The Great Exchange (2 Corinthians 8:9)

Paul was in the process of gathering a church gift to help struggling believers in Jerusalem. The time was drawing near when he would take it to Jerusalem and so he writes to the church in Corinth to complete what they had promised to give. And to help them do so, he mentions the example of Jesus and what he gave.

This is not the only time that the example of Jesus is used as a motivator in Christian living. Paul in Philippians 2 provides a beautiful description of the descent and exaltation of Jesus, but the reason why the apostle included it was to encourage humility in the lives of the Philippian believers. The author of Hebrews in chapter 12 tells his readers to consider how Jesus ran his race because his example would encourage them. Peter makes a general comment when he mentions that Jesus left us an example that we should follow in his steps.

Our first response to this example might be one of surprise because, after all, Jesus is perfect and we are imperfect. Yet we know that when we are training an apprentice we don’t use an inferior person or method as the standard. We can also say that this method is strategic because who would not want to be like Jesus? And the method also is a sanctifying because it is a guarantee of as well as a method of sanctification.

Paul describes what happened to Jesus as ‘the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ’. Grace, as we know, speaks of divine favour, but sometimes we need to be a bit more specific when explaining it. I would suggest that here grace is an expression of kindness motivated by love. Moreover, the grace experienced is a common one in that it has given benefits to every Christian – we can see that Paul uses the word ‘our’ to express this. So he is not highlighting something that only happened to an elite few.

The staggering feature of the grace of Jesus is seen when we consider who he is. Paul reminded the Corinthians that Jesus was and is marked by great dignity. When he describes Jesus as Lord, Paul could be referring to who Jesus was before he was born, or he could be referring to the position Jesus received at his ascension. Either way, we are being reminded of his greatness. The title ‘Lord’ points to two relationship features: first, since he is Lord, we are his glad slaves; second, since he is Lord, he is our gracious sustainer who blesses us out of his resources.

The riches of Jesus

Many people wonder how rich Donald Trump is and how many billions he may have. The obvious detail is that he does not possess all the riches of America. There are others who are richer than he is. But that cannot be said about the Lord Jesus. No one is richer than him. What can we say about his riches?

First, Jesus was rich eternally. It is true that some people are born wealthy, although it will take them a few years to realise how much they have. This was not the case with Jesus. He has never been ignorant of what he possesses. It is important to observe that while Paul says Jesus became poor, he does not say that Jesus became rich. He always was rich.

Second, Jesus was rich entirely in the sense that everything was his. The universe that he created in all its vast extent all belonged to him. Even if we go beyond the universe and think about the relationship he had with the other divine persons in the Trinity everything belonged to him. He possessed all the attributes of God in full. We can think of examples: he enjoyed the peace of God, he exercised the power of God, he experienced the love of God, all whether from him or to him.

Third, Jesus was rich effortlessly. Nothing he had was a drain on his ability. He upheld the universe by the word of his power. He interacted constantly with the other members of the Trinity. Many a wealthy person worries about whether he can retain what he has, of whether he has the necessary ability to withstand what may happen. In contrast, Jesus kept his riches effortlessly.

Fourth, Jesus was rich endlessly. Although he had to engage in a new activity when he became poor, he did not engage in it by losing what was his. He never ceased to be fully divine and he remained the heir of all things. We could say that the future was his, and that is very important for us to recall when we think about the benefits that come to us because he became poor. 

The poverty of Jesus

Jesus became poor in a very unusual way. Usually we become poor by losing something whereas he became poor by adding something, his human nature. The poverty of Jesus is connected to the time he spent here. So we can think briefly about aspects of his poverty.

Jesus became poor at his conception. Obviously, this was a great miracle, given that no male was involved. Yet we should remind ourselves that he became a man in the way that others do, by being born. He did not devise a new means of appearing, one that would highlight his divine background. It was all very low key, even although it required a miracle at conception for it to happen.

The conditions of his birth remind us of poverty. Even the location where he likely was born was not in a stable because the manger for the sheep was usually in the open-air. Mary and Joseph were poor – she had to offer the poor person’s offering when she went to the temple after her birth for symbolic cleansing. Of course, we should remember that most people would have been poor at that time.

Yet we should not limit his poverty to occasional lack of finances. The character of his hometown ‘Nazareth’ contributed to his poverty. To begin, it was a place that was not in the public perception of things. When he began his ministry, one of his first disciples was Nathaniel from Cana, the man in whose heart was no guile. Initially when he was told that Jesus came from Nazareth, his response was, ‘Can anything good come from Nazareth?’ Cana was only six miles from Nazareth, yet Nathaniel had never heard of Jesus. Paul reminds us that Jesus made himself of no reputation, the poverty of One who refused his rights of recognition.

The place where his poverty reached its climax was Calvary. There Jesus was numbered with the transgressors even although he was sinless. That was where he paid the penalty for our sins, and it cost him a sense of his greatest treasure, the sense of the presence of his Father. And when he died, his body was placed in a borrowed tomb, even although the universe was his.

The riches of Christians

Paul reminds the Corinthians that incredible riches came their way through the poverty of Jesus. Perhaps our minds go to verses that mention the possession of eternal life, or to a verse like the one in Ephesians 1 where Paul says that believers have been blessed with every spiritual blessing. There are many of them that we can mention, but here are some briefly.

The first is that we have been pardoned all our sins. It was our sins that made us poor, but when we repented of them and put our trust in Jesus we were forgiven them all. At our conversion, we were forgiven freely and fully. We did not purchase pardon and all our sins – past, present and future – were all forgiven.

Then there is the marvellous position that he gives to every believer – they all become sons of God. Each of them is given a right to each of the privileges of the family of God, which includes continual access to the heavenly Father in prayer wherever they happen to be at any given moment. Connected to this position of family membership is the many promises of help and comfort that contain the assurance of the presence of Jesus through the Holy Spirit.

In addition to the riches of pardon and of the position of family membership, there are the riches connected to our prospects. What prospects do we have as Christians? We can divide them into what happens when we die and what will happen when Jesus returns. When we die, our spirits go to heaven and when Jesus returns our bodies will be resurrected and we will then dwell in the new heavens and new earth for ever. We are joint-heirs with Jesus. Earlier we noted that the future was his. If we are joint-heirs with him, then the future world of glory must be ours as well.

Responding

How do we respond to this verse? If we are believers, we should show gratitude towards Jesus if he has made us rich in spiritual things. We can then imitate Jesus in working to make others rich (evangelism). And as Paul indicates here, the fact that Jesus helped us with spiritual poverty will lead us to help those who are in states of physical poverty.

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If you are not Christians, you should think about how poor you are spiritually – without pardon, position in God’s family, and prospects of glory to come. Yet it is not enough to think about it. Embrace him by faith, if you have not done so yet. And then you will be rich.