2 Corinthians 9:1-15
1 For as touching the ministering to the saints, it is superfluous for me to write to you:
2 For I know the forwardness of your mind, for which I boast of you to them of Macedonia, that Achaia was ready a year ago; and your zeal hath provoked very many.
3 Yet have I sent the brethren, lest our boasting of you should be in vain in this behalf; that, as I said, ye may be ready:
4 Lest haply if they of Macedonia come with me, and find you unprepared, we (that we say not, ye) should be ashamed in this same confident boasting.
5 Therefore I thought it necessary to exhort the brethren, that they would go before unto you, and make up beforehand your bounty,a whereof ye had notice before, that the same might be ready, as a matter of bounty, and not as of covetousness.
6 But this I say, He which soweth sparingly shall reap also sparingly; and he which soweth bountifully shall reap also bountifully.
7 Every man according as he purposeth in his heart, so let him give; not grudgingly, or of necessity: for God loveth a cheerful giver.
8 And God is able to make all grace abound toward you; that ye, always having all sufficiency in all things, may abound to every good work:
9 (As it is written, He hath dispersed abroad; he hath given to the poor: his righteousness remaineth for ever.
10 Now he that ministereth seed to the sower both minister bread for your food, and multiply your seed sown, and increase the fruits of your righteousness;)
11 Being enriched in every thing to all bountifulness,b which causeth through us thanksgiving to God.
12 For the administration of this service not only supplieth the want of the saints, but is abundant also by many thanksgivings unto God;
13 Whiles by the experiment of this ministration they glorify God for your professed subjection unto the gospel of Christ, and for your liberal distribution unto them, and unto all men;
14 And by their prayer for you, which long after you for the exceeding grace of God in you.
15 Thanks be unto God for his unspeakable gift.
2 Corinthians 9:1. Touching the ministering to the saints in Judea, it is superfluous for me to write to you. What a method of finding the avenues of the heart. He knew their forwardness he had boasted of it in Macedonia. Being himself the model of every virtue, he had their hearts, and their cash at his command. Opulent Corinth being a proverb, he was the bolder to glean in Boaz's field.
2 Corinthians 9:3. Yet have I sent the brethren. Though he knew the power of charity, yet he knew also that the means must not be neglected.
2 Corinthians 9:7. God loveth a cheerful giver. When the sons of Athaliah, that wicked woman, had plundered and defaced the temple, Joash the young king, and Jehoiada the highpriest, made a chest, and set it in the gate of the temple, which was daily so filled with money that the temple was repaired without constraint. 2 Kings 12: 2 Chronicles 24:7. Our Saxon fathers, in building churches, discovered great liberality to the cause of Christ. They first ge-timbered, and then erected temples of stone.
2 Corinthians 9:10. He that ministereth seed to the sower, ministereth bread for your food. Our version reads awkwardly. The three Greek verbs should be properly rendered. ‘Now he who ministers seed to the sower, will supply you with bread, and multiply the seed of your alms, and augment more and more the fruit of your righteousness.' God who gives the seed, supplies the sower with bread, and multiplies his seed to a harvest. On this principle the hundred and twelfth Psalm is composed, and conformably to all the temporal blessings of the covenant. On the contrary, the prophets in succession declare that short harvests were the consequence of defrauding the altar, robbing the poor, and making feasts to Baal.
And encrease the fruits of your righteousness. צדק zedek, when used of the righteousness of men, often designates alms, as is the reading of the LXX in Daniel 4:27; Deuteronomy 6:25. In other places it designates righteousness in general, piety, benignity, and goodwill to men.
2 Corinthians 9:14. For the exceeding grace of God in you. How just is this whole scale of argument! Wheat when sown produces wheat, so grace in the heart produces righteousness in the life; yea, a plenteous harvest, which God heaped on the liberal Corinthians, according to the fulness of the promises, in all temporal and spiritual blessings.
REFLECTIONS.
What a master was Paul in soliciting charity! His own heart was really enkindled with the flame, for he knew the poor and persecuted state of the churches in Judea, and communicated the sparks with a successful touch. It is not enough to gain the judgment, the heart in all works of charity must yield to its influence. The case was strong and urgent; in fact, it was a debt that could never be adequately discharged: the gospel had been sent to them from Judea.
He asks them to give of their superabundance, as God had liberally given to them. He asks this ere the Macedonian brethren came, who had contributed to this popular cause beyond their ability. He asks it that he might not be ashamed of his boastings of Corinthian charity. He asks it as a freewill-offering, as the oblation of a heart glowing with goodwill to men. He asks it under the idea of a certain reward, for he who sows liberally shall reap a luxuriant harvest. This is a sentiment which reigns through the scriptures, and must reign while God is the rewarder of them that diligently seek him. He asks it by the godlike pleasure it would communicate to the givers, as well as to the saints in Judea. It would be on the hills as the refreshing rain, after a parched and droughty season. It would confirm their faith in him who feeds the ravens, and clothes the flowers of the field. They would glorify God to see the gentiles imbibe all the grace and glory of the gospel. Their daily prayers would implore blessings on their Grecian brethren; and their devotions would be enlivened with thanks to God for his unspeakable gift.