2 Corinthians 8:9
For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though He was rich, yet for your sakes He became poor, that you through His poverty might become rich.
2 Corinthians 8:9 (NKJV)
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.
2 Corinthians 8:9 (NIV)
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.
2 Corinthians 8:9 (KJV)
You know the generous grace of our Lord Jesus Christ. Though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, so that by his poverty he could make you rich.
2 Corinthians 8:9 (NLT)
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.
2 Corinthians 8:9 (ESV)
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.
2 Corinthians 8:9 (NASB)Scripture taken from the NEW AMERICAN STANDARD BIBLE®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. www.lockman.org
For you are recognizing [more clearly] the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ [His astonishing kindness, His generosity, His gracious favor], that though He was rich, yet for your sake He became poor, so that by His poverty you might become rich (abundantly supplied).
2 Corinthians 8:9 (AMP)Scripture quotations taken from the Amplified® Bible (AMP), Copyright © 2015 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. www.lockman.org
For you are becoming progressively acquainted with and recognizing more strongly and clearly the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ (His kindness, His gracious generosity, His undeserved favor and blessing), [in] that though He was [so very] rich, yet for your sakes He became [so very] poor, in order that by His poverty you might become enriched (abundantly supplied).
2 Corinthians 8:9 (AMPC)Scripture quotations taken from the Amplified® Bible (AMPC), Copyright © 1954, 1962, 1964, 1965, 1987 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. www.lockman.org
You are familiar with the generosity of our Master, Jesus Christ. Rich as he was, he gave it all away for us. In one stroke he became poor and we became rich.
2 Corinthians 8:9 (MSG)Scripture quotations from The Message. Copyright © 1993, 2002, 2018 by Eugene H. Peterson. Used by permission of NavPress. All rights reserved. Represented by Tyndale House Publishers.
New Covenant Meaning
The Exchange at the Cross
This verse follows the same pattern as the great exchange statements scattered through the New Testament. Second Corinthians 5:21 says He became sin so that we might become righteousness. Isaiah 53:5 says He was wounded so that we might be healed. Here the pattern is identical: He was rich. He became poor. The purpose was so that through His poverty you might become rich. In each case, He took what was ours and we received what is His. The exchange is total in each direction. He did not partly take on poverty while holding onto some portion of His heavenly wealth. The word ptocheuo means to be reduced to absolute destitution, like a beggar with nothing. He became that so that the fullness of His wealth could become yours.
What He Was Rich In and What That Means for You
The word plousios, used to describe what Christ was before the incarnation, covers the full range of richness. In Colossians 1:19 Paul writes that all the fullness of the Godhead dwelt in Christ. He possessed everything. He lacked nothing. When He became poor, that was not a temporary inconvenience or a minor adjustment. It was the voluntary assumption of complete lack, from the pinnacle of all wealth to the condition of total need. The result the verse announces is not small: the verb plouteo, describing what happens to the believer, means to be made wealthy, to be enriched, to become abundantly supplied. This is the intended outcome of the exchange. You are the recipient. The poverty He took on was the price paid so that His wealth could transfer to you.
Some teachers restrict this verse to spiritual wealth only, but the Greek vocabulary does not force that limitation. Plousios and plouteo in the New Testament describe wealth broadly. What is certain is that the exchange Paul describes is as real and as complete as the exchange in 2 Corinthians 5:21. If you accept that Christ fully became sin and you fully became righteousness, the same logic applies here. He fully became poor. You are fully made rich. The scope of that richness flows from the One who is the source of every good and perfect gift (James 1:17). Recognizing this exchange is, according to Paul, the foundation for generous living: people who know they have received everything freely give freely.
Application for Your Life
Receive What the Exchange Secured for You
Many believers mentally accept that Christ died for their sins but never fully receive the positive side of what the cross accomplished. Second Corinthians 8:9 is entirely about the positive side. His becoming poor had a stated purpose: your becoming rich. That purpose is not conditional on your performance after salvation. It is the announced outcome of the exchange. Living from this verse means shifting from a posture of lack toward a posture of inheritance. You are not waiting to see if God will provide. You are the person in whom the exchange has already been completed, walking in the fullness of what Christ secured.
Let Generosity Flow From Knowing You Have Been Enriched
Paul places this verse in the middle of a passage calling the Corinthians to generous giving toward the Jerusalem church. His argument is not obligation or duty. His argument is grace. Because you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, because you understand the exchange that happened, generosity is the natural response. You give freely because you have received freely. You are not protecting a limited supply. You are someone who has been made abundantly rich by the poverty He voluntarily assumed. Generosity is the overflow of truly believing 2 Corinthians 8:9.
Prayer Based on This Verse
Father, I want to actually receive what the cross accomplished. Christ became poor so that I could become rich. I do not want to minimize what He gave or shrink from the fullness of what He secured. I receive the wealth of Christ over my life today, in every area where lack has had a voice. I thank You that this was not accidental but purposeful: He became poor FOR my sake, so that I through His poverty MIGHT become rich. Let that reality land in my thinking and shape how I live. And let the generosity He showed me flow through me to the people around me. In Jesus name. Amen.