9:122 Corinthians 9:12

The handling of this generous service meets the lacks of fellow believers and overflows beyond the gift itself in many thanksgivings to God.6T 481.4+2 Paul gave this instruction in 2 Corinthians 9:6-15 to stir his brethren at Corinth to contribute for the poor saints at Jerusalem, holding up the example of the Macedonian churches without laying a command upon them.Ms 85, 1894+2 That handling means the practical ministration of food, clothing, and money with personal help that relieves suffering, while the want supplied embraces both temporal need and spiritual hunger for gospel truth.Ms 85, 1894, par. 12–14+4 It is to be purposeful, bountiful sowing from a willing heart and not grudging giving of necessity, for God loves a cheerful giver and makes all grace abound to give sufficiency, multiply the seed sown, and enrich to every good work.Ms 4, 1899, par. 67–68+2 Those who receive glorify God for obedient, liberal sharing and pray for the givers with affection, and the work itself brings rich blessing to giver and receiver by deepening love, curing selfishness, strengthening brotherhood, and opening hearts to receive spiritual truth.Ms 4, 1899, par. 67–68+4

The verse belongs to the instruction on giving found in 2 Corinthians 9:6-15.Ms 85, 1894 Paul wrote to his brethren at Corinth to kindle their zeal and stir them to contribute for the poor saints at Jerusalem, holding up the example of the churches in Macedonia to inspire them to benevolent action.Ms 28, 1894, par. 2+1 He laid no command on them but set before them the necessity at Jerusalem and the example of others with fewer advantages and less ability who had given, to induce them to give.Ms 12a, 1900, par. 16–17

The administration of this service means the handling and ministration of generous gifts and practical giving, including food, clothing, and money, as part of Christian work alongside preaching.CH 314.1–315.1+1 It requires personal attention and help that relieves suffering and breaks every yoke of oppression that comes under notice, while also sustaining the cause of God.CH 314.1–315.1+2 Zeal to sustain the cause never justifies neglecting brethren or encouraging wrong toward them.Ms 34, 1894, par. 24 The want of the saints includes both temporal necessities and spiritual need, so the service ministers not only to material lack but also supplies spiritual food and the truths of the gospel.Ms 85, 1894, par. 12–14+1 Giving temporal help with love and sympathy relieves people and can open their hearts to receive the seeds of spiritual truth.Ms 85, 1894, par. 12–14+1

Generous administration of giving supplies the needs and wants of fellow believers and saints.6T 481.4+4 The ministry of giving for the saints both meets what they lack and supplies what they want.6T 481.4+4 It does more than provide practical help, for it overflows and is abundant in many thanksgivings to God.6T 481.4+4 That abundance comes from many people who are given reason to thank God.6T 481.4+2

This giving is a service to God and support for His work.ST Jan 23, 1896+2 Willing, cheerful giving is the way to abound in good works.ST Jan 23, 1896+1 A timely gift that provides a house of worship for God's people is an example of such provision that both supplies need and leads many to thank God.ST Jan 23, 1896+2

Those who receive respond by glorifying God for the givers' subjection and obedience to the gospel of Christ and for liberal distribution and generous sharing.Ms 4, 1899, par. 67–68+4 Their response bears witness to the givers' professed obedience and generosity.Ms 21, 1899, par. 18–19+1 They also pray for the givers with longing and affection because of the exceeding grace of God in them.Ms 4, 1899, par. 67–68+2 Impressed to glorify God for the gospel, those helped reveal gratitude before angels and men, ending in thanks for God's unspeakable gift.Ms 4, 1899, par. 67–68+2 Kindness and love expressed in this good work of relieving the poor and the oppressed deepens love to God in the heart, awakening thanks and praise in the hearts of needy ones that flow back to God.Ms 34, 1894, par. 26 Angels join the songs of praise from human lips that glorify God.Ms 34, 1894, par. 26

The administration of this service calls for purposeful, bountiful sowing rather than sparing, grudging giving under pressure or of necessity, because God loves a cheerful giver.Ms 4, 1899, par. 67–68+2 It is offered through the grace of Christ and the work of the Holy Spirit, and it requires a willing heart rather than great wealth or education.Ms 4, 1899, par. 67–68+1 Sowing beside all waters means a continual imparting of gifts received from God, ministering the truths of the gospel in word and deed in the simplicity of Christ, talking the truth and praying the truth and giving to the poor as every man purposes in his heart.Lt 80, 1911, par. 7–8

God makes all grace abound to give all sufficiency in all things, multiplies the seed sown, increases the fruits of righteousness, and enriches the givers to all bountifulness and to every good work.Ms 4, 1899, par. 67–68+2 With that full sufficiency givers are enabled to abound to every good work and to every generous act.Ms 4, 1899, par. 67–68+2 As believers give in this way they share grace with others and receive grace more abundantly themselves.Lt 37, 1895, par. 8–11

The verse calls for faithful stewardship of the Lord's money and entrusted gifts, acknowledging God as the Giver to whom account must be given.Ms 21, 1899, par. 18–19+1 This means watchfulness in spending, wise investment of means with an eye single to the glory of God, a will brought into conformity to the will of God, rejection of the world and its habits and customs as the standard, and rejection of personal inclination and extravagance in conformity to Christian principles for the greatest benefit and usefulness to fellow men.16MR 262.2–3 It means acting as Christ would act in place, reflecting back God's benevolence in praise and mercy, imitating Him in self-denial, and dividing with the needy and with weak and poor sister churches as God's almoners, which is a sure cure for selfishness.Ms 21, 1899, par. 18–19+1 The whole chapter is a practical lesson to be practiced by those strengthened by grace to understand God's will and to be faithful in least and great.Ms 21, 1899, par. 18–19+1

The administration supplies need and abounds in thanksgiving because God Himself gives the power, success, and increase, having given to every man his talents and his appointed lot and place.Lt 14b, 1898, par. 1–7 Man is not the power and efficiency and can take no glory to himself, so ministers are to unite and mingle their talents and share the labor, trusting God to work through each human agent to bless.Lt 14b, 1898, par. 1–7 Property is a trust from God to be given in willing, generous share to advance the work of saving souls, and sowing generously brings a proportionate reward.Lt 53, 1899, par. 4

The administration both meets lack and overflows in thanksgiving, warming the heart and awakening the soul with gratitude.Ms 34, 1894, par. 26+2 The kindness and love shown in this good work deepens love to God in the heart, while thanks and praise are awakened in the hearts of the needy and flow back to God, and angels join the songs of praise from human lips that glorify Him.Ms 34, 1894, par. 26+1 The needy give thanks because God bestowed the grace of benevolence on the brethren and moved them to relieve their necessities, love to God is increased because He has not forgotten those in distress, and thank offerings ascend to Him for His care.Ms 34, 1894, par. 26+1 This fruit comes when consecrated laborers together with God guard His cause by living the truth, keeping Christ as Pattern, ministering not only to spiritual need but supplying temporal necessities, and proving love by deeds of mercy and not only by speaking sympathy, so that praise flows from hearts hungering for the Bread of Life and what truth has done is seen.Ms 85, 1894, par. 12–14+1

As a savor of life unto life the service always produces the very best fruit in both receiver and giver.Ms 85, 1894, par. 12–14 When believers deny themselves and sacrifice to supply the needs of the saints, rich blessings flow in upon God's people, for giving does more than meet want, it brings blessing to the givers through self-denial and self-sacrifice and multiplies thanksgiving to God.Ms 85, 1894, par. 12–14+2 As believers give they share grace with others and receive grace more abundantly, and giving to God's treasury to supply the want of saints in poverty on missionary soil brings abundant blessing from God in return upon the giver.Lt 168, 1896, par. 5+1 That blessing is lost to those who stand ready to deny themselves only until their needs are met instead by large donations from others, and it is found by stopping constant spending of God's means on things that can be done without and wasting it in selfish gratification, practicing self-denial, studying the eighth and ninth chapters of Second Corinthians, and placing the saved means in the treasury of God.Ms 100, 1899, par. 1–3+1

By this expression of love the faith of the brethren is increased so that they commit soul and body to God as a faithful Creator, and the churches are drawn nearer together in Christian unity.CH 314.1–315.1+1 Dividing with the needy and with weak and poor sister churches as God's almoners, in imitation of Christ in self-denial, is a sure cure for selfishness.Ms 68, 1894, par. 11–12 Such liberal distribution strengthens brotherhood and shuts out selfish ambition, jealousy, and heartburning, while receivers glorify God for obedience to the gospel, pray with longing for the givers because of God's grace in them, and give thanks for God's unspeakable gift.CH 314.1–315.1+1

Giving food, clothing, and money to people in need is part of Christian work alongside preaching, and makes the givers instruments through whom God is thanked.Lt 31b, 1895, par. 10+1 Giving temporal help relieves people and, by showing them love and sympathy, can open their hearts to receive the seeds of spiritual truth, so the service includes both material aid and the sharing of spiritual food and the gospel, and its effects lead recipients to glorify God.Lt 31b, 1895, par. 10+1 The service both sustains the cause of God and supplies the want of the saints, requiring personal attention and help that relieves suffering and breaks every yoke of oppression that comes under notice, and zeal to sustain the cause never justifies neglecting brethren or encouraging wrong toward them.Ms 34, 1894, par. 24

The verse reaches gifts that sustain the proclamation of the message for the present time, for when the Spirit moves hearts to recognize the needs of the work self-denial leads to giving so the truth can be proclaimed and the material wants of fellow believers are met with many thanksgivings to God.Ms 58, 1905, par. 7+1 Applied among institutions, a prosperous place is to restrict its own wants and building and send help to weaker branches of the same work, holding an equal interest in every part of the vineyard.CH 314.1–315.1 That loving service includes upholding the Colorado Sanitarium so it can carry forward its work, and liberal gifts to establish a training school for Christian workers and emergency relief for a sanitarium that supply faithful workers in necessity and make advance moves in response to light possible.STB 265.1–2+1 Such liberal distribution strengthens brotherhood and shuts out selfish ambition, jealousy, and heartburning, while receivers glorify God for obedience to the gospel, pray with longing for the givers because of God's grace in them, give thanks for God's unspeakable gift, and those who receive the light of truth through the liberality give thanks to God; and the giver as a laborer together with God will receive future reward.CH 314.1–315.1+1

Giving for the saints is God's own design, and the examples of 2 Corinthians 8 and 9 are to be kept ever before the church and heeded.Ms 164, 1897, par. 12–13 The hard, destitute Southern Field is therefore not to be given scarcely anything, but the entire profits of the books appointed for it are to be used to better its condition, and means diverted to fields with better advantages is to be restored by restitution, since the plan and facilities are God's and are to be found in His treasury.Ms 164, 1897, par. 12–13 Neglect of His purposes and specified methods increases guilt and displeases the Lord, and it will be met in the judgment and rewarded according to its measure.Ms 164, 1897, par. 12–13 All are to do something to supply want and lift debt so that the institutions in Scandinavia stand in freedom and the gap is filled, receiving only God's blessing in return.Ms 148, 1901, par. 12–15 Believers in America are to stop constantly spending God's means on things they can do without and wasting it in selfish gratification, to practice self-denial, to study the eighth and ninth chapters of Second Corinthians, and to place the saved means in God's treasury to supply poor saints on missionary soil, bringing abundant blessing from God in return upon the giver.Lt 168, 1896, par. 5

The verse also reaches giving to build a humble church or house of worship where believers can assemble, including by those newly come to the faith, and a timely gift for that purpose supplies need and leads many to thank God.Lt 54a, 1894, par. 30–36+1 Even those with large families to support and dependent upon daily labor, in deep poverty and in hard and trying times, are to give, and giving one pound in such poverty is liberal and blessed by the Lord, for to their power and beyond their power they are willing of themselves.Lt 54a, 1894, par. 30–36 The whole chapter is a practical lesson to be practiced by all who consecrate themselves as laborers together with God to guard the interests of His cause by living the truth and keeping Christ as Pattern.Ms 85, 1894, par. 12–14+1 They are to be faithful stewards not only of gospel truth but of all blessings given them, acknowledging God as the Giver to whom account must be given, watching spending, investing means wisely with an eye single to God's glory, bringing the will into conformity to God's will, rejecting the world and its habits and customs as the standard, rejecting personal inclination and extravagance, and conforming to Christian principles for the greatest benefit and usefulness to fellow men.16MR 262.2–3 They must minister not only to spiritual need but supply temporal necessities, not only speaking sympathy but proving love by deeds of mercy, so that praise flows from hearts hungering for the Bread of Life and what the truth has done is seen, warming the heart and awakening the soul with gratitude, and as a savor of life unto life always producing the very best fruit both in receiver and giver.Ms 85, 1894, par. 12–14