2 Corinthians 9:13

Note

The gift from Corinth will do more than meet the needs of the believers in Jerusalem. Those who receive it will glorify God, and the reason will not be the size of the gift but what it shows: that the Corinthians confess the gospel of Christ and live under it.

Chapter 9 brings the subject of the collection to a close. Whoever sows generously will reap generously, Paul says, and this service not only supplies the saints' needs but "is also overflowing in many expressions of thanksgiving to God" (2 Corinthians 9:12). This verse says what the thanksgiving will be for. The next says that the saints will pray for the Corinthians with longing, and the chapter ends: "Thanks be to God for His indescribable gift!" (2 Corinthians 9:15). What began with a human gift ends with God's.

The Greek runs: epi tē hupotagē tēs homologias humōn eis to euangelion tou Christou, ‘for the submission of your confession toward the gospel of Christ’. homologia (ὁμολογία) is confession, what one says aloud; hupotagē (ὑποταγή) is submission, placing oneself under. The noun euangelion (εὐαγγέλιον), with eis, is what the confession and the submission are directed to. The gospel is news to be heard and believed, and also news to be confessed and obeyed. The "proof" (dokimē) that the confession is real is the service itself, the gift, which Paul calls koinōnia (κοινωνία), a sharing.

Each version renders the phrase its own way. The KJV's "your professed subjection unto the gospel of Christ" makes "confession" an adjective; the LSV's "the subjection of your confession to the good news of the Christ" keeps both nouns as the Greek has them; the BSB's "your obedient confession" turns it the other way. The KJV's "by the experiment of this ministration" uses "experiment" in its older sense of a trial or proof. For the sharing, the KJV has "your liberal distribution unto them, and unto all men," the BSB "the generosity of your contribution," the LSV "the liberality of the fellowship."

Wesley glosses the Corinthians' subjection as "Openly testified by your actions" Wesley, and "to all men" as "Who stand in need of it" Wesley. Matthew Henry writes: "We must show the reality of our subjection to the gospel, by works of charity" Matthew Henry. That, he says, "will be for the credit of our profession, and to the praise and glory of God" Matthew Henry.

This was a gift from Gentile churches to Jewish believers. Paul explains to the Romans why it was fitting: "For if the Gentiles have shared in their spiritual blessings, they are obligated to minister to them with material blessings" (Romans 15:27). The sharing became a habit of the church. In the middle of the second century Justin Martyr describes how, when Christians met on Sunday, those who could gave what each thought fit, and what was gathered was used by the one presiding to help orphans and widows, the sick, prisoners and strangers Justin Martyr, First Apology 67.

In this verse the gospel does not stay a thought in the mind. It becomes a gift carried to others, and they give thanks to God for it. Confessed and lived, the gospel makes thanksgiving spring up between people who have never met.