The Divine Economy of Grace Text: 2 Corinthians 8:7-15
Introduction: The Grammar of Giving
We live in an age that is profoundly confused about money. On the one hand, we have the mammon-worshippers, the health-and-wealth televangelists who treat God like a cosmic slot machine. You put in your tithe, pull the lever, and expect a hundredfold return in the form of a new Lexus. This is nothing more than sanctified greed. On the other hand, we have the pietistic socialists, who believe that wealth is inherently evil and that the only virtuous Christian is a poor Christian. Both have fundamentally misunderstood the nature of Christian economics because they have misunderstood the nature of grace.
The apostle Paul, in this section of his second letter to the Corinthians, is not simply passing the plate. He is doing something far more profound. He is laying out the theological grammar of Christian generosity. He is connecting their pocketbooks to the very heart of the gospel. For Paul, giving is not a matter of grim duty, or of trying to twist God's arm for a blessing. It is the natural, joyful, and logical overflow of a heart that has been truly gripped by the grace of God in Jesus Christ. How we handle our money is a diagnostic tool. It reveals what we truly believe about God, about ourselves, and about the world He has made.
The Corinthians were a gifted church. They prided themselves on their knowledge, their speech, and their spiritual giftedness. But Paul brings them down to earth with a thud. He tells them that all their spiritual "abounding" is incomplete if it does not result in the grace of giving. It is one thing to have correct theology in your head; it is another for that theology to make its way down your arms and into your hands as you serve your brothers and sisters. Paul is calling them to a holistic faith, a faith where doctrine and deed are seamlessly integrated. He is calling them to prove the sincerity of their love, not with eloquent words, but with tangible, sacrificial generosity. And the ultimate standard, the ultimate motivation, is the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ Himself.
The Text
But just as you abound in everything, in faith and word and knowledge and in all earnestness and in the love we inspired in you, see that you abound in this gracious work also. I am not speaking this as a command, but as proving through the earnestness of others the sincerity of your love also. For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though being rich, yet for your sake He became poor, so that you through His poverty might become rich. And I give my opinion in this matter, for this is profitable for you, who were the first to begin a year ago not only to do this, but also to desire to do it. But now complete doing it also, so that just as there was the readiness to desire it, so there may be also the completion of it from what you have. For if the readiness is present, it is acceptable according to what a person has, not according to what he does not have. For this is not for the relief of others and for your affliction, but by way of equality at this present time your abundance being a supply for their need, so that their abundance also may become a supply for your need, that there may be equality. As it is written, “HE WHO gathered MUCH DID NOT HAVE TOO MUCH, AND HE WHO gathered LITTLE HAD NO LACK.”
(2 Corinthians 8:7-15 LSB)
Abounding in Grace (v. 7)
Paul begins by acknowledging the strengths of the Corinthian church, but he does so with a strategic purpose.
"But just as you abound in everything, in faith and word and knowledge and in all earnestness and in the love we inspired in you, see that you abound in this gracious work also." (2 Corinthians 8:7)
The Corinthians were proud of their spiritual portfolio. They had faith, they had eloquent speakers, they had deep theological knowledge. They were earnest, and they had a genuine love for Paul and his apostolic team. Paul affirms all this. He doesn't dismiss their strengths. But he uses their own standard as a lever. He says, "Excellent. You excel in all these wonderful things. Now, let's see that excellence, that 'abounding,' spill over into this area of giving."
He calls giving a "gracious work," or literally, "this grace." This is crucial. Giving is not a law; it is a grace. It is a gift from God that we are enabled to participate in. It is not something we do to earn God's favor, but rather something we do because we have already received His favor. A lack of generosity is a sign of a spiritual disconnect. It indicates that the grace that has been received in theory has not yet been translated into practice. It is like a power line that is connected to the generator but has a break in it before it reaches the light bulb. The power is there, but it is not flowing through. Paul is telling the Corinthians to complete the circuit.
A Test of Love, Not a Command (v. 8)
Paul is a wise pastor. He knows that giving under compulsion is not true Christian giving at all. So he clarifies his approach.
"I am not speaking this as a command, but as proving through the earnestness of others the sincerity of your love also." (2 Corinthians 8:8 LSB)
This is not a top-down apostolic command. The new covenant is not about external rule-following; it is about an internal heart transformation. God loves a cheerful giver, not a coerced one (2 Cor. 9:7). So Paul does not say, "You must do this." Instead, he says he is providing a test. He has just finished bragging on the Macedonians, who gave joyfully out of their deep poverty. Now he sets their example alongside the Corinthians and says, in effect, "Here is an opportunity for you to demonstrate that your love is as genuine as theirs."
Sincere love is not a feeling; it is an action. It is not about what we say, but about what we do. As the apostle John would later write, "Little children, let us not love in word or talk but in deed and in truth" (1 John 3:18). Talk is cheap, especially in a church like Corinth that prided itself on its "word." Paul is calling them to put their money where their mouth is. Their generosity, or lack thereof, would be an objective proof, a verification, of the genuineness of the love they claimed to have.
The Ultimate Motivation: The Gospel (v. 9)
Here Paul moves from the example of the Macedonians to the ultimate example, the ultimate motivation for all Christian living.
"For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though being rich, yet for your sake He became poor, so that you through His poverty might become rich." (2 Corinthians 8:9 LSB)
This verse is the gospel in miniature. It is the theological engine that drives the entire Christian life, including our giving. Before His incarnation, Christ was "rich." This does not just mean materially rich. He possessed all the glory, honor, and infinite riches of deity. He dwelt in perfect, untroubled fellowship with the Father and the Spirit. He was, and is, the owner of everything on a thousand hills.
Yet, "for your sake He became poor." This is the great condescension. The incarnation was an act of unfathomable impoverishment. The eternal Son of God took on the limitations of human flesh. The one who created all things was laid in a feeding trough. The Lord of glory had no place to lay His head. And His poverty culminated on the cross, where He was stripped of everything, even His clothes, and bore the infinite debt of our sin. He who knew no sin became sin for us.
And what was the purpose of this great exchange? "So that you through His poverty might become rich." We who were spiritually bankrupt, dead in our trespasses, and possessing nothing of value before God, have been made spiritually rich. We are co-heirs with Christ, adopted as sons, forgiven of our debts, and promised an eternal inheritance that will never fade. This is the great reversal of the gospel. Our generosity, then, is simply a faint echo of His. We give a few dollars from our relative abundance because He gave everything from His infinite riches. To be stingy in the face of this reality is to demonstrate that we have not yet truly understood the grace by which we have been saved.
From Desire to Completion (v. 10-12)
Paul now turns to the practical business of finishing what they started. Good intentions are not enough.
"And I give my opinion in this matter, for this is profitable for you, who were the first to begin a year ago not only to do this, but also to desire to do it. But now complete doing it also, so that just as there was the readiness to desire it, so there may be also the completion of it from what you have." (2 Corinthians 8:10-11 LSB)
The Corinthians had been enthusiastic at the start. A year prior, they had not only begun the collection but had been eager to do so. But somewhere along the way, their zeal had cooled. The project had stalled. Paul gently prods them, not with a command, but with an "opinion," pointing out that it is for their own "profit" or benefit to follow through. The Christian life is littered with the abandoned foundations of projects begun with great desire but no discipline.
Paul's exhortation is simple: "complete doing it." Match your follow-through with your initial enthusiasm. The "readiness to desire" must be met with the "completion of it." And notice the standard: "from what you have." This leads to the foundational principle of Christian giving in the next verse.
In verse 12, he lays out God's standard of evaluation:
"For if the readiness is present, it is acceptable according to what a person has, not according to what he does not have." (2 Corinthians 8:12 LSB)
This is a wonderfully liberating principle. God does not measure our giving by the absolute amount. He is not more pleased with the millionaire's thousand-dollar gift than He is with the widow's two mites. What God looks at is the heart, the "readiness." And He evaluates the gift in proportion to what a person has. The standard is not what you don't have, but what you do have. This removes all excuses. The poor cannot say, "I have too little to give," and the rich cannot hide behind a token gift that costs them nothing. God's standard is proportional, and it begins with a willing heart.
The Principle of Manna (v. 13-15)
Finally, Paul explains the goal of this collection. It is not to impoverish the Corinthians to make the Judeans comfortable. The goal is a Spirit-guided equality and mutual dependence within the body of Christ.
"For this is not for the relief of others and for your affliction, but by way of equality at this present time your abundance being a supply for their need, so that their abundance also may become a supply for your need, that there may be equality." (2 Corinthians 8:13-14 LSB)
This is not communism. Paul is not advocating for a forced redistribution of wealth by the state. This is a voluntary, cheerful sharing within the covenant community of the church. The principle is "equality," or fairness. Right now, the Corinthians have an "abundance" and the Jerusalem saints have a "need." The Corinthians are to use their surplus to meet that need. But Paul envisions a time when the tables might be turned. A famine or persecution could strike Corinth, and their abundance would become need. At that time, the abundance of other churches, perhaps even the ones they are helping now, would flow back to supply their need.
This creates a beautiful, interlocking web of mutual support and fellowship. It demolishes rugged individualism. We are not isolated economic units; we are members of one body, and we are responsible for one another. To illustrate this, Paul reaches back into the Old Testament story of God's provision for Israel in the wilderness.
"As it is written, 'HE WHO gathered MUCH DID NOT HAVE TOO MUCH, AND HE WHO gathered LITTLE HAD NO LACK.'" (2 Corinthians 8:15 LSB)
He quotes from Exodus 16, the account of the manna. Every day, God provided bread from heaven. The Israelites were to gather what they needed for that day. Some were strong and gathered a great deal. Others were weak and gathered little. But when they got back to their tents and measured it out, a miracle occurred. The one who gathered much had no surplus, and the one who gathered little had no deficit. God supernaturally ensured that everyone had enough.
Paul applies this "manna principle" to the church. When God's people give freely and generously as He has prospered them, trusting Him to provide, He works through that generosity to ensure that the needs of the whole body are met. The one with abundance does not hoard it, and the one with little does not lack. It is a divine economy, an economy of grace, where our giving becomes the very means by which God provides for His saints. It is a beautiful picture of the body of Christ functioning as it ought, bound together not by compulsion, but by a shared experience of the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ.