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2 CORINTHIANS 9 – COMMENTARY

vv.1-5 Paul is dealing with the collection for the saints at Jerusalem. But now it becomes clear that he has been encouraging the Corinthians to generosity by quoting the example of the Macedonians (8:1–5), and at the same time encouraging the Macedonians by quoting the Corinthians! And now he is just a little afraid that the Corinthians may let him down!^[1]

“[T]he real way to give is under love’s compulsion, to give because one cannot help giving, to give because the sight of a soul in need wakens a desire that cannot be stilled. This is in fact to give in God’s way; it was because he so loved the world that he gave his Son.

“Paul’s great desire is that the gift of the Corinthians should be ready and not have to be collected at the last moment.”^[2]

vv.6-9 “Paul insists that no man was ever the loser because he was generous. Giving is like sowing seed. The man who sows with a sparing hand cannot hope for anything but a meagre harvest, but the man who sows with a generous hand will in due time reap a generous return. The New Testament is an extremely practical book and one of its great features is that it is never afraid of the reward motive. It never says that goodness is all to no purpose. It never forgets that something new and wonderful enters into the life of the man who accepts God’s command as his law.

“But the rewards that the New Testament envisages are never material. It promises not the wealth of things, but the wealth of the heart and of the spirit.”^[3]

 “Paul’s goal was not to attain an inner detachment from material things through some sort of Stoic self-mastery, but a recognition that God is the giver of all things. Perhaps nothing today is more radical than to assert that God, not our own ‘Self,’ is responsible for all that we are and have. Our resources originate from him as a blessing, not from us as an expression of what we deserve. This insight is as profoundly life-changing as it is simple. That God is the giver of everything is the foundation of our giving to others. The key to generosity is not caring less about what we have in the world, but caring more about God’s purposes in granting to us his gifts.

“Wealth is a gift of God, freely given as an expression of God’s commitment to his people; hence, for those who trust in him, it can be freely given away. ‘Cheerful givers’ are not so by nature. Only those who realize that they have received great benefits from God have both the material means and inner disposition to become cheerful givers.”[4]

vv.10-15 “[Paul] holds that giving does wonderful things for three different persons.

“(i) It does something for others. (a) It relieves their need. Many a time, when a man was at his wit’s end, a gift from someone else has seemed nothing less than a gift from heaven. (b) It restores their faith in their fellow men. It often happens that, when a man is in need, he grows embittered and feels himself neglected. It is then that a gift shows him that love and kindness are not dead. (c) It makes them thank God. A gift in a time of need is something which brings not only our love but also God’s love into the lives of others.

“(ii) It does something for ourselves. (a) It guarantees our Christian profession. In the case of the Corinthians that was specially important. No doubt the Jerusalem Church, which was almost entirely Jewish, still regarded the Gentiles with suspicion and wondered in its heart of hearts if Christianity could be for them at all. The very fact of the gift of the Gentile Churches must have guaranteed to them the reality of Gentile Christianity. If a man is generous it enables others to see that he has turned his Christianity not only into words but into deeds as well. (b) It wins us both the love and the prayers of others. What is needed in this world more than anything else is something which will link a man to his fellow men. There is nothing so precious as fellowship, and generosity is an essential step on the way to real union between man and man.

“(iii) It does something for God. It makes prayers of thanksgiving go up to him. Men see our good deeds and glorify not us but God. It is a tremendous thing that something we can do can turn men’s hearts to God, for that means that something we can do can bring joy to him.

“Finally, Paul turns the thoughts of the Corinthians to the gift of God in Jesus Christ, a gift whose wonder can never be exhausted and whose story can never be fully told; and, in so doing, he says to them, ‘Can you, who have been so generously treated by God, be anything else but generous to your fellow men?’”^[5]

^[1]The letters to the Corinthians. 2000, c1975 (W. Barclay, lecturer in the University of Glasgow, Ed.). The Daily study Bible series, Rev. ed. (2 Co 9:6). Philadelphia: The Westminster Press.

^[2]The letters to the Corinthians. 2000, c1975 (W. Barclay, lecturer in the University of Glasgow, Ed.). The Daily study Bible series, Rev. ed. (2 Co 9:6). Philadelphia: The Westminster Press.

^[3]The letters to the Corinthians. 2000, c1975 (W. Barclay, lecturer in the University of Glasgow, Ed.). The Daily study Bible series, Rev. ed. (2 Co 10:1). Philadelphia: The Westminster Press.

^[4]The letters to the Corinthians. 2000, c1975 (W. Barclay, lecturer in the University of Glasgow, Ed.). The Daily study Bible series, Rev. ed. (2 Co 10:1). Philadelphia: The Westminster Press.Hafemann, Scott J. “Bridging Contexts” In The NIV Application Commentary: 2 Corinthians. By Scott J. Hafemann, 377. Grand Rapids: Zondervan, © 2000.

Bible Text: 2 Corinthians 9:1-5 (ESV)

¹ Now it is superfluous for me to write to you about the ministry for the saints, 

² for I know your readiness, of which I boast about you to the people of Macedonia, saying that Achaia has been ready since last year. And your zeal has stirred up most of them. ³ But I am sending the brothers so that our boasting about you may not prove empty in this matter, so that you may be ready, as I said you would be.

⁴ Otherwise, if some Macedonians come with me and find that you are not ready, we would be humiliated—to say nothing of you—for being so confident. ⁵ So I thought it necessary to urge the brothers to go on ahead to you and arrange in advance for the gift you have promised, so that it may be ready as a willing gift, not as an exaction.

Reflection & Application 

2 Corinthians 9:1-5

[Macedonia refers to the region where the church at Philippi and Thessalonica were located; Achaia refers to the area where Corinth was located.]

• Reflect on the fact that the Corinthians’ zeal “stirred up” the churches in Macedonia. How zealous am I? What are some ways I can stir others to greater faith and sacrifice through my zeal?
• What can I learn from the fact that Apostle Paul, after saying that he knew about their readiness to help, still sent the brothers to the Corinthians ahead of time to ensure that his boasting about them would not prove to be empty?