How was Jesus rich?

In 2 Corinthians 8:9, Paul motivates us to give sacrificially by pointing to who Jesus is and what He has done for us:

“For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though He was rich, yet for your sake He became poor, so that you through His poverty might become rich.”

The simplest way to read this might be to assume Paul is saying:

Though Christ was financially wealthy, for your sake, He became financially poor.

That would make sense at first glance—especially because we’re talking about giving in this context, and we usually use the words rich and poor financially.

But the problem with interpreting it that way is that it doesn’t quite fit Jesus’ life on earth. He wasn’t financially rich and then became financially poor. So clearly, Paul means something deeper here.

The question is: what?

Was Jesus Rich During His Life on Earth?

Let’s start by asking whether Paul is talking about Jesus’ earthly life at all in this first phrase: though He was rich.

The second phrase—He became poor—definitely refers to His life on earth as a human. But does rich describe His human life too?

If you didn’t know much about Jesus, you might assume Paul is contrasting two stages of Jesus’ earthly life—maybe the time before He was crucified versus after. But Jesus wasn’t rich financially at any point. He was the adopted son of a manual laborer.

Could Paul mean that Jesus was spiritually rich? After all, Jesus had the Spirit without measure. He deeply understood the Word of God and had daily communion with the Father. Those are certainly the most important ways of being rich.

But if that’s what Paul means, how does it fit with the contrast he’s making?

Because the point here is the contrast:

“For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though He was rich, yet for your sake He became poor.”

And that makes it sounds like something that happened at a moment in time. A sacrifice.

Maybe you might say this is about the cross—that Jesus became poor there. But even on the cross, Jesus didn’t lose His relationship with the Spirit. And while the cross is hard to fully understand, we know Jesus was acting in obedience to the Father. Scripture describes His death as a fragrant offering to God. The Father was pleased with Jesus dying on our behalf. Yes, Jesus cries out, “My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?” But He’s quoting a psalm, expressing the experience of judgment for sin as our substitute. Even then, He continues to pray and trust God.

So, is that really the best way to explain He became poor?

The Traditional Interpretation

Throughout church history, most have not understood this verse as describing a change in Jesus’ earthly circumstances. And honestly, that makes the most sense.

If Paul’s point is to highlight the magnitude of Jesus’ sacrifice, the contrast works best if rich refers to Jesus as the eternal Son of God—before the incarnation. Paul is pointing to Jesus’ preexistent glory. Before He took on human nature, He was rich—not merely financially or even spiritually in a human sense, but rich in His divine existence as God the Son.

And if you are going to appreciate who Jesus is and the sacrifice He made, this is where you need to start. A proper Christology depends on proper theology.

Who Is God?

Here’s where we can start digging a little.

There’s only one God,  but that one God eternally exists as three persons: the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Each is fully God, not one-third of God. God the Father is God, God the Son is God, God the Holy Spirit is God. They are all, all God. But God the Father is not the Son, the Son is not the Spirit, and the Spirit is not the Father. They are distinct persons, who share one nature, completely. They are not not different parts of God. Yet somehow they are also distincty frome one another. The way they are distinct is in terms of origin. The Father eternally begets the Son, and the Spirit proceeds from the Father and the Son. This is a mystery, but it’s the best way we can describe what Scripture reveals. When Paul says though He was rich, he’s talking about Jesus in His eternal divine existence—as the Son, fully God, sharing in the infinite glory of the Trinity.

Rich Beyond Words

To understand how rich Jesus is, we have to think about His existence before the incarnation.

What’s it like to be God? Imagine the most glorious existence possible—and multiply it by infinity. It still wouldn’t be enough. We’re trying to describe the life of an uncreated being using created words—and they’re not enough.

But God gives us a word here that helps: rich. That’s where Paul wants us to start when we think about Jesus’ sacrifice. And we’ll look at how that helps next time.