For ye know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that, though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, that ye through his poverty might be rich. For ye know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ - This was the strongest argument of all; and it is urged home by the apostle with admirable address.
Ye know - Ye are acquainted with God's ineffable love in sending Jesus Christ into the world; and ye know the grace - the infinite benevolence of Christ himself.
That, though he was rich - The possessor, as he was the creator, of the heavens and the earth; for your sakes he became poor - he emptied himself, and made himself of no reputation, and took upon himself the form of a servant, and humbled himself unto death, even the death of the cross; that ye, through his poverty - through his humiliation and death, might be rich - might regain your forfeited inheritance, and be enriched with every grace of his Holy Spirit, and brought at last to his eternal glory.
If Jesus Christ, as some contend, were only a mere man, in what sense could he be said to be rich? His family was poor in Bethlehem; his parents were very poor also; he himself never possessed any property among men from the stable to the cross; nor had he any thing to bequeath at his death but his peace. And in what way could the poverty of one man make a multitude rich? These are questions which, on the Socinian scheme, can never be satisfactorily answered.