Last time, we saw that when Paul asked God for healing or deliverance, his request was unexpectedly upgraded to God’s abounding grace and perfected power. This wasn’t a consolation prize for unanswered prayer. Instead, it was a startling answer that was immeasurably more than Paul could have asked or imagined.

And fourteen years of intentionally immersing in and interacting with God’s grace and power resulted in a man formed into Jesus’ character and power. 

So Paul desires to share with others the incredible realities of God‘s grace he has learned through intimate experience. Three chapters before Paul discloses God’s revelation about his grace, Paul encourages the Corinthian apprentices:

“And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that having all sufficiency in all things at all times, you may abound in every good work.” 2Corinthians 9:8

I truly believe this encouragement was the direct application of Paul’s experience with God’s grace and power described in 2Corinthians 12:8-10.

In this passage, Paul uses some Greek words worth highlighting. First, Paul says God is able to make all grace abound. The Greek word for “able” is dynateo. This is a rare verb that emphasizes being powerful and mighty. In 2Corinthians 12:9, God revealed that his grace was everything Paul needed because through it, God’s power is perfected and fulfilled in weakness. Here, Paul says that God’s power makes God’s grace abound.

But it’s not just some of God’s grace. God is powerfully able to make all of his grace abound. “All” is the next Greek word worth highlighting. It’s the Greek word pas and Paul uses it five times in this one sentence. All grace, for all sufficiency, in all things, at all times. When Paul says “all” he means all. Nothing is excluded with this word. All of God’s limitless, boundless grace is powerfully given so we have everything we need in every circumstance in every moment.

There’s another Greek word that repeats in this sentence. Paul says God’s grace abounds or overflows (perisseuo). He excessively overflows grace upon you, like pouring a full pitcher of water into a small cup. God keeps pouring and pouring and his grace keeps flowing and flowing. That’s because God isn’t stingy. God isn’t a “just enough” kind of God. He’s powerfully able and ecstatic to be generous and unrestrained with his grace in every and any situation.

Think about that for a moment. As God pours and pours and pours out his grace into our lives, every aspect, every nook and cranny is saturated. No area is excluded or out of bounds. Remember God is an “immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine” kind of God! The amount of grace God is pouring into your life is far more than you can ever imagine.

Now look at how 2Corinthians 9:8 ends. The word for overflow isn’t used only for God in this sentence. It’s also used for you and me. Everything Paul describes so far is so we may abundantly overflow in good works. The Greek phrase for “good works” doesn’t mean to “behave yourself.” It was used in Roman culture to describe philanthropic works. So God’s overflowing grace is so we have everything we need to overflow in generous and beneficial activity to people and the wider community. What kind of beneficial activity?

In our brief discussion above of “all” or pas, I said Paul used the word five times. But I only mentioned four things. Here is Paul’s fifth use of pas — in all good works. God overflows with all grace so you and I can overflow with all good works. Again, nothing is excluded. Jesus’ apprentices are to be immersed and interacting with all of God’s overflowing grace so we have everything we need in every circumstance so we can overflow with all beneficial activity of love, goodness, mercy, compassion, and joy for the good of people and the community.

And as we learned last time from Paul, weakness or lack isn’t an excuse. All of God’s grace overflows especially to our greatest weakness and God’s power is perfected and fully completed in our weakness. So when we are weak in our capacity and resources, then we are actually strong in God and his kingdom capacity and resources.

So how does this happen? And what is God’s grace? And how do we experience God’s grace so that we’re able to become this kind of people?

Those are for next time.