“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 by his poverty might become rich.”

– 2 Corinthians 8:9

Main Thought: The apostle Paul in the first part of this chapter speaks of the richness and sacrificial giving which the Macedonian churches had done, even in the midst of affliction and poverty, giving generously for the needs of others and other churches. Paul says this was an act of grace (2 Cor. 8:1) and urges the Corinthian church to excel in this grace also. To magnify this giving, and the excelling nature of it, Paul reminds the Corinthian believers of the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ in coming to this earth. None of us can imagine what Christ left when he departed from heaven, but Paul uses the word rich here, which in the original language means abounding with wealth. He is not speaking of material wealth as we would imagine, but he is speaking of the glories, the splendors, and the exaltation that surrounded Christ in heaven because he was the eternal Son of God. It was a place without sin, without pain, a place of eternal holiness, love, and communion with God the Father, but he left there and humbled Himself and as is said here, He became poor. The word poor does not really convey what is meant here; in the original Greek, it means that Christ became like a beggar, like an indigent person on the street, begging for bread. Remember that when a scribe told him “I will follow you wherever you go” Jesus’ reply was “Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head” (Matt. 8:19-20), revealing the poverty of Christ’s earthly life. Yes, Paul reminds the Corinthians that their earthly poverty was nothing compared to the poverty of our Lord, who gave up the riches of heaven for the poverty of earth, giving up the privileges and glory of heaven. Why did Jesus do this? “So that you by his poverty might become rich” (2 Cor. 8:9). Here is the answer; here is the reason, so that we who were destitute, in the poverty and the slavery of sin with no hope of inheritance, might become the sons of God and inherit the riches of salvation and heaven. Paul said in Ephesians 1:7 that “In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of His grace.” Those riches belong to us now, we possess them in this present day and we know that because of the promises of His Word, we can know that the riches of heaven are ours also because we have been sealed as a guarantee by the Holy Spirit (Eph. 1:13-14), the Spirit who indwells every believer (Rom. 8:16). Because Christ became poor for us, we are rich as the children of God because of His grace, beyond anything we can imagine or dream of; one day we will abide in the richness of the new heavens and new earth that have been promised to all who ever believe on Him by faith. May each of us who know Christ thank him for the riches we have because of the poverty He took upon Himself, the eternal and spotless Son of God.