Shared Word Translation
2 Corinthians 8
The Grace of Giving
We make known to you, brothers and sisters, the grace of God that has been given among the churches of Macedonia, that in a severe testing of affliction, the abundance of their joy and their extreme poverty overflowed in the wealth of their generosity.
For according to their means, I can testify, and beyond their means, they gave of their own accord, begging us earnestly for the favor of participating in the ministry to the holy ones, and this not as we expected, but they gave themselves first to the Lord and then to us by the will of God.
So we urged Titus that as he had begun, so he should also complete among you this gracious work. But as you abound in everything—in faith, in speech, in knowledge, in all earnestness, and in the love we have awakened in you—see that you abound in this gracious work also.
The Example of Christ
I say this not as a command, but to test the genuineness of your love by the earnestness of others. 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.
And in this matter I give my judgment: this benefits you, who a year ago began not only to do this but also to desire it. So now complete the doing of it, so that your readiness in desiring it may be matched by completion according to what you have.
For if the readiness is present, it is acceptable according to what one has, not according to what one does not have. For I do not mean that others should be relieved and you burdened, but that there may be equality. At the present time your abundance meets their need, so that their abundance may also meet your need, that there may be equality.
As it is written,
“The one who gathered much had nothing left over,
and the one who gathered little had no lack.”