Grace Giving
Grace Giving
Grace Giving
1. They were Generous
A. Afliction
Contents: A. θλίβω, θλῖψις in Secular Greek. B. θλίβω, θλῖψις in the LXX. C.θλίβω, θλῖψις in the NT: 1. The Nature of Tribulation; 2. The Experience of Tribulation.
1. θλίβω in the lit. sense: “to press,” “squash,” “rub,” “hem in”: Hom. Od., 17, 221; Aristoph. Pax, 1239: (ὁ θώραξ), θλίβει τὸν ὄρρον, Lys., 314; Theocr. Idyll., 20, 4: χείλεα θλίβειν, “to kiss”; Demosth. Or., 18, 260: τοῦς ὄφεις θλίβων, Mk. 3:9: ἵνα μὴ θλίβωσιν αὐτόν (“crush”); “to press together”: Plat. Tim., 60c: σφόδρα ἔθλιψε … αὐτόν (sc. τὸν τῆς γῆς ὄγκον), cf. Wis. 15:7 … κεραμεὺς ἁπαλὴν γῆν θλίβων. This leads in the past part. to the sense of “to be small or narrow”: Luc. Alex., 49: τῆς πόλεως θλιβομένης ὑπὸ τοῦ πλήθους; Theocr. Idyll., 21, 18: θλιβομένα καλύβα (hut), cf. Mt. 7:13: στενὴ ἡ πύλη καὶ τεθλιμμένη ἡ ὁδὸς ἡ ἀπάγουσα εἰς τὴν ζωήν (antonym: πλατεῖα καὶ εὐρύχωρος), but also Dion. Hal. Ant. Rom., VIII, 73: βίοι τεθλιμμένοι (slender competence); Ditt. Syll.3, II, 708, 28; Diog. L., II, 109: τοῖς ἐφοδίοις θλίβεσθαι (“to be in want”), IV, 37. Similarly θλῖψις has the lit. meaning of “pressure” in the physical sense, Epic. Ep., 2 (p. 49, Usener): θλίψεως τῶν νεφῶν γενομένης, Strabo, I, 3, 6: διὰ τὴν ἐξ ἴσης ἀντέρεισιν (resistance, opposition) καὶ θλῖψιν (τοῦ ὕδατος). In medical terminology, Oribasius Fr., 42 (CMG): θλῖψις στομάχου, Gal. De Differentiis Febrium, I, 9 (VII, 306, Kühn): pressure of the pulse; Soranus Gynaecia (CMG, IV), I, 42: ὑστερικαὶ θλίψεις.
2. θλίβω in the figur, sense, “to afflict,” “oppress,” “harass.” Though it is not always possible to distinguish between external and internal affliction, the following main meanings may be discerned: a. “to afflict” or “to discomfit,”
B. Abundance
a. As a phenomenon, a direct feeling or better self-perception, as self-being in self-transport, joy is uniform, and so are its manifestations even to tears of joy, Aesch. Ag., 270 and 541. It is everywhere a culmination of existence: “Joy, beauteous spark divine.” It strains beyond itself. As direct feeling it creates no problems. These arise only when man in ethical self-reflection sees himself as mastered by desire (→ II, 911, 12 ff.) and plunged into bondage.
b. χαίρω means “to rejoice,” “to be merry.”4 For Hom. the seat of the emotion is
. Meaning.
1. πτωχός, etym. related to πτώσσειν (Hom. Od., 18, 363; Hes. Op., 395), “to bow down timidly,” means as an adj. “destitute,” “mendicant,” πτωχὸς ἀνὴρ ἀλαλήμενος ἐλθών, Hom. Od., 21, 327; πτωχοὺς ἀλᾶσθαι παῖδας, Eur. Med., 515; πτωχὸς δίαιτα, “begged bread,” Soph. Oed. Col., 751; P. Petr., III, 36a, 17 (3rd cent. B.C.); comp. Timocles Fr., 6, 10 (CAF, II, 453); proverbially: πτωχότερος κίγκλου (water-wagtail, of which it was assumed that it had no nest of its own), Menand. Fr., 190; Plut. Apophth. Aristides, 4 (II, 186b); Epict. Diss., III, 9, 16; πτωχίστερος, Aristoph. Ach., 425; superl. Anth. Pal., 10, 50, 4. Much more common, esp. in prose, as a noun, Hom. Od., 18, 1; καὶ κεραμεὺς κεραμεῖ κοτέει καὶ τέκτονι τέκτων, καὶ πτωχός πτωχῷ φθονέει καὶ ἀοιδὸς ἀοιδῷ, Hes. Op., 25 f.; proverbially of the insatiable πτωχῶν οὐλὰς ἀεὶ κενεή, Callim. Fr., 724.
2. πτωχεύω intr. “to be destitute,” “to lead the life of a beggar,” Hom. Od., 15, 309; 19, 73; Tyrtaeus Fr., 6, 4;2 Ps.-Plat. Eryx., 394b; Luc. Nec., 17; ἀλᾶσθαι καὶ πτωχεύειν ἐν Λιβύῃ, Plut. Titus, 21, 12 (I, 381d); fig. Polyb., 7, 7, 6 (πραγμάτων). Trans. “to beg” δαῖτα, Hom. Od., 17, 11 and 19; with acc. of person, “to beg from someone,” Theogn., I, 922 (Diehl3, II, 56).
It is a feature of the age of salvation that the community is superabundantly rich in gifts, powers and ministries. Paul experiences this, and expects it, in the matter of the collection. He praises the churches of Macedonia because their deep poverty superabounded in the richness of their generosity, 2 C. 8:2. He magnifies God who has richly poured out His own grace on the churches (2 C. 9:8 περισσεῦσαι trans.), so that they for their part—in their αὐτάρκεια (→ I, 467, 13 ff.)—have a superabundance (περισσεύητε intrans.) for every good work. As they were more than rich in faith, knowledge, zeal and love, they could be superabundantly rich in this demonstration of grace (χάρις) as well, 2 C. 8:7. The collection does not merely meet the financial needs (→ ὑστερήματα) of the recipients. It is a liturgy with religious content. It is rich beyond measure in the fact that it brings forth many thanksgivings to God, 2 C. 9:12.
C. Abounded
It is a feature of the age of salvation that the community is superabundantly rich in gifts, powers and ministries. Paul experiences this, and expects it, in the matter of the collection. He praises the churches of Macedonia because their deep poverty superabounded in the richness of their generosity, 2 C. 8:2. He magnifies God who has richly poured out His own grace on the churches (2 C. 9:8 περισσεῦσαι trans.), so that they for their part—in their αὐτάρκεια (→ I, 467, 13 ff.)—have a superabundance (περισσεύητε intrans.) for every good work. As they were more than rich in faith, knowledge, zeal and love, they could be superabundantly rich in this demonstration of grace (χάρις) as well, 2 C. 8:7. The collection does not merely meet the financial needs (→ ὑστερήματα) of the recipients. It is a liturgy with religious content. It is rich beyond measure in the fact that it brings forth many thanksgivings to God, 2 C. 9:12.
ἁπλότης.
Here, too, the basic meaning is a. “simplicity”: 2 Βασ. 15:11; 3 Macc. 3:21; Jos. Bell., 2, 151. And again this leads to such value concepts as b. “noble simplicity,” “characteristic of the psyche of heroes,” c. “purity” or “singleness of heart”: Jos. Bell., 5, 319 and often in M. Ant., related to ἀλήθεια, and d. “sufficiency” which has something to spare for others, i.e., “generosity”: Jos. Ant., 7, 332; Test. Iss. 3:8: πάντα γὰρ πένησι καὶ θλιβομένοις παρεῖχον … ἐν ἁπλότητι καρδίας μου.