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.