Commentary on 2 Corinthians 9:6-11

Paul continues his exhortation to the Corinthians to be generous. He begins with a kind of proverb: skimpy sowing means skimpy reaping:

Whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows bountifully will also reap bountifully.

He further adds that each one should make their donation according to what has been agreed but to do it without a long face or under a sense of compulsion:

God loves a cheerful giver.

As the Imitation of Christ says, “It is the love of the giver more than the gift of the lover that counts.”

And Paul further adds that the Source of everything we have will reward us generously for our generosity because he is, in fact, the original source of all that we give.

God is able to make every grace abundant for you, so that in all things, always having all you need, you may have an abundance for every good work.

So that the more we receive, the more we are able to share with others.

The behaviour to which he exhorts them is based on God’s own way of acting. God is capable of overwhelming generosity, as the quotation below attests, so that they need not fear being short. He will provide in abundance, both supplying their natural needs and increasing their inner goodness. Paul challenges them to a God-like generosity and reminds them of the fundamental motive for encouragement: God himself cannot be outdone.

He then quotes Psalm 112:

He scatters abroad, he gives to the poor; his righteousness endures forever.

For:

…the One who supplies seed for the sower and bread for food will supply and multiply your seed and increase the harvest of your good deeds.

In other words,

…you are being enriched in every way for your generosity, which through us produces thanksgiving to God

This is the paradox: the more we give of what we have and are to others, the more enriched we become. When everyone gives, everyone gets.