2Cor 8:6-17 | Barnes | STEP | Verse 6. Insomuch . The sense of this passage seems to be this: "We were encouraged by this unexpected success among the Macedonians. We were surprised at the extent of their liberality. And encouraged by this, we requested Titus to go among you and finish the collection which you had proposed, and which you had begun. Lest you should be outstripped in liberality by the comparatively poor Macedonian Christians, we were anxious that you should perform what you had promised and contemplated; and we employed Titus, therefore, that he might go at once and finish the collection among you." The same grace also . Marg., " gift ." . The word refers to the contribution which he wished to be made. (1) "same grace" "gift" (+) "grace also" "liberally"

2 Corinthians 8:6-17

Verse 6. Insomuch. The sense of this passage seems to be this: "We were encouraged by this unexpected success among the Macedonians. We were surprised at the extent of their liberality. And encouraged by this, we requested Titus to go among you and finish the collection which you had proposed, and which you had begun. Lest you should be outstripped in liberality by the comparatively poor Macedonian Christians, we were anxious that you should perform what you had promised and contemplated; and we employed Titus, therefore, that he might go at once and finish the collection among you."

The same grace also. Marg., "gift." 2Cor 8:1. The word refers to the contribution which he wished to be made.

(1) "same grace" "gift" (+) "grace also" "liberally" Verse 7. Therefore, as ye abound in every thing. 1Cor 1:6. Paul never hesitated to commend Christians, where it could be done with truth; and the fact that they were eminent in some of the Christian duties and graces, he makes the ground of the exhortation that they would abound in all. From those who had so many eminent characteristics of true religion he had a right to expect much; and he therefore exhorts them to manifest a symmetry of Christian character.

In faith. In the full belief of the truth and obligation of the gospel.

And utterance. In the ability to instruct others; perhaps referring to their power of speaking foreign languages, 1Cor 14.

And knowledge. The knowledge of God, and of his truth.

And in all diligence. Diligence or readiness in the discharge of every duty. Of this, Paul had full evidence in their readiness to comply with his commands in the case of discipline to which so frequent reference is made in this epistle.

And in your love to us. Manifested by the readiness with which you received our commands. See 2Cor 7:4,6,7,11,16. See that ye abound in this grace also. The idea here is, that eminence in spiritual endowments of any kind, Or in any of the traits of the Christian character, should lead to great benevolence, and that the character is not complete unless benevolence be manifested toward every good object that may be presented.

(a) "abound" 1Cor 1:5 (++) "grace" "liberality" Verse 8. I speak not by commandment. This does not mean that he had no express command of God in the case, but that he did not mean to command them; he did not speak authoritatively; he did not intend to prescribe what they should give. He used only moral motives, and urged the considerations which he had done to persuade rather than to command them to give. 2Cor 8:10. He was endeavoring to induce them to give liberally, not by abstract command and law, but by showing them what others had given who had much less ability and much fewer advantages than they had. Men cannot be induced to give to objects of charity by command, or by a spirit of dictation and authority. The only successful, as well as the only lawful appeal, is to their hearts, and consciences, and sober judgments. And if an apostle did not take upon himself the language of authority and command in matters of Christian benevolence, assuredly ministers and ecclesiastical bodies now have no right to use any such language.

But by occasion of the forwardness of others. I make use of the example of the churches of Macedonia as an argument to induce you to give liberally to the cause.

And to prove the sincerity of your love. The apostle does not specify here what "love" he refers to, whether love to God, to Christ, to himself, or to the church at large. It may be that he designedly used the word in a general sense to denote love to any good object; and that he meant to say that liberality in assisting the poor and afflicted people of God would be the best evidence of the sincerity of their love to God, to the Redeemer, to him, and to the church. Religion is love; and that love is to be manifested by doing good to all men as we have opportunity. The most substantial evidence of that love is when we are willing to part with our property, or with whatever is valuable to us, to confer happiness and salvation on others.

(b) "by commandment" 1Cor 7:6 (&) "commandment" "by way of commandment" (|) "frowardness" "diligence" Verse 9. For ye know, etc. The apostle Paul was accustomed to illustrate every subject, and to enforce every duty, where it could be done, by a reference to the life and sufferings of the Lord Jesus Christ. The design of this verse is apparent. It is to show the duty of giving liberally to the objects of benevolence, from the fact that the Lord Jesus was willing to become poor in order that he might benefit others. The idea is, that he who was Lord and Proprietor of the universe, and who possessed all things, was willing to leave his exalted station in the bosom of the Father and to become poor, in order that we might become rich in the blessings of the gospel, in the means of grace, and as heirs of all things; and that we who are thus benefited, and who have such an example, should be willing to part with our earthly possessions in order that we may benefit others.

The grace. The benignity, kindness, mercy, goodness. His coming in this manner was a proof of the highest benevolence.

Though he was rich. The riches of the Redeemer here referred to, stand opposed to that poverty which he assumed and manifested when he dwelt among men. It implies

(1.) his pre-existence, for he became poor. He had been rich; yet not in this world. He did not lay aside wealth here on earth after he had possessed it, for he had none. He was not first rich and then poor on earth, for he had no earthly wealth. The Socinian interpretation is, that he was "rich in power and in the Holy Ghost;" but it was not true that he laid these aside, and that he became poor in either of them. He had power, even in his poverty, to still the waves, and to raise the dead, and he was always full of the Holy Ghost. His family was poor; and his parents were poor; and he was himself poor all his life. This, then, must refer to a state of antecedent riches before his assumption of human nature; and the expression is strikingly parallel to that in Php 2:6, seq. "Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God, but made himself of no reputation," etc.

(2.) He was rich as the Lord and Proprietor of all things. He was the Creator of all, (Jn 1:3, Col 1:16;) and as Creator he had a right to all things, and the disposal of all things. The most absolute right which can exist is that acquired by the act of creation; and this right the Son of God possessed over all gold, and silver, and diamonds, and pearls; over all earth and lands; over all the treasures of the ocean, and over all worlds. The extent and amount of his riches, therefore, is to be measured by the extent of his dominion over the universe; and to estimate his riches, therefore, we are to conceive of the sceptre which he sways over the distant worlds. What wealth has man that can compare with the riches of the Creator and Proprietor of all? How poor and worthless appears all the gold that man can accumulate, compared with the wealth of Him whose are the silver, and the gold, and the cattle upon a thousand hills?

Yet for your sakes. That is, for your sakes as a part of the great family that was to be redeemed. In what respect it was for their sake, the apostle immediately adds when he says, it was that they might be made rich. It was not for his own sake, but it was for our.

He became poor. In the following respects:

(1.) He chose a condition of poverty, a rank of life that was usually that of poverty. He "took upon himself the form of a servant," Php 2:7.

(2.) He was connected with a poor family. Though of the family and lineage of David, (Lk 9:4) yet the family had fallen into decay, and was poor. In the Old Testament he is beautifully represented as a shoot or sucker that starts up from the root of a decayed tree. Isa 11:1.

(3.) His whole life was a life of poverty. He had no home, Lk 9:58. He chose to be dependent on the charity of the few friends that he drew around him, rather than to create food for the abundant supply of his own wants. He had no farms or plantations; he had no splendid palaces; he had no money hoarded in useless coffers or in banks; he had no property to distribute to his friends. His mother he commended when he died to the charitable attention of one of his disciples,. (Jn 19:27;) and all his personal property seems to have been the raiment which he wore, and which was divided among the soldiers that crucified him. Nothing is more remarkable than the difference between the plans of the Lord Jesus and those of many of his followers and professed friends. He formed no plan for becoming rich, and he always spoke with the deepest earnestness of the dangers which attend an effort to accumulate property. He was among the most poor of the sons of men in his life; and few have been the men on earth who have not had as much as he had to leave to surviving friends, or to excite the cupidity of those who should fall heirs to their property when dead.

(4.) He died poor. He made no will in regard to his property, for he had none to dispose of. He knew well enough the effect which would follow if he had amassed wealth, and had left it to be divided among his followers. They were very imperfect; and even around the cross there might have been anxious discussion, and perhaps strife about it, as there is often now over the coffin and the unclosed grave of a rich and foolish father who has died. Jesus intended that his disciples should never be turned away from the great work to which he called them, by any wealth which he would leave them; and he left them not even a keepsake as a memorial of his name. All this is the more remarkable, from two considerations:

(a.) That he had it in his power to choose the manner in which he would come. He might have come in the condition of a splendid prince. He might have rode in a chariot of ease, or have dwelt in a magnificent palace. He might have lived with more than the magnificence of an oriental prince; and might have bequeathed treasures greater than those of Croesus or Solomon to his followers. But he chose not to do it.

(b.) It would have been as right and proper for him to have amassed wealth, and to have sought princely possessions, as for any of his followers. What is right for them would have been right for him. Men often mistake on this subject; and though it cannot be demonstrated that all his followers should aim to be as poor as he was, yet it is undoubtedly true that he meant that his example should operate constantly to check their desire of amassing wealth. In him it was voluntary; in us there should be always a readiness to be poor, if such be the,will of God; nay, there should be rather a preference to be in moderate circumstances, that we may thus be like the Redeemer.

That ye through his poverty might be rich. That is, might have durable and eternal riches, the riches of God's everlasting favour. This includes

(1.) the present possession of an interest in the Redeemer himself. "Do you see these extended fields?" said the owner of a vast plantation to a friend. "They are mine. All this is mine." "Do you see yonder poor cottage?" was the reply of the friend, as he directed his attention to the abode of a poor widow. "She has more than all this. She has CHRIST as her portion; and that is more than all." He who has an interest in the Redeemer has a possession that is of more value than all that princes can bestow.

(2.) The heirship of an eternal inheritance, the prospect of immortal glory, Rom 8:17.

(3.) Everlasting treasures, in heaven. Thus the Saviour compares the heavenly blessings to treasures, Mt 6:20. Eternal and illimitable wealth is theirs in heaven; and to raise us to that blessed inheritance was the design of the Redeemer in consenting to become poor. This, the apostle says, was to be secured by his poverty. This includes probably the two following things, viz.:

(1.) That it was to be by the moral influence of the fact that he was poor, that men were to be blessed. He designed by his example to counteract the effect of wealth; to teach men that this was not the thing to be aimed at; that there were more important purposes of life than to obtain money; and to furnish a perpetual reproof of those who are aiming to amass riches. The example of the Redeemer thus stands before the whole church and the world as a living and constant memorial of the truth that men need other things than wealth; and that there are objects that demand their time and influence other than the accumulation of property. It is well to have such an example; well to have before us the example of one-who never formed any plan for gain, and who constantly lived above the world. In a world where gain is the great object, where all men are forming plans for it, it is well to have one great model that shall continually demonstrate the folly of it, and that shall point to better things.

(2.) The word "poverty" here may include more than a mere want of property. It may mean all the circumstances of his low estate and humble condition; his sufferings and his woes. The whole train of his privations was included in this; and the idea is, that he gave himself to this lowly condition in order that by his sufferings he might procure for us a part in the kingdom of heaven. His poverty was a part of the sufferings included in the work of the atonement. For it was not the sufferings of the garden merely, or the pangs of the cross, that constituted the atonement; it was the series of sorrows and painful, acts of humiliation which so thickly crowded his life. By all these he designed that we should be made rich; and in view of all these the argument of the apostle is, we should be willing to deny ourselves to do good to others.

(c) "rich" Jn 1:1 (d) "became poor" Lk 9:58, Php 2:6,7 (e) "rich" Rev 3:18 Verse 10. And herein I give my advice. Not undertaking to command them, or to prescribe how much they should give. Advice will go much farther than commands on the subject of charities.

For this is expedient for you. συμφερει. That is, this will be of advantage to you; it will be profitable; it will be becoming. The idea is, that they were bound by a regard to consistency and to their own welfare, to perform what they had purposed. It became them; it was proper, and was demanded; and there would have been manifest disadvantages if it had not been done.

Who have begun before. Who commenced the collection a year before. See 2Cor 8:6. It had been commenced with fair prospects of success, but had been interrupted probably by the dissensions which arose in the church there.

Not only to do. Not merely to accomplish it as if by constraint, or as a matter of compulsion and drudgery.

But also to be forward. Marg., "willing." So the Greek, (τοθελειν). They were voluntary in this, and they set about it with vigorous and determined zeal and courage. There was a resolute determination in the thing, and a willingness and heartiness in it which showed that they were actuated by Christian principle. Consistency, and their own reputation and advantage, now demanded that they should complete what they had begun.

(1) "forward" "willing" Verse 11. As there was a readiness to will. Now accomplish the thing, and be not satisfied with having begun it. Do not suppose that the intention was sufficient, or that you are now released from the obligation. A year indeed has elapsed; but the necessity of the aid for the poor has not ceased. The sentiment here is, that if we have felt it our duty to aid in a cause of benevolence, and have commenced it, and have then been interrupted in executing our purpose, we should seize the first favourable opportunity to accomplish what we had designed. We should not regard ourselves as released from our obligation; but should, from a regard to consistency and our obligation to God, accomplish what we had intended.

Out of that which ye have. According to your ability. See 2Cor 8:12. It should be in proportion to your means.

(a) "perform the doing" 1Timm 6:19, Heb 13:16, Jas 2:15,16 Verse 12. For if there be first a willing mind. If there is a readiness, (προθυμια,) a disposition to give; if the heart is in it, then the offering will be acceptable to God, whether you be able to give much or little. A willing mind is the first consideration. No donation, however large, can be acceptable where that does not exist; none, however small, can be otherwise than acceptable where that is found. This had relation, as used by Paul, to the duty of almsgiving; but the principle is as applicable to everything in the way of duty. A willing mind is the first and main thing. It is that which God chiefly desires, and that without which everything else will be offensive, hypocritical, and vain. 2Cor 9:7.

It is accepted. Doddridge, Rosenmuller, Macknight, and some others apply this to the person, and render it, "he is accepted;" but the more usual, and the more natural interpretation, is to apply it to the gift--it is accepted. God will approve of it, and will receive it favourably.

According to that a man hath, etc. He is not required to give what he has not. His obligation is proportioned to his ability. His offering is acceptable to God according to the largeness and willingness of his heart, and not according to the narrowness of his fortune.--Locke. If the means are small, if the individual is poor, and if the gift shall be therefore small in amount, yet it may be proof of a larger heart, and of more true love to God and his cause, than when a much more ample benefaction is made by one in better circumstances. This sentiment the Saviour expressly stated and defended in the case of the poor widow, Mk 12:42-44, Lk 21:1-4. She who had cast in her two mites into the treasury, had put in more than all which the rich men-had contributed, for they had given of their abundance, but she had cast in all that she had, even all her living. The great and obviously just and equal principle here stated, was originally applied by Paul to the duty of giving alms. But it is equally true and just as applied to all the duties which we owe to God. He demands

(1.) a willing mind, a heart disposed to yield obedience. He claims that our service should be voluntary and sincere, and that we should make an unreserved consecration of what we have.

(2.) He demands only what we have power to render. He requires a service strictly according to our ability, and to be measured by that. He demands no more than our powers are fitted to produce; no more than we are able to render. Our obligations in all cases are limited by our ability. This is obviously the rule of equity; and this is all that is anywhere demanded in the Bible, and this is everywhere demanded. Thus our love to Him is to be in proportion to our ability, and not to be graduated by the ability of angels or other beings. "And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with ALL THY heart, and with all THY soul, and with all THY mind, and with all THY strength," Mk 12:30. Here the obligation is limited by the ability, and the love is to be commensurate with the ability. So of repentance, faith, and of obedience in any form. None but a tyrant ever demands more than can be rendered; and to demand more is the appropriate description of a tyrant, and cannot appertain to the ever-blessed God.

(3.) If there is any service rendered to God, according to the ability, it is accepted of him. It may not be as much or as valuable as may be rendered by beings of higher powers; it may not be as much as we would desire to render, but it is all that God demands, and is acceptable to him. The poor widow was not able to give as much as the rich man; but her offering was equally acceptable, and might be more valuable, for it would be accompanied with her prayers. The service which we can render to God may not be equal to that which the angels render; but it may be equally appropriate to our condition and our powers, and may be equally acceptable to God. God may be as well pleased with the sighings of penitence, as the praises of angels; with the offerings of a broken and a contrite heart, as with the loud hallelujahs of unfallen beings in heaven.

(b) "if there be first" Lk 21:3 Verse 13. For I mean not that other men be eased, etc. I do not intend that others should be eased in order to relieve you. Literally, "Not that there should be rest (ανεσις, a letting loose, remission, relaxation) to others, but affliction (θλιψις) to you." Probably the Corinthians were able to contribute more than many other churches, certainly more than the churches of Macedonia, (2Cor 8:2;) and Paul therefore presses upon them the duty of giving according to their means, yet he by no means intended that the entire burden should come on them. Verse 14. But by an equality. On just and equal principles.

That now at this time, etc. That at the present time your abundance may be a supply for your wants. The idea is this: Corinth was then able to give liberally, but many of the other churches were not. They were poor, and perhaps persecuted and in affliction. But there might be great reverses in their condition. Corinth might be reduced from its affluence, and might itself become dependent on the aid of others, or might be unable to contribute any considerable amount for the purposes of charity. The members of the church in Corinth, therefore, should so act in their circumstances of prosperity, that others would be disposed to aid them should their condition ever be such as to demand it. And the doctrine here taught is,

(1.) that the support of the objects of benevolence should be on equal principles. The rich should bear an equal and fair proportion; and if more frequent demands are made on their benefaction than on others, they should not complain.

(2.) Christians should contribute liberally while they have the means. In the vicissitudes of life, no one can tell how soon he may be unable to contribute, or may even be dependent on the charity of others himself. A change in the commercial world; losses by fire or at sea; want of success in business; loss of health, and the failure of his plans, may soon render him unable to aid the cause of benevolence. While he is prospered, he should embrace every opportunity to do good to all. Some of the most painful regrets which men ever have, arise from the reflection that when prospered they were indisposed to give to benefit others, and when their property is swept away they become unable. God often sweeps away the property which they were indisposed to contribute to aid others, and leaves them to penury and want. Too late they regret that they were not the liberal patrons of the objects of benevolence when they were able to be.

That there may be equality. That all may be just and equal. That no unjust burden should be borne by any one portion of the great family of the redeemed. Every Christian brother should bear his due proportion. Verse 15. As it is written. See Ex 16:18.

He that had gathered much, etc. This passage was originally applied to the gathering of manna by the children of Israel. The manna which fell around the camp of Israel was gathered every morning. All that were able were employed in gathering it; and when it was collected, it was distributed in the proportion of an omer, or about five pints to each man. Some would be more active and more successful than others. Some by age or infirmity would collect little; probably many by being confined to the camp would collect none. They who had gathered more than an omer, therefore, would in this way contribute to the wants of others, and would be constantly manifesting a spirit of benevolence. And such was their willingness to do good in this way, such their readiness to collect more than they knew would be demanded for their own use, and such the arrangement of Providence in furnishing it, that there was no want; and there was no more gathered than was needful to supply the demands of the whole. Paul applies this passage, therefore, in the very spirit in which it was originally penned, he means to say that the rich Christians at Corinth should impart freely to their poorer brethren. They had gathered more wealth than was immediately necessary for their families or themselves. They should, therefore, impart freely to those who had been less successful. Wealth, like manna, is the gift of God. It is like that spread by his hand around us every day. Some are able to gather much more than others. By their skill, their health, their diligence, or by providential arrangements, they are eminently successful. Others are feeble, or sick, or aged, or destitute of skill, and are less successful. All that is obtained is by the arrangement of God. The health, the strength, the skill, the wisdom by which we are enabled to obtain it, are all his gift. That which is thus honestly obtained, therefore, should be regarded as his bounty, and we should esteem it a privilege daily to impart to others less favoured and less successful. Thus society will be bound more closely together. There will be, as there was among the Israelites, the feelings of universal brotherhood. There will be on the one hand the happiness flowing from the constant exercise of the benevolent feelings; on the other the strong ties of gratitude. On the one hand the evils of poverty will be prevented, and on the other the not less, though different, evils resulting from superabundant wealth. Is it a forced and unnatural analogy also to observe, that wealth, like manna, corrupts by being kept in store? Manna, if kept more than a single day, became foul and loathsome. Does wealth, hoarded up when it might be properly employed--wealth that should have been distributed to relieve the wants of others--become corrupting in its nature, and offensive in the sight of holy and benevolent minds? Comp. Jas 5:2-4. Wealth, like manna, should be employed in the service which God designs--employed to diffuse everywhere the blessings of religion, comfort, and peace.

(a) "written" Ex 16:18 (*) "lack" "want" Verse 16. But thanks be to God. Paul regarded every right feeling, and every pure desire--every inclination to serve God or to benefit a fellow-mortal--as the gift of God. He therefore ascribes the praise to Him that Titus was disposed to show an interest in the welfare of the Corinthians.

The same earnest care. The earnest care here referred to was that the Corinthians might complete the collection, and finish what they had proposed. Titus was willing to undertake this, and see that it was done.

For you. For your completing the collection. Paul represents it as being done for them, or for their welfare. The poor saints in Judea, indeed, were to have the immediate benefit of the contribution; but it was a privilege for them to give, and Paul rejoiced that they had that privilege. A man who presents to Christians a feasible object of benevolence, and who furnishes them an opportunity of doing good to others, is doing good to them, and they should esteem it an act of kindness done to them. Verse 17. For indeed he accepted the exhortation. He cheerfully complied with the exhortation which I gave him, to wit, to visit you, and excite you to this good work.

But being more forward. More disposed to do this than I had supposed. The idea here is, that he was very ready to engage in this; he was more ready to engage in it than Paul was to exhort him to it; he anticipated his request; he had already resolved to engage in it.

Of his own accord he went, etc. he went voluntarily, and without urging. The ground of Paul's thankfulness here seems to have been this: he apprehended, probably, some difficulty in obtaining the collection there, he was acquainted with the distracted state of the church, and feared that Titus might have some reluctance to engage in the service, lie was therefore very agreeably surprised when he learned that Titus was willing to make another journey to Corinth, and to endeavour to complete the collection.

(b) "brother" 2Cor 12:18 (c) " " 1Cor 16:3,4