📖 Biblical Definition
The Christian discipline of substantive, sustained, sacrificial giving — of money, time, hospitality, labor, and goods — to the church, the poor, the missionary cause, and others' needs. The OT pattern is the tithe (one-tenth of increase) plus freewill offerings (Leviticus 27:30-33; Deuteronomy 14:22-29; Malachi 3:8-10). The NT continues the discipline with the explicit principle of cheerful proportional giving: every man according as he purposeth in his heart, so let him give; not grudgingly, or of necessity: for God loveth a cheerful giver (2 Corinthians 9:7); upon the first day of the week let every one of you lay by him in store, as God hath prospered him (1 Corinthians 16:2). The Macedonian churches are celebrated as the model of generosity beyond their power (2 Corinthians 8:1-5, in a great trial of affliction the abundance of their joy and their deep poverty abounded unto the riches of their liberality). The Lord Jesus commended the widow's two mites as substantively greater than the rich men's abundance (Mark 12:41-44). Paul applies the principle to the missionary care of his Macedonian and Achaean churches and to relief for the famine-stricken Jerusalem saints (2 Corinthians 8-9). The patriarchal-Reformed reader recovers generosity as substantive discipline: regular proportional giving to the local church; deliberate support of the missionary cause; sustained help to the poor and the brother in need; hospitality as material discipline; willingness to share goods, tools, food, and time substantively rather than as occasional sentimental gestures.
📜 Webster 1828 Definition
Christian discipline of substantive sustained sacrificial giving; OT tithe + freewill offerings; NT proportional cheerful giving (2 Corinthians 8-9); Macedonian model.
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GENEROSITY, n. (Christian discipline) Substantive, sustained, sacrificial giving of money, time, hospitality, labor, and goods. OT pattern: tithe + freewill offerings (Leviticus 27:30-33; Deuteronomy 14:22-29; Malachi 3:8-10). NT principle: cheerful proportional giving (2 Corinthians 9:7); regular weekly setting-aside (1 Corinthians 16:2). Macedonian model: liberality beyond their power in deep poverty (2 Corinthians 8:1-5). Widow's two mites greater than rich men's abundance (Mark 12:41-44). Patriarchal-Reformed recovery: regular church giving; missionary support; sustained help to poor and brethren; hospitality as material discipline; substantive sharing of goods, tools, food, time.
📖 Key Scripture
2 Corinthians 9:7 — "Every man according as he purposeth in his heart, so let him give; not grudgingly, or of necessity: for God loveth a cheerful giver."
2 Corinthians 8:1-2 — "Moreover, brethren, we do you to wit of the grace of God bestowed on the churches of Macedonia; How that in a great trial of affliction the abundance of their joy and their deep poverty abounded unto the riches of their liberality."
1 Timothy 6:18 — "That they do good, that they be rich in good works, ready to distribute, willing to communicate."
Mark 12:43-44 — "And he called unto him his disciples, and saith unto them, Verily I say unto you, That this poor widow hath cast more in, than all they which have cast into the treasury: For all they did cast in of their abundance; but she of her want did cast in all that she had, even all her living."
⚠️ Modern Corruption
Prosperity-gospel reverses the discipline into give-to-get transactional theology; modern consumerism reduces giving to occasional sentimental gestures; biblical generosity is substantive sustained discipline.
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The two principal corruptions of biblical generosity are opposite. Prosperity-gospel theology reverses the discipline into a give-to-get transactional contract: the giver donates expecting material return from God on a quasi-investment basis. The NT teaching is the opposite: giving is the response of grace to grace, cheerful, free, oriented to the Lord's glory and the recipient's good, not to the giver's material profit. Modern consumerist Christianity reduces generosity to occasional sentimental gestures: the small holiday donation, the impulsive charitable response to disaster appeals, the unstructured occasional offering. Biblical generosity is the opposite of both: substantive sustained discipline (regular church giving, missionary support, help to brethren and poor, hospitality as material discipline) practiced freely and cheerfully across years and decades.
🔗 Greek & Hebrew Roots
OT tithe + freewill offering; NT cheerful proportional giving; Macedonian model.
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['Greek', 'G572', 'haplotes', 'singleness, simplicity, liberality']
['Greek', 'G2842', 'koinonia', 'fellowship, sharing (the giving-as-sharing register)']
['Hebrew', 'H4643', "ma'aser", 'tithe']
Usage
"Generosity: substantive sustained sacrificial giving."
"Cheerful proportional giving (2 Corinthians 9:7)."
"Macedonian model: liberality beyond their power in deep poverty (2 Corinthians 8:1-5)."