The Meaning of 2 Corinthians 4:15 Explained

2 Corinthians 4:15

KJV: For all things are for your sakes, that the abundant grace might through the thanksgiving of many redound to the glory of God.

YLT: for the all things are because of you, that the grace having been multiplied, because of the thanksgiving of the more, may abound to the glory of God;

Darby: For all things are for your sakes, that the grace abounding through the many may cause thanksgiving to abound to the glory of God.

ASV: For all things are for your sakes, that the grace, being multiplied through the many, may cause the thanksgiving to abound unto the glory of God.

KJV Reverse Interlinear

For  all things  [are] for  your  sakes,  that  the abundant  grace  might  through  the thanksgiving  of many  redound  to  the glory  of God. 

What does 2 Corinthians 4:15 Mean?

Study Notes

abundant grace
Grace (imparted). 2 Corinthians 6:1-3 ; Romans 6:1 ; 2 Peter 3:18 .

Verse Meaning

This concluding statement also reflects the apostle"s sincere desire for the Corinthians" welfare. All Paul had been experiencing would result in the Corinthians" good and God"s glory. He gladly endured suffering for the gospel in view of this prospect. Paul had brought God"s grace to Corinth, and now the Corinthians were taking that grace to other people in other places. Gratitude is always the proper response to God"s grace.
"As God"s grace expanded in their hearts and through them reached ever-increasing Numbers , so too, the volume of thanksgiving to God for the receipt of illumination (cf. 2 Corinthians 4:6) would increase and promote the glory of God." [1]
So far Paul gave three reasons for his refusal to become discouraged as he served the Lord. In the past he had received a divine commission to proclaim a new and better covenant ( 2 Corinthians 4:1). In the future he looked forward to sharing Jesus Christ"s resurrection from the dead ( 2 Corinthians 4:14). And in the present he had the opportunity to promote the Corinthians" spiritual welfare and the glory of God ( 2 Corinthians 4:16).

Context Summary

2 Corinthians 4:7-18 - The Inward Life Triumphant Over Affliction
Few men have been more conscious of their weakness than was the Apostle. The earthen vessel had become very cracked and scratched, but the heavenly treasure was unimpaired, as in the case of Gideon, when the pitcher was broken the lantern shone out. Paul here confesses that he was troubled, perplexed, persecuted, and cast down, always bearing the scars of Jesus, and being perpetually delivered over to death. But he gratefully accepted all these disabilities because he knew that they gave greater opportunities to Jesus to show forth, through him, His resurrection power. With the daily decay of the outward, there came the renewal of the unseen and spiritual. It is only in proportion as we are conformed to the sufferings and death of Christ that we begin to realize the fullness of what He is, and what He can be or do through us. Our one thought must always be the glory of Christ in the salvation of others.
Note the contrasts of 2 Corinthians 4:17. The affliction is light, but the glory of the future is fraught with radiant and satisfying blessedness. The one is transient, the other eternal. The one is the price of the other, though each is the gift of God. The comet which has gone farthest into the outer darkness returns closest to the central sun. [source]

Chapter Summary: 2 Corinthians 4

1  Paul declares how he has used all sincerity and diligence in preaching the gospel,
7  and how his troubles and persecutions did redound to the praise of God's power,
12  to the benefit of the church,
16  and to the apostle's own eternal glory

Greek Commentary for 2 Corinthians 4:15

Being multiplied through the many [πλεονασασα δια των πλειονων]
Late word πλεοναζω — pleonazō from πλεον — pleon more, “making more through the more,” with play on πλεον — pleon One can think of Bunyan‘s Grace Abounding. [source]
The abundant grace [ἡ χάρις πλεονάσασα]
Lit., the grace having abounded. Rev., the grace being multiplied. Grace is the divine gift of spiritual energy which is shown in the labor, suffering, and triumph of the apostles. [source]
Might through the thanksgiving of many redound [διὰ τῶν πλειόνων τὴν εὐχαριστίαν περισσεύση]
Numerous arrangements of these words are proposed. Through ( διά ) should govern the many, not thanksgiving; and redound should be transitive, cause to abound, and governing thanksgiving. So Rev., the grace, being multiplied through the many, may cause the thanksgiving to abound. The thought is on the line of 2 Corinthians 4:12, that the sufferings and risks of the apostles promote spiritual life in the Church. The grace of God, thus manifest in the apostles, shall be multiplied through the increasing number of those who share it, and shall thus make thanksgiving more abundant for the fruits of this grace as exhibited in the apostles and in the Church. Redound (A.V.) is from the Latin redundare to surge back. Therefore, primarily, of a fullness or overflow from the setting back of a tide. So Milton:“The evil, soonDriven back, redounded as a flood on thoseFrom whom it sprang.”Generally, to abound. From this arises the secondary sense, to conduce, contribute to; that is, to make the causes mount up, or abound, so as to produce the effect. So Addison: “The care of our national commerce redounds more to the riches and prosperity of the public,” etc. [source]

Reverse Greek Commentary Search for 2 Corinthians 4:15

Ephesians 1:8 Wherein He hath abounded [ἧς ἐπερίσσευσεν]
Rev., correctly, which He made to abound. The verb is used both transitively and intransitively in the New Testament. The transitive use belongs mainly to later Greek. Compare, for the transitive sense, Matthew 13:12; 2 Corinthians 4:15. [source]
Colossians 2:7 Thanksgiving [εὐχαριστίᾳ]
For Paul's emphasis on thanksgiving, see Romans 1:21; Romans 14:6; 2 Corinthians 1:11; 2 Corinthians 4:15; 2 Corinthians 9:11, 2 Corinthians 9:12; Ephesians 5:20; 1 Timothy 2:1, etc. Εὐχαριστός thankful εὐχαριστεῖν togive thanks, εὐχαριστία thanksgivingare found only in Paul's writings. [source]

What do the individual words in 2 Corinthians 4:15 mean?

- For all things [are] for the sake of you so that the grace having abounded through - more and more the thanksgiving may increase to glory - of God
τὰ γὰρ πάντα δι’ ὑμᾶς ἵνα χάρις πλεονάσασα διὰ τῶν πλειόνων τὴν εὐχαριστίαν περισσεύσῃ εἰς δόξαν τοῦ Θεοῦ

τὰ  - 
Parse: Article, Nominative Neuter Plural
Root:  
Sense: this, that, these, etc.
πάντα  all  things  [are] 
Parse: Adjective, Nominative Neuter Plural
Root: πᾶς  
Sense: individually.
δι’  for  the  sake  of 
Parse: Preposition
Root: διά  
Sense: through.
ἵνα  so  that 
Parse: Conjunction
Root: ἵνα  
Sense: that, in order that, so that.
χάρις  grace 
Parse: Noun, Nominative Feminine Singular
Root: χάρις  
Sense: grace.
πλεονάσασα  having  abounded 
Parse: Verb, Aorist Participle Active, Nominative Feminine Singular
Root: πλεονάζω  
Sense: to superabound.
διὰ  through 
Parse: Preposition
Root: διά  
Sense: through.
τῶν  - 
Parse: Article, Genitive Masculine Plural
Root:  
Sense: this, that, these, etc.
πλειόνων  more  and  more 
Parse: Adjective, Genitive Masculine Plural, Comparative
Root: πολύς  
Sense: greater in quantity.
εὐχαριστίαν  thanksgiving 
Parse: Noun, Accusative Feminine Singular
Root: εὐχαριστία  
Sense: thankfulness.
περισσεύσῃ  may  increase 
Parse: Verb, Aorist Subjunctive Active, 3rd Person Singular
Root: περισσεύω  
Sense: to exceed a fixed number of measure, to be left over and above a certain number or measure.
δόξαν  glory 
Parse: Noun, Accusative Feminine Singular
Root: δόξα  
Sense: opinion, judgment, view.
τοῦ  - 
Parse: Article, Genitive Masculine Singular
Root:  
Sense: this, that, these, etc.
Θεοῦ  of  God 
Parse: Noun, Genitive Masculine Singular
Root: θεός  
Sense: a god or goddess, a general name of deities or divinities.