For concerning the ministration which [is] for the saints, it is superfluous my writing to you.
Paul turns back to the collection: money gathered among Gentile churches for poor believers in Jerusalem. He says he need not write about it at all — and then writes a whole chapter more. Why handle this one subject with such care?
One poorer church had already given more than Corinth, and Acts explains how the need arose.
The Philippians were poor compared with the Corinthians, yet they were far more generous. They talked less and gave more. The book of Acts gives us a twofold explanation of what gave rise to the need. There was a famine in those days (Acts 11:27-30). The "Christian communism" they practised at the beginning had also left the believers in Jerusalem especially poor (Acts 2:44-45). But their poverty gave Gentile and Jew the occasion to build real bonds of Christian fellowship.
The "ministry" in this verse is giving, not preaching. Paul took no support from Corinth for himself, yet he urged their gifts for others.
There is to be a practical ministry in giving, especially in remembering the poor of the flock. He is anxious now to lay this responsibility on their hearts. In the first letter he had written to them that his glory was in giving the gospel free of charge. He would not take anything from the Corinthians for himself, but he wants their gifts for others. He was making up a collection for the poor saints in Judea and Jerusalem, and of this he writes to them. So Gentile believers were to show their appreciation for the blessing they had received through the Jews, for salvation is from the Jews.
If they needed no instruction, why did Paul keep writing?
His delicacy here is just as striking and instructive. He gives the saints in Corinth full credit for the same love that overflowed his own heart: "it is superfluous for me to write to you." They had been taught it by God themselves. Why then did he write at such length? Not because he did not know their ready mind; not because they had failed to give him ground to boast of what God had worked in this respect. In the last chapter he boasted of the Macedonians. Their circumstances were hard and needy, yet they rose above them and remembered the poor saints in Judea most generously. So now he lets the Corinthian saints know that he boasts about them to the Macedonians too, above all about how ready they were for this appeal a year ago.
His method is to remind them, not to teach them.
Now the apostle returns to the Corinthians. In the opening verse of this chapter he changes his tone again. He moves from praising his fellow-workers back to the original subject of his appeal. He mixes praise with words of counsel. That is the surest way to rekindle the generous zeal of his readers: he reminds them of that zeal's earlier and spontaneous efforts. It is superfluous for him to write to them about ministering to the saints. Why should he? It was no part of his job to teach them that duty. God had already put it in their hearts. He will only remind them of their former selves.
His confidence was not blind. He had watched their willingness work outward on others.
Though the Apostle had written to the assembly at Corinth to awaken their care for the needy among God's people, he felt it was somewhat unnecessary, since he knew their readiness of mind to help in this service. Indeed, in this respect he had boasted of them to those in Macedonia, just as he had used the saints in Macedonia as an example for those he was writing to in Achaia. Their zeal had been used to stir up others to this good work.
Paul also used one church to stir up another.
He would stir them up at Corinth by telling of the devotion of those in Macedonia, and the other way round (2 Cor. 9:1-4). All the assemblies of Asia sent greetings to those in Achaia (1 Cor. 16:19)... Titus, Timothy, Apollos and other servants of the Lord passed from one assembly to another. They carried news of joys and sorrows, and so they linked the Lord's beloved people together in a practical way.
Reminding people of a gift they promised but have not yet given is a delicate job.
He did not shy away from the delicate task of reminding the Corinthians of the gift they had pledged. He knew the Corinthians needed a prompt, but he gave it in a very gracious way... He stirred them into action, but he did not want to expose their shortcomings to others. He was keenly aware of how the Corinthians had failed in several ways. Yet to others he gladly mentioned what was good in them: their noble intention of giving to those in need (9:2).
- Need — Famine, and the sharing they practised at the start, left the believers in Jerusalem poor. That poverty built real bonds between Gentile and Jew.
- Ministry — Paul took nothing from Corinth for himself, but he asked for others. Gentiles could give material help back for the blessing that reached them through the Jews.
- Ready hearts — Writing was superfluous because God had already put this care in their hearts. Paul reminded them of their former selves instead of teaching them a duty.
- Boasting — He told the Macedonians how ready Achaia was, and he used each church to stir up the other.
- Delicacy — He prompted them, but he never exposed their failures. To others he mentioned only what was good in them.
For I know your readiness, which I boast of as respects you to Macedonians, that Achaia is prepared since a year ago, and the zeal [reported] of you has stimulated the mass [of the brethren].
Paul is writing about a collection for poor believers. He tells the Corinthians they need no letter from him on this. Yet the eagerness he praises in public was already a year old, and still nothing had been sent.
Paul does not open with pressure. He credits them with a love he believes is already there. The duty itself came from God's own teaching.
His tact here is just as striking and instructive. He gives the believers in Corinth full credit for the same love that overflowed his own heart: "it is superfluous for me to write to you." God Himself had taught them this. Why then did he write at such length? Not because he did not know their ready mind. And not because they had failed to give him ground to boast in what God had worked in them.
Another writer sees praise itself as the method here. Paul revives their generosity by holding up to them what they used to be.
He mixes praise with words of counsel. That is the surest way to rekindle the generous zeal of his readers: he reminds them of its earlier, spontaneous efforts. It is unnecessary for him to write to them about ministering to God's people. Why should he? Teaching them that duty was no part of his responsibility; God had already put it in their hearts. He will only remind them of their former selves.
Achaia here means the Corinthians themselves. Their good intention had gone a whole year without action.
Nothing is more deeply rooted in man's fallen nature than selfishness. That is what lay behind the sluggish action of the Corinthians. When this collection for the poor believers first came up, they gladly agreed to give. The apostle could speak of "your readiness," so he boasted of them to others, "that Achaia has been ready since last year." The willingness was there in mind and word. But the action was delayed, and so far nothing had come of it. They were ready to will it, yet they did not readily do it out of what they had. What could stir their sluggish hearts — or ours — so effectively as a fresh sense of the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ?
Their early eagerness did not stay in Corinth. It reached other believers, whose own giving now shines back on the ones who first sparked it.
In the early, bright morning of their love, they had shown an eagerness in this good work. It cheered his heart. It also stirred most of those who have since been so active in it to their present generosity. Now the fresher zeal of those givers reflects back on Corinth its own light and warmth.
Paul praised the believers in Macedonia to Corinth, and the Corinthians to Macedonia. Is that a fair way to move people to give?
Some of us might think it wrong to recite the devotedness of others in order to stir up sluggish believers. It can look like an appeal to low motives, and not a worthy thing to do. Here, however, we find the Spirit inspiring the Apostle to do this 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 worth having.
The word behind "stirred up" is worth weighing. It appears in only one other place in the New Testament, where it carries a warning.
The word for stir up (or, provoke) is found also in 2 Cor. 9:2; not elsewhere in the New Testament. God our Father is the God of all Encouragement, and we are not to do anything that will dishearten or discourage our children.
Paul had praised them in public. If they now fell short, the shame would fall on everyone.
How painful it would be for him, and for them too, if believers came from Macedonia and found a shortfall here! These were the very people whose reported zeal had done so much to kindle their own. What shame on all sides if this confidence in the Corinthians should prove unfounded!
- Readiness — Paul knew their willing mind. He said no letter was needed, because God had already put the duty in their hearts.
- Report — that readiness became his boast to Macedonia. Telling one group how God's grace worked in another is something the Spirit Himself inspired.
- Ripple — their zeal stirred most of the others. The warmth of those fresher givers now reflects back on Corinth.
- Risk — a year of willingness with no action left his boasting exposed. If visitors found nothing prepared, everyone would be ashamed.
- Remedy — the cure for a sluggish heart is not shame but a fresh sense of the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ.
But I have sent the brethren, in order that our boasting about you may not be made void in this respect, in order that, as I have said, ye may be prepared;
Paul had told the believers in Macedonia that Corinth was ready to give. Now he sends men ahead to make sure that claim holds up.
Two things moved Paul to act: his care for the Corinthians and the Lord's honour among them.
So he was zealous for them and for the Lord's honour in them, and he wanted love to flow happily in every way. He speaks of sending the brothers mentioned at the close of the previous chapter. They were to guard his boast on their behalf against mishap on this point. He wanted them prepared beyond any danger of disappointment. He would do all he could to secure this. How painful it would be for him, and for them too, if men came from Macedonia and found a shortfall! And this in the very people whose reported zeal had done so much to kindle their own.
Paul's public praise had tied his own good name to what they did next.
The previous chapter held one touching reminder (2 Cor. 8:9). After that, nothing could appeal more strongly to the hearts of these Corinthians than this: Paul had tied his own credit among the churches completely to theirs. He had committed himself by making this confident claim about them. So he placed his truthfulness and honour in their hands. Could they show themselves unworthy of such trust?
And the next verse shows that Paul is not the only one exposed:
Suppose some from Macedonia came with Paul and found the Corinthians unprepared to supply what they had promised. Paul himself would be ashamed — and how much more should they be!
"That you may be ready" points at a gap the Corinthians had let open.
The Corinthians had been quite ready to consider making this collection. They had willingly taken up the idea a whole year earlier. Yet they had still not finished it and given the money. What would bring them to the point? What, except a fresh sense of the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ?
He sent men in advance to keep the gift free of pressure.
He told them that "each one must give as he has decided in his heart." He also took the precaution of sending certain brothers ahead of his own coming, to collect what they intended to give. The gift was to be ready as a blessing, and not as something got out of them. He did not want their giving to happen under pressure, either in appearance or in fact. He had no desire to squeeze out unwilling gifts. Nor did he want to stir them into a generosity beyond the faith and grace they had, which they might later regret.
Another writer names the men sent and the dangers Paul was guarding against:
He did not wish, as we know from 1 Corinthians 16, that there should be collections when he came himself. He would guard against haste on one side, personal influence on the other, and malicious hints as well. But his love for them, and his desire for the Lord's glory in the matter, made him urge Titus and his two companions to go on ahead to Corinth and complete their promised blessing before he arrived.
Paul lets one group of believers hear how another has given. Some might question whether that is a worthy way to stir people up.
Some of us might think that telling how devoted others have been, to stir up sluggish believers, is an appeal to low motives. It would not be a worthy thing to do. Here, however, we find the Spirit inspiring the Apostle to do this 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 very desirable.
- Boast — Paul had praised Corinth's readiness to others, so his truthfulness and honour lay in their hands.
- Gap — They took up the collection a year earlier and never finished it. Willingness had not yet become giving.
- Send — He did not leave the gap to chance. He sent men ahead, wanting them ready beyond any danger of disappointment.
- Free — The early visit kept the gift a blessing, not something squeezed out under pressure.
- Spread — Their zeal had kindled others. Reports of grace in one place are meant to stir and convict another.
lest haply, if Macedonians come with me and find you unprepared, *we*, that we say not *ye*, may be put to shame in this confidence.
Paul has praised Corinth to other churches as an example of readiness to give. Now he names his fear: Macedonians may come with him and find nothing ready — so why does an apostle appeal to shame?
One writer sets out the worst case that the brothers Paul sends are meant to prevent.
Paul is sending the brothers so that the zeal of the Corinthians, and the confidence of the apostles in them, might not prove empty. The purpose is that they show themselves ready. Suppose some men from Macedonia came with Paul and found the Corinthians unprepared to supply what they had promised. Paul himself would be ashamed — and how much more should they be!
Paul had spoken well of Corinth to other churches. That praise came at a cost: it tied his own standing to what they did next.
These people led the way in doing good. Do not let them seem to fall below themselves. Only the touching reminder in the previous chapter appeals more strongly to these Corinthians than this: Paul has joined his own credit in the churches completely with theirs. He committed himself when he made this confident claim about them. So he placed his truth and honour in their hands. Could they show themselves unworthy of such trust?
The phrase Paul slips in — to say nothing of you — softens the blow while making the point. One writer says his fear ran mainly the other way.
Towards these Macedonians he had boasted of how generous the Corinthians were. The reputation of the Corinthian believers was at risk — and he feared more for theirs than for his own. These Macedonian brothers might be disappointed, or even stumbled, if the Corinthians lacked the energy and determination to see this matter through. To avoid embarrassing the Corinthians or stumbling the Macedonians, he sent Titus on ahead. Titus could then organise the gift before Paul arrived.
The shame would not stop with Paul.
How painful it would be for him — not to say for them — if brothers came from Macedonia and found these believers falling short! The report of their zeal was the very thing that had kindled Macedonia's own. What shame on all sides if this confidence in the Corinthians should not prove well-founded!
There was a gap between agreeing to give and giving.
When this collection for the poor believers first came up, they were willing to give. The apostle could speak of their readiness of mind, and so he boasted of them to others, saying that Achaia had been ready since last year. Yet the willingness stayed in mind and word. There was delay in action, and so far nothing had come of it. They were ready in desiring it, but they did not match that by completing it out of what they had.
Paul chose not to be there when the money was gathered.
As we know from 1 Corinthians 16, he did not want collections taken while he was there himself. He would guard against haste on the one hand, personal influence on the other, and malicious hints. But his love for them, and his desire for the Lord's glory in the matter, made him urge Titus and his two companions to go on ahead to Corinth and complete their promised blessing before he arrived.
He wanted their gift given freely.
He did not want them to give under pressure, and he did not want it to look that way either. He had no wish to squeeze out unwilling gifts. Nor did he want to stir them into a generosity beyond the faith and grace they had — one they might regret later.
Money is the one subject Paul finds hard to raise.
We now come to what Paul is uneasy about, and that is getting money from them. He would not take any for himself, but he would for others... He circles around the subject, but he thought it better to send someone, in case his boasting proved empty and he was ashamed of it in front of the Macedonians, who were coming with him. Paul the man — the instrument — comes out in all of it.
- Boast — Paul had praised Corinth's readiness to other churches. That praise put his own credit in their hands.
- Risk — If Macedonians came and found nothing ready, the shame would fall on both sides. He names his own shame first, and theirs only by hint.
- Send — He would not press them in person. He sent brothers ahead to guard against haste, his own influence, and malicious hints.
- Ready — A year of willing words had not become action; the gift was to be complete before he arrived.
- Blessing — A gift prepared in advance comes as blessing. One squeezed out under pressure is regretted later.
I thought it necessary therefore to beg the brethren that they would come to you, and complete beforehand your fore-announced blessing, that this may be ready thus as blessing, and not as got out of you.
Paul is writing about money promised for poor believers. He sends three men to Corinth ahead of him, so the church can finish its gift before he arrives. The verse turns on a contrast: a willing gift, not an exaction. Older translations read "blessing, not covetousness."
Paul could have collected the money himself when he arrived. He chose not to.
He loved them, and he wanted the Lord to have glory in the matter. So he urged Titus and his two companions to go on ahead to Corinth. Before he arrived himself, they were to complete the blessing the Corinthians had promised. As we know from 1 Corinthians 16, he did not want collections taken when he came in person. He would guard against haste on one side, personal influence on another, and malicious rumours.
Paul was in no way less eager to come. The waiting did something to the gift itself.
He was just as eager for this visit as they were. Still, he put it off until, if possible, everything in the way of their shared joy was gone. The delay should bring lasting fruit, and more of it. Their gift was not to be given in haste, nor because they were forced, but out of deliberate, full-grown love. Then it would be more than a gift — a blessing, as from God.
The term Paul chooses for their contribution is not a neutral word for money. It is the same word used in the Old Testament when one person hands another a gift, and commentators point to those scenes to fix its sense.
Compare, for this use of "blessing," Genesis 33:11; Judges 1:15; 2 Kings 5:15; it is love not in word or in tongue, but in deed and in truth, 1 John 3:18.
The second half of the contrast warns against a grasping spirit. Kelly reads that warning as pointing two ways at once.
The apostle wanted more than a gift that was ready. He wanted it given as blessing, and not as covetousness. That meets the danger on both sides. He would have it a blessing on the givers' part, so he also rules out all covetousness in those who receive it for the poor believers. His caution does not seem limited to the givers. And covetousness here does not mean a stingy spirit. It is the desire to have more, which soon turns to tricky ways of getting more.
Read in the plainest terms, the whole arrangement exists so that no one feels squeezed when the apostle finally walks through the door.
The apostle sent some brothers on ahead, so that everything might be ready. He says, "I want it ready as a matter of bounty, not of covetousness. I do not want to come down and drag the money out of your pockets. I want you to present it cheerfully and generously to the Lord."
Another translation reads "as blessing, and not as got out of you." That sharpens what Paul refused to do.
He did not want them to give under pressure — not in fact, and not in appearance. He had no desire to pull donations out of unwilling people. Nor did he want to stir them into a generosity beyond the faith and grace they had, which they might regret later. Whether they gave little or much, they were to give it with cheerfulness and joy.
Their promise was already known among the churches, and the men Paul sent were not there to force anything.
They had won a name among the churches by their promises, and he will spare no pains to keep them from the shame of delay or shortfall in keeping them. But what they gave had to be the free-will offering of their hearts, given as a blessing and not as a grudging handout. Paul's messengers were not men who squeezed money out of people. They shared in the grace of Christ and served it, and so they helped the joy they all shared.
The same care that shaped the giving also shaped the carrying. Paul would not travel alone with other people's money.
The apostle would not take charge of the money alone. Others shared the charge with him. In this way he avoided any possibility of blame in matters of this kind. He took care that everything should be honest before men as well as before God.
- Promised. Corinth had promised a gift. Paul sends men ahead to finish it before he arrives, sparing shame on every side.
- Ripened. The delay is deliberate. A gift that ripens in love, instead of coming in haste, becomes more than a gift.
- Blessing. Paul's word for their gift means blessing — the word of Genesis 33 and 2 Kings 5. It is love shown in deed, not in word.
- Not coveted. The opposite of blessing is not stinginess. It is the appetite for more, which soon turns to tricky ways of getting more.
- Open. Nothing squeezed out of anyone, nothing carried alone — honest before men as well as before God.
But this [is true], he that sows sparingly shall reap also sparingly; and he that sows in [the spirit of] blessing shall reap also in blessing
Paul is urging the believers in Corinth to finish the collection they promised for poor believers in Jerusalem. He backs the appeal with a law from the farm: the question is not what you can spare, but what harvest you want.
The whole verse turns on one swap. What looks like spending is planting.
For instance, giving is sowing, so the laws of sowing and reaping apply to it. If seed is scattered with a sparing hand there is a scanty harvest; if with a bountiful hand, a bountiful harvest. It cannot be otherwise, whether in nature or in connection with the things of God. In giving to others we are sowing grace.
Paul did not invent the picture. He takes it from Proverbs.
Quoting from the Proverbs, he reminds them how true it is... that the bountiful sower will be a bountiful receiver (Prov. 11:24-25; Prov. 22:9).
A thin harvest says something about the sowing that came before it.
Who can fail to understand this simple picture? It is a very pointed challenge. We might look back over our lives and say, "Well, there has not been much in my life for the Lord." Then we would need to apply this principle the apostle teaches and say, "Well, the reason is we have not sown bountifully. The reason why we have not reaped a good healthy crop is because we have not sown in a bountiful way."
Older translations render "bountifully" as sowing "with blessings." The word describes the giver's spirit before it describes the size of the gift.
He that sows sparingly will also reap sparingly; and he that sows with blessings will also reap with blessings. It is no question of correspondence in kind, but it may be spiritually also, and so much the better... God does not despise what is given to the poor believers; but the spirit of giving is far more important than the gift.
Another writer ties that same spirit to a harvest of real blessing.
As to sowing "bountifully," some have observed that this puts special stress on the generous spirit shown in giving. It marks the person who is glad to give as to the Lord. The reaping will be that of true blessing also.
The return is real. It is not a fixed rate of interest on money.
It does not mean that a man who puts a pound into the collection box is sure to reap five pounds, or indeed any pounds at all. It means this. We may be ready to sacrifice ourselves for the welfare of God's people, for the progress of God's work, for the help of God's service. Then God is ready to let us reap blessing in our own souls.
The sowing is the giver's part. The size of the harvest is not.
Sowing and reaping stand in the natural relation of cause and effect. Yet a secret moral tie also binds them together. The one is the act of man; the other is the gift of God. He watches the sowing, and assigns the measure of return. What is scattered freely by a heart that trusts in God, He gives back with overflowing increase. What leaves reluctant hands will disappoint expectant hands.
This verse states one half of a larger law. Another passage carries the other half.
It is, of course, true that we reap as we sow as to quantity. 2 Corinthians 9:6 emphasises this side of the question... That other passage enforces the truth that as surely as God is God, we reap as we sow as to character or kind. We cannot sow one kind and reap another kind... Men cannot sow thistles and reap wheat.
- Sowing. Money you give away is not money gone. It is seed planted, and the law of the harvest applies.
- Measure. The size of the sowing sets the size of the harvest. A bare life may point back to a closed hand.
- Spirit. "Bountifully" carries the idea of blessing. The heart behind the gift counts for more than the amount.
- Return. The harvest is often spiritual, not financial. This is no promise of pounds for pounds.
- God. Sowing is your act, reaping is His gift — He watches the scattering and fixes the increase Himself.
each according as he is purposed in his heart; not grievingly, or of necessity; for God loves a cheerful giver.
Paul is writing to the Corinthians about a collection for poor believers, and he tells them how to give: not under pressure, but by a decision each person makes in his own heart. So the verse answers two questions — who fixes the amount, and what God looks at when the gift comes.
No apostle and no church fixes the amount. Each giver settles it beforehand, in private, and the way he gives matters more than the sum.
God does not despise what is given to the poor saints; but the spirit of giving is far more important than the gift. So the apostle follows up the saying he had just applied: each one gives just as he has decided beforehand in his heart, not out of sorrow or out of necessity. For God loves a cheerful giver… To grudge and grieve over a gift is unworthy of one of His saints. To demand it is no less unworthy of His servant.
Paul practised what he wrote. He even planned the timing of the collection with this in mind.
He told them that each one should give "as he has decided in his heart." He also took care to send some brothers ahead of his own arrival, to collect what they had planned to give. That way their gift would be ready as a willing blessing, not as something squeezed out of them… He did not want them to give under pressure — not in appearance, and not in fact. He had no wish to force out unwilling gifts, or to work them up into a generosity beyond the faith and grace they had, which they might later regret.
Rule out sorrow and compulsion, and giving stops being a duty.
Neither sorrow nor constraint must have any place here. God is the centre and the final aim of all true kindness. As He has given, let each true child of His give. Believers should see giving not as a necessity, but as a privilege. For giving is God's own delight. We know Him only by His indescribable gift, and His heart is always toward those who copy Him in His ways. In a time of pure grace, no one is obliged to give, except by the sweet compulsion of His love. There are no task-masters in the house of God.
The Greek word behind "cheerful" is the root of an English word we still use.
Note the joy we have here: the very opposite of giving grudgingly or of necessity. It reminds us of 2 Cor. 9:7, "God loves a cheerful giver." The word translated 'cheerful' is hilaros, and from it we get our word 'hilarious.' But of course it carries none of the bad sense that word has picked up in our day.
Someone is watching every gift.
It is worth thinking about this every time we are asked to give to the Lord's cause. Remember, as the box or the basket comes into my hand, that "Jesus is sitting opposite the treasury." His holy eye rests, not on the purse, but on the heart. He weighs, not the amount, but the motive. If the heart is right, the amount will be right, according to His judgment. Where the heart beats true to His person, the hand will be open to His cause.
Cheerful giving copies God's own character. And it grows from the state of the heart, not from effort.
Every man will purpose in his heart according to the state of his heart. If our hearts are right, and enlarged by living in the love of God, we shall give generously and cheerfully too. We shall give in the style of God Himself; and God loves those who are like Himself.
- Heart — the giver settles the sum inside, "as he has decided in his heart," before any basket comes round; the spirit of the gift matters more to God than its size.
- Free — two things spoil a gift: grief at parting with it, and pressure from outside. Paul collected the money in advance so that no one would feel pushed.
- Privilege — giving is not a bill to pay. There are no task-masters in God's house; the only compulsion is His love.
- Joy — the word for "cheerful" is hilaros, the root of our word "hilarious." Giving is meant to be glad, the very opposite of grudging.
- Likeness — a heart enlarged by God's love gives in God's own style, and God loves those who are like Himself.
But God is able to make every gracious gift abound towards you, that, having in every way always all-sufficiency, ye may abound to every good work
Commentary for this verse has not been generated yet.
according as it is written, He has scattered abroad, he has given to the poor, his righteousness remains for ever.
Paul is pressing the Corinthians to give, and he backs the appeal with a line from Psalm 112. That line describes a man with an open hand. It raises two questions. Why is generosity called righteousness and not kindness? And what is it that lasts forever?
The words come from Psalm 112, a portrait of the person who fears God and is blessed under His rule. One writer holds two things together. Christians have new and higher privileges. Yet God has not changed how He treats open-handed people.
It is true that God has now revealed Himself in Christ according to His own nature, with heaven and eternity in view. It is true that He has given us life in His Son, redemption through His blood, and union with that glorified man at His right hand... But this does not stop the way God governs, or the pleasure He takes in blessing large and generous hearts. It was so of old; it is so now. Special privileges do not cancel His general principles.
Another writer looks at who this psalm describes.
Psalm 112:9 is quoted in verse 9 for the generosity of the man that Psalm calls "a good man." It will be the character of the godly in Israel in a future day. They will be identified with their Messiah, and their hearts will be widened by grace toward others. The results abide forever.
Some have softened the word here into "benevolence." One writer resists that and defines the term instead.
There is no need to change the meaning of "righteousness" here or anywhere else. It does not mean "benevolence"... but it includes it. Righteousness means acting in keeping with the relationship you are in. Those who admit that everything in their own case is of grace should generously remember the needs of others, above all in the household of faith. What could be more consistent than that?
That one word changes how a Christian should think about the money that leaves his hands.
First of all, notice that giving is not a matter of charity. The Old Testament passage quoted in 2 Corinthians 9:9 reads, "He has distributed freely, he has given to the poor; his righteousness [not his charity, his righteousness] endures forever." That plainly shows that for a Christian to give is not charity in any sense. It is common, ordinary righteousness. God has poured in so much upon us that it is only righteous for us to hand out blessing to others.
The picture is of seed thrown wide, not stored up. One writer traces what God then does for the sower.
He who sows seed by dispersing abroad what he has to give has to do with a God "who is able to make all grace abound." ALL grace, note it — grace of every kind, grace in spiritual things and grace in material things. So the generous giver is "enriched in every way to be generous in every way." God enriches him so that his giving may go on and expand. This enrichment may not come in material things. God may choose to enrich him in spiritual things instead. Then the man who began by giving a little money may end by handing out a rich store of spiritual blessing.
Where does a free hand come from? One writer points to what the giver already owns.
Later in this letter we hear of the righteous man, who shows the moral characteristics of God. He scatters widely and gives to the poor, and his righteousness remains forever. Only wealthy people can afford to give away. We are made wealthy in the favour of God; there we are more than satisfied. And in the things of God, giving does not make you poor: "One gives freely, yet grows all the richer."
If giving is righteousness, then holding back is more than a missed opportunity.
If the Christian gives, no one should treat it as something wonderful and unexpected, deserving high praise. The case is rather that if he does not give he is unrighteous. It is plainly wrong for him to receive such a wealth of blessing from God and give out nothing as a result. It is not only wrong but dangerous. If a reservoir has a large intake and a choked-up outflow, a disaster of some sort is certain.
- Received — everything the believer holds came in as grace first. That intake is what makes giving normal, not heroic.
- Righteousness — the word means acting in keeping with your relationship. Remembering the needy is not charity; it is plain right dealing.
- Scattered — the giver is a sower, and God supplies him again. Sometimes with money, sometimes with a richer store of spiritual blessing.
- Blocked — a large intake with a choked outflow ends in disaster. Not giving is not neutral; it is unrighteous.
- Forever — God still blesses large and generous hearts, and the results of such giving last.
Now he that supplies seed to the sower and bread for eating shall supply and make abundant your sowing, and increase the fruits of your righteousness
Paul is finishing his appeal for a collection to help poor believers in Jerusalem. He steadies the Corinthians by pointing them away from their own accounts and toward God's supply. Two questions run through the verse. Is it a prayer or a promise? And what is the harvest God multiplies?
An older English translation reads the verse as a wish. Kelly says Paul is not wishing but stating a fact, and he points the reader to Isaiah 55:10.
This is not a wish or a prayer, as the older English version makes it… Compare Isaiah 55:10. It is an assurance. The God who richly provides for us loves to give us both the means and the openings to bless others. He delights to acknowledge and reward these fruits of righteousness as if they were ours, though in truth they come from His grace and are His work through us.
Paul draws the picture from farming. A gardener knows how fast human effort runs out. One writer makes the point from an ordinary garden.
It is God who provides the seed so that things can grow and fruit can appear. God is the real source of all fruitfulness and blessing… We can provide the very best seed for our gardens. We can dig the ground. We can do everything the gardening books tell us. But if the rain does not come and the sun does not shine, nothing will happen.
Paul names two supplies: bread is for eating, seed is for scattering. So what God adds has a purpose beyond your own table.
God did not give these blessings to make His people comfortable in this world. He gave them so that they would be enriched in every way and made generous, so they would have something for anyone in need.
Here "righteousness" means the way a believer acts. The setting shows why giving to fellow believers counts as righteous and not just kind.
Paul is dealing with the care of poor believers in Jerusalem. Remember that the apostle John plainly ties that kind of care to love between believers… So when we acknowledge the duty to love God's people and act on it by meeting their need, as here, that is righteousness… This side of righteousness — practical righteousness, as it is sometimes called — is too often forgotten. Yet it fills a large place in Scripture.
What do "multiply" and "increase" promise? The reaping is real, but God chooses the currency, and the enrichment has a purpose — more giving.
If he gives sparingly, he reaps sparingly. If he gives generously, he reaps generously. Either way he reaps, and usually in spiritual things… God enriches him so that his giving can go on and grow. That enrichment may not come in material things. God may choose to enrich him in spiritual things instead, so that the man who began by giving a little money ends by handing out a rich store of spiritual blessing.
The harvest does not stop once the need is met. Kelly follows what such a gift produces in the people who receive it.
It meets their needs, but it also overflows and rises into many thanksgivings to God. Those who receive it praise God, because such giving shows submission to His name… It stirs them to pray, with deep longing for the people who show such grace.
- Supply — God gives both the bread you eat and the seed you sow. The verse is an assurance about Him, not a wish about you.
- Sowing — The seed came from His hand, so scattering it is safe. He gives both the means and the openings to bless others.
- Separation — Bread is for eating; seed is for sowing. God gives more than you need so you will have something for someone else.
- Increase — The harvest is certain, but God does not measure it in money. He enriches the giver, often in spiritual things, so the giving can keep growing.
- Thanksgiving — The fruit does not stop when the need is met. It overflows into praise and prayer offered back to God.
enriched in every way unto all free-hearted liberality, which works through us thanksgiving to God.
God's promise here is not just that givers will have enough. He makes them rich in one direction — toward open hands — and what they give travels on to end as thanks offered to God.
Some older English versions read verse 10 as a prayer ("may He supply"). One commentator says it is not a wish or a prayer at all.
It is an assurance that the God who richly provides for us loves to give us both the means and the opportunities to bless others. He delights in acknowledging and rewarding these fruits of righteousness, which really come from His grace, as if they were ours and not His through us.
The generosity God rewards was His own supply in the first place, yet He credits it to the giver.
The enrichment is not a payout. It is fuel — and it may not arrive as money.
The man who sows seed by scattering what he has to give deals with a God "who is able to make all grace abound." ALL grace — note that — grace of every kind, grace in spiritual things and grace in material things. So the generous giver is "enriched in every way to all free-hearted liberality." God enriches him so that his giving can keep going and grow. This enrichment may not come in material things. God may prefer to enrich him in spiritual things, so that the man who started by giving a little money may end up handing out a rich store of spiritual blessing.
The same writer turns this around as a diagnosis: believers stuck in "chronic weakness" and short on joy may find that "the explanation lies in their lack of compassion and generosity and openness of heart and hand."
One word in Scripture carries both "simplicity" and "liberality". A writer explains why the two ideas sit so close together:
"He that gives, let him do it with simplicity." Some translate that word as liberality, but in fact the two things are very similar. A man who gives simply will give generously. The need will appeal to him, and it will stir up the love inside him. True love is wise. It is not blind.
So generosity starts with a simple heart, not with the size of the gift.
Since the gift ends in thanksgiving to God, the motive behind it matters.
Look at the motive, and the gifts and acts of kindness that God acknowledges turn out to be thank-offerings to Him. So they are part of the beauty that adorns the righteous in His eyes. A man may give away everything he owns to the poor without one spark of love, because pride or self-seeking unbelief can make such sacrifices too. But faith works by love.
Paul says the thanksgiving is produced through us. He is handling this collection himself, and he follows what the money does after it leaves the giver's hand.
He commends them to the rich goodness of God, who was able to make them abound in everything. Then they would be in a position to multiply their good works, enriched to all generosity, so that through the apostle's service their giving would produce thanksgiving to God in others… Those who received the gift blessed God that their benefactors had been brought to confess the name of Christ, and to act with this practical generosity toward them and toward all. That thought stirred them up to pray with earnest desire for the people who met their need, because of the grace of God shown in them.
This giving does two things at once. The second reaches further than the first.
It is an honourable service and a ministry of love. It meets their needs, but it overflows, and rises into many thanksgivings to God… Love working in the heart supplies poor believers with things that would otherwise be used up and gone. If that is its blessed effect, what shall we say or feel as we think of Christ? Thanks be to God for His indescribable gift.
- Source. The enriching is God's own supply, handed back to the giver as fuel — He "delights in acknowledging and rewarding these fruits of righteousness, which really come from His grace."
- Shape. The riches point one direction: God enriches him "so that his giving can keep going and grow" — often in spiritual things rather than money.
- Heart. The word translated "generosity" also means simplicity. "A man who gives simply will give generously" — yet a man can give away everything "without one spark of love."
- Reach. Paul's service carries the gift on. It meets a need, then draws out praise to God and "earnest desire" in prayer for the givers.
- End. The money "meets their needs, but it overflows, and rises into many thanksgivings to God" — and every such gift points back to God's own indescribable gift.
Because the ministration of this service is not only filling up the measure of what is lacking to the saints, but also abounding by many thanksgivings to God;
Paul is writing about money. Gentile believers had made a collection for poor Christians in Jerusalem. Yet he describes the handling of that money in the language of the sanctuary. The gift does two things at once: it fills an empty cupboard, and it raises thanks to God.
The need in Jerusalem had a history, and the relief sent to meet it did more than feed people.
We find a mention of this collection for the saints in 1 Corinthians 16:1-4, and again at much greater length in 2 Corinthians 8 and 9... The Acts of the Apostles gives us a twofold explanation of what gave rise to the need. There was a famine in those days (Acts 11:27-30). The sharing of possessions the believers in Jerusalem practised at the beginning (Acts 2:44-45) had also left them especially poor. Their poverty, however, gave the occasion to cement the practical bonds of Christian fellowship between Gentile and Jew.
Paul's word for this service is the word for the work of the Levites — the family in Israel set apart to serve at the sanctuary.
It makes the entire body of the Church answer to the pattern of the Levites. It shows that the Holy Spirit sanctifies the Church to serve our great High Priest, just as the Levites were set apart to the service of Aaron and his house. So the word leitourgia is used of the Church's service in 2 Cor. 9:12 and Phil. 2:30, and not only of Paul's, as in Rom. 15:16.
Paul could have stopped at the good done to the poor. He keeps going, because natural kindness and the love the Spirit gives do not look to the same end.
The whole of this passage shines brightly with the moral beauty of the gospel. Natural kindness is as shallow as its source, and looks no further than the thing in front of it. True love, which is the chief fruit of the Spirit, does its busy work in the light of God, and in its power to build up it tends to His glory. To supply the wants of others is the beginning, not the proper end, of charity. The apostle looks ahead to this ministry of love, and dwells on the later and lasting fruits of their generosity rather than on its immediate effect.
"Overflowing" is the key idea. The money runs out at the point of need. The thanksgiving does not stop there. It rises past the people who receive the gift, up to God.
It is an honourable service and a ministry of love. It meets their wants, but it overflows, and rises into many thanksgivings to God. It draws out praise from those who receive it in this subjection to His name.
God Himself gains from it.
The service "is also overflowing in many thanksgivings to God," and God is glorified. So the gift not only supplies the wants of the saints; there is also a harvest for God Himself in which He delights.
Everyone involved ends up giving thanks. Even the poor pay back what they cannot pay in money.
The saint who has been helped and relieved gives thanks to God again and again — for the gift, and for those who brought it to him. Before long God so blesses and enlarges those who gave that they begin to give thanks that they were ever allowed to give. We have the very best authority for saying that "It is more blessed to give than to receive." And finally the poor saints, who have nothing to give in return, do repay the gift with answering affection and earnest prayer. The givers reap the blessing that flows from the love and prayers of those they have helped.
The gift also told those who received it something about the people who sent it.
Those who received it blessed God that the givers had been brought to confess the name of Christ, and to act with this practical generosity to them and to all... So the bonds of eternal charity were strengthened on both sides, and glory flowed back to God.
- Service. Paul's word for this money-handling is the word for Levite work. Giving to the poor is priestly service, and the whole church does it, not a special class.
- Supply. Filling the need of the saints is real and good, but it is where love begins, not where it ends.
- Overflow. The gift runs past the person who receives it and rises to God as thanksgiving. He gets a harvest from it that He delights in.
- Return. Receivers thank God. Givers thank God that they were ever allowed to give. Those with nothing to give repay in prayer and love.
- Result. Jew and Gentile had every natural reason to stay apart. The gift bound them together, and the glory went back to God.
they glorifying God through the proof of this ministration, by reason of your subjection, by profession, to the glad tidings of the Christ, and your free-hearted liberality in communicating towards them and towards all;
Paul is writing about a collection taken among Gentile churches for poor believers in Jerusalem. Here he tells the givers what their money will produce: those who receive it will test the gift, see a real faith behind it, and praise God for it.
A Bible dictionary sums up the word behind "approval" in a single word:
Simply "proof." 2 Cor. 9:13.
The gift itself becomes the evidence. One writer names what it produces beyond the relief it brings:
Handing out this provision did not only supply the need of the poor believers. It would also draw out "many thanksgivings to God." Is this not an excellent reason for our generosity? Others would glorify God because of this precious proof of their subjection to the truth of the gospel of Christ, seen in the freehearted giving of their money for the Lord's sake. So there are not only blessings for the giver; there is also glory given to God.
Paul does not stop at the relief the money brings. He dwells on what it will still be producing long after the need is met:
This whole passage shines with the moral beauty of the gospel. Natural kindness is as shallow as its source, and looks no further than the person in front of it. True love is the chief fruit of the Spirit. It does its busy work in the light of God, and its power to build others up leads to His glory. Meeting the needs of others is where charity begins; it is not its proper goal. As the apostle looks ahead to this coming ministry of love, he dwells on the later and lasting fruit of their giving rather than on its immediate effect.
One writer counts the causes of thanksgiving in this work of giving:
This work of charity brings three causes of thanksgiving and glory to God. First, the subjection of the Corinthian believers to the gospel. Second, their open-handed generosity towards their brothers and sisters in the faith, whether Jew or Gentile. Third, the fervent and longing prayers of these believers far away on their behalf. The first has to do with their compliance. The giving seems to have started as a spontaneous impulse, but it came to them now as an apostolic instruction, and so it called for ready obedience from them.
The service does more than meet a need. It ends in praise to God:
It is an honourable service and a ministry of love. It meets their needs, but it flows over and rises into many thanksgivings to God. It draws out praise from those who receive it in this subjection to His name; for why else would anyone remember them so generously at all?
Jewish believers had doubted whether Gentile converts were genuine. The gift answered that doubt without a word of argument:
Jewish believers would no longer doubt whether the Gentiles' profession was real, once it proved itself to their hearts in such a practical way. And God would be glorified far more by this knitting together of souls who were strangers by nature, in the new shared bond that binds all together in perfection.
The verse ends by widening the reach: the gift is for the Jerusalem believers and for everyone else. The blessing then runs both ways:
Those who received it praised God that the givers had been brought to confess the name of Christ, and to act with this practical generosity toward them and toward all. That thought stirred them up to pray with deep longing for the people who met their need in this way, because of the grace of God shown in them. So the bonds of eternal love were strengthened on both sides, and glory went up to God.
- Proof. The word behind "approval" means proof. The gift stands the test and shows itself genuine.
- Confession. What the test proves is not wealth but submission — a spoken gospel backed by obedient action.
- Overflow. Supplying need is where such love begins, not where it ends; it keeps producing after the need is met.
- Reach. The gift goes to them and to all others. It ties together people with no natural bond, and strengthens love on both sides.
- Glory. The praise lands on God, not the donors — the whole chain ends in thanksgiving to Him.