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. A FACT STATED. That Christ being rich became poor. 1. He was rich in the possession of the ineffable glory which He had with the Father before all worlds (John 17:5; John 1:1; Hebrews 2:14-16). Though He could not change the attributes of His nature, He suspended their glorious manifestation. This was a voluntary act; He existed in such a mode that He had the power to lay aside His effulgence. 2. He was rich not only in glory but in virtue. He was the object of supreme complacency with the Father for His immaculate perfection. This character could not be put off, yet His relative position to law was altered. Though He could not become poor in the sense of being a sinner, He did in the sense of being treated like one. He was regarded by the law as a debtor, and His life was the forfeit of such moral poverty. II. THE DESIGN TO BE ACCOMPLISHED. "That we through His poverty might be made rich." 1. We were poor — (1) In having lost the glory and dignity with which we were originally invested. (2) In being sunk in positive and practical sin. (3) In the sense that we had nothing to pay. We were bankrupts as well as debtors. We could not answer the demands of law. 2. Christ became poor, and so made us rich — (1) By laying the foundation for our pardon in His sacrificial and vicarious death. (2) By affording a ground in virtue of which the Holy Spirit is dispensed, by whom we are renewed in righteousness and true holiness after the image of Him who created us. (3) By giving us a hope of being richer in the next world than we can be in this. We now know something of "the riches of His grace," but we read also of His "riches in glory." III. THE KNOWLEDGE WHICH YOU ARE SUPPOSED TO POSSESS OF ALL THIS. "Ye know." 1. You know it is true. This is an appeal to judgment and reason, guided by evidence in support of the truth. 2. You know it in yourselves, as enriching you now. You have tasted that the Lord is gracious. 3. You know it as the ground on which all your hopes are built for futurity, the source from which you derive grace upon earth, and to which you feel yourselves to be indebted for all the honour and glory which eternity will disclose.This is an appeal to Christian consistency, for it is only the consistent Christian that can feel the confidence that he is standing upon this rock, who can look forward now in time to what eternity will disclose. In conclusion, learn — 1. The importance which it becomes us to attach to all matters which are matters of pure revelation, of which this subject is one. 2. The actual necessity that there is for the doctrines of the Cross to give coherency and consistency to the whole system of revealed truth. 3. How grace is exercised towards us; and then you learn the claims which Christ has upon our affections and our gratitude. 4. The necessity that there is for your examining into the extent, the accuracy, and the influence of your knowledge of religious truth. What a shame it would be if, when the language were addressed to you, "You know this," you were to reply, "No, I do not know it; I have never read nor thought of it." 5. That Christian morality is animated and sustained by purely Christian motives. It is very observable how Paul associates almost every moral virtue, in some way or other, with our obligations to Christ. 6. That the riches of the Church throughout eternity wilt bear a proportion to the poverty by which they were obtained. The Church shall be lifted so high, and her riches shall be so transcendent, as the poverty of Christ was extreme and aggravated. (T. Binney.) 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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