Charity is that pure love which our Savior Jesus Christ has. He has commanded us to love one another as He loves us. The scriptures tell us that charity comes from a pure heart (see 1 Timothy 1:5). We have pure love when, from the heart, we show genuine concern and compassion for all our brothers and sisters.
Remember this: Whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows generously will also reap generously. Each of you should give what you have decided in your heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.
The Meaning Of Charity In The Bible
Charity is a term that is often used in the Bible to describe love, kindness, and generosity. It is a concept that is central to the Christian faith and has been interpreted in many different ways throughout history. In this blog post, we will explore the meaning of charity in the Bible and what it means for Christians today.
Charity Definition in Hebrew
The Hebrew word for charity is “tzedakah” (צדקה), which means “righteousness” or “justice.” It is often used to describe acts of kindness or generosity towards others, especially those who are less fortunate. Tzedakah is considered to be an ethical obligation for Jews and is one of the three main acts that can positively influence an unfavorable heavenly decree.
Charity Bible Definition KJV
The King James Version of the Bible uses the word “charity” to describe love, benevolence, and good will. It is considered the greatest of the three Christian graces, along with faith and hope. In 1 Corinthians 13:13, it says: “And now abideth faith, hope, charity, these three; but the greatest of these is charity.”
Charity Love Meaning
Charity love is a kind of love that is based on the love of God and a neighbor. It is the highest form of love in Christian thought. Charity is the act of extending love and kindness to others unconditionally. It is a benevolent goodwill toward or love of humanity. Charity is characterized by being patient, kind, not seeking its own way, not being easily provoked, not rejoicing in the iniquity of others, bearing, believing, hoping, and enduring.
In conclusion, charity is a concept that has been interpreted in many different ways throughout history. It is a central theme in both Jewish and Christian traditions and represents an ethical obligation to help those who are less fortunate. Whether it’s through acts of kindness or generosity towards others or simply by showing love and compassion to those around us, charity remains an important part of our lives today.
Bible Verse About Charity And Not Bragging
Acts 20:35 ESV / 706 helpful votes
In all things I have shown you that by working hard in this way we must help the weak and remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how he himself said, ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive.’”
Hebrews 13:16 ESV / 602 helpful votes
Do not neglect to do good and to share what you have, for such sacrifices are pleasing to God.
Matthew 6:1-4 ESV / 525 helpful votes
“Beware of practicing your righteousness before other people in order to be seen by them, for then you will have no reward from your Father who is in heaven. “Thus, when you give to the needy, sound no trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may be praised by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward. But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, so that your giving may be in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you.
Proverbs 19:17 ESV / 451 helpful votes
Whoever is generous to the poor lends to the Lord, and he will repay him for his deed.
Luke 21:1-4 ESV / 331 helpful votes
Jesus looked up and saw the rich putting their gifts into the offering box, and he saw a poor widow put in two small copper coins. And he said, “Truly, I tell you, this poor widow has put in more than all of them. For they all contributed out of their abundance, but she out of her poverty put in all she had to live on.”
1 John 3:17 ESV / 324 helpful votes
But if anyone has the world’s goods and sees his brother in need, yet closes his heart against him, how does God’s love abide in him?
2 Corinthians 9:7 ESV / 324 helpful votes
Each one must give as he has decided in his heart, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.
Luke 12:33 ESV / 278 helpful votes
Sell your possessions, and give to the needy. Provide yourselves with moneybags that do not grow old, with a treasure in the heavens that does not fail, where no thief approaches and no moth destroys.
Luke 6:38 ESV / 237 helpful votes
Give, and it will be given to you. Good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over, will be put into your lap. For with the measure you use it will be measured back to you.”
1 Corinthians 13:1-13 ESV / 196 helpful votes
If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. If I give away all I have, and if I deliver up my body to be burned, but have not love, I gain nothing. Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; …
Matthew 5:42 ESV / 191 helpful votes
Give to the one who begs from you, and do not refuse the one who would borrow from you.
Hebrews 13:2 ESV / 186 helpful votes
Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for thereby some have entertained angels unawares.
Deuteronomy 15:7-11 ESV / 183 helpful votes
“If among you, one of your brothers should become poor, in any of your towns within your land that the Lord your God is giving you, you shall not harden your heart or shut your hand against your poor brother, but you shall open your hand to him and lend him sufficient for his need, whatever it may be. Take care lest there be an unworthy thought in your heart and you say, ‘The seventh year, the year of release is near,’ and your eye look grudgingly on your poor brother, and you give him nothing, and he cry to the Lord against you, and you be guilty of sin. You shall give to him freely, and your heart shall not be grudging when you give to him, because for this the Lord your God will bless you in all your work and in all that you undertake. For there will never cease to be poor in the land. Therefore I command you, ‘You shall open wide your hand to your brother, to the needy and to the poor, in your land.’
1 Corinthians 13:13 ESV / 178 helpful votes
So now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love.
Proverbs 21:13 ESV / 173 helpful votes
Whoever closes his ear to the cry of the poor will himself call out and not be answered.
Colossians 3:14 ESV / 131 helpful votes
And above all these put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony.
1 Corinthians 8:1 ESV / 125 helpful votes
Now concerning food offered to idols: we know that “all of us possess knowledge.” This “knowledge” puffs up, but love builds up.
1 Timothy 1:5 ESV / 123 helpful votes
The aim of our charge is love that issues from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith.
1 Corinthians 16:14 ESV / 114 helpful votes
Let all that you do be done in love.
1 Corinthians 13:4 ESV / 112 helpful votes
Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant
1 Peter 4:8 ESV / 111 helpful votes
Above all, keep loving one another earnestly, since love covers a multitude of sins.
1 Corinthians 13:8 ESV / 111 helpful votes
Love never ends. As for prophecies, they will pass away; as for tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will pass away.
1 Corinthians 13:3 ESV / 110 helpful votes
If I give away all I have, and if I deliver up my body to be burned, but have not love, I gain nothing.
Acts 9:36 ESV / 109 helpful votes
Now there was in Joppa a disciple named Tabitha, which, translated, means Dorcas. She was full of good works and acts of charity.
1 Timothy 4:12 ESV / 106 helpful votes
Let no one despise you for your youth, but set the believers an example in speech, in conduct, in love, in faith, in purity.
Proverbs 31:8-9 ESV / 96 helpful votes
Open your mouth for the mute, for the rights of all who are destitute. Open your mouth, judge righteously, defend the rights of the poor and needy.
Revelation 2:19 ESV / 94 helpful votes
“‘I know your works, your love and faith and service and patient endurance, and that your latter works exceed the first.
1 Corinthians 13:1 ESV / 85 helpful votes
If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal.
Luke 11:41 ESV / 83 helpful votes
But give as alms those things that are within, and behold, everything is clean for you.
Isaiah 58:10 ESV / 82 helpful votes
If you pour yourself out for the hungry and satisfy the desire of the afflicted, then shall your light rise in the darkness and your gloom be as the noonday.
1 Corinthians 14:1 ESV / 80 helpful votes
Pursue love, and earnestly desire the spiritual gifts, especially that you may prophesy.
1 Peter 5:14 ESV / 75 helpful votes
Greet one another with the kiss of love. Peace to all of you who are in Christ.
1 Thessalonians 3:6 ESV / 74 helpful votes
But now that Timothy has come to us from you, and has brought us the good news of your faith and love and reported that you always remember us kindly and long to see us, as we long to see you—
1 Thessalonians 1:3 ESV / 72 helpful votes
Remembering before our God and Father your work of faith and labor of love and steadfastness of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ.
Jude 1:12 ESV / 71 helpful votes
These are hidden reefs at your love feasts, as they feast with you without fear, shepherds feeding themselves; waterless clouds, swept along by winds; fruitless trees in late autumn, twice dead, uprooted;
Proverbs 22:9 ESV / 71 helpful votes
Whoever has a bountiful eye will be blessed, for he shares his bread with the poor.
2 Peter 1:7 ESV / 70 helpful votes
And godliness with brotherly affection, and brotherly affection with love.
James 1:27 ESV / 68 helpful votes
Religion that is pure and undefiled before God the Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unstained from the world.
Matthew 25:40 ESV / 68 helpful votes
And the King will answer them, ‘Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me.’
Proverbs 28:27 ESV / 68 helpful votes
Whoever gives to the poor will not want, but he who hides his eyes will get many a curse.
Matthew 6:1-34 ESV / 67 helpful votes
“Beware of practicing your righteousness before other people in order to be seen by them, for then you will have no reward from your Father who is in heaven. “Thus, when you give to the needy, sound no trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may be praised by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward. But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, so that your giving may be in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you. “And when you pray, you must not be like the hypocrites. For they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and at the street corners, that they may be seen by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward. …
Titus 2:2 ESV / 66 helpful votes
Older men are to be sober-minded, dignified, self-controlled, sound in faith, in love, and in steadfastness.
1 Corinthians 13:2 ESV / 66 helpful votes
And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing.
James 2:15-16 ESV / 64 helpful votes
If a brother or sister is poorly clothed and lacking in daily food, and one of you says to them, “Go in peace, be warmed and filled,” without giving them the things needed for the body, what good is that?
Deuteronomy 15:7-8 ESV / 60 helpful votes
“If among you, one of your brothers should become poor, in any of your towns within your land that the Lord your God is giving you, you shall not harden your heart or shut your hand against your poor brother, but you shall open your hand to him and lend him sufficient for his need, whatever it may be.
Matthew 19:21 ESV / 59 helpful votes
Jesus said to him, “If you would be perfect, go, sell what you possess and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me.”
John 13:34-35 ESV / 58 helpful votes
A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”
Hebrews 13:5 ESV / 57 helpful votes
Keep your life free from love of money, and be content with what you have, for he has said, “I will never leave you nor forsake you.”
Matthew 6:24 ESV / 56 helpful votes
“No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money.
2 Timothy 2:22 ESV / 54 helpful votes
So flee youthful passions and pursue righteousness, faith, love, and peace, along with those who call on the Lord from a pure heart.
Matthew 7:12 ESV / 54 helpful votes
“So whatever you wish that others would do to you, do also to them, for this is the Law and the Prophets.
Matthew 6:2 ESV / 53 helpful votes
“Thus, when you give to the needy, sound no trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may be praised by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward.
Isaiah 58:7 ESV / 53 helpful votes
Is it not to share your bread with the hungry and bring the homeless poor into your house; when you see the naked, to cover him, and not to hide yourself from your own flesh?
1 Peter 4:1-19 ESV / 50 helpful votes
Since therefore Christ suffered in the flesh, arm yourselves with the same way of thinking, for whoever has suffered in the flesh has ceased from sin, so as to live for the rest of the time in the flesh no longer for human passions but for the will of God. For the time that is past suffices for doing what the Gentiles want to do, living in sensuality, passions, drunkenness, orgies, drinking parties, and lawless idolatry. With respect to this they are surprised when you do not join them in the same flood of debauchery, and they malign you; but they will give account to him who is ready to judge the living and the dead. …
1 Timothy 1:1-20 ESV / 49 helpful votes
Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by command of God our Savior and of Christ Jesus our hope, To Timothy, my true child in the faith: Grace, mercy, and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Lord. As I urged you when I was going to Macedonia, remain at Ephesus so that you may charge certain persons not to teach any different doctrine, nor to devote themselves to myths and endless genealogies, which promote speculations rather than the stewardship from God that is by faith. The aim of our charge is love that issues from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith. …
1 John 4:19 ESV / 48 helpful votes
We love because he first loved us.
1 Timothy 2:15 ESV / 48 helpful votes
Yet she will be saved through childbearing—if they continue in faith and love and holiness, with self-control.
Luke 3:11 ESV / 48 helpful votes
And he answered them, “Whoever has two tunics is to share with him who has none, and whoever has food is to do likewise.”
Galatians 2:10 ESV / 47 helpful votes
Only, they asked us to remember the poor, the very thing I was eager to do.
1 Corinthians 16:1-3 ESV / 47 helpful votes
Now concerning the collection for the saints: as I directed the churches of Galatia, so you also are to do. On the first day of every week, each of you is to put something aside and store it up, as he may prosper, so that there will be no collecting when I come. And when I arrive, I will send those whom you accredit by letter to carry your gift to Jerusalem.
Luke 10:35 ESV / 46 helpful votes
And the next day he took out two denarii and gave them to the innkeeper, saying, ‘Take care of him, and whatever more you spend, I will repay you when I come back.’
Matthew 25:31-46 ESV / 46 helpful votes
“When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, then he will sit on his glorious throne. Before him will be gathered all the nations, and he will separate people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. And he will place the sheep on his right, but the goats on the left. Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, …
2 Corinthians 9:1-15 ESV / 45 helpful votes
Now it is superfluous for me to write to you about the ministry for the saints, for I know your readiness, of which I boast about you to the people of Macedonia, saying that Achaia has been ready since last year. And your zeal has stirred up most of them. But I am sending the brothers so that our boasting about you may not prove empty in this matter, so that you may be ready, as I said you would be. Otherwise, if some Macedonians come with me and find that you are not ready, we would be humiliated—to say nothing of you—for being so confident. So I thought it necessary to urge the brothers to go on ahead to you and arrange in advance for the gift you have promised, so that it may be ready as a willing gift, not as an exaction. …
1 Peter 1:1-25 ESV / 44 helpful votes
Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, To those who are elect exiles of the Dispersion in Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia, according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, in the sanctification of the Spirit, for obedience to Jesus Christ and for sprinkling with his blood: May grace and peace be multiplied to you. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you, who by God’s power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. …
Galatians 6:2 ESV / 44 helpful votes
Bear one another’s burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ.
Romans 13:8-10 ESV / 44 helpful votes
Owe no one anything, except to love each other, for the one who loves another has fulfilled the law. For the commandments, “You shall not commit adultery, You shall not murder, You shall not steal, You shall not covet,” and any other commandment, are summed up in this word: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” Love does no wrong to a neighbor; therefore love is the fulfilling of the law.
Matthew 25:35 ESV / 44 helpful votes
For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me,
1 Timothy 6:10 ESV / 43 helpful votes
For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evils. It is through this craving that some have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many pangs.
Luke 19:8 ESV / 43 helpful votes
And Zacchaeus stood and said to the Lord, “Behold, Lord, the half of my goods I give to the poor. And if I have defrauded anyone of anything, I restore it fourfold.”
Psalm 41:1 ESV / 43 helpful votes
To the choirmaster. A Psalm of David. Blessed is the one who considers the poor! In the day of trouble the Lord delivers him;
Psalm 112:9 ESV / 42 helpful votes
He has distributed freely; he has given to the poor; his righteousness endures forever; his horn is exalted in honor.
1 Corinthians 8:1-13 ESV / 41 helpful votes
Now concerning food offered to idols: we know that “all of us possess knowledge.” This “knowledge” puffs up, but love builds up. If anyone imagines that he knows something, he does not yet know as he ought to know. But if anyone loves God, he is known by God. Therefore, as to the eating of food offered to idols, we know that “an idol has no real existence,” and that “there is no God but one.” For although there may be so-called gods in heaven or on earth—as indeed there are many “gods” and many “lords”— …
2 Thessalonians 1:3 ESV / 39 helpful votes
We ought always to give thanks to God for you, brothers, as is right, because your faith is growing abundantly, and the love of every one of you for one another is increasing.
Acts 24:17 ESV / 39 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful
Now after several years I came to bring alms to my nation and to present offerings.
