2 Corinthians 9

2 Corinthians 9:1–2 HCSB

1 Now concerning the ministry to the saints, it is unnecessary for me to write to you. 2 For I know your eagerness, and I brag about you to the Macedonians: “Achaia has been prepared since last year,” and your zeal has stirred up most of them.

He is taking up a collection from the church at Corinth, a Gentile church. The offering they are collecting is going to Jewish believers in Judea.

This is the ministry to the saints that he speaks about.

It is unnecessary for me to write to you.

The word unnecessary in Greek is perissos

The word superfluous could also be used here

Superfluous: More than is needed, required or desired

He says in one sense that continuing to write them about the ministry to the saints is more than is needed, required or desired because they have been ready to give for over a year. 1 Corinthians 16 spoke about them being ready to give.

We have spent many weeks working through chapters 8 and now 9 of 2 Corinthians. These chapters have talked about the offering and giving. Some of you may be ready to talk about something else. You would identify well with Paul here.

He says it is more than is needed, required or desired to write about this.

Why?

Look at verse 2. I know your eagerness and I brag about you to the Macedonians.

How does he brag?

He says Achaia has been prepared since last year and your Zeal has stirred most of them up.

I like this because the Corinthians stirred up the Macedonians and the Macedonians stirred up the Corinthians.

This is a part of the Christian walk. Our lives should challenge each other. We should not become jealous of each other but we should allow others to challenge us.

Proverbs 27:17 HCSB

17 Iron sharpens iron, and one man sharpens another.

Our giving should challenge others to give, our serving should challenge others to serve, our growth, praying, and studying the word of God should challenge others to do the same.

Likewise when we see others doing these things our hearts should not become jealous or envious of them but their lives should challenge us.

2 Corinthians 9:3–4 HCSB

3 But I sent the brothers so our boasting about you in the matter would not prove empty, and so you would be prepared just as I said. 4 For if any Macedonians come with me and find you unprepared, we, not to mention you, would be embarrassed in that situation.

I sent the brothers ahead so you would be prepared. It is right and proper to prepare to give. I encourage you that if you are new to the faith that before you get here on Sunday that you have already decided what to give.

Prepare before you arrive. Don’t just show up and look in the wallet and make a split second decision. Prepare in advance before you arrive.

The Bible Exposition Commentary Chapter Eight: The Grace of Giving—Part 2 (2 Corinthians 9)

When a person signs up for a telephone, he promises to pay a certain amount each month. If it is acceptable to make financial commitments for things like telephones, cars, and credit cards, certainly it ought to be acceptable to make commitments for the work of the Lord.

2 Corinthians 9:5 HCSB

5 Therefore I considered it necessary to urge the brothers to go on ahead to you and arrange in advance the generous gift you promised, so that it will be ready as a gift and not as an extortion.

Two types of giving are explained in this verse.

Generous gift: This is the giving that has been described and will be expounded on following this verse. This is grace giving. That is to understand God’s unmerited favor on your life that out of this you give. God you have done so much for me that I want to give as much as I can back to you. This giving understands what Jesus done for us and out of that we give.

Extortion: Something squeezed out of them. This is high pressure offering appeals. My mind goes to the bill collector who calls and works to squeeze whatever they can to get the bill paid. This is the opposite of grace giving.

The person who at the offering pulled out their wallet and meant to give $20 and accidently grabbed a $100. Later they noticed and embarrassed went to the pastor and said I meant to give $20 instead of $100 but I will just let it go. The pastor said God saw your heart for the $20 and knew your heart was in it for the $20 and so the other $80 was not credited to you.

Decide in your heart what to give and give from the grace of God.

2 Corinthians 9:6–7 HCSB

6 Remember this: The person who sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and the person who sows generously will also reap generously. 7 Each person should do as he has decided in his heart—not reluctantly or out of necessity, for God loves a cheerful giver.

He builds on verse 5 about generous giving by using the imagery from agriculture.

2 Corinthians: An Introduction and Commentary e. An Exhortation to Be Generous (9:6–15)

It is an agricultural truism that, other things being equal, the size of the harvest is always directly proportional to the amount of seed sown (cf. Prov. 11:24–25 and Gal. 6:7–9, where the same metaphor is applied not to sowing sparingly or bountifully but to sowing to one’s own flesh or to the Spirit).

Proverbs 11:24–25 HCSB

24 One person gives freely, yet gains more; another withholds what is right, only to become poor. 25 A generous person will be enriched, and the one who gives a drink of water will receive water.

verse 7

He stress that each person should give voluntarily and not because someone is pressuring them to do so.

We should give not reluctantly or out of necessity

Christmas before having kids.

I don’t like the consumerism around Christmas time. It takes away the joy of Christmas so leading up to Christmas I always struggle with this. At some point, I break and usually this is Christmas eve.

I will not forget one Christmas where we were trying to behave and then it hit me and I said let’s go shopping for each other and we went out and then came home and wrapped all the gifts and gave them to each other.

I can’t tell you what I got or what I got for Amy but it was so much fun just giving that to her.

Buying gifts because you have to is not fun but getting gifts because you want to that is so much fun.

Our giving should be done cheerfully and not reluctantly or out of compulsion.

God delights in a cheerful giver. God himself is a giver. He gave is one and only Son.

2 Corinthians 9:8 HCSB

8 And God is able to make every grace overflow to you, so that in every way, always having everything you need, you may excel in every good work.

God is able to make every grace overflow to you

speaks of God’s ability to bless his people so that they abound in good works.

God is able to provide you with every blessing in abundance.

2 Corinthians: An Introduction and Commentary e. An Exhortation to Be Generous (9:6–15)

The purpose of God’s blessing is then spelt out: so that you may always have enough of everything and may provide in abundance for every good work.

“you need” - the sufficiency provided to them by God’s grace.

2 Corinthians: An Introduction and Commentary e. An Exhortation to Be Generous (9:6–15)

Again the comparison between the Macedonians and the Corinthians is helpful. The Macedonians had been blessed with autarkeia (contentment) in their poverty and so were able, even in that situation, to abound in generosity. The Corinthians had been blessed with autarkeia (sufficiency) in their relative affluence and so should contribute bountifully.

2 Corinthians 9:9 HCSB

9 As it is written: He scattered; He gave to the poor; His righteousness endures forever.

To reinforce that the Corinthians give generously to the Jewish Christians he quotes Psalm 112

Psalm 112:9 HCSB

9 He distributes freely to the poor; his righteousness endures forever. His horn will be exalted in honor.

2 Corinthians: An Introduction and Commentary e. An Exhortation to Be Generous (9:6–15)

Psalm 111/112 celebrates the blessedness of the one who fears the Lord and delights in his commandments. Such a person is blessed by God with material prosperity also, and is accordingly generous to the poor. Paul sets forth this God-fearing person as an example of one who abounds in good works (He scatters abroad, he gives to the poor), and whose righteousness endures for ever, established by God.

2 Corinthians 9:10 HCSB

10 Now the One who provides seed for the sower and bread for food will provide and multiply your seed and increase the harvest of your righteousness.

He continues in verse 10 and quotes Isaiah 55:10

Paul says God who provides seed for the sower and bread for food will provide and not only provide but he will multiply your seed and increase the harvest of righteousness.

As God multiplies their resources they use them to meet the needs of the Judean Christians he will increase the effect of the righteous deed.

God will increase the effect of the righteous deed so that it produces a rich harvest of unity, love and thanksgiving.

2 Corinthians 9:11–12 HCSB

11 You will be enriched in every way for all generosity, which produces thanksgiving to God through us. 12 For the ministry of this service is not only supplying the needs of the saints, but is also overflowing in many acts of thanksgiving to God.

Remember the Macedonians in chapter 8

2 Corinthians 8:1–2 HCSB

1 We want you to know, brothers, about the grace of God granted to the churches of Macedonia: 2 During a severe testing by affliction, their abundance of joy and their deep poverty overflowed into the wealth of their generosity.

You will be enriched in every way for all generosity.

I have expressed over and over that wealth does not determine character and here we see that you will be enriched in every way for all generosity.

I feel so rich being a part of this body of believers and believe my life has been enriched in every way be being here.

I am rich because of God’s word, I am rich because of the sound teaching, I am enriched by the friendships. I am am enriched by the programing my children have experienced. My marriage has been enriched by others.

Verse 12

The word service: Slave to His master

The words are used of cultic service to deity

Philippians 4:18 HCSB

18 But I have received everything in full, and I have an abundance. I am fully supplied, having received from Epaphroditus what you provided—a fragrant offering, an acceptable sacrifice, pleasing to God.

2 Corinthians: An Introduction and Commentary e. An Exhortation to Be Generous (9:6–15)

So it seems that Paul regarded Christian giving not only as a service rendered to those in need but also as an act of service to God. It is important to note that for Paul the ultimate purpose of the collection, as of all forms of Christian ‘service’, is that thanksgiving should overflow from grateful hearts to God.

Our giving should be a fragrant offering to God and a sacrifice to him. Our offering and sacrifice to him should overflow to thanksgiving to God.

It is not about you. It is all about him.

2 Corinthians 9:13 HCSB

13 They will glorify God for your obedience to the confession of the gospel of Christ, and for your generosity in sharing with them and with others through the proof provided by this service.

Because of your obedience men will Glorify God.

Does my obedience bring Glory to God?

Does my giving bring Glory to God?

My prayer is that this motivates my giving and the reason why I give that it brings Glory to God. Not Glory to myself but Glory to God.

2 Corinthians 9:14 HCSB

14 And they will have deep affection for you in their prayers on your behalf because of the surpassing grace of God in you.

In this giving a new bond is formed between the Gentiles and the Jewish Christians.

2 Corinthians: An Introduction and Commentary e. An Exhortation to Be Generous (9:6–15)

The Jewish believers, seeing the surpassing grace of God effective in the Gentile Christians, will long for them and pray for them. In this way one of the major purposes of the collection as far as Paul is concerned (i.e. to promote unity) will have been fulfilled.

2 Corinthians 9:15 HCSB

15 Thanks be to God for His indescribable gift.

This verse reminds us of

2 Corinthians 8:9 HCSB

9 For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ: Though He was rich, for your sake He became poor, so that by His poverty you might become rich.

2 Corinthians: An Introduction and Commentary e. An Exhortation to Be Generous (9:6–15)

That was God’s inexpressible gift. The word inexpressible (anekdiēgetos), which Paul uses here, is found neither in classical Greek nor in the papyri. It appears first in the New Testament and only in this verse. It seems to be a word which the apostle himself coined to describe the ineffable character of God’s gift

2 Corinthians: An Introduction and Commentary e. An Exhortation to Be Generous (9:6–15)

The important thing to note is that for Paul all Christian giving is carried out in the light of God’s inexpressible gift, and therefore ought to be done with a cheerful heart as an expression of gratitude to God, as well as in demonstration of our concern for, and partnership with, the recipients.