The Wednesday after the Seventeenth Sunday after Trinity Sunday
Posted on October 15, 2025 by under
Scripture: 2 Corinthians 8:1-9 (NKJV)
8:1 Moreover, brethren, we make known to you the grace of God bestowed on the churches of Macedonia: 2 that in a great trial of affliction the abundance of their joy and their deep poverty abounded in the riches of their liberality. 3 For I bear witness that according to their ability, yes, and beyond their ability, they were freely willing, 4 imploring us with much urgency that we would receive the gift and the fellowship of the ministering to the saints. 5 And not only as we had hoped, but they first gave themselves to the Lord, and then to us by the will of God. 6 So we urged Titus, that as he had begun, so he would also complete this grace in you as well. 7 But as you abound in everything—in faith, in speech, in knowledge, in all diligence, and in your love for us—see that you abound in this grace also.
8 I speak not by commandment, but I am testing the sincerity of your love by the diligence of others. 9 For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though He was rich, yet for your sakes He became poor, that you through His poverty might become rich.
Devotion
Macedonia is a region in Northern Greece, containing such cities as Philippi (Acts 16:12), Thessalonica (Acts 17:1), and Berea (Acts 17:10), where St. Paul preached. His letters to the Philippian and Thessalonian Christians are also in sacred Scripture. In today’s reading from the letter to the Corinthians, St. Paul uses these Macedonian Christians as an example of generosity for the Corinthians to imitate.
This teaches an important use of the Eighth Commandment. Each of the Ten Commandments has a double application: something you must do and something you must not do. The Eighth Commandment—“you shalt not bear false witness against your neighbor” (Ex. 20:16)—is no different. The thing you must do is “defend” and “speak well of” your neighbor; whereas you must not “tell lies about” or “defame” your neighbor (Small Catechism). In general, it is easier for us to “not do” what the Commandment forbids than to practice what it commands. It is not enough that we refrain from lying about our neighbor; we must also defend and speak well of him. Here, St. Paul is an example of keeping the Eighth Commandment when he praises the Macedonians for their faithful conduct.
This reflects the doctrine of Justification. For our Lord Jesus Christ, who is the fulfillment of the Law, does not merely pass over the sins of the Baptized, He also defends and praises them to the Father, calling them “blessed of My Father” (Matt. 25:34).
Collect: Lord, we beseech Thee, grant Thy people grace to withstand the temptations of the devil, and with pure hearts and minds to follow Thee, the only God; through Jesus Christ, Thy Son, our Lord, Who liveth and reigneth with Thee and the Holy Ghost, ever One God, world without end. Amen.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
