2 Corinthians 9:13-14 Whiles by the experiment of this ministration they glorify God for your professed subjection to the gospel of Christ… I. CHRIST IS THE GIFT OF GOD TO MEN. He fulfils all the conditions of a gift. 1. He is something valuable. 2. He is offered to us freely; for God was under no kind of obligation to make us such an offer. 3. He is offered to persons who have no claim to such a favour. We cannot claim the offer of Christ as a recompense for injuries received from God, for He has never injured us; nor can we claim it in return for services performed, or favours bestowed, for we have never done anything for God. 4. Nor does God offer His Son with the expectation of receiving anything in return, for we and all that we possess are already His. 5. Nor does God offer us His Son with any intention of resuming the gift; for the gifts of God are without repentance. II. THIS GIFT MAY BE JUSTLY STYLED UNSPEAKABLE. Observe — 1. That the love which led God to bestow such a gift upon us, must have been unspeakably great. Though Christ spoke as never man spake, yet even He could not describe it except by its effects. "God," says He, "so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son," etc., thus intimating that His love could not be described, and leaving us to judge of its greatness by its effects. And, judging by this rule, how great must His love have been. 2. Christ's worth and excellence are unspeakably great. He is the pearl of great price. In Him are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge and grace; His riches are unsearchable. In Him dwells all fulness, even all the fulness of the Godhead. In giving us Christ, therefore, God has given us Himself and all He has; and hence those who receive this gift are said to be filled with the fulness of God. 3. Unspeakable as is the intrinsic value of Christ, He is, if possible, still more unspeakably valuable to us. The value of a gift depends much on circumstances. Money may be a valuable present to any one; but to a man on the point of being dragged to prison for debt it is much more so. Medicine or food may be valuable in itself, but when given to a man ready to perish, its value is very greatly increased. So Christ is unspeakably precious in Himself. But how unspeakably more valuable is such a gift to us, who were on the point of perishing for ever. III. THIS IS A GIFT FOR WHICH WE OUGHT TO THANK GOD WITH THE MOST LIVELY GRATITUDE. Is it necessary to prove this? Is it not evident from the preceding consideration? (E. Payson, D. D.) Parallel Verses KJV: Whiles by the experiment of this ministration they glorify God for your professed subjection unto the gospel of Christ, and for your liberal distribution unto them, and unto all men; |
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