◄ 2 Corinthians 4:15 ►
All this is for your benefit, so that the grace that is extending to more and more people may overflow in thanksgiving, to the glory of God.
Study Bible
All this is for your benefit,

Paul’s afflictions, dangers, and perseverance in proclaiming Christ served the Corinthians’ spiritual good. The sufferings of Christ’s servants did not diminish the truth of the gospel; they displayed the power of God sustaining weak vessels and bringing life to those who believed. Paul defended his ministry not for personal honor, but because the church’s confidence in the apostolic gospel was essential to its growth and stability.

2Co 1:6 If we are afflicted, it is for your comfort and salvation;…
2Co 12:15 And for the sake of your souls, I will most gladly…
2Ti 2:10 For this reason I endure all things for the elect…

so that the grace that is extending to more and more people

God’s saving grace spread as the gospel was preached and received by an increasing number of people. The Lord used apostolic witness, including its costly faithfulness, to gather believers from many places into His church. The promise that all nations would be blessed through Abraham’s offspring finds its fulfillment in Christ, through whom forgiveness and new life are offered to the world.

Act 11:23-24 When he arrived and saw the grace of God, he rejoiced…
Rom 5:15-17 But the gift is not like the trespass…
Col 1:6 that has come to you. All over the world this gospel…

may cause thanksgiving to overflow,

Those who receive God’s mercy are moved to thank Him, and the growing number of redeemed people multiplies that praise. Thanksgiving is more than private gratitude; it unites the church in worship as believers recognize that their salvation comes wholly from God’s undeserved favor.

2Co 9:11-12 You will be enriched in every way to be generous…
Col 2:7 rooted and built up in Him, established in the faith…
2Co 1:11 as you help us by your prayers.…

to the glory of God.

God is the final purpose of gospel ministry, suffering, salvation, and thanksgiving. As grace produces faith and grateful worship in more people, God’s character is made known—His mercy, faithfulness, power, and love in Christ are openly praised.

1Co 10:31 So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do…
Rom 11:36 For from Him and through Him and to Him are all things.…
Php 1:11 filled with the fruit of righteousness…

Persons / Places / Events
1. Paul the Apostle
The author of 2 Corinthians, Paul is writing to the church in Corinth to encourage and instruct them in their faith.

2. Corinth
A major city in ancient Greece, known for its diverse population and significant trade. The church in Corinth faced various challenges, including divisions and moral issues.

3. The Corinthian Church
The recipients of Paul's letter, they were a group of believers navigating their faith amidst a pagan culture.

4. God's Grace
A central theme in this passage, referring to the unmerited favor and love of God extended to humanity.

5. Thanksgiving and Glory to God
The ultimate purpose of God's grace, as it leads to gratitude and glorification of God.
Teaching Points
The Purpose of Grace
God's grace is not just for individual benefit but is meant to extend to others, leading to a communal expression of thanksgiving.

Overflowing Thanksgiving
As recipients of grace, believers are called to live lives marked by gratitude, which naturally glorifies God.

The Glory of God
The ultimate aim of grace and thanksgiving is to bring glory to God, highlighting the importance of living for His honor.

The Role of Suffering
In the broader context of 2 Corinthians 4, Paul discusses suffering. Understanding that grace and thanksgiving can arise from trials can transform our perspective on hardships.

Evangelism and Witness
As grace extends to more people, believers are encouraged to share the gospel, contributing to the spread of thanksgiving and glory to God.
Bible Study Questions
1. How does understanding the communal aspect of grace change your perspective on your personal faith journey?

2. In what ways can you cultivate a heart of thanksgiving in your daily life, even amidst challenges?

3. How does the concept of grace extending to more people influence your approach to evangelism and sharing your faith?

4. Reflect on a time when you experienced God's grace in a way that led to thanksgiving. How did it impact your relationship with God?

5. How can you ensure that your actions and words bring glory to God in your current circumstances? Consider connections to Colossians 3:17 in your response.
Connections to Other Scriptures
Ephesians 2:8-9
This passage emphasizes that salvation is by grace through faith, not by works, which aligns with the idea of grace extending to more people.

Philippians 1:11
Discusses the fruits of righteousness that come through Jesus Christ, to the glory and praise of God, similar to the thanksgiving mentioned in 2 Corinthians 4:15.

Colossians 3:17
Encourages believers to do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God, which parallels the overflow of thanksgiving in 2 Corinthians 4:15.
Sermons
Ministers in Their Weakness and StrengthC. Lipscomb 2 Corinthians 4:7-18
Soul-Inspiring FactsD. Thomas, D. D.2 Corinthians 4:14-15
People
Corinthians, Galatians, Paul
Places
Achaia, Corinth
Topics
Abound, Abounding, Abundant, Account, Bestowed, Cause, Extends, Giving, Glory, Grace, Greater, Increase, Increased, Multiplied, Order, Overflow, Praise, Promote, Reaching, Redound, Richly, Sake, Sakes, Spreading, Thanks, Thanksgiving, Thanksgivings
Dictionary of Bible Themes
2 Corinthians 4:15

     4035   abundance
     5856   extravagance
     8676   thanksgiving

2 Corinthians 4:7-18

     5024   inner being

2 Corinthians 4:13-15

     8440   glorifying God

2 Corinthians 4:13-16

     5916   pessimism

2 Corinthians 4:15-17

     4019   life, believers' experience

Library
The Winsome Jesus.
The Face of Jesus: Jesus drew crowds, men, women, children, bad people, enemies--His personality--face--impress of experiences--the glory of God in that face, 2 Corinthians 4:6. Hebrews 1:3. The Music of God in the Voice of Jesus: the eye--Jesus' eyes, Luke 4:16-30. John 8:59. 10:31. 7:32, 45, 46. 18:6. Mark 10:32. 9:36. 10:13-16. Luke 19:48.--His voice, Matthew 26:30. personal touch, Matthew 8:3, 15. 9:29. 17:7. 20:34. Mark 1:41. 7:33. Luke 5:13. 22:51. (John 14:16-20). His presence irresistible. …
S. D. Gordon—Quiet Talks about Jesus

Looking at the Unseen
'While we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen.'--2 COR. iv. 18. Men may be said to be divided into two classes, materialists and idealists, in the widest sense of those two words. The mass care for, and are occupied by, and regard as really solid good, those goods which can be touched and enjoyed by sense. The minority--students, thinkers, men of ideas, moralists, and the like--believe in, and care for, impalpable spiritual riches. Everybody admits that the …
Alexander Maclaren—Romans, Corinthians (To II Corinthians, Chap. V)

The Heart of the Gospel
Let me give you a parable. In the days of Nero there was great shortness of food in the city of Rome, although there was abundance of corn to be purchased at Alexandria. A certain man who owned a vessel went down to the sea coast, and there he noticed many hungry people straining their eyes toward the sea, watching for the vessels that were to come from Egypt with corn. When these vessels came to the shore, one by one, the poor people wrung their hands in bitter disappointment, for on board the galleys …
Charles Haddon Spurgeon—Spurgeon's Sermons Volume 32: 1886

In the Bitter Cold of Winter the Trees Stand Bare of Leaves...
1. In the bitter cold of winter the trees stand bare of leaves, and it seems as if their life, too, had departed for ever, yet in the spring time they put forth new leaves and beautiful flowers, and the fruit begins to show itself. So was it with Me in My crucifixion and resurrection, and so it is with my faithful cross-bearers (2 Cor. iv.8-11; vi.4-10). Though they seem to be crushed and dead beneath their cross they still put forth the beautiful flowers and glorious fruits of eternal life which …
Sadhu Sundar Singh—At The Master's Feet

Clairvoyance
"We look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen: for the things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal."--2 COR. iv. 18. "Everything that is, is double."--Hermes Trismegistus. "LOOK not at the things which are seen." How can we look not at the things which are seen? If they are seen, how can we help looking at them? "Look at the things which are not seen." How can we look at things which are not seen? Has religion some magic wishing-cap, …
Henry Drummond—The Ideal Life

Conclusion.
NEBICULA est; transibit,"--"It is a little cloud; it will pass away." This was said first, I believe, by Athanasius, of Julian the Apostate who, after a short reign of intense hostility to Christianity, perished with his work, "leaving no wreck behind."[97]97 The same may be applied to all the recent attempts to undermine the faith of humanity in the person of its divine Lord and Saviour. The clouds, great and small, pass away; the sun continues to shine: darkness has its hour; the light is eternal. …
Philip Schaff—The Person of Christ

Meditations of the Blessed State of a Regenerate Man in Heaven.
Here my meditation dazzles, and my pen falls out of my hand; the one being not able to conceive, nor the other to describe, that most excellent bliss, and eternal weight of glory (2 Cor. iv. 17; Rom. viii. 18)--whereof all the afflictions of this present life are not worthy--which all the elect shall with the blessed Trinity enjoy, from that time that they shall be received with Christ, as joint-heirs (Rom. viii. 17) into that everlasting kingdom of joy. Notwithstanding, we may take a scantling thereof. …
Lewis Bayly—The Practice of Piety

Out of the Depths
Heinrich Suso 2 Cor. iv. 17 "O Father! not my will, but Thine be done!" Thus with my lips I say; Yet lags the heart, the while the lips would run-- My heart, it sayeth "Nay." "Be comforted, O child of My delight, Though yet thy heart complain; For I would have thee suffer when I smite, Or pain would not be [g]ain. "Were it a chastening if it were not grief? Yet for a moment tears-- Then glows the spring where fell the yellow leaf, Of Heaven's eternal years. "For sorrow is the sorrow of an hour, …
Frances Bevan—Hymns of Ter Steegen, Suso, and Others

Light of a Stone Most Precious
P. G. 2 Cor. iv. 6, 7 God in heaven hath a treasure, Riches none may count or tell; Hath a deep eternal pleasure, Christ, the Son He loveth well. God hath here on earth a treasure, None but He its price may know-- Deep unfathomable pleasure, Christ revealed in saints below. Christ, the light that fills the heavens Shining forth on earth beneath, Through His Spirit freely given Light of life midst shades of death; Down from heaven's unclouded glory God Himself the treasure brought, Closing thus …
Frances Bevan—Hymns of Ter Steegen, Suso, and Others

The Council of Nicæa.
An ecumenical council was a new experiment. Local councils had long since grown to be a recognised organ of the Church both for legislation and for judicial proceedings. But no precedent as yet prescribed, no ecclesiastical law or theological principle had as yet enthroned, the General Council' as the supreme expression of the Church's mind. Constantine had already referred the case of the Donatists first to a select council at Rome under bishop Miltiades, then to what Augustine (Ep. 43) has been …
Athanasius—Select Works and Letters or Athanasius

Memoir of John Bunyan
THE FIRST PERIOD. THIS GREAT MAN DESCENDED FROM IGNOBLE PARENTS--BORN IN POVERTY--HIS EDUCATION AND EVIL HABITS--FOLLOWS HIS FATHER'S BUSINESS AS A BRAZIER--ENLISTS FOR A SOLDIER--RETURNS FROM THE WARS AND OBTAINS AN AMIABLE, RELIGIOUS WIFE--HER DOWER. 'We have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellency of the power may be of God, and not of us.'--2 Cor 4:7 'For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the Lord.'--Isaiah 55:8. 'Though ye have lien among the …
John Bunyan—The Works of John Bunyan Volumes 1-3

Preaching (ii. ).
For Thy sake, beloved Lord, I will labour in Thy Word; On the knees, in patient prayer; At the desk, with studious care; In the pulpit, seeking still There to utter all Thy will. I pursue the subject of attractive preaching, taking still the word attractive in its worthiest sense, and again laying stress on the necessity of attractiveness of the right sort. We have looked a little already at some of the external requisites to this end; now let us approach some which have to do with matter more …
Handley C. G. Moule—To My Younger Brethren

Fourth Sunday after Trinity Consolation in Suffering, and Patience.
Text: Romans 8, 18-22. 18 For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed to us-ward. 19 For the earnest expectation of the creature waiteth for the revealing of the sons of God. 20 For the creation was subjected to vanity not of its own will, but by reason of him who subjected it, in hope 21 that the creation itself also shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the liberty of the glory of the children of God. …
Martin Luther—Epistle Sermons, Vol. III

Religious Joy.
"And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord."--Luke ii. 10, 11. There are two principal lessons which we are taught on the great Festival which we this day celebrate, lowliness and joy. This surely is a day, of all others, in which is set before us the heavenly excellence and the acceptableness in God's sight of that state which …
John Henry Newman—Parochial and Plain Sermons, Vol. VIII

The Patience of Man, which is Right and Laudable and Worthy of the Name...
2. The patience of man, which is right and laudable and worthy of the name of virtue, is understood to be that by which we tolerate evil things with an even mind, that we may not with a mind uneven desert good things, through which we may arrive at better. Wherefore the impatient, while they will not suffer ills, effect not a deliverance from ills, but only the suffering of heavier ills. Whereas the patient who choose rather by not committing to bear, than by not bearing to commit, evil, both make …
St. Augustine—On Patience

Edwards -- Spiritual Light
Jonathan Edwards, the New England divine and metaphysician, was born at East Windsor, Connecticut, in 1703. He was graduated early from Yale College, where he had given much attention to philosophy, became tutor of his college, and at nineteen began to preach. His voice and manner did not lend themselves readily to pulpit oratory, but his clear, logical, and intense presentation of the truth produced a profound and permanent effect upon his hearers. He wrote what were considered the most important …
Grenville Kleiser—The world's great sermons, Volume 3

Faith in General.
"Through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God."--Ephes. ii. 8. When the judicial act of the Triune God, justification, is announced to the conscience, faith begins to be active and expresses itself in works. This leads us to call the attention of our readers to the work of the Holy Spirit, which consists in the imparting of faith. We are saved through faith; and that faith is not of ourselves, it is the gift of God. It is very specially a gift of the Triune God, by a peculiar …
Abraham Kuyper—The Work of the Holy Spirit

Concerning Christian Liberty
CHRISTIAN faith has appeared to many an easy thing; nay, not a few even reckon it among the social virtues, as it were; and this they do, because they have not made proof of it experimentally, and have never tasted of what efficacy it is. For it is not possible for any man to write well about it, or to understand well what is rightly written, who has not at some time tasted of its spirit, under the pressure of tribulation. While he who has tasted of it, even to a very small extent, can never write, …
Martin Luther—First Principles of the Reformation

Lastly, Let us Hear the Lord Himself Delivering Most Plain Judgment on this Matter. ...
23. Lastly, let us hear the Lord Himself delivering most plain judgment on this matter. For, upon His speaking after a divine and fearful manner concerning husband and wife not separating, save on account of fornication, His disciples said to Him, "If the case be such with a wife, it is not good to marry." [2066] To whom He saith, "Not all receive this saying. For there are eunuchs who were so born: but there are others who were made by men: and there are eunuchs, who made themselves eunuchs for …
St. Augustine—Of Holy Virginity.

He Severely Reproves Abaelard for Scrutinizing Rashly and Impiously, and Extenuating the Power Of, the Secret Things of God.
He severely reproves Abaelard for scrutinizing rashly and impiously, and extenuating the power of, the secret things of God. 17. This is the righteousness of man in the blood of the Redeemer: which this son of perdition, by his scoffs and insinuations, is attempting to render vain; so much so, that he thinks and argues that the whole fact that the Lord of Glory emptied Himself, that He was made lower than the angels, that He was born of a woman, that He lived in the world, that He made trial of our …
Saint Bernard of Clairvaux—Some Letters of Saint Bernard, Abbot of Clairvaux

Strength and Indwelling.
"For this cause I bow my knees unto the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, of Whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named, that He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with might by His Spirit in the inner man; that Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith; that ye, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height; and to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge, that …
W. H. Griffith Thomas—The Prayers of St. Paul

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