Day 74 · 2 Corinthians 8:8–15 · Berean Standard Bible
Generosity without pressure
Paul wants the Corinthians to follow through, but he does not ask them to pretend they have resources they lack. Readiness matters, and so does the amount actually available. His goal is shared sufficiency: one community’s surplus can meet another’s need. The language about Christ becoming poor is part of that appeal to grace; it is not an investment promise that a gift will make the giver wealthy.
2 Corinthians 8:8–15
8 I am not giving a command, but I am testing the sincerity of your love through the earnestness of others.
9 For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though He was rich, yet for your sake He became poor, so that you through His poverty might become rich.
10 And this is my opinion about what is helpful for you in this matter: Last year you were the first not only to give, but even to have such a desire.
11 Now finish the work, so that you may complete it with the same eager desire, according to your means.
12 For if the eagerness is there, the gift is acceptable according to what one has, not according to what he does not have.
13 It is not our intention that others may be relieved while you are burdened, but that there may be equality.
14 At the present time, your surplus will meet their need, so that in turn their surplus will meet your need. This way there will be equality.
15 As it is written: “He who gathered much had no excess, and he who gathered little had no shortfall.”