The Verse That Flipped: “Give, and It Shall Be Given to You”

Introduction

Most people have heard the verse, “Give, and it shall be given to you.”
It’s quoted in offerings, printed on mugs, and used to encourage generosity.
But what if Jesus wasn’t talking about money at all? What if He was revealing something far deeper—a truth that would only make full sense after the Cross?

In Luke 6, Jesus isn’t giving a formula for financial return. He’s exposing the limits of a system where blessing depended on human effort. When we read His words through the lens of the New Covenant, the meaning flips entirely.

This isn’t about earning God’s blessing—it’s about responding to it.
It’s about what happens when you realize you already have everything in Him.

Reading Luke 6:37–38 Through the Lens of Grace

There’s a shift that happens when reading Luke 6:37–38 through the lens of the finished work of Christ.
Before the Cross, Jesus often spoke in ways that revealed how the Law functioned—where human effort determined divine response. But after the Cross, the order is reversed: God’s grace becomes the cause, and our actions flow from what we’ve already received.

If we don’t read this passage through the timeline of the covenants, we’ll confuse a pre-Cross demand with a post-Cross response.

Luke 6:37–38 (Before the Cross)

“Do not judge, and you will not be judged.
Do not condemn, and you will not be condemned.
Forgive, and you will be forgiven.
Give, and it will be given to you...”

Here, Jesus speaks in the rhythm of the Law: your actions determine the outcome. Judgment, condemnation, forgiveness, and giving are all presented as conditions—you must first act rightly, and then God responds.

That fit perfectly within the covenant His audience was still under. These words were spoken to disciples and crowds living before the Cross, before grace was fully revealed. Jesus’ sermon mirrors the Sermon on the Mount—He’s pressing the Law to its limits, showing that divine favor can’t be earned through human effort.

Even the phrase “good measure, pressed down, shaken together, and running over” (Luke 6:38) was a common Jewish idiom describing abundance—an image of God’s overflowing kindness—not a financial guarantee.

Flipping It in Light of the New Covenant

After the Cross, everything changes. Instead of giving first to receive, we now give because we have already received.

You are no longer judged, so you do not judge others.
Romans 8:1 – “There is now no condemnation for those in Christ Jesus.”

You are fully forgiven, so you freely forgive.
Ephesians 4:32 – “Forgive one another as God in Christ forgave you.”

You are completely supplied, so you freely give.
2 Corinthians 8:9 – “Though He was rich, for your sake He became poor, that you through His poverty might become rich.”

You are abundantly graced, so you overflow in generosity.
2 Corinthians 9:8 – “God is able to make all grace abound to you, that you may abound in every good work.”

The old order was: Do first, then receive.
The new order is: Receive first, then respond.

Paul never tells believers to give in order to get. He teaches that we give because we already have (2 Corinthians 9:10–11).
Our giving, forgiving, and extending grace are simply the natural outflows of realizing how much we’ve already been given in Christ.

Conclusion

Jesus’ pre-Cross words exposed the burden of self-righteousness—the futility of trying to earn favor through performance. But the Cross removed that burden and replaced it with rest.

We are not trying to get something from God.
We are living from what He has already given.

The Law says, “Give to be blessed.”
Grace says, “You are blessed, so you give.”