◄ What Does 2 Corinthians 8:9 Mean? ►

What Love! What Grace! What a God!

Paul had been commenting positively on the good works that were being carried out by the Corinthian believers, and the motives behind the generous things they were doing. Perhaps it was to stem the possibility of unfounded pride in their own generosity or to encourage an explosion of grace within this Christian community that caused Paul to write about these things. Whatever the reason, Paul wrote extensively here about giving and generosity. 

Paul began to draw a stark and astonishing comparison between riches and poverty as he spoke about the great and generous grace that God had bountifully poured out upon all humanity through our Lord Jesus Christ, for though He was rich beyond all measure, yet for our sakes He became poor so that by His poverty He could make us rich, beyond our wildest imaginings.

What Love! What Grace! What a God!

In His perfect divinity and divine nature dwelt all the fullness of the Triune Godhead and in Whom resided all the glorious, infinite, eternal attributes of God in all their fullest measure. Our minds cannot conceive of the infinite riches of the eternal Son of God, in the majesty of His pre-Cross existence.

All things were made by Him; all the riches of the earth, all the wealth of sky, the treasures of the oceans, and the bountiful resources of the vast universe. All things were made by Him, and all things were made for Him. All these unimaginable riches and the glories of His elevated heavenly status were laid aside simply because of His GRACE towards us. All the inconceivable and vast riches of His glory were set aside for your sake and for mine and He stripped Himself of everything, becoming so poor that He did not even have a place to rest His head.

Though He was the Creator of the universe, He was born into a human race that had rebelled against their Creator. He came into a fallen world that was lying in the hands of the evil one, a world that was in bondage to the evil governance of Satan (a created being who rebelled against His Creator God), and the Son of God did all this for love of you and for love of me so that by His deep poverty we might become rich.

What Love! What Grace! What a God!

Loving Lord and Heavenly God, how great is Your grace and love toward me, that You would strip Yourself of all You had and all You were, to live a life of humiliating poverty so that I could be saved from my sins and inherit the riches of eternal life. Praise Your holy name, AMEN.