2 Corinthians 9:8

2Co 9:8-9. And God is able, &c. — The contents of this verse are very remarkable; each expression is loaded with matter, which increases as the sentence proceeds; God is able to make — And will make, see on Rom 4:21; all grace — Every kind of blessing, as the word here appears to signify; to abound toward you — And to supply you abundantly with the means of liberality; that ye, always having all sufficiency — Enough to enable you to relieve others in their necessities; in all things — That he sees good for you; may abound to every good work — That ye may go on with new enlargement and vigour in doing every good in your power, without finding your circumstances straitened. God confers his gifts upon us that we may do good therewith, and so may receive still greater blessings. All things in this life, even rewards, are to the faithful seeds, in order to a future harvest. As it is written — Of the truly liberal and charitable man; He hath dispersed abroad, &c. — With a full hand, without any anxious thought which way each grain falls. This is an allusion to a person who, in sowing seed, scatters it plentifully. And the image beautifully represents both the good-will with which the liberal distribute their alms, and the many needy persons on whom they are bestowed. His righteousness — His beneficence, (as the expression here means,) with the blessed effects of it; remaineth for ever — Unexhausted, God still renewing his store. In other words, He shall always have enough wherewith to exercise his bounty in works of mercy, (2Co 9:11,) and this act of obedience shall have an eternal reward.

Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

2 Corinthians

ALL GRACE ABOUNDING

2Co 9:8

In addition to all his other qualities the Apostle was an extremely good man of business; and he had a field for the exercise of that quality in the collection for the poor saints of Judea, which takes up so much of this letter, and occupied for so long a period so much of his thoughts and efforts. It was for the sake of showing by actual demonstration that would ‘touch the hearts’ of the Jewish brethren, the absolute unity of the two halves of the Church, the Gentile and the Jewish, that the Apostle took so much trouble in this matter. The words which I have read for my text come in the midst of a very earnest appeal to the Corinthian Christians for their pecuniary help. He is dwelling upon the same thought which is expressed in the well-known words: ‘What I gave I kept; what I kept I lost.’

But whilst the words of my text primarily applied to money matters, you see that they are studiously general, universal. The Apostle, after his fashion, is lifting up a little ‘secular’ affair into a high spiritual region; and he lays down in my text a broad general law, which goes to the very depths of the Christian life.

Now, notice, we have here in three clauses three stages which we may venture to distinguish as the fountain, the basin, the stream. ‘God is able to make all grace abound toward you’;--there is the fountain. ‘That ye always, having all-sufficiency in all things’;--there is the basin that receives the gush from the fountain. ‘May abound in every good work’;--there is the steam that comes from the basin. The fountain pours into the basin, that the flow from the basin may feed the stream.

Now this thought of Paul’s goes to the heart of things. So let us look at it.

I. The Fountain.

The Christian life in all its aspects and experiences is an outflow from the ‘the Fountain of Life,’ the giving God. Observe how emphatically the Apostle, in the context, accumulates words that express universality: ‘_all_ grace . . . _all_-sufficiency for _all_ things . . . _every_ good work.’ But even these expressions do not satisfy Paul, and he has to repeat the word ‘abound,’ in order to give some faint idea of his conception of the full tide which gushes from the fountain. It is ‘all grace,’ and it is abounding grace.

Now what does he mean by ‘grace’? That word is a kind of shorthand for the whole sum of the unmerited blessings which come to men through Jesus Christ. Primarily, it describes what we, for want of a better expression, have to call a ‘disposition’ in the divine nature; and it means, then, if so looked at, the unconditioned, undeserved, spontaneous, eternal, stooping, pardoning love of God. That is grace, in the primary New Testament use of the phrase.

But there are no idle ‘dispositions’ in God. They are always energising, and so the word glides from meaning the disposition, to meaning the manifestation and activities of it, and the ‘grace’ of our Lord is that love in exercise. And then, since the divine energies are never fruitless, the word passes over, further, to mean all the blessed and beautiful things in a soul which are the consequences of the Promethean truth of God’s loving hand, the outcome in life of the inward bestowment which has its cause, its sole cause, in God’s ceaseless, unexhausted love, unmerited and free.

That, very superficially and inadequately set forth, is at least a glimpse into the fulness and greatness of meaning that lies in that profound New Testament word, ‘grace.’ But the Apostle here puts emphasis on the variety of forms which the one divine gift assumes. It is ‘_all_ grace’ which God is able to make abound toward you. So then, you see this one transcendent gift from the divine heart, when it comes into our human experience, is like a meteor when it passes into the atmosphere of earth, and catches fire and blazes, showering out a multitude of radiant points of light. The grace is many-sided--many-sided to us, but one in its source and in its character. For at bottom, that which God in His grace gives to us as His grace is what? Himself; or if you like to put it in another form, which comes to the same thing--new life through Jesus Christ. That is the encyclopædiacal gift, which contains within itself all grace. And just as the physical life in each of us, one in all its manifestations, produces many results, and shines in the eye, and blushes in the cheek, and gives strength to the arm, and flexibility and deftness to the fingers and swiftness to the foot: so also is that one grace which, being manifold in its manifestations, is one in its essence. There are many graces, there is one Grace.

But this grace is not only many-sided, but abounding. It is not congruous with God’s wealth, nor with His love, that He should give scantily, or, as it were, should open but a finger of the hand that is full of His gifts, and let out a little at a time. There are no sluices on that great stream so as to regulate its flow, and to give sometimes a painful trickle and sometimes a full gush, but this fountain is always pouring itself out, and it ‘abounds.’

But then we are pulled up short by another word in this first clause: ‘God is _able_ to make.’ Paul does not say, ‘God will make.’ He puts the whole weight of responsibility for that ability becoming operative upon us. There are conditions; and although we may have access to that full fountain, it will not pour on us ‘all grace’ and ‘abundant grace,’ unless we observe these, and so turn God’s ability to give into actual giving. And how do we do that? By desire, by expectance, by petition, by faithful stewardship. If we have these things, if we have tutored ourselves, and experience has helped in the tuition, to make large our expectancy, God will smile down upon us and ‘do exceeding abundantly above all’ that we ‘think’ as well as above all that we ‘ask.’ Brethren, if our supplies are scant, when the full fountain is gushing at our sides, we are ‘not straitened in God, we are straitened in ourselves.’ Christian possibilities are Christian obligations, and what we might have and do not have, is our condemnation.

I turn, in the next place, to what I have, perhaps too fancifully, called

II. The Basin.

‘God is able to make all grace abound toward you, that ye, having always all-sufficiency in all things, may,’ . . . etc.

The result of all this many-sided and exuberant outpouring of grace from the fountain is that the basin may be full. Considering the infinite source and the small receptacle, we might have expected something more than ‘sufficiency’ to have resulted.

Divine grace is sufficient. Is it not more than sufficient? Yes, no doubt. But what Paul wishes us to feel is this--to put it into very plain English--that the good gifts of the divine grace will always be proportioned to our work, and to our sufferings too. We shall feel that we have enough, if we are as we ought to be. Sufficiency is more than a man gets anywhere else. ‘Enough is as good as a feast.’ And if we have strength, which we may have, to do the day’s tasks, and strength to carry the day’s crosses, and strength to accept the day’s sorrows, and strength to master the day’s temptations, that is as much as we need wish to have, even out of the fulness of God. And we shall get it, dear brethren, if we will only fulfil the conditions. If we exercise expectance, and desire and petition and faithful stewardship, we shall get what we need. ‘Thy shoes shall be iron and brass,’ if the road is a steep and rocky one that would wear out leather. ‘As thy days so shall thy strength be.’ God does not hurl His soldiers in a blundering attack on some impregnable mountain, where they are slain in heaps at the base; but when He lays a commandment on my shoulders, He infuses strength into me, and according to the good homely old saying that has brought comfort to many a sad and weighted heart, makes the back to bear the burden. The heavy task or the crushing sorrow is often the key that opens the door of God’s treasure-house. You have had very little experience either of life or of Christian life, if you have not learnt by this time that the harder your work, and the darker your sorrows, the mightier have been God’s supports, and the more starry the lights that have shone upon your path. ‘That ye, always having all-sufficiency in all things.’

One more word: this sufficiency _should be_ more uniform, _is_ uniform in the divine intention, and in so far as the flow of the fountain is concerned. Always having had I may be sure that I always shall have. Of course I know that, in so far as our physical nature conditions our spiritual experience, there will be ups and downs, moments of emancipation and moments of slavery. There will be times when the flower opens, and times when it shuts itself up. But I am sure that the great mass of Christian people might have a far more level temperature in their Christian experience than they have; that we could, if we would, have far more experimental knowledge of this ‘always’ of my text. God means that the basin should be always full right up to the top of the marble edge, and that the more is drawn off from it, the more should flow into it. But it is very often like the reservoirs in the hills for some great city in a drought, where great stretches of the bottom are exposed, and again, when the drought breaks, are full to the top of the retaining wall. That should not be. Our Christian life should run on the high levels. Why does it not? Possibilities are duties.

And now, lastly, we have here what, adhering to my metaphor, I call

III. The stream.

‘That ye, always having all-sufficiency in all things, may abound to every good work.’

That is what God gives us His grace for; and that is a very important consideration. The end of God’s dealings with us, poor, weak, sinful creatures, is character and conduct. Of course you can state the end in a great many other ways; but there have been terrible evils arising from the way in which Evangelical preachers have too often talked, as if the end of God’s dealings with us was the vague thing which they call ‘salvation,’ and by which many of their hearers take them to mean neither more nor less than dodging Hell. But the New Testament, with all its mysticism, even when it soars highest, and speaks most about the perfection of humanity, and the end of God’s dealings being that we may be ‘filled with the fulness of God,’ never loses its wholesome, sane hold of the common moralities of daily life, and proclaims that we receive all, in order that we may be able to ‘maintain good works for necessary uses.’ And if we lay that to heart, and remember that a correct creed, and a living faith, and precious, select, inward emotions and experiences are all intended to evolve into lives, filled and radiant with common moralities and ‘good works’--not meaning thereby the things which go by that name in popular phraseology, but ‘whatsoever things are lovely . . . and of good report’--then we shall understand a little better what we are here for and what Jesus Christ died for, and what His Spirit is given and lives in us for. So ‘good works’ is the end, in one very important aspect, of all that avalanche of grace which has been from eternity rushing down upon us from the heights of God.

There is one more thing to note, and that is that, in our character and conduct, we should copy the ‘giving grace.’ Look how eloquently and significantly, in the first and last clauses of my text, the same words recur. ‘God is able to make _all_ grace abound, that ye may _abound_ in _all_ good work.’ Copy God in the many-sidedness and in the copiousness of the good that flows out from your life and conduct, because of your possession of that divine grace. And remember, ‘to him that hath shall be given.’ We pray for more grace; we need to pray for that, no doubt. Do we use the grace that God has given us? If we do not, the remainder of that great word which I have just quoted will be fulfilled in you. God forbid that any of us should receive the grace of God in vain, and therefore come under the stern and inevitable sentence, ‘From him that hath not shall be taken away, even that which he hath!’

Alexander MacLaren, Expositions of Holy Scripture (1904–1910) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

9:8-9 As the Scriptures say: The quotation from Ps 112:9 supports the assurance that God, who provides for all human needs, will reward generosity.

Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

2Co 9:8. Πᾶσαν χάριν, all grace) even in external goods.—περισσεῦσαι, to render abundant) even while you bestow.—ἵνα, that) What is given to us is so given and we have it, not that we may have, but that we may do well therewith. All things in this life, even rewards, are seeds to believers for the future harvest.—αὐτάρκειαν, sufficiency) that you may not require another’s liberality. To this is to be referred the bread, 2Co 9:10.—ἀγαθὸν, good) in regard to the needy. To this the seed is to be referred, 2Co 9:10.

Bengel's Gnomon of the New Testament — English translation (T&T Clark, Edinburgh, 1860) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

2Co_9:8 ff. After Paul has aroused them to ample and willing giving, he adds further the assurance, that God can bestow (2Co_9:8-9), and will bestow (2Co_9:10-11) on them the means also for such beneficence. Finally, he subjoins the religious gain, which this work of contributing brings, 2Co_9:11, ἥτις κατεργάζεται κ.τ.λ., on to 2Co_9:14.

2Co_9:8. The δέ is continuative; δυνατός, however, is with, emphasis prefixed, for the course of thought is: God has the power, and (2Co_9:10) He will also do it. The discourse sets out from possibility, and passes over to reality.

πᾶσαν χάριν] every showing of kindness. This refers to earthly blessing, by which we have the means for beneficence; see the sentence of aim, that follows. Chrysostom correctly says: ἐμπλῆσαι ὑμᾶς τοσούτων ὡς δύνασθαι περιττεύειν ἐν τῇ φιλοτιμίᾳ ταύτῃ. Theodoret and Wolf, at variance with the context, hold that it applies to spiritual blessings; Flatt and Osiander, to blessings of both kinds.

περισσεῦσαι] transitive: efficere ut largissime redundet in vos. See on 2Co_4:15.

ἐν παντὶ πάντοτε πᾶσαν] in all points at all times all, an energetic accumulation. Comp. on Eph_5:20; Php_1:3-4.

πᾶσαν αὐτάρκειαν ἔχοντες] having every, that is, all possible self-sufficing; for this is the subjective condition, without which we cannot, with all blessing of God, have abundance εἰς πᾶν ἔργον ἀγαθόν. Hence Paul brings out so emphatically this necessary subjective requirement for attaining the purpose, which God connects with his objective blessing: in order that you, as being in every case always quite self-contented, etc. Αὐτάρκεια is not the sufficienter habere in the sense of external position, in which no help from others is needed (as it is taken usually; also by Emmerling, Flatt, Rückert, Osiander), but rather (comp. Hofmann also) the subjective frame of mind, in which we feel ourselves so contented with what we ourselves have that we desire nothing from others,the inward self-sufficing, to which stands opposed the προσδεὲς ἄλλων (Plato, Tim. p. 33 D) and ἐπιθυμεῖν τῶν ἀλλοτρίων. Comp. 1Ti_6:6; Php_4:11, and the passages in Wetstein. It is a moral quality (for which reason Paul could say so earnestly ἐν παντὶ πάντ. πᾶσ., without saying too much), may subsist amidst very different external circumstances, and is not dependent on these,which, indeed, in its very nature, as τελειότης κτήσεως ἀγαθῶν (Plato, Def. p. 412 B), it cannot be. Comp. Dem. 450. 14; Polyb. vi. 48. 7 : πρὸς πᾶσαν περίστασιν αὐτάρκης.

περισσεύητε εἰς πᾶν ἔργον ἀγαθόν] that you may have abundance (comp. ἐν παντὶ πλουτιζόμενοι, 2Co_9:11) for every good work (work of beneficence; comp. Act_9:36, and see Knapp, Opusc., ed. 1, p. 486 ff.). If Rückert had not taken αὐτάρκεια in an objective sense at variance with the notion, he would not have refined so much on περισσ., which he understands as referring to the growth of the Corinthians themselves: in order that you, having at all times full sufficiency … may become ever more diligent unto every good work. De Wette also refines on the word, taking the participial clause of that, which in spite of the περισσεῦσαι takes place in the same: inasmuch as you have withal for yourselves quite enough, which would present a very external and selfish consideration to the reader, and that withal expressed of set purpose so strongly!

Meyer — Critical and Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament — English translation by Peter Christie, edited by Frederick Crombie (T&T Clark, 1880) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

2Co 9:8 . δυνατεῖ δὲ ὁ Θεὸς κ . τ . λ .: and God is powerful (see reff. 2Co 13:3 ) to make all grace, i.e. , every gift, temporal as well as spiritual, abound unto you (see reff. 2Co 4:15 for περισσεύω in a transitive signification), in order that ye, having always all sufficiency, sc. , of worldly goods and gifts (for πᾶσαν see reff. 2Co 8:7 ). may abound unto every good work . Note the paronomasia, ἐν παντὶ , πάντοτε , πᾶσαν … περισσεύητε … πᾶν .

The Expositor's Greek Testament, edited by W. Robertson Nicoll (1897–1910) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

All God’s bountiful liberality.

To help others by all means possible, in doing them good in their necessities.

Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain. Text via Bolls.life.

all grace--even in external goods, and even while ye bestow on others [BENGEL].

that--"in order that." God's gifts are bestowed on us, not that we may have them to ourselves, but that we may the more "abound in good works" to others.

sufficiency--so as not to need the help of others, having yourselves from God "bread for your food" (Co2 9:10).

in all things--Greek, "in everything."

every good work--of charity to others, which will be "your seed sown" (Co2 9:10).

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Verse 8. God is able to make all grace abound] We have already seen, 2Cor 8:1 that the word χαρις, in the connection in which the apostle uses it in these chapters, signifies a charitable gift; here it certainly has the same meaning: God is able to give you, in his mercy, abundance of temporal good; that, having a sufficiency, ye may abound in every good work. This refers to the sowing plenteously: those who do so shall reap plenteously-they shall have an abundance of God's blessings.

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

8. And God is able Again he provides against the base thought, which our infidelity constantly suggests to us. “What! will you not rather have a regard to your own interest? Do you not consider, that when this is taken away, there will be so much the less left for yourself?” With the view of driving away this, Paul arms us with a choice promise — that whatever we give away will turn out to our advantage. I have said already, that we are by nature excessively niggardly — because we are prone to distrust, which tempts every one to retain with eager grasp what belongs to him. For correcting this fault, we must lay hold of this promise — that those that do good to the poor do no less provide for their own interests than if they were watering their lands. For by alms-givings, like so many canals, they make the blessing of God flow forth towards themselves, so as to be enriched by it. What Paul means is this: “Such liberality will deprive you of nothing, but God will make it return to you in much greater abundance.” For he speaks of the power of God, not as the Poets do, but after the manner of Scripture, which ascribes to him a power put forth in action, the present efficacy of which we ourselves feel — not any inactive power that we merely imagine.

That having all sufficiency in all things He mentions a twofold advantage arising from that grace, which he had promised to the Corinthians — that they should have what is enough for themselves, and would have something over and above for doing good. By the term sufficiency he points out the measure which the Lord knows to be useful for us, for it is not always profitable for us, to be filled to satiety. The Lord therefore, ministers to us according to the measure of our advantage, sometimes more, sometimes less, but in such a way that we are satisfied — which is much more, than if one had the whole world to luxuriate upon. In this sufficiency we must abound, for the purpose of doing good to others, for the reason why God does us good is — not that every one may keep to himself what he has received, but that there may be a mutual participation among us, according as necessity may require.

John Calvin's Commentaries (1540-1563) — public domain. Text from the Calvin Translation Society English edition (1840s-50s) via the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (ccel.org). Calvin's coverage is partial (roughly two-thirds of the Bible); uncommented books and verses are honest gaps, never fabricated. The 19th-century editor's footnotes and remarks are omitted so the notes are faithfully Calvin's own voice.

(8) God is able to make all grace abound toward you.—The word “grace” must be taken with somewhat of the same latitude as in 2Co_8:6-7; 2Co_8:19, including every form of bounty, as well as “grace,” in its restricted theological sense: the means of giving, as well as cheerfulness in the act. He will bless the increase of those who give cheerfully, that they may have, not indeed the superfluity which ministers to selfish luxury, but the sufficiency with which all true disciples ought to be content. In the word “sufficiency,” which occurs only here and in 1Ti_6:6 (“godliness with contentment”), we have another instance of St. Paul’s accurate use of the terminology of Greek ethical writers. To be independent, self-sufficing, was with them the crown of the perfect life; and Aristotle vindicates that quality for happiness as he defines it, as consisting in the activity of the intellect, and thus distinguished from wealth and pleasure, and the other accidents of life which men constantly mistook for it (Eth. Nicom. x., c. 7). At the time when St. Paul wrote it was constantly on the lips of Stoics. (Comp. the Meditations of Marcus Aurelius, iii. c. 11.)

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

8. all grace] See notes on grace elsewhere, esp. ch. 2Co_8:6 and 2Co_9:15 of this chapter; also cf. 1Co_16:3. The meaning here is ‘God is able to make every gift of His loving-kindness to abound to you, that you, being thus enriched, may impart of His bounty to others.’

sufficiency] This is translated contentment in 1Ti_6:6, while the corresponding adjective is rendered content in Php_4:11. But 1Ti_6:8 explains the meaning of the word. It is the state of mind which, needing nothing but the barest necessaries, regards all other things as superfluities, to be parted with whenever the needs of others require them. This is the force of the words ‘all’ twice repeated, and ‘always.’ At all times, save when he is actually deprived of food and raiment, the Christian ought to regard himself as having enough. It is worthy of remark that this self-sufficingness was a favourite virtue with heathen philosophers, though destitute, in the case of the Stoics, of all the gentler and more attractive aspects in which it has been wont to present itself among Christians. The use of this word, as of the word noticed in 2Co_9:7, seems to shew that St Paul was well acquainted with the philosophy of Aristotle. See also note on ch. 2Co_8:14.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

And God is able to make all grace abound towards you,.... By "all grace" is meant, not the love and favour of God, the source of all blessings enjoyed in time and eternity; nor the blessings of grace, the fruits of it; nor the Gospel which reveals them; nor the various graces of the Spirit implanted in regeneration; nor gifts of grace, fitting men for ministerial service; all which God is able to make to abound, and does, when he gives enlarged discoveries of his love, makes fresh applications of covenant grace, leads more fully into the knowledge of his Gospel, carries on the work of his grace in the soul, and calls forth grace into act and exercise, and increases gifts bestowed; nor even merely temporal blessings of every sort, which men are unworthy of, are all the gifts of his goodness, and are given to his people in a covenant way; and which he can, and often does increase: but by it is meant all that goodness, beneficence, and liberality exercised towards the poor members of Christ; God is able, and he will, and it ought to be believed that he will, cause to return with an increase, all that which is expended in relieving the necessities of the saints; that is not thrown away and lost, which is communicated to them, but shall be repaid with use and interest, be restored with abundance, any more than the seed which the husbandman casts into the earth; for as God is able, and has promised, and will, and does cause that to spring up again, and bring forth an abundant increase, so will he multiply the seed of beneficence, and increase the fruits of righteousness. This now contains a new argument to move to liberality, and an antidote against the fears of want, which persons are sometimes pressed with, and tend to prevent their bountiful acts of charity:

that ye always having all sufficiency in all things: that is, God is able to increase, and will so increase your worldly substance, that you shall have a sufficiency, a perfect and entire sufficiency; enough for yourselves and families, for the entertainment of your friends, and the relief of the poor; which shall give you satisfaction and contentment, and that at all times, and with respect to everything necessary for you, as to food and raiment, that so ye may abound to every good work; as to all good works, so to this of beneficence in particular, and to every branch of it, as feeding the hungry, clothing the naked, and the like.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

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:

Ver. 8. And God is able] Fear not therefore lest yourselves should want hereafter, if you should give liberally now. Is not mercy as sure a grain as vanity? Is God like to break?

Having all sufficiency] He saith not, "superfluity." Enough we shall be sure of, and an honest affluence, if fit for it, and can make us friends with it. Bonus Deus Constantinum magnum tantis terrenis implevit muneribus, quanta optare nullus auderet, saith Austin (De Civit. Dei). God gave Constantine more wealth than heart could wish, and he was no niggard of it to poor Christians.

In all things] The apostle useth many "alls" on purpose to cross and confute our covetousness, who are apt to think we have never enough.

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

And God is able ... - Do not suppose that by giving liberally you will be impoverished and reduced to want. You should rather confide in God, who is able to furnish you abundantly with what is needful for the supply of your necessities. Few persons are ever reduced to poverty by liberality. Perhaps in the whole circle of his acquaintance it would be difficult for an individual to point out one who has been impoverished or made the poorer in this way. Our selfishness is generally a sufficient guard against this; but it is also to be added, that the divine blessing rests upon the liberal man, and that God keeps him from want. But in the meantime there are multitudes who are made poor by the lack of liberality. They are parsimonious in giving but they are extravagant in dress, and luxury, and in expenses for amusement or vice, and the consequence is poverty and want. “There is that withholdeth more than is meet, and it tendeth to poverty;” Pro 11:24. The divine blessing rests upon the liberal: and while every person should make a proper provision for his family, every one should give liberally, confiding in God that he will furnish the supplies for our future needs. Let this maxim be borne in mind, that no one is usually made the poorer by being liberal.

All grace - All kinds of favor. He is able to impart to you those things which are needful for your welfare.

That ye always ... - The sense is, “If you give liberally you are to expect that God will furnish you with the means, so that you will be able to abound more and more in it.” You are to expect that he will abundantly qualify you for doing good in every way, and that he will furnish you with all that is needful for this. The man who gives, therefore, should have faith in God. He should expect that God will bless him in it; and the experience of the Christian world may be appealed to in proof that people are not made poor by liberality.

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

God is generous to the liberally disposed Christian; filling such as relieve the poor with every species of good, and returning their charities a hundred-fold. (Menochius)

George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).

Having made God, in the verse before, a debtor to those who, by giving to poor distressed saints, would make him their creditor, he here proveth him to be no insolvent debtor, but able to do much more for them, than they in this thing should do at his command out of love to him.

He is (saith he)

able to make all grace to abound toward you: the word translated

grace, signifieth all sorts of gifts, whether of a temporal or spiritual nature; and being here applied to God, (who is the Author of all gifts), it may very properly be interpreted concerning both. God is able to repay you in temporal things what you thus lend him, and so to pay you in specie; and he is able to pay you in value, by spiritual habits and influences.

That ye, always having all sufficieney in all things, may abound to every good work; that you may have a sufficieney in all things, so as that you may abound to and in every good work.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

8. God is able—To him who dreads that giving will impoverish him, Paul speaks a word of faith in God.

All grace—All blessing, temporal and spiritual. His grace can make the bountiful giver as rich as Dives without his Hades; or if he is left as poor as Lazarus, can compensate him with Paradise.

Sufficiency—Ability for giving.

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

To make all grace abound toward you. God can give you such abundant gifts that you will not feel the loss of a generous contribution to his service. Sufficiency. The word autarkeia (1Ti_6:6) in the Stoic philosophy was used for the perfect independence which enabled a man to stand alone. The term is here softened and Christianized to express the contentment which arises from the full supply of all our needs by God. The affirmations of the original are as emphatic as language can make them. They express that the man who places all his trust upon God will be "perfect and entire, lacking nothing". (Php_4:11, 19)

Abounding grace and abounding service.

Christianity does not come to men, saying, "This is pleasant," or "This is expedient," or "This is what society expects from you, and therefore do it." It comes saying, "This is what God does, and what God requires you to do." It lays the basis for human duty in Divine acts. So with liberality, as in this passage.

I THE ABUNDANT RESOURCES GOD PUTS AT THE DISPOSAL OF THE CHRISTIAN.

1. Men are at their best estate altogether dependent, having in themselvesnothing, but want, weakness, and sin.

2. All grace is in God; he has both the power and the disposition to supplyevery want. It is his nature to bestow; he is the God of grace.

3. His grace not only gives, it abounds to us. The gift of his Son is the proof of inexhaustible love. So with the gift of his Spirit. In fact, in the gospel there is a generosity of bestowment; no withholding and no grudging.

4. Christians, as his people, are thus partakers of Divine sufficiency. "Allthings are yours;" such is the deed of gift in which the heavenly Father places at the disposal of his family all the resources of his nature and liberality.

5. The liberality of God extends through every stage of individual life, andthrough every period of the Church"s history. His bounties and favours are as the leaves of the forest, the waves of the sea, the stars of the sky unnumbered and innumerable.

II THE CORRESPONDING REQUIREMENTS AND EXPECTATIONS OF GOD FROM HIS PEOPLE. Religion consists of two parts what God does for us, and what God demands from us.

1. It is taken for granted that the Christian life consists in "good works;"that the disciple of Christ is naturally a worker, whose energies and possessions are to be consecrated to God in his Son. Gifts, services, sympathy, speech, aid, such are the manifestations of the spiritual life which the Lord of all desires and beholds.

2. Here is implied a relation between God"s works and those of his people.His abounding gifts are to be regarded as

(1) the example of ours;

(2) the means of ours, for we can only give others what he has given us;

(3) the measure of ours, as liberal and generous; and

(4) the motive to ours, inasmuch as we are constrained by the love of God and by the cross of Christ. T.

HOMILIES BY D. FRASER Ver. 8.

Always.

Let us not take our standard of Christian life and experience from our own hearts, or from the customary piety which shows itself around us. The Lord requires and expects of us constancy a life regulated by the steady action of principle, and animated daily by faith, hope, and love. Alas! how many are unsteady in his service! How their light flickers! how their faith wavers! how their convictions and affections fluctuate! This is so common that it seems to be regarded as inevitable. Vacillation and inconstancy are supposed to be not so much sins as very pardonable infirmities. But is constancy, while theoretically right, practically impossible? When called to maintain a steady tenor of Christian life and conduct, may we say, Non possumus? What says Reason? And what says Holy Writ?

I WE ASK THE QUESTION OF REASON, AS A FAIR JUDGE OF THE NATURE OF THINGS. Physical life is maintained in us by certain natural processes which never cease from the moment of birth to the moment of death. The lungs play always, and the heart beats always. We call these automatic movements, as being not dependent on our volition. They continue when we are fast asleep. But moral and spiritual life rises above mere automatism, and requires for its continuance and growth a succession of moral volitions, a steady and well-directed purpose. Now, is this state of the will possible? Reason will answer that it is the proper habit of a healthy and vigorous mind. Weak minds are obstinate or fickle; dull minds are stolid and monotonous; but those that are strong and intelligent have a steady moral pulse, a wise tenacity of purpose, and a careful balance of temper and will. It is the most rational, healthy, and happy condition of man to believe firmly what he believes, and to maintain an even tenor of conduct in harmony with his belief. George Herbert is right to praise the man of constancy, who

Doth still, and strongly, good pursue; To God, his neighbours, and himself most true.

II WE ASK THE QUESTION OF HOLY SCRIPTURE. Does it admit excuses for inconstancy? or does it assume and require that men who believe in God should live to him always? David said, "I have set the Lord always before me." No doubt this is absolutely true only of the great Son of David, of whom the Spirit of prophecy spake in the sixteenth psalm, as St. Peter taught on the day of Pentecost. But of all that was most worthy in the career of the poet king of Israel this was the sustaining principle; and of his character this formed the sacred charm, that he constantly kept his eyes upon God. In great deeps of sorrow, in dens and caves of the earth, in exile, in peril by the sword, among temptations of ambition, tumults of war, cares of government; in the obscurity of his youth, in the sudden promotion and the stirring adventures of his early manhood; in all the publicity of his later years, in "that fierce light which beats upon a throne; always and everywhere the son of Jesse looked to God, and sought towalk in the light of his countenance. Alas! he looked off, and sinned grievously. We find no perfect example but that of the Man Christ Jesus, the Son of David, who maintained a constant obedience to, and therefore a constant communion with, God. (see Joh_8:29 Joh_11:42) In the midst of incessant occupations and in the face of frequent "contradiction of sinners against himself," he found it possible to look always to the Father in heaven, and do always the Father"s will. So he knew that the Father heard him always. Now, every one admits that the life of Christ is, in its principles and motives, the supreme model for the life of Christians. But the force of the admission is sadly weakened for any practical purpose by the prevailing impression that actual conformity to so perfect a Pattern is not to be expected of any one. Let us take the example of a servant of Christ. It will not be disputed that we may and should emulate the attainments and experience of St. Paul. Now, he had extraordinary vicissitudes in the course of his ministry, and does not conceal from us the changing moods of his mind now depressed and sorrowful, now bold and enthusiastic. But as respects the main current of his life and service, Paul was, ever after his conversion, gloriously consistent. In love to God, in zeal for Jesus, in fidelity to the gospel, in care for the Churches, in abhorrence of sin, in esteem of holiness, in vigilant resistance to the devil, and in tender affection for the saints, he was always the same, and wavered not. Accordingly we find the word "always" often used in regard to his own spiritual experience and missionary life. (see Act_24:16 on conscience; 2Co_2:14 on the career of a missionary; 2Co_4:10 2Co_5:6 on sufferings and joyful hope) What a living sacrifice to God was this apostolic man! What singleness of purpose he had, what integrity of heart, what constancy, in serving the Lord always. Why may not similar constancy be shown by us? God is able to make all grace abound toward us. And all the injunctions for Christian life given in the Holy Book assume that we are to be always and wholly the Lord"s. Our speech should be "always with grace, seasoned with salt." Our prayers should be offered up alway; and in active service we should be "always abounding in the work of the Lord." The proper season for piety is always. Labour sometimes, study sometimes, recreation sometimes, sleep sometimes; but the fear of the Lord always, and the life of faith always. No day of the week, no hour of the day, without the Lord. This is not bondage: it is the best liberty. This is not being "righteous overmuch." It is simply to order our character and conduct habitually by the highest aims and models set before us. It is the aspiration of the meek and lowly, not of the proud. It is the path of the just, which shines more and more until the perfect day. F.

God"s ability and man"s.

Even in the early Church, the first Church of the apostles, there was need of money. In the first Council it was resolved to send a general direction to the Churches that they should "remember the poor." The Apostle Paul was deeply interested in a collection, which he set on foot throughout the Churches he had founded, on behalf of the poor saints at Jerusalem, and his last journey to the holy city was occasioned by his earnest desire to present these "alms and offerings of the Gentiles" with his own hands to the apostles and elders. This text is directly connected with the matter of money, of Christian giving for Christian uses, which we properly regard as still one of the first duties, as it is certainly one of the highest privileges, of the Christian Church. St. Paul had been boasting in other places of the willingness, the heartiness, and the liberality of the Church at Corinth; but in consequence, perhaps, of the interruption of his relations with them, he feared that they would hardly come up to the account which, in his trustfulness, he had given of them He therefore sent on before him collectors, who were to gather their stored gifts together, and he reminds them again of those considerations by which he had already urged them to a noble liberality. "Give," he says, "according to the generous purposings of the heart that is made tender and thankful by the sense of God"s saving love. Remember, "he that soweth bountifully shall reap also bountifully." Let your giving be a "matter of bounty, not as of covetousness." "God loveth a cheerful giver." And God is able to give all temporal good to you, so that, having sufficiency for all your own needs, you yet may be able to distribute generously. And did not the Lord Jesus lay down for all his people this most comprehensive principle, "It is more blessed to give than to receive"? And did he not illustrate, in his own uttermost self-sacrifice, the glory of his own great principle? Verily the beatitude of God rests on those who give!" This is the first connection of the passage before us, but it broadens its reach beyond the money and the giving. It covers and hallows all the features and expressions of our religious life. Wheresoever we may be, whatsoever we may have to do, whensoever needs arise, the sound of this assurance comes to us, quieting all fears, and stilling the heart to peace and rest. There is a gracious power in the word "all," repeated as it is again and again in the verse. The word seems designed to drive away every lingering doubt. "All grace," "all sufficiency," "all good.

I GOD"S ABILITY, AND ITS CONDITION. Nothing that is not an absurdity in the statement is beyond God"s power. Much has been made of the contention that God cannot put two things into the same place at the same time, or that he cannot make the addition of two and two make five, or make two parallel lines ever meet. But, in view of the essential conditions of human thought and human language, these things are absurdities, and not impossibilities; and it is no limitation of the Divine omnipotence to say that God cannot do what is absurd in the very statement. "He is able." We feel the truth of this in the world of nature. Sky and earth and sea proclaim that he is "able." Who can listen to the wild storm, hear the mighty winds bowing the great trees, and the thunder echoes rolling from hill to hill, and the breakers plunging against the guardian cliffs, and not reverently say, "He is able"? Who can feel how the gentle spring sunshine warms the wintry air and the chilled ground, tenderly touching every life germ in bud and seed and plant, and wakening life and hope and beauty all around, and not lovingly say, "Verily thou art able "?

O spirit of the strong things and the gentle, thou art able.

But nature is outside us. We may watch the omnipotent workings, but we want to ask this: "Do we come within the all-powerful grasp?" Admit all we may about our "free will," nevertheless, of ourselves, of body, soul, circumstances, can we say, "He is able"? Yes; in him we "live, and move, and have our being." Our circumstances are his overruling. Our souls are his inbreathing. He in whom we trust can do all things. We are continually crushed by being compelled to say, "I cannot;" but the feeble limited creature steadies its tremblings by leaning on One who can. "Then Job answered the Lord, and said, I know that thou canst do everything, and that no thought can be withholden from thee." But we long to know this What can the almighty God really be to us? Can he come right into thespheres of our life and work? and is he able to make all grace abound to us there? Can he "supply all our need out of his riches in glory by Christ Jesus"? Into the shadow of his fatherhood may we run, since our "heavenly Father knoweth what things we have need of before we ask him"? That is the ability of God concerning which we need to gain such deep and satisfying impressions. As a redeemed son of his, is he able to find all the grace I need; able to meet me at every point; able to give the grace according to the day; able to adapt himself to all the changes and fluctuations of my moods and circumstances? The little child brings all her broken dolls and damaged toys to her father; she is perfectly sure that, however dreadful the damage may be, "father can mend it." And the sweet confidence dries up the tears. But the little thing never stops to consider how strong the father arms are or how skilful his fingers; she only reads his power by the light of his love; and she is quite sure that he will try, and her trust says that he will succeed. What can God do for us, his blood-bought children? He can breathe on us the spirit of a holy contentment. He can inspire us with zeal unto all good works. He can strengthen us for all noble enterprise. He can make the mountains of difficulty before us lie level as a plain. He can so prosper and bless us that very thankfulness shall urge us to generous and noble deeds. "I cannot indeed, but God can:" let us learn to say that, and then this will be our glorying there, yonder, in this and in that, in the light and in the dark, I can, through him who strengtheneth me." There is a condition upon which the ability of God alone can come to us. We must gain and keep the receptive mood, which includes the humble, obedient, and trustful spirit.

II MAN"S ABILITY AND ITS EXPRESSION. For we also are "able to abound unto every good work." Sometimes we are deeply impressed with the feebleness, the imperfection, of the best that we can do. But when we estimate that work of grace which God, the All-merciful, is carrying on in the world so silent, yet so mighty; so long, and yet so surely triumphant at last; so rich in long suffering patience; so quick to take up and use a thousand trifling influences, sanctifying even a passing word and a gentle look to its gracious ends, then it seems wonderful that, in so great a matter, we should be "coworkers with God," and that the rich streams of Divine grace should even flow to others through us. With the grace of God we can do all things. In the renewed man there is ability. God makes him mighty, and uses him to "pull down the strongholds." God shows him what great things he can suffer, and what great things he can do, for his Name"s sake. In full harmony with the Christian humility and dependence we may gain this sense of Christian ability. We want the inspiration of the conviction settled deeply into our souls can." We need the cheer that comes to every man when God says to him, "Thou canst." We are weak, depressed, hesitating; we touch things with a trembling hand; we faint before the first difficulty, so long as we say to ourselves, "I cannot." With the "all sufficiency" we can abound to every good. work. R.T.

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

How remarkable are these words! Each is loaded with matter and increases all the way it goes. All grace - Every kind of blessing. That ye may abound to every good work - God gives us everything, that we may do good therewith, and so receive more blessings. All things in this life, even rewards, are, to the faithful, seeds in order to a future harvest. Prov. xxii, 9

John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.

God blesses liberal giving:

v. 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,

v. 9. (as it is written, he hath dispersed abroad; he hath given to the poor; his righteousness remaineth forever.

v. 10. Now he that ministereth seed to the sower both minister bread for your food, and multiply your seed sown, and increase the fruits of your righteousness,)

v. 11. being enriched in everything to all bountifulness, which causeth through us thanks giving to God.

The apostle is so full of his subject that his words gush forth in an overwhelming stream of praise for the manifold manifestations of God’s grace in and through the Corinthians: God has power to make all grace abound toward you. The might and power of God is such as to make it an easy matter for Him to bless them with every gift, both temporal and spiritual, in rich measure. And the result will naturally be that they, having always all sufficiency, would abound unto every good work. The richness of God’s goodness and mercy toward them is the supreme motive to incite the Christians to perform all good works cheerfully and freely. They have the riches of God’s grace in Christ Jesus; God gives them enough and more than enough of worldly goods and gifts: what more natural than that they show their appreciation and gratitude in accordance with His will? This verse should he heeded far more by the Christians of our country, in which the great majority of them have been so richly blessed; for they certainly are living under conditions which warrant their being perfectly contented, since they possess a sufficient subsistence not only for comforts of the body, but even for actual luxuries.

Paul illustrates his meaning and applies it from an Old Testament passage: He has scattered abroad, he has given to the poor, his righteousness abides forever, Psa 112:9. The truly charitable person, every Christian in the performance of the good works that fall to his lot, scatters abroad, as a farmer that sows broadcast: he distributes abundantly on every side. As Luther says, St. Paul chose this word with care, admonishing the Christians to give richly, and that it may be a real blessing. As though he would say: Do not be so over careful with the nickels and pennies. If you want to give, give cheerfully, as though you wanted to scatter it abroad. As the poor and needy will be benefited by our assistance, in the same measure should it be offered. And the result is that, as a reward of grace, the donor’s good works are held in remembrance before God, his good conduct is laid up as a treasure in the sight of the Lord. The application of the passage is comprehensive: But he that bountifully offers seed to the sower and bread for food shall also increase your seed and multiply the fruits of your righteousness. As God gives seed to the farmer and blesses him with the results of his labors in the form of bread and all other supplies for sustaining life, so he extends the hand of His blessings also in the spiritual field. He Himself, as the owner of all the silver and gold in the world, bestows upon each steward of His such a measure of His bounty as is necessary in the particular field in which this Christian is to apply these blessings, in the case of the Corinthians that of the collection then in progress. It is by the bounty and mercy of God, therefore, that the fruits of righteousness in every Christian are multiplied and increased. Surely, then, God has a right to require that the gifts entrusted to us by Him be dispensed in the way which He judges best, for such charitable purposes as He directs our attention to.

Since the Corinthians and all believers are able to abound in every good work, it also follows: Being enriched in everything to all benevolence, which through us works thanksgiving to God. Rich the believers become, not in proportion to the money which they have saved and gained, but in the measure of their charity shown to others; not rich in hoarding, but rich in benevolence, in liberality, that is God’s way of estimating values. Only in that way, moreover, does the benevolent performance of the Christians redound to the glory of God, since on its account the thanksgiving of many will rise to God in a hymn of gratitude. Purr benevolence, together with perfect simplicity or singleness of heart, knows nothing of selfish interests or painful forebodings, but manifests itself in a free and ample supplying of the wants of others, thus producing in them a spirit of thanksgiving to God.

Paul E. Kretzmann, Popular Commentary of the Bible (1921–1924) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Here the apostle tacitly answers the common objection against liberal alms-giving; men are afraid they shall want themselves, what they give away to others. No, says the apostle, God is able to make all grace and mercy shown by you to abound the more towards you, that you, having a sufficiency of the comforts of this life, may abound in every good work of charity towards others.

As if he had said, Be not afraid to give, nor sparing in giving; for hereby you make God your debtor, and you will find him an all-sufficient paymaster; he will repay you both in temporals and spirituals. Thou shalt receive silver for thy brass, gold for thy silver, grace for thy gold, a treasure in haeven for thy dross on earth: nay, your gold and silver will multiply here, as seed sown when scattered with a wise and prudent hand."

The apostle here engages God’s all-sufficiency for it; God will show his all-sufficiency, in giving you an all-sufficiency in all things; only we must remember, that we are to allow time; for Almighty God loves to be trusted upon his word: and those that will not give him credit, let them try if they can improve their estates better, or put them into safer hands.

William Burkitt's Expository Notes on the New Testament (1700–1703) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

And God is able to make all grace abound unto you; that ye, having always all sufficiency in everything, may abound unto every good work:

J. W. McGarvey (with Philip Y. Pendleton), Commentaries on the New Testament (The Fourfold Gospel, 1914; Acts; and the epistles) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

8. God is able to make all grace abound towards you. To bestow upon you every blessing, temporal as well as spiritual. He is able to make up all you part with and more. The faithful steward will be trusted with more.

B. W. Johnson's The People's New Testament with Notes (1889–1891) — public domain. Electronic text from the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (CCEL) ThML edition.

God is able to make all grace overflow for you

Grace is spoken of as if it were a physical object of which a person can have more than he can use. As a person gives financially to other believers, God also gives to the giver everything he needs. AT: "God is able to give you more than you need"

grace

This refers here to the physical things a Christian needs, not to the need for God to save him from his sins.

so that you may multiply every good deed

"so that you may be able to do more and more good deeds"

It is as it is written

"This is just as it is written." This can be stated in active form. AT: "This is just as the writer wrote" (See: Active or Passive)

translationWords

God

bless

works

written

righteous

eternity

unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.

8. δυνατεῖ (אBCDG) rather than δυνατός (C2D2D3KLP).

8. δυνατεῖ δὲ ὁ θεός. Comp. δυνατεῖ γὰρ ὁ κύριος (Rom 14:4). In both places later authorities substitute δυνατός, because δυνατεῖ is an unusual word. The thought is, ‘Do not set this aside as an impossible standard; God can, and will (2Co 9:10), help.’

πᾶσαν χάριν περισσεῦσαι εἰς ὑμᾶς. A very comprehensive statement: χάριν includes, and here specially means, earthly blessings as opportunities of benevolence; comp. 2Co 8:6. Where there is the spirit of benevolence, the power to exercise benevolence is sure to be given. Chrysostom paraphrases; ἐμπλῆσαι ὑμᾶς τοσούτων ὡς δύνασθαι περιττεύειν ἐν τῇ φιλοτιμίᾳ ταύτῃ. For περισσεύειν transitive see on 2Co 4:15.

ἐν παντὶ πάντοτε πᾶσαν κ.τ.λ. In order to preserve the characteristic alliteration and repetition we may turn singulars into plurals without change of meaning; always having all sufficiency in all things, may abound to all good works. Comp. 2Co 7:4, 2Co 8:22; Php 1:3-4; Act 21:28; Act 24:3; also διὰ παντὸς πᾶσαν πάντως προθυμίαν πειρᾶσθε ἔχειν (Plat. Menex. 347 A).

αὐτάρκειαν. ‘Self-sufficiency, being independent of help from others’—a word which has played a prominent part in Greek philosophy, especially in the tenets of the Cynics and Stoics. Aristotle is at pains to distinguish the true αὐτάρκεια from that which the Cynics advocated (Eth. Nic. I. vii. 6; comp. x. vi. 2; Pol. I. ii. 14). The occurrence of this term in such close proximity to προαιρεῖσθαι (another word which is frequent in the Nicomachean Ethics, but occurs nowhere else in the N.T.) has led to the surmise that S. Paul was acquainted with the Aristotelian philosophy. See last note on 2Co 9:10. In 1Ti 6:6 αὐτάρκεια is rendered ‘contentment,’ the subjective feeling of self-sufficiency and independence. For αὐτάρκης comp. Php 4:11, where see Lightfoot’s note. Here the point is that the less a man wants, the greater his self-sufficiency and his power of helping other people.

Cambridge Greek Testament for Schools and Colleges (Cambridge University Press, 1896; 21 vols, various authors incl. Carr, Maclear, Plummer, Farrar, Lumby, Moule, M. R. James, Simcox) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

8-11.] He encourages them to a cheerful contribution by the assurance that God both can (vv. 8, 9), and will (vv. 10, 11) furnish them with the means of performing such deeds of beneficence.

8.] δυνατεῖ has the emphasis. I adopt the reading because after all it is difficult to imagine how so easy a construction as δυνατὸς ὁ θεός, should have been altered to δυνατεῖ, as Meyer supposes, or why the transcriber need have written δυνατός ἐστιν if the latter were a correction for δυνατεῖ, seeing that the verb substantive is just as frequently omitted in such clauses as inserted.

πᾶσαν χάριν, ‘etiam in bonis externis,’ Bengel,—to which here the reference is: not excluding however the wider meaning of ‘all grace.’

περισσεῦσαι, to make to abound,—reff.

ἵνα κ.τ.λ.] in order that, having at all times in every thing all sufficiency (of worldly substance; αὐτάρκ. is objective; not contentedness, subj.) ye may abound towards (‘have an overplus for;’ which is not inconsistent with αὐτάρκεια, seeing that αὐτ. does not exclude the having more, but only the having less than is sufficient: the idea of a man’s having at all times and in all things a sufficiency, would presuppose that he had somewhat to spare) every good work:

Henry Alford, The Greek Testament (1849–1861) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

8. δυνατεῖ δὲ ὁ Θεός. ‘Now God is able’; that is indisputable. To give joyfully when one has little to spare may seem difficult, but with God all things are possible. He ‘is able to make every grace abound unto you.’ He can give the desire to be generous and the means of being generous. It is specially the latter that is meant here. Datur nobis, et habemus, non ut habeamus, sed ut bene faciamus. Omnia in hac vita, etiam praemia, sunt semina fidelibus, in messem futuram (Beng.). The man with a bountiful heart finds that God supplies him with something to bestow; ὁ Θεὸς ὄψεται ἑαυτῷ πρόβατον εἰς ὁλοκάρπωσιν (Gen 22:8). As in 4:15 περισσεύω is transitive; here it must be, and there it probably is.

ἐν παντὶ πάντοτε πᾶσαν αὐτάρκειαν. ‘Always having all sufficiency in all things, may abound to all good works’; lit. ‘to every good work,’ or ‘every kind of good work.’ But, as in v. 5, 6:3, 7:4, 8:22, it is worth while to keep the repetition and alliteration as far as possible. In Plato (Menex. 347 A) we have μηδεὶς μηδένα μηδαμοῦ ἀδικήσῃ followed by διὰ παντὸς πᾶσαν πάντως προθυμίαν πειρᾶσθε ἔχειν. Αὐτάρκεια, ‘self-sufficiency,’ is being independent of external circumstances, especially of the services of other people. The result is contentment, for the less a man needs or desires in the way of external goods, the easier it is for him to be contented. This does not mean the avoidance of society or the refusal of the blessings of civilization, as the Cynics taught;* these things are necessary for self-development: but it does mean being able to do with a small amount of these advantages. The meaning here is that the less a man requires for himself, the greater means he will have for relieving the wants of others. In 1Ti 6:6 (cf. Php 4:11) the meaning is, not ‘sufficiency,’ but ‘contentment.’

δυνατεῖ (א B C* D* F G) rather than δυνατός (C2 D2 and 3 E K L P). Here, as in Rom 14:4, the more usual word has been substituted for a rare one. In 13:3, the only other passage in N.T., δυνατεῖ is undisputed. Both in N.T. and LXX δυνατός is very freq. ; in LXX δυνατέω does not occur.

International Critical Commentary — older volumes (1896–1929), various authors — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Always - all - in everything. Nearly reproducing the play on the word all in the Greek.

Sufficiency [αυταρκειαν] . Only here and 1Ti 6:6. The kindred adjective aujtarkhv A. V., content, occurs Phi 4:11 (see note). The word properly means self - sufficiency, and is one of those which show Paul 's acquaintance with Stoicism, and the influence of its vocabulary upon his own. It expressed the Stoic conception of the wise man as being sufficient in himself, wanting nothing and possessing everything. 152 Here, not in the sense of sufficiency of worldly goods, but of that moral quality, bound up with self - consecration and faith, which renders the new self in Christ independent of external circumstances.

Marvin R. Vincent, Word Studies in the New Testament (1887–1900) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.