As to credit cards, the Macedonians always left home without them. We fancy ourselves poor if we have to think about it before going out to dinner. The great turn-of-the-century New Testament scholar Alfred Plummer translated it perfectly as “their down-to-the-depth poverty.” They were at the bottom-dirt-poor! For most of us, it is a major stretch to relate to deep poverty in an ancient setting. The word Paul uses for “their extreme poverty” is the word from which we derive the English word bathysphere-the ship we use to probe the depths of the ocean-a Jacques Cousteau kind of word. The Macedonians (namely, the churches of Philippi, Thessalonica, and Berea) were poor. Paul’s teaching on giving is a sermon on grace from beginning to end.Ĭoncerning the grace among the Macedonians, “We want you to know, brothers, about the grace of God that has been given among the churches of Macedonia, for in a severe test of affliction, their abundance of joy and their extreme poverty have overflowed in a wealth of generosity on their part” (vv.

In fact, charis occurs five times in 8:1–9: in verse 1, “the grace,” ten charin verse 4, “the favor,” ten charin verse 6, “this act of grace,” ten charin verse 7, “this act of grace,” ten chariti and verse 9, “the grace,” ten charin. The word charis (“grace”) occurs eight times in chapters 8–9. The grace of giving is what this section is all about. The riches of God’s grace had been poured out on them, and then they in turn poured out what they had on others. This grace flowed from the primary source of grace, which is Christ’s reconciliation of sinners to himself (cf. The “grace of God” Paul was referring to was, as the context makes so clear, the grace of giving (the gracious inclination to give) that had fallen upon the Macedonian churches. His words were ever so gentle: “We want you to know, brothers, about the grace of God that has been given among the churches of Macedonia” (v. As Paul addressed the matter of giving with the Corinthian church in 2 Corinthians 8:1–15, he did so with model tact, by citing the remarkable giving of their little sister churches in Macedonia.

What does giving grace mean