Beneficence

Beneficence — active kindness and material generosity toward others — is rooted in Israel's covenant ethic and finds its NT expression in the love commandment and the imitation of God's own generosity. The Mosaic law legislated beneficence toward the poor: gleaning rights, the tithe for the Levite and the poor, the sabbatical release of debts, and the prohibition against charging interest from needy fellow Israelites (Lev. 25:35–37; Deut. 15:7–11). The motive given is theological: "Remember that you were a slave in Egypt" and God redeemed you.

Jesus distilled the law and prophets into love of God and love of neighbor (Matt. 22:37–40), and the parable of the Good Samaritan extended neighbor-love to practical action across social and ethnic lines (Luke 10:33–37). James insists that faith without works of beneficence is dead: faith that does not provide food and clothing for a brother or sister in need is no faith at all (James 2:14–17). Paul calls the Corinthians to replicate Christ's own self-giving generosity in their collection for the Jerusalem poor (2 Cor. 8:9).