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Q&A#30 Is the Widow with the Two Mites a Positive Example of Sacrificial Giving

Alastair Roberts

Q&A#30 Is the Widow with the Two Mites a Positive Example of Sacrificial Giving

August 8, 2018
Alastair Roberts
Alastair Roberts

Today's question: "The story of the widow and her two mites (Luke 21:1-4) is often used to commend sacrificial giving. However, the immediate context contains Jesus condemning the Scribes for “devouring widows’ houses” and promising to destroy the temple. Is the story primarily about sacrificial giving? Or, is this story about a corrupt religious system that was devouring widows rather than caring and providing for them? The Macedonians in 2 Corinthians 8 gave out of their poverty, but it was in response to the gospel and doesn’t seem to have been their pennies."

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