← Back to 2 Corinthians

टीका वर्तमान में केवल अंग्रेज़ी में उपलब्ध है। हिन्दी अनुवाद प्रगति पर है।

Pauline Epistles · 2 Corinthians

2 Corinthians 9 — He Which Soweth Bountifully Shall Reap Also Bountifully

Summary

Paul sends the brethren ahead so the promised bounty will be ready as a matter of bounty, not of covetousness. The law of the harvest governs giving: he which soweth sparingly shall reap also sparingly; and he which soweth bountifully shall reap also bountifully. Every man according as he purposeth in his heart, so let him give; not grudgingly, or of necessity: for God loveth a cheerful giver. And God is able to make all grace abound, that ye, always having all sufficiency in all things, may abound to every good work. The ministration not only supplies the want of the saints but is abundant by many thanksgivings unto God. Thanks be unto God for his unspeakable gift.

Key verse

“Every man according as he purposeth in his heart, so let him give; not grudgingly, or of necessity: for God loveth a cheerful giver.”

— 2 Corinthians 9:7

Outline
  1. v.1-5 Readiness, that the gift be bounty and not extraction
  2. v.6-11 The law of sowing and the cheerful giver
  3. v.12-15 Thanksgiving to God for His unspeakable gift
Verse-by-verse
6 But this I say, He which soweth sparingly shall reap also sparingly; and he which soweth bountifully shall reap also bountifully.

Giving is sowing, not losing. The farmer who hoards his seed-corn saves it into uselessness; scattered, it multiplies. The metaphor reframes generosity from subtraction to agriculture.

The harvest is proportionate to the sowing — in blessing, in fruit, in eternal account, though not always in money. No one out-sows God's soil.

Cross-references Proverbs 11:24-25 · Galatians 6:7-9 · Luke 6:38 · Proverbs 19:17
7 Every man according as he purposeth in his heart, so let him give; not grudgingly, or of necessity: for God loveth a cheerful giver.

Three rules: deliberately (as he purposeth in his heart), not painfully (not grudgingly, literally "not out of sorrow"), not under pressure (or of necessity). God audits the spirit of the gift before its size.

God loveth a cheerful giver — literally a hilarious giver. Cheerfulness in giving delights God because it resembles Him, who gives joyfully and without reproach (James 1:5).

Cross-references Exodus 25:2 · 1 Chronicles 29:9 · Romans 12:8 · James 1:5
8 And God is able to make all grace abound toward you; that ye, always having all sufficiency in all things, may abound to every good work:

Count the universals: all grace... always... all sufficiency... all things... every good work. The giver's security is not his reserves but God's ability. Grace abounds toward the open hand.

Note the purpose of the supply: not luxury but every good work. God enriches the generous as a farmer waters his best-producing field — to keep the fruit coming (v. 10).

11 Being enriched in every thing to all bountifulness, which causeth through us thanksgiving to God.

The circuit of grace: God supplies the giver, the giver supplies the saints, the saints return thanksgiving to God. Generosity converts material wealth into worship.

The end of all giving is doxology. A gift that relieves a need feeds men; a gift that raises thanksgiving feeds the glory of God — and Paul prizes the second even above the first (v. 12).

15 Thanks be unto God for his unspeakable gift.

The chapter on giving ends at the Gift. Unspeakable — beyond the reach of language. Every argument for generosity finally rests here: God gave His Son, and no donor can ever be more than an echo of that.

Paul cannot close a discussion of money without erupting into worship. When stewardship is taught rightly, it ends not in budgets but in adoration.

Cross-references John 3:16 · Romans 8:32 · Isaiah 9:6 · James 1:17
Key doctrines
The Law of Sowing and Reaping in Giving
2 Corinthians 9:6 · Galatians 6:7-9 · Luke 6:38
Cheerful, Purposed Giving
2 Corinthians 9:7 · Exodus 25:2 · Romans 12:8
God's Sufficiency Supplied to the Generous
2 Corinthians 9:8 · Philippians 4:19 · Malachi 3:10
God's Unspeakable Gift
2 Corinthians 9:15 · John 3:16 · Romans 8:32
Application

Apply verse 7 as a three-part test to your next gift: Was it purposed in the heart beforehand, or impulsive? Was it cheerful, or did it leave a bruise of regret? Was it free, or extracted by pressure? Then sow with verse 6 open before you — deliberately choosing the size of your harvest — and finish where Paul finishes: thanking God for the Gift that makes all giving small.

Christ in this chapter

The unspeakable gift of verse 15 is Christ Himself — the seed sown into the ground that it might not abide alone (John 12:24), the bounty of God from which every cheerful giver draws. Giving is gospel re-enactment in miniature.