Biblical theology is the ideas that the Bible itself
contains. In every section of the Bible,
generosity is commanded, lauded and displayed.
Rare is such an ethical theme so consistently and regularly upheld. Here is a sampling of this theme, and some of
the strong affirmations:
1.
Creation—Psalm 104
Psalm 104 is a text about the creation of the world that
offer different details than Genesis 1 or 2, and so belongs in the conversation
with these texts. Here, a picture is
given of God creating an ordered world, in which every creature—even the sun
and moon—are given what they need, food, water and shelter. Human rule is seen as working to sustain this
order of providing and preserving creation.
The wicked at the end of the psalm are those who deny this order, who hoard
and keep for themselves resources which were meant to keep all of creation
running. In Psalm 104’s ideal creation,
every creature is a part of the natural order of sustenance and amble
resources.
2.
Patriarchs—Genesis 18-19
Abraham is seen as the ideal man of faith, who obtains
wealth because of his trust in the One God, the Most High, the Creator. But this wealth is also tested. In Genesis 18, Abraham sees three men
(secretly messengers from Yahweh), strangers, passing by in the middle of the
desert. Abraham insists on giving them “a
little bread and water”, which becomes a feast of mutton and loaves. This hospitality is seen as Abraham’s regular
generosity for strangers.
Sodom, on the other hand, abuses strangers, harming both the
immigrant and the one who offers the stranger hospitality. Sodom is therefore destroyed for their abuse.
3.
Law—Deuteronomy 15
The law had in place a regular system of forgiving debts,
which included restoring land back to the original family to whom it was given.
A warning is given with this to be
generous to the poor, even if the time of forgiveness was nigh. Generosity is tied to economic prosperity for
the whole nation, because if they are generous then “there will be no poor
among you.” Generosity is always an
option, and always a character trait that one should practice, for “the poor
will never cease in the land.” Or is
this the Mosaic recognition that the people of Israel will not heed the law,
and so economic disparity will exist as long as people withhold help from their
neighbors?
4.
History—I Samuel 25
Nabal (“fool”, possibly a name given the man in later retellings)
is a wealthy man having an annual sheering feast with his men. David, an innocent homeless man with his men
make a polite request to take part of the feast, as he has been protecting
Nabal’s livestock. Nabal refuses,
choosing to insult David instead. David
wants to take vengeance on Nabal, killing him and his men, but Nabal’s wife,
Abigail, offers gifts and generous words to David, causing him to repent from
his anger. The next day, Nabal dies of a
heart attack. Refusing charity is seen
as foolish and resulting in death.
5.
Prophets—Isaiah 58
The later Isaiah is speaking to a nation recently re-settled
into the land. They wonder whether they
should continue their practice of fasting each Friday, to request Yahweh
deliverance from their oppressors, and restoration. Yahweh replies that their fasting is
pointless as long as they continue to oppress the poor by not being generous to
them. Once they have granted justice and
peace to the poor, then God will give their fasting and prayers due
consideration.
6.
Wisdom—Proverbs 28:8, 27
Proverbs has a theme about poverty and giving to the poor
running throughout its pages. We can see
one theme in these two verses. The act
of charging interest on debts is a way of gouging the poor, and those who use
this practice of oppressing the poor, as well as any other oppressive
practices, will be judged by God to be unworthy of their wealth. Those who will be blessed by God are those
who regularly generous to those who are in need, and they will receive the
wealth of the oppressor.
7.
Wisdom—Job 31
Job, like Abraham, is seen by many as a righteous wealthy
man. But what makes him righteous? His actions of treating his servants well,
and especially his generosity to the needy.
He adopted orphans and would never have a meal without sharing that meal
with the poor. His great wealth was
matched by his great generosity.
8.
Jesus—Luke 12
In a lecture that is collected from various places in Q and
Luke’s own source, Jesus warns his disciples against a variety of greeds. He gives a parable warning that preparing for
one’s retirement without equal generosity to the poor, can lead to a premature
judgment by God. Wealth is not the
answer to one’s problems, but God himself. The normative disciple is to
surrender his possessions to the poor, in order to obtain God’s storehouse of
wealth instead. And the disciple is to
be generous, not worrying about where one’s basic needs would be met, for God
would supply the disciple with all he needs, even as He provides for all
creation.
9.
Jesus—Luke 16
Jesus gives two parables (from Luke’s special source), speaking
of the relationship of the wealthy to the poor.
In the second parable, the rich man ignores Lazarus, the poor beggar
outside the wealthy estate. The wealthy
man is punished because he did not share his comfort with Lazarus who was
suffering horribly. Rather, Jesus says
that wealthy people should be like the unjust steward, who sees the poor and
suffering as those who will obtain God’s favor, and so should make friends with
them by freely surrendering their wealth, which is not theirs to begin with,
but God’s.
10.
Acts—Acts 4:33-37
The natural response to Jesus’ teachings about economics, is
for many of the wealthy in the early church to surrender their wealth to be
redistributed among the poor of their church.
This is the cause of God’s great blessing on the church.
11.
Paul—Galatians 2:7-10
Although Paul did not support the law being given to the
Gentiles to follow, he did agree with James that one law should be commanded of
all disciples, Jew or Gentile, which was generosity to the poor.
12.
James 5:1-6
The wealthy among the congregation is seen as worthy of God’s
judgment because instead of sharing their ample resources, they were hoarding
them, not practicing “true religion” or obeying “the royal commandment” to love
their neighbor as themselves.
13.
John—I john 3:17; 4:20
The elder encourages the church to give to the poor. If we have the ability to be generous, but do
not, then we do not display the kind of love God had for us, and so we do not
have God’s love or grace. God’s grace is
on display in those who meet the needs of those around them.
Throughout the Bible, the choice is clear. If we have some wealth, money, land, estate,
connections, food, livestock or other resources, then it is natural and loving
to give to those in greater need than we.
If we do not do this, we are outside the system of God’s grace, mercy
and generosity and we will not be partakers of God’s grace, but rather the
focus of His judgment. Even as those who
do not forgive will not be forgiven, those who are not generous to the poor
will not receive the generosity of God.
