2 Corinthians 9:4
Lest haply if they of Macedonia come with me, and find you unprepared, we ( that we say not, ye) should be ashamed in this same confident boasting. Lest haply if they of Macedonia come with me, and find you unprepared, we ( that we say not, ye) should be ashamed in this same confident boasting.
Paul was urging the Corinthians to have their promised gift for the poor saints at Jerusalem ready before he arrived with believers from Macedonia, holding up the Macedonian churches as an example to stir them to generous action and sending brethren ahead to make sure all was prepared. If the Macedonians came with him and found them unprepared, his confident boasting about their readiness would prove empty, bringing shame upon himself and his companions and still more upon the Corinthians themselves. The chapter is to be studied and used to awaken willing, generous, cheerful liberality to sustain God's work, the spread of the truth, and the saving of souls. Chapters eight and nine call God's people to self-denial and sacrifice, to cease spending on what can be done without and to place means wasted in selfish gratification in God's treasury, so that rich blessing flows back upon the givers. Being prepared and ready to give belongs to God's design for His entrusted gifts to bless the needy, requiring men to acknowledge Him as the Giver to whom account must be rendered, to invest wisely with an eye single to His glory, and to refuse to make the world or personal inclination and extravagance the standard.
Context and Meaning
The verse belongs to Paul's appeal to the brethren at Corinth to kindle their zeal and stir them to benevolent action in contributing for the poor saints at Jerusalem, holding up the example of the churches in Macedonia to inspire them. To that end he sent fellow believers ahead to ensure the promised gift for the needy saints was made ready beforehand. His purpose was that all would be prepared before he himself arrived accompanied by Macedonian believers.
If those from Macedonia came with him and found the Corinthians unprepared, his confident boasting about their readiness and generosity would be proved misplaced. That disappointment would bring shame upon him and his companions for having spoken confidently about them. Even more so it would bring shame upon the Corinthians themselves, who had been praised for readiness yet were found unprepared. The warning therefore guards both his confidence that they would be ready with their gift and their own honor in generosity.
Call to Generous Giving
The chapter containing this verse is to be studied and used to inspire liberality, teaching believers to bring offerings willingly and generously to support God's work. It teaches giving to support the proclamation of the truth and the message, and to advance the work of saving souls. The verse belongs to Paul's confidence that the Corinthians would be ready with their promised gift, and warns of the shame that would follow for those who boasted confidently if others came and found them unprepared. Sowing beside all waters means a continual imparting of the gifts received from God, with heaven's light in the heart and constantly imparted grace so as to abound in every good work. It means ministering the truths of the gospel in word and deed in the simplicity of Christ, talking the truth and praying the truth, and giving every man as he purposes in his heart, not grudgingly or of necessity, for God loves a cheerful giver and will enrich faithful givers to abound in every good work.
The eighth and ninth chapters call God's people to take hold and deny themselves and sacrifice in giving, so that rich blessings flow in upon them because of their self-denial and self-sacrifice. They must be studied as God's call to stop constantly spending money for things that can be done without, and to put means now wasted in selfish gratification into the treasury of God, with the promise that the Lord will bless such givers abundantly in return. To receive donations in a way that removes that opportunity for self-denial deprives believers of the blessing, and this instruction on sacrifice can be given freely to one who has already made his donation and will not mistake it for a personal demand for money. Being prepared and ready to give is part of God's design for His entrusted gifts to be a blessing to the needy. The whole chapter is a lesson to be practiced by acknowledging God as the Giver to whom an account must be given, keeping watchfulness to make wise investments with an eye single to His glory, bringing the will into conformity to His will, refusing to make the world with its habits, practices, and customs the standard and refusing to follow personal inclination into extravagance, and conforming to Christian principles so means bring the greatest benefit and usefulness to others.
The verse warns that the Corinthians would bring shame on themselves and on those who had spoken confidently about them if the Macedonians arrived and found them unprepared, and so serves as an example of the need to act on promised duty to others rather than neglect it. Applied to the destitute Southern field, its lessons on giving require that resources designated for that work must be provided and used for it, and neglecting that duty brings accountability before God. The same appeal for generous giving applies to raising donations for a school heavily in debt and greatly crowded and needing still other buildings to accommodate students. It calls all to do what they can for that need, and even poor believers can obey it with liberal donations.
The verse belongs to counsel to follow the Macedonians' liberal spirit in supporting work that needs financial help, including work in foreign fields. It shows how to assist brethren in need by calling everyone to do something to lift the debt from the institutions in Scandinavia so they can stand in freedom. This united giving will not be felt except as the blessing of God received, and by it believers fill up the gap and come up to the help of the Lord against the mighty. The instruction on giving to which the verse belongs, with its warning that Paul and his companions — and the Corinthians themselves, even more so — would be ashamed of confident boasting if the Corinthians were unprepared when Macedonian believers arrived, is to be understood and put into practice by children, teaching them to bring offerings to God and practice self-denial.