ACC ~ 2 Corinthians 9 v7

A CHEERFUL HEART. AMBROSIASTER: Paul is teaching them that if they give with a cheerful heart they will be storing up treasure for future use in heaven. COMMENTARY ON PAUL’S EPISTLES.

NOT A BLEMISHED SACRIFICE. BASIL: People who give reluctantly or under compulsion present a blemished sacrifice which should not be accepted. THE LONG RULES 29.

GENEROUS GIVING. CHRYSOSTOM: I think that Scripture means a generous giver, but Paul has taken it in the sense of willingness to give. HOMILIES ON THE EPISTLES OF PAUL TO THE CORINTHIANS 19.2.

CHEERFULNESS IN GIVING. CHRYSOSTOM: Paul’s purpose was not only for money to be contributed to the poor but for it to be contributed with great eagerness. Likewise, God appointed almsgiving not only for the nourishment of the needy but also for the benefit of the providers, and much more so for the latter than for the former. For if he considered only the interest of the poor, he would have commanded solely that the money be given, and he would not have asked for the eagerness of the providers. But now you see the apostle in every way ordering by will first and above all for the givers to be joyful: the suppliers to furnish in a cheerful manner. And at one time he says, “Everyone must do as he has chosen in his heart, neither out of grief nor necessity, for God loves a cheerful giver,” not simply a giver but the one who does this with pleasure. HOMILY 10.4.16: A SERMON ON ALMSGIVING.

THE JOY OF CHRIST’S DEBTOR. MAXIMUS OF TURIN: Blessed, then, is almsgiving, which both renews the recipient and rejoices the giver, “for God loves a cheerful giver,” and for this reason it is better to give to him first. Joyful, therefore, and cheerful is the one who attends to the poor. Quite clearly he is joyful, because for a few small coins he acquires heavenly treasures for himself; on the contrary, the person who pays taxes is always sad and dejected. Rightly is he sad who is not drawn to payment by love but forced by fear. Christ’s debtor, then, is joyful, and Caesar’s sad, because love urges the one to payment, and punishment constrains the other; the one is invited by rewards, the other compelled by penalties. SERMON 71 ON FASTING AND ALMSGIVING.

DEPOSITS OF PIETY. TERTULLIAN: Even if there is some kind of treasury, it is not accumulated from a high initiation fee as if the religion were something bought and paid for. Each man deposits a small amount on a certain day of the month or whenever he wishes, and only on condition that he is willing and able to do so. No one is forced; each makes his contribution voluntarily. These are, so to speak, the deposits of piety. The money therefrom is spent not for banquets or drinking parties or good-for-nothing eating houses but for the support and burial of the poor, for children who are without their parents and means of subsistence, for aged men who are confined to the house; likewise, for shipwrecked sailors, and for any in the mines, on islands or in prisons. APOLOGY 39.

2 Cor