The great Johnathan Edwards once said, “Grace is but glory begun, and glory is but grace perfected.” God wants to perfect every type of grace in your life. I always heard grace defined as the unmerited favor of God and then one day, I read a new definition for grace. God’s power or ability working for and towards us.
The use of grace in 2 Corinthians 9:8 is related to the concept of abundance and prosperity. It says, “And God is able to make all grace abound toward you, that you, always having all sufficiency in all things, may have an abundance for every good work.” This verse suggests that God is able to bless believers in such a way that they will have an abundance of resources and will be able to excel in doing good works. This abundance is a result of God’s grace, which is his unmerited favor and kindness towards us.
Furthermore, 2 Corinthians 8:1, 6, 7, and 9 is related to the concept of generosity and self-sacrifice. These verses describe how the believers in the church in Macedonia were able to give generously to the church in Jerusalem, despite their own poverty. The verses say, “And now, brothers and sisters, we want you to know about the grace that God has given the Macedonian churches. They were extremely poor, but they gave generously…Now as you excel in everything—in faith, in speech, in knowledge, in all earnestness, and in your love for us—see that you also excel in this grace of giving…But since you excel in everything—in faith, in speech, in knowledge, in complete earnestness and in the love we have kindled in you—see that you also excel in this grace of giving…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 by his poverty might become rich.” These verses highlight the fact that the believers in Macedonia were able to give generously, despite their own poverty, because of the grace of God at work in their lives. They also point to the example of Jesus, who became poor for our sake, as a model of grace and self-sacrifice.
In summary, the idea of grace in 2 Corinthians 9:8 relates to God’s ability to bless and provide for us in abundance, while the idea of grace in 2 Corinthians 8:1, 6, 7, and 9 relates to the concept of generosity and self-sacrifice. Both passages highlight the fact that God’s grace enables us to do things that we could not do on our own and that it encourages us to share that grace with others. Matthew Henry wrote, “”Grace is the free, undeserved goodness and favor of God to mankind.”, but it is also His power and ability working out His promises in the lives of those that choose to live by faith.
Peter wrote in the fourth chapter of his first epistle beginning in verse ten, ‘As each one has received a gift, minister it to one another, as good stewards of the manifold grace of God. 11 If anyone speaks, let him speak as the oracles of God. If anyone ministers, let him do it as with the ability which God supplies, that in all things God may be glorified through Jesus Christ…”.
This makes it clear that each one of us who has received a gift (grace) has received ability to work that gift our in our lives and we are to embrace that gift and give it every opportunity to work grow in us.
