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.