Bible Strands
2 Corinthians 8:9
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 through His poverty might become rich.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — Paul addresses the Corinthian believers regarding their financial support for other churches, using the earnest giving of others to test the sincerity of their love. (2 Corinthians 8:8-10)
The words — χάριν (charin) means "grace," and γινώσκετε (ginōskete) translates to "you know," framing the passage as a reminder of an established reality rather than a new demand.
The thread — Romans 8:32 states God did not spare His own Son but gave Him up for all, and Matthew 20:28 records the Son of Man giving His life as a ransom for many. These texts align with the verse’s explicit claim that Christ’s voluntary descent from wealth to poverty secures a corresponding spiritual wealth for believers.
Why it lands — The text explicitly states that Christ became poor so that believers might become rich through His poverty, which requires readers to evaluate their own generosity as a direct response to known grace rather than as a duty.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Greek words
King James Version
For ye know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that, though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, that ye through his poverty might be rich.
Cross-references
- Romans 8:32 He who did not spare His own Son but gave Him up for us all, how will He not also, along with Him, freely give us all things?
- Philippians 2:6 Who, existing in the form of God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped,
- Matthew 20:28 just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life as a ransom for many.”
- Romans 5:8 But God proves His love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
- 2 Corinthians 6:10 sorrowful, yet always rejoicing; poor, yet making many rich; having nothing, and yet possessing everything.
- John 1:14 The Word became flesh and made His dwelling among us. We have seen His glory, the glory of the one and only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.
- Ephesians 2:7 in order that in the coming ages He might display the surpassing riches of His grace, demonstrated by His kindness to us in Christ Jesus.
- James 2:5 Listen, my beloved brothers: Has not God chosen the poor of this world to be rich in faith and to inherit the kingdom He promised those who love Him?
- Ephesians 1:6 to the praise of His glorious grace, which He has freely given us in the Beloved One.
- Ephesians 3:8 Though I am less than the least of all the saints, this grace was given me: to preach to the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ,