God, the Non-Receiving Giver

We are not God, so it follows that when we give, we must give differently than God does. For one thing, God is the first giver. For centuries, Christian philosophers have spoken of God as the "unmoved mover" and "uncaused cause." We can say, by analogy, that God is a "non-receiving giver." Just as God causes without being caused, God gives without having received.

--Miroslav Volf, Free of Charge: Giving and Forgiving in a Culture Stripped of Grace (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2005), 61.