Cornelius a Lapide
Table of Contents
Synopsis of the Chapter
First, he continues to exhort the Corinthians to almsgiving, on the basis of human modesty and praise, namely lest they blush before the Macedonians, who had been so generous.
Second, in verse 6, from the fruits of almsgiving, namely that it itself enriches its almsgivers with goods both present and future.
Third, in verse 11, from the thanksgiving thence redounding to God, and the joy of the poor Christians who receive it, and pray on behalf of the Corinthians their benefactors.
Vulgate Text: 2 Corinthians 9:1-15
1. For as touching the ministry that is done toward the saints, it is superfluous for me to write unto you. 2. For I know your forward mind: for which I boast of you to the Macedonians. That Achaia also is ready from the year past, and your emulation hath provoked very many. 3. Now I have sent the brethren, that the thing which we glory of concerning you, be not made void in this behalf, that (as I have said) you may be ready: 4. lest, when the Macedonians shall come with me, and find you unprepared, we (not to say ye) should be ashamed in this matter. 5. Therefore I thought it necessary to entreat the brethren, that they would go to you before, and prepare this blessing before promised, to be ready, so as a blessing, not as covetousness. 6. Now this I say: He who soweth sparingly, shall also reap sparingly: and he who soweth in blessings, shall also reap of blessings. 7. Every one as he hath determined in his heart, not with sadness, or of necessity: for God loveth a cheerful giver. 8. And God is able to make all grace abound in you; that ye always, having all sufficiency in all things, may abound to every good work, 9. as it is written: He hath dispersed, he hath given to the poor: his justice remaineth for ever. 10. And He who ministereth seed to the sower, will both give bread to eat, and will multiply your seed, and increase the growth of the fruits of your justice: 11. that being enriched in all things, you may abound unto all simplicity, which worketh through us thanksgiving to God. 12. Because the ministration of this office not only supplieth those things that are wanting to the saints, but aboundeth also by many thanksgivings in the Lord: 13. by the proof of this ministry, glorifying God for the obedience of your confession unto the gospel of Christ, and for the simplicity of your communicating with them, and with all, 14. and in their praying for you, longing after you, because of the excellent grace of God in you. 15. Thanks be to God for His unspeakable gift.
Verse 1: For As Concerning the Ministry That Is Done Toward the Saints
1. For as touching the ministry that is done toward the saints (as if he said: I commended to you at the end of the previous chapter Titus with his companions, but not the alms for which they come; "for of the ministry," that is, of the subministration of this alms, which is done toward the saints, that is, the poor Christians,) it is superfluous, — that is, it is superfluous to write to you, since you of your own accord run forward promptly to it. So Anselm.
Note that the art of begging alms is profitable if you praise the generosity of the givers: this is well known to the public beggars of the highways and temples.
Verse 2: That Achaia Also Is Ready From the Year Past
2. Since Achaia also is ready (refer this to "I glory," as if he said: I glory among the Macedonians that you, O Corinthians, and the rest of Achaia are ready for this contribution of alms, so) and your emulation (that is, the zeal of your mercy, which I proclaim before others, and of which I glory) hath provoked very many (to imitation). — See therefore that by the deed itself you show that I have truly gloried, lest both I be confounded and you also.
Verse 3: Lest That Which We Glory of Concerning You Should Be Made Void
3. Lest that which we glory of concerning you should be made void in this behalf. — The Greek more clearly, ἵνα μὴ τὸ καύχημα ἡμῶν τὸ ὑπὲρ ὑμῶν κενωθῇ, lest our boasting concerning you should become empty in this behalf, namely lest it appear false, lest I seem to have gloried emptily and falsely that you are so prompt and generous, if the Macedonians find you sparing and unprepared.
Verse 4: Lest, When the Macedonians Come With Me, We Should Be Ashamed in This Matter
4. In this matter, — in this matter of praise and blame concerning alms and tenacious avarice.
Verse 5: That They May Go Before to You and Prepare the Blessing Promised
5. That they may go before to you. — So the Roman edition: for this is the Greek προέλθωσι; therefore badly do they read everywhere, even the Plantin edition, "perveniant" (arrive). "Let them go before," I say, my and the Macedonians' arrival to you.
And prepare the blessing promised, — your beneficence and alms.
To be ready. — That it may be ready: a Graecism.
So, as a blessing, — that it may appear as spontaneous and liberal beneficence, and not extorted from misers. So Anselm and Theophylact from Chrysostom. Why generous almsgiving is called a blessing, I will say in the next verse. The Greek εὐλογία signifies both blessing and a good and abundant collection or alms. So Erasmus here; for εὐλογία is derived from εὖ, that is well, and λέγω, that is I say or I gather. Whence the Apostle called these collections and contributions of alms λογίας, 1 Corinthians 16:1 and 2. Both meanings have place here, and the Apostle exhorts the Corinthians both to a voluntary and cheerful (which is what "blessing" signifies), and to an abundant and generous λογίαν, or contribution of alms. Here the Apostle teaches with what spirit alms should be given, namely with eagerness and generosity, not forced, constrained, avaricious and sordid.
Verse 6: He Who Soweth in Blessings Shall Also Reap of Blessings
6. He who soweth in blessings (that is, plentifully and generously, namely so as to pour out many blessings, that is, beneficences, like seeds upon the poor, the same shall) reap. — For God, who reckons what is done to the poor as done to Himself, does not allow Himself to be surpassed by our generosity, but is far more generous toward the generous, and returns to them with greater abundance the goods both of body and of soul.
Note a double Hebraism. First, εὐλογία in Hebrew ברכה beracha, that is blessing, signifies beneficence; and in the plural "blessings" signify many and abundant beneficences: for he opposes these to sparingness, or to one who sows sparingly. Thus Achsah, Joshua 15:19, says to her father Caleb: "Give me a blessing;" and she explains it adding: "Thou hast given me a southern and dry land, add and water it." Thus Abigail, 1 Samuel 25:27, offering her gifts to David: "Receive," she says, "this blessing which thy handmaid hath brought." Thus Jacob, Genesis 49:25, blesses his son Joseph saying: "God shall bless thee with the blessings of heaven from above, with the blessings of the deep that lies beneath, with the blessings of the breasts and of the womb."
And this is the reason, which Jacob hints at here, why the Hebrews call beneficence a blessing. Because, indeed, by pious speech they wish to imitate and signify God's beneficence, which is the source and origin of all our beneficence, to flow from His blessing: for God's blessing is efficacious, and in deed the same as doing good, and so God by His mere word and command bestows on us all good things. The second reason is that the Patriarchs and the ancient faithful, as also the Hermits and other Saints of the New Testament, used to share their gifts with a fortunate prayer and blessing; whence they called them εὐλογίας. The third reason is that any gift, both in giving and in asking, is more sweetly and softly called a blessing rather than a beneficence. For thus both those asking and those giving modestly diminish their gift. Hence honest poor men asking for alms as if for a small and easy thing, commonly ask for blessings, and the rich in turn giving it as if a small thing, equally call it a blessing. Theophylact adds that by this word Paul incites to cheerful almsgiving, as if he said: A blessing is what you give: a blessing, I say, as much for the poor person as for you. No one giving a blessing is saddened, but cheerfully bestows it.
The second is both a Hebraism and a Graecism, when he says ἐν εὐλογίαις, in blessings, or beneficences, that is very beneficently, or most beneficently: for the Greek ἐν with a noun is put for an adverb, as "in justice," that is justly; "in holiness," that is holily.
Note secondly: The Apostle here alludes to Proverbs 22:9, where it is said: "He who is inclined to mercy shall be blessed," as if he said: He who soweth sparingly shall reap sparingly; and on the contrary, he who soweth beneficently shall reap beneficently. The Wise Man counsels the same, Ecclesiastes 11:1: "Send," he says, "thy bread (alms) upon the running waters," that is the poor, who, living in this life, flow past like waters, 2 Samuel 14:14, "because after a long time thou shalt find it," as if he said: Sow alms, that you may reap its fruit: and although the poor may be, or seem to be, ungrateful or unable to repay, so that your benefit cast upon them as if upon waters, and so likely to perish, may seem in vain; nevertheless do them good, because a great and certain reward will be returned to you from them, or at least from God. "Give a portion to seven (that is to many), and also to eight (that is to more)," as if he said: Give to many, indeed to far more, give to as many poor as you can, "because thou knowest not what evil shall be upon the earth," from which namely through almsgiving you will be able to free yourself. Ecclesiastes 11:3: "If the clouds be full, they will pour out rain upon the earth," as if he said: Just as a fertile cloud pours out abundant rain: in like manner the heart full as with riches, so also with charity, ought to disburse great and many alms. So Olympiodorus, Gregory of Neocaesarea and Vatablus on that place.
Note thirdly, the words "soweth" and "shall reap," as if he said: Almsgiving, like other good works, is a seed which produces the harvest of grace, and indeed of temporal goods also, as he explains in verses 8 and 10. Whence infer against Calvin that good works effect and merit a reward; for a seed by its natural power produces fruit and harvest: therefore almsgiving also truly produces a reward, not physically, as is clear, therefore meritoriously.
Verse 7: Every One as He Hath Determined in His Heart; God Loveth a Cheerful Giver
7. Every one as he hath determined in his heart, not with sadness (which an avaricious mind produces), or of necessity — of looking to his reputation and shame, as if he said: Let each one give of his own accord what he wishes, not led and as it were forced by my authority or Titus's; not because he is ashamed to give less than others, in order to look to his honor.
For God loveth a cheerful giver. — He cites Proverbs 22:8, according to the Septuagint. Instead of "loveth" the Caraffa edition of the Septuagint reads εὐλογεῖ, blesseth. On cheerfulness see what was said on Romans 12:8. St. Augustine beautifully on Psalm 42: "If you give bread sadly," he says, "you have lost both the bread and the merit." The same, Sermon 43: "If good seeds are good works, why are they sown with tears?" And St. Chrysostom, tome IV, homily on Paul's saying "There must be heresies": "If we give cheerfully," he says, "the alms will be double: both because we give, and because we give cheerfully." St. Gregory also, Moralia book XXI, chapter xi, expounding that of Job, "If I have denied the poor what they desired, and have made the eyes of the widow wait": "He would not allow the asking widow to wait, that he might increase the merits of his good works not only from the gift, but also from the speed of the gift." Whence, Proverbs 3:28, it is written: "Say not to thy friend: Go, and come again, and to-morrow I will give to thee, when thou canst give at present." And Ecclesiasticus 35:11: "In every gift," he says, "make your countenance cheerful." Therefore alms must be given with a cheerful mind, not sad, not sluggish, not slow; thus we shall imitate God, who cheerfully shares and pours out His goods.
The Charites, or Graces, the pagans paint as three sisters, embracing one another, looking at each other in turn. By this picture they signified how gifts ought to be distributed. The first is called Aglaia, signifying generosity: for it is better to give than to receive. "For he who accepts a benefit sells his liberty," says Publius Syrus the mime. The second is named Thalia, that is, flourishing in the midst of her course. The third is Euphrosyne, indicating joy. For he rejoices in benefits, both he who gives and he who receives. "For God loveth a cheerful giver." See Seneca, On Benefits.
Verse 8: And God Is Able to Make All Grace Abound in You
8. And God is able to make all grace abound in you. — He meets an objection. You will say to me, he says: If I give much, I shall become poor, and I shall not afterwards be able to help my household and others more in need. So Theophylact. To this the Apostle responds: Do not fear that; believe and hope in God, who "is able to make all grace (that is, as the Syriac, beneficence) abound in you," so that you always may have sufficiency of goods, from which you may abound unto every good work, namely that you may be able to give alms diligently, continually and abundantly, and to do good to one and another, as if he said: God can enrich the almsgivers, and continually does enrich them, since He continually furnishes and bestows on them sufficient goods, that they may always have what to give, and so abound in beneficence. That this is true, experience teaches, and will be clear in verse 10. Where note: The "is able to make" signifies not only God's power, but also the act, as if he said: God is able to make, and will make "all grace and sufficiency abound in you," as verse 10 requires; for it is meiosis and metalepsis. Thus a leader of war is wont to say: Go, finish the war, do not press them with sparing; I am able both to bear them and to enrich you, that is, I will bear them, and besides will enrich and promote you.
Note secondly: In the Greek Paul beautifully and emphatically plays on the word πᾶς, doubling, indeed tripling it, ἵνα ἐν παντὶ πάντοτε πᾶσαν αὐτάρκειαν ἔχοντες, that in all, namely business, at all times, having all sufficiency, as if he said: Not in some, but in every necessity; not at some, but at every time that occurs; not some, but all sufficiency, from which you may abundantly help anyone — God will give to you.
Note thirdly: He does not say, says Theophylact, abundance or exuberance, but you will have αὐτάρκειαν, that is sufficiency; αὐτάρκεια is sufficiency by which one suffices for himself and his own. Or secondly, by which one is content with his lot, sufficient for himself and his own, and desires no more. Thus God alone is properly called αὐτάρκης, as needing nothing, and resting entirely in Himself: such is the almsgiver. The miser on the contrary is insatiable: for the more waters are drunk, the more they are thirsted for, so also riches. Hence the miser is always in need. Αὐτάρκεια, that is sufficiency, says Clement, book II of Paedagogus, chapter xii, is the virtue by which we are content; or it is the habit content with those things which are necessary, and which by itself acquires what conduces to a happy life. Whence Hippias (according to Suidas under the word Hippias) made the end of goods to be αὐτάρκειαν, that is a mind content with its lot. Indeed Epicurus too used to say: "Sufficiency is the richest of all things," as Clement of Alexandria narrates, book VI of Stromata. In which sense Cicero said, in Paradox 1, "that virtue is content with itself for living happily." And Socrates in Plato, dialogue 3 of On Laws, thus prays and wishes: "Let me have only as much gold as no one else but a temperate man can carry." On this sufficiency I shall say more on 1 Timothy 6:6, and Philippians 4:11.
Verse 9: He Hath Dispersed, He Hath Given to the Poor; His Justice Remaineth For Ever
9. As it is written (Psalm 111:9): He hath dispersed, — namely everywhere, in every necessity, place, time, the merciful man (such as St. Laurence was, as the Church sings of him) his goods and his alms: as he who sows scatters his seed everywhere. For the Apostle wishes to prove that God makes every grace, that is beneficence, abound in almsgivers, and gives all sufficiency for it, as preceded. He proves it, because from this sufficiency the almsgiver "hath dispersed," that is, has scattered and scatters everywhere his seed of alms, not on guests, not on hunts, but on the poor. Whence Oecumenius: By the word "hath dispersed," he says, he signifies the exuberance of almsgiving. Secondly, he so "hath dispersed" that yet he has not cast away or lost, because, as follows:
His justice remaineth for ever. — "Remaineth," namely in the memory of God and in eternal reward, as it were as a crop and harvest. Just as the farmer when he scatters seed does not lose it, but commits it to the earth, so that with interest he may receive tenfold. Therefore alms is immortal, and blesses the almsgiver with immortal glory. Whence he also adds: "He shall be in everlasting remembrance, he shall not fear the evil hearing, and his horn," that is dignity, strength, as Theodoret says in the same place, and his power, "shall be exalted in glory," that is shall gloriously grow daily, until it is supremely exalted in heavenly glory.
Justice. — That is, His beneficence does not perish, but remains before the Lord, that He may reward it with rewards both present and eternal. "Trade and traffic is heaven: give bread and receive paradise; give little and receive much; give mortal things and receive immortal," says St. Chrysostom, homily 9 On Penitence.
Note that in Scripture almsgiving, which is an act of mercy, is called "justice," both because it is a great part of general justice, which is the complex of all virtues; and because it is a sign of justice and holiness: for the saints are merciful; on the contrary, "the bowels of the wicked are cruel," says the Wise Man, Proverbs 12:10. Thirdly, because it disposes to justice, merits it (the first indeed by congruity, but the second, that is the increase of justice, by condignity), preserves and increases it. Whence Christ gives the crown of justice only to the merciful, Matthew 25:35. Hence to the hard and obstinate in evil, almsgiving must be urged as it were as a last remedy, as Daniel urged the proud Nebuchadnezzar: "Redeem thy sins by almsgiving," Daniel 4:24.
Verse 10: And He Who Ministereth Seed to the Sower Will Multiply Your Seed
10. And He who ministereth seed to the sower, will both give bread to eat, and will multiply your seed. — He meets a second objection arising from the verse of the psalm just cited: "He hath dispersed, etc., his justice remaineth for ever," etc., as if he said: Someone will object again from that verse of the psalm: You prove well, Paul, that almsgiving remains in the heavenly reward; but I do not yet see how from this you prove that we shall not be impoverished by almsgiving; therefore our prior objection remains: If I give large alms, I shall become poor, nor shall I be able afterwards to help others. To this he responds, looking back to δυνατὸς δὲ ὁ Θεός in verse 8, so that he leaves the same to be repeated here, as if he said: "God is able" χορηγῆσαι, πληθῦναι, αὐξῆσαι (which are infinitives), to give, multiply, increase your seed, etc.
Will multiply your seed, — that is temporal goods. "For as seed," says Basil, homily 13 On Almsgiving, "cast into the earth bears a hundredfold fruit: so also alms given to the poor. If therefore," he says, "you have only one loaf, and someone asks at the door, take it out, and lifting your hands to heaven say: From this little I give to my brother, and Thou, Lord, give to me in my danger; nor doubt that the bread which you give in this scarcity will minister abundance like the seed of agriculture." The same Basil on that text of Luke 12, "I will destroy my barns": "As wells continually drawn flow more abundantly and more clearly with water; but if left and quiet, they easily putrefy: so also riches stored up are useless, but transferred to the poor bear fruit." Clement of Alexandria confirms the same with the same well-similitude, book III of Paedagogus, chapter vii, who also uses another similitude of breasts: As, he says, to breasts which are sucked or milked, milk is wont to flow: so also riches will flow to those who give them out.
St. Cyprian teaches the same, in the tract On Work and Almsgiving, and adds that the best inheritance which parents leave to their children is alms, and the more children there are, the greater alms should be given; and he proves it by the example of the widow of Zarephath, 1 Kings 17; Tobit 4:7. Hence the Wise Man says, Proverbs 28:27: "He who gives to the poor shall not be in need; he who despises the supplicant shall suffer want." And David, Psalm 36:26: "All the day long he sheweth mercy and lendeth, and his seed shall be in blessing."
There are very many and astonishing examples in Leontius in the Life of St. John the Almsgiver, who with the Emperor Titus used to lament a day lost in which he had not given alms. "And if the whole world," he said, "came to Alexandria, it would not narrow our liberality and resources"; and this he learned from a certain vision of a virgin, that is mercy, who standing before God seemed to obtain all things from Him for him. Hence this holy John, when he had nothing to bestow, by his zeal of alms not rarely by miracle changed tin and honey into gold, and the more he gave, the more was offered to him which he might bestow, and so much so that both he with God and God with him seemed to contend in liberality. At last when dying, when half a coin remained to him: "This," he said, "I order to be given to my brethren and lords, my poor, that I may render all to Christ."
Gregory of Tours wonderfully praises the Christian Emperor Tiberius for almsgiving, book V of the History of Gaul, chapter xxxix, and says that this saying of his was worthy of an Emperor: "It will not be lacking to our treasury, provided that the poor receive alms, or captives are redeemed. For this is the great treasure, the Lord saying: Lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven. Therefore from what God has given, let us gather through the poor in heaven, that the Lord may deign to increase for us in the world." Hence God wonderfully increased his wealth: for when he ordered a cross sculpted in the pavement to be lifted up out of veneration, he found beneath it an enormous treasure, in which there were more than a thousand hundredweights of gold. And when from this he was bestowing more abundantly than usual on the poor, God gave him another greater treasure, prepared once by Narses, the duke of Italy. It was found in a certain cistern, which, while they were digging, they found so much gold and silver, that for many days it could scarcely be emptied. About this treasure read Baronius, tome VII, year of Christ 582, numbers 6 and 7.
Will give. — In Greek it is χορηγήσει, πληθυνεῖ, αὐξήσει, which Theophylact, Erasmus and Vatablus translate by the optative: may He give, may He multiply, may He increase; Our [Vulgate] with the Syriac translates in the future, will give, will multiply, will increase, and that is better; for he wishes to take away from them the fear of poverty, as I have said: but no one removes this by wishing, but by asserting and promising bread, seed and fruits. Our [Vulgate] therefore seems to have read χορηγήσει, πληθυνεῖ, αὐξήσει in the future: or, as Erasmus, he understood μέλλει, "is going to give," that is, will give; or rather, as Vatablus, the contrary is tacitly signified and drawn from the same verse of the psalm cited: for just as the master, who supplies seed to his tenant farmer, that he may sow his field, also supplies him bread to eat; and at the harvest, when the harvest makes him a sharer, multiplies the seed for him, that is the grains sown, so that for one bushel which he sowed, he may receive three, which he may sow again, that he may again receive far more at the harvest, and so on continually sowing more and more, always reaping far more: so much more does God, who gives to the almsgivers goods which they may scatter on the poor, also give bread and other necessities of life; moreover He will multiply the seed, that is the goods which they may again sow and scatter on the poor: for God is as it were our master; we, His tenant farmers; God's field is the poor; the seed is alms. God therefore wishes us as His tenant farmers to scatter this seed, that is alms, on this field, that is on the poor; therefore He will much more give to us ourselves nourishment and harvest, that is goods, which He wishes to be again and continually sown on this field. Let the rich note here that the wealth given to them by God is as it were seed, which they should continually scatter on the poor, not to fill their barns with it, or to lavish it on the luxury of clothing, houses and banquets. "It is a liberal office," says Cicero, "to sow benefit, that you may reap fruit."
Thus Sophronius in the Spiritual Meadow (which book is cited and praised in the Second General Council of Nicaea, action 4), chapter 185, narrates that to a certain husband wishing to increase his estate, the counsel was given by his wife to bestow what he had on the poor: for it would happen that he would receive it back with profit. Following this, he distributed his coins among the needy, and for fifty received three hundred.
But the same Sophronius has a more beautiful example, chapter 195, about the philosopher Evagrius, who when he had heard in church that a hundredfold is given in heaven for alms, gave sixty pounds to Bishop Synesius to be distributed to the poor, having received from him a written contract that for one pound he would receive a hundred in heaven, and dying he ordered his sons to insert this contract into his hand while he was being buried. When this had been done, on the third day from his death Evagrius appeared to the Bishop in dreams saying: Go to my sepulchre, and take back your written document, for I have received all the debt, indeed a hundredfold, promised by Christ and by you. In the morning the Bishop with the clergy went to the sepulchre, took the contract from Evagrius's hand, of which this was the tenor: "Evagrius the philosopher to his Bishop. I would not have you, father, ignorant that all the money which I gave you while living, multiplied a hundredfold as you had promised, I have received: wherefore by no reckoning of debt are you bound to me."
Similar things are in the Life of St. Lidwina, and of other saints. Hence Chrysostom: "Alms," he says, "is called seed, because it is not an expense, but a return." Which it is credible that St. Deusdedit understood well, who, as the Roman Martyrology relates on the 10th day of August, when he himself was needy, nevertheless all week long he gave out on the poor on the sabbath day all the gain which he had made by the labor of his hands, in the hope of obtaining that heavenly return.
"If you take care of your offspring, leave them a written document (namely goods left to the poor by testament) in which you have God as debtor," says St. Chrysostom. Of which thing an illustrious example exists in Sophronius, chapter 201, about a certain noble patrician of Constantinople, who, dying, leaving his goods to the poor, gave his son Christ as guardian; nor did his hope deceive him: for Christ procured for his son a noble and rich and equally pious bride. And Chrysostom wrote homily 33 to the People with this title: "That almsgiving is the most profitable art of all." If therefore you wish to lend at interest, lend to God by giving alms, because, as it is written in Proverbs 19:17: "He who has mercy on the poor lends to the Lord, and He will repay him his recompense."
And He will increase the growth of the fruits of your justice, — He will increase the proceeds of your justice and charity, namely He will give an increase of grace here, and of glory in heaven. So Theophylact. For he understands the fruits of divine and eternal reward, says Anselm. For the Apostle here seems to assign a threefold fruit of almsgiving. The first, when he says: "Will give bread to eat;" the second, when he adds: "And He will multiply your seed (resources);" the third, spiritual, when he concludes: "And He will increase the growths of the fruits of your justice." In this sense St. Anselm (as Eadmer relates in his Life), when entering the city of Canterbury to visit Archbishop Lanfranc, was received with great honor and love by the citizens, explaining and repaying to them the praise and merit of their charity said, "those who do charity have something greater than he to whom charity is done and shown. For he," he said, "receives only something temporal; but they receive spiritual things, and await eternal graces from God." This Christ signifies in that paradox of His among worldly rich men, when He says: "It is more blessed to give than to receive," Acts 20:35.
Secondly, the same Anselm here simply takes "fruits" of temporal goods, as if he said: God will make your fruits and resources to grow, so that you may always be sufficient to give more and more alms, and He will increase the growths of the fruits of your justice. That is, He will give much more abundant increases to the fruits which your justice deserves; for it is justice that, because God gives to man, man should repay from it and give to him who lacks, and because you observe such justice, that, as God gives to you who do not have, so you also should give to others who do not have, therefore divinely the growths of your fruits are increased. Hence rightly almsgiving is called seed, because sowing it once one will reap twice, namely in this age, an abundance of temporal things; in the future, of heavenly goods. Thus far Anselm, and rightly: for the Apostle seems to explain what he said, "He will multiply your seed," and to inculcate it, namely that almsgiving does not impoverish the giver, but enriches him, so that he may pluck out from the souls of the Corinthians and of all Christians every fear of poverty, which everywhere turns men away from almsgiving, and which they everywhere object to preachers and admonishers.
Where however note: More simply the fruits of justice here are understood as the fruits of beneficence, or born from beneficence, namely the resources, which God renders to the beneficent as it were a harvest to those who sow. For the growths of the fruits are nothing other than the crop and harvest which grows up from the said seed. Since therefore it is clear that the Apostle when he said: "He will multiply your seed," by "seed" understood the resources to be bestowed on the poor; it also seems clear that, when he soon adds: "And He will increase the growths of the fruits of your justice," by this he understands nothing other than the crop and harvest of similar resources, of temporal goods, growing up from the seed of almsgiving by God's nod. For as the seed is, such is also the crop, or harvest. For the Apostle opposes this to the seed as it were as its correlative; just as the reward is opposed and corresponds to the merit. And this seems to be the genuine sense and mind of the Apostle; and it is clear both from what has already been said, and from the fact that this, as I have said, responds to the objection of misers, who excuse themselves from alms because by it they are to be reduced to the poverty of temporal goods. To which Paul here asserts that almsgiving does not impoverish, but rather enriches those who give it with temporal goods.
The Greek of this verse signifies the same thing more clearly: καὶ πληθύναι τὸν σπόρον ὑμῶν, καὶ αὐξήσαι τὰ γεννήματα τῆς δικαιοσύνης ὑμῶν, "He will multiply your seed and increase the produce, or fruits, of your righteousness": for γέννημα is the fruit which is generated from the seed of righteousness, that is, of beneficence — namely the seed itself, increased and returned at harvest with interest, when from one sown seed twenty or thirty grow up and are reborn. Paul therefore here teaches that God is wont to do the same and to repay in the matter of almsgiving.
Note secondly: He alludes to the possessions and estates of the rich, as if to say: Beneficence is like a most fertile field and farm, which yields and brings forth abundant and perennial fruits to the almsgiver from the seed of his alms. For first it gives bread, that is, sustenance, to the giver of alms; secondly, it multiplies the seed, that is, the wealth to be sown among the poor; thirdly, it increases besides the growths of the fruits, by giving a plentiful harvest and riches by which the almsgiver may grow and be enriched in himself, his family, and his estate. For these three things a temporal master furnishes to his faithful and diligent tenant: much more then will God furnish the same to the almsgiver, who is, as I have said above, as it were God's tenant.
Verse 11: That Being Enriched in All Things You May Abound Unto All Simplicity
11. That being enriched in all things you may abound. — The word "that" is not in the Greek, but only ἐν παντὶ πλουτιζόμενοι, "enriched in all things," which must be referred and connected with verse 8 (for the Apostle inserts the ninth and tenth verses, as it were, in parenthesis); as if to say: that you may abound in every good work, πλουτιζόμενοι, enriched and abounding, you may abound, I say, "in all simplicity." A like hyperbaton is found in chapter 8, verse 20, and chapter 9, verse 4. See Canon 38.
Simplicity (candid liberality, so Chrysostom; see what was said on chapter 8, verse 2) which worketh through us thanksgiving to God. — As if to say: This your simplicity and liberality causes that I, and all my people, indeed even the Christians among whom I proclaim it, give thanks to God, because He has implanted in you so devout an affection of mercy.
Verse 12: For the Ministry of This Office Not Only Supplies What Is Wanting to the Saints
12. For the ministry of this office not only supplies what is lacking to the saints, but also abounds by many thanksgivings in the Lord. — "The ministry of this office," namely the administration of this collection of alms; in Greek it is ἡ διακονία τῆς λειτουργίας, that is, the diaconate of this liturgy: as though in this office, that is in the collection of alms, there be a liturgy, that is, a Mass or sacrifice of God — mystical, of course — in which the Corinthians, as if offering the victim of almsgiving, are the priests; the altar, the poor; the sacrifice, the almsgiving; Paul, the deacon, that is, the exhorting minister constantly exhorting, providing, gathering, conveying, and distributing alms, by means of which both the poor who receive alms and the rich who give them, beholding and praising Christ's grace and Spirit, may be stirred up to thanksgiving in the Lord, that is, before the Lord. "For when thanksgiving is directed to God for our alms and works through the prayer of the poor, the wealth of the working God is heaped up by His repayment," says St. Cyprian, in the treatise On Works and Almsgiving. So too Chrysostom, who in moral homily 20 says: "When you see a poor man, think you behold the body of Christ, the altar of Christ; revere it, and offer the sacrifice of almsgiving, from which glory and thanksgiving may ascend to God like smoke." Thus almsgiving is εὐχαριστία, that is, thanksgiving, and a Eucharistic sacrifice — not in the proper sense, as is clear, but metaphorical and mystical: in the same way he calls the preaching of the Gospel and the conversion of the Gentiles a sacrifice, as I said on Romans 15:16. Hence Nazianzen beautifully says, in his oration On the Care of the Poor: "By nothing of all things," he says, "is God so worshiped as by mercy: for nothing is so peculiar to God as that, since before Him mercy and truth go forth." Then he proves the same point by the example of Christ, who became poor that we might be enriched by His Godhead. Next he shows that through mercy we imitate God and become as it were gods. "Be," he says, "a god to the unfortunate, by imitating the mercy of God. For nothing is so divine in man as to do good. Learn therefore to open your bowels to the needy. Give as something great your readiness (if you have nothing else), or even a tear. For mercy is a great remedy to the afflicted."
13. In the obedience of your confession to the Gospel of Christ. — There is a hypallage, for "in the confession of your obedience," as if to say: They glorify God, because by your deeds and almsgiving you confess and profess obedience toward the Gospel of Christ — that is, that you obey the Gospel, namely the precepts and counsels of Christ, who so greatly urges and commands charity and mercy. So Chrysostom. Second, if anyone wishes to take these words strictly, in the order in which they are placed, the sense will be: they glorify God in your obedience, by which you confess and profess the Gospel of Christ. Hence the Syriac: they glorify Christ because you are subject to the confession of the Gospel of Christ.
Note the Hebraism, "in the Gospel," that is, toward the Gospel, or of the Gospel. For the Hebrew ב (bet), meaning "in," is often used for the genitive construction.
And in the simplicity of your communication toward them, and toward all. — As if to say: Not only do they glorify God in your obedience, but also in the fact that you communicate your goods so simply, that is so candidly and liberally, to them and to all other needy persons. What simplicity is, I have said on chapter 8, verse 2.
Verse 14: And in Their Prayer for You, Longing After You
14. And in their prayer for you. — Refer this to "glorifying God," as if to say: The poor of Jerusalem, who receive your alms, while they pray and beseech for you, also glorify God; and so "while thanksgiving," as St. Cyprian says in the sermon On Works and Almsgiving, "is directed to God for alms by the prayer of the poor, the wealth of the working God is heaped up by His repayment."
Desiring (refer this to "them," namely the poor of Jerusalem) you, — that is, to see you and enjoy your company.
Verse 15: Thanks Be to God for His Unspeakable Gift
15. Thanks be to God for His unspeakable gift. The "gift," namely of your charity and almsgiving, from which so many goods and so many praises of God overflow on every side that it is rightly called unspeakable. See Chrysostom.