LUKE 6:38 IS NOT HEAVEN’S INVESTMENT SCHEME

By Akin Ojumu

Back in the day, when I was a member of the Christian Union Fellowship at the University of Benin, Benin City, Nigeria, we had a chorus we regularly sang while the offering baskets were being passed around for people to drop their tithes and offerings:

I give, it shall be given unto me

I give, it shall be given unto me

I give, it shall be given unto me

Good measure, pressed down, and running over.

Offering time was called “blessing time.”

And the reason we sang that chorus was obvious.

We were being encouraged—a fellowship made up largely of financially struggling university students living on modest stipends—to give generously with the expectation that, if we gave to God, God would give back to us in multiplied measure.

The chorus, of course, came from our understanding of Luke 6:38:

Luke 6:38

“Give, and it shall be given unto you; good measure, pressed down, and shaken together, and running over, shall men give into your bosom. For with the same measure that ye mete withal it shall be measured to you again.”

Like several other frequently mangled passages of Scripture, Luke 6:38 has suffered from what can only be described as congenitally abnormal exegesis.

The verse has been pulled, stretched, twisted, surgically rearranged, and theologically deformed until what is now preached from many pulpits bears about as much resemblance to the original text as Tetralogy of Fallot does to normal cardiac anatomy.

Luke 6:38 is routinely quoted as though Jesus were revealing a formula for financial prosperity:

“Give, and it will be given to you. Good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over…”

But that is not the main point of the passage. Jesus was not establishing a celestial investment bank. He was not unveiling Heaven’s version of a Ponzi scheme in which you “sow” ₦100,000 into a preacher’s ministry and wait for God to credit your account with ₦1 million. And He was certainly not teaching that the road to financial breakthrough begins with transferring money to the man holding the microphone.

Yet somewhere along the road of modern prosperity preaching, Luke 6:38 was kidnapped from its context, dressed in a three-piece suit, handed a microphone, and forced to become the patron saint of Christian fundraising.

The preacher shouts: “GOOD MEASURE!”

The keyboard begins to swell. “PRESSED DOWN!”

The congregation erupts. “SHAKEN TOGETHER!”

Somebody starts running around the auditorium. “RUNNING OVER!”

And before you know it, bank account numbers are flashing across the screen, envelopes are being distributed, and somebody is being instructed to “sow a dangerous seed.”

Meanwhile, poor Luke 6:38 is standing in the corner wondering how a teaching about the way disciples treat other people suddenly became an ATM receipt.

Of course, that is not what Luke 6:38 means. Jesus was not giving His disciples a secret formula for multiplying money.

He was not saying: Give $1,000 and God will owe you $10,000. He was not teaching: Empty your bank account into the preacher’s hands and Heaven will reimburse you with interest.

That is not exegesis. That is religious merchandising.

Read the surrounding verses.

Jesus is talking about mercy. Judgment. Condemnation. Forgiveness. Generosity. The way you treat other people. And the principle that the measure you use in dealing with others will be measured back to you.

That is the context.

Unfortunately, context is often the first casualty whenever somebody needs to raise an offering.

Luke 6:38 does not stand alone. It belongs to a larger unit of teaching. Read verses 36 through 38 together:

Luke 6:36–38

“Be merciful, even as your Father is merciful. Judge not, and you will not be judged; condemn not, and you will not be condemned; forgive, and you will be forgiven; 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.”

Now the meaning becomes much harder to manipulate.

Jesus is teaching His disciples to imitate the generous mercy of God.

And the sequence matters. 

Be merciful. Do not judge hypocritically or harshly. Do not condemn. Forgive. Give generously.

Then comes the governing principle: “For with the measure you use it will be measured back to you.”

In other words, the person who treats others with stinginess, severity, vindictiveness, and merciless judgment should not imagine that he himself will somehow escape the same standard.

The person who shows mercy, forgiveness, and generosity reflects the character of God and should expect generous treatment in return.

The imagery of “good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over” comes from the Jewish marketplace at the time of Jesus.

Picture someone filling a container with grain. Instead of loosely pouring the grain into the container and stopping there, the seller presses it down, shakes the container so the grain settles into every available space, adds more, presses again, and continues filling until the grain spills over the top.

That is the picture Jesus gives. 

Abundant generosity. Overflowing measure. More than a grudging minimum.

But is Jesus talking about money?

Money can certainly be included within Christian generosity. Christians should give generously. Christians should help those in need. Christians should use their material resources for the good of others.

But Luke 6:38 is not specifically promising that if you give money to a preacher, God will multiply your money and send it back to you in financial abundance. That interpretation tears verse 38 away from Luke 6:27–38.

Look at the larger teaching. Jesus has been talking about loving your enemies. Doing good to those who hate you. Blessing those who curse you. Praying for those who mistreat you. Lending without expecting repayment. Being merciful. Refusing vindictive judgment. Forgiving others. And giving generously.

That is the ethical framework in which Luke 6:38 appears.

The “giving” of verse 38 belongs to this larger kingdom ethic of mercy, grace, forgiveness, and openhanded generosity.

This is especially obvious because the verse immediately before it says:

Luke 6:37

“Forgive, and you will be forgiven.”

Jesus moves seamlessly from forgiveness to giving because the underlying subject has not changed. He is describing the gracious and merciful disposition of someone who belongs to the kingdom of God.

Then there is the expression: “Into your lap.”

Some translations render it: “They will pour into your lap.”

This reflects the clothing of the ancient world. A person’s outer garment could be gathered up to form a large fold or pouch into which grain or other goods could be poured.

So, the image is not of a mysterious supernatural bank transfer. It is not an angel pressing “SEND” on Heaven’s mobile banking app. It is the picture of someone receiving such a generous measure that his garment can barely contain it.

The theological principle Jesus establishes is one of reciprocal measure in mercy, judgment, forgiveness, and generosity:

“With the measure you use it will be measured back to you.”

A parallel teaching appears in Matthew:

Matthew 7:2

“For with the judgment you pronounce you will be judged, and with the measure you use it will be measured to you.”

That parallel makes the point unmistakable. The primary subject is not investment returns. It is how we treat other people before God.

Luke 6:38 can therefore be summarized this way:

Because your heavenly Father is merciful and generous in His dealings with you, His children must also be merciful, forgiving, and generous toward others.

Do not measure people with a teaspoon of mercy and a bucket of condemnation. Do not demand grace for yourself while dispensing judgment by the truckload to everybody else. Do not plead for forgiveness when you sin and then refuse forgiveness when others offend you. The measure you use in dealing with others is the measure you should expect to be used toward you.

That is the force of the passage.

Therefore, using Luke 6:38 as though Jesus were saying, “Give $1,000 to my ministry and God will give you $10,000 back,” is a serious distortion of Scripture.

Luke 6:38 is fundamentally about kingdom generosity flowing from the merciful character of God. It is not a divine get-rich formula.

Now, the issue is not whether Christians should give. Of course, Christians should give. Generosity is part of Christian discipleship. 

The real issue is whether Luke 6:38 teaches that giving money to a preacher guarantees financial multiplication.

It does not.

And once the verse is allowed to breathe inside its own context, the entire “sow a seed and expect a financial harvest” sales pitch begins to collapse.

The Bible is not a collection of fundraising slogans. The pulpit is not a sales desk. The offering basket is not an investment portfolio. And Jesus Christ is certainly not the Chief Executive Officer of Heaven’s investment corporation.