(3)
Scripture Reading: 2 Cor. 8:15; 9:1-15
In chapter nine of 2 Corinthians Paul gives an additional word concerning the ministry to the needy saints. It may seem to us that this chapter is not necessary, for we may think that what Paul says in chapter eight is sufficient. According to your understanding, why does Paul give an additional word in chapter nine? If you read these two chapters again, you may consider that regarding the ministry to the needy saints, the first part alone of chapter eight is adequate and that the last part of chapter eight and all of chapter nine are not actually necessary. We need to ask why Paul devoted so much space to this matter. As we shall see, his reason for doing so is related to certain profound thoughts.
Paul’s thought in chapters eight and nine is profound. The key to understanding Paul’s profound thought is found in two matters. First, in 8:15 Paul concludes, “As it is written, He who gathered much had no excess, and he who gathered little had no lack.” This is a quotation from Exodus 16:18 concerning the gathering of manna for the daily supply. Why does the Apostle Paul connect ministering the supply of material things to the saints to the gathering of manna? If we consider this matter thoughtfully, we shall realize that ministering material things to the needy saints certainly is for their daily supply. Manna was gathered for the daily supply of the children of Israel, and material things were ministered to the needy saints also for their daily supply. Paul’s quotation of Exodus 16:18 is a crucial factor in our grasping his profound thought.
The second matter related to Paul’s profound thought in chapters eight and nine concerns his word in 9:6 about sowing: “But this: he who sows sparingly, sparingly also shall reap; and he who sows with blessings, with blessings also shall reap.” Here Paul likens the ministering of material things to the needy saints to the sowing of seed. The sowing of seed, like the gathering of manna, is for daily supply. Therefore, both the gathering and the sowing are for the same purpose, for both are for our living.
In the Bible there are two ways for God’s people to live. The first way is according to the natural law ordained by God. This is to sow seed and reap a harvest. In Genesis 3 God ordained that man would till the ground in order to have something to live on. The sowing of the seed is for man’s living. This is the way according to the natural law ordained by God. No race or nationality can survive without sowing, without farming. To farm is to sow the seed and reap a harvest.
The second way for God’s people to live is the way of miracles from the hand of God. When the children of Israel were in Egypt, they lived according to the natural way. But when they came out of Egypt and were wandering in the wilderness, they lived by another way, by the way of God’s miracles. The people did not sow any seed, but they gathered manna. We could say that they reaped without sowing, for their gathering was a reaping. In the wilderness the children of Israel continually reaped without sowing. The raining down of manna from heaven was a substitute for sowing. Human beings can sow seed, but only God can cause manna to rain down. In the wilderness the children of Israel gathered the manna sent by God.
According to Exodus 16, the children of Israel gathered manna every morning, except for the Sabbath day. On the sixth day they gathered a double portion in order to have a sufficient supply for the Sabbath. Exodus 16:17 and 18 say, “And the children of Israel did so, and gathered, some more, some less. And when they did mete it with an omer, he that gathered much had nothing over, and he that gathered little had no lack; they gathered every man according to his eating.”
In the wilderness the children of Israel did not do any farming, sowing, or reaping. Instead, they gathered manna. Some may have been greedy and tried to gather a large amount of manna, much more than they needed. However, by the end of the day, what was left was no longer useful. Exodus 16:19 and 20 say, “And Moses said, Let no man leave of it till the morning. Notwithstanding they hearkened not unto Moses; but some of them left of it until the morning, and it bred worms, and stank: and Moses was wroth with them.” In the case of those who gathered an excess of manna, perhaps wanting to store it up for days and weeks to come, God caused the excess to be taken away.
Those who were rather feeble and not able to gather much manna did not have any lack. The divine way is that those who gathered little had no lack and those who gathered much had nothing over. This is God’s heavenly way of balancing the supply among His people. God exercised His miraculous ability to balance the supply of manna among the people. God balances the daily supply among His children by His sovereign and miraculous hand.
In Paul’s writing of 2 Corinthians, he combines the gathering of manna with the believers’ giving of the material supply to the needy saints. In Exodus 16 it was a matter of gathering, but in 2 Corinthians 8 it is a matter of giving. Concerning the gathering of manna, the result was the same whether the children of Israel gathered more or gathered less. This indicates that in their gathering they should not have been greedy. Gathering manna was their duty. They were to do their duty without being greedy.
Suppose some of the children of Israel had said, “God is merciful, sovereign, and miraculous. He controls everything. Since I will have no excess if I gather a lot and no lack if I gather a little, then actually I don’t need to go out and gather anything.” If one of God’s people had practiced this, he would not have had anything for that day. God would not fulfill that one’s duty for him. God would neither work for him nor feed him. The children of Israel had to fulfill their duty. As long as they fulfilled their responsibility according to God’s ordination, they had a sufficient supply, no matter how much or how little manna they gathered.
In 2 Corinthians 8 Paul likens our giving to the needy ones to the gathering of manna. To our realization, we are giving, not gathering. But what Paul says indicates that our giving is a gathering. Paul’s word at least implies that as children of God we should not be greedy. We should not think that if we earn a large sum of money, we shall be able to preserve it all for ourselves. We need to see that whether we give or not, eventually the outcome will be the same.
Suppose a brother earns $40,000 a year, but what he actually needs for his living is much less than that amount. Being rather greedy, he wants to reserve a large amount for himself. He tithes ten percent, or $4,000, with the intention of keeping the other $36,000. This tithing is a good practice. However, it is possible for this brother to follow an even better way. According to this better way, the brother should keep what he needs for his living, perhaps $20,000, and give away the remainder. No doubt, humanly speaking, almost everyone would follow the first way, the way of tithing, instead of the second way, the way of giving all that he can. If the brother decides to tithe and keep the extra $16,000 for himself, eventually he will learn that, in His sovereignty, God has many ways to cause this excess money to disappear. There may be illness, accident, or calamity. If the money does not disappear in this generation, it will disappear in the following generation or certainly in the third generation. God’s mighty, sovereign hand will be active to practice a heavenly balancing of the wealth among His people.
For approximately seventy years I have been observing the situation among Christians. I can testify that I do not know of one Christian family who has been able to maintain wealth continually for three generations. The first generation in a Christian family may become very rich and save vast riches for the second generation. But either in the second generation or in the third the money mysteriously disappears. It seems to sprout wings and fly away. I know of cases where the wealthy third generation had all their riches taken away by others. Although the ones in this generation inherited vast wealth, it was taken away from them. Thus, eventually it proves true that he who gathers much has no excess. I have seen that those who gather little have no lack and those who gather much have no excess. I have truly witnessed the miraculous and sovereign hand of God balancing the wealth among His people.
You may consider yourself quite wise in money matters. You know how to make money, how to save it, and how to preserve it for your children and grandchildren. But no matter how wise you may be in the handling of money, God is wiser. As the heavenly pilot, he knows how to cause your money to fly away. He did this with the manna in the Old Testament, and does it with money today. The question that faces you is this: do you want to balance the material supply willingly, or will you force God to balance it in a miraculous, sovereign way? I can assure you that sooner or later you will be balanced in financial matters. Concerning this, we need to understand God’s heart. Deep in His heart God desires that His people be balanced in the daily supply. Therefore, we should say to Him, “Lord, thank You for enabling me to gather manna. But, Lord, instead of saving this for myself, I want to share it with others.” You should remember that whether or not you willingly share with others, eventually the outcome will be the same. The result will be that he who gathers little has no lack and that he who gathers much has nothing over. It is foolish, then, not to share what we have with others.
What about the sowing of seed? According to chapter nine, our giving equals not only our gathering, as in chapter eight, but also equals sowing. Our giving is both a gathering and a sowing. The gathering of manna is miraculous. We have emphasized that the manna gathered by the children of Israel was balanced in a miraculous way so that no one had any lack and no one had anything over. Now from chapter nine we must see that our giving is also likened to sowing.
According to 9:6, he who sows sparingly shall also reap sparingly, and he who sows with blessings shall also reap with blessings. In verse 6 we have the thought of sowing for the benefit of others. But what farmer, when he sows seed in his field, has the thought of sowing for others? Surely, most farmers have the concept of sowing for themselves. This kind of sowing, however, is not with blessings. To sow with blessings is to give to others. This is to sow with blessings to others. When we give of our money, we are sowing, and this sowing is not for ourselves, but is for others. If we sow with blessings to others, we shall reap with blessings from God.
As children of God, we all must learn to give. To give is to gather. How much manna we can gather depends on how much we give. In Luke 6:38 the Lord Jesus says, “Give, and it shall be given unto you; good measure, pressed down, and shaken together, and running over, shall men give into your bosom. For with the same measure that ye mete withal it shall be measured to you again.” This verse indicates that if we want to receive, to gather, we first need to give. Our giving is our gathering, our receiving. We all need to gather manna every day. Because our gathering is our giving, we all need to give in order to gather. We gather little because we give little. May we all be impressed that our giving is our gathering.
In the matter of giving and gathering, divine miracles are involved. We should not believe in a superstitious way that the more we give, the more we shall receive. If this is the way we understand this matter, our motive in giving will be to gain riches for ourselves. The point here is related to God’s balancing hand. He would distribute the supply so that we would be neither poor nor rich. He certainly does practice a divine and heavenly balancing. He knows how to balance the wealth among His people.
For more than fifty years, I have been living by faith in the Lord. Often I have been very poor. Nevertheless, I can testify that even though I have been in extreme poverty, I never had any lack. I gathered little, but I had no lack. At other times I had an abundant supply, even large sums of money. However, I must testify that I did not have any excess. Therefore, I can testify from my experience that whenever I have gathered much, I have had no excess and that whenever I have gathered little, I have had no lack. Who balances the supply in this way? It is done by God with His heavenly balance.
If we try to gather more than what is needed, we shall eventually see the excess money fly away. If you keep too much in excess, your money will seem to sprout wings and fly away from you. The reason this happens is that God in the heavens balances the social wealth of His children.
We have seen that giving is both a matter of gathering and of sowing. Sowing brings in reaping. It is a natural law that first we sow and then we have a harvest. When we sow, we should sow generously, not sparingly. If we sow sparingly, we shall reap sparingly. But if we sow generously, we shall also reap generously. In our sowing, we are the ones who are generous and liberal. But when we reap, we find that God is the One who is generous.
Why did Paul add chapter nine? He added this chapter in order to provide us a further illustration of giving. We have pointed out that in 2 Corinthians 9 Paul uses sowing to illustrate giving. Therefore, from chapters eight and nine we see that giving is gathering and also sowing. These two concepts deep within Paul governed his writing of these two chapters.
Paul was not a superficial writer. On the contrary, he was deep, and his thoughts were profound. In his reading of the Old Testament he realized that Exodus 16 speaks of God’s people gathering what they need for their daily supply. According to Paul’s concept, we today are in the wilderness. Daily we work; however, actually we are gathering manna. But our gathering must turn to giving. If we do not give, we shall not continue to gather. We work to earn money, but this earning of money must become our giving. Then whatever we give will become our gathering, as pictured by the gathering of manna by the children of Israel in the wilderness. Now we can see that Paul likens our giving to this gathering of manna. This thought is deep, profound.
In chapter nine Paul goes on to liken our giving to the sowing of seed. Because his deep thought was not fully expressed in chapter eight, Paul went on to write another chapter related to giving. This chapter reveals another aspect of giving, the aspect of sowing. Paul’s thought here is that we must sow and then we shall reap. Furthermore, when we sow, we should sow not merely for ourselves, but sow with blessings for others.
Many translations of the Bible do not render verse 6 literally. Instead of saying “with blessings,” some versions speak of bounty or of sowing bountifully. According to these translations, if we sow bountifully, or with bounty, we shall reap bountifully, or with bounty. This, however, is a natural understanding of this word. What Paul speaks of here is literally sowing with blessings. Our giving must be with blessings to others.
Other Scriptures help us to understand the word blessings in 9:6. In the Old Testament we can see that giving was a blessing. When Jacob met his brother Esau, Jacob gave him something. That gift was a blessing. Regarding this, Genesis 33:11 says, “Take, I pray thee, my blessing that is brought to thee; because God hath dealt graciously with me, and because I have enough.” Other verses that indicate that giving is blessing are 2 Kings 5:15 Judges 1:15; and Ezekiel 34:26. Our giving to others is a blessing to them.
When we sow with blessings to others, we shall reap with blessings from God. Furthermore, the harvest will always far surpass the amount of seed sown. It may be multiplied thirty or even one hundred times. This does not happen miraculously; it takes place according to natural law. God controls the life supply among His children by miracles. Because of this, no Christian family can maintain its wealth for generations. But sowing is according to natural law, not according to miracle. Regarding this, there is no need for God to do anything miraculous. We all need to sow, to give. The more we give, the more we shall reap. However, we should not do this in a superstitious way for the purpose of gaining riches for ourselves.
The two illustrations of gathering and sowing are related to Paul’s profound thoughts in these chapters. In chapter nine the deep thought is that as Christians we give in the sense of sowing. If we do not give, we are not farming, not sowing. Moreover, we should not sow sparingly. If we sow sparingly, then according to natural law we shall reap sparingly. We need to sow with blessings to others. If we sow with blessings to others, then, also according to natural law, we shall reap with blessings from God to us. This blessing will be many times more than what we have sown. I can testify that, in my Christian life, I have never seen a believer who has given to God who has not been greatly blessed by Him. The Lord will always honor the natural law He has ordained.
We need to recognize the Lord’s miraculous hand and also care for His natural law. According to both aspects, we need to give. Perhaps at present you do not see God’s balancing hand. But over the long run, perhaps over a period of many years, you will see it. Then you will be able to testify of how God balances the daily supply among His children. We also must realize that giving is a matter of sowing. Therefore, if we would reap, we must sow with blessings to others. Then we shall reap with blessings from God.
We should sow more and in turn reap more. The goal is not to make ourselves rich. The result is the abounding of thanksgivings to God. I hope that in the time to come many of the saints will become a factor of thanksgiving to God. This means that your giving will abound in much thanksgiving to God. I have the full confidence that if the saints in the Lord’s recovery are willing to give, the recovery will never be lacking in material supply. Instead of lack, there will be abounding in thanksgiving to the Lord through many saints. Therefore, let us all practice our giving, a giving which is carried out by gathering and by sowing.
In 9:5 Paul says, “Therefore I thought it necessary to entreat the brothers, that they would go before you and make ready beforehand your previously promised blessing, that this might be ready thus as a blessing, and not as covetousness.” This blessing is a bounty, a willing gift of generosity as a blessing to others. Willing and generous giving makes the gift a blessing to the receiver. Unwilling and grudging giving, from a withholding and covetous heart, makes the gift a matter of covetousness to the giver.
In verse 7 Paul says, “Each one as he has purposed in his heart, not out of sorrow or of necessity, for God loves a cheerful giver.” This comes from Proverbs 22:9, where the Septuagint reads, “God loves a cheerful and liberal man.” The Greek word rendered cheerful also means hilarious, gleeful.
In verses 8 and 9 Paul continues, “And God is able to make all grace abound unto you, that, in everything always having all sufficiency, you may abound unto every good work; even as it is written, He scattered abroad, he gave to the poor, his righteousness abides forever.” The words “all grace” in verse 8 refer to every kind of grace. The scattering in verse 9 is the scattering in sowing. The word poor in this verse denotes one who is obliged to do menial work to eke out a living. It is not the common word for poor.
In verse 9 Paul speaks of righteousness abiding forever. Generous giving is, on the one hand, a blessing to the receivers, and, on the other hand, righteousness in the eyes of both God and man.
In verse 13 Paul speaks of the approvedness of this ministry of giving material supply to the needy saints. It refers to the approval by the needy saints in Judea of the Gentile believers’ ministry to them. The Greek word, dokime, means test, trial, experiment; hence, approvedness, proof. It indicates that the ministry to the saints will be tested, tried, and approved by the saints to become a proof of the generous character of the ministry.
The Greek word for fellowship in verse 13 also means communication (see “communicating” in Romans 12:13, and “shared” in Philippians 4:15). It refers to the ministry of supply, which is a fellowship between the Gentile believers and those in Judea.
In verses 14 and 15 Paul concludes, “And in their petition on your behalf, longing after you on account of the surpassing grace of God upon you. Thanks be to God for His indescribable gift!” This indescribable gift is God’s grace given to the believers.
