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I say this not by way of command, but to test the genuineness of your love by your concern for others. [a](A)For you know the gracious act of our Lord Jesus Christ, that for your sake he became poor although he was rich, so that by his poverty you might become rich. 10 And I am giving counsel in this matter, for it is appropriate for you who began not only to act but to act willingly last year:(B)

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Footnotes

  1. 8:9 The dialectic of Jesus’ experience, expressed earlier in terms of life and death (2 Cor 5:15), sin and righteousness (2 Cor 5:21), is now rephrased in terms of poverty and wealth. Many scholars think this is a reference to Jesus’ preexistence with God (his “wealth”) and to his incarnation and death (his “poverty”), and they point to the similarity between this verse and Phil 2:6–8. Others interpret the wealth and poverty as succeeding phases of Jesus’ earthly existence, e.g., his sense of intimacy with God and then the desolation and the feeling of abandonment by God in his death (cf. Mk 15:34).

I am not commanding you,(A) but I want to test the sincerity of your love by comparing it with the earnestness of others. For you know the grace(B) of our Lord Jesus Christ,(C) that though he was rich, yet for your sake he became poor,(D) so that you through his poverty might become rich.(E)

10 And here is my judgment(F) about what is best for you in this matter. Last year you were the first not only to give but also to have the desire to do so.(G)

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