of a large heart and open hands.

IV. THE HUMAN AND EARTHLY RESULT OF THIS ENRICHMENT. This is increase of liberality; the more the generous man receives from God, the more he helps his fellow men.

V. THE ULTIMATE RESULT OF THIS ENRICHMENT. Thanksgiving will be rendered to God, both by the liberal who are enriched, by the grateful recipients of their abundant bounty, and by all who witness the fruit of the Spirit and the evidences of the power of the Saviour’s love.T.

2Co 9:15 – The unspeakable gift.

The gifts of the Corinthians to their poor brethren in Judaea were welcomed, acknowledged, approved. But every Christian duty and service led the mind of the apostle up to Christ himself. Earthly gifts suggested to his mind that Gift which is heavenly and supreme.

I. GOD‘S GIFT TO MAN.

1. The Lord Christ is emphatically the Gift of God. He was sent by the Father, and his mission was a proof of the Father’s interest and love. All gifts beside are pale and poor, by reason of the splendour and the beauty of this.

2. The Lord Christ is the unspeakable Gift of God; i.e. so rich and wonderful as not to be capable of a full description. Observe:

(1) Its intrinsic value. Could God himself give a more precious treasure than the Son of his love? He is “the Pearl of great price.”

(2) Its adaptation to the needs of those to whom it is given. Christ is the Gift of bread to the hungry, of water to the thirsty, of freedom to the slave. Spiritual good was what man needed; and it was what came to man by Christ.

(3) Its infinite train of blessing. We are told that “all things” are placed at the disposal of those from whom God has not withheld his Son. And this doctrine is one which experience supports. The innumerable blessings which have come into the world with the gospel are a proof that the language of Scripture is not exaggerated.

II. MAN‘S GRATITUDE TO GOD.

1. It is often wickedly withheld. Our Lord was despised and rejected of men when he was upon earth; and there are still multitudes who are insensible to his preciousness, and who take no part in the grateful praises of his Church.

2. It is offered by appreciative hearts. They who have gratefully accepted the boon, who have tasted and seen that the Lord is good,they are forward to acknowledge the liberality and the loving kindness of the great Giver above.

3. It is openly and joyfully expressed by those who feel it. Hymns of grateful praise; a loving witness to the world of the Divine pity and kindness; gifts to his cause, which are accepted as offered to himself; deeds of cheerful and holy obedience;such are the means by which the redeemed and spiritually enriched may show forth their gratitude for the Gift which is unspeakable.T.

HOMILIES BY E. HURNDALL

2Co 9:2 – The contagion of charity.

I. AN INDISPUTABLE FACT. Man is imitative, even in generosity. Example is often potent when appeal falls flat. Many do not see that they can afford to give until others in similar circumstances demonstrate the possibility. Men do not like to be outdone in good works; a friend’s beneficence is a spur to our own.

II. A SUGGESTIVE FACT. When we give we often think only of the direct good which our contribution will effect, but much other good may follow. Our charity may be stimulative. Should lead us:

1. To give promptly. Delayed gift may be in time for the special object, but may be too late to induce others to give in time. Our charity must have time to work; some people take hints slowly. Bis dat, qui cito dat, is true in more ways than one.

2. To give liberally. We may curtail the charity of others. On the other hand, a liberal gift may draw forth liberal responses.

3. To give joyfully. If we give with evident gladness, others may desire to share our happiness. Joyful giving is more contagious than any other, since all men naturally crave for joy.

4. To give to suitable objects only. We may misdirect the charity of others. There is not a little responsibility attaching to benevolence. Some seem to think that, if they give, it is little matter how or to what they give.

III. A COMFORTING FACT. The truly liberal are often distressed because they can give so little. But small gifts may have large issues. The small rudder directs the great ship. The little weight often turns the scale. Our gift, of little value, may call forth large help from those wealthier than ourselves. This is likely if men see that, though we give little, we give as much as we can.

IV. A USEFUL FACT. To be made use of according to the example set by Paul. A legitimate instrument for moving sluggish natures. Whilst we may be silent respecting our own charity, we may often profitably speak of the charity of others.H.

2Co 9:7 – The cheerful giver.

I. How THE CHEERFUL GIVER GIVES.

1. Bountifully. His cheerfulness ensures liberality. It is the grudging giver who gives but little. But he who gives with gladness will desire much of that gladness. And he who sows bountifully reaps bountifully, and that without waiting, for he has at once a great harvest of joy.

2. Willingly. No compulsion is needed. He runs eagerly in the flowery and fruitful path of charity. He is not driven by the stings of conscience or by a desire to stand well with his fellows. His heart is enlisted, and the service he renders is hearty.

3. Joyfully. It is not a pain to him to give, but a pleasure. Some give their money to the needy as they give their teeth to the dentist; and often the disposition to give totally disappears on the threshold! But the cheerful giver enjoys giving. It is a delight to him. How giving is transformed in character when this is so! The same thing, how different to different natures! When we have learnt to love giving, what a pure joy we experience! Before, it was but the carcase of Samson’s dead lion, but now we gather most luscious honey by handfuls. We miss a most heavenly joy if we miss the gladness of giving.

II. GOD‘S REGARD FOR THE CHEERFUL GIVER. What God thinks of us is the all-important question. Now, the cheerful giver approves himself to the Most High. And not with cold approbation does God behold him. “God loveth a cheerful giver.” God loves this kind of giving, and he loves the one who thus gives. A grudging giver is peculiarly offensive to God. It is so monstrous that, when God has lent us so many things, we should hesitate to return to him the few for which he asks. But when we have as much joy in returning as we had in receiving, he is well pleased. And when we rise still higher and believe truly that “it is more blessed to give than to receive,” we please him the more. The cheerful giver resembles God, for God is a cheerful Giver;how bountifully and how willingly he has endowed us! Here are incentives to cheerful givingthat we please God, secure the love of God, and become like God.

III. GOD‘S PROMISE TO THE CHEERFUL GIVER. A promise of great prosperity (2Co 9:6, 2Co 9:8-10). The short-sighted always judge that giving means losing, and that saving means gaining; but “There is that scattereth, and yet increaseth; and there is that withholdeth more than is meet, but it tendeth to poverty” (Pro 11:24). And our Master said, “Give, and it shall be given unto you”. If we want to get little we must give little. The niggardly farmer gets a scanty crop. In God’s providence those who are benevolent are commonly largely blessed in earthly things. Approving themselves to God, they are the subjects of his special care; “And God is able to make all grace abound” unto them (2Co 9:8). If those who give money do not always get more money, they always get much of what is far better than money. The distinct promise of God is that they shall be blessed and prospered. What form the blessing and prosperity shall take will be gladly left to God by the devout spirit. Often an increase of the means of charity results. God gives us more that we may give more. Having wisely used our talent, he entrusts us with further riches (see 2Co 9:8, 2Co 9:10, 2Co 9:11).

IV. THE INFLUENCE OF THE CHEERFUL GIVER.

1. He convinces men of the reality of religion. (2Co 9:13.) Men appreciate such a test of piety as this. Words they are apt to reckon at a cheap rate, but spontaneous and joyful liberality staggers them. Cheerful giving is to be ranked amongst the evidences of Christianity.

2. He causes men to thank and to glorify God. (2Co 9:11-13.) What is the origin of Christian benevolence? is a question suggested to the minds of those blessed by it. And this inquiry terminates in God. As he has implanted charity in his people’s hearts, he is clearly entitled to the praise: Aided believers naturally bless God that he has inclined his stewards to minister to their needs, and magnify his grace which has produced such fruitfulness in human hearts. The cheerful giver has a wider and more powerful influence than sometimes he suspects.

V. THE GIFTS OF MEN TO THE CHEERFUL GIVER.

1. Their prayers. (2Co 9:14.) What is the price of prayer! What a valuable return for the expenditure of mere gold! If we secure the earnest, loving, believing prayers of those to whom we minister, we shall be greatly enriched. The “prayer of a righteous man availeth much” (Jas 5:16). Men are willing to give much if their friend will but speak for them to the sovereign; but the cheerful giver is often spoken for to the King of kings.

2. Their love. (2Co 9:14.) Love is not to be lightly estimated; it is spiritual gold, milch more precious than material. A man is rich if his treasury is well stored with the love of his fellows. The love of good men especially is a large recompense. Here we have the love of man and the love of God promised to those who delight in mercy and in helpfulness to the children of want.H.

2Co 9:15 – The Gift of gifts.

Undoubtedly the gift of the Lord Jesus Christ. Paid has been speaking of the lesser gifts of saints. Now he rises to God’s supreme Gift. Consider

I. THE GIVER. God. Who could give Christ but God? We must not forget that God gave Christ. Many do, and form the erroneous notion that, whilst Christ is their friend, God is their enemy. Redemption is of the whole Deity. “God so loved the world,” etc. Note: the Giver was a God

(1) unworshipped

(2) unserved,

(3) unloved,

(4) grievously sinned against,

(5) defied in the very act of giving.

It was whilst we were yet sinners that Christ came to redeem us. “Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the Propitiation for our sins” (1Jn 4:10).

II. THE GIFT.

1. A gift.

(1) A free gift. Nothing was given in exchange. Men had nothing to give.

(2) A voluntary gift. Prompted by Divine compassion and love.

(3) An undeserved gift. Men deserved condemnation, not Christ.

(4) A continuous gift. Christ is not ours merely for a time.

He is ours forever and ever. He is the saint’s everlasting inheritance.

2. An unspeakable gift.

(1) In value. The most costly of gifts. The pearl of great price. The treasure discovered in the fields of heaven. Who can estimate the value of such a gift as this? If God had given a thousand worlds or all the angelic hosts, he would have given less.

(2) In splendour. Consider the graces, powers, and infinite excellences of Christ. His presence made heaven glorious.

(3) In efficacy. This gift fully met our need. How fully we yet know not, for now we are looking through a darkened glass. All our known wants are supplied by the Redeemer, and the vast catalogue of wants as yet unknown to us. Through him we are pardoned, cleansed, sanctified, adopted, and through him we shall at last be brought into the great home above.

III. THE RECIPIENTS OF THE GIFT.

1. Human beings. Christ was given to the human race, not to the angelic, nor to the merely animal. How greatly honoured is mankind I If Christ was given to men, what a future must be before those who receive this gift!

2. Fallen human beings. Man, “made a little lower than the angels,” soon fell much lower, and then the gift came. A marvellous return for man’s apostasy! When the cry of humanity was for sternest punishment, Heaven’s response was “Jesus of Nazareth.” Well may we exclaim, “Oh the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and the knowledge of God! how unsearchable are his judgments, and his ways past tracing out!” (Rom 11:33).

IV. APPROPRIATE GRATITUDE. Paul cries, “Thanks be to God;” and well he may. How can we thank God enough for such a gift as this? What would be our state if this gift had not been bestowed?

“Love so amazing, so Divine,
Demands my soul, my life, my all.”

Throughout eternity we shall praise God for the gift unspeakable. Now let us praise him with:

1. Lip. Tell out our gratitude. Suppressed praise is indecent. We should desire all the world to know how thankful we are.

2. Heart. The tongue in this matter must be moved by the spirit, or it will not make sweet music in the ear of God. The gift came from the heart of God: let our thanksgiving come from the heart also.

3. Active service. What are we willing to do to show our gratitude? Paul was so subdued by the “unspeakable gift” that he loved to call himself “the slave of Jesus Christ;” and he counted no toil too severe to show his thankfulness.

4. Life. Our whole being and existence should constitute a psalm. This is the true “psalm of life.” Every power should be pressed into the service. As this gift is ever the supreme blessing in our life, we should ever be praising God for it.

Terrible thought! The unspeakable Gift may be rejected! What unspeakable folly, what unspeakable guilt, what unspeakable condemnation, must follow!H.

HOMILIES BY D. FRASER

2Co 9:8 – “Always.”

Let us not take our standard of Christian life and experience from our own hearts, or from the customary piety which shows itself around us. The Lord requires and expects of us constancya life regulated by the steady action of principle, and animated daily by faith, hope, and love. Alas! how many are unsteady in his service! How their light flickers! how their faith wavers! how their convictions and affections fluctuate! This is so common that it seems to be regarded as inevitable. Vacillation and inconstancy are supposed to be not so much sins as very pardonable infirmities. But is constancy, while theoretically right, practically impossible? When called to maintain a steady tenor of Christian life and conduct, may we say, Non possumus? What says Reason? And what says Holy Writ?

I. WE ASK THE QUESTION OF REASON, AS A FAIR JUDGE OF THE NATURE OF THINGS. Physical life is maintained in us by certain natural processes which never cease from the moment of birth to the moment of death. The lungs play always, and the heart beats always. We call these automatic movements, as being not dependent on our volition. They continue when we are fast asleep. But moral and spiritual life rises above mere automatism, and requires for its continuance and growth a succession of moral volitions, a steady and well-directed purpose. Now, is this state of the will possible? Reason will answer that it is the proper habit of a healthy and vigorous mind. Weak minds are obstinate or fickle; dull minds are stolid and monotonous; but those that are strong and intelligent have a steady moral pulse, a wise tenacity of purpose, and a careful balance of temper and will. It is the most rational, healthy, and happy condition of man to believe firmly what he believes, and to maintain an even tenor of conduct in harmony with his belief. George Herbert is right to praise the man of constancy, who

“Doth still, and strongly, good pursue;
To God, his neighbours, and himself most true.”

II. WE ASK THE QUESTION OF HOLY SCRIPTURE. Does it admit excuses for inconstancy? or does it assume and require that men who believe in God should live to him always? David said, “I have set the Lord always before me.” No doubt this is absolutely true only of the great Son of David, of whom the Spirit of prophecy spake in the sixteenth psalm, as St. Peter taught on the day of Pentecost. But of all that was most worthy in the career of the poet king of Israel this was the sustaining principle; and of his character this formed the sacred charm, that he constantly kept his eyes upon God. In great deeps of sorrow, in dens and caves of the earth, in exile, in peril by the sword, among temptations of ambition, tumults of war, cares of government; in the obscurity of his youth, in the sudden promotion and the stirring adventures of his early manhood; in all the publicity of his later years, in “that fierce light which beats upon a throne;”always and everywhere the son of Jesse looked to God, and sought to walk in the light of his countenance. Alas! he looked off, and sinned grievously. We find no perfect example but that of the Man Christ Jesus, the Son of David, who maintained a constant obedience to, and therefore a constant communion with, God (see Joh 8:29; Joh 11:42). In the midst of incessant occupations and in the face of frequent “contradiction of sinners against himself,” he found it possible to look always to the Father in heaven, and do always the Father’s will. So he knew that the Father heard him always. Now, every one admits that the life of Christ is, in its principles and motives, the supreme model for the life of Christians. But the force of the admission is sadly weakened for any practical purpose by the prevailing impression that actual conformity to so perfect a Pattern is not to be expected of any one. Let us take the example of a servant of Christ. It will not be disputed that we may and should emulate the attainments and experience of St. Paul. Now, he had extraordinary vicissitudes in the course of his ministry, and does not conceal from us the changing moods of his mindnow depressed and sorrowful, now bold and enthusiastic. But as respects the main current of his life and service, Paul was, ever after his conversion, gloriously consistent. In love to God, in zeal for Jesus, in fidelity to the gospel, in care for the Churches, in abhorrence of sin, in esteem of holiness, in vigilant resistance to the devil, and in tender affection for the saints, he was always the same, and wavered not. Accordingly we find the word “always” often used in regard to his own spiritual experience and missionary life (see Act 24:16 on conscience; 2Co 2:14 on the career of a missionary; 2Co 4:10 and 2Co 5:6 on sufferings and joyful hope). What a living sacrifice to God was this apostolic man! What singleness of purpose he had, what integrity of heart, what constancy, in serving the Lord always. Why may not similar constancy be shown by us? God is able to make all grace abound toward us. And all the injunctions for Christian life given in the Holy Book assume that we are to be always and wholly the Lord’s. Our speech should be “always with grace, seasoned with salt.” Our prayers should be offered up alway; and in active service we should be “always abounding in the work of the Lord.” The proper season for piety is always. Labour sometimes, study sometimes, recreation sometimes, sleep sometimes; but the fear of the Lord always, and the life of faith always. No day of the week, no hour of the day, without the Lord. This is not bondage: it is the best liberty. This is not being “righteous overmuch.” It is simply to order our character and conduct habitually by the highest aims and models set before us. It is the aspiration of the meek and lowly, not of the proud. It is the path of the just, which shines more and more until the perfect day.F.

HOMILIES BY R. TUCK

2Co 9:2 – Fowardness in good works.

Very remarkable is the tenderness, consideration, and delicacy of feeling with which St. Paul addresses the better, the more spiritual, part of the Church at Corinth. He was very anxious that they should stand well in the matter of the collection, and therefore he had sent messengers to collect their gifts; but he gives them notice of their coming, and heartily expresses his confidence in the ready and willing mind of these Corinthian saints, In such expressions “there was no subtle policy; there was no attempt to get at their purses by their weak side. St. Paul was above such means. It was natural, instinctive, real delicacy; and yet it was the surest way of obtaining what he wished, and that which the deepest knowledge of the human heart would have counselled. For thereby he appealed, not to their selfish, but to their most unselfish, feelings. This is a great principleone of the deepest you can have for life and action. Appeal to the highest motives; appeal, whether they be there or no, for you make them where you cannot find them. Let men say what they will of human nature’s evil, a generous, real, unaffected confidence never fails to elicit the Divine spark.” Consider

I. ST. PAUL‘S CONFIDENCE IN THEIR GOOD HEARTEDNESS. “I know the forwardness of your “mind.”

1. So far as tidings had reached him, and so far as he knew their Christian disposition and character, he felt sure that they were thinking rightly about the matter, cherishing proper sentiments concerning Christian brotherhood and charity, and the duty of the strong to bear the infirmities of the weak. This would be the matter of first importance to the apostle, for mere gifts are of no more acceptableness to God nowadays than mere sacrifices were in older days. God reads hearts and motives, and accepts the spirit of generosity and brotherly kindness which may find expression through gifts. So God could send this gracious message to David, “Thou didst well that it was in thy heart.”

2. The Corinthians also planned to meet the apostle’s wishes. There had been consideration and consultation and united endeavour to form good schemes for the regular devotement of gifts, for the storing and the ingathering of the moneys. In such signs of thought and care and wise arrangement St. Paul could but unfeignedly rejoice.

3. It seems that the Corinthians had actually made a good and hopeful begriming. They had been “forward” in advance of other Churches; to use a familiar figure, they had “taken time by the forelock.” This the apostle could not fail to regard as a most encouraging and hopeful sign of earnestness, as well as of the preparedness to act upon principle rather than upon mere impulse and excitement.

II. ST. PAUL‘S USE OF THEM FOR THE INSPIRATION OF OTHERS. “For which I boast of you to them of Macedonia.” Probably St. Paul had been setting their example before the Churches of Macedonia previous to his receiving news of the trouble at Corinth over the incestuous member, and the disturbance of the Church by St. Paul’s personal energies and traducers. Show that whenever a Church of Christ, or a Christian individual, affords prominent illustration of any grace or duty, they properly become, in such matters, models and examples for the inspiration of others. All who attain above an average level in Christian living ought to be used for the permanent raising of the average. It is a somewhat difficult question, how far lesser motives, such as emulation and rivalry and ambition to be topmost, may be appealed to in Christian life and work. Certainly it must be admitted that they can only be secondary motives, buttresses of a building that is well founded on the one great motive of loyalty and love to Christ.

III. ST. PAUL‘S FEARS LEST THEY SHOULD COME SHORT OF HIS HOPE. “His boasting of them might be in vain in this behalf.” He was very properly anxious “lest haply if they of Macedonia come with me, and find you unprepared, we (that we say not, ye) should be ashamed in this same confident boasting.” The ground of fear was the influence which the troubles and conflicts through which the Corinthian Church had been passing would have upon such a matter of external interest. Churches whose peace is disturbed are seldom found zealous in good works. The energy of the Church which is turned into dissension and strife is taken from its proper spheres of growth, witness, and charity. But St. Paul had further cause for his fears. Enemies at Corinth were so earnestly endeavouring to undermine his authority and destroy his influence that it seemed likely the Church would throw up this collection for the Jerusalem saints as a merely Pauline affair, with which they had better have nothing to do. The apostle opposes this malign influence by his delicate pleading, and by sending messengers who would testify that the collection was a matter of public concern, not one of personal interest to the apostle, and not one which was left in his hands. It was the united contribution of the Gentile Churches to the mother Church in her distress, and the matter was wholly under the regulation of those Churches. Impress how important is manifest clean handedness for all who have to do with Church moneys. No man must blame us concerning the gifts which we administer.

IV. ST. PAUL‘S ANXIETY TO SECURE THE PRACTICAL RESULTS OF RIGHT FEELING. He had been made glad by the report which he had received concerning the more spiritually minded Corinthians. They had received his reproofs and counsels with right feeling. They had cleared themselves of all complicity with the doings of the unworthy member; and the apostle felt that now all that was needed, as a sign of their right heartedness, was the resumption of this collecting scheme. If they would earnestly take that up and carry it through, in a generous and self-denying way, it would be the all-sufficient and outward proof that they had come well through the stormy and troubled periods of their Church history.R.T.

2Co 9:5 – Covetousness.

“As a matter of bounty, and not as of covetousness.” Dean Plumptre translates, “as a work of your bounty, and not of my claims upon your purses.” The Revised Version renders, “and not of extortion,” but putting the word “covetousness” in the margin. The Greek of the word “covetous,” signifies “to have more,” and it signifies

(1) one who has more than enough;

(2) one who desires more than enough of whatever kind; and

(3) one greedy after money.

But these do not precisely express the thought which is in the word as employed in Scripture. Covetousness is that exaggerated consideration for self which makes it possible, not only to neglect the interests of others, but even to injure others to secure a man’s own ends. It is the desire to get and to hold for self, which shuts up a man’s hand and heart so that he cannot give to others. We suggest for treatment

I. THE COVETOUS SPIRIT. Distinguish between covetous acts, and the covetous spirit which may be cherished in such a way as to utterly spoil acts which men may call acts of liberality. It is “covetousness,” the self-seeking spirit, concerning which St. Paul is anxious, and this is a form of spiritual evil to which we are all more exposed than we think. The most painful exemplification of it is found in Judas Iscariot. Its subtle and mischievous workings in him can be clearly traced. The examples of Achan, Demas, etc., may also be given. “It is not necessary to describe at any length the sin which the Word of God brands under the name of ‘covetousness,’ and always associates with whatever is most offensive and most vile, ‘the root of all evil,’ by bad pre-eminence, ‘idolatry.’ We assume its existence. It will not be denied. Its spell is upon all. It is the abuse and perversion of a great law of man’s naturethe law which teaches him to aspire heavenward and Godward; or of a law not less primarythe law of self-preservation. It is the ruling passion of nearly all men, of all tastes and times. ‘Take heed, and beware of covetousness,’ said the All-wise; and though his Word teems with such warnings against the sin, men have not been warned. At one time men call it ‘the great queen regent of the world;’ at another, ‘the all-consuming cancer’ of the Church; at another, her ‘deadly upas;’ at a fourth, ‘a fatal opiate;’ while others assure us that, at the best, man is only the heir of a vault or the lord of a grave. Yet fain are all such exposures. Though it creeps stealthily upon man like grey hairs or dropsy, the conquests of covetousness continue far wider than those of Alexander. The monarch and the menial are alike its slaves. The phlegmatic are covetous because this freezing sin specially suits their nature; the earnest, because it stimulates; the licentious, because it can pamper; the ambitious, because it can exalt; the stupid, because it compensates for dulness. Prosperity fans it, and adversity cannot quench it; men willingly bow down before it, as the tyrant summoned them of old to bow before another idol” (W.K. Tweedie, D.D.).

II. ITS RELATION TO THE CHRISTIAN CHARACTER. It is always and necessarily injurious, and, wherever willingly cherished, not only imperilling the finer and more delicate features of character, but even destructive of it root and branch. For the very essence of Christian character is the love of Christ, which takes us out of ourselves, and absorbs us with concern for him; and the love of others, for Christ’s sake, which sets us upon making their interests superior to our own. Covetousness may linger in the holes and caves of Mansoul while Immanuel is its King, but where covetousness reigns Christ cannot; or, to put it in other words, it is absolutely impossible to raise a Christian character upon a foundation of covetousness, and this spirit will but exert itself to daub and spoil the whole picture of the Christian graces.

III. ITS HINDRANCE TO CHRISTIAN GIVING.

1. By preventing the reception of a due impression of cases of need. Covetousness hardens, deafens, and blinds.

2. By compelling its victim to form a false estimate of his ability.

3. By deceiving a man through the presentation of unworthy excuses.R.T.

2Co 9:7 – Cheerful givers.

Those to whom giving is no forced service, no painful duty, no grudgingly yielding to command, but the joy of their life, the thing which brings them their keenest and purest pleasure. We need only suggest the sources whence such cheerfulness will come. Dean Plumptre points out that in this sentence we have a distinct echo of Pro 22:8, as it stands in the Greek Version: “He that soweth wicked things shall reap evils, and shall complete the penalty of his deed. God blesseth a cheerful man and a giver, and shall complete [in a good sense] the incompleteness of his works.” “Cheerfulness in visits of sympathy, in the daily offices of kindness, in the life of home, in giving instruction or advice,all come under the head of that which God approves and loves. So the greatest of Greek ethical teachers (Aristotle) had refused the title of ‘liberal’ to the man who gave without pleasure in the act of giving. The pain he feels proves that, if he could, he would rather have the money than do the noble action.”

I. CHEERFULNESS THROUGH THE MOTIVE OF GIVING. Which is that thankfulness and love to him who was God’s great saving Gift to us, which kindles in our hearts the joy unspeakable.

II. CHEERFULNESS THROUGH THE PLEASURE OF GIVING. For our Lord read human hearts aright when he said, “It is more blessed to give than to receive.”

III. CHEERFULNESS THROUGH THE HOPE OF BLESSING BY GIVING. Our giving meets and supplies needs; it tends to lift off burdens and to soothe sorrows. It is glad work to find ourselves, in a sinful and a sorrow-stricken world, healers, comforters, and saviours. No joy is like the joy of wakening joy in others.

IV. CHEERFULNESS THROUGH THE SENSE OF DIVINE APPROVAL ON GIVING. “God loveth the cheerful giver,” and when he loves, there is for us his uplifted countenance, his acceptance, and his smile.R.T.

2Co 9:8 – God’s ability and man’s.

Even in the early Church, the first Church of the apostles, there was need of money. In the first Council it was resolved to send a general direction to the Churches that they should “remember the poor.” The Apostle Paul was deeply interested in a collection, which he set on foot throughout the Churches he had founded, on behalf of the poor saints at Jerusalem, and his last journey to the holy city was occasioned by his earnest desire to present these “alms and offerings of the Gentiles” with his own hands to the apostles and elders. This text is directly connected with the matter of money, of Christian giving for Christian uses, which we properly regard as still one of the first duties, as it is certainly one of the highest privileges, of the Christian Church. St. Paul had been boasting in other places of the willingness, the heartiness, and the liberality of the Church at Corinth; but in consequence, perhaps, of the interruption of his relations with them, he feared that they would hardly come up to the account which, in his trustfulness, he had given of them He therefore sent on before him collectors, who were to gather their stored gifts together, and he reminds them again of those considerations by which he had already urged them to a noble liberality. “Give,” he says, “according to the generous purposings of the heart that is made tender and thankful by the sense of God’s saving love. Remember, ‘he that soweth bountifully shall reap also bountifully.’ Let your giving be a ‘matter of bounty, not as of covetousness.’ ‘God loveth a cheerful giver.’ And God is able to give all temporal good to you, so that, having sufficiency for all your own needs, you yet may be able to distribute generously. And did not the Lord Jesus lay down for all his people this most comprehensive principle, ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive’? And did he not illustrate, in his own uttermost self-sacrifice, the glory of his own great principle? Verily the beatitude of God rests on those who give!” This is the first connection of the passage before us, but it broadens its reach beyond the money and the giving. It covers and hallows all the features and expressions of our religious life. Wheresoever we may be, whatsoever we may have to do, whensoever needs arise, the sound of this assurance comes to us, quieting all fears, and stilling the heart to peace and rest. There is a gracious power in the word “all,” repeated as it is again and again in the verse. The word seems designed to drive away every lingering doubt. “All grace,” “all sufficiency,” “all good.”

I. GOD‘S ABILITY, AND ITS CONDITION. Nothing that is not an absurdity in the statement is beyond God’s power. Much has been made of the contention that God cannot put two things into the same place at the same time, or that he cannot make the addition of two and two make five, or make two parallel lines ever meet. But, in view of the essential conditions of human thought and human language, these things are absurdities, and not impossibilities; and it is no limitation of the Divine omnipotence to say that God cannot do what is absurd in the very statement. “He is able.” We feel the truth of this in the world of nature. Sky and earth and sea proclaim that he is “able.” Who can listen to the wild storm, hear the mighty winds bowing the great trees, and the thunder echoes rolling from hill to hill, and the breakers plunging against the guardian cliffs, and not reverently say, “He is able”? Who can feel how the gentle spring sunshine warms the wintry air and the chilled ground, tenderly touching every life germ in bud and seed and plant, and wakening life and hope and beauty all around, and not lovingly say, “Verily thou art able “?

“O spirit of the strong things and the gentle, thou art able.”

But nature is outside us. We may watch the omnipotent workings, but we want to ask this: “Do we come within the all-powerful grasp?” Admit all we may about our “free will,” nevertheless, of ourselves, of body, soul, circumstances, can we say, “He is able”? Yes; in him we “live, and move, and have our being.” Our circumstances are his overruling. Our souls are his inbreathing. He in whom we trust can do all things. We are continually crushed by being compelled to say, “I cannot;” but the feeble limited creature steadies its tremblings by leaning on One who can. “Then Job answered the Lord, and said, I know that thou canst do everything, and that no thought can be withholden from thee.” But we long to know thisWhat can the almighty God really be to us? Can he come right into the spheres of our life and work? and is he able to make all grace abound to us there? Can he “supply all our need out of his riches in glory by Christ Jesus”? Into the shadow of his fatherhood may we run, since our “heavenly Father knoweth what things we have need of before we ask him”? That is the ability of God concerning which we need to gain such deep and satisfying impressions. As a redeemed son of his, is he able to find all the grace I need; able to meet me at every point; able to give the grace according to the day; able to adapt himself to all the changes and fluctuations of my moods and circumstances? The little child brings all her broken dolls and damaged toys to her father; she is perfectly sure that, however dreadful the damage may be, “father can mend it.” And the sweet confidence dries up the tears. But the little thing never stops to consider how strong the father arms are or how skilful his fingers; she only reads his power by the light of his love; and she is quite sure that he will try, and her trust says that he will succeed. What can God do for us, his blood-bought children? He can breathe on us the spirit of a holy contentment. He can inspire us with zeal unto all good works. He can strengthen us for all noble enterprise. He can make the mountains of difficulty before us lie level as a plain. He can so prosper and bless us that very thankfulness shall urge us to generous and noble deeds. “I cannot indeed, but God can:” let us learn to say that, and then this will be our glorying”Here, there, yonder, in this and in that, in the light and in the dark, I can, through him who strengtheneth me.” There is a condition upon which the ability of God alone can come to us. We must gain and keep the receptive mood, which includes the humble, obedient, and trustful spirit.

II. MAN‘S ABILITY AND ITS EXPRESSION. For we also are “able to abound unto every good work.” Sometimes we are deeply impressed with the feebleness, the imperfection, of the best that we can do. But when we estimate that work of grace which God, the All-merciful, is carrying on in the worldso silent, yet so mighty; so long, and yet so surely triumphant at last; so rich in long suffering patience; so quick to take up and use a thousand trifling influences, sanctifying even a passing word and a gentle look to its gracious ends,then it seems wonderful that, in so great a matter, we should be “coworkers with God,” and that the rich streams of Divine grace should even flow to others through us. With the grace of God we can do all things. In the renewed man there is ability. God makes him mighty, and uses him to “pull down the strongholds.” God shows him what great things he can suffer, and what great things he can do, for his Name’s sake. In full harmony with the Christian humility and dependence we may gain this sense of Christian ability. We want the inspiration of the conviction settled deeply into our souls”I can.” We need the cheer that comes to every man when God says to him, “Thou canst.” We are weak, depressed, hesitating; we touch things with a trembling hand; we faint before the first difficulty, so long as we say to ourselves, “I cannot.” With the “all sufficiency” we can abound to every good. work.R.T.

2Co 9:10 – God’s rewards for liberal souls.

This verse may be read in a sentence: “The liberal soul shall be made fat.” F.W. Robertson’s passage in reference to this is so characteristic of him, and so wise and suggestive, that it cannot be withheld. He says, “In the particular instance now before us, what are the rewards of liberality which St. Paul promises to the Corinthians? They are

(1) the love of God (2Co 9:7);

(2) a spirit abounding to every good work (2Co 9:8);

(3) thanksgiving on their behalf (2Co 9:11, 2Co 9:12, 2Co 9:13).

A noble harvest, but all spiritual. Comprehend the meaning of it well. Give, and you will not get back again. Do not expect your money to be returned, like that of Joseph’s brethren in their sacks’ mouths. When you give to God, sacrifice, and know that what you give is sacrificed, and is not to be got again, even in this world; for if you give, expecting it back again, there is no sacrifice: charity is no speculation in the spiritual funds, no wise investment, to be repaid with interest either in time or eternity! No, the rewards are these: Do right, and God’s recompense to you will be the power of doing more right. Give, and God’s reward to you will be the spirit of giving more; a blessed Spirit, for it is the Spirit of God himself, whose life is the blessedness of giving. Love and God will pay you with the capacity of more love, for love is heaven, love is God within you.” Setting out the various forms in which Divine rewards come to liberal souls, we notice

I. TEMPORAL PROSPERITY. However true it is that this was associated with goodness only under the Old Testament economy, it is still found that the liberal soul makes friends, wins love, and so secures actual temporal advantages.

II. HUMAN LOVE. It is our best earthly treasure, and it comes in response to our power to give. The dearest relationships of human life are the rewards of them that can give. And Job reminds us how the good man, the gracious man, gets his reward in the love of the poor whom he seeks to bless (Job 29:11-17).

III. SOUL CULTURE. For it is a steadfast law of soul life, that it cannot grow by keeping; it can only grow by giving, expending. The law of receiving more grace is thiswe must use up, in good generous deeds, the grace that we have.

IV. POWER TO DO MORE GOOD. See the extract from F.W. Robertson given in the introduction to this homily.

V. DIVINE FAVOUR. Which must include those rewards of the heavenly world which now escape our apprehension, because they can only be presented to us in material forms and figures. T. Binney says, “Beneficent acts, right in spirit and principle, though they may be forgotten by the doerwho may not let his ‘left hand know what his right hand doeth’are not forgotten by him to whose will they have an ultimate respect, and by whom they are received as a sacrifice. They have a relation to God, and are regarded by him long after they have been accomplished and have passed away from the memory of man. They do not terminate with their being finished and done with here, or, so to speak, with the immediate pleasurable impression on the Divine mind. That impression is retained and prolonged. He to whom they rise up as incense gives to them, as it were, a substantial embodiment in the upper worldlays them up there as valuable treasure belonging to his children, and thinks of and surveys them with satisfaction and complacency.”R.T.

2Co 9:15 – The unspeakable Gift.

This can refer to none other than the Lord Jesus Christ, who himself said, in such a striking way to the woman of Samaria, “If thou knewest the gift of God, and who it is that saith to thee, Give me to drink; thou wouldest have asked of him, and he would have given thee living water” (Joh 4:10). In Jesus Christ “dwells all the fulness of the Godhead bodily.” And “God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son” (comp. Rom 5:15; Rom 6:23; Heb 6:4).

I. CHRIST IS A GIFT. This is but reminding us that salvation is altogether of grace. We in no sense can be said to have purchased Christ. Nor did any merit of ours attract him. Nor by any power of ours did we win him. God pitied us in our lost estate, and gave his Son. A priceless Gift indeed, seeing that it includes:

1. Pardon.

2. Peace.

3. Eternal life.

II. CHRIST IS GOD‘S GIFT. This reminds us that salvation is a Divine work. We read of the “grace of God” and the “gift by grace.” And “when there was no eye to pity and no arm to save, his own arm brought salvation.” Salvation is said to be of God to show us:

1. It is not some human scheme. This is the essential difference between Christ’s salvation and all other salvations. They are human devicesphilosophies or religions; this is Divine intervention, arrangement, and revelation; God’s power directly working in God’s way. It is indeed God himself saving men. To trust in any merely human redemption schemes is like hoping to save a drowning man with a rope that is too short.

2. To give us right views of God. Man’s usual thought of God is that of an offended King or stern Judge. But the unspeakable Gift reveals the higher truth that God is love, and the gift being that of a Son unfolds the sublime fact that God is Father. So we know God through his gift.

III. CHRIST IS AN UNSPEAKABLY PRECIOUS GIFT. This reminds us that salvation is priceless. It is beyond all possibility that we could speak worthily

(1) all the glory of Christ himself;

(2) all the sorrow Christ went through;

(3) all the needs which Jesus can meet; or

(4) all the love that Jesus feels.

The apostle felt overwhelmed with the thought of it, and spoke of the “love of Christ, which passeth knowledge.”

IV. CHRIST IS A GIFT OFFERED FOR OUR ACCEPTANCE. It suffices no man to know that this Gift has come; nor to know that others have received it to the joy and rejoicing of their hearts. No man can offer worthy heart thanksgiving for this Gift until he has personally accepted it, sufficiently proved it, and can speak for himself of the pricelessness of it. The law is this: “He that hath the Son hath life.” And he can “thank God for his unspeakable Gift.”R.T.

Fuente: The Complete Pulpit Commentary

2Co 9:1. For as touching the ministering to the saints, Now concerning the ministration to the saints, it is superfluous that I should write further to you. Doddridge. It is superfluous for me to write more to you about the assistance which is preparing for the saints, 2Co 9:2. For I am convinced of your generous inclination, and have boasted of it to them, &c.so that your zeal hath excited many others. Heylin. By Achaia, in this verse, is meant the church of Corinth, which was made up of the inhabitants of that town, and of the circumjacent parts of Achaia. See ch. 2Co 1:1.

Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke

2Co 9:1 . Since the connects the verse with what precedes, not only does the opinion of Semler, that chap. 9 contains a separate Epistle, fall to the ground, but also the hypothesis, that Paul writes as if he were beginning a new topic, on the basis of which, e.g. Emmerling (comp. Neander) thinks that between the composition of chap. 8 and that of chap. 9 a considerable time had elapsed. Against this may be urged also the fact that in new sections he does not begin with , but with (1Co 7:1 ; 1Co 8:1 ; 1Co 12:1 ; 1Co 16:1 ). Estius is right in saying that the apostle specifies with the reason why he, in what goes before (2Co 8:24 ), had exhorted them not to collecting, but to affectionate receiving of the brethren. Comp. Fritzsche, Dissert. II. p 21: “ Laute excipite fratres, id moneo (2Co 8:24 ); nam praeter rem ad liberalitatem denuo quidem provocarem ad eam jam propensos homines ,” 2Co 9:2 . So also Schott, Isag . p. 240; Billroth, Rckert, Olshausen, Osiander; but there is no indication of a contrast with the Gentile-Christian churches (as if the were the ), although Hofmann imports i.

] To this the in 2Co 9:3 corresponds. See on that passage. The counter-remark of de Wette (who, with Osiander and Neander, takes the as solitarium ), that in 2Co 9:3 makes a contrast with 2Co 9:2 , does not hold good, since the contrast is quite as suitable to 2Co 9:1 (though having respect to what is said in 2Co 9:2 ). Even in classic writers (often in Thucyd.) the clauses corresponding to each other with and are found separated by intervening clauses. See Khner, II. p. 428.

. .] as in 2Co 8:4 . Beza is incorrect (see 2Co 9:2 ) in saying that the bringing over only is meant. The word itself corresponds to the idea of Christian fellowship in love, in which the mutual activity of love is a constant debitum ministerium (Rom 13:8 ; Heb 6:10 ; 1Pe 4:10 ), after the example of Christ (Mat 20:28 ; Luk 22:26 f.). Comp. Gal 5:13 .

] i.e. I do not need writing , namely, to effect my objec.

] with article, because the writing is regarded as actual subject.

REMARK.

Certainly Paul has written of the collection both in chap. 8 and again in what follows; and he meant it so, otherwise he would have ended the section with chap. 8 But he delicately makes a rhetorical turn, so that, in order to spare the readers’ sense of honour, he seems not to take up the subject again, but to speak only of the sending of the brethren ; and he annexes to that what he intends still to insert regarding the matter itself . , , , Theophylact and Chrysostom. Probably, when he wrote 2Co 8:24 , he meant to close the section with it, but perhaps after reading over chap. 8 again was induced to add something, which he did in this polite fashion ( Theodoret). Hofmann’s idea that recommendation of the collection itself was superfluous, but that there had been delay in carrying it out , etc. is quite in accordance certainly with 2Co 9:1-5 , but from 2Co 9:5 to the end of the chapter there again follow instructions and promises, which belong essentially to the recommendation of the collection itself.

Fuente: Heinrich August Wilhelm Meyer’s New Testament Commentary

XIV.ADMONITION TO GIVE SPEEDILY, ABUNDANTLY AND CHEERFULLY; THE DIVINE BLESSING UPON THEM AND RESULT OF THE THANKSGIVINGS WHICH WOULD FOLLOW. THANKSGIVING

2Co 9:1-15

1For [indeed, ] as touching the ministering to the saints, it is superfluous for meto write to you: 2For I know the forwardness of your mind, for which I boast of you to them of Macedonia, that Achaia was ready a year ago [from last year, ]; and your zeal [the zeal which proceedeth from you, ]1 hath provoked very many [the majority, ]. 3Yet have I sent the brethren, lest our boasting of you should be in vain in this behalf; that, as I said, ye may be ready: 4Lest haply if they of Macedonia [any Macedonians, ] come with me, and find you unprepared, we (that we say 2 not, ye) should be ashamed in this same confident boasting 5[with respect to this confidence].3 Therefore I thought it necessary to exhort the brethren, that they would go before unto 4 you, and make up beforehand your bounty, whereof ye had notice before, [which I have before announced, ]4 that the same might be ready, as a matter of bounty, and not as 5 of covetousness. 6But this I say [as to this], He which soweth sparingly shall reap also sparingly; and he which soweth bountifully [with blessings, ] shall reap also bountifully [with blessings]. 7Every man according as he purposeth [hath purposed, ]6 in his heart, so let him give; not grudgingly, or of necessity: for God loveth a cheerful 8giver. And [But, ] God is able 7 to make all grace abound toward you; that ye, always having [having always] all sufficiency in all things, may abound to every good work: 9(As it is written, He hath dispersed abroad; he hath given to the poor: his righteousness 10 remaineth forever. Now [But, ] he that ministereth seed8 to the sower both minister bread for your food [supplieth seed to the sower and bread to the eating, will supply], and multiply your seed sown, and increase9 the fruits of your righteousness:) 11Being enriched in everything to all bountifulness [simplicity, ], which 12causeth through us thanksgiving to God.10 For [Because, ] the administration of this service not only supplieth the want of the saints, but is abundant also by many 13 thanksgivings unto God; While by the experiment of this ministration they glorify God for your professed subjection [since they glorify God on account of the proof which this ministration gives of the subjection which flows from your confession] unto the gospel of Christ and for your liberal distribution [the simplicity of your communion, ] unto them and unto all men; 14and by their prayer for you, which long after you for [with prayer also for you, as they long after you on account 15of] the exceeding grace of God in you.11 Thanks be unto God for His unspeakable gift.

EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL

2Co 9:1-5. For indeed concerning the ministering to the saints, it is superfluous for me to write to you.The use of , connecting what is here said with the preceding chapter, and (instead of ), shows that this chapter could not have been a distinct Epistle, and that the Apostle was not here beginning as it were a new subject (in consequence of a long interruption). It is possible indeed that he had been reviewing what he had written, and now saw that something was needed to complete his thought. However this may have been, he now introduces with most refined delicacy a number of additional particulars, with the remark that he really had no need of writing to them with respect to the collection, for he was well aware of their readiness of themselves. The connection seems to be: I have no occasion to write to you with reference to a ministration to the necessities of your brethren, but the point to which I would draw your attention is, a kind reception of the messengers from me. If should be taken as a solitarium [i.e., without a following it], its design must have been to give special prominence to the idea of the ministration (), in contrast with his commendation of the persons who were to have charge of it. But we see no reason why the in 2Co 9:3 should not be construed in correspondence with this . This ministration, as in 2Co 8:4 (Meyer), signifies, a service of love, including the idea of something which was, a just debt, (a debitum ministerium), Rom 13:8; Heb 6:10; 1Pe 4:10, in conformity to Christs example, Mat 20:28, comp. Gal 5:13. means superfluous, for the object I have in view. [What does the Apostle mean was superfluous ? It was either: 1. The writing on the whole subject, notwithstanding the fact that he had written on it and was about to write more; 2. The writing, in contrast with his sending the brethren (2Co 9:5); 3. The writing on the collection itself in contrast with his having written to commend the brethren, and his being about to write of the manner and spirit of the collection]. De Wette enfeebles the expression by making it mean: I regard it as superfluous. is here the subject of the sentence.For I know your forwardness of which I am boasting concerning you to the Macedonians, that Achaia was ready from last year (2Co 9:2 a). The mention of this readiness () was not a mere fiction of the Apostle for present effect. The commencement of the collection the preceding year (comp. 2Co 8:10 f.) had shown that it was an actual fact, and that the Corinthians only needed encouragement to complete the work as soon as possible. The use of the present tense () shows that the Apostle was still in Macedonia. is an accusative with as in 2Co 11:30; Pro 27:1. The subject matter of his boasting was that Achaia had been ready the preceding year. The word intimates the extent of his boast and the general prevalence of the Gospel throughout the province which was so called. It shows how confident he was that the whole province was virtually the Lords (comp. Osiander). The Apostle implies that they were already prepared to commit their contributions to his hands. On , comp. 2Co 8:10. He addsand your zeal hath provoked the majority of them. (2Co 9:2 b.)The phrase properly signifies the zeal which proceeded from you, and is a kind of attraction [Winers Idioms, 63]; as if he had said, the zeal which commenced with you, hath provoked, etc., comp. Mat 24:17 et al. The majority ( ) indicates that only a small part of the Macedonians remained unaffected by it. In relation to this matter, comp. 2Co 8:3.But I have sent the brethren, that what we have boasted concerning you might not be made vain in this respect; that as I said, ye may be ready (2Co 9:3). The Apostle intended here to say, that while he had no need to write any thing with reference to the collection itself, inasmuch as he well knew that the Corinthians were entirely willing to contribute, he had nevertheless sent the brethren (chap. 16ff.) that they might have every thing in actual readiness, and that he might not be ashamed of what he had been confidently boasting of them among the Macedonians. Neander: Paul had doubtless said in Macedonia that the Corinthians were prepared to contribute the year before; this had inflamed the zeal of the Macedonians, and he now felt that it was needful to exhort the Corinthians not to disappoint his hopes concerning them. The words are in themselves general, and include everything of which he had boasted of them, but it is afterwards confined to the matter in hand by (in this respect). This limitation of the possibility of failure to that single point shows how confident he was that his general boast respecting them could not be broken down. Estius very properly calls this acris cum tacita laude exhortatio. That ye may be ready contains the positive, and lest our boasting should be in vain, the negative part of this sentence.Lest perchance, if any Macedonians should come with me and should find you unprepared. (2Co 9:4 a) is here used as in Rom 7:13, and twice in Gal 3:14. The anxiety he had just intimated he here expresses more definitely, but in a very delicate manner, by the adverb , which is in this place equivalent to ne forte in 2Co 9:4. He means, if any Macedonians should come as his companions (2Co 1:16). [The persons here spoken of are evidently not those whom he had described in 2Co 7:16-16 and 2Co 9:3, and hence some have concluded that these last could not have been Macedonians. It was yet uncertain whether any would accompany him. But as Corinth was then a great commercial as well as religious centre, some might reasonably be expected to go]. On comp. 2Co 9:3. We, not to say you, should be put to shame in the matter of this confidence. (ver.4 b).We are not to regard this little parenthesis (we say not ye, ), as a mere pleasantry, but on the other hand as a delicate attempt to stimulate their feelings of self-respect; since the shame would indeed be theirs if the Apostles expression of confidence in them should not be borne out in fact. W. F. Besser:In this little sentence we may discover the extreme delicacy of Pauls feelings, and the affectionate civility which characterized his intercourse, but which are especially prominent in this most personal of all his Epistles. The is simply the confidence which had been expressed in the boasting. Comp. 2Co 11:17; Heb 11:1, and frequently in the Sept., but the word has not here precisely the sense of, business, thing. The Corinthians would be put to shame should they not come up to what the Apostle confidently expected of them. [He had stimulated the Macedonians by saying that the Corinthians had begun the collection, and then when he found that the Corinthians had not finished their contribution according to his expectation and his boast of them, he very properly stimulated the Corinthians by telling them that the Macedonians had completed their collection. He had boasted that the Corinthians were prepared the last year for the collection, and yet now he found it necessary to send deputies to have them prepared for delivering it up]. In all this there is surely no ground for suggesting that Paul was acting a cunning part, or was conforming to the shrewd policy of the world (Rckert); or that he here exhibits something of human infirmity (de Wette) Comp. Meyer, Osiander. And yet we may properly concede and maintain that he here shows most consummate art.I therefore thought it necessary to exhort the brethren that they would go before to you, and make up beforehand the bounty I have already promised (2Co 9:5 a).The Apostle here brings out with more particularity the business of the deputies he was sending. , in accordance with what he had just said, signifies, in order to prevent our being ashamed. The in signifies, before the arrival of myself and the Macedonians. signifies, before promised by me (comp. 2Co 9:2 ff.) not announced to you [as in the Eng. vers.] or promised by you. [Dr. Hodge thinks it means what the Corinthians had promised. We are nowhere told of such a promise, though the confident expectations of the Apostle had some reasonable foundation. As we suppose this to have been his information respecting them, and as we are informed of the Apostles promise to the Macedonians respecting them, we prefer to refer . to what he had said in 2Co 9:2. The thrice repeated (in composition) shows the Apostles extreme forethought]. designates the result aimed at in the that the same may be ready in the manner of a blessing, and not as a covetousness. (2Co 9:5 b.)With this designation of their gift or their benificence as a in the sense of an act of love produced by Divine grace, after the example of God and directed to the welfare of men, in which one gives cheerfully and with full hand, according to ability, he now connects an admonitory hint, that it should be so given as to appear a blessing, and not an act of covetousness. As includes essentially the idea of an abundance, so does that of scantiness; but of what these consist is not necessarily implied in the words themselves. Neander takes as if it corresponded with the Hebrew (blessing) and signified, a communication of some good, and then a token of affection; and as meaning covetousness, extortion, something extorted. W. F. Besser:This contribution to the common benefit of the Church may be called a blessing in two respects: first, as a gift from God, inasmuch as it was the result of His grace in the hearts of His people (2Co 8:1), and secondly, as an offering to God, but deposited in the hands of His poor. [In the English version is translated bounty, but this fails of bringing out the idea of good will on the part of the giver. The Greek word signifies etymologically, a blessing by word, and to this was added, by Hellenistic usage, the idea of a blessing by action, by a present (Gen 33:11; Jdg 1:15; comp. Pro 11:25). is not redundant, but draws attention to the following , as if it were to be taken in its peculiar signification; with it signifies, so as, in the manner of]. The whole phrase, , etc., relates to the special character of the gift: i.e., it should be an act of real benevolence, liberally dispensing what it has, and not of covetousness, withholding as much as possible, from a regard to self alone. [The context shows that the givers and not those collecting the gifts are here alluded to (inasmuch as these collectors might be actuated by a covetous spirit and extort from the people). If we take the expression in its utmost strictness, it signifies the laying down of a small amount, because the giver wishes to reserve more than he needs for himself. [Theophyl:As if he were over-reached by some one, or cheated out of it. Dr. Clarke thinks there is an allusion to the two kinds of chests which were set for alms in the Temple: the one for what the law required as necessary for every one, the other for the free-will offerings. To the one all men gave, because they were obliged to do so, but to the other those only gave who had pity on the poor]. But the Apostle explains his meaning more fully in vv.6, 7, where he traces the course of each giver to its proper result, and reminds his readers that even the costliest gift has no value in the sight of God, if it is not given with a benevolent and cheerful spirit.

2Co 9:6-7. But as to this, He that sows sparingly shall reap sparingly, and he that sows with blessings shall reap with blessings.The has sometimes been referred to , as if it designated this kind of seed [he who sows this sparingly, Meyer]; but this would require an inappropriate emphasis upon . Others, therefore, [as our English version does] supply , or ; but every where else the Apostle in similar cases gives us the verb itself (1Co 7:29; 1Co 15:50; Gal 3:17). Others supply in the sense of this is as if, ( ). But to avoid a feeble construction, it seems better to take it (with Meyer) as an accus. absol. as to this, viz., that it ought to be and not , he which, etc. He connects in sense with , and places it at the beginning of the sentence. On , comp. 1Co 9:11; Gal 6:7 ff.; Pro 19:17. [In almost all recent copies of the English authorized version, the word also has twice crept into this verse as a gloss]. He who does good sparingly shall have a corresponding recompense, a participation but sparingly in the blessings of salvation, i.e., an inferior (it is not said, no) reward of grace. In contrast with this stands and , where the second , for the sake of emphasis, follows immediately after the first. has the sense of, abundantly [though this misses the idea of its being a gift of love, Alford], either: with blessings (the relation being in the thing itself), the blessings which he gives and receives; or: for blessings, with a view to blessings, and the blessings which he shall receive, [Alford: this will not suit the second ] Neander (on the ground that involves the collateral idea of a voluntary gift of affection), paraphrases it, he who sows in such a way, that it is seen to be a gift of love. [Stanley: , on the condition, these are the terms on which we give, as in Luk 6:38, comp. 1Co 9:10]. The plural gives increased force to the idea of abundance. A similar contrast may be noticed in Prov. 9:24. [Beza notices a triple Hebraism in the phrase : 1, in the use of with a noun when the whole has an adverbial signification, as in justitia, for justly; 2, in calling the act of charity , with reference to the Heb, free-will offerings; 3, in using the plural for emphasis. We may also notice the variety of euphemisms by which the contribution is designated in this whole section according to the side from which it is viewed. With reference to its source, it is ; in its relation to the churchs life, it is ; in its relation to public servants, it is ; in its beneficial purposes, it is ; and as a public act of piety it is a ]. The Romish doctrine of merit is one entirely foreign to our text, and totally inconsistent with Pauls spirit.Let each one give as he hath before purposed in his heart, not grudgingly, nor of necessity, for God loveth a cheerful giver. (2Co 9:7.)The verb must be supplied from and as the predicate of . , as his heart freely prompts him. The definite purpose with respect to the amount each one would give, the Apostle supposes to be already formed when he comes to give, though in 2Co 9:6 he had spoken of it as in the future (Meyer). In contrast with this cheerful, free self-determination, he places another which springs , .indicates the source from which the gift proceeds: a morose, gloomy frame of mind, properly a sadness at parting with what it gives; or, from compulsion, as when a man gives from necessity, because he cannot avoid it (comp. Philem, 2Co 9:14). W. F. Besser: It is one of the secondary results of the factions which prevailed at Corinth, that Paul was thus induced to warn us against all undue compulsion in charitable collections, and to admonish us in such matters to give with sincere pleasure; for nothing more completely poisons an act of charity than a manifest spirit of rivalry or a mere love of distinction. To encourage them in this cheerful contribution, he reminds them of a Scriptural expression which, however, is not fully quoted. By way of emphasis, and for a more striking contrast with and , the of the concluding sentence is placed at the commencement (comp. in Rom 12:8). The passage here thus freely quoted, is an addition to the original by the Septuagint in Pro 22:8 : (var. ) . Comp. with in 2Co 8:12.

2Co 9:8-11.And God is able to make all grace abound toward you, that ye having always all sufficiency in everything, may have an abundance for every good work. (2Co 9:8).Having admonished them to be bountiful and cheerful in their contribution he here assures them, that God could and would amply bless them in it, and that they had abundant reason to be of good cheer and confide in Him. It was 2Co 9:8 which induced Francke to build the Orphans House at Halle.12 is emphatic at the commencement of 2Co 9:8 : He can, and of course he will do it. introduces another element in the matter viz: the power of Him who takes pleasure in a joyful giver, to provide for him abundantly. It is a question whether includes merely bodily or only spiritual benefits, or whether it may not embrace both. is in favor of the latter view, and the detailed statements which are given seem to demand some reference to bodily things. Besser: God can bestow upon us abundantly, not only the grace which makes us rejoice in the Lord and so prepares us to give with joyful hearts (2Co 8:2), but the grace which bestows on us that abundance of earthly blessings and that prosperity which enables us to give so liberally. as in 2Co 4:15 must be taken in a transitive sense. The accumulation of such words as , and in this sentence is very emphatic, and is similar to another in Php 1:3 ff. must here be construed in an objective sense as meaning a sufficiency. signifies a condition which warrants us in being perfectly contented, a sufficient subsistence even for corporeal comfort. Meyer makes it have reference to a subjective habit of the mind, i.e., the ethical condition which prepared them to abound unto every good work; such a satisfaction with their condition as would make them always contented, comp. 1Ti 6:6, Php 4:11. The more particular definitions, however, which he proceeds to give ( , as well as ) seem more agreeable to the objective explanation; and the abounding to every good work, (which cannot mean, in an ethical sense, merely a growth in benevolence, but beneficence in an abundant degree), is that to which the full sufficiency could and should lead; indeed it was precisely that state in which notwithstanding its deep poverty a was said to take place (2Co 8:2). The correct way seems to be, to take all these expressions, grace, sufficiency and good work, in a general sense, so as to include even the corporeal or earthly condition. Every good work would therefore mean any act which tends to accomplish the divine purposes, and to promote the kingdom of God; and which dispenses benefits of a corporeal nature to brethren in distress. This ought to be the outflowing of that complete sufficiency, which is secured by divine grace in every department of life, even in respect to corporeal affairs.In 2Co 9:9 he illustrates what he had thus said by another Scriptural passage from Psa 112:9.As it is written, He scattered abroad, he gave to the poor, his righteousness abides forever.The person respecting whom this had been said was the pious man. , which occurs also in Joh 10:12; Joh 16:32, signifies to scatter, here to scatter abroad (as in sowing), and it has the sense of abundantly distributing on every side. Bengel: Without anxious thought in what direction every grain may fall. signifies one who works for his daily bread () [one not so poor as , who lives on alms, but one who has nothing superfluous, Webster p. 227] therefore one who is poor and needy. It occurs no where else in the New Testament. is not the merit which is gained as the result or the reward of well doing, but the righteousness or good conduct itself. It signifies here especially that which is seen when one does good (not immediately, beneficence, at least not in the sense of that which is the cause of justification, since it is rather the result of justification; comp. Gal 5:6; Gal 5:22, Col 3:12 ff.). Beneficence is called (comp. 2Co 9:10 and Mat 6:1), because it is an act of justice, not to retain for our own exclusive use, what God has given to all in common (Ambros.). Ewald: To the extent in which our free alms is the fruit of a higher feeling of love and righteousness, it is no doubt called in Pro 10:2; Pro 11:4. To remain forever implies not merely a permanent reputation among men, but the everlasting continuance of righteousness, blessing us with its loving spirit not only in the present life, but glorifying us and blessing us with the same spirit as a gracious reward through eternal ages (comp. 1Jn 2:17). [On , consult Trench, Synn. 2d Ser. pp. 3541.]What Paul had described in 2Co 9:8 as only a possible thing on Gods part, he speaks of in 2Co 9:10 as though it were surely to be expected.But he who supplies seed for the sower, and bread for the eating, will supply and multiply your seed sown, and increase the fruits of your righteousness;In these words of Isaiah (in which only , to furnish, to grant, is substituted for the of the Sept.) he describes God as the source from which these things were to be expected. He leads us to expect in the economy of grace and in the government of the church something analogous to what God is continually doing in the economy of nature. [Wordsworth: was properly said of a wealthy person supplying the requisite funds for the equipment and training of a tragic . Hence with the accus. and the dat., it came to mean to supply anything for a purpose. sometimes implies a supply of one thing after another. Comp. 2Pe 1:5. Dr. Clarke thinks the verb here has some allusion to its early meaning: to lead a chorus, and that God is represented as leading up the grand chorus of causes and effects, and providing for the whole host of benevolent workers in His kingdom.] The participal sentence extends not merely to but to , for not only does the symmetry of our sentence demand this, but the passage in Isaiah requires it. [Our English translators have generally followed the received Greek text, which reads , and in the optative instead of the futures , and . They have also followed the Vulgate and joined with the subsequent verb. In this way the whole becomes a prayer of the Apostle for his Corinthian brethren: May he who ministers seed to the sower both minister bread for your food, and multiply your seed sown. This seems unsupported not only by external but by internal evidence; for Paul was aiming to supply reasons and motives to liberality, on the ground that no one would lose or be straitened on account of large contributions. Not a prayer, but a promise was needful for this.] Corresponding with the supply of the seed to the sower is the assurance that the same Being would bestow upon them and multiply for them that which would be necessary to their sowing, i.e. to their work of beneficence. This has reference not merely to their future doings as a consequence of; or as a Divine blessing upon; their present liberality (Rckert); but, as the context and aim of the writer evidently require, to the benefaction then in progress (comp. in 2Co 9:11). It is not till we come to the second member of the sentence, that we find the blessing upon the future action exclusively referred to: and will increase the fruits of your righteousness. This corresponds to the bread for eating, and the whole signifies: As God makes the scattered seed grow until it brings forth fruit and so gives bread for the eating ( signifies the act of eating), so will He bless your sowing, your work of beneficence, and cause the fruits of your good conduct to increase. The fruits of righteousness correspond to the bread before spoken of, in the enjoyment of which the reward of diligence in sowing is acquired. The expression (in the sense of .) occurs also in Hos 10:12. But are we here to regard it as applicable to spiritual or worldly blessings? In the latter sense it would correspond with the interpretation we have given above to 2Co 9:8. With great propriety the ancient church selected vv.610 for being read on the day appointed for the commemoration of St. Laurentius (Aug. 10).13Being enriched in everything unto all simplicity which works out through us thanksgiving to God.In this verse the Apostle gives some additional particulars which may assist in determining his meaning. We have an anacoluthon, in which the participle stands as a nominative, like in 2Co 1:7, as if had been expressed in 2Co 9:10. A similar construction may be seen in Col 3:16.There is no need of supplying [so that the sentence shall read: ye shall be enriched, etc.] for the connection with 2Co 9:8 would not be suitable. As vv.9 and 10 have an obvious connection with 2Co 9:8, they cannot be taken as a parenthesis. [Our English A. V. regards 2Co 9:9 f. as a parenthesis, but in serts no , for it regards . as an independent nominative. It is better to connect it (not with 2Co 9:8 but) with the verse immediately before it: God will increase the fruits of your righteousness (i.e. your resources), being enriched (i.e. so that ye shall be enriched) etc. Hodge.] shows that their being enriched was in the most comprehensive sense of the word, and it is implied that , in the sense of perfect simplicity (2Co 8:2) was to be the result (though not precisely the designed object) of the enrichment. The Divine blessing upon those who sincerely loved their brethren and cheerfully assisted them in time of trouble, would be seen in their becoming rich in all spiritual and temporal blessings. The final result would be such a perfect simplicity or singleness of heart, and such a pure benevolence as knows nothing of selfish interests or painful forebodings, and manifests itself in a free and ample supply of others wants. [The word bountifulness in our version hardly expresses this.] Such a simplicity is not only the fruit of an abundant spiritual life, but is an actual experience which blesses even with temporal benefits those who kindly endeavor to alleviate the distresses of their brethren. In the relative sentence which works through us, etc., the Apostle comes back to the collection which had its origin and support in this , and he gives prominence to one result of this simplicity which admirably corresponded to its origin, (2Co 8:1), inasmuch as it produced a spirit of thanksgiving to God. is here probably not causal, in the sense of quippe qu, but equivalent to . It is thus like , as commonly used in the later prose; or it is equivalent to: something which was working. In Paul refers to himself and his assistants in the work of collection, since it was through their hands that the gift would be communicated and the receivers would thus be induced to give God thanks. is by some made dependent upon (for, or in behalf of God), but it is better to make it dependent upon , inasmuch as the construction of the verb will then be preserved (Meyer: a dative of appropriation).The reason for this thanksgiving he finds (2Co 9:12) in the collection then in progress.

2Co 9:12-15.Because the ministration of this service supplieth not only the wants of the saints, but also abounds through many thanksgivings unto God.Neander: The Apostle here brings forward another motive for their cheerful contribution, in the material and moral benefits which the saints at Jerusalem would derive from it. The ministration spoken of was not the service which Paul and his associates performed when they took charge of the collection, but as in 2Co 9:13, the service of those who took part in the contribution itself, shows more particularly that it was something done for the Christian community (comp. Rom 15:27; Php 2:25). The ministration, therefore, which consists in such a service must be of the same nature (Meyer: the work of distributing the alms). Whether such a word implies that this friendly service was an act of worship, or such a sacred performance as to deserve the name of an oblation (comp. Php 4:18; Heb 13:16), may be left in doubt.14 In this inference the Apostle intended to say that the ministration of which he was speaking would not only supply a want of the saints ( being strictly equivalent to: supplying by addition, 2Co 11:9), but would overflow through many thanksgivings toward God, or would cause such thanksgiving to ascend in great abundance. Here also is governed, not by , but by . [See T. Lewis explanation and illustration of this text in The Divine and Human in the Scriptures, p. 339.As they glorify God on account of the proof which this ministration gives of the subjection which flows from your confession of the Gospel Of Christ (2Co 9:13 a). The Apostle here does nothing more than to define with more particularity what he had just said, but with a connection of the participle similar to that which we have seen in 2Co 9:11; as if he had written in 2Co 9:12 : in consequence of the fact that many give thanks, etc. points out the external medium (i.e., the occasion) of a thing; in this place of the , etc. [They (the thankful recipients) glorifying God when the proof which this ministration gives, etc.]. The attempt to bring this word into immediate connection with 2Co 9:12 is arbitrary and unnatural (comp. Osiander and Meyer). By (2Co 8:2) we must understand either the evidence which this service would give that the Corinthians were approved, or the evidence which this service would give that the distribution itself was right and just, i.e., that it was such as might be expected from the Christian standard f benevolence (Meyer after Theophylact: ). In behalf of the latter view may be alleged the most natural signification of the words, and the fact that with is introduced a reason for thanksgiving which related to the Corinthians. It may be added that the must have been also a test of the Corinthians. That which was the object of their thanksgiving is said to be the . In Hellenistic Greek, signifies: confession (not: agreement, comp. 1Ti 6:12; Heb 3:1; Heb 4:14; Heb 10:23), and it is the word for the way in which faith is outwardly expressed or made known (comp. Rom 10:9 f.). may therefore be joined with it, analogously with , , and similar phrases. We should indeed have expected the article () before . to give it more definiteness, but we ought not to regard this as indispensable, inasmuch as we find every where great liberty in the use of it. Comp. Winer, 19, 2. The same is true with respect to , where the article is in like manner absent, and the same would still be true if we were to join . with , so that the phrase should mean a complying or obedient disposition toward the Gospel; in which case would appear to be the source of the : on account of the obedience which results from your confession. On the other hand, by joining with ., the may be regarded also as the object of the , so that the idea shall be: since ye are obedient to your confession. [Beza, whom our A. V. follows, gives to the genitive the force of a participle, and renders . .: your professed subjection. Doddridge, however, well remarks, that the words express not merely a professed, but a real subjection to the Gospel which was professed]. But the confession towards, or with reference to, the Gospe1 (=the confession directed to the Gospel), is the confession of a faith in which love completely sacrifices itself for anothers good (comp. 2Co 8:9), and it therefore essentially requires that those who make it should cherish and put forth a similar love (comp. 1Jn 3:6). Correspondent with this confession is the of which the Apostle here speaks. Another reason for this thanksgiving is given in the wordsAnd for the simplicity of your communion with them and with all. (2Co 9:13 b.), as in 2Co 8:4, means the practical communion which is shown in the communication of aid. shows the direction in which this proceeds. The addition of was probably intended to suggest that it was well known generally and possibly among the Christians at Jerusalem, that the Corinthians were in the habit of sympathizing, in a practical way, and especially by a hospitable reception in their city, with Christians of every country. That those Jewish Christians should have concluded that the Corinthians were equally liberal to all simply because they were liberal to such distant brethren, does not seem equally probable. The connection of and , etc., with in the sense of: they glorify God, with reference to the Gospel, to themselves and to all (Meyer), has something very feeble and forced about it. Such a connection is required neither by the want of the article (see above) nor by the , inasmuch as this preposition fits very well here as expressive of tendency or direction; and might, according to the analogy of other words, be very properly substituted for the dative after and . [The sense of the whole would then be: they who receive such a proof as this ministration gives, will give glory to God for your obedience to the confession you have made with respect to the Gospel of Christ, and for the common fellowship with them and with all Christians which your single-hearted liberality displays.]Since they also, with prayer for you, long after you on account of the exceeding grace of God toward [among] you (2Co 9:14). It is somewhat difficult to decide with which of the previous sentences this verse ought to be connected. Against its connection with 2Co 9:12, it may be objected, 1, the extreme length of the intervening 2Co 9:13; 2 Corinthians 2, that does not stand before as it does before , etc.; 3, that stands emphatically at the head of the sentence, but on this construction has no special emphasis. If we connect it with 2Co 9:13, supplying before as previously before , it seems strange that they should be said to give glory to God for their own prayers; and to obviate this the language can hardly be made to signify the hearing of their prayers. We should prefer to connect it with in such a way as to point out the manner in which they give glory to God: not only by their thanksgiving (vv.12, 13) but by their intercessions. It must be conceded, however, that such a construction is somewhat harsh. The best way, therefore, probably is to take together as a genitive absolute, (for we find this common enough with classical writers, where there is no distinction of subject), so that the meaning should be: they, also, with prayers (i.e., in the midst of prayers) for you, longing after you, etc. There is nothing really forced or impertinent in this definition of by ; it is rather a delicate way of hinting at the pious spirit which prompted this longing. There is an apparent inappropriateness in this word , inasmuch as the churches could never be expected to come personally together. Some have, therefore, given it the meaning, cordially to love; but no example of such a meaning has been adduced. Nowhere else in the Scriptures is a meeting together of Christians in the future world ( ) spoken of in this way as an object of Christian yearning. Neander takes to be the ardent longing which is prompted by Christian love to have a better personal acquaintance with other Christians, and hence the final aim of this benevolent contribution may have been, to bring these Jewish Christians to acknowledge the Gentile Christians as their brethren in the kingdom of God. We must, however, remember that in the present case the more complete fellowship and the more animated enjoyment of common spiritual blessings in the church were actually brought about by means of personal intercourse through deputies. This is hinted at in the reason which is immediately subjoined: . here designates them as the persons among whom Divine grace was active, and it is to be connected with . The idea then would be: on account of the grace of God which superabounds towards you, i.e., because the grace of God is superabundant among or upon you. The charitable contribution was only one out of many streams flowing from this riches of grace (Osiander). As the Apostle contemplated this abundant result of Divine grace in the Corinthian Church, there arose from his deepest soul an outburst of holy thankfulness, to which he now gives expression.Thanks be unto God for his unspeakable gift (2Co 9:15).in this exclamation we need not suppose that he was endeavoring to repress some feeling of self-gratulation which he apprehended might spring up in the hearts of the. Corithians on account of what he had just said. The unspeakable gift of God was not strictly or exclusively the fortunate result which God had brought about by means of the collection, for the expression is rather too strong for such an application. The Apostles mind was evidently upon the great gift of redemption with all its rich results; (especially) in the church where was found that simple spirit of benevolence, on which depended all the good results of which he had been speaking. But the entire spiritual blessing which he expected from Gods grace included the particular effect of Divine grace or the especial blessing which Gods love had conferred on them. (The difference between Meyers and Osianders exposition on this point is not essential).

[Stanley: In these four last verses the Apostle throws himself forward into the time when at Jerusalem he should receive the thanks of the Jewish Christians for this contribution, and thereby witness the completion of the harmony between the Jewish and Gentile Churches. Hence the impassioned thanksgiving for what else seems an inadequate occasion. Compare the abrupt introduction of similar thanksgivings in Rom 9:5; Rom 11:33-36; 1Co 15:57; Gal 1:5; Eph 3:20; 1Ti 1:17].

DOCTRINAL AND ETHICAL

1. As god looks upon the heart, the acceptableness of an act of benevolence in His sight depends upon the cheerfulness with which it is rendered, upon the degree in which those who are filled with Divine love find a real pleasure in relieving those who are in want. This inward delight will be shown in the pleasant manner with which the outward act is accompanied, and the receiver will thus be satisfied that the giver is glad to be called upon, and to be able to perform a duty which a God of goodness has committed to him. Where this spirit is wanting, and it is evident that the man gives with a painful reluctance, from a regard only to the expectations of others, from a vain ambition not to fall behind those of equal or less wealth, or from the urgent importunities of others, the gift will have no value in Gods sight, however costly it may be. But a cheerful heart will always make an open hand; whatever the man has will be freely dispensed, with no close or anxious calculations of the amount, if he can only be sure of doing good, and of relieving or removing the necessities of his fellow-men. Accordingly God has declared that everything sown in this spirit shall bring forth a corresponding harvest, that those who give from necessity, sparingly, unwillingly, or half willingly, shall have a proportionate gain, and that those who give cheerfully and liberally shall have showered upon them an abundance not only of spiritual but of temporal blessings. As the result of both these kinds of blessing, the cheerful giver will acquire that noble and perfect simplicity which more completely surrenders everything to One who never fails to supply every want, and which is more and more unwearied in works of beneficence. And not only is he himself thus prospered, but (what is far more important) many hearts which are refreshed by his bounty will overflow with thankfulness, and will give glory to God; a loving fellowship will spring up between the giver and the receiver; and the spiritual life of each will be quickened and strengthened.
[2. It has sometimes been questioned whether this promise, (vv.810) is fully borne out by observation and experience. Not to dwell, however, upon the fact that the Apostle is in this place only laying down what might be expected from Gods power, and leaves undecided the question whether that power will always be put forth in every specific case, we may suggest that the Apostle is merely giving the general tendency and result of righteousness (Hodge). It will be, however, time enough to show that our passage will admit of exceptions, when a case of failure has been produced.

3. The power of all active beneficence in promoting the Churchs unity and common life.Pauls earnestness in the matter of this collection was quite disproportionate to its importance as an isolated fact. He was evidently looking far beyond it to the kind feelings and fellowship which such a work was fitted to promote. There had been, and there still was, great danger of a rupture between the Jewish and Gentile Christians. Paul evidently anticipated much from this collection, in smoothing down any asperities which had already become apparent.

4. It is evident that a community of goods (whatever it may have been) did not preserve the Church at Jerusalem from poverty and want. Clearly it had never been compulsory nor absolutely universal, and was only for the occasion on which so many strangers were in Jerusalem. As a requirement, it seems only to have been that each one should hold all that he had subject to the call of necessity. (See on Act 4:34-37). Probably then, and certainly ever since, the apostolic rule was, not an absolute uniformity, but a mutual coperation and assistance. (Stanley).

5. The community of love laid down in this section would preserve the whole Church from want. In the great body there would be always an all-sufficiency in all things, and with such a spirit it would be faithfully applied.

6. The Apostle clearly distinguishes between spiritual and temporal blessings.The Corinthians might sow the one and not reap the other. We may sow much love and self-sacrifice, and reap abundantly the reward of such a sowing in kind, i.e., in their spiritual results, but reap very little of pecuniary or temporal gain. What Paul promised these Corinthians was: 1, the love of God (2Co 9:7); 2, a spirit abounding in every good work (2Co 9:8); thanksgiving on their behalf (vv.1113). A noble harvest! but all spiritual. (F. W. Robertson). God might or might not give of His infinite sufficiency and ability (2Co 9:8), for their temporal wealth.]

HOMILETICAL AND PRACTICAL

Starke:

2Co 9:1. Confidence and admonition may very properly exist together, the one in view of an honorable and upright character, and the other because many need a preparation for their duties.

2Co 9:2. A good beginning is not always sure of a good ending; we must therefore admonish one another and pray that we may continue diligent in every good work (1Th 3:2).Hedinger:Commendable solicitude to observe accuracy in all we say; and to fulfil all we engage to do; without this, our words are only vain boasting. Away with this

2Co 9:4. We should be careful to have good reasons when we praise another, otherwise both parties may only be brought to greater shame.Ibid: Support of the poor, and support of pastors. Plead and pray for them! Oh, if all who are in comfortable circumstances would but remember how much their doing good has to do with Gods blessing! Their ability to do good is His blessing, and they ought to be the hand by which He blesses others, only that they themselves may be more blessed (2Co 9:6; 2Co 9:9). The covetous man only betrays himself by pretending to give liberally; for he gives only a little according to his ability, and this with evident reluctance and low motives.

2Co 9:6. Every thing we have is from God; the more we have, the more readily, abundantly and joyfully should we communicate for the relief of others, with no expectation of a reward. And yet it is not wrong to have an eye to those promises which are a token of Gods great love and readiness to help us in our weakness (Heb 10:35; Heb 11:26).Ibid: Alms given merely by commandment are a kind of forced sins, transferred and deposited to our account. Gifts bestowed with curses bring no blessings or reward.

2Co 9:7. A generous love of our neighbor is like ripe clusters of grapes, whose sweet juices flow forth by their own force. It can scarcely be appealed to before its cheerful response is ready. Without such a love men must be hard pressed before they yield any thing, and the little that comes forth is soured by complaints and murmurings.

2Co 9:8. Hedinger:Nothing bestowed upon Christs members is lost; and yet look well that no sighs adhere to your gifts! If it does not properly belong to you, it cannot be acceptable. To offer what rightfully belongs to another, is very fitly called, skinning your neighbor and hanging his hide up in the temple for God.Christian virtues are joined together like the links of a chain. He is a perfect Christian who fails in no part of his duties. 2Co 9:9. Spener:Genuine love is careful to bestow its bounty upon such persons and in such a way that goodness shall not encourage wickedness; but the hand which freely scatters must not be fettered with too many scruples, if only the worthy are not overlooked. Blessed are the merciful whose care reaches to the soul as well as to the body, to eternity as well as to time (Mat 5:7).

2Co 9:10. Hedinger:The sower not unfrequently scatters on the soil what little seed he has, and with painful anxiety hopes for a plentiful harvest. Such a harvest God has promised to those who sow liberally (in well doing), and are moved by love to men and a desire to serve God.

2Co 9:11. God is the true centre from which all lines of blessing diverge, and in which all benevolent actions again converge in grateful thanksgivings.

2Co 9:12. How much good springs from love! It preserves the life of Christs members, and turns their hearts into altars of incense where God is adored.

2Co 9:13. The confession of a true faith and the overflowing of a genuine love are beautiful things, for which we have reason to rejoice and to praise the Lord.

2Co 9:14. Those who receive kindness should heartily thank God for the spirit bestowed upon the giver, and pray that he may receive an abundant blessing.

2Co 9:15. Let us never see or hear of a charitable work without rejoicing in it and praising God for it.

Berlenb. Bible:

2Co 9:2. Whoever leaves what he must do to the last hour, will find himself confused and his good work put to shame (the foolish virgins).

2Co 9:3 f. Satan endeavors to strangle our good purposes at the birth, and we should take care faithfully to finish what we have begun well. Every one is in danger during his religious course of becoming cold in heart; it is always well, therefore, when God sends some one to stimulate our zeal.

2Co 9:5. If nothing in the heart is pleasing to God, we may be sure that the outward act will have no blessing.

2Co 9:6. God delights in what flows liberally from a loving heart.

2Co 9:7. The Christian knows no joy without faith, or which proceeds not from grace. It is by the delight which the liberal man finds in giving, that God steals his heart and forces upon him a grace far richer than what he-gave.

2Co 9:8. In proportion as we apply to the poor those gifts with which Divine love has favored us will be the grace which we shall receive in their stead; only the returning stream will be the most abundant, that goodness and faithfulness may meet together.

2Co 9:9. In scattering his blessings, the Christian must recollect that though his heart should be open and unreserved, he should also proceed as carefully as possible, for the work of love should be wise. Even righteousness demands this. But it will be like a regular growth, in which there is no decay; for as it is in harmony with the Divine nature, it must be eternal.

2Co 9:10. God gives the seed, and He must give the harvest, but not immediately, for then we could not distinguish His several footsteps. When we open our hearts to God (by our alms) the blessings always return upon us in a thirty, sixty or an hundred fold increase of Christian graces.

2Co 9:12. It is said that, Love is the fulfilling of the law; and we here see that obedience to the second table reacts upon the better fulfilment of the first, inasmuch as it awakens a spirit of praise.

2Co 9:15. Whoever recognizes and accepts of Christ as a gift, will be thankful and strive to live to the Divine glory. Each attribute of God has a tendency to produce in us something like itself; and as He freely gives to us, we also are led freely to give.

Bengel:

2Co 9:8. God gives us what we have, not so much that we may have it, but that we may do good. Every thing in life, even the best earned rewards, are seeds sown for a future harvest.

Rieger:

2Co 9:5. A gift will be a blessing, for the supply it affords, for the cheerful kindness it displays, and for the thanksgiving of which it is the occasion.When it is a matter of covetousness, it will be done penuriously and unpleasantly, and Will be received without pleasure or satisfaction.

2Co 9:6. The figure of sowing and reaping is very appropriate to the work of charity. That which is scattered, is something which we look upon as needful for our support, but which will not be as profitable if it is hoarded up. We must not be anxious about wind and weather, but trust rather to Gods providence than to our own prudence. Much seed will doubtless fall by the wayside, but that on the good soil will abundantly reward us for all we sowed. 2Co 9:8. God can turn to our advantage not only the increase of our worldly wealth, but every blessing of His daily providence. In this way He may give us health, peace, pious husbands and wives, pious children and faithful domestics, and make them an advantage to us. We often see those who are reluctant to do kind acts for their neighbors lose more by extravagant children and unfaithful servants, than would have formed a handsome contribution for the poor.

2Co 9:11 ff. Where we have true simplicity of character, we are not particular in the enjoyment of what God gives us, but we are satisfied and hopeful, even where we seem to be in want.

2Co 9:15. Christ is indeed an unspeakable gift, but in Him is included the gospel, with all its power in the heart, and those works of charity to which it prompts us, a supply for every want, an overcoming faith, a thankful spirit, the common fellowship of prayer which He creates, and the prospect of a harvest of blessings through all eternity.

Heubner:

2Co 9:1. An enlightened Christian needs no long exposition of his duties.

2Co 9:2. Even for the sake of a good example, it may be a duty to give liberally.

2Co 9:4. If a minister has done all within his power, and his people are without benevolence, theirs must be the reproach. 2Co 9:5. Gods blessing depends not upon the amount, but upon the spirit with which we give. 2Co 9:8. The principles on which we shall be blessed are: the more active we are in doing good, the greater will be our blessing; the more we are emptied of earthly things, the more we are filled with God, and vice versa. Worldly prudence says: Do not make yourself a beggar! but Christian prudence says: Give all that thou hast! 2Co 9:7. The value of our charities depends upon their being given from a pure heart. Gods great grace in the heart makes a glad heart.

2Co 9:9. God can give abundantly, not only in earthly, but in spiritual things

2Co 9:12. The giving of alms is of an advantage even in the spiritual life; for it awakens and strengthens our faith in the reality of a Christian spirit in the church, and of course in the presence of God Himself, to help the poor through His children. When the heart of Gods professed people are unmerciful and severe toward others, it becomes hard and bitter, inclined to unbelief, and a dishonor to our religion.

2Co 9:14. A spirit of prayer is no slight recompense for doing good. Even those whom we never knew become interesting to us when we hear that Divine grace abounds in them.

W. F. Besser:

2Co 9:5. It is better to give today than to-morrow, for no one knows how long he will be able to give. Reason, indeed, always gives reluctantly, from fear of some possible misfortune in the future; but the Bible says: Give a portion to seven, and even to eight, for thou knowest not what evil shall be upon the earth (Ecc 11:2, comp. Pro 3:27-28). God always gives with a liberal hand; and if it is a blessing for us to give, let us not measure our alms with a penurious and covetous spirit. God also cheerfully lets us have the best He has; and if our alms are a sacrifice of praise, let us not corrupt it with the leaven of covetousness, but accompany it with the sweet incense of a complete dedication of our own selves to God (2Co 8:5, Mal 1:14).

2Co 9:6. The giving of alms is itself a blessing, and of course the giver must be blessed. As the sun draws the water, and as the clouds give back in showers what they before received, (Ecc 11:3) so will God graciously return what we bestow (in His name and in His hand) although it sometimes may seem like casting our bread upon the waters. A poor man gives only an insignificant mite, but it is a blessing, and he will have a harvest of blessings; blessings from Gods children, and blessings from our heavenly Father in this world and in the next. He who sows in blessings (giving in the Lord and to the Lord), shall reap also in blessings: He will hear many exclaim, God reward you! and Thank God! and these shall rise up before God with his alms, and spring up in many full ears to form his harvest wreath in another, and even in the present world. If those who receive our gifts should be unthankful, and should have no share in our blessing, God is faithful to remember every seed sown, and to make it fruitful in blessings. Only see to it, therefore, that everything you sow is a bounty and not a covetousness, and then give over all care about the harvest, to the Lord who will not fail to make it exceedingly abundant!

2Co 9:10. We have the same God in the kingdom of grace as in the kingdom of nature. In the latter our Lord once asked his disciples, Lacked ye anything? and they replied, Nothing! (Luk 22:35). In the former also we may be sure that all cheerful givers, when asked, Have you ever been impoverished by your scattering? will glorify that Lord who has taken upon Himself the debts of all His poor (Pro 19:17), by answering: Never; we have always had the blessing Paul promised the Corinthians.Just as a citizen shows his subjection to the civil law by a conscientious payment of all his legal assessments, so a Christian shows that his confession is subject to the gospel when he cheerfully assists in the collection of all church dues.

2Co 9:14. The longing which Gods people sometimes feel in every part of the general church on earth to enjoy each others fellowship is not extinguished even if they have no prospect of meeting in the flesh, but we instinctively yearn for a fellowship face to face in the mansions of the eternal city.

[Stanley:The Apostle presses upon them (1) speed, vv.15; (2) readiness, vv.67; (3) bounty, vv.816. A Clarke: The Apostle enumerates the good effects which would be produced by their liberal alms-giving: 1. The wants of the saints would be supplied; 2. many thanksgivings would thereby be rendered unto God; 3. the Corinthians would thereby give proof of their subjection to the Gospel; and 4. the prayers of those relieved will ascend up to God in behalf of their benefactors. See a Sermon of Dr. Barrow on the passage from the Psalms quoted in 2Co 9:9, in which the subject of Bounty to the Poor, would seem to be exhausted (Works Vol. I. Ser. 31)].

Footnotes:

[1]2Co 9:2.In some good MSS. [B. C. Sin. Vulg. Syr. et al. and some Lat. fathers] is wanting before . It seemed superfluous and was not understood. [Tisch. (7th ed.) inserts it, but Lachm. and Stanley omit it, and Alford puts it in brackets.]

[2]2Co 9:4.Some important but not sufficient authorities have instead of .

[3]2Co 9:4.Rec. after adds , but the words are an explanatory gloss and in opposition to the best MSS. [B. C. D. (1st Cor.) F. G. Sin. (3d Cor. has it), several cursives, with the Ital. Vulg. and Copt. versions. They are cancelled by Lachm., Tisch. and Alford, but Bloomfield thinks they cannot be dispensed with either here or in 2Co 11:17.]

[4]2Co 9:5.The predominance of authorities are for , though the Rec. [And yet Tisch. and Alford retain , and are sustained by C. K. L.Sin. and some Greek fathers.] Rec. also has instead of the much better sustained .

[5]2Co 9:5.Rec. has for the second , but its evidence is feeble.

[6]2Co 9:7.Lachm. after B. C. F. G. [Sin.] et al. has instead of Rec. . It was probably a correction, because the preter. seemed more appropriate (Meyer). [It is not surprising that the subsequent addition of Cod. Sin. should have determined the more recent critics in favor of Lachmanns reading.]

[7]2Co 9:8.Lachm. has with important MSS.; but if this had been the original reading a gloss would have naturally changed it into or . [Alford still prefers , and sees no force in the above suggestion. The authority of B. C. D. F. Sin. is certainly strong in its favor.]

[8]2Co 9:12Lach. has instead of , but it was probably occasioned by the following . The MSS. [B. D. F. G.] are not very conclusive in its behalf.

[9]2Co 9:10.Rec. has , and instead of —, but the weight of authority is against them. The future was turned into an optative because it was supposed to be a wish. Comp. Rom 16:20. Perhaps also there was a reminiscence of 1Th 3:11 f.; 2Th 2:17; 2Th 3:5 (Meyer). The fut. form is sustained by B. C. D. Sin. and several Lat. fathers.]

[10]2Co 9:12.Lachm. has . for . He is sustained only by B. [and perhaps the Vulg.: in Domino.]

[11]2Co 9:15.Rec. has after , but contrary to much superior authorities.

[12][In order to procure means to assist the poor of Halle, Francke placed a charity-box at the door of his own house inscribed with 1Jn 3:17 and 2Co 9:7. One day (about Easter 1695), on opening this box he found a sum (only 7 gulden) so much larger than he had before been able to devote at one time to works of charity that he resolved immediately to found a free school for poor children.]

[13][Laurentius was one of the seven deacons at Rome, and had the care of the treasury for the poor. When his master Pope Sextus II. was led forth to martyrdom, L. begged to accompany him in this as he had done in other sacrifices, but he was told that he would not have long to wait. The governor of the city demanded that he should surrender the treasures which he so liberally dispensed to the poor. At the end of three days he made his appearance, followed by a vast train of miserable, lame and crippled persons, to whom he pointed, saying, These are our treasures. The governor, feeling insulted, immediately had him slowly roasted upon an iron seat or gridiron until he died (Aug. 9, A. D. 285). His dying words were, Enter not into judgment with thy servant, etc., Psa 143:2. The Church in after times observed Aug. 10, in his memory, and as his speech and life were looked upon as an admirable illustration of 2Co 9:6-10, that passage with profound judgment was assigned for the Scriptural reading of that day (harvest time). Whatever uncertainty rests upon the precise details of this story, Augustine has given his sanction to its general verity when he says: As easily might yoa hide the glory of Rome itself as that of the crown of Laurentius.]

[14][The word , by which the Apostle designates once more the contribution of the Corinthians, was derived from the old Greek, and especially the Attic language. Etymologically it was from , of or belonging to the people, and . a work, a public work in the service of the people. At Athens, it was any public service (as the conducting of the public shows, or theatres, or choirs (2Co 9:10), or the supply of food for the people on public occasions) which the wealthier citizens discharged at their own expense, and usually in rotation. The word passed over into Scriptural and ecclesiastical language, retaining principally the two ideas of a work or service, and a service of the public. In the New Testament, sometimes one and sometimes another of the historical ideas connected with the word is most prominent. It is sometimes a secular employment, though still in the service of God (Rom 13:6, comp. Eccles. 7:30), sometimes a service done to a public servant of the Church (Php 2:30) sometimes a ministry of instruction, but more usually it was applied to the priestly or sacrificial services (Luk 1:23; Heb 8:2; Heb 8:6; Heb 9:21; Heb 10:11). The more ethical idea is appropriate in our passage, viz.: a voluntary act of benevolence for the public good, but for Gods service, and hence an offering to the Lord of the Church. Comp. Osiander. The Art. Liturgie in Hertzogs Encyc. by Palmer].

Fuente: A Commentary on the Holy Scriptures, Critical, Doctrinal, and Homiletical by Lange

CONTENTS

This Chapter is not unsimilar to the former. It treats principally of Alms-giving. But Paul sweetly closeth it, in blessing God, for the first, and best, and comprehensive Mercy of all Alms-giving, in God’s unspeakable Gift, in, and by, Christ.

Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)

(1) For as touching the ministering to the saints, it is superfluous for me to write to you: (2) For I know the forwardness of your mind, for which I boast of you to them of Macedonia, that Achaia was ready a year ago; and your zeal hath provoked very many. (3) Yet have I sent the brethren, lest our boasting of you should be in vain in this behalf; that, as I said, ye may be ready: (4) Lest haply if they of Macedonia come with me, and find you unprepared, we (that we say not, ye) should be ashamed in this same confident boasting. (5) Therefore I thought it necessary to exhort the brethren, that they would go before unto you, and make up beforehand your bounty, whereof ye had notice before, that the same might be ready, as a matter of bounty, and not as of covetousness.

Paul useth the best of all arguments, to recommend every species of charity, both in this, and all his Epistles; namely, the relationship between Christ and his people. And very certain it is, that where the love of Christ is shed abroad in the heart, the streams of it will diffuse itself to all his members. And indeed, the charity, or love, which doth not begin in this source, hath no security for any continuance. And, even in the time that it flows, as it riseth only in creature affection, it is the subject only of what is fickle, and momentary; and either soon dries up of itself, or is stopped by caprice, or the changeableness of the human mind. It is only that love which begins in God, which is kept alive in communications from God; and being chiefly directed to his glory, hath a spring to depend upon for its continuance towards God’s people forever!

Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)

XXX

THE GREAT COLLECTION FOR THE POOR SAINTS AT JERUSALEM

2Co 8:1-9:15 .

The Great Collection discussed in 2 Corinthians 8-9 was for the benefit of the poor saints in Jerusalem. We learn from Act 2:44-45 ; Act 4:32-37 ; Act 5:1-11 ; Act 6:1-4 , the following facts:

1. That in the great revival following Pentecost, and lasting three years and a half, up to the dispersion brought about by Saul’s persecution, vast multitudes of the Jews of the dispersion being gathered to attend the annual feasts remained over in Jerusalem on account of the revival, that every year at the feasts this multitude was increased, and that as the majority of the converted were from the poor, very great poverty existed in the church. This constitutes the occasion of these collections.

2. That to relieve this destitution, extraordinary but voluntary donations were contributed by the wealthier class of Christians in order to form a relief fund to be distributed by the apostles.

3. That in connection with donations to this fund occurred the dramatic tragedy of Ananias and Sapphira.

4. That complaints arising among the Christian Jews of the dispersion as to an equitable division of this fund, brought about the creation of the office of deacon. We learn from Act 11:27-30 that a great dearth throughout the world so greatly enhanced the destitution in Jerusalem that the Antioch church took a relief collection and sent it for distribution to the elders of the Jerusalem church, by Barnabas and Paul. This is the first outside collection on record for the poor saints in Jerusalem. We learn also from Gal 2:10 that James, Peter, and John urged Barnabas and Paul, missionaries to the Gentiles, to remember the Christian poor at Jerusalem, which was in the private conference preceding the public conference, both of which are described in Act 15:1-21 . The distress of poverty among the Jerusalem saints must have been very great and persistent to justify this appeal. It was in reference to this necessity and appeal that Paul, in accordance with his promise, is responding in this section.

The scriptures bearing directly on these collections are: 1Co 16:1-4 ; 2Co 8:9 ; Rom 15:25-28 ; Act 20:4 ; Act 24:17 . From these passages we learn the extent and range of the collections; that all the churches of Galatia in Asia Minor, all the churches in Macedonia, all the churches in Achaia took part. There may have been others, but these are specifically named. It was a series of collections in which two continents participated. From the presence of Trophimus, the Ephesian, and Tychicus in Jerusalem with him when he tendered the collection (Act 20:4 ; Act 24:17 ; Act 21:18 ), we may infer that proconsular Asia participated in the collection.

The ground of obligation cited by Paul to justify the collections by his Gentile converts is one of debt, thus expressed: “For if the Gentiles have been made partakers of their spiritual things, they owe it to them also to minister unto them in carnal things” (Rom 15:27 ). Paul’s coadjutors in engineering these collections were Titus, Timothy, and others whose names are not given.

The seven rules governing these collections were as follows:

1. As to time, they should, every Sunday, or on the first day of the week, lay by in store until the accumulated fund was ready to be forwarded (1Co 16:2 ).

2. Let the contribution of each be “according as God has prospered him” (1Co 16:2 ). “According as a man hath not according as he hath not” (2Co 8:12 ).

3. It must be voluntary “of a willing mind” (2Co 8:12 ).

4. It must be deliberate, i. e., according to a previous purpose (2Co 9:7 ; 2Co 8:17 ).

5. It must be cheerfully done, not grudgingly or of compulsion (2Co 9:7 ).

6. The donor must have first given himself to the Lord (2Co 8:5 ).

7. They pray for them and long after them (2Co 9:14 ).

The motives to which appeals were made are both higher and lower. The higher motives were:

1. The example of their Lord (2Co 8:9 ).

2. As we sow, so shall we reap (2Co 9:6 ).

3. God’s grace will care for us (2Co 9:8 ).

4. It is a deed of righteousness (2Co 9:9-10 ).

5. This service not only supplied the need of the poor saints but awakened many thanksgivings to God (2Co 9:11-12 ).

6. The recipients of the bounty glorify God on account of the donor’s subjection to God (2Co 9:13 ).

7. They pray for them and long after them (2Co 9:14 ).

8. They should abound in the grace of giving as ‘in other graces (2Co 8:7 ).

The lower motives were:

1. The example of the Macedonian churches (2Co 8:1-5 ).

2. To prove the sincerity of their love (2Co 8:8 ).

3. It is expedient to carry on what has been begun (2Co 8:10 ).

4. They had pledged to help, and should redeem their pledges (2Co 8:11 . Cf. Ecc 5:4-6 ).

5. The zeal of their pledges had stimulated others (2Co 9:2 ), and shame would follow if their pledges were unredeemed (2Co 9:3-4 ).

6. On account of their zeal in pledging the apostles had boasted of their readiness, and he would be put to shame if the pledges were unredeemed (2Co 9:2-4 ).

Wise steps were taken to guard against suspicion and misapprehension in regard to taking collections, and the handling and transporting agents, the brother, “whose praise in the goscreet and trustworthy men were appointed as collecting agents (2Co 8:16-18 ; 2Co 12:18-19 ). and the churches themselves appointed the messengers who should have charge of the funds collected (2Co 8:19-23 ; Act 20:4 ). Among these collecting and transporting agents, the brother, “whose praise in the gospel is spread through all the churches” (2Co 8:18 ), was most likely Luke, as we know from the pronoun “us” in Act 21:18 that he was of the number who went with Paul to Jerusalem when he carried the collection there.

The applications of the principle involved to other kingdom enterprises are as follows:

1. As all the particular churches are related to the same King and kingdom, their co-operation in kingdom enterprises on some equitable method is mandatory.

2. That the method most approved by experience, and which conserves the independence of the churches and expresses their independence, is by voluntary associations and conventions through messengers of the churches.

3. That whatever the plan of association for eliciting, combining and directing the funds of the churches, there must be no projecting of a church into an association or convention so as to merge its sovereignty into a denominational body having

4. That on the voluntary principle and by messengers, such appellate jurisdiction over the private affairs of the churches, a co-operation may be attained as will serve for all kingdom purposes.

5. That such care must be taken in collecting, handling, and distributing such common fund as will remove all just grounds for suspicion.

QUESTIONS

1. For whose benefit was the collection which is discussed in 2 Corinthians 8-7

2. What scriptures furnish the background of so many and so great collections?

3. What is the occasion of these collections?

4. How was this extraordinary destitution relieved?

5. What dramatic tragedy in this connection?

6. What office was created in the church at this time, and what the occasion of it?

7. What is the first outside collection for these poor saints, and what its occasion?

8. What indicates the great and persistent distress of poverty among the Jerusalem saints?

9. What, then, brought forth this discussion in 2 Corinthians 8-9?

10. What are the scriptures bearing directly on these collections?

11. From these and other scriptures, what do we learn as to the extent and range of these collections?

12. What is the ground of obligation, cited by Paul to justify the collection by his Gentile converts?

13. Who were Paul’s coadjustors in engineering these collections?

14. What are the seven rules governing these collections?

15. What are the higher motives?

16. What are the lower motives?

17. What wise steps were taken to guard against suspicion and misapprehension in regard to taking collections and the handling and disbursement of the funds collected?

18. Among these collecting and transporting agents, who most likely was the brother “whose praise in the gospel is spread through all the churches,” and why?

19. What is the application of the principle involved to other kingdom?

Fuente: B.H. Carroll’s An Interpretation of the English Bible

1 For as touching the ministering to the saints, it is superfluous for me to write to you:

Ver. 1. The ministering to the saints ] Or the service that ye owe the saints in ministering to their necessities, . Amadeus, duke of Savoy, Stephanus, king of Hungary, Hooper, bishop of Gloucester, and Doctor Taylor, martyr, are famous for their labour of love in ministering to the saints.

Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)

1 5. ] He recurs to the collection itself, and prays them that they would make good before the brethren his boasting of them, and prepare it before his own coming .

Fuente: Henry Alford’s Greek Testament

1. ] The connects with the last verse, thus, ‘I beseech you to receive the brethren whom I send, courteously; for concerning the duty of ministration to the saints , it is surely superfluous for me to write to you who are so prompt already.’ No new subject begins, as some have supposed; nor is there any break in the sense at all. Some obscurity has been introduced unnecessarily, by taking . . . . for merely this collection which is now making : whereas the Apostle chooses such general terms as a mild reproof to the Corinthians, who, well aware as they were of the duty of ministering to the saints, were yet somewhat remiss in this particular example of the duty. There is an emphasis on : ‘nam testes habebitis prsentes,’ Bengel. Theophyl. well remarks: , . , . , , .

Fuente: Henry Alford’s Greek Testament

2Co 8:1 to 2Co 9:15 . ] SECOND PART OF THE EPISTLE: CONCERNING THE COLLECTION FOR THE SAINTS.

Fuente: Henry Alford’s Greek Testament

2Co 9:1-5 . HE IS CONFIDENT OF THEIR READINESS TO GIVE; BUT TITUS AND HIS COMPANIONS HAVE BEEN SENT ON, THAT THE COLLECTION MAY BE READY WHEN HE ARRIVES AT CORINTH.

Fuente: The Expositors Greek Testament by Robertson

2Co 9:1 . . . .: for concerning the ministration to the saints, i.e. , the collection (see on 2Co 8:4 ), it is superfluous ( cf. 2Ma 12:44 ) for me to write, sc. , this letter (note the force of the art. before ), to you , who “were the first to make a beginning” (2Co 8:10 ). Cf. 1Th 4:9 .

Fuente: The Expositors Greek Testament by Robertson

2 Corinthians Chapter 9

But the apostle has a good deal more to say on a subject so constantly and often urgently needed in the assembly, where the poor are apt ever to abound. He had brought before the Corinthians the bright example of the Macedonian believers, notwithstanding circumstances most unpromising naturally. And this had stirred up the apostle to urge on Titus the completion of this grace also in Achaia which the Corinthians had begun a year ago. Not that he spoke by commandment, but through the zeal of others and proving the genuineness of their love, while setting before them the incomparable grace of our Lord Jesus Christ to act on their souls. So God in giving the manna to Israel took care that, whatever the inequality in gathering, none should be in excess and none want: was there to be less regard for each other in the church? Love desired not the case of those, nor pressure on these, but rather a principle of equality in mutual consideration of each other, and this wherever the church is found. Then he sets forth the hearty diligence in this matter of Titus, who had gone about what remained to be done at Corinth with two other brethren; for thus had the apostle lent the contribution importance whilst guarding it from the smallest imputation of evil, and calling on the Corinthians to make good their love and his own boasting of them.

“For about the ministration for the saints it is superfluous for me to write to you. For I know your readiness which I boast of you to Macedonians that Achaia hath been prepared a year ago, and your* zeal stimulated the mass. Yet I sent the brethren in order that our boasting of you may not be made vain in this respect, that (as I said) ye may be prepared; lost, haply, if Macedonians come with me and find you unprepared, we may be ashamed, that we say not ye in this confidence. I thought it necessary therefore to exhort the brethren that they would go before unto you and complete beforehand your blessing promised before, that it be ready thus as blessing, not as covetousness. But this [I say], he that soweth Sparingly shall reap also sparingly; and he that soweth in blessings shall reap also in blessings; each as he hath purposed|| in his heart, not of sorrow or of necessity; for God loveth a cheerful giver.” (Vers. 1-7.)

* The common T.R. reading . is largely supported, but not by the best MSS, etc., and may be taken as “zeal on your part.”

T.R., with several uncials and most cursives, etc., adds “of boasting.”

. has much the best support, not as in T. R. .

the best MSS, not as T.R. with a few cursives.

|| T. R. has the present, “purposeth,” with most, but the oldest read the perfect.

From Gal 2 : “we know how earnest our apostle was like the rest as to the general principle, and how in this particular case his heart went out to the distressed saints in Jerusalem, none the less because his part of the work was emphatically toward the Gentiles. But his delicacy is no less striking and instructive here, where he gives the saints in Corinth full credit for the same love which overflowed his own heart; “it is superfluous for me to write to you.” They had been taught it of God themselves. Why then did he write so amply? Not because he did not know their ready mind; not because they had failed to give him ground to glory in what God had wrought in this respect; for as he in the last chapter boasted of the Macedonians triumphing over their trying and needy circumstances in their most generous remembrance of the poor saints in Judea, so now he lets the Corinthian saints know his habit of boasting of themselves to Macedonians, and very especially in their preparation for this call a year ago.

Hence, no doubt, it is that in his zeal for themselves and the Lord’s honour in them, and seeking the happy flow of love in every way, he speaks (in the epistolary aorist) of sending the brethren referred to in the close of the preceding chapter, in order to guard in this particular against mishap in his boast on their behalf. He wanted them to be prepared beyond danger of disappointment as far as pains on his part could secure it. How painful for him, not to say for them, it would be if brethren came from Macedonia and found shortcoming in the very saints, the report of whose zeal had acted so powerfully in kindling their own! What shame on all sides if this confidence in the Corinthians should not prove well-founded! He did not wish, as we know from 2 Corinthians 16, that there should be collections when he came himself; as he would guard against haste on the one hand or personal influence on the other, or malevolent insinuation. But his love for them and desire for the Lord’s glory in the business made him exhort Titus and his two companions to go on before to Corinth and previous to his own arrival complete their fore-promised blessing. Compare, for this use of “blessing,” Gen 33:11 , Jdg 1:15 , 2Ki 5:15 ; it is love not in word nor in tongue, but in deed and in truth, 1Jn 3:18 .

The apostle’s longing was, not merely that their proposed beneficence should be ready, but in such sort as blessing, and not as covetousness, meeting thus the danger on both sides. As he would have it a blessing on the givers’ part, he repudiates all covetousness on the part of those receiving it for the poor saints. He does not seem to limit his caution to the former nor to allude in covetousness to a niggardly spirit, any more than to make . mean “tenacity,” instead of the desire of having more which soon runs into tricky means to get more.

But this further he adds, a wholesome thing to remember, being truth in God’s moral government, and of all moment in our life on earth: he that sows sparingly shall reap also sparingly; and he that sows with blessings shall reap also with blessings. It is no question of correspondence in kind, but it may be spiritually also and so much the better. Still it is true, and especially among God’s people, as it always was. (See Pro 11:24 , Pro 11:25 .) Scripture indeed teems with it in one form or another; and experience is the sure and plain commentary. God despises not what is given to the poor saints; but the spirit of giving is far more important than the gift. Therefore the apostle follows up the apothegm he had just applied: each just as he has predetermined in his heart, not of sorrow or of necessity, for God loves a cheerful giver, quoting Pro 22:8 (Alex. LXX). To grudge and grieve over what is given is unworthy of a saint of His; to exact it no less unworthy of His servant. How needed is faith here as everywhere! how energetic is love, which is our only due spring in this as in all else practically, whatever the encouragements God may and does give those whom grace has called and strengthens to walk in the path of Christ! Himself the sovereign giver of all good, He loves to see the reflection of His grace and blessing in His children.

The close of the apostolic exhortation on giving is admirably in keeping with all we have had already. Not only does God love a cheerful giver, but He is able in His grace to see that there shall be means to give, and not in this form only, but for every good work. “There is that scattereth, and yet increaseth.” (Pro 11:24 .)

“And God is able to make every grace abound unto you; that ye, having always all sufficiency in every [thing], may abound unto every good work; as it is written, He scattered, he gave to the poor: his righteousness remaineth for ever.” (Vers. 8, 9.) No doubt that God has now revealed Himself in Christ according to His own nature, in view of heaven and eternity; no doubt He has given us life in His Son and redemption through His blood and union with that glorified man at His right hand, that we might glory in nought but His cross here below, and count not life dear to serve the Lord in His way and our measure, as we wait for Him from heaven. But this does not hinder the government of God and the pleasure He takes in blessing large and generous hearts, as of old, so now. Special privileges do not forbid His general principles, and His power finds a way in His wisdom to harmonise all. And the apostle, who knew better than any what it was to suffer with Christ and for Christ, is just the suited one, out of his capacious mind and heart, to communicate the assurance of these His unchanged ways, for which he cites Psa 112:9 ; the beautiful description of man blessed in the kingdom when divine judgment introduces it by-and-by. Then the fear of Jehovah and obedience will have might on the same side, and judgment will return to righteousness, and wealth in no wise corrupt it, but it endures for ever with a spirit of compassion and gracious consideration of others. There may be judicial ways peculiar to that day as looking on his enemies, and his horn exalted, etc.; but true righteousness, far from being hard, dispenses with liberal hand from that which grace supplies abundantly. Nor could it be otherwise in the estimate of a true heart that now, in the day when grace is vouchsafed in other and deeper ways, it should fail in this. It is not so however; and He who shows us His mercy beyond measure or thought is able to make every grace abound, and this that we might have the blessed favour of imitating Him here too, or as the apostle puts it to the Corinthian saints, “that ye, it every time having every kind of sufficiency in everything, may abound unto every good work,” as it is written in the Psalms.

There is no need, we may by the way remark, of altering the force of “righteousness” here or elsewhere. It does not mean “benevolence” as the Geneva Version renders it with many a commentator, but comprehends it. (Cf. Mat 6:1 , Mat 6:2 .) Righteousness means consistency with relationship; and what can be more consistent than generous remembrance of want in others, especially in the household of faith, on the part of those who own that all is of grace in their own case?

But this is not all. Not only is God able thus to do, but He, the God of all grace, acts accordingly. “But he that supplieth seed to the sower and bread for eating will” supply and multiply your sowing and increase the fruits of your righteousness, [ye] being enriched in everything unto all liberality which worketh out through us thanksgiving to God.” (Vers. 10, 11) It is not a wish or prayer as in the Authorised Version, nor is it (with the same Version, the Vulgate, Luther, Calvin, etc.) correct to construe “minister” or supply (were this the true form) with . (“bread for your food”). Compare Isa 55:10 . It is an assurance that the God who amply provides for ourselves loves to furnish means as well as opportunities of blessing to others, as He delights in owning and rewarding these fruits of righteousness, which are really of His grace, as if they were ours and not of Him by us. The form of the sentence following is slightly irregular, the sense quite sure and plain, without introducing the parenthesis of the English or other versions. God would thus increase the fruits of their righteousness, “while ye are in everything being enriched with every kind of liberality, which is such as worketh out through us thanksgiving to God.” The word translated “liberality” is given in Rom 12:8 as “simplicity,” which is no doubt its literal force. But thence, from conveying the absence of excuse for not giving, it easily derived the sense here implied. The apostle acknowledges the source of all they had given – that they might abound in good works, reminds them of his own share in it whether in strengthening their zeal or in dispensing the fruit, and anticipates the thanksgiving of those about to be relieved by it rising up to God.

* The future appears in the most ancient and best MSS, B C D P, fifteen cursives, in the old Latin, Vulg. Cop. Arm. Aeth., etc.

On this last thought, the worthy conclusion of all previously urged, the apostle dilates to the end of the chapter. “Because the ministration of the service is not only filling up the wants of the saints, but also abounding through many thanksgivings to God; through the proof of this service [they] glorified God for the subjection of your confession unto the gospel of Christ and liberality of fellowship toward them and toward all; and their supplication for you, while longing for you, on account of the surpassing grace of God [bestowed] on you. Thanks [be] to God for his unspeakable gift.” (Vers. 12-15.) Thus is shown the true and proper character of such a loving contribution for the poor saints. It is an honourable service and a ministry of love. It meets their wants, but it flows over, and rises into many thanksgivings to God. It draws out praise from those who receive it in this subjection to His name; for why also thus liberally remember them at all? It rouses them to prayer with earnest longing for those who manifest such grace. And if such be the blessed effect of love working in the heart and the supplying the poor saints with that which otherwise perishes in the using, what shall we say or feel, as we think of Christ? Thanks to God for His undescribable gift. The reader will agree with me that it is strong to suppose the apostle could speak in such unmeasured terms of liberality in earthly things, however of grace. Spoken of Christ, of all God is to us in and by Him, what can be more proper? One would scarcely have deemed it needful to make even this brief remark, if Calvin and many others had not allowed a turn so derogatory, as it seems to me.

Fuente: William Kelly Major Works (New Testament)

NASB (UPDATED) TEXT: 2Co 9:1-5

1For it is superfluous for me to write to you about this ministry to the saints; 2for I know your readiness, of which I boast about you to the Macedonians, namely, that Achaia has been prepared since last year, and your zeal has stirred up most of them. 3But I have sent the brethren, in order that our boasting about you may not be made empty in this case, so that, as I was saying, you may be prepared; 4otherwise if any Macedonians come with me and find you unprepared, we-not to speak of you-will be put to shame by this confidence. 5So I thought it necessary to urge the brethren that they would go on ahead to you and arrange beforehand your previously promised bountiful gift, so that the same would be ready as a bountiful gift and not affected by covetousness.2Co 9:1 “it is superfluous” This is the term perissos. It is used here in the sense of over and above. It and its related forms are used often in 2 Corinthians . Paul often uses emotional or “over-the-top” language. See Special Topic at 2Co 2:7.

“for me to write to you” It is unusual for Paul to say this when he has just written to them on this subject (i.e., the collection from his Gentile churches to the mother church in Jerusalem, cf. chapter 8).

These two chapters are parallel in the spiritual principles related to Christian stewardship. Possibly they are two sermons combined or parts of two catechisms.

“this ministry” This term (diakonia) is often used of Christian stewardship (cf. Act 6:1; Act 11:29; Rom 15:31; 2Co 8:4; 2Co 9:1; 2Co 9:12-13). Here it refers to servanthood. Believers’ relationship to a gracious God and a self-giving Messiah demand a life of service to others (cf. Joh 17:18; Joh 20:21; 1Jn 3:16). See SPECIAL TOPIC: SERVANT LEADERSHIP at 1Co 4:1.

“to the saints” See Special Topic: Saints at 1Co 1:2.

2Co 9:2 “I know your readiness” Paul has alluded to this in 2Co 8:8-12; 2Co 8:20.

“which I boast about you to the Macedonians” This is a present middle indicative. Paul continued to boast about the Achaians. In 2Co 8:1-5, Paul uses the Macedonians to encourage the Corinthians; now, in chapter 9, Paul states that he has used the Achaians to encourage the Macedonians.

“boast” See Special Topic: Boasting at 1Co 5:6.

“Achaia” This was the Roman province along the south coast of Greece. This is in agreement with 2Co 1:1, where the letter is written for all of God’s people in Achaia. That shows that the letter was read in several churches of the area or that the church in Corinth, which was the capital of the province, had a wide geographical influence.

“has been prepared since last year” There seems to be a contradiction to chapter 8. However, the Corinthians wanted to begin the offering a year earlier, but they had never finished it. The real problem is the translation (the inflected forms are the same) of the verb.

1. if it is a perfect middle indicative, it should be translated “have made preparations”

2. if it is perfect passive indicative, it should be translated “has been prepared”

I think it should be perfect middle because of the context and the matching participle in 2Co 9:3 (i.e., perfect middle).

“your zeal has stirred up most of them” The verb in this sentence can be used in a negative sense (cf. Septuagint of Deut. 20:21; Col 3:21) or a positive sense (cf. 2Co 9:2). Only the context can determine the meaning.

2Co 9:3 “you may be prepared” This is a perfect passive subjunctive. The tense and voice match 2Co 9:2, but the subjunctive mood shows there is an element of contingency based on the volition of the believers at Corinth related to the collection (lit. “this matter”).

2Co 9:4 “if any Macedonians come with me” This is a third class conditional sentence, which means potential action. These representatives are mentioned in 2Co 8:19-24. In Act 20:4, where the representatives to Jerusalem with this offering are mentioned, none from Corinth are listed. Some have asserted that it was possible that Titus, who went earlier, was their representative, but there is no mention of him in Acts.

There are three aorist subjunctive verbs in 2Co 9:4 which introduce an element of contingency based on the actions of the Achaian churches.

NASB”we – not to speak of you -“

NKJV”we (not to mention you!)”

NRSV”we. . .to say nothing of you -“

NJB”we – to say nothing of yourselves -“

The problem which is translated in these different ways relates to the pronoun and how it should relate to the previous verb (“should be shamed,” kataischunthmen, aorist passive subjunctive, plural). The UBS4 shows three options.

1. “lego” (present active subjunctive, singular) – MSS P46, C*, D, F, G

2. “legmen” – (present active subjunctive, plural) – MSS , B, C2

3. omit – MS K

The UBS4 gives option #1 a “B” rating (almost certain). Paul uses the first person singular in 2Co 9:1-3; 2Co 9:5 (Metzger, p. 582).

NASB”by this confidence”

NKJV”by this confident boasting”

NRSV”in this undertaking”

TEV”for feeling so sure of you”

NJB”by our confidence in you”

Why would Paul and the Corinthian church be ashamed? The term hupostasis (i.e., NASB, “confidence”), according Bauer, Arndt, Gingrich and Danker’s Greek-English Lexicon, cannot be translated “confidence,” but must be “frame of mind” or possibly “realization” of the collection for the poor in Jerusalem (cf. NRSV) (p. 847 #2 and #3). Paul was worried about the offering, not his boasting. This fits the word’s usage in Heb 1:3. However, when comparing this same term usage in 2Co 11:17, “confident boasting,” then one understands why NASB translated it this way in this verse.

The word “boasting” (NKJV) is missing in most early Greek manuscripts (i.e., MSS P46, *, B, C, D*, F, G). It is present in MSS cf8 i2, D1. The UBS4 gives its omission a “B” rating (almost certain).

2Co 9:5 There are three words in this verse which begin with pro (i.e., before).

1. Paul sent the church representatives in advance (proerchomai, cf. Act 20:5; Act 20:13)

2. Paul wanted them to prepare in advance (prokatartiz, cf. Act 3:18; Act 3:24; Act 7:52)

3. Paul wanted them to fulfill their previous promise (proepngellomai, cf. Rom 1:2)

“bountiful gift” This is eulogia (i.e., literally “good word”). This term is also used in 2Co 9:6 in the sense of “abundant.”

This term has a wide semantic field. Louw and Nida, Greek-English Lexicon, list six senses (vol. 2, p. 108).

1. praise (cf. Jas 3:9)

2. flattery (cf. Rom 16:18)

3. blessing (cf. 1Co 10:16; Jas 3:10)

4. benefit (cf. Rom 15:29)

5. gift (cf. 2Co 9:5)

6. large amount (cf. 2Co 9:6)

The #3 usage follows the Septuagint (cf. Jdg 1:15).

NASB”as a bountiful gift and not affected by covetousness”

NKJV”as a matter of generosity and not as a grudging obligation”

NRSV”as a voluntary gift and not as an extortion”

TEV”you give because you want to, not because you have to”

NJB”as a real gift and not an imposition”

Literally “thus as a blessing and not as greediness.” Paul’s whole discussion about giving in this literary unit (i.e., 2 Corinthians 8-9) is written in tactful and positive ways, but this phrase shows that there was an element of opposition in the church. Paul wanted the church at Corinth to feel a part of the larger fellowship of his churches and be a part of this corporate benevolent ministry. He knew, however, some would take this opportunity to accuse him of being overbearing in regards to this contribution. So to stop all possible criticism, he said, “Get it done before I get there!”

The Jerome Biblical Commentary says that the noun often translated “greed” should, in this context, be translated “gift grudgingly given” (p. 285).

Fuente: You Can Understand the Bible: Study Guide Commentary Series by Bob Utley

touching = concerning. Greek. peri. App-104.

ministering. Greek diakonia. App-190.

to = unto. Greek. eis. App-104.

saints. See Act 9:13,

Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics

1-5.] He recurs to the collection itself, and prays them that they would make good before the brethren his boasting of them, and prepare it before his own coming.

Fuente: The Greek Testament

Shall we turn in our Bibles to II Corinthians, chapter nine.

Paul has been, in the last couple of chapters, talking to them about the collection that he wanted them to take for the poor in Jerusalem. The church in Jerusalem had gone through a lot of problems, severe persecution. And the Christians in Jerusalem were in great physical need. And so, Paul is asking the Gentile churches to show their love in the body of Christ for their brothers in Jerusalem by sending an offering by his hand to them. And in chapter eight, he talks to them about the gathering together of these funds. In chapter nine, he continues his appeal to them to give for the aid of the church in Jerusalem. And so,

As touching the ministering to the saints, it is superfluous for me to write to you ( 2Co 9:1 ):

Because, he said, “I know how willing you are to do these things.”

For I know the forwardness of your mind, for which I boast of you to them of [which are in] Macedonia, that Achaia was ready a year ago; and your zeal hath provoked very many ( 2Co 9:2 ).

So, Paul is talking to them again about ministering to the needs of the church in Jerusalem. And he said that, I know a year ago you were ready to do it, and I shared with others your willingness, and they became excited over your willingness. And it was an inspiration to them to give. Your zeal has been an inspiration, provoked others.

Yet have I sent the brethren, lest our boasting of you should be in vain in this behalf ( 2Co 9:3 );

And so Paul sent Titus and another brother ahead to receive the collections that they had taken up to help the church in Jerusalem, and Paul’s a little concerned now. He’s been boasting of how generous and willing the Corinthians were in supporting, and now he’s hoping that they’ll come through with his boasting of them. And so, “I have sent the brethren, lest our boasting of you should be in vain in this behalf;”

that, as I have said [that as I have declared of you], ye may be ready [to give]: Lest haply if they of Macedonia come with me, and find you unprepared, we (that we say not, ye) should be ashamed in this same confident boasting ( 2Co 9:3-4 ).

So, Paul is sort of trying to cover his bases in a sense. He’s been bragging all about them, told the churches in Macedonia, “Oh, these guys are really super givers and all, and they’re really ready to aid.” And now, if I come and you haven’t done anything, you know, I’ll be embarrassed, and you’ll be embarrassed and all. So it’s encouraging them in this giving.

Therefore I thought it necessary to exhort the brethren, that they would go before unto you, and make up beforehand your bounty, whereof ye had notice before, that the same might be ready, as a matter of bounty, and not as of covetousness ( 2Co 9:5 ).

Now, Paul really didn’t want any offerings taken while he was there. He wanted it to all be done in advance. Paul wanted to preclude any criticism that might come of his ministry saying, “Well, Paul’s just in it for the bucks.” And he was extremely careful in this regard, not wanting to bring a reproach to Jesus Christ in the matter of giving.

Unfortunately, there are many who do bring a reproach to Jesus Christ because of the emphasis that they make upon giving. And there are all types of ways to fleece the flock of God. And believe me, these clever evangelists have discovered every way, and even some that weren’t there.

But Paul didn’t want any kind of accusation that he was fleecing the church. And therefore, he wanted it all to be taken care of. He sent a couple fellows in advance so that all of the giving would be over with by the time he got there. That he could just receive what was given, and take it on to the church in Jerusalem. But didn’t want any collections made while he was there.

It’s, to me, an extremely embarrassing thing to have your name or whatever used as the tool for raising funds. A few years back, I was over in Hawaii speaking at a Bible conference, where I’ve been invited to speak at this Bible conference. And so the first night, when the fellow went to take the offering, he took about ten minutes, and you know, “We have asked our brother Chuck to come over here, and it cost, you know, the money and all to get him here. And we want to make sure that he’s well taken care of and all, and so we want you to really give tonight to provide for our dear brother Chuck’s needs.” And all this kind of stuff. And I sat there on the platform just embarrassed silly.

And so when I finally got a chance to get up, I said, “I appreciate what this brother said about your poor brother Chuck, but I want you to know, I’m not going to take one penny for being here. For I have an extremely wealthy Father who takes care of all of my needs, and I don’t have to depend upon people to provide for my needs, because my Father so adequately takes care of me. Gives me a generous expense account and supplies all of my needs. And so, if you want to take up offerings here, that’s fine. If you want to give, that’s good. But don’t give for poor brother Chuck, ’cause he’s not going to take a cent from you. I’m here to give and not to receive.”

And I was just really embarrassed. I don’t like my name used as the goat or the gimmick or whatever to get people to give. I do trust in my Father to supply my needs, and He does, and He’s very good about it. He’s very faithful in that. And so, really, I sort of modeled myself after Paul in this regard.

I have always been disturbed over the emphasis that churches so often place upon giving. And that is why I, perhaps, gone the other direction in the pendulum and say so little about giving. That is why we never mention to you any needs that might exist, because we’re not looking to you; we’re looking to the Lord to supply for the work of the ministry. And when God guides, God always provides.

And I always look a little ensconced at these who have been led by God into some great program, and the whole thing’s going to fail unless you bail God out. I somehow don’t conceive God as being on the brink of bankruptcy every other week and ready to fold His whole program because people don’t come through and rescue Him from financial insolvency.

So, Paul had the same attitude towards giving. Didn’t want any offerings taken while he was there. Didn’t want any emphasis placed upon money. “Go ahead and get it all in before I get there, so that when I arrive, there will be no collections taken while I am there.”

But in the giving, Paul does mention an interesting basic law of God. And that law of God is a spiritual law. And it is interesting because it is hard, at times, to understand just how it can work. And I don’t know the mechanics of how it works, all I do know is that it does work. Now, there are a lot of physical laws that I know work. I don’t know how they work. I understand a little bit about the laws of magnetism. The attraction of opposite poles and the repelling of like poles. I know that the positive charges repel each other. Now, why they repel, I don’t know. Why opposite poles attract, I don’t know. I know they do. From the time I was a child, I knew that I could take a magnet and slowly put it down and finally watch the nail jump up to the magnet, and some invisible force that was grabbing that nail and pulling it up to the magnet and holding it to the magnet. Later, as I began to study a little bit of physics, I understood that opposite poles attract. Now I know that; why they do, I don’t know.

I know a little bit about electricity. Enough not to put my finger in a socket. I know that we can project, and this I don’t know whether or not the electrical charges are going in the wire or around the wire, that I don’t know. But I know that they can be transmitted along a wire. And I understand a little bit about alternate currents and direct currents, but just how it works, I’m not sure. I know that the laws are there, and I learned to have used to advantage those laws. I know that gravity is a natural law, that it works. I know not to defy it. Now why it is that mass attracts, I don’t know. But I know it does.

The same with spiritual laws that are also established by God within the universe. And though I can’t explain how they work, I know they do. And so, you learn to live by these laws. You learn to follow these laws, and to reap the results. Now, I know that there is a spiritual law that declares, “Give, and it shall be given unto you, measured out, pressed down, running over” ( Luk 6:38 ). Now, just how it is that the more you give to God the more you receive, I don’t know how that operates. But Paul brings out this spiritual law here.

But this I say, He which soweth sparingly shall reap also sparingly; and he which soweth bountifully shall reap also bountifully ( 2Co 9:6 ).

Now that’s the spiritual law. And when you put it like this, I can begin to understand it a little bit how the more you give, the more you’ll get. For Paul here puts it in a framework that I can begin to understand a bit. If I am sowing wheat in the field, it stands to reason the more seed I sow, the greater harvest I will have. Now, if I want to be very careful about how I sow, and just take the seeds and toss them out here and there, then I’m only going to have little wheat shoots here and there. I’m not going to have much of a harvest. But if I go out and sow just abundantly, then I’m going to reap an abundant harvest. So, putting it in that kind of a framework, I can begin to understand a little bit how the more you give, the more you get. The more God returns, the greater the harvest.

And so, Paul brings it over into this law of giving, saying that if you sow sparingly, you’re going to reap sparingly. But if you will sow bountifully, then you will reap bountifully. That is a law of God. Interesting, it is the only law that God challenges you to prove. A lot of people say, “I’m going to prove God now.” But God has only challenged you to prove Him in one area, and that is in this law of giving. And God said, “Prove me now herewith, saith the LORD, and see if I will not pour out unto you a blessing that you cannot contain” ( Mal 3:10 ). And that proving Him is in the giving to God of tithes and offerings.

So there is a basic law, it works. I can’t explain how it works. All I can do is assure you that it does work. God says prove me and see if it doesn’t. Only in the one area of giving. Now,

Every man ( 2Co 9:7 )

And here is how we are to give, “Every man”

according as he has purposeth in his heart, so let him give; not grudgingly, or of necessity [out of pressure]: for God loveth a cheerful [hilarious] giver ( 2Co 9:7 ).

And that’s what the Greek word means. God takes it as a personal affront, and I would, too, if I were God. When someone gives Him something, and then gripes about it. You ever had someone give you something, and then they go around and they complain and you know, about what they gave to you? Giving grudgingly. My feeling is always, “Keep it, man. I don’t want it.” You know, I don’t like gifts with strings attached. Many times, things are given to the church, and I really don’t like to question motives, but sometimes people sort of have let it slip. “You know, this chair was given to us by our grandmother, and we don’t want to get rid of it. We don’t really have any use for it. We don’t really want it, but we thought we’d give it to the church, you know, because we don’t want to throw it away.” And then it becomes our obligation to put it someplace and to keep it for grandma’s sake, you know.

But God doesn’t want you to give anything to Him begrudgingly. You know, with an all right-I’ll-give-it-to-you kind of an attitude. And God as much as says, “Hey, keep it. I don’t want it; I don’t need it.”

Nor does God want your gift to be by pressure. Someone really putting the pressure on you, you know. Everybody’s looking now to see what you’re going to give. And God doesn’t want the gift to come by necessity, by constraint, by pressure. But what you give to God, which God receives and accepts, is that which you give with just a cheerful heart. Giving hilariously. “Lord, you know, here.” I love it, to give to God just. It’s a joy to be able to give. And only that should you really give to God. That which is given hilariously, because it is only that which God really respects and honors. So you’re better off to keep it than to give under pressure, constraint or grudgingly. You’re better, really, off to keep it, and you would be better off if you’ll just keep it. And only give what you can give with a hilarious heart because of your love for Him. So, “Every man as he has purposed in his own heart, so let him give.”

And God is able to make all grace abound toward you; that ye, always having all sufficiency in all things, may abound to every good work ( 2Co 9:8 ):

That is God’s return now to you. You have given to God hilariously. God will never be a debtor to you. Remember that. God will never be a debtor to man. As the scripture said, “Who hath given, and it has not been recompensed unto him again?” ( Rom 11:35 ) And as Jesus said, “Give and it shall be given, measured out, pressed down, running over,” because God’s not going to be your debtor. So, “God is able to make all grace abound toward you,” taking care of all of your needs, “every good work.”

(As it is written, He hath dispersed abroad; he hath given to the poor: his righteousness remaineth for ever ( 2Co 9:9 ).

And so, he puts together here, actually, some of the psalms in this verse, “has dispersed abroad; given to the poor: his righteousness remains.”

Now he that ministereth seed to the sower [or God] both minister bread for your food, and multiply your seed sown, and increase the fruits of your righteousness:) ( 2Co 9:10 )

And so God, who gives the seed to the sower, gives us the bread. May He multiply the seed that you have sown, and just increase your fruits.

Being enriched in every thing to all bountifulness, which causeth through us thanksgiving to God ( 2Co 9:11 ).

And so, may God just return to you riches untold.

For the administration of this service not only supplieth the want of the saints, but is abundant also by many thanksgivings unto God ( 2Co 9:12 );

So, it doesn’t just . . . it has a two-fold purpose. It takes care of their need, but it also creates a praise in their hearts to God. And so the people who are receiving, as they receive the gifts that you have given, they’re going to be giving God thanks. And so through your giving, actually, you are provoking a lot of thanksgiving to be directed unto God. As people go away and say, “Oh, thank You, God. Oh, praise the Lord. Lord, You’ve taken care of our needs and all.” And these praises are going to God, and they are actually praises that have resulted from your giving. I think that’s really a beautiful way to look at the giving. In the fact that it is going to bring blessing to other people who, in turn, will give thanks to God for those blessings. And so your giving is not only just taking care of their needs, but it’s being the cause for bringing praise and rejoicing unto the Father.

While by the experiment of this ministration [ministry] they glorify God for your professed subjection unto the gospel of Christ, and for your liberal distribution unto them, and unto all men; And by their prayer for you ( 2Co 9:13-14 ),

And of course, they, in turn, having received, will pray for you,

which long after you for the exceeding grace of God in you. Thanks be unto God for his unspeakable gift ( 2Co 9:14-15 ).

So we’re talking about giving to God, but yet, you think of what God has given unto us: that unspeakable gift of Jesus Christ. And what was the motive behind it? “God so loved the world that He gave” ( Joh 3:16 ).

And so the motive behind our giving must be love. Our love for God. And any other motive is not really valid. Give because you love the Lord. Give what you purpose in your heart. What you can give hilariously, that give unto God and God will bless you abundantly for it. So the rule’s really about giving. And I want that those rules should apply here.

Really, I don’t want you to give unless you are motivated by the love of the Lord within your heart, and give only as you purpose in your own heart to give. Never feel pressured. Never feel constrained. We’ll never come to you pleading for funds for God’s work. We’ll close the doors before we do that. If things should get bad financially and all, and we start really going down the tubes, we’ll just close the door. We won’t come up and send you letters and say, “Well, we’re really in desperate straits,” and all that. We’ll just close the doors, and I’ll head for Hawaii or something. Don’t feel sorry for us.

“Thanks be to God for His unspeakable gift.” Oh, God is so good to us, and in His love He has given us so much, not only Christ, but that gift that is through Christ of the hope for the eternal kingdom and those riches in glory that are ours through Christ Jesus. You know, Christ is just sort of, in a sense, the obvious, but with Christ there comes so much. You know, the fringe benefits never quit. They go on and on and on and on and on. But they all come to us through Christ. “Grace and peace”–oh, these glorious gifts of God. How do I receive them? Through Christ–“be multiplied to you through our Lord Jesus Christ” ( 2Pe 1:2 ). So He is the gift that really opens the door for all of these gifts that God bestows upon us.

Now Paul has finished his section upon the giving for the poor saints in Jerusalem and he goes on to other things. And these other things are very sober and serious things. Again, he deals with the challenge of his apostleship that was made by those in Corinth. There was a faction in Corinth that were against Paul, and this factious group tried to turn other people against Paul.

Divisions within the church are always an ugly thing. When people begin to align themselves with man or with some system of teaching, rather than with Jesus Christ. And so often when people create these divisions, rather than just saying, “Well, let’s start something new,” they have to somehow give a rationale for starting something new by tearing down the old and by finding fault and by saying things against Paul.

And so these factions were at work. Always an ugly thing in the body of Christ. And so, Paul now is writing to these factious groups, addressing himself to the criticism that was made of him by these who sort of set themselves up as spiritual authorities. And there’s always those around, you know, who pretend to have a greater spiritual insight and a greater spiritual understanding.

They go around with sort of putting off this aura of, “Well, brother, when you really arrive at, you know, the degree that I am, you will understand these things. I can understand now, you just are not ready for these things. But as you mature and grow, then you can understand these deeper things of God.” And these malarkey that they come off with, you know. And so, as though they are more spiritual, have greater insight. And you poor peons, someday maybe you’ll arrive, but in the meantime, we feel sorry for you. Trying to bolster their own cause by tearing down others.

There is, they used to have the “Confucius say.” I don’t know if Confucius said all the things he’s attributed to having said, but I can remember one of the “Confucius says” when I was a kid. And it used to be, you know, one of the popular things, “Confucius say,” you know, “Many men smoke but few men chew.” One of the things that they used to say. But there is another saying attributed to Confucius, and probably more accurate. And it was, “Confucius say, Man who throws mud loses ground.” I like that. You see, you can’t really throw mud without getting your hands dirty and losing ground.

They were throwing mud at Paul. Paul seeks now in the next few chapters to defend himself, as though he needed to defend himself. It’s tragic that Paul was put in this posture. And Paul is embarrassed by it. He’s more or less forced now to say things he doesn’t want to say. These are things that were between he and the Lord. These are things that he endured for Christ’s sake, willingly, gladly. Things that he didn’t go around, you know, trumpeting all over the land. But now he’s more or less forced, because of his position being challenged by these evil people in Corinth, to reveal some of the things whereby his apostleship is really proved.

“

Fuente: Through the Bible Commentary

2Co 9:1. , to write) For you will have witnesses present with you, and I know, that you are ready without writing letters to you.

Fuente: Gnomon of the New Testament

2Co 9:1

2Co 9:1

For as touching the ministering to the saints, it is superfluous for me to write to you:-[While saying this, he does write further on this very subject, not because they were ignorant, but because the subject is of such importance that it will bear repetition. He was so full of the importance of the subject, and with a single aim of doing good, that it caused him to make this repetition.]

Fuente: Old and New Testaments Restoration Commentary

In concluding this subject of the collection for the saints the apostle declares that he desires that their giving should be glad and spontaneous. He excludes two methods of giving, “grudgingly,” that is, very literally, sorrowfully. It is the giving of those who have not first given themselves, and consequently are conscious of the loss of that which is given. “Or of necessity,” that is, giving as simply an act of duty, and not from an impulse of delight. On the contrary, he says, “God loveth a cheerful giver.”

He then recites the advantages of giving. The first of these is that giving will fill the wants of the saints. That in itself is good, but the outcome is even better. Through such ministry gifts will cause glory to God.

And yet again, they will bring the intercession of those they have helped, a harvest of precious value. The final word concerning this whole subject is an expression of thanks to God for His unspeakable gift, for the apostle knows that the remembrance of it will do more than all his argument to stimulate the generosity of those who have received the inestimable blessing.

Fuente: An Exposition on the Whole Bible

9:1. Here again (see on 7:1) the division between the chapters is not well placed. As the shows, 9:1 is closely connected with what precedes. The Apostle continues to make arrangements respecting the collection. He has assumed all along that what has been begun will not be allowed to drop, and he has suggested reasons for a liberal contribution. He now begs them, whether they give much or little, to have all in readiness before he himself arrives.

As in the case of 6:14-7:1, we have again to consider the hypothesis that a fragment of another letter has somehow or other been inserted here. It is urged that 9:1 does not explain 8:24, and therefore the cannot refer to 8:24, and that in 9. we have repetitions of things which have been already said in viii. Repetitions in letters are common enough, especially when the writer is very much in earnest and has to feel his way with caution. The tautological urgency of the appeal does not show a plurality of epistles, but a lack of certainty as to the result (Reuss). The , as we shall see, is very intelligible. Indeed, if the division between the chapters had not been so misplaced, no one would have proposed to separate 9:1-5 from 8:16-24. Schmiedel divides the paragraphs between 8:23 and 24, giving 24 to what follows.* Hypotheses of stray leaves from other documents being imbedded in N.T. writings are to be received with much scepticism, unless they are supported by strong external evidence, as in the case of Joh 7:53-11. Some critics suggest that it is ch. 8. that has been interpolated. But there is no evidence in any MS., or version, or series of quotations, that ii Corinthians ever existed without 8. or without 9. Cyprian quotes from both, and commentators, both Greek and Latin, comment on both without betraying doubt about the genuineness of either. It will be found that 9. helps us to understand 8. See Massie, pp. 60, 61.

1. . The anticipates in v. 3; the looks back to the conclusion of 8. Cf. 1Co 11:5, 1Co 12:8. I have commended the envoys to you rather than commanded you to give (8:8), for, with regard to the ministration to the saints, in the first place () it is superfluous for me to be writing (pres. not aor.) to you. The similar statements in 1Th 4:9 and 5:1 should be compared; also 4:13. For see on 8:4. In neither place does the limit the ministration to the transmission of the money. C, Arm. omit as unintelligible.

. Ex abundanti est mihi scribere vobis (Vulg.); better, supervacaneum est. We often do this; especially in cases in which we are deeply interested. We begin, I need not say; and immediately we do say, perhaps at some length: , (Chrys.). On the art. with see Blass, 71. 2, and comp. 7:11; Php 2:6, Php 4:10.

2. . He has stated that he knows that they thought of doing something and began to do something in the previous year, and he assumes that they are still anxious to do something; solet enim se meliorem praebere ille, de quo bene sentitur ab alio (Herveius). But we are not to suppose that St Paul deliberately gave the Corinthians praise which he knew that they did not deserve, in order to induce them to be liberal; still less that this is a right thing to do.

. Of which I am continually glorying on your behalf to the Macedonians. He is staying in Macedonia, and habitually praises the Corinthians to them. As Theodoret remarks, , , . It would be grievous indeed, if the Corinthians now failed to imitate the Macedonians, to whom the Corinthians had been held up as a pattern. See that you who taught them do not fall behind your own disciples. with acc. of the thing gloried in is not rare (7:14, 10:8, 11:30). Often in Paul is used in a good sense, not merely when the glorying is in God or in Christ (Rom 5:11, Rom 5:15:17; 1Co 1:31; etc.), but also when it is in men (here, 7:14; 2Th 1:4; Php 2:16). The Apostle also glories in his own infirmities and afflictions (12:9; Rom 5:3). Here he seems to have some misgivings as to whether he may not have praised the Corinthians to the Macedonians somewhat too warmly. The report which Titus brought from Corinth had delighted him so greatly, that his glorying about the collection may have been somewhat in excess of the facts.

. He is quoting what he says to the Macedonians; Achaia has been prepared since last year (see on 8:10). As in 1:1, Achaia probably means Corinth and the neighbouring district; he purposely includes Christians outside Corinth, perhaps to avoid exaggeration. Corinth had done something the previous year, but apparently not very much.

. Again we have the Pauline arrangement of between art. and noun; cf. 1:6, 7:7, 15, 8:13, 14, etc. In N.T., as in LXX and in class. Grk., is usually masc., but here and Php 3:6 the neut. form is well attested. It is found also in Ign. Tral. 4. Clem. Rom. Cor. 3-6 uses both masc. and neut. indifferently. Here the meaning is uncertain, but your zeal is more probable than emulation of you, guae ex vobis est aemulatio (Aug.).

. Stimulated. In Col 3:21, the only other place in N.T. in which the verb occurs, it is used in a bad sense, provoke, irritate. In LXX and in class. Grk. the latter sense prevails. Provoke has both meanings, but commonly the bad one. Aldis Wright (Bible Word Book, p. 482) gives examples of the good meaning.

( B 17) rather than (C D F G K L P). ( B C P f Vulg. Copt. Arm.) rather than (D E F G K L, d e Goth.).

3. . In the second place () I am sending (epistolary aor., as in 8:17, 18, 22) the brethren, viz. Titus and his two colleagues.* The corresponds to the in v. 1. He need not urge them to give; he is sending these three to organize their giving. D E, Copt, have .

. That our glorying on your behalf may not be made void in this particular. He had praised the Corinthians for many good qualities, and he does not want his boast to be proved an empty one in the matter of the relief-fund. He is not afraid that they will refuse to give, but he is afraid that they may be dilatory for want of organization. It will produce a bad impression if the money is not ready when it is wanted. He carefully limits his anxiety to this particular.

. . That, just as I repeatedly said (to the Macedonians) you may be prepared. The second is co-ordinate with the first; cf. Gal 3:14.

4. . The brethren who go with Titus may or may not have been Macedonians. Their finding the collection not yet complete does not matter so much. But it will look very badly, when St Paul comes to fetch the money, if Macedonians come with him and find that very little has been collected. There is nothing here to show that the situation is different from that in viii, -that there St Paul is not coming to Corinth very soon, and that here he is coming very soon.

. A late and rare form, here only in N.T. The usual form is . Neither word occurs in LXX.

. He puts his own shame first; but of course the disgrace would be theirs rather than his. He asks them to spare him, which is a better plea than appealing to their own interests, which are just touched parenthetically. Multa confusio est, si pro te qui te diligit erubescat (Pseudo-Primasius). We, to say nothing of you, should be put to shame (7:14; Rom 10:11). See Index IV.

. The word has a very varied history, but only one or two points need be noted here. From meaning standing ground or foundation it comes to mean ground of hope or confidence (Rth 1:12; Eze 19:5), and hence hope or confidence. In LXX it represents fifteen different Hebrew words. In Heb 3:14 (see Westcott) it means the resolute confidence which resists all attack. Here it means the Apostles confidence in the character of his converts. They must not make people think that he has been too sure of them. Cf. 11:17; Heb 11:1. In this verse St Paul makes it quite clear that he means to visit Corinth again.

( B C 2 L P, f Vulg. Syrr. Copt.) rather than (C * D F G, d e g), After , c Dc E K L P, Syrr. Arm. Goth. add from 11:17. * B C D * G 17, 67 * *, Latt. Copt. omit.

5. . To go to you before me and get into order before I come the bounty which was promised before (Rom 1:2). In this way, or by having in advance in all three places, the repetition, which is no doubt deliberate, may be preserved in English. See on 13:2. It is not quite clear that the participle means promised long before by the Corinthians. It might mean announced long before by St Paul. With comp. 2 Macc. 9:21.

. From being used of good words it comes to mean good deeds; from men blessing God and one another and God blessing men it comes to mean a concrete blessing or benefit, whether bestowed by men or by God (Jdg 1:15; Eze 34:26). Here it means a benefit bestowed by men on men. What the Corinthians give will be a blessing to the Jerusalem poor (Gen 33:11; Jos 15:19). He is not hinting that liberal giving will bring a blessing to them in this life or will be rewarded in the next; he is thinking of the good done to the recipients. In Rom 16:18 has the rare sense of flattering speech. It is remarkable that St Paul, who uses so many words in connexion with this benevolence to poor Christians, , , , , and , nowhere speaks of it as : that word he uses of Gods love to man (Tit 3:4). Luke has it of mans love to man (Act 28:2).*

. Here RV. makes a change for the worse. As a matter of bounty, not of covetousness (AV), is better than not of extortion (RV). In the next verse as well as applies to the Corinthians, and is parallel to as is to . Not of extortion makes apply to the Apostle and his three envoys; that this might be ready, because you are so willing to give, and not because we force you to do so. The meaning rather is that this may be ready as a generous gift and not as a grudging contribution. is The disposition which is ever ready to sacrifice ones neighbour to oneself in all things (Lightfoot on Rom 1:29). It has therefore a much wider sweep than (Trench, Syn. 24), and in the case of giving it means keeping for ones own use what one ought to bestow on others. That is the meaning here. But Chrysostom and Beza (ut extortum aliquid) take it as RV.

( C K L) rather than (B D F G). ( B C D F G P) rather than (K L). The before is probably original; but * F G, Latt. omit. D E gave although d e omit.

9:6-15. Give Liberally and Cheerfully, for Your Own Sakes and for the Sake of the Whole Church.

6 Now remember this sure law; He who sows sparingly, sparingly shall also reap, and he who sows on principles of bounty, on principles of bounty shall also reap. 7 Let each man give just what he has resolved in his mind to give, neither impulsively, because he takes no thought, nor regretfully, because he thinks that he cannot avoid giving. It is one who gives joyously that God loves and blesses. 8 Do not regard this as an impossible standard. God can and will help you to attain to it. He can shower earthly blessings in abundance upon you; and so, when you find that on all occasions you have all sufficiency in all things, you will have abundant means for accomplishing all kinds of good work. 9 This is exactly what stands written about the charitable man in Scripture;

He scattered, he gave to the needy,

His good deeds shall never be forgotten.

God not only can do this; He certainly will do it. 10 He who so bountifully supplies seed for man to sow, and thus gives bread for him to eat, will certainly supply and multiply benefits for you to sow, and will make the harvest which springs from your good deeds to be a full one; 11 you will be enriched on every side, so that all kinds of liberality will be open to you; and this liberality of yours, which I hope to administer, will be sure to make the recipients very thankful to God. 12 For the ministration of this truly religious service of yours does a great deal more than increase the supply of the wants of our fellow-Christians; it does that, but it also, through the chorus of thanksgivings which it occasions, produces something more for God. 13 This charitable ministration of yours is a proof of your Christian character, and it gives those who profit by it two grounds of thankfulness to God; viz. the genuine loyalty with which you confess your adherence to the Gospel of Christ, and the consequent liberality of your contribution to themselves, which is a benefit to the whole Church. 14 They themselves, moreover, will respond by offering prayers on your behalf, longing for closer union with you, on account of the overflowing grace of God which has been manifestly poured upon you. 15 Thanks be to God for effecting such brotherly love between Jew and Gentile in the Church, a precious boon of which it is impossible to state the worth.

The paragraph is a closely united whole and is closely connected with what precedes. Having begged the Corinthians not to spoil his praise of them by exhibiting unreadiness now, but to give without further delay, he puts before them three motives for giving liberally and joyfully. 1. Giving in a right spirit is a sowing which is sure of a harvest. Dare non est amittere sed seminare (Herveius). 2. God is able and willing to bestow the right spirit and the worldly wealth with which to exhibit it. 3. What they give will not only be a relief to the recipients, but it will fill them with gratitude to God and with affection for the donors. In a few details the exact meaning is not always clear, and in several places the grammatical construction is rugged or even broken. These blemishes are due to the deep feeling with which the Apostle advocates a cause which he has greatly at heart to those who have not been very enthusiastic about it, and who quite recently have been ill-disposed to himself. We must also remember that he is dictating, and in so doing may lose the thread of the construction.

6. . The is merely transitional; Now rather than But. With we may supply a verb which is sometimes expressed, such as, , , , or , , , : either, Now this I say, or Now consider this. Cf. 1Th 4:15; Gal 3:17; 1Co 7:29, 1Co 7:15:50; Php 2:5; 2Ti 2:7; etc. But or without a verb is freq. in class. Grk. Blass, 81:2; Winer, p. 746. The emphatic calls attention to what follows; it is a well-established and important law. Lachmann takes the on to , Now let each man do this or give this, making a parenthesis, which is an awkward and improbable construction.

, . The chiasmus is effective; He who sows sparingly, sparingly will also reap. St Paul is fond of chiasmus; 2:16, 4:3, 6:8, 10:11, 12, 13:3; 1Co 3:17, 1Co 4:10, 1Co 8:13, 1Co 13:2. Comp. One man spends, yet still increases; another withholds what is proper, but it tends only to want (Pro 11:24). Ut sementem feceris, ita metes (Cic. De Orat. ii. 65). Nowhere else in N.T. or LXX does the rare adv. occur, but cf. (Pro 21:14). The harvest at which the return for the sowing will be repeated is the end of the world (Mat 13:39), and the return, good or bad, is bestowed by Christ (5:10; Gal 6:7; Eph 6:8; Col 3:25).

. On principles of blessing, or On conditions, or For purposes of blessing. Cf. (Php 3:9), and (Wisd. 2:23), and (2 Macc. 5:4). Papyri show that was a common colloquial expression, and also occurs. The plur. here indicates abundance, and the adverbial phrase may be rendered generously, bountifully; cf. Ecclus. 44:23.

The Apostle has already shown (8:12) that generosity does not depend upon the amount given, but upon the mind and means of the giver; and we need not wonder that he here puts before his converts the prospect of a rich reward hereafter as a motive for being generous. Low motives, if not immoral, are admissible, esp. in dealing with those to whom high motives do not always appeal. Our Lord makes use of them (Mat 6:4, Mat 6:6:18; Luk 14:14), as does St Paul elsewhere (1Ti 6:17-19).

Instead of , , D has , , G has , , Cyprian in benedictions, de benedictione. But it is clear from , that B C etc. are right in having in both places, and the plur. would be more likely to be changed to the sing. than vice versa.

7. . Each man just as he has determined in his heart. As in Rom 5:18, the ellipse of the verb makes the sentence more forcible. Each must make up his mind seriously as to what he ought to give, and then give joyously. There must be neither thoughtless nor unwilling giving. Students of Aristotles Ethics are familiar with of deliberate choosing, as also with (v. 8); both words are freq. there, but occur nowhere else in N.T. Even if (v. 10) be allowed some weight, the use of such words is not very strong evidence that St Paul had acquaintance with Aristotelian philosophy. From philosophic schools these expressions had passed into the common language of the day, as Darwins language has done among ourselves. Cf. The sluggards hands deliberately refuse to do anything, (Pro 21:25); also (Isa 7:15); and with cf. (Gen 34:8).

. These are not alternatives, but different ways of stating the same fact. The man who gives gives . By public opinion or other influences he is forced to give, and therefore he gives with pain and regret. He cannot give willingly, and therefore cannot give joyfully. Cf. Thy heart shall not be sad ( ) when thou givest (Deu 15:10, where see Driver).

. The first word is emphatic; hilarem, Dei similem (Beng.). For it is a joyful giver that God loveth. The quotation is from the LXX addition to Pro 22:8, . St Paul is quoting from memory. He would not deliberately have changed to . Nowhere else in N.T. does occur, but it is fairly freq. in LXX in the Sapiential books. Wetstein quotes a Rabbinical saying, to the effect that receiving a friend with a cheerful countenance and giving him nothing is better than giving him everything with a gloomy countenance. Seneca remarks that to give with doubt and delay is almost as thankless as to refuse. Nam quum in beneficio jucundissima sit tribuentis voluntas, qui nolentem se tribuisse ipsa cunctatione testatus est, non dedit sed adversus ducenterm male retinuit. Multi autem sunt quos liberales facit frontis infirmitas. Optimum est, antecedere desiderum cujusque, proximum sequi (De Benef. ii. 1). The classical form is or .

( B C P 67 **) rather than (D E K L).

8. . Now God is able; that is indisputable. To give joyfully when one has little to spare may seem difficult, but with God all things are possible. He is able to make every grace abound unto you. He can give the desire to be generous and the means of being generous. It is specially the latter that is meant here. Datur nobis, et habemus, non ut habeamus, sed ut bene faciamus. Omnia in hac vita, etiam praemia, sunt semina fidelibus, in messem futuram (Beng.). The man with a bountiful heart finds that God supplies him with something to bestow; (Gen 22:8). As in 4:15 is transitive; here it must be, and there it probably is.

. Always having all sufficiency in all things, may abound to all good works; lit. to every good work, or every kind of good work. But, as in v. 5, 6:3, 7:4, 8:22, it is worth while to keep the repetition and alliteration as far as possible. In Plato (Menex. 347 A) we have followed by . , self-sufficiency, is being independent of external circumstances, especially of the services of other people. The result is contentment, for the less a man needs or desires in the way of external goods, the easier it is for him to be contented. This does not mean the avoidance of society or the refusal of the blessings of civilization, as the Cynics taught;* these things are necessary for self-development: but it does mean being able to do with a small amount of these advantages. The meaning here is that the less a man requires for himself, the greater means he will have for relieving the wants of others. In 1Ti 6:6 (cf. Php 4:11) the meaning is, not sufficiency, but contentment.

( B C* D* F G) rather than (C2 D2 and 3 E K L P). Here, as in Rom 14:4, the more usual word has been substituted for a rare one. In 13:3, the only other passage in N.T., is undisputed. Both in N.T. and LXX is very freq. ; in LXX does not occur.

9. . Even as it stands written. There is exact correspondence between what has just been stated and what is said of the charitable man, the man who fears the Lord, in Scripture. It is possible to carry on from v. 8 as the subject in the quotation, and it is not fatal to this view that in Psa 112:3, Psa 112:9, the good man, and not God, is the subject. Quotations are often made, and with the more effect, with a complete change of application. Moreover, in Psa 111:3, His righteousness standeth fast for ever is said of God, and LXX is the same in both places. Nevertheless, the context here is in favour of understanding the quotation as a description of the benevolent man.

, . He scattered, he gave to the needy. Scattering is the opposite of sowing sparingly; it is, as Bengel says, verbum generosum, implying giving with a full hand. But he is less happy in adding sine anxia cogitatione quorsum singula grana cadant. The really charitable man takes anxious care that his benevolence is not made mischievous by being misapplied; he gives, not to anyone who will receive, but to the needy. Herveius is better; dedit non indiscrete omnibus, sed cum ratione solis pauperibus. Per hoc removetur vitium avaritiae contrarium, id est prodigalitatis. In N.T. (Mat 12:30 = Luk 11:23; Joh 10:12, Joh 16:32), as in LXX, commonly means disperse, put to flight.

Nowhere else in N.T. does occur, and therefore it is all the more necessary to distinguish it in translation from , which is freq. in the Gospels, but is used by St Paul rarely, and only in this group of Epistles (Rom 15:26; Gal 2:10, Gal 4:9). Both words are found in conjunction, several times in Ezekiel, and more often in the Psalms, where the familiar poor and needy is frequent. Yet no English Version makes any distinction here; nor does the Vulgate, which has no fixed rendering where the two words are found together. It varies between egenus et pauper and pauper et inops, and once has mendicus et pauper. See Index IV. Of the two words (, I crouch) is the stronger, abjectly poor. Trench, Syn. xxxvi.; Hatch, Bibl. Grk. p. 73. With the general sense comp. Pro 11:25. The righteous man does not keep for selfish use what was meant for the benefit of many.

. His righteousness abideth for ever. Both subject and predicate of this simple sentence are ambiguous. may mean either righteousness in the wider sense; or almsgiving as a form of righteousness, and according to Jewish notions a very important form; or prosperity as a reward for righteousness, blessing, which seems to be its meaning in Psa 112:9; cf. Eze 28:20; Isa 58:8. Righteousness leads to prosperity, and prosperity promotes almsgiving, is perhaps the sequence in thought. In Mat 6:1 the original reading was changed by some copyists to , because they supposed that was used there in the narrower sense. Cf. Deu 24:13. is also ambiguous, for it may refer to the life to come or be limited to this life, and the abiding or standing fast may be literal or may refer to perpetual remembrance by man or God. In LXX of both Psalms the expression is . It is unlikely that St Paul omits in order to limit the meaning to this life, for may include the life to come (Joh 8:51, Joh 8:11:26, Joh 8:12:34; etc.). He himself commonly uses the plur. , sometimes adding (Gal 1:5; Php 4:20; etc.) and sometimes not (Rom 1:25, Rom 1:9:5; etc.).

Among possible meanings for the whole statement these merit consideration; (1) the righteous acts of the good man continue as long as he lives, for God always supplies him with the means; (2) the prosperity which rewards his righteousness continues as long as he lives; (3) his goodness will always be remembered among men; (4) his goodness will always be remembered and rewarded by God both here and hereafter; (5) the effects of his goodness will live for ever, influencing generation after generation. Wickedness will be destroyed, but righteousness can never perish. Of these five the two last are best, and of these two the last is perhaps not sufficiently obvious; the fourth is simpler and is a principle often insisted on in Scripture.

G K, f g add from LXX.

10. … He is continuing the argument that, in the long run, bounty is not ruinous to those who practise it. He has shown that God can reward it, and he now points out that we may believe that He will do so. He again resorts to Scripture, Isa 55:10 and Hos 10:12.

. The clause is amphibolous, but no doubt should be taken with what precedes (RV), not with what follows (AV); Now He that bountifully supplieth seed to the sower and bread for eating, will supply and multiply what you sow. It seems to be right to make a distinction between and , although in late Greek compound words are often no stronger in meaning than simple ones (Bigg on 2Pe 1:5). Cf. Gal 3:5; Col 2:19, in both of which passages means supply bountifully, and has a similar force Eph 4:16 and Php 1:19 (Lightfoot on Gal 3:5). , freq. in LXX, is found in N.T. here and 1Pe 4:11 only. The word passed through three stages; (1) lead the chorus; (2) supply the chorus for a drama, a which cost the persons who undertook it a large outlay; (3) supply anything plentifully, as here. Even the simple verb suggests generous behaviour. Aristotle several times uses In the sense of well furnished, well fitted out (Est_1. viii. 15, x. 15, x. vii. 4; etc.).

Rather more important than the change from to is the change from to , for the former is seed in the literal sense, whereas is here used of the gifts which must be scattered generously, and which God will supply and augment. The possessions of the Corinthians are given by God, and He augments them with a view to their being employed benevolently.

Both external (see below) and internal evidence can show that the three verbs are futures indicative and not optatives. A wish does not suit the context.

St Paul does not seem to make much, if any, difference between (1:12, 7:4, 14, 8:24, 11:10, 17) and (1:14, 5:12, 9:3), and in late Greek the difference between – and – in verbal substantives is not very distinct. But in the case of and (1Co 8:4; Rom 14:17; Col 2:16) as compared with and (1Co 3:2, 1Co 3:6:13, 1Co 3:10:3, 1Co 3:4; Rom 14:15) he appears to observe the usual difference, the former being eating and drinking, the latter food and drink. Here is eating rather than food; panem ad manducandum (Vulg.) rather than panem ad escam (Beza). But elsewhere Vulg. has esca or cibus for as well as for .

. From LXX of Hos 10:12; will make the fruits of your righteousness to grow. Neither LXX nor Heb. give exactly the thought which St Paul has here, yet either might suggest the thought. His chief borrowing is the expression . The Heb. gives, Sow for yourselves righteousness; reap the fruit of love; break up your fallow ground; since there is (still) time to seek Jehovah, till He come and rain righteousness upon you, or possibly to the end that the fruit of righteousness may come to you (see Harper, ad loc.). If we may take the first two commands as meaning Sow for yourselves righteousness and ye shall reap in proportion to your love, and conclude to the end that the fruit of righteousness may come to you, we come close to what St Paul inculcates here. LXX is very different; Sow for yourselves unto righteousness; reap unto fruit of life; light for yourselves unto light of knowledge; seek the Lord until the produce of righteousness comes for you.

Here, as in 1Co 3:6, 1Co 3:7; is transitive ; so always in LXX. Cf. 10:15; Col 1:6, Col 1:10; 1Pe 2:2. In N.T. it is often intransitive (Eph 2:21, Eph 2:4:15; Mat 6:28; etc.). The change is thought to begin with Aristotle. Many verbs, mostly connected with motion, make this transition. Winer, p. 314; Blass, 24. is freq. in LXX of vegetable produce; cf. Mat 26:29 and parallels. Here of the rewards of liberality.

( C D2 and 3 E K L P) rather than (B D* F G), by assimilation to what follows. (* B C D * P, Latt. Copt.) rather than (c Dc F G K L), ( B C D F G K L P), rather than . Papyri. confirm the spelling with one v, and the derivation from , as coexisting with the double v, and the derivation from . Deissmann, Bib. St. pp. 109, 184. Cf. Mar 14:25; Mat 26:29; Luk 22:18. In Mat 3:7, Mat 12:34, Mat 23:33, and Luk 3:7, is right. Blass, 3. 10.

11. . Ye being enriched in everything. The constr. is uncertain, but the meaning is clear. It is awk-ward to make vv. 9:10 a parenthesis and connect with In v. 8, for in v. 10 a new argument begins. Yet WH. follow Bengel in adopting this arrangement. It is less violent to connect with the preceding : the transition from gen. to nom. would be easily made in dictating. Cf. (v. 13), (1:7), (7:5), (8:20). Winer, p. 716 Blass, 79. 10.

, … Unto every kind of liberality (see on 8:2), which is such as to (8:10) work out (7:10, 11) through us thanksgiving to God. It is difficult here to give the meaning of simplicity, singleness of mind, which some prefer; Biederkeit, Herzenseinfalt, Einfalt. Here, as in 8:2. Vulg. has simplicitas, Beza benignitas. Being enriched unto singleness of heart is a strange expression, and it does not make it less strange to explain singleness of heart as the absence of selfish motives. The meaning is that the Corinthians will be endowed with a generosity which will enable the Apostle to excite gratitude in those who profit by it. With comp. (8:19, 20).* It does not make much matter whether we take with or : the former is simpler. Datives are normal after such words as , , , . Here B reads . There is no break in the paragraph here, as if v. 12 was the beginning of a new point; the verse merely explains what has just been stated, that charitable work promotes devout feeling towards God. There should be no full stop at end of v. 11.

12. . Because the ministration of this public service not only helps to fill up the wants of the saints, but it also is abounding through many thanksgivings to God. The ministration of this public service means the ministering which you render to others by undertaking a work of general benevolence. The genitive is epexegetic. When Barnabas and Saul take relief from Antioch to Jerusalem in the famine-year, it is called (Act 11:29, Act 12:25). is used here in a sense closely akin to its classical meaning of the aids which wealthy citizens had to render to the public in financing choruses for dramas (see on v. 10), fitting out triremes, training gymnasts, etc. These publica munera were enforced by law, but St Paul uses the word of voluntary service. The Jews gave the term a religious meaning,* the public ministrations of priests (Heb 8:6, Heb 8:9:21; Luk 1:23; and often in Num. and Chron.) and of Levites (Exo 38:19) [38:21]; cf. 1Ch 16:4, 1Ch 16:37. The words , -, -, are used in the Apostolic writings of services rendered to God and to man, and that in the widest relations of social life (Westcott, Hebrews, p. 231). See on Rom 15:27, where the verb is used of this very contribution; also Lightfoot on Php 2:17, Php 2:30. The here is not the administration of the fund by St Paul (that is a subordinate detail), but the service of the Corinthians in raising the fund. What Athenian citizens who had the means were made to do, Gentile Christians will be glad to do, in order to render service to society and to God. Christians, a little later, gave these words a special religious meaning in connexion with the Eucharist, while retaining the Jewish usage respecting public worship of any kind. It is doubtful whether here any idea of sacrifice ought to be included. See on v. 10.

. Filling up in addition, helping to fill; cf. 11:9. The Corinthians were not the only contributors.

. As in v. 11, this comes at the end with special force. There it seems to belong to rather than to ; and that is in favour of taking it with here; but there is no certainty in either case. It may belong to in either case or in neither. If taken with the verb, it is a dat. comm. for God, and in that sense St Paul would perhaps rather have said (4:15); see also 1Co 10:31, Rom 15:7. To take with does not destroy the antithesis between and , nor that between and . B has hhere for . may be of many people, but many thanksgivings is simpler, per multas gratiarum actiones (Vulg.).

13. . We again have an anacoluthon with a nom. participle; see above on (v. 11), with which, however, cannot be connected, for refers to the Corinthians and to the Christians at Jerusalem, who are the people that offer the many thanksgivings in v. 12. The anacoluthon is simple enough in any case, but it is rather more simple if means thanksgivings of many people rather than many thanksgivings. In any case this verse explains why Palestine Christians give thanks to God; seeing that through the proof (see on 2:9) of this ministration of yours they glorify God. The relief of want is one good point in benevolence, but only one; the glory of God is another; and it is greatly to the glory of God to change the spirits of others from despondency to joyous thankfulness to Him. Affliction tested the reality of the Macedonians Christianity (8:2), benevolence will be a proof in the case of the Corinthians.

. In the fulness of his feeling the Apostle gives a compressed fulness of expression, the general meaning of which is certain, but the exact construction of which cannot in all particulars be disentangled with certainty. He has just stated what would be the occasion of the saints thankfulness. He now states two reasons for it, Corinthian loyalty to the Gospel, and Corinthian generosity to themselves. They had been suspicious of Corinthian loyalty; many Jewish Christians had feared that converts from heathenism were turning Christian liberty into pagan licentiousness. The brethren in Jerusalem would now see that Gentile converts were as good Christians as Jewish converts; and generosity was generosity from whatever quarter it came. It does not make much difference whether we take with or , and both Vulg. (in oboedientia eonfessionis vestrae in evangelium Christi) and RV. (the obedience of your confession unto the Gospel of Christ) leave it open. Beza (de vestra testata submissions in evangelium Christ) and AV (your professed subjection unto the Gospel of Christ) decide for . The other is better; cf. (Just. M. Try. 17. 266 D). Confession needs some further definition here. Later it was used of the confession made at baptism; see Suicer s.v. and .

We have a similar doubt as to whether should be taken with or , and here again connexion with the nearer noun is better (AV, RV); and for the sincere kindness (v. 11, 8:2) of your contribution (8:4) unto them and unto all. Cf. (Rom . 15:26), and (Php 1:5), where the meaning is your co-operation in aid of the Gospel. See also Rom 15:26-31, and Hastings, DB. art. Communion. Whether be a sudden afterthought or not, it points out to the Corinthians that a benefit conferred on the brethren at Jerusalem is a benefit to the whole body of Christians (1Co 12:26).

14. . While they themselves also, with supplication on your behalf, long after you. There is little doubt that we have here a gen. absol. (cf. 4. 18) stating the response which the Palestinian Christians will make to the generosity of their Corinthian brethren. The possibility of making depend on in v. 13 is a parenthesis), or on , or on (in which case the whole of v. 13. is a parenthesis), is not worth considering; the word implies special petition for the supply of wants, and is often used of intercession. See Lightfoot on Php 4:6; Trench, Syn. li. The dat. here is not instrumental, not by but with the intercession accompanies their longing. The is emphatic by position. B E have . For see Index IV.

. Note the change of constr. from cum gen. in v. 13; also the change of meaning in from to . The clause explains the reason of the longing; on account of the exceeding grace of God upon you. In 8:1 it was the grace of God which enabled the Macedonian Christians to be so generous; the Palestinians will see that a similar grace is operating strongly at Corinth. The Apostle is very generous in his praise of both parties, of the Corinthians for their great generosity, and of the Jewish Christians for their gratitude to God, not merely for the relief given to them, but also for the genuineness of the Christianity found in the donors. The praise, esp. of the Corinthians, may seem to be somewhat extravagant; but St Paul is not praising what has taken place, but what he hopes and believes will take place.* It is a glorious picture which he has before his eyes. Jewish Christians and Gentile Christians abandoning their mutual distrust and dislike, which sometimes ended in bitter hostility, and drawing close together in mutual appreciation and love.

15. . This glorious picture causes him to burst out into an expression of deep thankfulness to God. He sees in it an earnest of that unity of Christendom for which he has laboured so perseveringly; neither Jew nor Greek, but all one in Christ Jesus (Gal 3:28; 1Co 12:13; Col 3:11.) The Jewish Christians thank God for the goodness of their Gentile brethren, and to this thanksgiving the Apostle utters a deep Amen in the brief but profound doxology contained in this verse. It is based on hope rather than on fact, and on the more remote rather than on the immediate and obvious results of his pleading. His intense thankfulness is not so much for the relief of the sufferings of the Jewish Christians in Palestine, as for the effect on Christendom of their being relieved by Gentile Christians in Europe. It will disarm suspicion; it will be a practical proof of the reality and power of the Gospel, it will strengthen the sense of brotherhood, it will turn distant strangers into earnest, eager friends, who pray for their benefactors and long for a sight of their face (McFadyen, 2 Corinthians, p. 375). We may compare the interjected thanksgiving 1Co 15:57, and the similar expressions of praise Gal 1:5; Rom 9:5, Rom 9:11:33; 1Ti 1:17.

. For His ineffable gift; it is one which is incapable of expression by speech. The epithet is found nowhere else in LXX or N.T. Clement of Rome uses it, apparently of laws of nature; the inscrutable (, Rom 11:33) depths of the abysses and the unutterable statutes ( ) of the nether regions (Cor. 20:5). It is also found in Arrian; (Exp. Alex. p. 310). Cf. (1Pe 1:8) of joy in Christ, and (Rom 8:26) of the groanings of the Spirit in intercession. All three words are rare. It is rash to say that so strong a word could not be used by St Paul of anything less than Gods supreme gift in sending His Son for mans redemption. A thanksgiving for that has only a very far-fetched connexion with the context. On the other hand, the thought of the complete realization of his highest hopes for the unity of Christendom as the natural fruit of mutual goodwill between Gentile and Jewish Christians is quite sufficient to account for this outburst of fervour. Chrysostom remarks; If Gods gift is indescribable, what madness it must be to raise curious questions about His Being. When what He bestows is ineffable, what must He be Himself. Of the two explanations as to what the gift was for which St Paul was so intensely thankful, Chrysostom inclines to the less probable, that it was the gift of His Son for mans salvation.

. Here, as elsewhere in N.T., the word is used of a Divine boon (Rom 5:15, Rom 5:17; Eph 3:7, Eph 3:4:7; Heb 6:4; etc.); the more freq. is used of offerings to God (Mat 5:23, Mat 5:24, Mat 5:15:5, Mat 5:23:18, Mat 5:19; etc.) and gifts to men (Rev 11:10).

3 C2 D2 and 3 E K L P, Syrr. Copt. Arm. insert after * B C * D * F G 17, Latt. Goth. omit. Connecting particles are often inserted by scribes and translators for smoothness, and the is probably not genuine. If we omit it, the sentence is an exclamation of thankfulness, closing the subject; and thus we have an intelligible conclusion to ch. 9. But if the is genuine, the sentence looks as if it were unfinished, and the want of connexion between 9:15 and 10:1 becomes glaring. This would be a point in favour of the theory that 1-9. is a letter of which the original conclusion has been lost, and which has been joined to another letter of which the original beginning has been lost. Kennedy, Hermathena, XII. xxix., 1903, p. 365.

Here the second main division of the Epistle ends. The whole of it (8., 9.) is taken up with the subject of the collection for the poor at Jerusalem. On the interesting question whether the remaining four chapters are part of the same letter, or belonged originally to the severe letter which the Apostle wrote after 1 Corinthians and before 2 Cor. 1-9., see the Introduction, IV. 5, and the note on 7:8. Here it may suffice to quote the words of two recent commentators, both of whom think that the latter hypothesis is hardly necessary.

The most cursory reader cannot fail to perceive an abrupt difference in tone, as he passes from ch. 8 f. to ch. 10. The former chapters were complimentary and affectionate; this and the following chapters are heated, polemical, and in part ironical. There, the Corinthians were his beloved brethren, of whom he was proud, and of whose generosity he was not afraid to boast; here, there are enemies in the camp-enemies who have been challenging his authority, and detracting from his credit, and who will therefore have to be summarily dealt with. They will have to be convinced, by its impact on themselves, that Pauls authority is a very real thing, and that he is just as capable of exercising it before their eyes as he is by means of correspondence (McFadyen, p. 376).

The other commentator allows that there is an abrupt change of tone and subject at 10:1, where there is no manifest connexion with what goes before, and after a peaceable discussion of the fruits to be expected from the collection, we are suddenly plunged in a piece of vehement polemical writing against adversaries, the quarrel with whom has already been adjusted in the earlier chapters (Menzies, p. xxxv).

It is very difficult to see how 8. and 9. prepare for the polemic against the Judaistic opponents in 10-13. Is asking for money a good preparation for an incisive attack?

* Halmel insists that the omission of and addition of in 9:1 (as in 8:4) proves that in ix. I we begin a different and independent appeal. The inference is not strong: takes the place of .

C C (Fifth century). Codex Ephraemi, a Palimpsest; now at Paris, very defective. Of 2 Corinthians all from 10:8 onwards is wanting.

(Fourth century). Codex Sinaiticus; now at Petrograd, the only uncial MS. containing the whole N.T.

B B (Fourth century). Codex Vaticanus.

17 17. (Evan. 33, Act_13. Ninth century). Now at paris. The queen of the cursives and the best for the Pauline Epistles; more than any other it preserves Pre-Syrian readings and agrees with B D L.

D D (Sixth century). Codex Claromontanus; now at Paris. A Graeco-Latin MS. The Latin (d) is akin to the Old Latin. Many subsequent hands (sixth to ninth centuries) have corrected the MS.

F F (Late ninth century). Codex Augiensis (from Reichenau); now at Trinity College, Cambridge.

G G (Late ninth century). Codex Boernerianus; at Dresden. Interlined with the Latin (in minluscules). The Greek text is almost the same as that of F, but the Latin (g) shows Old Latin elements.

K K (Ninth century). Codex Mosquensis; now at Moscow.

L L (Ninth century). Codex Angelicus; now in the Angelica Library at Rome.

P P (Ninth century). Codex Porfirianus Chiovensis, formerly possessed by Bishop Porfiri of Kiev, and now at Petrograd.

f d The Latin companion of F

E E (Ninth century). At Petrograd. A copy of D, and unimportant

d d The Latin companion of D

e d The Latin companion of E

* Possibly only the two colleagues are meant. Titus was going of his own initiative (8:17). Without 8:16-24, these verses (3-5) would be rather obscure.

* information respecting the commentator is to be found in the volume on the First Epistle, pp. lxvi f.

g d The Latin companion of G

67 67. (Eleventh century). At Vienna. Has valuable marginal readings (67 * *) akin to B and M; these readings must have been copied from an ancient MS., but not from the Codex Ruber itself.

* Deissmann (Bib. St. p. 144) proposes to read here in instead of There is no authority for it.

Wie eine Segensgabe nicht wie eine Habsuchisgabe (Schmiedel).

* , , , (Diog. Laert. vi. 105).

* Some understand as meaning, through us weak mortals; but it probably means no more than through us who have to administer the bounty.

* This use, however, was not prculiar to the Jews. Papyri of 165-160 b.c. show that it was common in Egypt, esp. of the services in the Serapeum (Deissmann, Bib. st. p. 140).

* There is evidence that it did take place. Forty years later Clement of Rome, in addressing the Corinthians (2:1), praises them as , which he would hardly have done had the historic collection been a failure at Corinth.

Fuente: International Critical Commentary New Testament

God Loveth a Cheerful Giver

2Co 9:1-7

Paul evidently had considerable anxiety about the collection at Corinth for the starving saints at Jerusalem. He had started the idea, not merely because of his affection toward his own people, but in order to promote and foster the unity of the Church of Christ. There could be no greater evidence of the transforming power of the gospel than that it should obliterate the strongly-marked differences between East and West, between Jew and Gentile, and make it clear that Christ is all in all Paul does not, therefore, urge and entreat the Corinthians so much as he reminds them of his confidence in their response. No motive is so potent as the sense that a worthy response is expected of us by one whom we revere and love.

He likens money-giving to seed-sowing. What was placed in the collection box would assuredly return to the giver with large increase. Christians, therefore, should not give grudgingly, or of necessity, but freely, spontaneously, generously, as the farmer, who does not hesitate to dip his hand deeply into his granaries, expecting, as he does, that every additional atom of grain scattered will come back to him augmented certainly to thirty-fold and perhaps to a hundred-fold. You will meet again somewhere and sometime every coin that you have given with a pure heart.

Fuente: F.B. Meyer’s Through the Bible Commentary

Christian Giving

2Co 9:1-15

For as touching the ministering to the saints, it is superfluous for me to write to you: for I know the forwardness of your mind, for which I boast of you to them of Macedonia, that Achaia was ready a year ago; and your zeal hath provoked very many. Yet have I sent the brethren, lest our boasting of you should be in vain in this behalf; that, as I said, ye may be ready: lest haply if they of Macedonia come with me, and find you unprepared, we (that we say not, ye) should be ashamed in this same confident boasting. Therefore I thought it necessary to exhort the brethren, that they would go before unto you, and make up beforehand your bounty, whereof ye had notice before, that the same might be ready, as a matter of bounty, and not as of covetousness. But this I say, He which soweth sparingly shall reap also sparingly; and he which soweth bountifully shall reap also bountifully. Every man according as he purposeth in his heart, so let him give; not grudgingly, or of necessity: for God loveth a cheerful giver. And God is able to make all grace abound toward you; that ye, always having all sufficiency in all things, may abound to every good work: (as it is written, He hath dispersed abroad; he hath given to the poor: his righteousness remaineth for ever. Now he that ministereth seed to the sower both minister bread for your food, and multiply your seed sown, and increase the fruits of your righteousness;) being enriched in every thing to all bountifulness, which causeth through us thanksgiving to God. For the administration of this service not only supplieth the want of the saints, but is abundant also by many thanksgivings unto God; whiles by the experiment of this ministration they glorify God for your professed subjection unto the gospel of Christ, and for your liberal distribution unto them, and unto all men; and by their prayer for you, which long after you for the exceeding grace of God in you. Thanks be unto God for his unspeakable gift. (vv. 1-15)

In this chapter the Spirit of God brings before us in a very impressive manner our responsibility, as believers in our Lord Jesus Christ, to give of our means both for the support of the Lords work and in order to meet the necessities of Christians who are in distressing circumstances.

It was given to our Lord Jesus to enjoy in a way peculiarly rich and full the happiness of giving. He through whom all things came into being, and for whom they all exist, came into this lower part of His creation, not to be ministered unto but to minister, and to give His life a ransom for many. The apostle Paul, in addressing the Ephesian elders, calls upon them to remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how he said, It is more blessed to give than to receive (Act 20:35). This naturally raises the question when, and under what circumstances, did He so speak? And at first perhaps one is surprised to find that the four Gospels will be searched in vain to locate any such expression. In other words, the inspired records of the life and sayings of our blessed Lord do not tell us that He used these words on any occasion. And yet the apostle quotes them as though they were well known, as undoubtedly they were, and had frequently been used by the Savior in the days of His flesh. In fact the tense of the original suggests frequent repetition, and we might render the passage as follows: Remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how He was wont to say, It is more blessed to give than to receive. That is, it was customary with Him to so speak. He used the words so frequently that His inspired biographers did not even find it necessary to quote them, but wherever His disciples went-those who had known Him on earth-they carried with them this little bit of personal recollection; and so the story went every where in the early church, that it was a frequent thing for the Lord to use the words Paul referred to.

What light this throws upon His character, and how it emphasizes the deep-toned joy He found in imparting good to others. More blessed is really happier; so that we are justified in reading, It is happier to give than to receive. He never gave grudgingly. To Him it was a joy to share with those in need. He delighted in communicating the riches of His grace to poverty-stricken, bankrupt souls. Doubtless, often as He fed the multitudes, healed the sick, or ministered in some other way to human need, He would turn to the disciples nearest Him and say quietly and with a sense of deep satisfaction, It is more blessed to give than to receive.

The Holy Spirit would have us take His example and His words to heart. We are naturally so self-centered that we are inclined to believe the greatest happiness is found in receiving rather than in giving. We all enjoy receiving gifts. We delight in receiving praise, love, and adulation. We sometimes imagine that if everything that our hearts crave could be poured out upon us, we would be supremely happy. But this is a total mistake. The happiest people in the world are those who give most unselfishly; and herein lies the challenge to Christians everywhere to whom God has entrusted the means of furthering His interests in the world by financial gifts. Those who go forth for the names sake of the Lord Jesus, leaving home and loved ones, leaving too all opportunity of earning a livelihood and accumulating wealth, should be in a very special way objects of interest to those who would enjoy the blessedness of which the Lord Jesus speaks. In 3 John, we note the commendation of the aged apostle to the Elder Gaius. He writes, Beloved, thou doest faithfully whatsoever thou doest to the brethren, and to strangers; which have borne witness of thy charity before the church: whom if thou bring forward on their journey after a godly sort, thou shalt do well: because that for his names sake they went forth, taking nothing of the Gentiles. We therefore ought to receive such, that we might be fellowhelpers to the truth (3Jn 1:5-8). Undoubtedly the reference was primarily to traveling preachers of the gospel, those whom we call missionaries. Unable to provide for themselves, they were cast entirely upon the Lord, and He on His part met their needs through the gracious gifts of faithful Christians in the home churches, who found real joy in this delightful fellowship. Shall we not ask ourselves to what extent we have entered into the mind of Christ in regard to this gracious ministry? Are we too experiencing the joy that comes through giving as enabled by God, in order that His servants may be maintained in the path of usefulness in lands far away where they know little of Christian fellowship, but often experience much in the way of testing and hardship? We need never fear that as we open our hearts and purses to them, we ourselves will be permitted to suffer, for we can be certain that God will be no mans debtor.

It never was loving that emptied a heart,

Or giving that emptied a purse.

And we may recall John Bunyans lines in the immortal allegory:

A man there was, though some did count him mad,

The more he cast away, the more he had.

For after all, this is but to say in another manner what God Himself has already told us in His own Holy Word, There is that scattereth, and yet increaseth; and there is that withholdeth more than is meet, but it tendeth to poverty.

With these thoughts in mind, let us notice how earnestly the apostle Paul stresses the importance of this ministry of giving. He says in verses 1-2: For as touching the ministering to the saints, it is superfluous for me to write to you: for I know the forwardness of your mind, for which I boast of you to them of Macedonia, that Achaia was ready a year ago; and your zeal hath provoked very many. You see, a year before they had pledged themselves to give for this fund that Paul was raising, and now he is asking them to fulfill the pledges. Yet I have sent the brethren, lest our boasting of you should be in vain in this behalf; that, as I said, ye may be ready: lest haply if they of Macedonia come with me, and find you unprepared, we (that we say not, ye) should be ashamed in this same confident boasting. You get the point; do you not? He had gone through the churches of Macedonia urging them to have part in this bounty they were raising for the poor saints in Palestine, and he told them that those in Corinth had already pledged themselves to do something generous, but there had been no cash money, and so he was coming through their district on his way to Jerusalem and he did not want them to make him ashamed. He did not wish to urge and beg them to fulfill their promise, but he desired to show the Macedonian brethren how prompt they were to pay. Therefore, he says, I thought it necessary to exhort the brethren, that they would go before unto you, and make up beforehand your bounty, whereof ye had notice before, that the same might be ready, as a matter of bounty, and not as of covetousness. That last expression appears to be a little difficult. The word for covetousness might just as truly be translated extortion. He would have the visiting brethren gather up this sum when they reached Corinth, so that it might not seem as if he had to come to them as a tax-collector, trying to force them to give what they had already promised. He wanted it to be glad, joyous giving, the kind that would glorify the Lord.

He which soweth sparingly shall reap also sparingly; and he which soweth bountifully shall reap also bountifully. And so he uses a common truism to illustrate a great spiritual reality. Think of a farmer so foolish, as he goes forth to sow his wheat, as to say, It is too bad to sow so much to an acre; I think I can get a fair crop by sowing less. Such conduct would be absurd. So it is with us. If we want Gods blessing on our work, if we want Him to visit us with power and to be generous with us, we must care for the needs of others. There is an old proverb that has been used so long that it is shiny at the knees and frayed at the edges. It is this: Charity begins at home. People say you must think of home first, and then if you have anything left, give to others or to foreign missions. Giving to missions is not charity. It is not almsgiving when I contribute of my means in order to carry the gospel to a dying world. It is for this purpose God has left us here in this scene. We make a great mistake in talking about home missions and foreign missions. This world is a foreign land to which our blessed Lord came, and from over yonder He sends us forth to go to all nations to carry this gospel to the very ends of the earth. We want to multiply our efforts a thousandfold by backing up those who go into the regions beyond. Paul, of course, was referring specially to caring for the poor, but the same principle applies to both.

Now notice the state of the heart that God takes into account when it comes to giving. Every man according as he purposeth in his heart. Someone says he does not believe in making a pledge. What is a pledge? It is the expression of the purpose of your heart. The apostle says, writing by the Spirit of God, Every man according as he purposeth in his heart, so let him give. Purpose in your heart, then give; not grudgingly, or of necessity: for God loveth a cheerful giver. You say, Well, I presume they will think it strange if I do not give anything. So I suppose I had better give a little. Do not give so-not grudgingly. He does not want one penny from you if you had rather keep it yourself. God does not want your money if you give it grudgingly or of necessity. Well, you say, I think I ought to give. I suppose God holds me responsible and I will have to give. No, no, not of necessity. God gave freely, gladly. And He does not want anything from you unless you also give willingly and gladly; unless you are thankful to be able to give. For God loveth a cheerful giver. The word in the Greek is hilaron, and may be translated hilarious. God loves a hilarious giver. Not a giver who says, Dear me, they are always needing money. But one who says, What is that? Another opportunity to give to missions! Another chance to help the needy! Well, bless the Lord! What can I give? Yes, I think I can double that. That is a hilarious giver, a cheerful giver.

And the Lord will never be your debtor if you give like that. And God is able to make all grace abound toward you; that ye, always having all sufficiency in all things, may abound to every good work. You see, you take the right attitude toward God and His Word, and He will take a wonderfully benevolent attitude toward you. Then Paul quotes from Psalm 112, He hath dispersed abroad; he hath given to the poor; his righteousness remaineth for ever. In that psalm God is depicting the typically righteous man. One characteristic is, he is interested in other people. He disperses abroad. He gives to the poor. Righteousness, you know, means consistency with the relationship in which we stand. Now, how can we act consistently if we are neglectful of our attitude toward those in distress and toward the servants of Christ?

Now he that ministereth seed to the sower both minister bread for your food, and multiply your seed sown, and increase the fruits of your righteousness. God knows you need these things and He will look after you. Righteousness and liberality go together. Being enriched in every thing to all bountifulness, which causeth through us thanksgiving to God. For the administration of this service not only supplieth the want of the saints, but is abundant also by many thanksgivings unto God. It begins with God and ends with God. God is able to make all grace abound toward you as you give of your substance to Him. You give to sustain His servants in distant fields. They are blessed and return thanks to God, and that blessing comes back to you. All the rivers run into the sea; the moisture is caught up from the sea into the clouds; the water comes down on the land from the clouds, and the rivers carry it to the sea again, and so there is a never-failing circle of blessing.

Whiles by the experiment of this ministration they glorify God for your professed subjection unto the gospel of Christ, and for your liberal distribution unto them, and unto all men. Notice, it is your professed subjection unto the gospel. It is one thing to say we believe the gospel, but if we say we believe it is the only way for sinful men to come to God, surely we will try to get the gospel out to men.

And by their prayer for you, which long after you for the exceeding grace of God in you. Thanks be unto God for his unspeakable gift. This Gift is Christ Himself, and He is absolutely beyond all our powers to properly appreciate.

Fuente: Commentaries on the New Testament and Prophets

2Co 9:8

The All-ability of God.

I. God is able to make all grace abound. Then surely He is able to rule the world He has created and still creates. He is the God of creation, and not its servant. He can get behind all the points that are visible to us, and without altering the order of nature, He can produce what change He desires. We may therefore ask Him to give us what we think would be good for us. This will be one of the practical results of the full belief in the all-ability of God. If I may not ask my daily bread from God, if I may not tell Him what I wish about the weather and what the country needs, then what may I speak to Him about? “About spiritual blessings,” does any one say? Then are they not also given according to law? If God is bound to act invariably in the material sphere, He is equally and even more bound to act invariably in the spiritual sphere; and if we may not reasonably pray to Him as to the one, still less may we reasonably pray to Him about the other. It is God or no God. God is able to make all grace abound, to give blessing in every sphere, and will answer in some way every sincere prayer that is offered to Him.

II. Prayer is asking. It is not dictation. If it were, it would be liable to the objections which have been urged against it. It is telling the Father what we believe to be our real needs, leaving Him to judge what and how much to give and what to withhold. We may leave Him to maintain the laws. He will take care that there is no infringement of anything that ought to be observed, and that no injustice is done to some by answering the prayer of others; He will be true and faithful to Himself and to His great perfections; He will be attentive and compassionate to every child who speaks to Him; He will be the Hearer and Answerer of prayer to the end.

A. Raleigh, The Way to the City, p. 252.

Reference: 2Co 9:11.-R. Maguire, Christian World Pulpit, vol. ii., p. 236.

2Co 9:15

In order to arrive at the full meaning of the words “His unspeakable gift” we should inquire what it is, of all the blessings of redemption by Christ, that most perfectly answers to this description, that is so full, so inexhaustible, as best to satisfy this epithet “unspeakable,” far beyond our words to describe and our powers to grasp by their conceptions, that is most entirely and properly God’s gift-His one great bestowal over and above all others. And I hesitate not to say at once, it is God’s gift of the Holy Spirit. Consider how the Spirit is properly and finally the gift of God.

I. A guardian angel might dwell with the believer-and such, we hold, do dwell with us, and minister around us-but a guardian angel can never dwell in the believer, can never be to him an indweller and enlightener, an inseparable friend and comforter, a mighty advocate and unfailing champion. Go then even to the throne of the Godhead, and ask who shall do this. The Father dwelleth in light inaccessible; Him no man hath seen, nor can see; He ruleth all things after the counsel of His own will. The Son is gone up from us, and is waiting in our manhood at the right hand of the Father, till all things be put under His feet. Where then shall we find this ever-present help in God? where but in the Holy Spirit, whose especial glory it is that He works and energises in creation, in the material and the immaterial ranks of being, who first brought light out of darkness, who is the Source and Upholder of all life and joy?

II. Very various and very wonderful are the ways in which God’s Spirit originates and carries on the new life in men. One man speaks with the Spirit in the lofty cathedral, resonant with studied praise; and another comes from his week-long toil to the mean and crowded conventicle, and in the illiterate accents of his brother-mechanic the same blessed Spirit speaks to his heart, in his heart’s own way, and he too hears and follows. Thanks be to God for His unspeakable gift. For wherever He is found, however He works, He is this one crowning gift of our God, without which no man can live unto Him, with whom we have Christ in all His fulness, and the Father in all His love.

H. Alford, Quebec Chapel Sermons, vol. iv., p. 274.

References: 2Co 9:15.-Spurgeon, Sermons, vol. xxvi., No. 1550. 2Co 10:1.-H. Wonnacott, Christian World Pulpit, vol. xiv., p. 138; A. Rowland, Ibid.,o. xxxvi., p. 282; H. W. Beecher, Sermons, 1870, p. 54. 2Co 10:3-5.-Homilist, 3rd series, vol. vi., p. 216; R. Whittington, Church Sermons, vol. i., p. 203. 2Co 10:4.-Homiletic Quarterly, vol. ii., p. 132; H. W. Beecher, Christian World Pulpit, vol. x., p. 381. 2Co 10:4, 2Co 10:5.-Homilist, vol. iv., p. 32; W. J. Woods, Christian World Pulpit, vol. xvii., p. 282; G. Brooks, Five Hundred Outlines, p. 378.

Fuente: The Sermon Bible

2. Exhortation and Encouragement.

CHAPTER 9

1. Further Exhortations to Liberality. (2Co 9:1-5)

2. The Blessings Connected with Giving. (2Co 9:6-15.)

Again he exhorts them to liberality in giving. He knew their willing mind and had boasted of it to them in Macedonia and told them they were ready a year ago. This had stimulated many. He hoped that they would measure up to this report and fall not behind in this expectation lest our boasting should be in vain in this behalf. To encourage them in giving and carrying out what they had purposed, he speaks of the blessing: He which soweth sparingly shall reap also sparingly; and he which soweth bountifully, shall reap also bountifully. There is, then, blessing according to faithfulness in this ministry; as any other faithful ministry is not forgotten of God. Giving must not be grudgingly or of necessity, for God loveth a cheerful giver. God Himself delights to give. In infinite love He gave His only begotten Son, and He delights in all who imitate Him in His ways. There is no compulsion in giving save the constraint of His love.

And God is able to make all grace abound toward you, that ye always having all sufficiency in all things, may abound to every good work. Such a loving ministry is not an unremunerative service. He is able to make up to all who, out of love, minister to the needs of poor and suffering and afflicted brethren. The apostle shows that thanksgiving to God would be the result of their loving ministry in giving. Three causes are specified:

1. Their subjection to the gospel.

2. Their liberal gifts to the Saints of God.

3. By their prayer for you, which long after you for the exceeding grace of God in you – that thanksgiving and glory to God for the fervent and longing prayers of other Saints, who received their ministry.

This section ends with thanksgiving unto God, for His unspeakable gift. There is no need to add what that gift is, for every saint knows, Gods unspeakable gift is His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ.

Fuente: Gaebelein’s Annotated Bible (Commentary)

touching: Gen 27:42, 1Sa 20:23, 2Ki 22:18, Job 37:23, Psa 45:1, Mat 22:31, Rom 11:28, Phi 3:5, Phi 3:6

the ministering: 2Co 9:12-14, 2Co 8:4-15, Gal 2:10, Gal 6:10

it is: 1Th 4:9, 1Th 4:10, 1Th 5:1, 1Jo 2:27

Reciprocal: Lev 25:35 – then Act 2:45 – parted Act 11:29 – to send Rom 12:13 – Distributing Rom 15:31 – and that 1Co 16:15 – to the 2Ti 1:18 – ministered Heb 6:10 – which 1Pe 4:10 – minister

Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge

IN THE PART FIVE verses of chapter 9, Paul renews his appeal to the Corinthian saints. They had been so very forward a year before, when the matter had been started, that he had even boasted of them to the Macedonians, who had now out-stripped them altogether in actual performance. Let them now really act, and act at once, so that their contribution might be seen to be a gift of the heart, and not something extracted from them almost as a matter of extortion. This fresh appeal is followed from some fresh considerations calculated to back it up. More important principles connected with the matter of giving are brought to light.

For instance, giving is sowing, hence the laws of sowing and reaping apply to it. If seed be scattered with a sparing hand there is a scanty harvest: if with a bountiful hand, a bountiful harvest. It cannot be otherwise whether in nature or in connection with the things of God. In giving to others we are sowing grace; and the Apostle reminded them, God is able to make all grace abound toward you (verse 2Co 9:8). Verses 2Co 9:10-11 also speak of the harvest of blessing that will be reaped especially in things spiritual.

But the giving to be really pleasing to God must be cheerful giving. If done grudgingly, or because one is pushed into it, there is not much value in it in the sight of God. Every man will purpose in his heart according to the state of his heart. If our hearts are right, and enlarged by dwelling in the love of God, we shall give not only bountifully but cheerfully also. We shall give after the style of God Himself; and God loves those who are like Himself.

As we give we are sowing not only grace but righteousness also. Psa 112:9 is quoted, in which the man is described who is characterized as good, and upright, and that feareth the Lord. Such a one disperses of his substance and gives to those in need, and his kind giving is not spoken of as grace but as righteousness that will remain for ever. Are we accustomed to look upon giving in this light? We have received so much from God that it is only right that we should take the place of givers, if God has entrusted us with a supply of either material or spiritual things. If we do not give, but rather hoard up or expend upon ourselves and our pleasures what is given to us, we are positively unrighteous. Let us take time to mark, learn, and inwardly digest this fact, so that our lives may be ordered in keeping with it.

Moreover the results of large-hearted and cheerful giving are so very blessed. There is the supplying of the need of the saints. This in itself is a very good thing. Who, that has seen the comfort and joy of some poor saint, when relief has reached them through the liberality of their brethren, could doubt it. Beyond this, however, God is glorified. The action is abundant also by many thanksgivings to God. The saint, who has been helped and relieved, gives thanks to God again and again for the gift and those who ministered it to him. Presently too those who gave find themselves so blessed and enlarged of God that they begin to give thanks that they were ever privileged to give. We have, you will remember, the very best authority for saying that, It is more blessed to give than to receive. And finally the poor saints, who have nothing to give in return, do repay what is given by an answering affection and by earnest prayer. The givers reap the blessing which flows from the love and prayers of those whom they have helped.

What a marvellous train of happy results is attached to giving! No wonder it is enumerated amongst the gifts of Rom 12:1-21, or that elsewhere we read, To do good and to communicate forget not. What spiritual enlargement flows out of it! And conversely, how often is spiritual poverty the direct result of the neglect of it! If believers are stingy in their handling of material things, the holy government of God will leave them poor and straightened in spiritual things.

All giving by the Christian flows from that which has been given to him from God. Hence the Apostle cannot close his exhortation on this theme without leading our thoughts to Gods supreme gift from which all our giving flows. It is so great a gift as to be beyond all our powers of expression or description. We can only utter thanks for it.

God has given His only-begotten Son. We read also of the Holy Ghost, whom God hath given to them that obey Him; and again that, the gift of God is eternal life. And other such-like verses there are. We believe that here in the mind of the Spirit all these great gifts are treated as one gift, which demands eternal thanksgiving from us.

As we add our hearty, Amen, to the thanksgiving, let us see to it that we have such a lively sense of the greatness of the gift that we diligently practise the grace of giving ourselves.

Fuente: F. B. Hole’s Old and New Testaments Commentary

2Co 9:1. It was superfluous or unnecessary to write as far as their general state of mind was concerned, as to giving to the poor ones in Judea.

Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary

Fuente: A Popular Commentary on the New Testament

Observe here, The holy art and skill of this wise and great apostle, in promoting forward, and putting on these Corinthians to, this work of pious charity: he insinuates their present forwardness, to provoke them to farther forwardness; he tells them, it was superfluous for him to use farther arguments with them; for their forwardness was known unto him, and boasted of by him, to the Mascedonians, that the Christians in Achaia (of which Corinth was the chief city) had made a proposal to supply the poor saints of Judea a year ago; and that their zeal therein had provoked very many to the like forwardness.

It is very happy, when the ministers of Christ find their people foreward and ready to every good work, to costly works of charity especially; yet it will be their wisdom, by commending their people for what they have done, to encourage them to do farther; not only for increasing their own reward, but for provoking many to do the like: I know the forwardness of your mind, and that your zeal hath provoked very many.

Fuente: Expository Notes with Practical Observations on the New Testament

Verse 1 Paul knew that the Corinthians would give to care for the poor saints.

Fuente: Gary Hampton Commentary on Selected Books

2Co 9:1-2. As touching the ministering to the saints Contributing to their relief, see on Rom 15:26; it is superfluous for me to write More largely and particularly. For I know Rather, have known, in former instances, and have now again learned from Titus; the forwardness of your mind Your readiness to assist in this good work; for which I boast of you to them of Macedonia To the Christians in that province, with whom he then was; that Achaia Whereof Corinth was the chief city; was ready Was prepared; a year ago Or since the last year, as properly signifies. So the apostle thought when he boasted of the Corinthians to the Macedonians. For in his former letter, which was written in the end of the preceding year, he had exhorted them to make the collection, and had given it in charge to Titus, who carried that letter, to encourage them in the work. Besides, the Corinthians having expressed the greatest respect for the apostle in the letter which they sent to him, and the messengers, who brought him that letter, having assured him of their disposition to obey him in every thing, he did not doubt of their having complied with his request. And therefore, when he went into Macedonia the following spring, after pentecost, he told the Macedonian churches that Achaia was prepared since the end of the last year, firmly believing that it was so. Macknight.

Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

For as touching the ministering to the saints, it is superfluous for me to write to you:

Fuente: McGarvey and Pendleton Commentaries (New Testament)

2 Corinthians Chapter 9

In the next chapter the apostle (being on his way to Judea) exhorts the Corinthians to prepare relief for the poor of Israel; sending Titus that all might be ready as of a willing mind-a disposition of which he had spoken on his journey as existing among these Christians, so that others had been stirred up to give likewise. And now, while reckoning upon their goodwill, and knowing that they had begun a year before. he would run no risk of finding that facts gave the lie to what he had said of them. Not that he would burden the Corinthians and ease those of Judea, but that the rich should provide for the need of the poor brethren, in order that none should be in want. Every one, if his will were in it, should be accepted of God according to his ability. He loved a cheerful giver. Only they should reap according as they sowed. Titus, happy at the result of his first visit, and attached to the Corinthians, was ready to go again and gather this fruit also for their own blessing. With him went the messengers of the other churches, charged with the collection made among them for the same purpose-a brother known to all the churches, and another of approved diligence, stimulated by Pauls confidence in the Corinthians. The apostle would not take charge of the money without having companions whose charge it should also be, avoiding all possibility of reproach in affairs of this kind, taking care that everything should be honest before men as well as before God. Nevertheless he did not speak by commandment in all this, but on account of the zeal of other churches, and to prove the sincerity of their love.

It will be remembered that it was this collection which occasioned all that happened to Paul at Jerusalem-that which put an end to his ministry, stopped him on his way into Spain, and perhaps other places; and which, on the other hand, gave occasion to write the epistles to the Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, Philemon, and, it may be, to the Hebrews. How little we know the bearing of the circumstances we enter upon, happy that we are led by Him who knows the end from the beginning, and who makes all things work for good to those who love Him!

In closing those exhortations to give according to their ability, he commends them to the rich goodness of God, who was able to make them abound in all things, so that they should be in circumstances to multiply their good works, enriched to all bountifulness, so as to produce in others (by means of the apostles services in this respect) thanksgiving unto God. For, he adds, the happy effect of your practical charity, exercised in the name of Christ, would not only supply the want of the saints (through his administration of the collection made at Corinth) but abound also in thanksgiving to God; for, those who received it blessed God that their benefactors had been brought to confess the name of Christ, and to act with this practical liberality to them and to all. And this thought stirred them up to pray with fervent desire for those who provided in this way for their need, because of the grace of God manifested in them. Thus the bonds of eternal charity were strengthened on both sides, and glory redounded to God. Thanks be to God, says the apostle, for His unspeakable gift; for whatsoever may be the fruits of grace, we have the proof and the power in that which God has given. Here ends the matter of the epistle properly so called.

Fuente: John Darby’s Synopsis of the New Testament

1. But concerning the ministry to the saints, it is superfluous for me to write to you. In view of the glorious encouragement Titus gave him, he feels very bold to approach them on all subjects. So he takes strong hold on them in behalf of the poor saints.

2. For I know your promptitude, which I am in the habit of boasting to the Macedonians, that Achaia was ready from last year. Oh, your zeal has aroused many.

3. I also sent the brethren in that our boasting in your behalf in this region may not be empty. He had sent unto them Timothy and Titus, and their evangelistic comrades, so there would be no delinquency on this line nor any other. In order that as I said, ye may be prepared.

4. Lest perhaps, if the Macedonians may come along with me and should find you unprepared, we (in order that we may not say you) may be put to shame in this confidence. Certainly he would be in a serious dilemma if, after boasting of the Achaians to the Macedonians, some of the latter should accompany him (as they did) and find Achaia unprepared. Hence the pertinency of sending on the brethren and working the matter in anticipation. Preachers need common sense as well as other people.

5. Therefore I considered it necessary to exhort the brethren [i.e., Titus and his two helpers] that they come to you beforehand and previously prepare you? long-announced benefaction, that the same may be ready as a beneficence and not as a stingy offering. We see here that Paul was very particular about that contribution. He was not satisfied simply to raise the amount, but he was determined that it should be a blessing to the donor. He constantly uses the word eulogia, which means a spiritual blessing, and charis, which is the regular word for the grace of God. God help us all to heed the Pauline example and remember that we have no right to take contribution for the cause of God unless it comes in such a way as to be a positive spiritual blessing. Oh, how this knocks up all of your church festivals and various devices to raise money just any way you can get it. How shameful these devices, when as a rule the money is not needed except to sacrifice to church pride and enjoy the honor of paying the full assessments, which are frequently several times more than necessary; e. g., raise ten thousand dollars to run the church when it would actually be better to run it on two thousand. Here Paul refuses to accept, even for Gods poor, a stingy contribution. Would it not do the poor saints just as well as if it had been given cheerfully? So did not Paul make a mistake? Oh, no! God has charge of His poor, and it is an insult to Him to take a stingy contribution. Church benefactions are all taken up in the name of the great God, who is infinite. Hence it is grievous to Him to resort to the claptrap policy of church frolics, festivals and fandangos. No wonder the church is dead and the people going to Hell in platoons, when the hue and cry is money, and all sorts of questionable strategy laid under contribution to get it, and behind the whole compoodle enormous and utterly unnecessary assessments laid on the people in order to raise a big lot of money that the pastors family may live like kings in pomp and splendor, thus exposed to the most terrible temptation to lead a proud, wicked life, and turn out wicked and worldly, for which they are actually proverbial, lead many to ruin and make their bed in Hell.

6. But I say this, He that soweth sparingly shall also reap sparingly, and he that soweth unto blessings hall also reap unto blessings. Here we see Paul settles the matter that all financial contributions to the Lord shall be given in such a way as to be a spiritual blessing to the donor at the time he takes the contribution. Hence our collections should be religious services, as spiritual and profitable in the way of spiritual edification and inspiring as our praying. Others likewise will forfeit the final blessing resulting from the benefaction. How can this be? Will not the contribution prove a blessing in the end, even if I give it grudgingly or actuated by pride? The answer is in the negative. It is the same as if you cast it into the sea, for unless you give it unto blessings, you shall not receive reward unto blessings. Why, Paul, will not a stingy contribution help the saints at Jerusalem? The answer is in the negative. Why? The saints are not dependent on human liberality. Gods ravens are not all dead. He can take care of His poor and His missionaries as well without you as with you. Let us not be caught in the devils delusion to think we are important. If we should die, we would not be missed. N. B. God can run His machinery without us. God is better than any board of stewards or finance committee.

7. As each one hath determined in his heart, not from reluctance or from necessity. The Holy Ghost here actually uses a pleonasm and tautology, two grammatical errors in the estimation of modern critics, in order to enforce the grand fact that He does not want the contributions which are not made cheerfully, willingly, gladly and adoringly, in such a way as to be a spiritual blessing to the contributor at the time. Hence we are to pray over this part of the service like we do our preaching and altar work, and everything connected with the worship of God. I believe that it is a great mistake to refrain from singing while taking up a contribution, because a really good spiritual song would prove the vehicle of the Holy Ghost to pour blessings on the congregation during the contribution. I love Revelation John Norberrys methods. He passes no contribution boxes, but exhorts the people to give with an eye single to the glory of God or withhold their contribution, all standing and coming forward and laying their money on a table while the doxology and other good songs of a most spiritual character are being sung by the whole congregation, the pastor and many others leading the way to the Lords table, laying down their contributions and then falling on their knees in adoration and supplication, meanwhile all the congregation enjoy the privilege to come or send their gifts to the treasury of the Lord. We have in this sentence the preposition both before lupee, reluctance, and anangkee, necessity, a grammatical pleonasm and tautology, in order to enforce with burning emphasis Gods prohibition of that blasphemous religious farce which so frequently derogates and pollutes His house. This salient fact should be emphasized before every congregation and efforts made to keep people from thus recklessly and blasphemously grieving the Holy Ghost by giving from reluctance, i. e., when it does not come freely from the heart as an offering to the Lord, enjoyed and appreciated as a precious privilege and a means of grace. Again, we are not to give from necessity, i. e., with a feeling that I have to do it or the Lords preachers and the poor saints will starve. That is a downright insult to God in His own house, who says, The earth is the Lords, and the fullness thereof. If I were hungry I would not tell you, for the cattle on a thousand hills are mine. The popular churches are everywhere blaspheming the name of God and disgracing Him before the infidels by this constant, indiscriminate and unscrupulous effort to get money. The result is they actually run into idolatry, ceasing to worship the God of the universe, who is infinitely rich, and disgusted and blasphemed by their stingy and reluctant contributions. But millions are actually worshipping a poor little god who is in an awful financial embarrassment and no akin to the omnipotent Jehovah, who sits upon the circle of the Heavens and turns the seasons round, with millions of ravens ready to fly and carry bread to every missionary girdling the globe and every suffering saint beneath the skies. When the Lord sanctified me thirty years ago He gave me light on this subject. Since that time I have been circuit rider, presiding elder, and occupied a diversity of ministerial relations. But I have stuck close to the Word of the Lord on finances. Twenty-eight years ago my Conference sent me to an old, dead, run-down circuit. My stewards met me and all wanted to resign, giving as a reason that none of the members were willing to pay the preacher, and they just had to wring from them their stingy and reluctant contributions amid rebellion, denunciation, and even abuse, because they asked them for ministerial support. I said to them, I have but one charge to make you with reference to your duty to collect money for me, and that is that you be sure that you never receive anything that is not given with a free and cheerful heart. If I find out to the contrary I will send back everything that is reluctantly contributed. Well, they said, you will starve sure, for with all our efforts we have never been able to raise the pastors salary in full, and you will just about get nothing. I not only thus charged my stewards, but I told the people from the pulpit what they had said to me about finances, and my order to them, then repeating it to the people: I am glad to tell you that I serve a God who owns millions of immortal worlds and mountains of gold and silver. Be sure that you make no contribution to me this year unless you do it with an eye single to the glory of God, as a means of grace and blessing to your own souls. The year passed away. The people gave me more than I knew what to do with, actually more than double the amount in former years assessed for the support of my predecessors, which, by all their financial strategy, they had never been able to collect in full. The stewards told me that the people ran after them from all directions with their contributions, begging them to receive them. Of course God was with us that year, gloriously converting four hundred people within the boundary of my little circuit, so that I went up to Conference with three times as many members as I had at the beginning of the year, meanwhile giving the Baptists ninety and the Presbyterians thirty who ha been gloriously converted at our altars. For many years I have traveled five to twenty-five thousand miles per annum with no person on the globe in any way being responsible for a penny, God Himself being my support, temporal as well as spiritual. Obedience to these commandments would actually bring a revival wave over the dead churches of Christendom, rolling from ocean to ocean like a sea of glory. Oh! that we could all wake up and take God in our finances an everything else. I am now preaching on the Atlantic Coast, responsive to calls which I received in California, four thousand miles distant. My response to the question, What must we pay you to come to New England? was the simple statement in brackets on a postal card: No charge. I travel constantly throughout the continent, making no charge and recognizing no financial obligation anywhere. God is better than all the banks in America. Do not fear. If you are doing His work, His ravens are already on the wing. For God loves a laughing giver. The Greek is hilaros, i. e., hilarious, the same word used in English, slightly modified in the spelling pursuant to the idiom of the English language. Look in your dictionary for hilarious. You will find it means laughing uproariously. Remember this giving is an act of devotion to God, which He blesses like He does your prayers, testimonies, songs, sermons and exhortations. The idea here is that you are to be so glad of the opportunity to co-operate with God in the salvation of the world that you will accompany your contribution with a glorious, uproarious, religious laugh, a regular hallelujah gaudeamus. This is the way the colored people in the South have astonished the world by building up church edifices and school-houses all over the country since they were emancipated in abject poverty. They walk up with shining faces and hilarious shouts and lay it down on the table. If the preachers and deacons would everywhere not only proclaim but enforce this rule, their finances would not only prove a paradoxical success, but instead of chilling the spiritual ardor would prove the vehicle of fiery baptisms poured on the congregation, and actual incentives to revival power.

8. But God is able to cause all grace to abound unto you in order that always in everything, having all sufficiency, you may abound in every good work . God help us to believe this truth, and make our contributions with a free will and a glad heart, hailing the glorious privilege and appreciating the means of grace, utterly saved from the diabolical lie that would make us feel that our poor benefaction is in any way a necessity to the cause of God. Oh, that we may constantly recognize in our God all sufficiency, temporal as well as spiritual! Such are His infinite resources that He can do without any of us and not know the difference. Here is the great culminating fact revealed. Our God has all sufficiency, temporal and spiritual, so that He does not need us nor anything we can do; meanwhile it is a privilege so glorious to be permitted to co-operate with God in His glorious philanthropy for the salvation and amelioration of the world that we should leap with joy and laugh uproariously, with the very ebullition of holy gratitude at the very thought of being permitted to bear some humble part in the glorious work of our wonderful Savior in redeeming this poor lost world from in, death and Hell.

9. As has been written, He has scattered abroad, He hath given to the poor, His righteousness endureth forever. What a wonderful promise! If you scatter your benefactions to the ends of the earth for the glory of God, helping the missionaries in all lands, and gladdening the hearts of the poor, your righteousness will endure forever. Here is a perfect guarantee against all backsliding.

10. He that ministers seed to the sower and bread for eating shall supply and multiply your seed, and increase the fruits of your loving Heavenly Father. In ten thousand mysterious ways He will, to your own unutterable astonishment, multiply the seed which you are sowing in all the earth and increase the fruits of your righteousness. How glorious it will be when the guardian angels in Heaven shall introduce to you many a soul saved through your instrumentality! Your little contributions crossed the great ocean, traveled half around the world, and carried the gospel to souls perishing for the Bread of Life. The guardian angels know you and know them. Happy will be your introduction in Heaven to the souls saved through your humble benefaction while toiling in earthly poverty.

11. In everything being enriched unto all liberality, which worketh out through us thanksgiving unto God. Here you see Paul prays that the Corinthian saints may be enriched unto all liberality, i. e., liberality in every respect and in the superlative degree. This liberality, which makes every little contribution a laughing blessing, is really a spiritual grace, the beautiful and delicious fruit of the blessed Holy Spirit Himself. And it works out in us gratitude to God. Oh, how infinitely alien from every conception of reluctance, burden or necessity! The idea here is that it works in us adoring thanksgiving to God for the blessed privilege.

12. Because the ministry of this offering is not only supplying the deficiencies of the saints, but also abounding through much thanksgiving unto God. Here you see the double inducement to participate in this philanthropy; i. e., because they are not only supplying the deficiencies for the saints, which is a glorious privilege and to them a great blessing, but it is reacting in showers of blessing on both the donors and the beneficiaries in the way of adoring gratitude to God, which of itself is a grand and amiable spiritual grace.

13. Through the proof of this ministration glorifying God for the subjection of your confession unto the gospel of Christ and the liberality of your contribution as regards them and as regards all men. How elaborately here Paul enlarges upon the gracious aspect of this contribution! exhibiting before the world the rich spiritual enduement of Christian liberality.

14. Through their prayer in your behalf longing after you with Christian affection on account of the grace of God which superabounds unto you. How beautiful this incentive: The Jerusalem saints will not only pray for you incessantly, but will actually long to see you and enjoy your saintly fellowship, drawn toward you with holy admiration on account of the sweet grace of God which actually superabounds in you.

15. Thanks be unto God for His unspeakable gift; i. e., His own Son to come down, suffer and die to redeem us all from sin, death and Hell; in consideration of which momentous reality how glad should we be to cast in our little mite and bear some humble part in the glorious enterprise for which God gave His only Son to die. This is the climax of all incentives to Christian liberality.

Fuente: William Godbey’s Commentary on the New Testament

2Co 9:1. Touching the ministering to the saints in Judea, it is superfluous for me to write to you. What a method of finding the avenues of the heart. He knew their forwardness he had boasted of it in Macedonia. Being himself the model of every virtue, he had their hearts, and their cash at his command. Opulent Corinth being a proverb, he was the bolder to glean in Boazs field.

2Co 9:3. Yet have I sent the brethren. Though he knew the power of charity, yet he knew also that the means must not be neglected.

2Co 9:7. God loveth a cheerful giver. When the sons of Athaliah, that wicked woman, had plundered and defaced the temple, Joash the young king, and Jehoiada the highpriest, made a chest, and set it in the gate of the temple, which was daily so filled with money that the temple was repaired without constraint. 2 Kings 12 :2Ch 24:7-14. Our Saxon fathers, in building churches, discovered great liberality to the cause of Christ. They first ge-timbered, and then erected temples of stone.

2Co 9:10. He that ministereth seed to the sower, ministereth bread for your food. Our version reads awkwardly. The three Greek verbs should be properly rendered. Now he who ministers seed to the sower, will supply you with bread, and multiply the seed of your alms, and augment more and more the fruit of your righteousness. God who gives the seed, supplies the sower with bread, and multiplies his seed to a harvest. On this principle the hundred and twelfth Psalm is composed, and conformably to all the temporal blessings of the covenant. On the contrary, the prophets in succession declare that short harvests were the consequence of defrauding the altar, robbing the poor, and making feasts to Baal.

And encrease the fruits of your righteousness. zedek, when used of the righteousness of men, often designates alms, as is the reading of the LXX in Dan 4:27. Deu 6:25. In other places it designates righteousness in general, piety, benignity, and goodwill to men.

2Co 9:14. For the exceeding grace of God in you. How just is this whole scale of argument! Wheat when sown produces wheat, so grace in the heart produces righteousness in the life; yea, a plenteous harvest, which God heaped on the liberal Corinthians, according to the fulness of the promises, in all temporal and spiritual blessings.

REFLECTIONS.

What a master was Paul in soliciting charity! His own heart was really enkindled with the flame, for he knew the poor and persecuted state of the churches in Judea, and communicated the sparks with a successful touch. It is not enough to gain the judgment, the heart in all works of charity must yield to its influence. The case was strong and urgent; in fact, it was a debt that could never be adequately discharged: the gospel had been sent to them from Judea.

He asks them to give of their superabundance, as God had liberally given to them. He asks this ere the Macedonian brethren came, who had contributed to this popular cause beyond their ability. He asks it that he might not be ashamed of his boastings of Corinthian charity. He asks it as a freewill-offering, as the oblation of a heart glowing with goodwill to men. He asks it under the idea of a certain reward, for he who sows liberally shall reap a luxuriant harvest. This is a sentiment which reigns through the scriptures, and must reign while God is the rewarder of them that diligently seek him. He asks it by the godlike pleasure it would communicate to the givers, as well as to the saints in Judea. It would be on the hills as the refreshing rain, after a parched and droughty season. It would confirm their faith in him who feeds the ravens, and clothes the flowers of the field. They would glorify God to see the gentiles imbibe all the grace and glory of the gospel. Their daily prayers would implore blessings on their Grecian brethren; and their devotions would be enlivened with thanks to God for his unspeakable gift.

Fuente: Sutcliffe’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

2Co 9:1-5. On the general subject, the obligation to provide assistance for Gods people, there is no need for Paul to write to the Corinthians. They have already acknowledged that obligation, and Paul has proudly announced their willingness to the Macedonians, a willingness which included the churches of Greece to which Corinth stood as centre. What he is now concerned about, and taking steps to secure, is the fulfilment of their promises and a fulfilment in the spirit of bountifulness and not of grudging calculation.

Fuente: Peake’s Commentary on the Bible

Paul does not stress the rightness of their ministering to the saints: this would be superfluous, for of this they were already persuaded, and so expressed themselves, so that Paul had boasted to the Macedonians of them. It seems the repetition here is because Paul is concerned that there be no misunderstanding by the Corinthians as to the basic principles in this matter. And he assures them that their zeal had stirred many others in the same spirit of liberality.

Paul is sending the brethren in order that the zeal of the Corinthians and the confidence of the apostles in them might not prove in vain, but that they might show themselves ready. For if some from Macedonia were to come with Paul, and find that the Corinthians were unprepared to supply what they had promised, Paul himself would be ashamed, and how much more ought they to be!

For this reason Paul had exhorted the three brethren to go beforehand to Corinth, to be sure their gift was made up and ready to be taken to Jerusalem. Again, he insists that it is a matter of bounty, or “blessing,” that which is given in a thankful, happy spirit, not as being prevailed upon by the covetousness of others.

The last matter now of which he speaks, and which is so necessary to be pressed upon saints, is found in verses 6 to 15. It is the question of the lasting results of present conduct. Paul is concerned about that which is for their own eternal good. It seems the people of God need constant, pressing reminders of this, or they quickly forget. The one who sows sparingly cannot expect to reap otherwise. It is not either that the reaping will be realized only in eternity: such results are often seen in our lives too. As to sowing “bountifully,” it has been observed that this specially emphasizes the liberality of the spirit shown in giving, the individual glad to give as unto the Lord. The reaping will be that of true blessing also.

And each is called upon to purpose in his own heart as to the amount he gives. If Paul presses upon them to give from a right and godly motive, willingly; yet absolutely no pressure must be used in reference to the amount given. What one can give totally ungrudgingly, let him give, not because he feels it incumbent, but rejoicingly. For God loves a cheerful giver. Indeed, this is God’s own character.

Let us remember too that if we restrict our affections and our liberality, God can very easily restrict our very means of livelihood. On the other hand, if in a gracious spirit we show appreciation of His grace, He can make that grace abound toward us, giving us no lack, so that we may be able the more to abound in goodness toward others.

Psa 112:9 is quoted in verse 9 as to the liberality of one who is in that Psalm called “a good man.” It will be the character of the godly in Israel, brought into identification with their Messiah in a future day, and their hearts expanded by grace toward others. The results abide forever. And Paul desires that God, the Source of all fruitfulness, will both supply the daily needs of the Corinthians, and multiply the seed of their giving, increasing the fruits of their righteous self-sacrifice beyond what they have considered. The enrichment in everything that he desires for them is of course with the object of their free-hearted liberality, which would cause on the part of others, through the apostles, “thanksgiving to God.”

For it is not only that the need of the poor saints was supplied by the administration of this provision, but also it would draw forth “many thanksgivings to God.” Is this not an excellent reason for our liberality? Others would glorify God on account of this precious proof of their subjection to the truth of the gospel of Christ, in the freehearted communication of their means for the Lord’s sake. So there are not only results in blessings to the giver, but results in glory being given to God. And besides, the prayers of those receiving would be drawn out more ardently for the givers, not a small consideration, for the reality of the grace of God in some draws out the affections of others.

The subject is closed now by an ascription of thanksgiving to God “for His unspeakable gift.” Who can doubt that he speaks of the Lord Jesus in all that He is and all He has done? What child of God can fail to echo such thanksgiving from the depths of his heart?

Fuente: Grant’s Commentary on the Bible

2 Corinthians 9

2 Corinthians 9:1. The ministering to the saints; the contribution of which he had been speaking.–It is superfluous; that is, perhaps it is superfluous; I might consider it so.

Fuente: Abbott’s Illustrated New Testament

SECTION 12. PAUL HAS SENT TITUS AND OTHERS, THAT THE COLLECTION MAY BE READY WHEN HE ARRIVES. CHS. 8:16-9:5.

But thanks to God who gives the same earnestness on your behalf in the heart of Titus: because, the exhortation, on the one hand, he accepted; but, being more earnest, of his own accord he came forth to you. Moreover, we have sent together with him the brother whose praise in the Gospel is throughout all the churches: and not only so but also elected by the churches as our fellow-traveller with this grace which is being ministered by you, in view of the glory of the Lord and our earnest wish: guarding this, lest any one blame us in this fulness which is being ministered by us. For we take forethought for honourable things, not only before the Lord but also before men. (Pro 3:4.) And we have sent with them our brother whom we have proved in many things often to be earnest, and now much more earnest through much confidence, his confidence in reference to you. Whether on behalf of Titus we speak, he is a partner of mine, and a fellow-labourer for you: or it be our brothers, they are apostles of churches, a glory of Christ. The proof then of your love and of our boasting on your behalf, while you show towards them, you do so in the presence of the churches.

For, on the one hand, about the ministry for the saints it is superfluous to me to write to you. For I know your readiness, of which on your behalf I boast to Macedonians, that Achaia has been prepared from last year. And your zeal has stirred up the more part of them. But I have sent the brothers lest our ground of boasting on your behalf be made vain in this matter; that, as I said, you may be prepared, lest in any way if Macedonians come with me and find you unprepared we be put to shame, that I may not say you, in this confidence. Necessary then I deemed it to exhort the brothers, that they may come beforehand to you and may prepare beforehand your before-promised blessing, that this may be ready, in this way, as blessing and not as greediness.

After giving, in 2Co 8:7-15, as it were covertly, three strong motives for the contribution, Paul takes up again his request (2Co 8:6) that Titus should come to Corinth. He speaks of the mission of Titus (2Co 8:16-17) and another (2Co 8:18-21) and (2Co 8:22) a third; and (2Co 8:23-24) commends them to his readers. The contribution itself he needs to touch (2Co 9:1-2) only for a moment; and then gives (2Co 8:3-5) his purpose in sending the brethren, viz. that when he himself comes he may not be put to shame by the contribution not being ready.

2Co 8:16-17. Pauls thought about Titus, who had brought from Corinth news so good and who acceded so readily to Pauls request to go there on this errand, elicits a shout of joy; as usual, in the form of praise to God. So 2Co 9:15; 2Co 2:14; 1Co 15:57; Rom 6:17. For the readiness of Titus, like all good in man, is the work and gift of God.

The same earnestness: as in Paul.

Gives: it flows forth each moment from God, in the heart of Titus: as in 2Co 8:1 : the spiritual locality in which God works and gives this earnestness. 2Co 8:17 states, in contrast, two facts which together explain the same earnestness.

More earnest; than the foregoing words, had they stood alone, would imply. On the one hand, when Paul asked Titus to go to Corinth he did so, and went there sent by Paul: but so eager was he to complete the work he had begun that his journey was really an outflow of his own earnest wish.

He went forth: as bearer of this letter. Cp. 2Co 8:18; 2Co 8:22; 2Co 9:3; Act 15:22 f, Act 15:27. For, the explanation of his mission given in 2Co 9:5 would be needed as soon as he arrived in Corinth: and this verse implies that the letter did not precede him.

2Co 8:18-21. We: probably Paul and Timothy; cp. 2Co 1:1. So ready was Paul to join others with himself in all acts of authority.

Together with; lays emphasis on the companionship in this mission.

In the Gospel: Rom 1:9 : in proclaiming and furthering it. For this he was well spoken of in all the churches. Such men must have been then, as now, a link binding together the various churches. He was not only praised in all the churches but also elected to accompany Paul in taking the contribution to Judaea. Cp. 1Co 16:3 f.

By the churches: probably of Macedonia only. Cp. Rom 15:26. It is difficult to say whether our fellow-traveller, by us, include Timothy, or refer only to Paul as in 1Th 3:1-6. For we do not know whether Timothy went, or when this letter was written intended to go, to Jerusalem. But, that we have no proof that elsewhere in this Epistle Paul uses the words we, our of himself alone, and Timothys presence with him (Act 20:4) when starting from Corinth for Jerusalem, suggest that these words refer to Paul and Timothy.

Elected: same word in Act 14:23. In both passages apostolic authority (we sent) is combined with popular election.

This grace: as in 2Co 8:4; 2Co 8:6-7.

Ministered: as in 2Co 3:3; see under Rom 12:7. By suggesting, carrying out, and taking to Jerusalem, the contribution, Paul performed a free and honorable service for the brethren there.

With a view to etc.: two considerations before the Macedonian Christians when electing this brother as Pauls companion; viz. the Lords glory, i.e. the exaltation of Christ in the eyes of men through performance of the work for which he was elected, and Pauls earnest wish that some one should be chosen to go with him. The former consideration reveals the spiritual aim of the election, and that the honor of Christ was involved in it: the latter shows that the election was compliance with a wish of the apostle.

Earnest-wish: same as readiness or eagerness in 2Co 8:11-12; 2Co 9:2; Rom 1:15; Act 17:11. It is the disposition which prompts men to act.

Guarding this etc.; grammatically connected we have sent, explains our earnest wish, which needs explanation. In wishing for a colleague Paul, and perhaps Timothy, were guarding against blame which otherwise might attach to themselves. Cp. 2Co 6:3.

Fulness: rich liberality. It is an acknowledgment of the greatness of the contribution.

For we (Paul and his colleagues) take forethought etc.: reason for guarding against blame. It is a general principle, quoted almost word for word from Pro 3:4, LXX. Cp. Rom 12:17. They sought the approval, not only of Christ who reads the heart and who knew their honesty, but of men, who judge by appearances. They therefore suggested that a colleague be elected for them in this financial business. Thus the election was for the glory of Christ, and in compliance with an earnest wish of the apostle.

Notice Pauls careful forethought. Although his own honesty was probably above suspicion, he foresaw a time when similar matters must be entrusted to men less known than himself, and felt the great importance of guarding, in church finance, against even a breath of suspicion. He therefore urged the Macedonian Christians to establish the precedent of committing such matters to at least two persons; a precedent well worthy of imitation now.

Who the elected brother was, we have no means of knowing. All guesses are worthless. His formal election by the Macedonians, which would be announced to the Corinthians, made mention of his name unnecessary.

2Co 8:22. A second companion of Titus; and like the former, quite unknown to us. He had proved himself to be an earnest man, not in some one matter but in many, and often: and at the present time he was much more earnest than usual, moved to earnestness by his confidence about the Corinthians. Therefore, both his general character and his special interest in them commend him to the readers. And of all this Paul has had proof. This testimony suggests that his brother was less known than the former one. And, that only the first brother is said to have been elected by the churches, and that the purpose of the election (2Co 8:20) is stated before mention of the second brother, suggests that he was not thus elected. If so, the word apostles in 2Co 8:23 denotes only that his association with the chosen delegate was approved by the churches.

2Co 8:23. A commendation of the three messengers.

Partner: in toil and peril. Same word in 2Co 1:7; 1Co 10:18; 1Co 10:20; Phm 1:17; Heb 10:33; 1Pe 5:1; 2Pe 1:4; Mat 23:30; Luk 5:10.

Fellow-worker: 2Co 1:24; 1Co 3:9; Rom 16:3; Rom 16:9; Rom 16:21. That Titus was a companion of their beloved apostle and a worker with him for their good, was his high commendation. The other two have three commendations. They are brothers in Christ, apostles approved and sent by Christian churches, men whose mission and work reveal the glory of Christ.

Apostle: in its simplest sense of one sent on some special business. See under Rom 1:1.

Glory of Christ; recalls 2Co 8:19, for the Lords glory. Cp. 1Co 11:7; 1Th 2:20. As men sent with a view to the Lords glory, i.e. to guard and magnify His honor, they were themselves in their mission and work an embodiment of His glory. Notice the gradation. To Paul and his readers they are brothers: to whole churches they are specially related as their apostles; and to Christ as men bringing Him glory.

2Co 8:24. A motive, drawn from 2Co 8:23, for receiving the messengers worthily. Owing to their just stated relationships, what you do to them, you do in the presence of the churches who sent them.

Your love: to Christians generally. So 2Co 8:8, proving the genuineness of your love. It includes kindness to the messengers and liberality towards the poor saints at Jerusalem.

Our exultation: explained further in 2Co 9:2-4, for which these words prepare the way. On the various reading see Notes and Replies on page XIII.

2Co 9:1-2. After commending the three messengers, Paul gives in 2Co 9:3-5 the purpose for which he has sent them. But this he prefaces by saying in 2Co 9:1-2 that he has no reason to write to them about the collection itself.

For about etc.: reason why, instead of speaking about the collection, Paul merely bids his readers receive the messengers worthily.

On the one hand; implies that Paul mentions the ministry for the saints (2Co 8:4) only by way of contrast to a detail about it, viz. the mission (2Co 9:3) of the three brethren.

Superfluous etc.; (cp. 1Th 4:9;) reveals the apostles usual courtesy and tact.

For I know, etc.: reason why it is superfluous to write.

Eagerness, or readiness: 2Co 8:19.

On your behalf: in your favor.

I exult: even now he continues to boast about them.

To Macedonians: to some, not necessarily all of them.

That Achaia etc.: the matter of Pauls boasting. It implies that not only at Corinth but throughout the province the collection was eagerly agreed to from the first.

Has been ready: i.e. they had according to Pauls advice, (1Co 16:1,) the money ready at home. For it is evident that the general gathering had not yet been made: whereas, that Paul continues to boast, proves that his boasting was not a mistake.

From last year: as in 2Co 8:10.

Stirred up: same word in a bad sense in Col 3:21.

The more part: the majority, as in 2Co 2:6.

Pauls continued boasting about the Corinthians implies that, in the previous year when the matter of the collection was first brought before them, they took it up eagerly, and were prepared to contribute at once and actually began (2Co 8:10) to contribute. Even the liberality of the Macedonians, for which Paul is so thankful to God, was in great part a result of the example thus nobly set by the Corinthians. All this proves that it is needless for him to write to them about the collection. But it does not prevent him from telling them of the liberality of the Macedonians, that the example of those whom their own liberal purpose had aroused might prompt them to complete at once the work they had been the first to begin. Thus example acts and re-acts.

Since the Corinthians were a year ago ready for the collection, and since three months ago Paul received at Ephesus a deputation of Corinthians who would naturally tell him all that the church had done, we infer that the boasting in 2Co 9:2 was prompted, not by news received in Macedonia from Titus which seems to have been rather unfavorable though not such as to put an end to Pauls boasting, but by earlier news.

2Co 9:3-5. About the collection Paul has no need to write; but he has need to explain why he sent the before mentioned brethren.

Our ground-of-exultation be-made-vain: 1Co 9:15 : lest the excellence of which we boast in your favor be found out to be an empty thing.

In this matter; implies that Pauls exultation about them embraced other points. He feared lest in this detail his boast might prove to be misplaced.

That as I said etc.: parallel to, and explaining, the foregoing purpose.

As I said, you may be etc.: opposite to ground of boasting be made vain.

Prepared; takes up the same word in 2Co 9:2. 2Co 9:4 is a further negative purpose.

We, you: emphatic. Paul speaks of his own shame, that he may avoid speaking of the greater shame which, if found unprepared, would fall upon them.

Exhort: see 2Co 8:6.

Come-beforehand prepare-beforehand: before Paul came.

Before-promised: by Paul. For Pauls boasting about them was virtually a promise of what they would do. It takes up as I said in 2Co 9:3.

Beforehand beforehand before: emphatic alliteration.

Blessing: a benefit, as in Gen 33:11; Jdg 1:15. But usually it denotes a benefit conveyed by a good word. See under Rom 1:25.

In this way etc.; dwells upon the word blessing, which was chosen to suggest this explanation. Paul begs them to contribute not as though it were an act of greedy self-enrichment, (in which case they would do as little as possible to attain their end,) but as an outflow of benevolence, and therefore measured by the greatness of their love. The word blessing is specially appropriate, as recalling Gods benefits in contrast to mans selfishness.

Greediness, or covetousness: literally, having more. Same word in Eph 4:19; Eph 5:3; Col 3:5; 1Th 2:5; Luk 12:15. This exhortation we shall do well to remember in all our gifts.

Of TITUS nothing is said in the Book of Acts. This, though remarkable, accords with the scantiness of its reference (Act 20:2) to the period when this Epistle was written. Nor is he mentioned, apart from this Epistle, except in Gal 2:1; Gal 2:3; 2Ti 4:10; Tit 1:4. Yet he was evidently a noble and valued helper of the apostle.

Titus was (Gal 2:3) a Greek: i.e. not necessarily born in Greece, but of Gentile parents. See under Rom 1:16; and contrast Act 16:3, referring to almost the same time as Gal 2:3. His birth-place is quite unknown. He seems (Tit 1:4) to have been converted by Paul.

We first meet Titus going with Paul to Jerusalem as narrated in Gal 2:1, (same journey apparently as Act 15:2,) probably as representative of the Gentile Christians.

From 2Co 7:14 f we infer that Titus was not a member of the church at Corinth. But Paul (2Co 12:17) sent him there, from Ephesus probably, to promote the collection for the poorer Christians at Jerusalem. That Titus began (2Co 8:6) this collection at Corinth, and that Paul assumes in 1Co 16:1 f that his readers already know about it, implies that this first mission of Titus was not later than the First extant Epistle to the Corinthians, and suggests strongly that it was some time earlier. This is confirmed by the absence of any reference to Titus, Pauls valued colleague, in the First Epistle, and by the fact that, at the instance (2Co 8:6) of Titus, the Corinthians were ready (2Co 9:2; 2Co 8:10) a year ago to contribute. This seems to prove that some months before the First Epistle was written, perhaps in the previous autumn, Paul sent (2Co 12:18) Titus and another to Corinth to begin the collection; and that he did so. Now, 2Co 2:13; 2Co 7:6 ff, imply that personally or by message Paul requested Titus to meet him at Troas, expecting thus news from Corinth, especially about the effect of the First Epistle. That Titus was not at Ephesus or at Corinth when Paul wrote the First Epistle, is made almost certain by its silence about him. But this expectation implies that, although not at Corinth then, Titus was likely to be there either by Pauls request or otherwise soon afterwards. He may have come to Ephesus, and have been at once sent back to Corinth, with directions to meet Paul at Troas: or, while residing elsewhere he may have been requested by Paul to visit Corinth. This would imply, as is by no means unlikely, that Paul sent Titus three times to Corinth. Either of these suppositions would account for all our scanty indications of the movements of Titus. The latter suggestion, as implying less travelling, is rather the more likely of the two. In many ways unknown to us messages may have been sent by Paul to Titus.

After his own hasty (Act 20:1) departure from Ephesus, not finding Titus at Troas, Paul crossed over to Macedonia. Here, though not immediately, Titus met him with good news about the deep repentance and Christian earnestness of the Corinthians, and with information about the progress of the collection. Moved both by the liberality of the Macedonians and by the readiness of the Corinthians, Paul begged Titus (2Co 8:6) to return to Corinth and complete, before (2Co 9:5) the apostles own arrival, the collection he had begun. This, Titus gladly (2Co 8:17) agreed to do; and went from Macedonia to Corinth, accompanied by one brother chosen by the Macedonian churches to go with Paul to take the collection to Jerusalem, and by another sent with the approval of the churches by Paul himself. These messengers took with them (2Co 8:18; 2Co 9:3 f) the Second Epistle. The collection at Corinth was (Rom 15:26) duly made; doubtless in great part by the activity of Titus.

And now we lose sight of Titus for at least five years. In Tit 1:5 we find him again a trusted helper of the apostle, deputed to set in order the imperfectly organized churches in Crete. Paul is very wishful (Tit 3:12) to see him at Nicopolis during the winter. It would seem that later (2Ti 4:10) Titus was with Paul in his last imprisonment at Rome. And, with a touch of sadness, the lonely prisoner says that he has gone, doubtless for a sufficient reason, to Dalmatia.

The gushing joy (2Co 7:7) of Titus about the repentance of the Corinthians, his warm affection (2Co 7:15) for them, and his eagerness (2Co 8:16 f) to visit them again, betray an ardent temperament. He worked in perfect accord (2Co 12:18) with Paul. And, though little known to us, he doubtless had no small share in founding Gentile Christianity.

Fuente: Beet’s Commentary on Selected Books of the New Testament

CHAPTER 9

SYNOPSIS OF THE CHAPTER

i. He proceeds to stimulate the Corinthians to almsgiving by motives of human shame and praise; he bids them not to be put to shame before the liberality of the Macedonians.

ii. He dwells (ver. 6) on the fruits of almsgiving, how it enriches those that give with good things, now and hereafter.

iii. He points (ver. 11) to the thanksgiving that flows from it to God, and the joy of the poor Christians, who are the recipients, and who will pray for their benefactors the Corinthians.

Ver. 1.–For as touching the ministering to the saints. At the end of the last chapter, Paul had commended to them Titus and his companions, but not their errand of collecting alms; for, as he says, it was superfluous for him to write about this, since they were of their own accord ready for it (Anselm). It is a politic device on the part of those that ask for alms to praise the liberality of the givers. Public beggars in the streets and churches are experts at this.

Ver. 2.–Achaia was ready a year ago.-I boast to the Macedonians that you, 0 Corinthians, and the rest of Achaia, have been long ready for this almsgiving; and this zeal of yours, being proclaimed by me, has stimulated others. See, then, by your action that my boasting of you be not in vain, lest we both be put to confusion.

Ver. 5.–As a matter of bounty. As a blessing (Latin version). That your beneficence may seem spontaneous and generous, not extorted from greedy persons (Anselm, Theophylact, Chrysostom). Why bounty is called a blessing is explained in the note to ver. 6. The Greek, denotes both blessing and a good and fruitful contribution or almsgiving (Erasmus). In 1Co 16:1, the Apostle called these contributions or collections . Both meanings have place here. S. Paul is urging the Corinthians to spontaneous and cheerful (denoted by blessing), as well as to fruitful and liberal, contribution. He is engaged in describing the spirit that should animate the giver, viz., one ready and cheerful, unforced, unconstrained, unstained by covetousness or meanness.

Ver. 6.–He which soweth bountifully shall reap also bountifully. Literally, he which soweth in blessings, i.e., liberally scatters, as it were, seeds among the poor, shall reap of them again. For God, who reckons that to be done to Himself which is done to the poor, does not suffer Himself to be surpassed in liberality, but to the liberal is far more liberal, and repays them in greater abundance, both corporal and spiritual gifts. For parallel expressions, cf. Jos 15:19; 1Sa 25:27; Gen 48:25. In this last passage, Jacob hints at the reason why the Hebrew calls beneficence blessing. It is because, by a pious form of speech, they wish to point out that the beneficence of God, which is the fount and origin of all ours, flows from His benediction. With God to bless is to do, and is the same as to benefit, and therefore God by His word alone bestows on us all good things. (2.) Another reason is that the Patriarchs and early Christians, such as the hermits and other Saints of the New Testament, were wont to distribute the gifts with solemn prayer and blessing, and for this reason to call them by the name of . (3.) A third reason is that it is pleasanter, both to giver and receiver, to call the gift an act of benediction rather than of beneficence. Hence poor honest men, when asking for alms, call them benedictions, extenuating their importance, and rich givers in their turn do the same. Theophylact adds that S. Paul by this word stimulates them to cheerful giving, reminding them by it that what they give is a blessing to him that gives and him that takes. No one is saddened by giving such a blessing, but cheerfully imparts it. Cf. also Pro 22:9; Ecc 11:1-3.

Notice also the use of the words “sow” and “reap.” Almsgiving, like other good works, is a seed which produces a harvest of grace, and even of temporal good things, as is explained in vers. 8 and 10. Hence you may infer against Calvin that good works effect and merit a reward, for seed, by its natural powers, produces its proper fruit at harvest-time; therefore almsgiving produces truly its reward, not physically, as is evident, but meritoriously.

Ver. 7.-Not grudgingly or of necessity. Avarice makes reluctance, and regard for one’s reputation induces constraint. Let each man give what he likes, not influenced or compelled by my authority or that of Titus, and not because regard for his honour makes him ashamed of giving less than others.

For God loveth a cheerful giver. Quoted from Prov. xxii. 9, LXX. On cheerfulness in giving, see Rom 12:8. S. Augustine (Enarr. in Ps. xliii.) says beautifully: “If you give your bread grudgingly, you lose both your bread and your reward.” And again (Serm. 45): “If good works are good seeds, why are they sown in tears?” S. Chrysostom (Hom. on 1Co 11:19) says: “If we give cheerfully, our reward will be twofold, one for giving and one for giving cheerfully.” S. Gregory (Morals, 21, c. 11, on Job 31:16) says: “Job thus acted that he might increase his merits, not only by giving but also by the promptitude with which he gave his good things.” Cf. Pro 3:28, Ecclus 35:11. Alms then should be given with cheerful mind, not sadly, reluctantly, and tardily. Thus shall we imitate God, who cheerfully distributes His gifts.

The heathen depict the Graces as three sisters, embracing one another but looking in different directions. They meant by this to signify how gifts should be distributed. The first, named Aglaia, denotes generosity, it being better to give than to receive. “For he who receives a kindness sells his freedom,” says the jester of P. Syrus. The second is called Thalia, i.e., flourishing in the midst of the course. The third is called Euphrosyne, or joy; for both he that gives and he that receives rejoice in the kindness done-God loveth a cheerful giver. Cf. Seneca (de Beneficiis).

Ver. 8.-And God is able to make all grace abound toward you. This is an answer to an objection: You will say to me, If I give much, I shall become poor, I shall be unable for the future to help my servants and others who are in more need (Theophylact). To this the Apostle answers: Do not be afraid of that; believe and hope in God, who is able to make all grace (or beneficence-Syriac) abound toward you, so that you shall always have a sufficiency of goods, out of which you may abound in every good work. God can and does enrich those that give alms, so that they have always means to spend, and so can abound in works of charity.

God is able denotes not only the power but also the act of God. The phrase is a meiosis. Similarly, a king might say to his commander-in-chief: “Go, end the war, spare no expense. I am able to bear it, and to enrich you as well.”

In the Greek there is a beautiful use of the word all, which is three times repeated in the last clause of this verse, “always having all sufficiency in all things.” Not in some particular necessity, but in all; not at one time, but always; not some sufficiency but all sufficiency will God give you, to enable you to succour others.

Again, S. Paul does not here speak of abundance, says Theophylact, but sufficiency, enough for one’s self and one’s own. Perhaps he means to imply that he who is content with his lot, and has enough for himself and his family, desires no more. God alone is properly said to be self-sufficient, being One who has no need of any one, and rests wholly in Himself. An almsgiver partakes of the same character. An avaricious man, on the other hand, is never satisfied-“the more that waters are drunk the more are they thirsted for;” and so it is with riches. Hence the avaricious man is always in need. But self-sufficiency, as Clement (Pdag. lib. ii. c. 12) says, is a virtue which makes us contented; or it is a habit of mind that is content with such things as are needful, and which by itself acquires those things which belong to the life of bliss. Hippias (Suidas, sub Verbo Hippias) made self-sufficiency or a contented mind the end of all good. Moreover, Epicurus used to say that “sufficiency is the richest possession” (Clement, Strom. lib. vi.). In the same sense Cicero said (Paradox 1) that “to live happily, contentment was virtue enough.” Socrates, too (apud Plat. Dial 3 de Legibus), thus prays: “Let me have as much gold as a temperate man can bear.” For further notes on this subject, cf. 1Ti 6:6, and Phi 4:11.

Ver. 9.–As it is written, He hath dispersed abroad (Psa 112:9). In all necessities, in all places, and at all times, a merciful man, such as S. Laurence, of whom the Church sings, distributes his goods and his alms; in the same way he who sows scatters his seed. The Apostle wishes to prove that God makes all grace to abound towards almsgivers, and gives them full sufficiency for that grace (beneficence). He proves this from the fact that the giver of alms of his sufficiency distributes his alms, disperses them as seed on every side, not among his boon-companions or free-lovers, but among the poor. cumenius says that the word “dispersed” denotes the largeness of the alms given. It also implies that these alms are not wasted or thrown away.

His righteousness remaineth for ever. Remains in God’s memory and in its eternal reward, as in its harvest. So, too, when the husbandman scatters his seed he does not lose it, but entrusts it to the ground, that he may receive a hundred-fold in return. Almsgiving, therefore, is everlasting, and blesses the giver with everlasting glory. Hence the Psalmist also says: “The righteous shall be in everlasting remembrance; he shall not be afraid of evil tidings; his horn” (his dignity, strength, and, as Theodoret says, his power) “shall be exalted with honour;” in other words, it shall daily increase until it be exalted in the highest in celestial glory.

His righteousness or his beneficence does not perish, but remains before God to be rewarded here and hereafter. S. Chrysostom (Hom. 9 de Pnit.) says: “Heaven is to be gained by merchandise and trafficking. Give bread and you will receive paradise; give a little and gain much; give what is mortal and you will receive what is immortal.”

Observe that in Scripture almsgiving, which is an act of mercy, is called righteousness, both because it forms a large part of righteousness in general, which embraces all virtues, as also because it is a mark of righteousness and holiness. The Saints are merciful, “but the tender mercies of the wicked are cruel” (Pro 12:10). A third reason is that it disposes to righteousness, and merits it, firstly, de congruo, and secondly, de condigno, as increasing righteousness. Hence, it is to the merciful alone that Christ gives the crown of righteousness (S. Mat 25:35). Hence, too, those that are hardened in evil must be exhorted as a last remedy to give alms, as Daniel did Nebuchadnezzar (Dan 4:24).

Ver. 10.-Now he that ministereth seed to the sower. This again is an answer to an objection which might be urged from the Psalm quoted. It might be said. You prove clearly enough, Paul, that alms remain in their heavenly reward, but I do not yet see how you prove from that that we ought not to impoverish ourselves. You have, therefore, given no answer to my first objection that if, I give alms liberally I shall make myself poor, and be unable for the future to give help to others. S. Paul’s answer to this is, that the contrary is implied in the verse of the Psalm he has just quoted. As a master who supplies his husbandman with seed to sow his field, provides him also with bread to eat, and multiplies his seed, that is the grain sown, at harvest times, so that for one bushel he receives three, which he can sow again, and receives still more at the next harvest, and so on from year to year-so much more shall God, who gives to almsgivers goods to disperse to the poor, give them bread and all other necessaries of life; nay, more, He shall multiply their seed or goods to sow again and disperse to the poor. For God is our Master; we are His husbandmen: His field is the poor, and alms are the seed. God, then, wishes us as His husbandmen, to scatter His seed (alms) over His field (the poor). Much more, if we do that, will He give us nourishment and a harvest of goods to sow again. Let rich men remember that their riches are given them as seed to disperse to the poor, not to store up in their coffers or to be spent on costly clothing or luxurious living. “It is,” says Cicero, “a work of liberality to sow seeds of kindness, so as to be able to reap a harvest from them.”

Gregory of Tours (Hist. Gallic. lib. v. c. 38) highly praises the Christian Emperor Tiberius for his almsgiving, and says that he uttered the following words, worthy of an emperor: “There will be no deficiency in our treasury so long as the poor receive alms, and captives are redeemed. For if we do these things, great will be our treasure, according to the words of the Lord, ‘Lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven.’ Let us then lay up in store in heaven by the hands of the poor from what God has given us, that the Lord may vouchsafe to increase our goods on earth.” No wonder that God increased his wealth. He saw one day a cross engraved on the pavement, and when, out of veneration for it, he ordered the stone to be taken up, he found under it a vast treasure, containing more than 100,000 pieces of gold. Then, when, according to his wont, he distributed of it largely to the poor, God gave him another treasure already amassed for him by Narsetes, Duke of Italy. This was found in a cistern, in which, when they opened it, they found so much gold and silver that it took several days to carry it away. Cf. Baronius (Annals, A.D. 582).

Both minister. The Latin version with the Syriac gives the future, shall minister, instead of the optative. Theophylact, Erasmus, and Vatablus read the optative. The future is better, because, as I said, Paul is endeavouring to banish from their minds all fear of poverty. But this is not to be done by wishing, but by making assertions and promising bread, seed, and fruits.

Multiply your seed sown. Your temporal goods. S. Basil (Hom. 13 de Eleemos.) says: “As seed cast into the ground brings forth fruit an hundredfold, so do alms given to the poor. If you have then but one loaf, and it be asked for at the door, take it and lift up your hands to heaven and say, ‘Of my little I give to my brother, and do Thou, 0 Lord, supply my want.’ Then doubt not that the bread given out of your poverty will abundantly minister you seed for sowing.” And again, commenting on S. Luk 12:18, he says: “As wells that are continuously drawn from send forth a sweeter and more copious supply of water, while if neglected and undisturbed they soon grow foul, so are riches when stored up useless, but when transferred to the poor they bring forth fruit.” Clement of Alexandria (Pdag. lib. iii. c. 7) uses this same simile of a well, and adds another. He says. “As milk commonly flows into those breasts that are sucked, so does wealth flow to those who spend it.” S. Cyprian says the same (Tract. de 0pere et Eleemos.), and adds that the best inheritance that parents can leave their children is alms given, and the more children there are the more liberal should the almsgiving be. He proves this by the example of the widow of Sarepta (1 Kings7) and from Tob. 4:7. Cf. Pro 28:27, and Psa 37:26.

Very many remarkable examples are given by Leontius, in his “Life of John the Almoner,” who, like the Emperor Titus, bewailed that he had lost a day because he had given no alms. “Even if the world,” he said, “were to come into Alexandria, it would not narrow my liberality and wealth.” This he learnt from a vision he saw of a certain virgin named Mercy, who, standing before God, seemed to obtain from Him all that she asked for. Hence this holy man John, when he had nothing to spend, would frequently, in his love of almsgiving, change miraculously tin or honey into cold. The more he gave the more was brought to him to spend; and so he seemed to strive with God and God with him which should be the most bountiful. When he at length died, he had half a piece of money left, and he ordered this to be given to his brethren and masters, the poor, that all he had might be restored to Christ.

Sophronius, in his Pratum Spirituale, a work mentioned with approval by the Second Council of Nice (Gen. Act. iv. c. 185), narrates that a wife gave to her husband, who wished to increase his wealth, the advice to sell what he had and give it to the poor, and he would find that he would receive it again with interest. He did so, and distributed his whole estate to the poor, and for fifty he received three hundred.

Sophronius has a still more beautiful example (c. 195) in the philosopher Evagrius, who, having heard in church that almsgiving was rewarded a hundredfold in heaven, gave 60 to the Bishop, Synesius, to be distributed among the poor, and received from him a written promise that for each he should receive a hundred in heaven. When he was dying, he ordered his sons to place this writing in his hand when he was buried. This having been done, Evagrius, on the third day after death, appeared to the Bishop in a dream, and said: “Go to my tomb and take back your handwriting, for I have received a hundredfold what I gave, according to Christ’s promise and yours.” In the morning the Bishop went with his clergy to the tomb, and took from the hand of Evagrius a letter, of which this was the tenor: “Evagrius the philosopher to his Bishop. I am unwilling for you, my father, to be ignorant that I have received according to your promise the money that I gave you in my lifetime, and received for it a hundredfold; therefore you are not bound to me by any debt.”

Similar examples are found in the life of S. Liduina and other Saints. Hence Chrysostom says that “alms have the name of seed, because they are not so much expended as returned.” S. Deusdedit well understood this, for, as the Roman Martyrology records (Aug. 10th), although he was a poor man yet he gave to the poor every Saturday all that he had earned during the week, looking only to obtain the heavenly reward.

“If you have any care for your children, leave them a written deed in which you have God as your debtor,” says S. Chrysostom, referring to money left for the poor by will. A famous example of this occurs in Sophronius (c. 201), in the case of a nobleman of Constantinople, who, when dying, left all his goods to the poor and his son to the care of Christ. Nor was he disappointed of his hope; for Christ gave his son a wife, who was at once noble, rich, and pious. S. Chrysostom wrote at the head of his Thirty-third Homily to the people, “that almsgiving is the most profitable of all occupations.” Cf. Pro 19:17.

And increase the fruits of your righteousness. God will increase the outgoings of your righteousness and charity, ie., He will give an increase of grace here and of glory hereafter (Theophylact). “By fruits,” says Anselm, “he means God’s eternal reward.” The Apostle seems here to speak of three fruits of almsgiving: (1.) when he says, “Shall minister seed to the sower;” (2.) when he says, “And multiply your seed sown;” (3.) when he says, “And increase the fruits of your righteousness.” In this sense S. Anselm, as related by Edinerus in his Life, when he entered Canterbury on a visit to Archbishop Lanfranc and was honourably and lovingly received by the citizens, said, when he was explaining to them the glory and merit of charity, that “those who do works of charity have something greater than those who are recipients of charity. For the one receives a temporal benefit only, but the other spiritual; and they look besides for eternal thanks from God.” Christ said the same thing in His paradox on the rich of this world: “It is more blessed to give than to receive” (Act 20:35).

Anselm again understands this passage to refer simply to the fruits of temporal goods. God will make your fruits and riches to increase, that you may have ever more and more to give in alms, and He will increase the fruits of your righteousness. In other words, He will give much more abundant increase to those fruits of yours which your righteousness gains for you; for it is only just that, since God gives to man all that he has, man should from it give to him who is in need. If we do this, our fruits will he increased by God. Hence almsgiving is rightly called seed, because he who sows once will reap twice, once in earth and once in heaven. This is Anselm’s comment, and he seems to be right; for the Apostle is explaining the words, “shall multiply your seed,” and is impressing on the Corinthians that alms do not impoverish but enrich the giver, that so he may remove from their minds and from the minds of all Christians all fear of poverty, which so frequently deters men from almsgiving, and which is given as an objection so often to the admonitions of those who urge the duty.

Nevertheless, it is simpler to understand fruits of your righteousness of the wealth which God gives to the beneficent as a harvest for what they have sown. The increase of these fruits is nothing else but the harvest that follows on the seed. Since, therefore, it is evident that when the Apostle said, “shall multiply your seed sown,” he meant by seed the money spent on the poor, it is also evident that here he means the same thing. As is the seed, so is the harvest. The one is correlative with the other, as are merit and reward. This, then, seems to be the drift of the Apostle’s words.

Lastly, we should observe that he alludes to the fields and estates of the rich. Beneficence, he says, is like a field, or a very fertile farm, which brings forth to the almsgiver plentiful and never-failing fruits from the seed of his alms. (1.) It gives bread or food. (2.) It multiplies his seed, or money to be dispersed again among the poor. (3.) It also increases his fruits, and enriches his family. These three things a temporal lord gives to his husbandman if he is faithful and diligent; much more will God do the same.

Ver. 11.-To all bountifulness. Or simplicity, or liberality. This simplicity or liberality of yours brings it to pass that I and all my companions, nay, all Christians amongst whom I speak of it, give thanks to God for having instilled into you such feelings of piety and mercy.

Ver. 12.-For the administration of this service not only supplieth the want of the saints. , literally, “the ministry of this liturgy.” In this collection of alms there is, as it were, a liturgy, a mystic sacrifice of the Mass, in which the Corinthians, as offering the victim of alms, are the priests; the poor make the altar; the sacrifice is the alms. Paul may be the deacon, the minister exhorting, collecting, and distributing the alms, through whom the poor who receive and the rich who give, seeing and rejoicing at the grace of Christ, are stirred up to give thanks unto the Lord. S. Cyprian says (Tract. de 0pere et Eleemos.): “Since thanksgiving is directed to God in the prayers of the poor for our alms and good deeds, the total is increased by the reward given by God, who works in us.” S. Chrysostom (Hom. 20) says: “When you see a poor man, think that you see the body of Christ, the altar of Christ, and do reverence, and offer the sacrifice of alms, that from it there may ascend, like incense, to God glory and thanksgiving.” Thus almsgiving is an Eucharist or thanksgiving, and an Eucharistic sacrifice, not properly, but metaphorically speaking. So, too, in Rom. xv. 16, the preaching of the Gospel and the conversion of the Gentiles are called a sacrifice. Nazianzen says beautifully (Orat. de Cura Paup.): “Out of all things none so honours God as mercy; for nothing is so peculiar to God as this is, before whose Face go mercy and truth. . . . Nothing is so Divine in a man as to do good. Learn, then, to open your heart to the needy. If you have nothing else to give, give your tears readily. Pity is a great solace to the afflicted.”

Ver. 13.-By the experiment of this ministration. This almsgiving of yours will induce men to glorify God in Christ and to give thanks to Him for the law of grace which has stirred you up to this liberality. They will glorify Him first for your obedience to the Gospel, and then that you so obey its precepts as to show such charity and mercy.

Ver. 14.–And by their prayer for you. The poor Saints of Jerusalem who receive your alms, while praying, for you, will also glorify God. This clause is to he connected with “they glorify God.”

Ver. 15.–Thanks be unto God for His unspeakable gift. For the gift of your charity and almsgiving, from which flow so many good things and so many praises of God, that it may be well called unspeakable.

Fuente: Cornelius Lapide Commentary

9:1 For {1} as touching the ministering to the saints, it is superfluous for me to write to you:

(1) He wisely answers the suspicion which the Corinthians might conceive, as though the apostle in urging them so carefully was doubting of their good will. Therefore he witnesses that he does it not to teach them that they ought to help the saints, seeing that he had become surety for them to the Macedonians. But only to stir those up who were labouring by themselves, to the end that all things might both be in a better readiness, and also be more plentiful.

Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes

D. The anticipated visit of Paul 9:1-5

Paul revealed his plan to visit Corinth soon after Titus and his two companions arrived to motivate the Corinthians further to complete their collection and have it ready to go to Judea. Chapter 9 continues the subject of chapter 8. Some scholars have argued for separating chapter 9 from chapters 1-8, but there are insufficient compelling reasons for doing so. [Note: See ibid., pp. 210-11.]

Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)

Even though Paul said he felt no need to go on writing about the importance of this collection, he did so in this chapter. This is the rhetorical device called paraleipsis (cf. 1Th 5:1). Saying one is not going to mention a subject and then proceeding to do so has the effect of emphasizing it in an understated way that is less offensive than if one would simply speak on the subject. The emphasis in the verses that follow is primarily on Paul’s plan to come to them. It is only secondarily on the additional motivation this visit placed on the readers to get the collection ready (cf. Phm 1:21-22).

Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)

4

Chapter 21

THE FRUITS OF LIBERALITY.

2Co 8:16-24; 2Co 9:1-15 (R.V)

THIS long passage has a good many difficulties of detail, for the grammarian and the textual critic. Where it seems necessary, these will be referred to in the notes; but as the large meaning of the writer is hardly affected by them, they need not interrupt the course of exposition. It fails into three parts, which are clearly marked as such in the Revised Version:

2Co 8:16-24, commending to the Corinthians the three brethren who were to precede Paul and prepare the collection;

2Co 9:1-5, appealing to the motives of emulation and shame to reinforce love in the matter; and

2Co 9:6-15, urging liberality, and enlarging on the blessed fruits it yields. The first of these divisions begins, and the last ends, with an exclamatory ascription of thanks to God.

2Co 8:16-24. Of the three men who acted as commissioners in this delicate undertaking, only one, Titus, is known to us by name. He had just returned from Corinth: he knew all the critical points in the situation; and no doubt the Apostle was glad to have such a man at the head of the little party. He was thankful to God that on the occasion of that previous visit the Corinthians had completely won the heart of Titus, and that his loyal fellow-worker needed no compulsion to return. He was leaving Paul of his own accord, full of earnest care for his Achaian friends. Along with him went a second-the brother whose praise in the Gospel was through all the Churches. It is useless to ask who the brother was. A very early opinion, alluded to by Origen, and represented apparently in the traditional subscription to this Epistle, identified him with Luke. Probably the ground for this identification was the idea that his “praise in the Gospel” referred to Lukes work as an evangelist. But this cannot be: first, because Lukes Gospel cannot have been written so early; and, secondly, because “the Gospel” at this date does not mean a written thing at all. This mans praise in the Gospel must mean the credit he had acquired by his services to the Christian faith; it might be by some bold confession, or by activity as an evangelist, or by notable hospitality to missionaries, or by such helpful ministries as the one he was now engaged in. The real point of interest for us in the expression is the glimpse it gives us of the unity of the Church, and the unimpeded circulation of one life through all its members. Its early divisions, theological and racial, have been sufficiently emphasized; it is well worth while to observe the unity of the spirit. It was this, eventually, which gave the Church its power in the decline of the Empire. It was the only institution which extended over the area of civilization with a common spirit, common sympathies, and a common standard of praise. It was a compliment to the Corinthians to include in this embassy one whose good name was honored wherever men met in the name of Jesus. This brother was at the same time a deputy in a special sense. He had been elected by the Churches who were contributing to the collection, that he might accompany the Apostle when it was taken to Jerusalem. This, in itself, is natural enough, and it would not call for comment but for the remark to which the Apostle proceeds-“avoiding this, that any man should blame us in the matter of this bounty which is ministered by us to the glory of the Lord, and to show our readiness: for we take thought for things honorable, not only in the sight of the Lord, but also in the sight of men.”

There was evidently an unpleasant side to this transaction. Pauls interest in the collection, his enemies had plainly said, {2Co 12:17-18} was not quite disinterested. He was capable of putting his own hand into the bag. What ought a Christian man to do in such a case? We shall see in a later chapter how keenly Paul felt this unworthy imputation, and with what generous passion he resented it; but here he betrays no indignation; he joins with the Churches who are making the collection in so ordering matters as to preclude suspicion. Wherever the money is concerned, his responsibility is to be shared with another. It is a pity that Christ should not be glorified, and the Apostles zeal to help the poor saints made known, without the accompaniment of these base suspicions and precautionary measures; but in all things human, evil will mingle with good, and the humble course is best, which does not only what God knows to be honorable, but what men must see to be so too. In handling money especially, it is best to err on the safe side. If most men are too readily suspected by others, it only answers to the fact that most men are too ready to trust themselves. We have an infinite faith in our own honesty; and when auditors are appointed to examine their books, the inexperienced are apt to think it needless, and even impertinent. If they were wise, they would welcome it as a protection against suspicion and even against themselves. Many a man has ruined himself-not to speak of those who trusted him-by too blind a belief in his own integrity. The third brother who accompanied Titus seems to have been more closely associated with Paul than the second. He had proved him often, in many things, and found him uniformly earnest; and at this juncture the confidence he had in the Corinthians made him more earnest than ever. Paul extols the three in the highest terms before he sends them off; if anybody in Corinth wishes to know what they are, he is proud to tell. Titus is his partner in the apostolic calling, and has shared his work among them; the other brethren are deputies (apostles) of Churches, a glory of Christ. What an idealist Paul wast What an appreciation of Christian character he had when he described these nameless believers as reflections of the splendor of Christ! To common eyes they might be commonplace men; but when Paul looked at them he saw the dawning of that brightness in which the Lord appeared to him by the way. Contact with the grimy side of human nature did not blind him to this radiance; rather did this glory of Christ in mens souls strengthen him to believe all things, to hope all things, to endure all things. In showing before these honored messengers the proof of their love, and of his boasting on their behalf, the Corinthians will show it, he says, before the face of the Churches. It will be officially reported throughout Christendom.

2Co 9:1-5 This section strikes one at first as greatly wanting in connection with what precedes. It looks like a new beginning, an independent writing on the same or a similar subject. This has led some scholars to argue that either 2Co 8:1-24. or 2Co 9:1-15. belongs to a different occasion, and that only resemblance in subject has led to one of them being erroneously inserted here beside the other. This in the absence of any external indication, Is an extremely violent supposition; and closer examination goes to dissipate that first impression. The statements, e.g., in 2Co 9:3-5 would be quite unintelligible if we had not 2Co 8:16-24 to explain them; and instead of saying there is no connection between 2Co 9:1 and what precedes, we should rather say that the connection is somewhat involved and circuitous-as will happen when one is handling a topic of unusual difficulty. It is to be explained thus. The Apostle feels that he has said a good deal now about the collection, and that there is a danger in being too urgent. He uses what he has just said about the reception of the brethren as a stepping-stone to another view of the subject, more flattering to the Corinthians, to begin with, and less importunate. “Maintain your character before them,” he says in effect; “for as for the ministering to the saints, it is superfluous for me to be writing to you as I do.” Instead of finding it necessary to urge their duty upon them, he has been able to hold up their readiness as an example to the Macedonians. “Achaia has been prepared for a year past,” he said to his fond disciples in Thessalonica and Philippi; and the zeal of the Achaians, or rivalry of them, roused the majority of the Macedonians. This is one way of looking at what happened; another, and surely Paul would have been the first to say a more profound, is that of 2Co 8:1 -the grace of God was given in the Churches of Macedonia. But the grace of God takes occasions, and uses means; and here its opportunity and its instrument for working in Macedonia was the ready generosity of the Corinthians. It has wrought, indeed, so effectively that the tables are turned, and now it is the liberality of Macedonia which is to provoke Corinth. Paul is sending on these brethren beforehand, lest, if any of the Macedonians should accompany him when he starts for Corinth himself, they should find matters not so flourishing as he had led them to believe. “That would put me to shame,” he says to the Corinthians, “not to speak of you. I have been very confident in speaking of you as I have done in Macedonia: do keep up my credit and your own. Let this blessing, which you are going to bestow on the poor, be ready as a blessing-i.e., as something which one gives willingly, and as liberally as he can; and not as a matter of avarice, in which one gives reluctantly, keeping as much as he can.”

The legitimacy of such motives as are appealed to in this paragraph will always be more or less questioned among Christian men, but as long as human nature is what it is they will always be appealed to. (Chrys.). A great man of action like St. Paul will of course find his temptation along this line. He is so eager to get men to act, and the inertness of human nature is so great, that it is hard to decline anything which will set it in motion. It is not the highest motive, certainly, when the forwardness of one stimulates another; but in a good cause, it is better than none. A good cause, too, has a wonderful power of its own when men begin to attend to it; it asserts itself, and takes possession of souls on its own account. Rivalry becomes generous then, even if it remains; it is a race in love that is being run, and all who run obtain the prize. Competitions for prizes which only one can gain have a great deal in them that is selfish and bad; but rivalry in the service of others-rivalry in unselfishness-will not easily degenerate in this direction. Paul does not need to be excused because he stimulates the Macedonians by the promptitude of the Corinthians-though he had his misgivings about this last-and the Corinthians by the liberality of the Macedonians. The real motive in both cases was “the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, who, though He was rich, yet for our sakes became poor.” It is this which underlies everything in the Christian heart, and nothing can do harm which works as its auxiliary.

2Co 9:6-15 In the third and last section the Apostle resumes his direct and urgent seems to say, “but one thing I cannot but set down: He that soweth sparingly shall reap also sparingly; and he that soweth bountifully shall reap also bountifully.” That is the law of God, and the nature of things, whether men regard or disregard it. Charity is in a real sense an investment, not a casting away of money; it is not fruitless, but bears fruit in the measure in which it is sown. Of course it cannot be enforced-that would be to deny its very nature. Each is to give what he has purposed in his heart, where he is free and true: he is not to give out of grief, mourning over what he gives and regretting he could not keep it; neither is he to give out of necessity, because his position, or the usages of his society, or the comments of his neighbors, put a practical compulsion upon him. God loves a cheerful giver. Money is nothing to Him but as an index to the soul; unless the soul gives it, and gives itself with it, He takes no account. But He does take account of true charity, and because He does, the charitable may be of good cheer: He will not allow them to be without the means of manifesting a spirit so grateful to Him. If we really wish to be generous, He will not withhold from us the power of being so. This is what the Apostle says in 2Co 9:8 : “God is able to make all grace abound toward you, that ye, having always all sufficiency in everything, may abound unto every good work.” here is, indeed, another way of rendering (sufficiency). Some take it subjectively, not objectively, and make it mean, not sufficiency, but contentment. But though a contented spirit disposes people wonderfully to be generous, and the discontented, who have never enough for themselves, can never, of course, spare anything for anybody else, this meaning is decidedly to be rejected. The sufficiency, as 2Co 9:10 also shows, is outward: we shall always, if we are charitable, have by Gods grace the means of being more so. He is able to bless us abundantly, that we may be able for every good work. Observe the purpose of Gods blessing. This is the import of the quotation from the 112th Psalm, in which we have the portrait of the good man: “He hath dispersed”-what uncalculating liberality there is in the very word-“he hath given to the poor: his righteousness abideth for ever.” The approximation, in the Jewish morals of later times, of the ideas of righteousness and alms-giving, has led some to limit in this passage {as in Mat 6:1} to the latter sense. This is extremely improbable-I think impossible. In the Psalm, both in Psa 112:3 and Psa 112:10 (LXX), the expression “his righteousness abideth forever” reflects Gods verdict on the character as a whole. The character there described, and here referred to by the relevant trait of generosity, is one which need fear no chances of the future. He who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food will supply and multiply the seed sown by the generous Corinthians (that they may ever be in a position to be generous), and will cause also the fruits of their righteousness to grow. Their righteousness, as it figures in this last phrase, is of course represented, for the time being, by their generosity; and the poetic expression “fruits of righteousness,” which is borrowed from Hosea, designates the results which that generosity produces. It is not only an investment which guarantees to them the generous care of God for their own welfare; it is a seed which bears another and more spiritual harvest. With some expansion of heart on this the Apostle concludes.

(a) It yields a rich harvest of thanksgiving to God. This is expressed in 2Co 9:12, and is the principal point. It is something to fill up further the measure of a brothers needs by a timely gift, but how much more it is to change the tune of his spirit, and whereas we found him cheerless or weak in faith, to leave him gratefully praising God. True thankfulness to the Heavenly Father is an atmosphere in which all virtues flourish: and those whose charity bears fruit in this grateful spirit are benefactors of mankind to an extent which no money can estimate. It is probably forcing the Apostles language to insist that , as a name for the collection, has any priestly or sacrificial reference; but unfeigned charity is in its very nature a sacrifice of praise to God-the answer of our love to His; and it has its best effect when it evokes the thanksgivings to God of those who receive it. Wherever love is, He must be first and last.

(b) The charity of the Corinthians bore another spiritual fruit: in consequence of it the saints at Jerusalem were won to recognize more unreservedly the Christian standing of the Gentile brethren. This is what we read in 2Co 9:13. Taking occasion from the proof of what you are, which this ministration of yours has given them, they glorify God “for the obedience of your confession unto the Gospel of Christ, and for the liberality of your contribution unto them arid unto all.” The verbal combinations possible here give free scope to the ingenuity and the caprice of grammarians; but the kind of thing meant remains plain. Once the Christians of Jerusalem had had their doubts about the Corinthians and the other pagans who were said to have received the Gospel; they had heard marvelous reports about them certainly, but it remained to be seen on what these reports rested. They would not commit themselves hastily to any compromising relation to such outsiders. Now all their doubts have been swept away; the Gentiles have actually come to the relief of their poverty, and there is no mistaking what that means. The language of love is intelligible everywhere, and there is only One who teaches it in such relations as are involved here-Jesus Christ. Yes, once they had their doubts of you; but now they will praise God that you have obediently confessed the Gospel, and frankly owned a fellowship with them and with all. The last words mean, in effect, that the Corinthians had liberally shared what they had with them and with all; but the terms are so chosen as to obliterate, as far as possible, all but the highest associations. This, then, is another fruit of charity: it widens the thoughts-it often improves the theology-of those who receive it. All goodness, men feel instinctively, is of God; and they cannot condemn as godless, or even as beyond the covenant, those through whom goodness comes to them.

(c) Finally, among the fruits of charity is to be reckoned the direct response of brotherly love, expressed especially in intercessory prayer, and in a longing to see those on whom Gods grace rests so abundantly. An unknown and distant benefactor is sometimes better than one near at hand. He is regarded simply in his character as a benefactor; we know nothing of him that can possibly discount his kindness; our mind is compelled to rest upon his virtues and remember them gratefully before God. One of the meanest experiences of human nature that we can have-and it is not an imaginary one-is to see people paying the debt of gratitude, or at least mitigating the sense of obligation, by thinking over the deficiencies in their benefactors character. “He is better off than we are; it is nothing to him; and if he is kind to the poor, he has need to be. It will take a lot of charity to cover all he would like to hide.” This revolting spirit is the extreme opposite of the intercessory prayer and brotherly yearning which St. Paul sees in his minds eye among the saints at Jerusalem. Perhaps he saw almost more than was really to be seen. The union of hearts he aimed at was never more than imperfectly attained. But to have aimed at it was a great and generous action, and to have brought so many Gentile Churches to co-operate to this end was a magnificent service to the kingdom of God.

These “fruits” are not as yet actually borne, but to the Apostles loving anticipation they are as good as real. They are the fruits of “the righteousness” of the Corinthians, the harvest that God has caused to grow out of their liberality. From the very beginning there have been two opinions as to what St. Paul means by the exclamation with which he closes-“Thanks be unto God for His unspeakable gift.” On the one hand, it is read as if it were a part of what precedes, the unspeakable gift of God being the numberless blessings that charity yields, by Gods goodness, both to those who give and to those who receive it. Paul in this case would be thinking, when he wrote, of the joy with which the Gentiles gave, and of the gratitude, the willing recognition, and the brotherly prayers and longing, with which the Jews received, help in the hour of need. These would be the unspeakable gift. On the other hand, the sentence is read as if it stood apart, not the continuation of what immediately precedes, but the overflow of the Apostles heart in view of-the whole situation. It becomes possible, then, to regard “Gods unspeakable gift” as the gift of redemption in His Son-the great, original, unsearchable gift, in which everything else is included, and especially all such manifestations of brotherly love as have just been in view. Sound feeling, I think, unequivocally supports the last interpretation. The very word “unspeakable” is one of a class that Paul reserves for this particular object; the wisdom and love of God as displayed in mans salvation are unspeakable, unsearchable, passing knowledge; but nothing else is. It is to this his mind goes back, instinctively, as he contemplates what has flowed from it in the particular case before us; but it is the great divine gift, and not its fruits in mens lives, however rich and various, that it passes the power of words to characterize. It is for it, and not for its results in Jew or Gentile, that the Apostle so devoutly thanks God.

Fuente: Expositors Bible Commentary