Homily 16 — Second Corinthians 7, verse 13, to 8, verse 6

“And in your comfort we rejoiced all the more exceedingly at the joy of Titus, because his spirit has been refreshed by you all.” [a]

See again how he lifts their praises high and shows their love. He had said, in effect, ‘I was glad that my letter accomplished so much, and that you gained so much’ — for “I rejoice,” he says, “not that you were made sorry, but that you were made sorry to repentance.” And he had shown his own love, for he says, “Though I wrote to you, I did not write for the sake of the one who did the wrong, nor for the sake of the one who suffered the wrong, but so that our care for you might be made plain to you.” Now he mentions yet another sign of their goodwill, one that brings them great praise and shows how genuine their affection was. For “in your comfort,” he says, “we rejoiced all the more exceedingly at the joy of Titus.” “And yet this is no sign of someone who loves them exceedingly, to rejoice more for Titus than for them.” “Yes, it is. I did not rejoice so much for his sake as for yours.” That is why he also adds the reason, saying, “because his heart was refreshed by you all.” He did not say “he,” but “his heart” — that is, his love for you. And how was it refreshed? “By you all.” For this too is very great praise.

Verse 14: “For if in anything I have boasted to him on your behalf…” It is high praise that their teacher boasted of them, for he says, “I was not put to shame.” “So I rejoiced, because you showed yourselves changed for the better and proved my words true by your deeds. The honor that came to me was therefore twofold: first, that you had made progress; and next, that I was not found to fall short of the truth.” [c]

Verse 14: “But as we spoke all things to you in truth, so also our boasting, which I made before Titus, was found to be the truth.” Here he hints at something further. As we spoke everything among you in truth — for he had probably also spoken to them at length in praise of Titus — so also what we said about you to Titus has been proved true.

Verse 15: “And his inmost affection is all the more abundant toward you.” What follows is in praise of Titus, as a man utterly consumed with love for them and devoted to them. And he did not say “his love.” Then, so that he may not seem to be flattering, he everywhere mentions the causes of Titus’s affection. In this way, as I said, he both escapes the charge of flattery and encourages them all the more, by making the praise come back to them and by showing that it was they who had planted in him the beginning and the ground of so great a love. For having said, “his inmost affection is all the more abundant toward you,” he added, “while he remembers the obedience of you all.” This shows that Titus was grateful to those who had been good to him, since he came back holding them all in his heart, remembering them continually, and carrying them on his lips and in his mind. And it is a still greater distinction for the Corinthians, since they sent him away so completely won over.

Then he also mentions their obedience, magnifying their zeal. That is why he adds these words: “how with fear and trembling you received him.” Not with love only, but also with the highest honor. Do you see how he bears witness to a twofold virtue in them? They both loved him as a father and feared him as a ruler. Fear did not dim their love, and love did not slacken their fear. He expressed this above as well: “That you sorrowed in a godly way — what earnest care it produced in you, yes, what fear, yes, what longing!”

Verse 16: “I rejoice, therefore, that in everything I am confident about you.” Do you see that he rejoices more on their account? “Because,” he says, “you have not shamed your teacher in any respect, nor shown yourselves unworthy of my testimony.” So he did not rejoice so much for Titus’s sake, that Titus had enjoyed such great honor, as for theirs, that they had shown such good feeling. For so that he may not be thought to rejoice more on Titus’s account, notice how here too he states the reason. As he said above, “If in anything I have boasted to him on your behalf, I was not put to shame,” so here too: “In everything I am confident about you.” “If I should need to rebuke you, I have no fear that you will be estranged from me. If I should need to boast, I am not afraid of being proved a liar. If I should praise you as responsive to the rein, or as loving, or as full of zeal, I have confidence in you. I told you to cut off, and you cut off; I told you to receive, and you received. I said before Titus that you were a great and admirable people and knew how to revere your teachers, and you proved these things true by your conduct. And he learned them not so much from me as from you. At any rate, when he came back, he had become passionately fond of you, because your behavior surpassed what he had been told.” [d]

Chapter 8, verse 1: “Moreover, brothers and sisters, we make known to you the grace of God that has been given in the churches of Macedonia.” [e]

Having encouraged them with these praises, he turns once more to exhortation. This is why he mixed these praises in with his rebuke: so that he would not pass straight from rebuke to exhortation and make what he had to say unwelcome, but would first soothe their ears and in this way prepare the road for his exhortation. For he means to speak about almsgiving. That is why he said beforehand, “I rejoice that in everything I am confident about you,” using their past good works to make them all the readier for this duty as well. And he did not say straight out, ‘So give alms.’ Notice his wisdom: how he lays the groundwork for his discourse from far off and from high up. For he says, “I make known to you the grace of God that has been given in the churches of Macedonia.” So that they would not be puffed up, he calls what they did “grace”; and while telling what others did, he stirs up greater zeal in the Corinthians by his praises of others.

He puts together two praises of the Macedonians, or rather three: that they bear trials nobly; that they know how to show pity; and that, though poor, they had shown lavish generosity in almsgiving — for their property had also been plundered. When he wrote his letter to them, it was to point to this that he said, “For you became imitators of the churches of God that are in Judea, for you also suffered the same things from your own countrymen as they did from the Jews” (First Thessalonians 2, verse 14). Hear what he said later, writing to the Hebrews: “For you accepted joyfully the plundering of your possessions” (Hebrews 10, verse 34). But he calls what they did “grace” not merely to keep them humble, but also to stir the Corinthians to rivalry and to keep what he said from arousing resentment. That is why he also added the name “brothers and sisters,” to undercut any envious feeling, since he is about to praise the Macedonians in lofty terms. Listen, at any rate, to his praises. Having said, “I make known to you the grace of God,” he did not say, ‘which has been given in this or that city,’ but praises the whole nation, saying, “in the churches of Macedonia.” Then he describes this same grace in detail.

Verse 2: “How in a great test of affliction the abundance of their joy…” Do you see his wisdom? He does not say first what he wants, but something else before it, so that he may not seem to be doing this on purpose, but to arrive at it from a different connection. “In a great test of affliction.” This is what he said in his letter to the Macedonians themselves: “You became imitators of the Lord, having received the word in much affliction, with joy of the Holy Spirit”; and again, “From you the word of the Lord has sounded forth, not only in Macedonia and Achaia, but in every place your faith toward God has gone out” (First Thessalonians 1, verses 6 and 8). [f]

But what does “in a great test of affliction the abundance of their joy” mean? Both, he says, came to them in excess: the affliction and the joy. That is why the wonder was so great, that such an excess of delight sprang up for them out of affliction. For in truth the affliction not only did not give birth to grief; it even became an occasion of gladness for them — and that although it was “great.” He said this to prepare them to be noble and steady in their trials. For they were not merely afflicted, but afflicted in such a way that they were also proved by their endurance. Or rather, he does not say “by their endurance,” but names something more than endurance: “joy.” And he did not say simply “joy,” but “abundance of joy,” for it sprang up in them great and beyond words.

“And their deep poverty overflowed in the riches of their generosity.” Again, both of these in excess. As their great affliction gave birth to great joy — yes, to “abundance of joy” — so their great poverty gave birth to great riches of almsgiving. He showed this by saying, “overflowed in the riches of their generosity.” For generosity is measured not by the size of what is given, but by the mind of those who give it. [g]

That is why he nowhere says ‘the richness of the gifts,’ but “the riches of their generosity.” What he means is this: “Their poverty not only did not hinder them from being bountiful; it even gave them occasion to overflow, just as affliction gave them occasion for joy. For the poorer they were, the more open-handed they were, and the more readily they contributed.” That is why he admires them so greatly: in the midst of such great poverty they had shown such great open-handedness. For “their deep” — that is, their great and unspeakable — “poverty” showed their “generosity.” Yet he did not say “showed,” but “overflowed”; and he did not say “generosity,” but “riches of generosity.” That is, the bounty they showed was a counterweight to the greatness of their poverty — or rather, it far outweighed it. Then he explains this more clearly still, saying, Verse 3: “For according to their power, I bear witness…”

The witness is trustworthy. “And beyond their power.” That is, it “overflowed in the riches of their generosity.” Or rather, he makes this plain not by this expression alone, but by everything that follows; for he says, “of their own accord.” Look, yet another excess! Verse 4: “With much entreaty.” Look, a third and a fourth! “Begging us.” Look, even a fifth! And that while they were in affliction and in poverty: here are a sixth and a seventh. And they gave to excess. [h]

Then, since this is what he most wants to secure in the Corinthians’ case — giving by their own free choice — he dwells on it especially, saying, “with much entreaty,” and “begging us.” ‘We did not beg them; they begged us.’ Begged us for what? “That the grace and the fellowship in the service to the saints…” Do you see how he again lifts up the deed, calling it by honored names? Since they were eager for spiritual gifts, he calls it by the name “grace,” so that they would pursue it eagerly; and again by the name “fellowship,” so that they might learn that they receive, and do not only give. “This, then, is what they begged of us,” he says, “that we would take on such a service.”

Verse 5: “And this, not as we had hoped.” He says this with reference both to the amount and to their afflictions. “For we could never have hoped,” he says, “that while in such great affliction and poverty they would actually press us and beg us so earnestly.” He also showed how careful their life was in other respects, by saying, “but they first gave their own selves to the Lord, and to us by the will of God.” “For in everything their obedience went beyond what we expected. They did not neglect the other virtues because they showed mercy, but first gave themselves to the Lord.” [j]

What does “gave themselves to the Lord” mean? “They offered themselves up; they proved themselves tested and true in faith; they showed great courage in their trials, good order, goodness, love, and in all things readiness and zeal.” What does “and to us” mean? “They were responsive to the rein; they loved us and obeyed us, both keeping the laws of God and bound to us by love.”

And notice how here too he again shows their earnestness, saying, “gave themselves to the Lord.” They did not obey God in some things and the world in others, but him in all things; they gave themselves wholly to God. For they were not puffed up with senseless pride because they showed mercy. Instead, showing great humility, great obedience, great reverence, and great heavenly wisdom, they carried out their almsgiving too in that spirit. But what does “by the will of God” mean? Since he had said that they “gave themselves to us,” it was still not “to us” in a merely human way; they did this too according to the mind of God.

Verse 6: “So much so that we urged Titus that, as he had made a beginning before, so he would also complete in you this grace as well.” And what is the connection here? A strong one, and closely bound up with what went before. “Because we saw them eager and fervent in everything — in trials, in almsgiving, in their love toward us, in the purity of the rest of their life — we sent Titus, so that you too might become their equals.” He did not say this, though he implied it. See the excess of his love! “For though the Macedonians begged and pleaded with us, we were anxious about your condition, for fear that you might somehow fall short of them. That is why we sent Titus, so that, stirred up and reminded by this as well, you might rival the Macedonians.” For Titus happened to be there when this letter was being written.

Yet he shows that Titus had made a beginning in this matter before Paul urged him: “that as he had made a beginning before,” he says. That is why he gives him great praise — for instance, at the beginning of the letter: “Because I did not find Titus my brother, I had no rest for my spirit” (Second Corinthians 2, verse 13); and here, all the things he has said, and this very remark as well. For this too is no small praise, to have begun even beforehand, since it shows a warm and fervent spirit. That is also why he sent him, placing among them in this too a very great incentive to giving: the presence of Titus. On this account, too, he extols him with praises, wishing to make him dearer still to the Corinthians. For this also carries great weight in persuading, when the one who gives the advice is on close terms with those he advises.

And he does well, once, twice, and three times, when he mentions almsgiving, to call it “grace.” Now he says, “Moreover, brothers and sisters, I make known to you the grace of God given in the churches of Macedonia”; now, “of their own accord, begging us with much entreaty for this grace and fellowship”; and again, “that as he had begun, so he would also complete in you this grace as well.”

For this is a great good and a gift of God, and when it is rightly done it makes us like God, as far as that is possible; for such a person is a human being in the highest sense. Someone, at any rate, sketching the model of a man, mentioned this: “Man,” he says, “is a great thing, and a merciful man is an honored thing” (Proverbs 20, verse 6, in the Greek Old Testament). [k]

This gift is greater than raising the dead. For it is far greater to feed Christ when he is hungry than to raise the dead in the name of Jesus. In the first case you do good to Christ; in the second, he does good to you. And the reward surely comes from doing good, not from receiving it. For here — in the case of miracles, I mean — you are God’s debtor; in the case of almsgiving, you have God as your debtor.

Now it is almsgiving when it is done willingly, when it is done generously, when you think you are not giving but receiving, when it is done as though you were the one being helped, as though you were gaining and not losing; otherwise it would not be a grace. The one who shows mercy to another ought to feel joyful, not sullen. For how is it not absurd, if while you take away another person’s dejection you are dejected yourself? Then you no longer let it be alms. For if you are dejected because you have freed another from dejection, you display the height of cruelty and inhumanity; it would be better not to free him at all than to free him that way.

And why are you dejected at all, my friend? Because you are afraid your gold will shrink? If that is how you think, do not give at all. If you are not fully sure that it is multiplied for you in heaven, do not give. But you look for the reward here. Why? Let your alms be alms, and not business. Many, it is true, have received a reward even here. But they did not receive it as though it gave them an advantage over those who did not receive it here. Some of them received it rather because they were weaker than they should have been, since they were not strongly enough drawn by the things there. Think of people who are greedy, ill-mannered, and slaves of their bellies: invited to a royal banquet and unable to wait for the proper time, they spoil their own enjoyment, just like little children, by eating beforehand and stuffing themselves with inferior dishes. In just the same way, those who look for a reward here and receive it make their reward there smaller.

Again, when you lend, you are willing to get back the sum you lent after a longer time, and perhaps even not to get it back at all, so that by the delay you may make the interest greater. But in this case do you ask for it back at once — and that when you are about to be, not here, but there forever; when you are about to be, not here to be judged, but there to give your account? If someone were building you houses in a place where you were not going to stay, you would count it a loss. And yet you want to be rich here, where you may have to depart even before evening?

Don’t you know that we live in a foreign land, as strangers and foreigners? Don’t you know that it is the lot of foreigners to be thrown out when they do not think it and do not expect it? That is our lot too. For this reason, whatever we have got ready, we leave here. The Lord does not let us take it and go — whether we have built houses, or bought fields, or slaves, or goods, or anything else of the kind. And not only does he not let us take these things with us when we leave; he does not even credit you with what they cost. For he warned you in advance not to build, nor to spend on what belongs to others, but on what is your own. Why then do you leave what is your own, and labor and spend on what is another’s, so as to lose both your toil and your wages and to suffer the most extreme punishment?

Do not do it, I beg you. Since we are foreigners by nature, let us be foreigners by choice as well, so that we are not foreigners there, dishonored and cast out. For if we are set on being citizens here, we will be citizens neither here nor there. But if we remain foreigners, and live as foreigners ought to live, we will enjoy the freedom of citizens both here and there. For the righteous man, even though he has nothing, will live here among everyone’s possessions as though they were his own; and when he has departed to heaven, he will see his eternal dwellings. Here he will suffer no hardship — for no one will ever be able to make a stranger of the man who has every land for his city — and when he has been restored to his own country, he will receive the true riches. So that we may gain both the things of this life and those of that one, let us use rightly the things we have. For so we will be citizens of heaven and will enjoy great boldness. May we all attain it, through the grace and love for humankind of our Lord Jesus Christ, with whom, to the Father, together with the Holy Spirit, be glory and power forever. Amen.