Expositor's Bible Commentary Commentary 2 Corinthians 9:10

"And he that supplieth seed to the sower and bread for food, shall supply and multiply your seed for sowing, and increase the fruits of your righteousness:" — 2 Corinthians 9:10 (ASV)

In v.6 Paul observed that the person who sows sparingly will reap a meager harvest. Now he develops the imagery of sowing and reaping to reinforce the point that generosity pays handsome dividends. He argues from God’s bounty in nature to his even greater liberality in grace. The crops of the generous person are always full and his harvests rich. If God supplies us with the seed needed to produce a harvest of grain, and thus food (cf. Isaiah 55:10), he certainly will supply and multiply all the resources needed to produce a full harvest of good deeds (“your righteousness”; cf. Hosea 10:12).

Verse 11a restates v.8. God continues to enrich benevolent people so that they can go on enriching others by their generosity (cf. 1:4). The greater the giving, the greater the enrichment. The greater the enrichment, the greater the resources to give. Paul then adds a statement (v.11b) that he will develop in vv.12–15. The Jerusalem saints, as the grateful recipients of the liberal gift administered by Paul and his colleagues, would express their thanks to God, the source of all good gifts (cf. James 1:17).