2 Corinthians 8:9

‘For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that, though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, that you through his poverty might become rich.'

Indeed, laying aside the example of the Macedonians, was not the prime example of such giving the Lord Jesus Christ Himself? Such was His unmerited favour and love, freely dispensed, that He Who shared the abundant riches of eternity with His Father, became poor, emptying Himself of all His glory and suffering to the depths (Philippians 2:5) in order that through His poverty we might be enriched.

What greater example could there be than the self-giving of our Lord? He gave up what was measureless in its glorious splendour and abounding joy and fullness of satisfaction, the wonder of His Father's presence, (what words can even begin to describe it?), in the light of which everything in the whole of Creation pales into insignificance, and He did it because in the dire poverty of our spiritual bankruptcy there was no other way that we could be delivered. He did it to save us. He did it to make us rich, rich in peace, and joy, and goodness. Rich in true spiritual blessing.

The letter contains many examples of these riches. No fewer than eight such riches have been mentioned thus far in the letter; the earnest of the Spirit (2 Corinthians 1:22; 2 Corinthians 5:5), daily renewal (2 Corinthians 4:16), an eternal weight of glory (2 Corinthians 4:18), an eternal house in heaven (2 Corinthians 5:1), unending fellowship with Christ (2 Corinthians 5:8), a new creation (2 Corinthians 5:17), reconciliation with God (2 Corinthians 5:18) and the righteousness of God (2 Corinthians 5:21).

Did the Corinthians claim that they were rich in spiritual gifts? Well, let them reveal that it has made them like Him. Let them also, like Him, be rich in self-giving (as the Macedonians were), and reveal it by the wholehearted generosity of their giving.

The very strength of Paul's argument here demonstrates the great importance that he laid on this once-for-all huge contribution to the welfare of the Jerusalem church. He more than others recognised the great debt that all Christians owed to that church which had from the beginning borne the huge weight of a great responsibility. Had he not himself witnessed its vicious persecution at first hand and personally ensured that their fulfilment of their responsibility was made as difficult as possible? (Acts 8:1). Was he not partly directly responsible for its poverty? But not just he. He had been but the representative of a sinful world. The Jerusalem Christians had borne the brunt from a sinful world of the consequences of the first steps in the redemption of the world, of following the way of the cross, of sharing in the sufferings of Christ.