Pressure or Providence

The title for this book emerged out of a dynamic experience. I sat with the management team at Howard Publishing for several hours one afternoon brainstorming. Jokingly, they threatened that they weren't going to let me fly back to Dallas until we had all agreed on a title that captured the essence of this study on material possessions. We threw idea after idea on the table, and in each case the consensus was thumbs down.

Then it happened! Call it pressure or providence-or both-but the phrase rich in every way popped into my head and out onto the "table." It immediately brought a thumbs-up response. We all agreed that this phrase not only captured Paul's original intent but the essence of the message in the book you now hold in your hands.

Note Paul's statement in 2 Corinthians 9:11: "You will be made rich in every way so that you can be generous on every occa­sion, and through us your generosity will result in thanksgiving to God."

In the immediate context, Paul unquestionably had material pos­sessions in mind when he penned these words. However, when we understand all of the circumstances as well as the context of Scripture, it's also clear that Paul was addressing a much larger issue.

The Greek word ploutizo, which Paul used here and which is translated "rich" in the NIV, can indeed mean "to make wealthy" in a material sense. But note how Paul used a similar word in his first letter to the Corinthians: "Already you have all you want! Already you have become rich [plouteo]! You have become kings!" (1 Corinthians 4:8).

Even more importantly, note how Paul used this word in his second letter, just a few paragraphs prior to his "rich in every way" comment: "You know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich [plousios], yet for your sakes he became poor, so that you through his poverty might become rich [plouteo]" (2 Corinthians 8:9).

Clearly Paul was not speaking here of material wealth but rather of the incomparable riches [ploutos] of God's grace (see Ephesians 1:7; 2:7). Even more specifically, Paul identified our calling in Christ as a result of "the unsearchable riches of Christ" (Ephesians 3:8).

We'll look more carefully at the larger context of eternal wealth in the main body of this book, but suffice it to say, Paul was not promising the Corinthians material wealth and abun­dance as we use these terms today. He was promising them God's grace-not only to meet their material needs but also to enable them to be generous regardless of their material resources. Let's not forget how Paul began this section in his letter:

We want you to know about the grace that God has given the Macedonian churches. Out of the most severe trial, their overflowing joy and their extreme poverty welled up in rich generosity. For I testify that they gave as much as they they were able, and even beyond their abil­ity. Entirely on their own, they urgently pleaded with us for the privilege of sharing in this service to the saints. (2 Corinthians 8:1-4)

Perhaps this scripture explains and illustrates more fully than any other what Paul had in mind with the phrase rich in every way. Indeed, we feel this title captures the essence of what the Bible teaches about Christians and material possession

Extracted from Dr Gene Getz’s Rich in Every Way