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. (2 Corinthians 8:9)
With the coming of sin, man lost his home, his domain, his character, and even life itself. By nature, he now spends his life seeking false riches (see on Isa. 55:2; John 6:27). Eternal poverty awaits those who do not lay up treasure for themselves in heaven (see on Matt. 19:21; Luke 12:21). Christ came to deliver man from his poverty, which results from seeking false riches (see 3T 401). In and through Christ men are able to discern the true value of things, and receive the privilege of becoming “rich” in Christ Jesus. In Him they inherit all things (Matt. 6:20; Rom. 8:17, 32; 1 Cor. 1:5; Eph. 1:3-5, 10, 11, 18, 19; 2:6, 7; see on Matt. 6:33).
Ye know.
Paul had fully declared to them the grace of Christ, and they knew it by experience with it, as the Greek makes evident, not simply as a tenet of belief. They had tasted, and thus they knew that the Lord is gracious. In fact, they themselves constituted living evidence of it. The grace of Christ must control the heart and will. It is never effective so long as it remains an intellectual concept only. For that matter, no divine truth is known merely by an intellectual understanding of it (see Matt. 16:17; John 6:45; 16:14; 1 Cor. 2:4; 12:3). The only man to whom the Word of God is truth is he who is taught and convinced by the Spirit. The riches we receive through the poverty of Christ come through spiritual illumination of the life.
Grace.
See on Rom. 3:24. The supreme acts of Christ, His incarnation and crucifixion, are attributed to grace only here and in Rom. 5:15; Gal. 1:6. These acts constituted the supreme manifestations of divine love and condescension. Paul here contrasts the supreme sacrifice of Christ with man’s incomparably infinitesimal acts of charity.
An allusion to Christ’s preincarnate existence (see John 17:5; see on Phil. 2:6, 7; see Additional Note on John 1). Since He was Creator and King, the universe was His (John 1:1, 2; Col. 1:15-17), but His earthly life was ever one of extreme poverty (Matt. 8:20). His riches consisted of the nature and attributes of deity, of countless millions of worlds, of the adoration and loyalty of multitudes of angels.
Became poor.
Gr. ptōcheuō, “to be [extremely] poor,”“to be a beggar.” For comment on ptōchos, the related noun, see on Mark 12:42. The verb tense here used points to the act of becoming “poor”—the incarnation. Christ so completely emptied Himself that He retained nothing of the riches that were once His. He took upon Himself human nature and became subject to the limitations of humanity. He became poor to the point where of Himself He could do nothing (John 5:19, 20; see Vol. V, pp. 917, 918).