Expositor's Dictionary of Texts - 2 Corinthians 8:1-24
The Charm of Christ 2 Corinthians 8:9 I would take the text as showing the God-nature in the self-giving of Christ. I. The Divine Plenitude. 'He was rich' carries us up into the relation of the Son to the Father, and into the wealth He shared as Son with the Father. We have now to try and realise some of the great things which are of the essence of Deity, and to remember that they belonged to the riches of Christ as sharing in the nature of the Godhead. What, then, are the riches of God? (1)... read more
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers - 2 Corinthians 8:2
(2) In a great trial of affliction.—We do not know what is specially referred to, but a community of Christians in a heathen city was always exposed to trials of this kind, and the temper shown before by the rulers at Philippi and the Jews of Thessalonica (Acts 16:19-20; Acts 17:5-6; 1 Thessalonians 2:14) makes it almost certain that they would carry on at least a petty persecution with more or less persistency. The “poverty” at Philippi may possibly be connected with the preponderance of women... read more