But we make known to you, brethren, the grace of God bestowed in the assemblies of Macedonia;
Paul turns to a practical matter: money collected for believers in need. Rather than order Corinth to give, he first reports what God had done in the churches of Macedonia, and files it all under one word: grace.
The verse does not begin with Macedonian generosity. It begins with something given to them. One writer asks where their readiness came from. He rules out the obvious answer.
Where did this readiness come from? Was it the natural kindness of the human heart bubbling up? The apostle traces it all back to its right source — God. It was the grace of God given to the churches of Macedonia.
Corinth was a wealthy city. Macedonia was not. The first response came from the poorer region. One writer sees God's hand in that.
God took care that the first to respond would not be saints in the wealthy city of Corinth. They were saints in the long-ruined and poor district of Macedonia instead. In this way the work would be of God's grace, and in no way a matter of worldly circumstances… They gave no gifts out of their surplus. It was faith working by love, while they were going through a great trial of affliction.
Their poverty was deep, yet their giving was rich. That pairing shows how God weighs a gift.
The Lord has shown us that the size of the gift is in no way the test of what is good in God's sight. He showed how the two small coins of a poor widow, worth next to nothing, can be more to Him than all the treasure piled up by the wealthy. In fact, out of their deep poverty, those the apostle speaks of here were showing the riches of their open-handed generosity. This is what makes generosity worth noticing. It is not so much what is given as what remains to the giver.
Paul is dealing with money here, and he calls it grace. That word transforms whatever it touches.
How wonderfully "the grace of God" changes everything it takes up! And what can it not reach in its wide embrace?… See here what happens to money. Among people it is only "dirty money," a special target of the covetousness which is idolatry. Here it becomes the means of exercising faith in love, to the glory of God and the great blessing of His children.
"We want you to know" reads like a report meant to travel. One writer meets an objection to that kind of telling.
The grace of God has been on remarkable display in the assemblies of Macedonia. It stands on record for all time, so that not only the Corinthians but we ourselves might be stirred up by it. Some of us might think that retelling the devotion of others, in order to stir up slow believers, appeals to low motives and is not a worthy thing to do. Here, though, we find the Spirit leading the apostle to do that very thing. So we never need be afraid of telling how the grace of God has worked in others. Such accounts show us the grace of God as something real and practical. They also convict us of our own shortcomings. Both results are well worth having.
Rivalry and party spirit had torn Corinth apart. Praise of another region could have deepened that. Paul uses it the other way.
The praise he gives here to the Macedonian churches is meant to stir his brothers in Achaia to a loving jealousy. And the way he words that praise shows them how the honour now granted to Macedonia may rest on them just as much. For if the Macedonians had done well, it was by "the grace of God," who gives yet "more grace."
If giving is grace, is it then optional? One writer answers plainly.
Grace — the way this word is used here has the same meaning as giving. It does not make giving optional. Giving is a privilege and at the same time a responsibility. It is a visible expression of our love for God. It also expresses our fellowship with Christians who are suffering distress.
- Grace given — Their generosity did not spring from natural kindness. Paul names God as the giver before he names a single Macedonian gift.
- Grace tested — God let the poorest and hardest-hit believers respond first. No one could put it down to easy circumstances.
- Grace measured — God weighs what is left with the giver, not the size of the gift. Deep poverty produced rich generosity.
- Grace reported — What God works in one group goes on record, to stir others and to convict them.
- Grace multiplied — Paul wanted Corinth to catch the same fire. The God who gave grace in Macedonia gives yet more grace.
that in a great trial of affliction the abundance of their joy and their deep poverty has abounded to the riches of their [free-hearted] liberality.
Paul is collecting money for poor believers in Judea, and he points wealthy Corinth to an unlikely model: the poor churches of Macedonia. Their giving overflowed anyway, joining three things that rarely go together — deep trouble, deep joy, and deep poverty.
Paul does not point to the Macedonian character or to a good year in their economy. He points to what God did among them, and one writer notes that even the choice of Macedonia was deliberate.
God took care that the first to respond should be believers not in the wealthy city of Corinth, but in the long-ruined and poor region of Macedonia. In this way the work would be of God's grace, and in no way a matter of worldly circumstances… Scripture tells us plainly here of their poverty right down into the depths. They gave no gifts out of surplus. It was faith working by love, while they were going through a great trial of affliction. Their joy overflowed in the face of trouble, and their deep poverty, instead of appealing to others for help, overflowed into the riches of their open-hearted generosity.
Where the ESV reads "generosity," older translations have "liberality." One writer says the word points to the state of the heart, not the size of the gift.
In 2 Corinthians 8 and 9, where Paul encourages his readers to do good works, we find a special kind of simplicity of heart. The word "liberality" appears three times here, and the literal reading is "simplicity."
By totals, the Macedonians would rank near the bottom of any list of givers. Paul calls their gift a wealth of generosity instead. One commentator explains how so small a sum earns that word, and what crisis prompted the collection.
While suffering a great trial of affliction, they had abundance of joy alongside abundance of poverty. This resulted in "the riches of their liberality." Whatever the depth of their poverty, and however little they could give, their willingness to give what they could was "riches of liberality" in the sight of God. The occasion was that of a famine in Judea (Acts 11:27-30), and Gentile believers wanted to send help to the believers there.
The verse stacks up three conditions that cancel each other out in ordinary life.
Several circumstances combined to make the giving of the Macedonians very noteworthy. First, they were very poor. The apostle speaks of their "deep poverty." Second, they were very persecuted, for they were in "a great trial of affliction." Third, they were very joyful, since he refers to "the abundance of their joy."
The same writer names the claim behind all giving, and then points to what loosened their hands.
God does not merely claim what we can spare, but all that we have, because He claims us… What moved them to their liberality was the abundance of their spiritual joy. They had by faith so real and joyful a grasp of the things of heaven that they could afford to be generous with the things of earth.
Nothing outside them squeezed this offering out. One writer contrasts their giving with the machinery people use to raise money.
Love does not calculate what it can spare, nor what it can achieve. The heart moved by love thinks not of its own trials or deep poverty, but of those it hears are suffering in some special way, and it acts at once… There were no earthly incentives here. There was no pressure from agents, no rivalry of donations, no moving appeals to crowds, no published lists to shame or to stimulate, no personal or party aims of any kind.
One writer applies this verse to the believers at Philippi. He turns their poverty and their joy into a diagnosis of our own tight-fistedness.
The devotion of the Philippians here was all the greater because they were very poor. We learn this from 2 Corinthians 8:2. They also had been in much affliction themselves, and they had experienced much joy in the Lord. All this is very instructive for us. Often we are unsympathetic and stingy. The reason is that our own experiences of suffering and of spiritual refreshment are so very shallow.
- Grace first. The overflow started with God. He chose the poorest region, not the richest city. Nobody could mistake this giving for good fortune.
- Grace as joy. Affliction did not empty them. Joy in heavenly things filled them, and that fullness made them free with earthly things.
- Grace as simplicity. Older translations say "liberality," but the literal sense is simplicity — an undivided heart, not a big bank balance.
- Grace reaching outward. Love did not calculate what it could spare. Nothing pressured them: no agents, no rivalry, no published lists.
- Grace measured by God. However little they could give, God counted it wealth. The measure of a gift is the heart behind it. Shallow giving points to shallow experience of both suffering and joy.
For according to [their] power, I bear witness, and beyond [their] power, [they were] willing of their own accord,
The Macedonian churches were poor and under pressure, yet Paul backs their giving with his own word — "I testify." Verse 3 measures that giving twice — by what they could afford, and by what they could not — and calls it all their own choice.
The first measure is demanding on its own. The second one costs the giver things they actually needed:
Paul himself could bear witness that they gave according to their power. This in itself was a big thing. It means they first met all their proper living expenses in an upright way, and then gave to the limit of what they could. They did more than this, however. They gave beyond their power. That is, they went without what they could fairly have counted as proper living expenses, so that they could give to the Lord and His people. And they did this in the most willing-hearted way. They begged Paul to accept the money and take responsibility for getting it to the saints. They had caught the spirit the people showed when Israel was about to build the tabernacle. Someone reported to Moses, "The people bring much more than enough for doing the work that the LORD has commanded us to do" (Exodus 36:5).
Pridham grades three kinds of giving. Only the top one needs more than good management to explain it:
To give out of abundance is to be charitable only in a natural way. To give in fair proportion to one's means is, in a Christian, to act as a faithful steward of the Lord. But to give beyond one's power is a sign that love has, at faith's bidding, taken over the direction of the soul for a while. It leaves conscience an astonished but unprotesting witness of its acts. Such was the temper of these open-handed Macedonians. With no prompting but their own hearts, they eagerly poured out their sympathetic help on suffering brothers in Christ who were, by birth, foreigners to them.
The words "of their own accord" rule out the usual pressures that raise money. Kelly lists them one by one:
Nor does love calculate what it can spare or what it can achieve (v. 3). The heart moved by love does not think of its own trials or deep poverty. It thinks of those it hears are suffering in some special way, and it acts at once. At least the apostle testifies about the Macedonian saints. They gave of their own accord, up to their means and beyond their means. There were no earthly incentives here. There was no pressure from agents, no rivalry of donations, no moving appeals to crowds, no circulated lists to shame or to stir people up, and no personal or party aims of any kind. It is the grace of God from first to last.
Paul held up the poorest churches as the example for the wealthy Corinthians. God arranged that order on purpose:
God took care that the first to respond were not the saints in the wealthy city of Corinth. They were the saints in the long-ruined and poor district of Macedonia. This way the work would be of God's grace, and in no way a matter of worldly circumstances… They gave no gifts out of surplus; it was faith working by love, while they were going through a great trial of affliction. The circumstances of Macedonia might have seemed completely unfavourable. That made it all the clearer that their generosity came from a divine source.
Nobody pressed them, so the push came from somewhere else. They also treated the chance to help as a privilege:
Paul had not urged them to this as a duty. No message from God through a prophet pushed them. God's love acted on their hearts as new creatures in Christ, and beyond their power they gave for this purpose… They considered it a favour to share in this ministry… The favour was not in giving when asked, but in being allowed to help in the matter at all.
Behind the money there was an earlier gift. They had already handed over themselves:
Behind their gifts to the saints there was the blessed fact that they had already given themselves to the Lord. This made it simple to carry out the will of God by putting themselves into the hands of the Apostle to minister their gift. Joy in the Lord led them to give themselves wholly to the Lord for His will, and so to give to those who are the Lord's. Their service in material things had a spiritual motive.
- Self first. They gave themselves to the Lord before they gave anything else. Every gift after that followed the person.
- Then means. Giving "according to their power" meant they covered their living costs, then released all that was left.
- Then beyond. Going past their power meant going without what they could fairly have kept. Love was steering, not calculation.
- Freely. No appeals, no published lists, no rivalry, no shame. Paul calls their giving their own decision.
- Poor on purpose. God let the poorest churches lead. Then nobody could put the result down to easy circumstances.
begging of us with much entreaty [to give effect to] the grace and fellowship of the service which [was to be rendered] to the saints.
Paul points the Corinthians to the churches of Macedonia. One strange detail drives his point: churches that gave more than they could afford had to beg for permission to help. Why was giving a favour to them? And what did they want a share in?
Usually the one raising money asks the givers. Here it went the other way round.
But this is not all. Nobody asked the Macedonian saints. They were the ones asking Paul and his companions. They pleaded hard for the grace and the fellowship of ministering to the saints — that is, to be allowed a share in the grace or favour of caring for the suffering saints of Judea.
No one pressured them. What they begged for was not the right to be generous once asked. It was the right to be included at all.
Paul had not urged them to this as a duty. No prophetic message from God pushed them. God's love acted on their hearts as new creatures in Christ, and they gave beyond their power for this purpose. These Macedonian believers were so urgent about it that they begged the apostle for the grace and the fellowship of the ministry to the saints. They counted it a favour to share in this ministry… The favour was not in giving when asked. It was in being allowed to help in the matter at all. They felt the apostle granted them the favour when he accepted their part in this ministry.
The word for "favor" in the verse is also the word for grace. That choice carries weight.
Here the word grace has the same meaning as giving. That does not make giving optional, for it is a privilege and at the same time a responsibility. It is a real, visible expression of our love for God, and of our fellowship with Christians who are in distress. This is the same word used for our fellowship with the Lord, which stresses this character of giving.
Some older English versions add extra words to this verse. One writer explains why the shorter reading matters.
Notice that the Authorised Version, following the common Greek text, contains the words "that we would receive." That also brings in the added words "take upon us" in verse 4. The best authorities do not support the first addition, and the second is needless and indeed worse. Both additions weaken and falsify the sense. The sense is that the Macedonian saints might have the grace and fellowship of the service done for the poor saints — not the mere idea that the apostle would receive their collection and hand it out.
The word behind "taking part" is the Bible's word for fellowship. It reaches much further than money.
In Scripture this word means association, and having things in common… A believer brought into that association has the same aims and goals before his soul as the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ have: the gospel for the world, the welfare of the saints, and maintaining the truth. Out of this flows the fellowship of the saints one with another. Acts 2:42; 2 Cor. 8:4; Gal. 2:9; 1 John 1:3-7.
The saints in this verse were real people in a real emergency. Gentile believers — believers who were not Jews — asked to be part of the answer.
The occasion was a famine in Judea (Acts 11:27-30), and Gentile saints wanted to send help to the saints there. Philippi and Thessalonica were leading assemblies in Macedonia. They were willing to give more than they were able, and they urged the apostles to accept this for the poor saints.
- Grace begins it. The word for grace is also the word for giving. That is why Paul calls a collection a "grace."
- Grace asks. Nobody asked them. They did the asking, and they had to plead with Paul to let them in.
- Grace counts it a privilege. They did not count it a favour to give when asked. The favour was being allowed to help at all.
- Grace shares. "Taking part" means association — having things in common, and sharing the aims of the Father and the Son.
- Grace lands somewhere. It ended in real help for real people in a famine, sent by believers in Macedonia to the poor saints in Judea.
And not according as we hoped, but they gave themselves first to the Lord, and to us by God's will.
Paul is writing about churches in Macedonia. Their giving went past everything he had hoped for, and here he names the reason. The surprise was not how much they gave. It was the order: they gave themselves first, and everything else followed.
The word "first" carries the weight of the verse. One writer asks what it means to give yourself to the Lord, and what that rules out.
This is very important: there is such a thing — or this verse would not be in Holy Scripture — as giving your own self to the Lord. You may say, "How?" By truly, prayerfully, honestly recognising the claim the Lord Himself has over you. If I confess that I myself am the Lord's, that carries everything else with it. They did not give a tenth of their income and leave the remaining nine-tenths to themselves. They said, "I will give myself to the Lord. I am His slave. I am under His orders." Then everything I have is the Lord's.
One writer reads "not as we expected" as an understatement. He traces this giving to a source deeper than natural kindness.
This is not the kindness of nature. It is divine love at work in the new man. That is how its genuineness is tested, because Christ must have the first place with this nature. It works by the sense of right and wrong that only the new man has, and Christ is the measure and motive of that sense. "Not as we hoped," says Paul, speaking of their active love — it was more than he hoped.
They gave themselves to the Lord first, and their help to people came under God's will. One writer sees in that pattern a reflection of how Christ gave Himself.
Is not this the reflection, yes, the reproduction, as far as it goes, of Christ's love in giving Himself? He gave Himself for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God. It was all this and more to God and for us, as nothing else could be. Had they not caught a vivid impression of the Saviour's love? In that love God always had the first place, however great His compassion for people. Their love for the saints follows, and it is shaped by what always motivated Christ: the will of God. Their giving did agree with His will, of course. But more than that, His will was the source of the self-sacrifice.
The verse ends "by the will of God to us." Paul includes himself and his fellow workers in what the Macedonians handed over.
Paul and his fellow-servants had surely told the believers about the great need in Judea. The Macedonians did not just help as the apostle hoped; they went beyond it. Is this not a matter of laying both themselves, and therefore all they have, at the feet of the Lord and of the apostles, for the will of God alone to direct? What precious and proper effect of the grace of God in souls!
Nobody pushed these givers. One writer lists what was missing from the whole transaction, and what they counted as the privilege.
Paul had not urged them to do this as a duty. No prophetic message from God drove them. God's love acted on their hearts as new creatures in Christ, and they gave beyond their power for this purpose. These Macedonians were so eager that they begged the apostle for the favour of sharing in the service to the saints. They counted it a favour — not the favour of being asked to give, but of being allowed to help at all. Here is the secret of ready service. The Lord had their hearts first, and then all they had was for Him.
The verse puts self-surrender first. So other good things cannot take its place, however genuine they are.
We believe the one great essential to all true devotedness and service is to yield ourselves to the Lord. It is not first work, or first pray, or first learn. No, you may know all about the doctrine of deliverance and still be a poor slave to your own selfishness. You may be no use at all to others. And the lack is not great knowledge. It is sadly clear everywhere that knowledge, even of the things of God, puffs a person up. It can go hand in hand with little power and great barrenness.
- Grace starts it. What moved these givers was not natural kindness. It was divine love at work in them, with Christ as its measure and motive.
- Self is the gift. They did not hand over a slice and keep the rest. They recognised the Lord's claim over themselves, and everything else followed.
- Order is the secret. Not first work, first pray, or first learn — first give yourself; that is where ready service comes from.
- God's will is the direction. Their service to people flowed out of surrender to the Lord. They laid themselves and all they had at His disposal.
- The result runs past expectation. In Christ's own self-giving, God had the first place. Giving shaped by that pattern went beyond their means and beyond Paul's hopes.
So that we begged Titus that, according as he had before begun, so he would also complete as to you this grace also;
Titus had already started a collection among the Corinthians, and Paul now urges him to go back and finish it. Two questions follow: why does a good start need finishing, and why does Paul call a gift of money an act of grace?
One writer says why Titus was the right man to send back, and what these Corinthians should now do with the memory of their own failure:
"Accordingly, we urged Titus that as he had started," and so on. Grace provokes grace. Titus had already been active in this work of love while among them. Now he carries this second letter, and Paul asks him to crown his earlier work. He is to set vividly before these Corinthians the bright and attractive opportunity now offered to their zeal. Let them dwell no longer on their own disgrace. Let them hurry instead to wipe out its memory by throwing themselves into the work of love.
The verse says Titus had "started" this before. What stalled was not their willingness but the doing:
Paul had asked Titus, when he came to Corinth, to encourage the Corinthians in "the same grace also." A year earlier Titus had clearly begun this, telling the Corinthians of the need. They gladly promised to help (v. 10). So Paul asked Titus to "finish" this work in them. Apparently, though, even at the second visit of Titus they still put it off.
Kelly names what moved Paul to press it now:
This worked on the heart of the apostle. It moved him to urge Titus to carry out what he had earlier begun among the Corinthians, when he delivered the first letter. (v. 6.) Paul's love for them held a holy jealousy. He did not want their love to slacken, or an early promise to wither in the bud.
Paul asks Titus to go, but Titus needs no pressing. One commentator notes how the words should be translated, and what they show of Titus's own heart:
The Achaians were ready to promise, and Titus was ready to go. If he went, it was only to finish what he had begun before, when he was last with them. That is how we should translate it: "as he had begun before, so he would also finish." (8:6.) He went when Paul asked him, but he went of his own accord. His heart anticipated the apostle's request.
Paul does not call the collection a duty or a tax. He calls it an act of grace. Kelly sees in that word the reach of grace itself:
How wonderfully "the grace of God" changes everything it takes up! And what can it not reach in its wide embrace? … See here what happens to money. Among men it is only "filthy lucre," a favourite object of the greed that is idolatry. Yet it becomes the means of exercising faith in love, to the glory of God and the great blessing of His children.
Paul sends Titus to "complete" the work, but he will not force the giving. His aim reaches past the money to the motive:
But he is careful to insist that he does not speak as one giving a command. He does not want them to treat it as a mere matter of obligation. … Paul is therefore seeking to reach and stir proper motives, not simply to make them give.
Titus's errand begins a carefully arranged process. The rest of the chapter names the other men who shared in it:
The apostle sent Titus to stir up the Corinthians to this grace. He also sent another brother, whose praise in the gospel was known in all the assemblies. The assemblies had chosen this brother to travel with the apostle about the collection. (v. 16-21.) Another brother was sent too, who had been found diligent in all things. … The apostle took such care that everything should be done openly, and for the glory of the Lord.
- Grace spreads. One act of love stirs the next: grace provokes grace.
- Grace begun must be grace finished. Titus had started this a year before. The Corinthians promised, then delayed. Paul sends him back to finish it.
- Grace is carried by willing hands. Titus accepted the request, but he went of his own accord; his heart ran ahead of the appeal.
- Grace renames the money. What men call "filthy lucre" becomes a way to exercise faith in love, to God's glory and His children's blessing.
- Grace is not commanded. Paul urges; he does not order. He aims at the motive, not the amount, and sends approved men to handle the gift openly.
but even as ye abound in every way, in faith, and word, and knowledge, and all diligence, and in love from you to us, that ye may abound in this grace also.
Paul has just pointed to the churches of Macedonia, who gave out of deep poverty. Now he turns to Corinth, a church rich in gifts. He names five things they already excel in, then asks for a sixth. He calls the collection for believers in need a "grace."
Paul names faith, speech, knowledge, diligence and love before he asks for anything. The ESV reads that last item as his love for them; other translations read it as their love for him. One writer takes the second sense, and sees the list doing two things at once.
To the gifts he had recognised in them earlier, Paul now adds "diligence," and a love returning toward himself. Paul names all these gifts first to the praise of Him who gave them. He names them next to stir up in the hearts of those addressed a feeling of godly self-respect, and a desire to excel themselves by abounding yet further in this grace of kindness toward fellow believers.
The word Paul uses for the collection is the same word used for God's grace. That choice of word changes what giving is.
Giving is spoken of as a grace, you notice, and this indeed it is, if rightly considered and carried out. It becomes a powerful way of expressing the working of the grace of God in blessing. If our own hearts are filled to overflowing with blessing from God, we are bound to overflow ourselves in giving to others. Is it not true that we know in our heads, and say with our lips, a good deal more than we express in large-hearted giving?
Another writer draws out what that word means for our sense of duty.
Here the word grace means giving. Grace does not make giving optional, because it is a privilege and at the same time a responsibility. It is a tangible expression of our love for God and also of our fellowship with Christians who are suffering distress.
Corinth had everything except this. The force of the appeal is in the word "also."
The apostle urges the Corinthians too, as he had urged Titus. They had their part now, and as God had enriched them with everything else, were they to fail in this grace? No, He looks for them to abound in it also. Yet he is careful that it should not be by command but of grace.
There was a delay behind the appeal. The Corinthians had promised to help believers in Jerusalem, then stalled.
Believers in Jerusalem were in dire need. The extremely poor believers in northern Greece (Macedonia) gave generously (2 Cor. 8:3–4), and the Corinthians (in wealthy Achaia) had promised to do the same. However, this was 'a year ago' (8:10; 9:2), and until this point nothing had come of it (8:7; 9:1–5).
The very next verse says he is not issuing a command. That restraint protects what giving is.
If we gave only because God commanded us to, our giving could no longer be spoken of as grace. We would be giving under the compulsion of law. No, the eagerness and zeal of the Macedonians was meant only to stir them up. The giving Paul asked for was to be an expression and proof of the sincerity and genuineness of their love. Love always delights to give.
What made the Macedonians give was not their means.
They were very poor, but their deep poverty did not limit their gifts. They gave with joy and abounded in the riches of generosity... And the secret of it was that they had given themselves first to the Lord. All else was the outflow of this self-surrender.
Two verses later Paul points to Christ Himself. One writer, quoting an older translation of that verse, sees this as the real power behind the appeal.
Paul adds, You know "the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though He was rich, for our sakes became poor, that we through His poverty might be rich." ... "You know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ" is irresistible as a moral motive. It is also a new power in us, which binds the heart to Himself in a similar expression of grace.
- Grace received. Paul lists faith, speech, knowledge, diligence and love "to the praise of Him who gave them." Everything Corinth had was a gift.
- Grace named. The collection carries the same word as God's grace. Giving is "a privilege and at the same time a responsibility."
- Grace overflowing. A heart "filled to overflowing with blessing from God" overflows to others. The Macedonians gave that way because they "had given themselves first to the Lord."
- Grace uncommanded. Paul refuses to order it. Under command, "our giving could no longer be spoken of as grace." It becomes proof of love instead.
- Grace patterned. The measure is Christ, who became poor to make us rich — a motive one writer calls "irresistible."
I do not speak as commanding [it], but through the zeal of others, and proving the genuineness of your love.
Paul is collecting money from the churches for poor believers in Jerusalem, and he has just pointed to the Macedonians, who gave freely out of deep poverty. Now he refuses to use his authority: he will not order the Corinthians to give, but says what the giving is for.
Paul will not command. One writer shows what a commanded gift would lose.
Verse 8 shows that the Apostle did not wish to be understood as issuing a command on the subject. If we gave only because God commanded us to, we could no longer call our giving grace. It would be done under the compulsion of law. No, the eagerness and zeal of the Macedonians was only meant to stir them up. The giving he asked for was to express and prove that their love was sincere and genuine. Love always delights to give.
Some things God does command. One writer draws that line, then gives two reasons why Paul presses hard without ordering.
The Lord has given a new commandment as the law of His own house (John 13:34; 1 John 2:8). It places a lasting duty on every believer, yet it is never imposed by force. We are commanded to believe the gospel and confess the name of Jesus, and the only other outcome is ruin. But the practical love of believers must come freely if God is to accept it. An example may stir it up, and urging may awaken it, but it bears fruit only by its own inner power. The apostle refuses to give an order, yet he keeps pressing them, and he gives two reasons. He does not want their fellow believers in Macedonia to outdo them in this happy contest. And he wants to give them a special chance to prove that their love is sincere.
Paul had every right to instruct them. He set that right aside and let the Macedonians do the persuading.
The apostle exhorts the Corinthians too, as he had Titus. They had their part now, and as God had enriched with everything else, were they to fail in this grace? No, He looks that they should abound in it also. Yet he is careful that it should not be by injunction but of grace. "I say this not as a command, but to prove by the earnestness of others that your love also is genuine." What a blend of tenderness, sensitivity and faithfulness!
The aim was not simply to collect the money. Paul was after the motive behind the gift.
But he is careful to insist that he does not speak as commanding this: he does not want them to treat it as a mere duty. The example of the Macedonians, which he has described, was one of wholehearted willingness. On the other hand, there is the question of proving that the love of the Corinthians is sincere. So Paul is seeking to reach and stir the right motives, not simply to make them give.
If love is being proved, then the size of the gift is not the measurement. What Paul had just praised in Macedonia settles that.
The Lord has shown us that the size of the gift is in no way the test of what is good in God's sight. He has shown how the two small coins of a poor widow, worth one penny, can be more to Him than all the treasures piled up by the wealthy. In fact, the people the apostle speaks of here were showing, in their deep poverty, the riches of their free-hearted generosity. This is what makes generosity noteworthy. It is not so much what is given as what remains to the giver. What the apostle valued was not the largeness of the gift, but the heart displayed in it.
The Corinthians already loved Paul, and he had gladly said so. This gift would carry that love somewhere it had not yet gone.
He has gladly acknowledged how warm their love is towards himself. What he wants now is to see how far that love can spread, in active kindness towards people they knew only by the report of their faith. He longs to see them recognise, in a practical way, their calling and their bond with one another, as members of the one body of Christ. In his earlier letter he reminded them of this truth as teaching. Now he seeks to draw it out in practice through their giving.
That proof was not meant to stay private. Among the stated purposes of Christian giving, one writer lists this verse alongside the close of the chapter:
to prove the reality of our love: "I speak not by commandment, but by occasion of the forwardness of others, and to prove the sincerity of your love … Therefore show them, and before the churches, the proof of your love, and of our boasting on your behalf" (2 Cor. 8:8, 24).
- Not commanded. Paul refuses to order the gift. A forced gift stops being grace and becomes law.
- Not pressured. In place of an order he sets an example — the eagerness of the Macedonians — meant to stir motive, not to extract money.
- Proved. Giving is the test that shows whether love is real. Love that never moves the hand leaves nothing to prove it.
- Measured differently. The test is not the size of the gift but the heart in it — what remains with the giver, not what leaves.
- Sent outward. Their love was already warm toward Paul. Now it was to reach believers they had never met.
For ye know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that for your sakes he, being rich, became poor, in order that *ye* by *his* poverty might be enriched.
Paul is urging the Corinthians to give generously. Then he lifts the appeal to its highest ground. The verse asks us to weigh three things: when Christ was rich, what His poverty cost, and what riches it bought for us.
Other Christians can set an example of giving. But example alone cannot produce it.
The working of God's grace in other Christians may stir us. But only the supreme working of God's grace in Christ can give us the mainspring and motive we need, if the grace of generous giving is to mark us. To that mainspring we come in verse 9.
Christ outclasses every other giver.
To awaken this love the Apostle reminds them that in Christ we have the supreme example of giving. The rich may give out of their abundant riches. Others, like the believers in Macedonia, are in deep poverty themselves, yet give out of their abundant joy. But in Christ we see One who was rich, and who for our sakes became poor, to give others the true riches.
The life of Jesus on earth was not rich. So the wealth must belong to a time before He came, and that says something about who He is.
He was rich and He became poor. A man I spoke with denied the eternal deity of our Lord Jesus Christ. He argued that He began His existence in the manger at Bethlehem. My answer was this text. If what he professed to believe was the truth, then our Lord never was rich before He was poor, and our text is a lie. There was none poorer than He on the day He was born in David's city — a manger was His cradle, and a stable His shelter... And if any ask how that could be, the one and only answer is this: He was God before He became man. Take His Deity out of the verse, and it loses all its meaning.
Wealth and poverty here are about resources: having everything, then having nothing.
His grace truly cannot be measured. Yet we can hold two measures beside it: the infinite glory of His person in itself, and the depth of the humiliation He accepted for us... Wealth means full means and resources. Poverty means having none of them. As a divine person our Lord had no need for Himself, and every resource at His command for others. He was rich indeed, yet for our sakes He became poor — not in outward fact only, but in spirit, to the very fullest... He is the perfect pattern of One who depended on His Father and never used a single thing for Himself in all His life.
That poverty reached its lowest point at the cross.
In His deep poverty He had our eternal wealth on His heart. He reached the point of His utmost poverty when He was alone, bearing God's judgment against our sin through those hours of total darkness. That point secured our everlasting blessing.
There is a difference between the glory that is His alone and the riches He won as Man and can hand over.
As the eternal Son of the Father, He has a glory all His own. It is His essential Godhead glory in which no creature can have part. But as Man in this world He has won honours, glories and riches. These He can share, and does share, with His own redeemed and loved ones. And with these "great riches" He enriches all who trust Him as their Saviour. "All things are yours," the apostle says.
Those riches have names.
And what infinite wealth has come to us through His great poverty! He has enriched us in righteousness, in eternal life, in holiness, in the gift of the Holy Spirit, in sonship, in the possession of all things, in union with Christ, and in fellowship with the Father and with His Son Jesus Christ. And when He comes again we will find our eternal home with Him in the Father's house, where we shall see Him as He is, and be like Him.
Paul's exact wording is worth noticing. He writes to people who are already believers, and aims the truth straight at their behaviour.
Notice how fitting the apostle's language is. He does not say "for our sakes," but "for yours." He is not preaching the doctrine of salvation here. He is helping and warning people who have already believed through grace. General statements of doctrine are what our faith rests on. Applying that same doctrine to particular cases is the proper food of love.
- Rich — the wealth was His before Bethlehem; take His deity out of the verse and it means nothing.
- Poor — poverty is the utter lack of resources, and He who had everything at command used not one thing for Himself.
- Deepest — at the cross, in the darkness, He bore God's judgment against our sin.
- Rich again — His Godhead glory stays His alone. The riches He won as Man He shares: righteousness, eternal life, sonship, the Father's house.
- Therefore give — the example of generous Christians can stir you; only the grace of Christ can move you.
And I give [my] opinion in this, for this is profitable for you who began before, not only to do, but also to be willing, a year ago.
Paul has just held up the Macedonian believers and the Lord Jesus Himself as examples of giving, and now he gives advice instead of an order. He reminds the Corinthians that this collection was their own idea a year earlier, which raises a hard question: what should be done with a good intention that has gone cold?
Paul refuses to turn this into a command. The reason lies in what he is asking for.
Verse 8 shows that the Apostle did not want to be understood as giving a command on this subject. If we gave only because God commanded us to, our giving could no longer be called grace. It would be done under the compulsion of law. No, the eagerness and zeal of the Macedonians was meant only to stir them up, and the giving he asked for was to be an expression and proof of the sincerity and genuineness of their love. Love always delights to give.
An order would have destroyed what he was hoping to see. Love had another way to speak.
A command here would have been out of place. It was foreign to the spirit he wanted to draw out. But there was room for the counsel that only love can give. True spiritual ministry always carries a thoughtful sympathy, and these verses display it clearly. He speaks as one who had their honour and their real interests both at heart.
Paul's advice is for the good of the givers, not only for the poor believers who would receive the money. Part of that good is keeping their word.
With such a background Paul gives his advice, because he is sure it is profitable for them: it is for their own spiritual good. They had begun in this matter a year before, willingly expressing their desire to give help. So he tells them to go on and finish the job. It would be seriously wrong to go back on their word in this. They had not been forced; they promised willingly. The question is not how much each one is to give, or how much the group is to give, but whether they keep their word in willing giving. They must not let this die as a good intention. They must act on it.
Something had gone wrong between the first impulse and this letter.
A year ago they had both felt and begun to obey a right and gracious impulse, doing their work of love willingly and earnestly. But what happened in between had distracted them and left them morally unable to carry on with their earlier wish. Now they are people restored to their right minds, back in their true place at the feet of Jesus. So let them take courage and take up again the good work they had begun.
A passage about a collection turns out to hold one of the letter's great truths.
How often verses that sparkle like gems lie buried in the discussion of matters that seem very ordinary, even common-place! This is a case in point. The Corinthians had willingly taken up the idea a whole year before, and yet so far they had failed to bring it to completion and actually hand over the money. What would bring them to the point? What, but a fresh sense of the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ?
Paul can press them to finish, because the desire was already their own.
The apostle adds his judgment about the profit this brings to the Corinthian believers themselves. They began earlier, not only the doing but also the willing, a year ago. So he could urge them, with all the more delicacy, to complete what they had purposed out of what they had. Grace refuses constraint, but it values, encourages and directs a ready mind. Without this, what is giving worth? Is the gift acceptable? Or the giver? But if the readiness is there, a person is accepted according to what he has, not according to what he has not. Sentiment disappears; reality takes its place.
Finishing what they started would do more than meet a need. It would change how people spoke about the church at Corinth.
It was fitting that they should do this. It would not only make fruit abound to their account. It would also turn the tongues that might otherwise speak evil of the church at Corinth, because of her too public scandals. They would instead be made to magnify the name of God on their behalf, when they saw such clear fruits of His restoring grace displayed among them.
- Willing. Paul gives advice, not orders. Giving under orders stops being grace and becomes law.
- Begun. A year earlier they had both wanted to give and started to give — the desire was genuine and their own.
- Stalled. Trouble in between distracted them. The cure is a fresh sense of the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ.
- Completed. Where willingness is real, a person is accepted for what he has, not what he lacks. Sentiment gives way to reality.
- Profitable. The finished work brings fruit to their own account and turns critical tongues into praise to God.
But now also complete the doing of it; so that as [there was] the readiness to be willing, so also to complete out of what ye have.
A year earlier the Corinthians had promised to help poor believers in need. The promise never went further than a promise. Paul now asks them to close the gap between what they meant to do and what they did. The size of the gift is not the issue.
One writer names the root of the delay, and what can stir such hearts again.
Nothing is more deeply rooted in man's fallen nature than selfishness. This is what explains the slow action of the Corinthians. When this collection for the poor believers first came up, they willingly agreed to give. The apostle could speak of "your readiness" (2 Cor. 9:2), and so he boasted of them to others, saying "that Achaia has been ready since last year." Yet this willingness stayed in mind and word. There was delay in action, and so far nothing had come of it. There was "readiness in desiring it," but they did not readily "finish doing it" out of what they had. What could stir their sluggish hearts — or ours — like a fresh sense of the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ?
Paul gives advice here, not an order. One writer explains why a command would have been out of place, and what love could say instead.
A command in such a case was out of season. It would have gone against the spirit he wished to draw out. But there was room for such counsel as love alone can give. There is a considerate sympathy that always marks true spiritual ministry, and it shows itself strikingly in these verses. He speaks as one who had their honour and their real interests equally at heart. A year ago they had felt a right and gracious impulse, and had begun to obey it. They did their work of love willingly and eagerly. But what happened in between drew their attention away. It also left them morally unfit to carry out their earlier wish. Let them now take courage, as men restored to their right minds, and found again in their true place, at the feet of Jesus. Let them take up again the good work they had begun.
The Corinthians had started this work themselves. Another writer asks what a gift is worth when the readiness behind it is missing.
So it was all the more fitting for him to urge them, gently, to complete their purpose out of what they had. Grace refuses to force anyone. But it values, encourages, and directs readiness of mind. Without this, what is giving worth? Is the gift acceptable? Or the giver? But if the readiness is there, one is accepted according to what one has, not according to what one does not have. Sentiment disappears; reality takes its place.
Nobody had pressured them into this promise. One writer treats the verse as a question of keeping your word, not of amount.
They had begun this a year before, and had willingly said they wanted to give help. So he tells them, "So now finish doing it as well." It would be seriously wrong to go back on their word here. Nobody had forced them; they promised willingly. So Paul is not going to let them forget this. The question is not how much each one is to give, or how much the group is to give. The question is keeping their word in willingly giving. They must not let this die as a good intention. They must act on it.
Two writers draw two safeguards out of the measure Paul sets. One notes that giving is never meant to create a new case of need:
Second, let their giving be "out of what you have." There is no thought of meeting one person's need by pushing another into need. That would only ease the burden on one by putting it on another.
The other removes the excuse of waiting for a better moment:
One should give according to the amount he has, not wait until he thinks he has a substantial amount to give. A willing mind that gives only a little because there is little to give, is what God accepts. The widow with her two small coins teaches us a helpful lesson.
- Willing. The Corinthians wanted to give. Paul had even boasted about their readiness a year earlier.
- Stalled. The willingness stayed in mind and word. One writer names selfishness as the cause of the delay.
- Stirred. The cure is not pressure. It is a fresh sense of the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ. Grace never forces, yet it values and directs readiness.
- Finished. A promise made freely must be kept. A good intention must not die as an intention. Take up again the work you began.
- Measured. The standard is what you already have. Never help one person by pushing another into need. Never wait until your gift looks impressive.
For if the readiness be there, [a man is] accepted according to what he may have, not according to what he has not.
Paul is pressing the believers at Corinth to finish a collection they began a year earlier. It was for poor Christians in Jerusalem. Verse 12 gives the measure God uses when He weighs a gift. That measure removes every excuse, and it crushes no one.
The verse opens with an "if," and everything hangs on it. One writer shows how grace works here. Grace never forces a gift. But without a ready heart, both the gift and the giver come into question.
Grace refuses to force anyone, but it values, encourages, and directs readiness of mind. Without this, what is giving worth? Is the gift acceptable? Or the giver? But if the readiness is there, one is accepted according to what one has, not according to what one has not. Sentiment disappears; reality takes its place.
So the size of the gift is not the test. God Himself receives it, and He weighs it by a standard money cannot measure.
He is the general receiver of His children's gifts. In every case He values them according to the heart and disposition of the giver. He testified long ago that a man's desire is counted as his kindness, and that a poor man is better than a liar (Proverbs 19:22, older translation). The smallest offering is, in His esteem, a sweet-smelling fragrance, if its motive is the love of Christ.
The Corinthians had the readiness already. What they lacked was the follow-through.
When this collection for the poor believers first came up, they willingly agreed to give. The apostle could speak of their readiness (2 Corinthians 9:2). He boasted about them to others, saying that Achaia had been ready since last year. Yet this willingness stayed in mind and word. They delayed acting, and so far nothing had come of it. They were ready to will, but slow to do it out of what they had (2 Corinthians 8:11).
The second half of the verse is a protection. God measures the gift against what a person has. No one has to relieve need by falling into need.
Let their giving be "according to what a person has." There is no thought of meeting one person's need by reducing another to need. That would only ease one burden by shifting it onto someone else.
Paul is not introducing something new. Long before, God showed that a small offering from small means counts with a large one.
It is very precious to see how those who have little stand before God in their offerings together with those who have much. The Levites had a smaller offering for the Lord than the children of Israel. The one had the tithes of the fulness of the land; the other had only the tithe of the tithe for their offering. Yet of it the Lord said, "And your contribution shall be counted to you as though it were the grain of the threshing floor." The Lord accepted from them according to what they had, not according to what they had not. And so the poor widow cast in her two small coins to the offering of God, while many rich people cast in much. Christ weighed her two coins against all that the rich gave, and His verdict was that she put in more than all of them (Mark 12:41-44).
The same measure applies to service. One writer applies it to a man with the smallest possible piece of work.
It is said of one man that he repaired the wall in front of his own room. It seems he had no house, only a lodging. But though the circle of his responsibility was narrow, he was found faithful. As the apostle speaks of stewardship: "If the readiness is there, it is acceptable according to what a person has, not according to what he does not have." This should comfort anyone tempted to long for a wider sphere of service. It is faithfulness in the place where the Lord has put us that He values and commends.
- First the will. Without a willing mind the gift has no worth; grace refuses to compel, but it does look for readiness.
- Then the hand. A will that never turns into action leaves the work unfinished. That was the Corinthians' failure.
- Measured by what you have. The standard is your actual means. No one has to relieve need by falling into need.
- Weighed by the heart. God receives the gift Himself and weighs the heart behind it. The smallest offering is fragrant to Him when love for Christ prompts it.
- Wider than money. The same rule covers service: faithfulness in a narrow sphere is what He commends, not the size of the sphere.
For [it is] not in order that there may be ease for others, and for you distress,
Paul is asking the believers at Corinth to finish a collection for poor believers in Jerusalem. Here he stops to answer a fear. He is not asking them to sink so that others can rise — so what exactly is the "fairness" he has in view, and how far does it reach?
Paul has just said that a gift is measured by what a person has. That rules out one way of helping the poor.
Second, let their giving be "according to what a person has." There is no thought of meeting one person's need by pushing another into need. That would only ease the burden on one by putting it on the other.
Paul is not asking Corinth to carry a share out of proportion to anyone else.
Paul did not want the Corinthians to take on a load out of proportion to others. He was not making things hard for them so that others could be relieved. But a spirit that gladly shares what God has given with those in clear need is a right expression of unity, and that unity wants blessing for all believers.
The ESV reads "fairness" here, where the older translation the commentators quote reads "equality." The word does not mean everyone ends up with the same amount or the same standing. The picture behind it is the manna, the food God gave Israel in the desert.
Third, the giving is to produce an "equality." This need not be equality in wealth or social position. It means that each one is equally set free from need. The Apostle shows what this equality is like by pointing to the manna. The amount gathered could differ greatly from person to person, since some gathered much and some little. Yet all were alike in this: every need was met.
This is not permanent charity from a fixed set of givers. Who gives and who receives can change.
When Paul wrote, the need was among the believers in Jerusalem. The supply was among the non-Jewish believers whom Paul's work had reached. So a tide of supply was to flow from the second group to the first. In time the situation might be reversed, and then the tide would flow the other way.
Paul backs the point with the desert food God sent Israel, where some gathered much and some little yet nobody was short. The lesson drawn is about the God who did the measuring.
Grace refuses to force anyone. It values, encourages, and directs a ready mind. Without that, what is a gift worth? ... God's own way and word about the gathering of the manna long ago backs this up. He matched the supply to the need with a wisdom and power that ruled out both too much and too little. He who gave the manna from heaven measured it exactly, whatever the different amounts in people's hands. And we have to do with the same God, who orders everything in the church with no less care and love.
None of this works as a rule forced from outside. It grows out of believers belonging to one another.
Unless we have taken in the truth of the "one body," this call must feel like a burden and not a privilege. That is why so many poor believers grumble and complain. All Christians are saints, and all are members of the body of Christ. We all know that the members of one body share the same interests, sympathies, feelings, and future. On this principle we take part in the needs of fellow believers, or should do, treating those needs as our own... On this verse one commentator remarks: "The apostle suggests here that we ought to meet the needs of poor believers with as much care as if we were helping ourselves."
- Need, not amount — the aim is that each one is equally set free from need, not that wealth or social position match.
- Need not created — you never relieve one person's need by pushing another into need. The burden is shared, not moved.
- Need is measured — the gift matches "what a person has." A ready mind matters more than the size of the gift, and grace never uses pressure.
- Need moves — today's giver may be tomorrow's receiver. The tide of supply can flow the other way.
- Need is felt as your own — God measured the manna exactly, and He still measures. Because we are one body, we treat another's shortage as our own.
but [on the principle] of equality; in the present time your abundance for their lack, that their abundance may be for your lack, so that there should be equality.
Commentary for this verse has not been generated yet.
According as it is written, He who [gathered] much had no excess, and he who [gathered] little was nothing short.
Paul closes his appeal for the collection by pointing back to the manna in the wilderness, where every gatherer went home satisfied. So what is the "equality" God wants among His people, and how does a story about manna become a rule for money?
In the wilderness each person gathered a set daily measure of manna, called an omer.
This passage, quoted from Exodus 16, is a striking example. The Spirit of God often gives one scripture a variety of meanings when He applies it. The Exodus account plainly contains three things. First, on God's part, He makes equal provision for each: an omer for every man. Second, on man's part, "each of them gathered as much as he could eat" — the appetite governed the amount collected. And so, last, whatever the amount gathered, the one who gathered much had nothing over and the one who gathered little had no lack. Both the large and the small desires were satisfied by what each obtained.
The wonder in the wilderness was not in the gatherers but in the Giver. That same hand is at work now.
God's way and word about the gathering of the manna long ago back this up. He fitted the supply to the demand with a wisdom and power that ruled out excess just as much as shortage. The One who gave the manna from heaven measured it exactly, whatever the differing measures in men's hands. And we have to do with the same God. We can be sure He regulates everything in the church with no less care and love.
The word could sound like a demand that everyone end up with the same amount.
Third, the giving is to produce an "equality." This need not mean equal wealth or social position. It means that each one is equally freed from need. The Apostle gives an example of this equality by referring to the manna. The amounts people gathered might have differed greatly. Some gathered much and some little. Yet all were alike in this: each one had his need met.
Nor does this verse turn private property into a common fund.
Community of goods is not taught in Scripture; it is entirely foreign to its spirit. The rich had their duties, and the poor had theirs as well (1 Tim. 6:17; James 1:9-10). All who were able were to work so that they might have something to give — not to a common purse, but to the needy (Eph. 4:28; 2 Thess. 3:10, 12). The needy Jewish believers at Jerusalem were remembered and helped by believers from other nations (Acts 11:27-30; Gal. 2:10; Rom. 15:25-27). This generosity was to reach wherever the need appeared — even to the world, as they had the ability (Rom. 12:13; Gal. 6:10).
In the wilderness God did the levelling Himself. Now He does it through people, and that has a purpose.
The beautiful example of the manna is what he sets before them here. It was a ministry from heaven itself. Men had only to gather what God had given, and yet "whoever gathered much had nothing left over, and whoever gathered little had no lack." That was God's thought and desire for them all. Now He uses human hands to do it. In this way He binds the hearts of His people to each other and draws out their love. The gift, if it was anything at all, was only the display of that love.
The principle only becomes real when someone looks at what they hold and acts.
The Lord had provided the manna: some gathered more, some less, but His care was the same for all, and all had enough with no excess. If that is the Lord's way, then if I have excess, I should be thankful to be able to share it with another who has lack. If I see others not having equality, at least let me have the heart to equalise things.
The manna also teaches something about the gatherer.
There was enough for all, but each one was to gather according to his capacity to take it in. It is often said that we enjoy Christ and His grace according to our capacity and our diligence. Here we have that idea pictured.
- Provision — God sent enough manna for everyone. He measured it Himself, so there was no surplus and no shortage.
- Pattern — What He did Himself in the wilderness He now does through His people's hands. This binds their hearts together and draws out their love.
- Meaning — "Equality" is not equal wealth or status. It is every need met. Scripture does not pool property: rich and poor each keep their own duties.
- Decision — Excess in my hands is the signal to share, and the heart that sees inequality wants to close it.
- Appetite — The same words teach one more thing. We take in as much of Christ as our capacity and diligence reach for.