MADE RICH THROUGH CHRIST’S POVERTY (PART III)

“Second Corinthians 8:9 is a Majestic Summary of the Gospel”

By Akin Ojumu

If this is your first introduction to this commentary series, let me thank you for sparing 3 minutes of your life to read the thoughts expressed in this write-up. In case you don’t know, this is the third and final installment of a 3-part exposition on 2 Corinthians 8:9. We set out to expose Baba Adeboye’s interpretation of this text for the egregious error that it is.

2 Corinthians 8:9

“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.”

Like all prosperity preacher of kind, Baba turns the glorious proclamation of Christ’s redemptive humiliation, that His poverty represents in 2 Corinthians 8:9, into a promise of material prosperity. The CEO of the RCCG Worldwide Religious Industrial Complex grotesquely trivializes the incarnation and the Cross.

The spiritual leader of an organization with membership numbering in the millions falsely preaches that Christ descended from Heaven so that him and his followers may have bigger bank accounts, luxury automobiles, palatial mansions, and immunity from financial hardship.

If the purpose of Christ’s poverty was “that ye through his poverty might be rich,” the central question that Baba Adeboye should have tried to answer by doing his due diligence is:

 

“What kind of riches does Paul have in mind?”

It doesn’t require a whole of study to figure out what Paul had in mind when he wrote about the riches that the poverty of Christ confers on believers. The answer is not as farfetched as you might have imagined.

Because Christ’s former riches were not material riches, as we mentioned in the prior installments of the commentary, the riches believers receive through His poverty cannot be reduced to money. Paul, in 2 Corinthians 8:9, is describing the riches of salvation that come to sinners through the incarnation, death, and resurrection of Christ.

Through Christ’s poverty, believers receive reconciliation with God, forgiveness of sins, justification, adoption, eternal life, the indwelling Spirit, fellowship with Christ, access to God, a heavenly inheritance, and the hope of resurrection glory.

We were poor in righteousness, but in Christ we are justified. We were poor in spiritual life, but in Christ we have been made alive. We were poor in our relationship with God, but in Christ we have been reconciled. We were poor in hope, but in Christ we have an eternal inheritance. We were poor because we possessed nothing capable of purchasing salvation. Christ, through His self-giving sacrifice, supplied everything necessary for our redemption.

Paul uses similar paradoxical language elsewhere in the same letter. He describes himself and his fellow ministers as “poor, yet making many rich; as having nothing, and yet possessing all things.” 

Their lack of material abundance did not prevent them from enriching others with the Gospel. This demonstrates that, in Paul’s vocabulary, being “rich” refers to the spiritual treasures communicated through Christ rather than the possession of earthly treasures.

The exchange in 2 Corinthians 8:9 is therefore redemptive. Christ entered our humiliation so that we might share His glory. He entered our mortality so that we might receive eternal life. He bore our condemnation so that we might receive His righteousness. He became a servant so that we might become children of God. He entered our poverty so that we might inherit the riches of divine grace.

Several features of the passage make it impossible to interpret 2 Corinthians 8:9 as a guarantee that every Christian will become materially wealthy.

First, the Macedonian Christians had received the grace of God, yet Paul says they remained in “extreme poverty.” Their poverty did not prove that they lacked faith or had failed to appropriate the atonement. On the contrary, their joy, generosity, and devotion demonstrated the reality of God’s grace in them.

Second, Paul was collecting money for poor Christians in Jerusalem. If Christ’s atonement guaranteed financial abundance, Paul’s response to their poverty should have been to teach them how to claim their covenant wealth. Instead, he organized material assistance from other Churches.

Third, Paul tells the Corinthians that the goal of giving is a fair balance: their present abundance should supply the needs of others. His concern is not that every believer possess luxury but that needy believers receive sufficient provision. The principle is mutual care within the body of Christ.

Fourth, chapter 9 explains what it means to be “enriched.” God provides believers with sufficiency so that they may “overflow in every good work.” Paul says they will be “enriched in every way” for the purpose of being generous. God’s provision is presented as seed for further giving, not capital for self-indulgence.

The promise is not unlimited accumulation. It is divine sufficiency for faithful obedience and generous service.

Neither the Greek wording nor the context of Paul’s collection supports the claim that financial abundance is guaranteed in the atonement. The atonement does have economic implications, but those implications appear in the formation of a new community whose members care for one another—not in a promise that every individual Christian will become affluent.

Christ is more than an example of generosity. His sacrifice is the saving act through which believers receive the riches of grace. But the Christ who saves us also becomes the pattern for how we are to live.

Paul is effectively telling the Corinthians:

“You know what Christ gave for you. Now let the grace you have received produce generosity toward others.”

Christian giving does not begin with guilt, manipulation, promises of miraculous financial returns, or pressure from religious leaders. It begins with the Gospel.

We give because Christ first gave Himself for us. We loosen our grip on possessions because Christ did not cling to His privileges. We bear the burdens of others because Christ bore our burden. We seek the welfare of the needy because Christ entered our need. We give voluntarily because Christ’s sacrifice was voluntary. We give sacrificially because His grace was costly. We give joyfully because His poverty has made us eternally rich.

The Jerusalem collection was therefore more than a fundraising campaign. It was a visible expression of Christian fellowship and solidarity. Gentile believers who had received spiritual blessings through the Gospel were sharing material resources with suffering Jewish believers. The gift demonstrated that grace had created one people whose members were responsible for one another.

Second Corinthians 8:9 is not a divine formula for obtaining material riches. It is a majestic summary of the Gospel and a powerful appeal for Christian generosity.

Christ was rich in Heavenly glory. He became poor through His incarnation, servanthood, suffering, and death. He did this for our sake. Through His poverty, we receive the immeasurable riches of salvation and reconciliation with God.

Those who have received such grace must become gracious. Those who have been enriched by Christ must use what God has given them to serve others. The proper response to this verse is not to demand wealth from God, but to marvel at Christ, trust in His saving work, and imitate His self-giving love.

The message of 2 Corinthians 8:9 is not:

“Christ became poor so that you could live in luxury.”

It is:

“Christ gave Himself to make spiritually bankrupt sinners eternally rich; therefore, let His grace make you generous.”

To the devoted followers and admirers of Baba Adeboye who may encounter this commentary, my earnest prayer is that the Lord will open your eyes to the truth that the man you affectionately call “Daddy,” and whom many of you regard as a uniquely anointed representative of Christ, is merely another false teacher dispensing spiritual junk food to those who trust him.

May God, in His mercy, deliver you from deception and rescue your soul from error.