As it is written, “He has distributed freely, He has given to the poor [penes]; His righteousness endures forever.” 2 Corinthians 9:9
“The New Testament recognizes two classes of poor. The first of these, the penes, or working class poor, are mentioned only once (2 Corinthians 9:9). The penes made a living with their hands . . . The primary word for poor in the New Testament . . . ptoichoi . . . appears 34 times, each time describing persons living in abject poverty: helpless, destitute, beaten down, often reduced to begging as a means of survival.”
Charles E. Smith in Beside Still Waters: Shepherding in the New Millennium (Lincoln: Writer’s Showcase, 2002) 47.
This verse came up in my teaching this week and I can’t get it out of my mind. The function of the Greek language is important for reading and interpretation. Hang with me. I’ll make this a quick Greek lesson.
The Apostle Paul wants all believers scattered across the ancient Mediterranean world, the vast majority of whom would have been “working class poor,” that is, the penes, to participate in the collection for the “working class poor” Christians in Jerusalem who are starving. He spends two chapters teaching them about Christian sharing (cf. 2 Corinthians 8-9).
In the context of the Gentile world, such behavior would have been countercultural. The cultural response to neighbors who were suffering from famine would have been to take advantage of them. For example, if famine came and your crops were wiped out and mine were fruitful, in return for taking over your land, I would give you a portion of my harvest. You survived, but essentially “lost everything” because your land was now mine. Though Jews were not supposed to take advantage of one another, the practice of taking over family lands also occurred among God’s people, which is why the “jubilee,” prescribed in the OT law, required the people to return land to families so that people were not subject to one another for generations (cf. Leviticus 25:10).
Also in Jewish tradition, it was commonly thought that the rich were the ones expected to give generously and the recipients of their alms were the destitute poor, that is, the ptoichoi, so Paul is really shaking things up to call the penes to share with each other. Christian sharing is not about the rich fulfilling their obligation outlined in the OT law to help the poor. In times of crisis, even if other workers take advantage of fellow workers, working class followers of Christ live differently! They willingly and cheerfully live simply and share richly with each other!
In modern terms, Paul is saying something like this: “As working class followers of Christ who live paycheck to paycheck, when you hear of someone who is suffering, help them out. Do this by living simply and sharing whatever surplus you have that is more than you need to live on so that your fellow workers who have fallen on hard times have sufficient resources to live. Most importantly, when you abandon the world’s thinking regarding money and serve as cheerful givers, God is absolutely tickled because people see His love through you and give thanks to Him for your obedience.”
Father in heaven, show me a fellow worker who is going through hard times with whom I might share richly today.
Speaking of sharing, I have learned much about it from my Korean brothers and sisters. They don’t just think about the needs of others, Korean churches desire to lead the world in sacrificing so that others may see God’s love through them. Today, I am flying to Washington DC to worship at one of the largest Korean churches in America tomorrow and then to facilitate meetings for ECFA with Korean-American leaders on Monday. Pray with me for a fruitful trip. Thank you.