2 Corinthians 8:12

For if the readiness is there, it is acceptable according as a man hath, not according as he hath not.

This was written to relieve the Corinthians of any thought that a certain amount of money was required of them. It was not some given amount that Paul was insisting upon, but the doing of whatever they could do. The intention and willingness to give were far more important than any merely quantitative consideration. The case of the widow's two mites (Mark 12:43,44) was used by the Saviour himself to prove that one with very small means could actually give even more than those with abundance. See my Commentary on Mark, pp. 264-267.

Christians must give, there being no such thing as a penurious, ungenerous, stingy Christian. Regarding the AMOUNT that should be given, David Lipscomb wrote: "It is clearly a self-deception for an individual to think he pleases God under the perfect dispensation of Christ while doing less than the Israelites did under the typical dispensation."[19] For further discussion of this, see my Commentary on Hebrews, pp. 144-146.

Many who profess to be giving "the widow's mite" are doing no such thing. That AMOUNT they indeed give; but it is not "all their living" as was the case with her. Lipscomb said, "Her sacrificial example has been profaned many times"[20] in order to hide the meanest selfishness.

[19] David Lipscomb, Second Corinthians (Nashville: Gospel Advocate Company), p. 113.

[20] Ibid. p. 114.