Charles Spurgeon Commentary 2 Corinthians 8

Moreover, brethren, we do you to wit of the grace of God bestowed on the churches of Macedonia; (2 Corinthians 8:1).

That is a quaint old expression, "We do you to wit." It means, "We would let you know, we would tell you, we would inform you of what the Macedonian saints have done"; and he does not at first say, "We would let you know of the liberality which the Macedonian churches have shown," but rather, of the grace of God bestowed on the churches of Macedonia.

What we do for God, God's grace has first bestowed upon us. If there is any virtue, if there is any zeal, if there is any faith, if there is any love, it is the result of the grace of God bestowed upon us.

Always look upon things in that light, for then you will not grow proud. Whatever you give, and whatever you do, you may regard it as the elect of the grace of God bestowed upon you.

How that in a great trial of affliction the abundance of their joy and their deep poverty abounded unto the riches of their liberality.

They were very poor people in Macedonia but they loved God so much that they abounded in liberality. Considering how little they possessed, and how much they were tried and persecuted, they had been wonderfully generous.

For to their power, I bear record, yea, and beyond their power they were willing of themselves;

They were willing to give even beyond their power. They gave up to the full limit of what they could do, and then wished that they could give even more. And notice that "they were willing of themselves." Paul did not have to stir them up to do this, nor even to mention the subject to them: "They were willing of themselves."

That is the best kind of service to God that a man ever does, that in which he is willing of himself. It is the slave who is flogged to his work; the child is willing of himself. Oh, that on the altar of God, you and I may gladly place our offerings because we have been made willing of ourselves!

Moreover, brethren, we do you to wit

Or, "we make known to you."

Of the grace of God bestowed on the churches of Macedonia.

How that in a great trial of affliction the abundance of their joy and their deep poverty abounded unto the riches of their liberality.

It is good to stir one Christian up by the example of another, and Paul excites those at Corinth by the example of the churches in Macedonia—especially, no doubt, the church at Philippi. He says that they were in great affliction, and they were very poor, yet they had been so filled with the grace of God that their very poverty had enabled them to abound to the riches of their liberality, for what they gave became more in proportion because they were so poor.