What Does 2 Corinthians 9:13 Mean?
Through the proof of this serving they give God weight, for the confession you have placed under the good news of the Anointed One, and for the singleness of your sharing in common toward them and toward all.
Key words are shown with the Hebrew or Greek and what each word meant.
Selah Decoded Version The Selah Decoded Version renders what the Hebrew and Greek words meant to the people who first heard them.
King James wording
King James Version
Whiles by the experiment of this ministration they glorify God for your professed subjection unto the gospel of Christ, and for your liberal distribution unto them, and unto all men;THE KEY
The “liberal distribution” is sharing in a common life: the gospel becomes visible as provision passes between people and praise rises to God.
THE MEANING
Your shared provision makes the gospel you confess visible in the shape of your relationships. Those who receive it see a life ordered by the gospel, and their response is praise to God. The giving joins people through what they share in common.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
This undoes the belief that confession is only what you say: here its submission to the gospel appears in shared provision and becomes praise to God.
THE ROOT
κοινωνία
koinōnia
GROWS FROM
κοινων-
koinōn-
Common, shared; having a part in common.
“singleness of your sharing in common” in this verse is koinōnia. The root’s sense is something shared in common, and the term translated “liberal distribution” names participation rather than a detached gift. The recipients see the gospel-shaped relationship in that shared provision and glorify God for it.
ALSO GROWS
koinōnos: Partner, sharer.
κοινωνός
The giver and recipient become participants in a shared bond.
koinōneō: To share, participate.
κοινωνέω
This verbal branch shows that the distribution is an act of taking part with others.
ὑποταγή
hypotagē
GROWS FROM
τάσσω
tassō
To arrange or put in order; with the prefix meaning “under,” to place beneath an order.
“placed under” in this verse is hypotagē. The word rendered “subjection” pictures an ordering under, so the confession itself is placed beneath the gospel’s order. Beside shared provision, allegiance appears as a lived relationship, not detached speech.
ALSO GROWS
hypotassō: To arrange under, submit.
ὑποτάσσω
It makes the sense of being ordered beneath the gospel explicit.
taxis: Order, arrangement.
τάξις
This branch echoes the verse’s picture of confession taking its place under the gospel.
δοκιμή
dokimē
GROWS FROM
δοκιμ-
dokim-
Testing or approval that establishes whether something is genuine; proven character.
The word rendered “experiment” means proof or tested genuineness, not a trial-and-error experiment. The service becomes visible evidence of the community’s relation to the gospel, and that evidence leads others to glorify God.
ALSO GROWS
dokimazō: To test, examine, or approve.
δοκιμάζω
The service tests and makes visible the genuineness behind the confession.
dokimos: Approved, genuine, proven.
δόκιμος
This branch captures the recognized quality that the service demonstrates.
THE PATTERN
Provision becomes shared participation when what one has answers another person’s need.
But you shall open your hand wide to him, and you shall surely lend him enough for what he lacks.The living soul of blessing is made fat, and the one who waters is himself watered.And all who trusted were together, and had all things in common.THE THREAD
For Macedonia and Achaia have found it good to make a certain sharing in common for the emptied among the set-apart ones who are in Jerusalem.The word rendered “contribution” is the same Greek word as “liberal distribution” here: sharing in common. The connection shows the gift as participation in a shared life, so the help itself becomes a bond in the gospel.
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