📖 Biblical Definition
Scripture commands self-sacrificial love for others, but always as an outworking of love for God. "Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends" (John 15:13). The biblical ethic is not "altruism" in the secular sense — it is not self-sacrifice for its own sake or for the sake of human progress. It is love rooted in the character of God, who first loved us (1 John 4:19). Paul instructs believers to "look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others" (Philippians 2:4), following the pattern of Christ who emptied Himself for our sake.
📜 Webster 1828 Definition
Not present in Webster 1828. The word was coined in 1851, after Webster's publication.
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Not in Webster 1828. The nearest equivalents are BENEVOLENCE ("the disposition to do good; good will; kindness") and CHARITY ("love; universal benevolence; good will"). Note: Webster had no need for a secular philosophical term because the Christian vocabulary of charity, benevolence, and love already described self-sacrificial care for others within a theological framework.
📖 Key Scripture
• John 15:13 — "Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends."
• Philippians 2:3-4 — "In humility count others more significant than yourselves."
• 1 John 4:19 — "We love because he first loved us."
⚠️ Modern Corruption
Secular altruism replaces love for God with humanistic self-sacrifice detached from divine command.
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Secular altruism — especially in its "effective altruism" form — attempts to produce Christian-like self-sacrifice without Christ. It treats human welfare as the highest good and calculates charitable giving through utilitarian frameworks. But altruism without God as its foundation and object is ultimately self-referential. It flatters the giver, builds human systems of moral credit, and replaces worship of God with worship of human flourishing. Biblical love is categorically different: it flows from God's command, imitates Christ's sacrifice, and aims at God's glory. The Good Samaritan did not perform a cost-benefit analysis — he loved his neighbor because God commanded it.
Usage
• "Biblical self-sacrifice is not altruism — it is obedience to the God who first loved us and commands us to love others as He loved us."
• "Secular altruism borrows the fruit of Christianity while cutting off its root — it wants self-sacrifice without the God who defines and empowers it."