2 Corinthians 8:9 For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that, though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor… I. THE ORIGINAL GREATNESS OF CHRIST. "He was rich." When? Not during His life upon the earth. It could not be said that He was born rich. Neither did He acquire wealth. It must have been then at some other time. We take, therefore, the term "rich" to designate "the glory which Christ had with the Father before the world was." Not His Godhead, but its manifested splendour. When Peter the Great wrought as a common shipwright he did not cease to be the autocrat of Russia, but his royalty was veiled. So the Lord did not lay aside His deity, but the advantages of it. II. THE LOWLINESS OF HIS AFTER LOT. Marvellous condescension! III. HIS PURPOSE. Three things are implied — 1. That men are poor in respect of the spiritual riches. Intellectually the mind of the sinner may be well furnished, but he has no knowledge of God, no peace with God, no portion in God. 2. Christ became poor in order to enrich men, to bring us pardon, purity, peace, and happiness. 3. These riches come to us through the poverty which Christ endured. He could not have enriched us if He had not thus emptied Himself, for our poverty had its root in our sin, and that sin had to be atoned for before we could be blessed (cf. 2 Corinthians 5:21). (W. M. Taylor, D. D.) Parallel Verses KJV: For ye know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that, though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, that ye through his poverty might be rich. |
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