“We want you to know, brothers, about the grace of God that has been given among the churches of Macedonia, for in a severe test of affliction, their abundance of joy and their extreme poverty have overflowed in a wealth of generosity on their part. For they gave according to their means, as I can testify, and beyond their means, of their own accord, begging us earnestly for the favor of taking part in the relief of the saints— and this, not as we expected, but they gave themselves first to the Lord and then by the will of God to us. Accordingly, we urged Titus that as he had started, so he should complete among you this act of grace. But as you excel in everything—in faith, in speech, in knowledge, in all earnestness, and in our love for you—see that you excel in this act of grace also.”
2 Corinthians 8:1-7 ESV
Verses 3-5 give us the foundation principles of daily Christian living.
Giving.
Through abundant faith and love – free will, that is, and not from duty or coercion. Circumstances don’t define us, faith in Christ alone does – which leads to gratitude and giving.
The Macedonian churches were severely impoverished due to their conversion to Christianity. They were, as we say, dirt poor. This impoverishment wasn’t due to a lack of opportunity, but because their neighbors hated them for their faith. This was real persecution that resulted in them not having economic opportunities that they otherwise would have enjoyed. Instead of being bitter, instead of going to Facebook to post angry things about the stupidity of their oppressors – or whatever the equivalent to Facebook would have been back then – they gave to others even in their poverty.
Self-pity is toxic. The antidote is gratitude to God in all circumstances. And this leads great concern for those around us through and because of the love that’s been poured into our hearts through Christ.
This is the case of Paul’s audience. God loved them and this led inexorably to their love of the saints. To hate or be indifferent to our brothers and sisters in the church is impossible when we’ve been brought to Christ. Jesus is our example. Since we didn’t earn His inestimable love, how can we, even though human ourselves and full of so many failures and hurts, not love those for whom Christ also died?
“Whoever says he is in the light and hates his brother is still in darkness.” 1 John 2:9 ESV
It’s the rule of Christ. The love of Christ leads us not to the end that is truth, but to the truth that is love. And this is Christ – He is love and truth.
He is the pure logic of it all. He is the Way that Taoism gropes around for in the darkness of human reasoning. He is the personal ultimacy of the whole universe, not some inanimate force or impersonal thing that somehow governs, directs, and even judges (like karma) personal beings. Without Him as the foundation and root…that is, without His Holy word, we can’t find the whole truth.
The Bible is THE truth but not the only truth. (John 14:6, 18:37)
This is to say that the Lord’s word is alone of ultimate authority & completely independent. All other truth is downstream of it and therefore dependent for its context and application. Physics, music, accounting, engineering…these are examples of valid fields of study that yield truth analogical to God, not outside of Him. This is to say, these truths exist within God’s created world and order and aren’t independent from Him.
The Bible is the final standard of appeal in all matters. If not the word of God, then what?
If there is no final standard of authority, there is and can be no sub-authority either.
Whoever or whatever created everything is the only thing/person logically authorized to make the rules. This is the raw truth of the matter.
But, no other truth is self-attesting save the Lord’s word.
The Holy Scripture sets forth a set of divine principles that provide life’s categories and how we’re to understand them. (Proverbs 3:5-6) His word is preeminent and the foundation of all things so, therefore, all of our reasoning about life and things must start there.
The category and subject we’re dealing with in Chapters 8 and 9 is stewardship in the main. But it’s broad. Very broad. By way of implication, it yields great truth about not merely tithing, but charitable giving, and even modern tax and social policy.
A major thing to know about this passage is the radical principle of freedom it provides. Thought of properly, understanding and mastering Biblical principles helps us to give more and more glory to God, which is the goal and foundation of the good life.
“I say this not as a command, but to prove by the earnestness of others that your love also is genuine.” 2 Corinthians 8:8 ESV
Paul has the authority and privileges of an apostle, but he assiduously avoids issuing orders on any authority but God’s. Only God is authorized to issue commandments and He delights in a cheerful giver and no one may be forced to give (2 Corinthians 9:7) because God forbids it. Because God is ultimate and all things come from Him (John 3:27; Romans 11:33-36; James 1:17) , all property is made sacred by His command. Therefore, no one may take the property of anyone else, in whole or part, unless it is ordained (categorically speaking) by God. It is God who owns all things. This is the core principle of stewardship. We have our talents, property, and opportunities on loan from God and will someday give an account for how we managed these things.
“For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sake he became poor, so that you by his poverty might become rich.” 2 Corinthians 8:9 ESV
He who is Creator and Definer of all blesses us freely of His goodwill. There is no compulsion upon the Lord. His acts are completely of His free choosing.
But the thing to remember is that Jesus Christ is ultimate and He’s personal, not merely an abstraction. God is a personal God – a holy trinity of three Persons. That is to say that He’s ultimate and ultimate personality. Once we settle this truth in our minds it will radically alter the way we see money, business, property, and giving/charity.
The secular world, however, which is the soil we’ve been educated and entertained in, severs this logic. It’s the work of modern philosophy to destroy our ability to reason categorically – for if we did we’d quickly see the con.
Naturally, we must act in order to live. This acting requires a philosophy of life – which is being, alas, provided in 2 Corinthians. What are we to do for work and money and property? It’s a critical question and the fact that we miss the answer when reading these chapters is evidence of how conformed we are to the world’s secular humanistic reasoning.
To act is to decide what is right and wrong. Thus, to understand action we must have a theory of ethics. And this can only be decided via the ultimate standard.
Things aren’t right and wrong in and of themselves but via the nature and character of God. God defines things and is the ultimate standard.
Nothing is arbitrary but exists within the plan of God for His ultimate purpose. What this means is that giving and charity are not good things in and of themselves but only in the plan of God, according to His will. Giving is good insofar as it reflects the character of life of Jesus Himself. There is no “right thing to do” that’s apart from the nature of Christ. The intention of giving is to bring glory to God, not ourselves.
It’s hard not to be impacted by the dominant philosophy of the day, which again, is secular humanism. It’s the soil of our culture – our schools, media, and arts. Because of this conformity to the world we tend to see ethics as mere social and political policy. We see ethics as divorced from metaphysics and ultimacy. But if something is right or wrong, it begs the question as to why and by what standard. All great conundrums in our lifetimes are answered by understanding the categorical place of the question and what the principles of God’s word has to say about them. Humanism teaches us to think “mid-stream” and untethered from categorical foundations. That’s why a secular humanist who believes in evolution, is a scientific materialist who thinks there is no personal God at the bottom of it all, will contradict themselves so easily by clamoring for abortion “rights” and things like that. If there is no personal God, there are no human rights…only matter matters in a materialistic universe.
Devoid of its biblical framework, we see ethics as a thing unto themselves, unhooked from their metaphysical and epistemological grounding.
“They need to pay their fair share.”
By what standard? To the glory of whom?
“It’s wrong for there to be so much of an imbalance between the rich and the poor.”
By what standard? How can we fix this without causing other problems? You see? The modern secular world is hopelessly an unavoidably ethical in everything it does. The problem is that they aren’t God-honoring in their thoughts and goals so, therefore, their ethical system is shot-through full of contradictions. Non-Christians often say that they don’t want religion “shoved down their throats” while they vote for a tax system that literally steals property and income from people to support the secular state. Such is the madness of sinners reasoning on their own terms. The secular humanist will support those they define as “less fortunate” with the full weight of government to exact forced charity from citizens. On the other hand, the Lord asks His people to give freely.
Man’s way is always violence or threats of it. God’s way is to send His Son to the cross so that rebels may be saved.
Because of this and so many other examples, we must not be conformed to this world but be transformed by the renewal of our minds so that we can test things according to God’s revealed will.
In our day there’s a great syncretism at work that perverts the goal of giving. It makes the charity a good unto itself and to the glory of man…or to the glory of a politician. Man the sinner is a chronic virtue signaler.
Here’s the biblical context we need to make sense out of it:
“And in this matter I give my judgment: this benefits you, who a year ago started not only to do this work but also to desire to do it. So now finish doing it as well, so that your readiness in desiring it may be matched by your completing it out of what you have. For if the readiness is there, it is acceptable according to what a person has, not according to what he does not have. For I do not mean that others should be eased and you burdened, but that as a matter of fairness your abundance at the present time should supply their need, so that their abundance may supply your need, that there may be fairness. As it is written, “Whoever gathered much had nothing left over, and whoever gathered little had no lack.”” (Exodus 16:18)
2 Corinthians 8:10-15 ESV
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