2 Corinthians 9:3, commentary and pictures

Paul sent fellow believers ahead to Corinth to have their promised offering ready, so that his boasting about their generosity would not prove empty and he would not be put to shame if visitors from Macedonia arrived with him. He was urging them to give for the poor believers at Jerusalem, holding up the example of the Macedonian churches to kindle their zeal and stir them to willing participation in the ministry to the saints. Readiness means willing, self-denying, cheerful giving as purposed in the heart in response to God's Spirit, continually imparting what God gives to supply practical needs, advance the truth, and bring thanksgiving and glory to God. Such readiness calls for treating all means as God's entrusted trust, refusing wasteful and worldly spending, investing wisely with an eye single to God's glory for the greatest good to others, and this self-sacrifice brings rich blessing and lays up treasure in heaven, while being helped without opportunity to give deprives of blessing. Everyone is therefore to do what he can to make promised help actually ready, lifting debts on God's institutions, building needed houses of worship and schools, and supporting needy fields without diverting designated gifts, lest words of commitment come to nothing.

Setting and Original Meaning

Paul sent fellow believers ahead to Corinth to make sure the believers were ready with their promised gift, so that his boasting about their generosity would not prove empty or unfounded. He sent fellow workers to prepare them to fulfill what they had promised to give, lest he be put to shame if visitors from Macedonia arrived and found them unprepared. In its setting the verse belongs to instruction to be read, understood, and practiced concerning readiness to give as promised for God's work. Willing, self-denying gifts in this setting are a response to God's Spirit stirring hearts and a means of supporting the proclaiming of the message and the truth.

The verse was part of Paul's appeal to the brethren at Corinth to kindle their zeal and stir them to contribute for the poor saints at Jerusalem. He held up before them the example of the churches in Macedonia to inspire them to benevolent action. So understood, it points to the church's willingness to give and to take part in supporting the ministry to the saints, with promised help made ready rather than left empty.

Principles of Generous Giving

Paul sent fellow workers ahead so the Corinthians would be ready to give as promised and his confidence in them would not prove empty, for willing, self-denying gifts spring from God's Spirit stirring hearts and they sustain the proclamation of the message and the truth. Christian work is more than preaching, requiring believers to relieve need with practical necessities such as food, clothing, and money, and such generous service supplies the wants of others, calls forth thanksgiving and glory to God, and evidences genuine, unselfish faith. The chapter calls for sowing beside all waters by continually imparting gifts received from God, which requires the light of heaven in the heart and God's grace constantly imparted in order to abound in every good work. It calls for ministering gospel truths in word and deed in the simplicity of Christ, talking the truth and praying the truth, with everyone giving as purposed in the heart, not grudgingly or of necessity, because God loves a cheerful giver, while God is able to make all grace abound and to enrich with all sufficiency in all things unto every good work.

Believers are to be ready to give toward saving souls, so that confidence in their willingness to help is not misplaced. Property is entrusted by God to meet the needs of advancing the truth, generous giving brings a proportionate harvest, and faithful giving lays up treasure in heaven. Readiness means taking hold after the pattern of the eighth and ninth chapters to deny self and sacrifice for the work, and such self-denial and self-sacrifice bring rich blessings upon God's people, so that to be helped without opportunity to give deprives believers of blessing.

Readiness to give makes the Lord's entrusted gifts a blessing to the needy. Acknowledging God as the Giver to whom account must be given brings watchfulness in spending, wise investment of means with an eye single to God's glory, conformity of the will to God's will, refusal to take the world and its habits and customs as the standard, refusal to follow personal inclination into extravagance, and conformity to Christian principles for the greatest benefit and usefulness to others. For God's people in America this self-denial in giving means ceasing constant spending for things that can be done without, recognizing money as God's means, and putting into God's treasury what is wasted in selfish gratification, and those who give in this way will be blessed abundantly in return.

Practical Calls to Readiness

To be ready means everyone doing what can be done in donations for God's work, and when this instruction is obeyed even poor believers give generously. This readiness was to be applied to paying the heavy debt on the school and to erecting other needed buildings to accommodate crowded students.

Each believer is to do something to lift the debt from God's institutions in Scandinavia so that they may stand in freedom. Those who give in this readiness will feel it only as God's blessing as they fill up the gap and come up to the help of the Lord.

The verse belongs among the lessons in generosity and faithful support that should guide work for the Southern field. It points to making sure promised help is made ready rather than allowing words of commitment to come to nothing. Heeding the chapter's call to be ready in promised giving supports using funds designated for the Southern Field there, rather than diverting them to better-served fields.

The chapter teaches the liberal spirit needed to support fields where the work can advance. A timely donation for building a house of worship illustrates the willing, proportionate sharing described in the chapter.