2 Corinthians 8:7-15
As a pastor, reading 2 Corinthians makes my heart heavy for Paul. During his second pastoral visit to the Corinthian church, a visit he indicated he would do in 1 Corinthians 16:6, 2 Corinthians 2:1 calls this visit a “painful” one. Unlike the relentless faith of the churches in Macedonia, the church in Corinth was extremely complicated and sorrowful. I feel a subtle spirit of defeat in Paul as I read 2 Corinthians. I am sure in some ways he felt powerless to bring healing to this community. Not only because of the many problems, but because many questioned his role as apostle and attacked his credibility.
While the needs of physical and financial poverty are the most immediate needs, there are various forms of poverty one can be under. Spiritual and relational poverty can deeply damage us as well. What makes the church in Corinth so complex is there were many who suffered from these different sorts of poverty. Corinth was a wealthy city, but it had numerous poor. Corinth was a socially advanced city, but these advancements were often used as points of division rather than unity. The melting pot between Jews and gentiles alone brought a multiplicity of tensions and divisions. Add to this pastoral responsibility the added weight of relational poverty between Paul and his church, the issues facing Corinth might have felt insurmountable when they called his leadership called into question.
According to Acts 20:2–3, Paul spent 3 months in Greece and possibly visited Corinth for a third time. He even brings greetings from the prominent leaders in Corinth to the church in Rome. We can only wonder as to why this third visit did not merit a third letter. Perhaps Paul thought enough headway had been made that he would leave any further correction to the local church leadership? Or perhaps Paul was so disheartened by another ‘painful’ visit that he just did not know what to say? Either way, Paul is diligent in both his letters in consistently calling the people towards Christ’s loving character of peace, grace, and generosity.
Paul is very pastoral in his encouragement of generosity and grace in this passage. By stating that they “excel in everything” in verse 7 and the “enthusiasm” with which they began the work of giving in verse 11, he is appealing to their gifts and graces so that their giving may be genuine and from the heart (verse 8). Just like their brothers and sisters in Macedonia, Paul wants their lives of giving to others to be birthed out of their deep knowledge of what Jesus Christ had given for them.
It is not a gospel of reciprocity that Paul is advocating here. It is a gospel of generosity. Paul advocates that all should give enthusiastically. When this is done faithfully, those who are unable to give fully because of their poverty would be filled completely by those who are able to give more. Given the unpredictability of life, no one knows when they might be in the position of poverty and be the one who depends on the giving of others. So we must give now, so that we might maintain equal provision for everyone at all times. Or as Exodus 16:18 puts it, “the one who gathered more didn’t have too much, and the one who gathered less didn’t have too little.” No matter the quantity of each individual’s resources, all will have enough because of the culture of generosity they will have built in Christ.
Paul’s words of generosity even in the midst of poverty, which is so embodied by his ministry, causes us to realize the the miracle of Christ. Christ did not give from his surplus. He lowered himself as a servant to all. Giving up heaven for earth. Giving up kingship for servanthood. Descended from the place of God to the place of a peasant. He gave his life so that we might have life abundantly. He made us all rich by making himself a beggar. Now, by this grace, we become children of God, heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in Christ’s sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory (Romans 8:17). Sin makes us all impoverished. The Son of God entered poverty himself in order that all of humanity might share in the riches of God. So then, even if and when we find ourselves in problems of many kind, we should give generously and enthusiastically to this work of grace, for we are the result of the miracle of Christ who made us rich out of his poverty. We also can and must make others rich out of ours. Christ began this work in full commitment to us. May we also see it completed in and through us by our full commitment to Christ and one another.
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