2 Corinthians 8:9 Commentary and Bible Study

This is about the work of Christ and his grace to us; his undeserved, unearned kindness and compassion to us in salvation. It is about his work – though he was rich, he became poor. In what sense? He suffered and died on Calvary to atone for our sins. He lived a perfect righteous life on earth: perfect obedience; he humbled himself; he made himself a servant, a representative of us, obeying the law, obeying God in every respect. His perfect righteousness not only qualified him to be our atoning Lamb, our Scapegoat, the one who would suffer on our behalf, but it was offered up for us. His perfect righteousness earns heaven for us. ‘He was rich.’ Christ the eternal, the sum of all perfection; rich in perfection, rich in power, rich in knowledge, infinite knowledge and wisdom; rich in possessing all the divine prerogatives or rule and authority and judgement. The self-existent one – how can you richer than that? To need no fuel, no energy input, no help from anybody but to be eternally subsisting in yourself as God. Rich in possessions, he surveys the universe and considers it a very little thing, that is how rich Christ is. He made all the gold. Rich in honour and glory: worshipped by the angelic hosts, praised and obeyed night and day.‘He became poor.’ With what amazement the angelic host saw the Creator of all things and the judge of all the earth, descending and projecting himself into a woman’s womb and taking on human flesh? With a mixture of certainty that God could make no mistake and wonder that he should do something so seemingly inconsistent with his glory, they observed him becoming our representative, submitting to poverty and humiliation, allowing himself to be abused, and in apparent weakness arrested crucified and slain. The Creator of all worlds is born and goes into a stable. They saw the contras between how he was honoured on his heavenly throne and how men doubted, scorned, mocked and hated him. The Creator of all the oceans and the water courses drinking from a well! He humbled himself for us, washing the feet of the disciples, being spat upon and scourged and insulted. He never gave up the possession of his divinity but he gave up the exercise and the use of his divine power. Sometimes in the working of miracles he displayed a little bit of it but for himself and his own comforts he surrendered it all in order that he could be our representative, our sin bearer, our Saviour.