From: Josef Lowder (joe@whidbey.net)
Date: Mon Jun 23 1997 - 07:47:51 EDT
To: b-greek@virginia.edu
Subject: 2 Corinthians 9:7 "God loves"?
ekastos kaqws proaireitai th  kardia mh  ek luphs  h  ex anagkhs 
each    as    purposes    the heart  not of sorrow or of necessity
ilaron   gar dothn agapa o qeoV 
cheerful for giver loves   God
What criteria of Greek grammatical construction warrants or requires 
the translation "for God loves [a] cheerful giver" (as seems to be an 
almost universal translation in most English texts) ... rather than 
"for [the] cheerful giver loves God" ?
Why is the translation "for the cheerful giver loves God" not equally 
or more viable, and would that not be more consistent with the context? 
Is it not true that one being a cheerful giver out of love for God 
("as each one purposes in his/her heart") fits the context more fully 
than intimating/insinuating that God's love is somehow limited to or 
greater for those who give cheerfully than for those who may not?  That 
latter notion seems inconsistent with the nature of God who, "while we 
were yet sinners, Christ died for us" out of love for us. 
Therefore, is it correct, or incorrect, to read into this instruction 
that one is supposed to give cheerfully because God loves a cheerful 
giver (thus suggesting a sense of obligation, out of necessity, and/or 
perhaps even "grudgingly")?  Or, might we not better read it that the 
correct motivation for giving cheerfully is simply out of a sense of 
purpose which reflects hearts of love for God? 
Josef Lowder - joe@whidbey.net
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