Therefore I thought it necessary to exhort the brethren, that they would go before unto you, and make up beforehand your gift, of which you had notice before, that the same might be ready, as a matter of gift, and not as an extortion.
All Commentaries on 2 Corinthians 9:5 Go To 2 Corinthians 9
Cornelius a Lapide
AD 1637
As a matter of bounty. As a blessing (Latin version). That your beneficence may seem spontaneous and generous, not extorted from greedy persons (Anselm, Theophylact, Chrysostom). Why bounty is called a blessing is explained in the note to ver6. The Greek, ευ̉λογία denotes both blessing and a good and fruitful contribution or almsgiving (Erasmus). In 1 Corinthians 16:1, the Apostle called these contributions or collections ευ̉λογίαι. Both meanings have place here. S. Paul is urging the Corinthians to spontaneous and cheerful (denoted by blessing), as well as to fruitful and liberal, contribution. He is engaged in describing the spirit that should animate the giver, viz, one ready and cheerful, unforced, unconstrained, unstained by covetousness or meanness.
