# Questions about 2 Corinthians 9



## Toasty (May 11, 2015)

2 Corinthians 9:6 states, "Now this I say, he who sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and he who sows bountifully will also reap bountifully." This verse is in the context of giving. Could anyone here on this DB explain what this verse has to do with giving?

2 Corinthians 9:10 states, "Now He who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food will supply and multiply your seed for sowing and increase the harvest of your righteousness;" What does it mean to increase the harvest of your righteousness?


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## ChariotsofFire (May 11, 2015)

In v.6 Paul is encouraging us to give generously (sowing bountifully). Reaping bountifully means God's grace will abound in our lives as we work for his kingdom. In giving away material possessions, we can be assured God will provide for us in every way.

Study Bible on V. 10


> 2 Cor. 9:10 The promise that God will increase the harvest should not be understood in material terms but in terms of increasing your righteousness. Thus the quoted OT texts (Isa. 55:10; Hos. 10:12) refer specifically to the provision of God’s word for the redemption of his people. God’s promise is that he will use his people and their resources as instruments of his grace for the salvation of others.


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## Herald (May 12, 2015)

Agreed. It is not a promise of material blessings, although it also not a prohibition of them. God's grace can be manifest in divers ways.


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## Peairtach (May 13, 2015)

Toasty said:


> 2 Corinthians 9:6 states, "Now this I say, he who sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and he who sows bountifully will also reap bountifully." This verse is in the context of giving. Could anyone here on this DB explain what this verse has to do with giving?
> 
> 2 Corinthians 9:10 states, "Now He who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food will supply and multiply your seed for sowing and increase the harvest of your righteousness;" What does it mean to increase the harvest of your righteousness?



God graciously will reward good works done by His people in Christ, to some extent in this life, and certainly and fully in the next (Mark 10:29-30).

It is not because His people have intrinsic merit of their own that God rewards good works, but because these good works, which they were foreordained to do, derive their merit from His people's free justification in Christ, and God is therefore pleased to graciously reward them as He promises in the Covenant of Grace. 

So in knowing that the Scriptures teach that good works done in Christ will be rewarded, we don't fall back into the old way of thinking that we intrinsically - in and of our own (sinful) selves - can do things that earn merit before God.

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## God'sElectSaint (May 13, 2015)

It's sad how often these verses are abused by the Word-Faith movement. I remember MacArthur making a comment on rom 8:28 to the effect "I'm surprised my bible isn't bleeding as much as this verse has been abused"


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## Toasty (May 13, 2015)

ChariotsofFire said:


> In v.6 Paul is encouraging us to give generously (sowing bountifully). Reaping bountifully means God's grace will abound in our lives as we work for his kingdom. In giving away material possessions, we can be assured God will provide for us in every way.
> 
> Study Bible on V. 10
> 
> ...



The more we give the more people are spiritually blessed with God's grace. Correct?


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