But now complete the doing also, that as there was the readiness to be willing, so there may be the completion also out of your ability. For if the readiness is there, it is acceptable according to what you have, not according to what you don’t have. For this is not that others may be eased and you distressed, but for equality. Your abundance at this present time supplies their lack, that their abundance also may become a supply for your lack; that there may be equality. As it is written, “He who gathered much had nothing left over, and he who gathered little had no lack.”
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Moreover, brothers, we make known to you the grace of God which has been given in the assemblies of Macedonia, how in much proof of affliction, the abundance of their joy and their deep poverty abounded to the riches of their generosity. For according to their power, I testify, yes and beyond their power, they gave of their own accord, begging us with much entreaty to receive this grace and the fellowship in the service to the saints. This was not as we had expected, but first they gave their own selves to the Lord, and to us through the will of God. So we urged Titus, that as he had made a beginning before, so he would also complete in you this grace. But as you abound in everything, in faith, utterance, knowledge, all earnestness, and in your love to us, see that you also abound in this grace. I speak not by way of commandment, but as proving through the earnestness of others the sincerity also of your love. For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, that you through his poverty might become rich. I give a judgment in this: for this is expedient for you who were the first to start a year ago, not only to do, but also to be willing. But now complete the doing also, that as there was the readiness to be willing, so there may be the completion also out of your ability. For if the readiness is there, it is acceptable according to what you have, not according to what you don’t have. For this is not that others may be eased and you distressed, but for equality. Your abundance at this present time supplies their lack, that their abundance also may become a supply for your lack; that there may be equality. As it is written, “He who gathered much had nothing left over, and he who gathered little had no lack.”
Parallel Translations
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But now complete the doing also, that as there was the readiness to be willing, so there may be the completion also out of your ability.
For if the readiness is there, it is acceptable according to what you have, not according to what you don’t have.
For this is not that others may be eased and you distressed,
but for equality. Your abundance at this present time supplies their lack, that their abundance also may become a supply for your lack; that there may be equality.
As it is written, “He who gathered much had nothing left over, and he who gathered little had no lack.”
-
Now therfore performe the dede: that as ther was in you a redines to will even so ye maye performe the dede of that which ye have.
For if ther be fyrst a willynge mynde it is accepted accordynge to that a man hath and not accordinge to that he hath not.
It is not my mynde that other be set at ease and ye brought into combraunce:
but that ther be egalnes now at this tyme that youre aboundaunce sucker their lacke: that their aboundaunce maye supplie youre lacke: that ther maye be equalite
agreynge to that which is written. He that gaddered moche had never the more aboundaunce and he that gaddered lytell had never the lesse.
Show all 3 translations
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Nowe therefore performe to doe it also, that as there was a readinesse to will, euen so yee may performe it of that which yee haue.
For if there be first a willing minde, it is accepted according to that a man hath, and not according to that he hath not.
Neither is it that other men should be eased and you grieued: But vpon like condition, at this time your abundance supplieth their lacke:
That also their aboundance may bee for your lacke, that there may be equalitie:
As it is written, Hee that gathered much, had nothing ouer, and hee that gathered litle, had not the lesse.
Cross-references (22)
- Exodus 16:18 (v15) When they measured it with an omer, he who gathered much had nothing over, and he who gathered little had no lack. They each gathered…
- Luke 22:35 (v15) He said to them, “When I sent you out without purse, wallet, and sandals, did you lack anything?” They said, “Nothing.”
- Mark 12:42-44 (v12) A poor widow came, and she cast in two small brass coins, which equal a quadrans coin. He called his disciples to himself, and said to…
- 2 Corinthians 9:7 (v12) Let each man give according as he has determined in his heart, not grudgingly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.
- 2 Corinthians 9:12 (v14) For this service of giving that you perform not only makes up for lack among the saints, but abounds also through much giving of thanks to…
Show all 21 cross-references
- Acts 4:34 (vv13–14) For neither was there among them any who lacked, for as many as were owners of lands or houses sold them, and brought the proceeds of the…
- Exodus 35:29 (v12) The children of Israel brought a free will offering to Yahweh; every man and woman whose heart made them willing to bring for all the work,…
- Luke 21:1-4 (v12) He looked up and saw the rich people who were putting their gifts into the treasury. He saw a certain poor widow casting in two small brass…
- 2 Corinthians 9:2 (v11) for I know your readiness, of which I boast on your behalf to those of Macedonia, that Achaia has been prepared for the past year. Your…
- Exodus 35:21-22 (v12) They came, everyone whose heart stirred him up, and everyone whom his spirit made willing, and brought Yahweh’s offering for the work of…
- Exodus 25:2 (v12) “Speak to the children of Israel, that they take an offering for me. From everyone whose heart makes him willing you shall take my offering.
- Exodus 35:5 (v12) ‘Take from among you an offering to Yahweh. Whoever is of a willing heart, let him bring it as Yahweh’s offering: gold, silver, bronze,
- 1 Peter 4:10 (v12) As each has received a gift, employ it in serving one another, as good managers of the grace of God in its various forms.
- 1 Chronicles 29:3-18 (v12) In addition, because I have set my affection on the house of my God, since I have a treasure of my own of gold and silver, I give it to the…
- Mark 14:7-8 (v12) For you always have the poor with you, and whenever you want to, you can do them good; but you will not always have me. She has done what…
- Luke 12:47-48 (v12) That servant, who knew his lord’s will, and didn’t prepare, nor do what he wanted, will be beaten with many stripes, but he who didn’t…
- Luke 16:10 (v12) He who is faithful in a very little is faithful also in much. He who is dishonest in a very little is also dishonest in much.
- Romans 15:26-27 (v13) For it has been the good pleasure of Macedonia and Achaia to make a certain contribution for the poor among the saints who are at…
- 2 Chronicles 6:8 (v12) But Yahweh said to David my father, ‘Whereas it was in your heart to build a house for my name, you did well that it was in your heart;
- Proverbs 19:22 (v12) That which makes a man to be desired is his kindness. A poor man is better than a liar.
- Luke 7:44-46 (v12) Turning to the woman, he said to Simon, “Do you see this woman? I entered into your house, and you gave me no water for my feet, but she…
21 distinct cross-references across this passage (22 total citations).
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this passage (24 sources)
Historical commentary, presented as a primary source — not an endorsement.
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John Calvin 1540 · Public Domain On vv11, 13, 14, 15 11. Now what ye have begun to do. It…
11. Now what ye have begun to do. It is probable, that the ardor of the Corinthians had quickly cooled down: otherwise they would, without any delay, have prosecuted their purpose. The Apostle, however, as though no fault had as yet been committed, gently admonishes them to complete, what had been well begun.
When he adds — from what you have, he anticipates an objection; for the flesh is always ingenious in finding out subterfuges. Some plead that they have families, which it were inhuman to neglect; others, on the ground that they cannot give much, make use of this as a pretext for entire exemption. Could I give so small a sum? All excuses of this nature Paul removes, when he commands every one to contribute according to the measure of his ability. He adds, also, the reason: that God looks to the heart — not to what is given, for when he says, that readiness of mind is acceptable to God, according to the individual’s ability, his meaning is this — “If from slender resources you present some small sum, your disposition is not less esteemed in the sight of God, than in the case of a rich man’s giving a large sum from his abundance. (Mark 12:44.) For the disposition is not estimated according to what you have not, that is, God does by no means require of thee, that thou coldest contribute more than thy resources allow.” In this way none are excused; for the rich, on the one hand, owe to God a larger offering, and the poor, on the other hand, ought not to be ashamed of their slender resources.
John Calvin's Commentaries (1540-1563) — public domain. Text from the Calvin Translation Society English edition (1840s-50s) via the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (ccel.org). Calvin's coverage is partial (roughly two-thirds of the Bible); uncommented books and verses are honest gaps, never fabricated. The 19th-century editor's footnotes and remarks are omitted so the notes are faithfully Calvin's own voice.
Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain On vv12–13 Against such as use to excuse themselves, because they…
Against such as use to excuse themselves, because they are not rich, as though it were only proper to rich men to help the poor.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain On vv11–15 11 Now therefore perform the doing of it; that…
11 Now therefore perform the doing of it; that as there was a readiness to will, so there may be a performance also out of that which ye have.
Ver. 11. Now therefore perform] Unless our willing of good be seconded with endeavour, it is nothing worth. Balaam wished well to heaven; so did he that came kneeling to our Saviour with Good master, &c.; but; they stuck at the hardship of holiness, without which there is no heaven to be had; they would not come off here, and therefore got nothing by their short winded wishes. Solomon compares such sluggards to the door that turns on the hinges, but yet hangs still upon them, it comes not off for all the turnings. Their purposes without performances are like a cloud without rain; and not unlike Hercules’ club in the tragedy, of a great bulk, but stuffed with moss and rubbish. Virtutem expotant contabescuntque relicta. (Peri.)
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain On vv11–15 Ye showed yourselves some time since free to will…
Ye showed yourselves some time since free to will the thing which I am now pressing you unto, you have now opportunity to do it, and the example of other churches going before you in the doing of it; show yourselves now constant by
the doing of it; that seeing God hath given you something of this world’s goods, and that in proportions beyond your poor brethren, as you pretended a great readiness a great while since to relieve them, so you may by your performance justify that it was not all a mere pretence.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
William Burkitt 1703 · Public Domain On v13 Observe here, The humble modesty and holy prudence of…
Observe here, The humble modesty and holy prudence of the apostle, in what he demanded of the Corinthians by way of charity for the poor saints in Judea. He tells them freely, he did not design to lay a load upon them to ease others, or to make others rich by making themselves poor; but that there might be an equality in supplying the wants of one another, that now you abound, you may supply them; and when they abound, they may supply you; yet mark, We must not, by the equality mentioned here, understand it so, as if the wisdom of the divine providence had ordained levelling, or making all men equal in their portion of the good things of this life: But so far Christianity seems to require this equality, that we should not suffer others to lack the necessary comforts of this life, whilst we abound with them, and can spare them, and suffer them to sink in their sorrows, whilst we sin in fulness.
Learn hence, There is a debt of mercy and pity, of charity and compassion, of relief and succour, due to human nature, and payable from one man to another; and such as deny to pay it the distressed in the time of their abundance, may justly expect it will be denied themselves in the time of want.
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To confirm this, the apostle draws an allusion from the gathers of manna in the wilderness; some gathered, more, and others less; but they that had more, were to give them that had less: In like manner would Almighty God have it, that they which have great riches, should impart of their abundance, to them that are in want; otherwise, Almighty God will shrink their heap into some equality with them whom they refused to relieve. With what measure we mete, in acts of charity, as well as in acts of justice, it shall be measured to us again.
William Burkitt's Expository Notes on the New Testament (1700–1703) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain On vv11–15 Now therefore perform the doing of it,.... This is…
Now therefore perform the doing of it,.... This is a conclusion from the former advice, to finish what was readily willed; for as it is not enough to do a thing, unless it is done cheerfully and willingly, so it is not sufficient to express a good will to such service as is here called to, without doing it; both should go together:
that as there was a readiness to will, so there may be a performance also; in some cases there is neither power nor will to do good; in others there is will, when there is not a power; but in this case of beneficence to the poor saints, as there was a willingness declared, there was an ability in the Corinthians to perform; they had it in the power of their hands, more or less, to act: and the apostle in the last clause of this verse points out the rule and measure of their liberality,
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out of that which you have; according to your abilities, and as God has prospered you; and with which he shuts up the mouths of all objectors, rich and poor: should the rich say, would you have us give away all we have? the answer is, no; but "out of that which you have", something of it, according as you are able; should the poorer sort say, we are in mean circumstances, we have families to provide for, and can spare little, and what we can do is so trifling, that it is not worth giving or accepting; the reply is, give "out of that which you have", be it less or more; it follows,
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain On vv12, 14, 15 A man - Every believer. Is accepted - With…
A man - Every believer. Is accepted - With God. According to what he hath - And the same rule holds universally. Whoever acknowledges himself to be a vile, guilty sinner, and, in consequence of this acknowledgment, flies for refuge to the wounds of a crucified saviour, and relies on his merits alone for salvation, may in every circumstance of life apply this indulgent declaration to himself.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain On vv11–15 Verse 11. A readiness to will, so there may…
Verse 11. A readiness to will, so there may be a performance] Ye have willed and purposed this; now perform it.
Out of that which ye have.] Give as God has enabled you; and give as God has disposed you. He requires each man to do as he can; and accepts the will where the means are wanting to perform the deed.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain On v13 2Co 8:13-15. I mean not that other men —…
2Co 8:13-15. I mean not that other men — Those who are now in want; should be eased — Plentifully supplied; and ye be burdened — Straitened to relieve them; that is, that ease should be to the brethren in Judea, through distress to you. But by (εξ, on account of) an equality — That a distribution should be made according to their necessity and your ability; that at the present time your abundance may be a supply for the wants of the brethren in Judea, and that at another time, if God, in the course of his providence, should hereafter change your conditions, and you should stand in need of it; their abundance may be a supply for your wants, so as that there may be an equality — That there may be no want on the one side, nor superfluity on the other. The words may likewise have a further meaning: that as the temporal bounty of the Corinthians supplied the temporal wants of their poor brethren in Judea, so the prayers of these might be a means of bringing down many spiritual blessings on their benefactors. So that all the spiritual wants of the one might be amply supplied; all the temporal of the other. As it is written — As it was in the gathering of the manna; He that gathered much had nothing over, &c. — Had only his proportion. For what any person gathered more than a homer, was put into a common stock, to make up that quantity to the aged and infirm, who gathered little.
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain On vv11–15 As there was a readiness to will - Now…
As there was a readiness to will - Now accomplish the thing, and be not satisfied with having begun it. Do not suppose that the intention was sufficient, or that you are now released from the obligation. A year indeed has elapsed; but the necessity of the aid for the poor has not ceased. The sentiment here is, that if we have felt it our duty to aid in a cause of benevolence, and have commenced it, and have then been interrupted in executing our purpose, we should seize the first favorable opportunity to accomplish what we had designed. We should not regard ourselves as released from our obligation, but should, from a regard to consistency and our obligation to God, accomplish what we had intended.
Out of that which ye have - According to your ability; see 2Co 8:12. It should be in proportion to your means.
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary 1859 · Public Domain On vv12, 14, 15 He tells them that it is the will that…
He tells them that it is the will that chiefly makes their charity acceptable to God, who sees the heart. And that the design is not to make others live at their ease, in a richer condition than those who give, but to make a kind of equality, their brethren in Judea being now in great poverty and want. (Witham) --- God regards two things in our alms: first, the zeal and good-will with which we give our alms; secondly the greatness of our charities, that is, if they be proportionate to our means. If you have little, give a little, but with good-will; if you have much, give also much, but with equal benevolence and zeal. God measures the extent of our charity by the greatness of our zeal, not requiring of us what we have not, but what we have to spare, relieving others, without overcharging ourselves. (Bible de Vence) --- Yielding our superfluities, that the poor may not want necessaries. (Menochius)
George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain On vv11–15 perform--"complete the doing also" (see on Co2 8:10).
perform--"complete the doing also" (see on Co2 8:10).
a readiness to will--Greek, "the readiness of will"; referring to Co2 8:10, where the Greek for "to be forward," ought to be translated as here, "to will."
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performance--"completion" [ALFORD], The godly should show the same zeal to finish, as well as to begin well, which the worldly exhibit in their undertakings (Jer 44:25).
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain On vv11–15 11. Perform—Finish, complete the actual doing. Let not the…
11. Perform—Finish, complete the actual doing. Let not the performance merge into a mere readiness to will. There are a great many who are always ready to do good, but somehow their good never gets done. Paul wants not the readiness but the money.
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain On vv11–15 11. Now therefore perform the doing of it] The…
11. Now therefore perform the doing of it] The words perform, performance, in this verse should rather be rendered complete, completion. See ch. 2Co_7:1, where the participle of the same verb is rendered perfecting, also 2Co_8:6 of this chapter. The sense is, ‘you made a resolution last year to do a certain work. Carry out that resolution now, and let the completion of the task bear witness, as far as your ability goes, to the genuineness of the resolution you then made.’
out of that which you have] i.e. according to your means. See note on 2Co_8:2.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain On vv11–15 (11) Now therefore perform the doing.—Better, complete the doing:…
(11) Now therefore perform the doing.—Better, complete the doing: to “perform the doing” being open, in the modern use of the word, to the charge of tautology. All the English versions, however, have “perform.” The three stages are distinctly marked out in St. Paul’s mind:—(1) Willing the purpose to give; in this they had shown readiness. (2) Setting about the work of giving; this Titus had reported, (3) Completing the work; this he now urged upon them, so that it might answer to the beginning.
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain On vv11–15 Now therefore perform the doing of it, etc.; "but…
Now therefore perform the doing of it, etc.; "but now complete also the actual work, in order that, as was the readiness of the willing, so may be also the completion according to your means." Out of that which ye have. This, and not "out of your ability," is probably the right reading, as we see from the next verse.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Biblical Illustrator 1887 · Public Domain On vv12–13 If there be first a willing mind, it is…
2Co_8:12
If there be first a willing mind, it is accepted according to that a man hath.
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The Christian accepted according to his advantages
We are led to judge of our own merits by considering what we would do if we were in situations different from that in which we have been placed. Had we unbounded wealth, we say, how would we use it for the benefit and happiness of mankind! Had we our place among the mighty of this world, what a field should we have for doing good! Thus we lose ourselves in vain imaginations, in mere dreams of fancied usefulness. And why is this but because we forget the words of the apostle, God accepts a man according to that which he hath, not according to that which he hath not. Thus, then, it seems that it is a mistake for a man to dwell upon what he hath not; let him rather apply himself seriously to consider what he hath. And here every one will most surely find that he has enough. And some things there must be which every man hath; some of the duties of life must be in the power of every one; he is a son, or a parent, and then how much opportunity he has for forbearance, and succour, and self-denial: or he has friends, or he has enemies, and this enables him to exercise the Christian graces of forgiveness. But while he sees in it abundant matter of serious self-examination, it suggests also equally strong motives of consolation. God accepts according to what a man hath, not according to what he hath not. If it be asked, why we are thus accepted in the sight of God, we may be assured that it is not for the works sake. When we have done all, be it more or less, we can only say we are unprofitable servants. And yet there is One, for whose sake they are accepted, as the tests and fruits of faith. A willing mind, this is the sacrifice required on our part; and what does this expression imply? In the meaning of Scripture, more perhaps than we should at first suppose; it implies a sincere disposition to submit to God in all things, to be led by Him, without any reference to the degree in which such conduct may interfere with our own selfish inclinations and objects. The absence of a willing mind is seen in the case of those who say that they intend at some future time to repent. We have all our opportunities and means of serving God. We have seen that those opportunities may be greater or less. If they are greater, our responsibilities will also be greater. (H. W. Sulivan, M. A.)
Gods acceptance of His peoples will for the deed
I. Want of power to do more shall not mar the acceptance of what is done from a willing mind according to power. In that case God will accept of His peoples will for the deed.
1. In what particular eases God accepts His peoples will for the deed.
(1) Where there is a sincere will to serve Him in a piece of work requiring some external abilities which are wanting (Act_3:6).
(2) When doing the best we can through grace, our work after all is attended with many blemishes.
(3) Going as far as we have access in a work, but meeting with a providential stop (Heb_11:17). There is a great difference betwixt the stops men make and those which God makes; the former argues an unwilling mind, but the latter not so.
(4) Services that one really desires, and fain would perform for God, but have not opportunity (2Ch_6:8; Php_4:10).
(5) Services performed with a real desire of success for Gods honour and mens good; the Lord accepts the good will to the success denied, as if it had succeeded according to their wish (Isa_49:4; 2Co_2:15).
2. Why does God accept such will for the deed?
(1) The sincere will to a work is present, which God mainly regards.
(2) We have a merciful High Priest to present that will for acceptance, notwithstanding all the weaknesses, blemishes, providential hindrances, want of opportunity, and failure of success, that it may be attended with (Heb_4:15-16).
3. We have a merciful Father to deal with (Psa_103:13-14). (T. Boston, D. D.)
The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
B. W. Johnson 1891 · Public Domain On vv11–15 11. Therefore, perform the doing of it. Finish it…
11. Therefore, perform the doing of it. Finish it up. As there was “a readiness to will,” let there be “a performance” by giving out of what “you have.”
B. W. Johnson's The People's New Testament with Notes (1889–1891) — public domain. Electronic text from the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (CCEL) ThML edition.
Alexander MacLaren 1905 · Public Domain On v11 2 Corinthians
2 Corinthians
WILLING AND NOT DOING
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2Co 8:11
The Revised Version reads: ‘But now complete the doing also; that as there was the readiness to will, so there may be the completion also out of your ability.’ A collection of money for the almost pauper church at Jerusalem bulked very largely in the Apostle’s mind at the date of the writing of the two letters to the Corinthian church. We learn that that church had been the first to agree to the project, and then had very distinctly hung back from implementing its promises and fulfilling its good intentions. So the Apostle, in the chapter from which my text is taken, with wonderful delicacy, dignity, and profundity, sets forth the true principle, not only of Christian giving, but of Christian asking. The text advises that the gushing sentiments of brotherly sympathy and liberality which had inspired the Corinthians a year ago should now bear some fruit in action. So Paul is going to send Titus, his right-hand man at the time, to hurry up and finish off the collection and have done with it. The text is in effect the message which Titus was to carry; but it has a far wider application than that. It is a needful advice for us all about a great many other things: ‘As there was a readiness to will, so let there be a performance also.’
Resolutions, noble and good and Christlike, have a strange knack of cheating the people who make them. So we all need the exhortation not to be befooled by fancying that we have done, when we have only willed. Of course we shall not do unless we will. But there is a wide gap, as our experience witnesses, between the two things. We all know what place it is to which, according to the old proverb, the road is paved with good intentions; and the only way to pull up that paving is to take Paul’s advice here and always, and immediately to put into action the resolves of our hearts. Now I desire to say two or three very plain and simple things about this matter.
I. I would have you consider the necessity of this commandment.
Consider that the fault here warned against is a universal one. What different men we should be if our resolutions had fruited in conduct! In all regions of life that is true, but most emphatically is it true in regard to religion. The damning tragedy of many lives, and I dare say of those of some of my hearers, is that men have over and over again determined that they would be Christians, and they are not Christians yet; just because they have let ‘the native hue of resolution be sicklied over’ by some paleness or other, and so have resolved and resolved and resolved till every nerve of action is rotted away, and they will die unchristian. I dare say that there are men or women listening to me now, perhaps with grey hairs upon them, who can remember times, in the springtide of their youth, when they said, ‘I will give my heart to Jesus Christ, and set my faith upon Him’; and they have not done it yet. Now, therefore, ‘as there was a readiness to will, let there be also the performance.’
But it is not only in regard to that most important of all resolves that I wish to say a word. All Christians, I am sure, know what it is, over and over again, to have had stirrings in their hearts which they have been able to consolidate into determination, but have not been able to carry into act. ‘The children have come to the birth, and there is not strength to bring them forth.’ That is true about all of us, more or less, and it is very solemnly true of a great many of us professing Christians. We have tried to cure--we have determined that we will cure--manifest and flagrant defects or faults in our Christian life. We have resolved, and some nipping frost has come, and the blossoms have dropped on the grass before they have ever set into fruit. I know that is so about you, because I know that it is so about myself. And therefore, dear brethren, I appeal to you, and ask you whether the exhortation of my text has not a sharp point for every one of us--whether the universality of this defect does not demand that we all should gravely consider the exhortation here before us?
Then, again, let me remind you how this injunction is borne in upon us by the consideration of the strength of the opposition with which we have always to contend, in every honest attempt to bring to act our best resolutions. Did you ever try to cure some little habit, some mere trifle, a trick of manner or twist of the finger, or some attitude or tone that might be ugly and awkward, and that people told you that it would be better to get rid of? You know how hard it is. There is always a tremendous gulf between the ideal and its realisation in life. As long as we are moving _in vacuo_ we move without any friction or difficulty; but as soon as we come out into a world where there are an atmosphere and opposing forces, then friction comes in, and speed diminishes; and we never become what we aim to be. We begin with grand purposes, and we end with very poor results. We all start, in our early days, with the notion that our lives are going to be radiant and beautiful, and all unlike what the limitations of power and the antagonisms that we have to meet make of them at last. The tree of our life’s doings has to grow, like those contorted pines on the slopes of the Alps, in many storms, with heavy weights of snow on its branches, and beaten about by tempests from every quarter of the heavens; and so it gets gnarled and knotted and very unlike the symmetrical beauty that we dreamed would adorn it. We begin with saying: ‘Come! Let us build a tower whose top shall reach to heaven’; and we are contented at last, if we have put up some little tumble-down shed where we can get shelter for our heads from the blast.
And the difficulty in bringing into action our best selves besets us in the matter of translating our resolutions into practice. What are arrayed against it? A feeble will, enslaved too often by passions and flesh and habits, and all about us lie obstacles to our carrying into action our conscientious convictions, our deepest resolutions; obstacles to our being true to our true selves; to which obstacles, alas, far too many of us habitually, and all of us occasionally, succumb. That being the case, do not we all need to ponder in our deepest hearts, and to pray for grace to make the motto of our lives, ‘As there was a readiness to will, let there be a performance’?
II. Consider the importance of this counsel.
That is borne in upon mind and conscience by looking at the disastrous effects of letting resolutions remain sterile. Consider how apt we are to deceive ourselves with unfulfilled purposes. The quick response which an easily-moved nature may make to some appeal of noble thought or lofty principle is mistaken for action, and we are tempted to think that willing is almost as good as if we had done what we half resolved on. And there is a kind of glow of satisfaction that comes when such a man thinks, ‘I have done well in that I have determined.’ The Devil will let you resolve as much as you like--the more the better; only the more easily you resolve, the more certainly he will block the realisation. Let us take care of that seducing temptation which is apt to lead us all to plume ourselves on good resolutions, and to fancy that they are almost equivalent to their own fulfilment. Cheques are all very well if there be bullion in the bank cellars to pay them with when they fall due, but if that be not so, then the issuing of them is crime and fraud. Our resolutions, made and forgotten as so many of our good resolutions are, are very little better.
Note, too, how rapidly the habit of substituting lightly-made resolutions for seriously-endeavoured acts grows.
And mark, further, how miserable and debilitating it is to carry the dead weight of such unaccomplished intentions.
Nothing so certainly weakens a man as a multitude of resolves that he knows he has never fulfilled. They weaken his will, burden his conscience, stand in the way of his hopes, make him feel as if the entail of evil was too firm and strong to be ever broken. ‘O wretched man that I am!’ said one who had made experience of what it was to will what was good, and not to find how to perform, ‘who shall deliver me from the body of this death?’ It is an awful thing to have to carry a corpse about on your back. And that was what Paul thought the man did who loaded his own shoulders with abortive resolutions, that perished in the birth, and never grew up to maturity. Weak and miserable is always the man who is swift to resolve and slow to carry out his resolutions.
III. And now let me say a word before I close about how this universal and grave disease is to be coped with.
Well, I should say to begin with, let us take very soberly and continually into our consciousness the recognition of the fact that the disease is there. And then may I say, let us be rather slower to resolve than we often are. ‘Better is it that thou shouldest not vow than that thou shouldest vow and not pay.’ The man who has never had the determination to give up some criminal indulgence--say, drink--is possibly less criminal, and certainly less weak, than the man who, when his head aches, and the consequences of his self-indulgence are vividly realised by him, makes up his mind to be a teetotaller, and soon stumbles into the first dram-shop that is open, and then reels out a drunkard. Do not vow until you have made up your minds to pay. Remember that it is a solemn act to determine anything, especially anything bearing on moral and religious life; and that you had far better keep your will in suspense than spring to the resolution with thoughtless levity and leave it with the same.
Further, the habit of promptly carrying out our resolves is one that, like all other habits, can be cultivated. And we can cultivate it in little things, in the smallest trifles of daily life, which by their myriads make up life itself, in order that it may be a fixed custom of our minds when great resolves have to be made. The man who has trained himself day in and day out, in regard to the insignificances of daily life, to let act follow resolve as the thunder peal succeeds the lightning flash, is the man who, if he is moved to make a great resolve about his religion, or about his conduct, will be most likely to carry it out. Get the magical influence of habit on your side, and you will have done much to conquer the evil of abortive resolutions.
But then there is something a great deal more than that to be said. The Apostle did not content himself, in the passage already referred to, with bewailing the wretchedness of the condition in which to will was present, but how to perform he found not. He asked, and he triumphantly answered, the question, ‘Who shall deliver me?’ with the great words, ‘I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord.’ There is the secret; keep near Him, trust Him, open your hearts to the influences of that Divine Spirit who makes us free from the law of sin and death. And if thus, knowing our weakness, recognising our danger, humbly trying to cultivate the habit of prompt discharge of all discerned duty, we leave ourselves in Jesus Christ’s hands, and wait, and ask, and believe that we possess, His cleansing Spirit, then we shall not ask and wait in vain. ‘Work out your own salvation, . . . for it is God that worketh in you, both the willing and the doing.’
Alexander MacLaren, Expositions of Holy Scripture (1904–1910) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
J. W. McGarvey 1914 · Public Domain On vv11–15 But now complete the doing also; that as there…
But now complete the doing also; that as there was the readiness to will, so there may be the completion also out of your ability .
J. W. McGarvey (with Philip Y. Pendleton), Commentaries on the New Testament (The Fourfold Gospel, 1914; Acts; and the epistles) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
C. I. Scofield 1917 · Public Domain On v12 See 2Co 8:10-12, (See Scofield "2Co 8:1").
willing
See 2Co 8:10-12, (See Scofield "2Co 8:1").
The Scofield Reference Bible (1917 edition), notes by C. I. Scofield — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Paul E. Kretzmann 1924 · Public Domain On v11 The principle of equality:
The principle of equality:
v. 11. Now, therefore, perform the doing of it, that, as there was a readiness to will, so there may be a performance also out of that which ye have.
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v. 12. For if there be first a willing mind, it is accepted according to that a man hath, and not according to that he hath not.
v. 13. For I mean not that other men be eased and ye burdened;
v. 14. but by an equality, that now, at this time, your abundance may be a supply for their want, that their abundance also may be a supply for your want; that there may be equality,
v. 15. as it is written, he that had gathered much had nothing over, and he that had gathered little had no lack.
Paul’s advice is no less effective because it lacks the force of a definite commandment; it rather gains in power by that very fact. For he points out to the Corinthian Christians that they had expressed their willingness to participate in the collection; they had made the necessary preliminary arrangements: what more logical than to expect, then, that they give evidence of their good intentions in a more substantial manner. Therefore Paul says: But now complete the doing also, that, as there was the readiness to will, so there may be a finishing also from that which you have. The matter of the collection was becoming more pressing and urgent every day, and since they were undoubtedly sincere in their intention of doing their share toward the alleviation of suffering in Jerusalem, they should make all speed in bringing forth concrete evidence of their purpose. They should bring the matter to an end by quick and definite action, and their performance should correspond with their willingness: they should contribute freely according to their ability; for God accepts the good will where the means are wanting to perform the deed. Or, as Paul himself explains it: For if the readiness is present, in accordance with what a man has is he acceptable, not in accordance to what he has not. God looks upon the willingness of the heart, Mar 12:43, and gauges the gift by that standard. The princely sum which a wealthy man gives from his abundance may be relatively smaller than the copper coin which may mean hardship and sacrifice to a poor widow.
This idea is now further illustrated: For it is not that there may be a relief to others and pressure to you, but to obtain equality, your plentiful supply at the present time being for their want, in order that their plentiful supply may prove to be for your want, that there may be equality. This sentence is added principally for the sake of the unwilling, grumbling contributor, whose complaint usually is that he is becoming poor in giving for others, whom he presumes to be rolling in wealth on account of his contributions. Paul’s purpose was not at all to have the congregation at Jerusalem sit back in carelessness and enjoy the gifts which poured in from the congregations in Asia, Macedonia, and Achaia, while the latter should be oppressed with care as a result of giving beyond their means. He was simply advocating the principle of equality, of reciprocity. As things were, the congregations that were engaged in this collection were able to provide help for the poor at Jerusalem, and therefore they should be willing to offer such assistance; the time might come when matters would be reversed, and then he would expect the Christians of Jerusalem and Judea to make a return in kind. The same principle is followed to this day. If a failure of crops strikes certain congregations, or if they are visited by destructive storms and find themselves unable either to sustain life or to rebuild their church property by their own efforts, it is proper that the other congregations should come to their assistance.
Paul illustrates this principle by a quotation from the Scriptural account of the collection of the manna in the wilderness: As it is written, He [that gathered] much had nothing over, and he [that gathered] little was not wanting, Exo 16:18. When the Lord gave the children of Israel manna to eat in the wilderness, the more energetic gathered a larger supply, while others were not able to bring so much back to camp. And yet the needs of the individual families differed with their size. But the difference was straightened out upon their return to camp, with the result that every family had enough manna for its needs till the next day. Just so within the congregations the Lord wants the surplus of the one to assist the lack in the other, and whenever there is need in any one section of the country, or wherever the work of the Gospel is being carried on, the congregations in the other sections should show their willingness to heed the principle here laid down for their guidance.
Paul E. Kretzmann, Popular Commentary of the Bible (1921–1924) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On v13 For this task
For this task
This refers to collecting money for the believers in Jerusalem. AT: "For this task of collecting money" (See: Assumed Knowledge and Implicit Information)
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that others may be relieved and you may be burdened
This can be stated in active form. AT: "that you may relieve others and burden yourselves" (See: Active or Passive)
there should be fairness
"there should be equality"
This is also so that their abundance may supply your need
Since the Corinthians are acting in the present time, it is implied that the believers in Jerusalem will also help them at some time in the future. AT: "This is also so that in the future their abundance may supply your need"
as it is written
Here Paul quotes from Exodus. This can be stated in active form. AT: "as Moses wrote" (See: Active or Passive)
did not have any lack
This can be stated positively. AT: "had all he needed" (See: Double Negatives)
translationWords
burden
written
unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.
Tyndale Open Study Notes 2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On v15 8:15 Paul quotes from Exod 16:18 to say that…
8:15 Paul quotes from Exod 16:18 to say that there is a mutual responsibility among Christians: Affluent believers (the Corinthians) should help poor believers (in Jerusalem) so that all may have enough.
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.