The central chapters in the New Testament about giving are 2 Corinthians 8–9. In these chapters, Paul provides his suggestions on who should give, how much they should give, where they should give to, why they should give, and how the church should use what they give.

Giving is not about Tithing

Note first of all that not once in these chapters do we read about tithing. Paul is not writing about the Christian tithe. He is no interest in resurrecting or reworking the instructions about tithing from the Mosaic Law. He recognized, as we have seen above, that the laws about tithing were for Jewish people living in a covenant relationship with the God of Israel, and with the Temple and the priestly Levitical system as one of the central symbols of that covenant. There was no command from Paul for the Corinthian believers to give. He explicitly states that what he writes is “not by commandment” (2 Cor 8:9). Instead, he was urging them to finish what they had already started.

Giving is to Help the Poor

What was it they had started? There were several Macedonian churches in deep poverty, and the Corinthian church offered to help these other churches out financially (2 Cor 8:2). Being in deep poverty does not mean that these churches were unable to pay their pastor, or were falling behind on their mortgage. No, remember that such things did not exist at that time. When Paul says that these churches were facing affliction and were in deep poverty, he means that the people themselves could not afford food and clothing. Many of them had probably lost their jobs as a result of becoming Christians. Some of the men had probably been imprisoned, or even killed, leaving their wives and children without income and support.

[Read more…]

Over the past two weeks as I have written several posts about tithing, several people have sent me articles about tithing, or linked to them in the comments. I wanted to remember where they all were, so am making a short list here.

• Frank Viola – He has a great section on tithing in his book, Pagan Christianity.
• Frank Chase – Tithing in the Present. A well-done PDF slideshow about tithing and some surrounding issues. Very thorough!
• Ray Meyhew – Embezzlement: The Corporate Sin of Contemporary Christianity? Well researched, well written, and quite eye-opening!
• George Potkonyak – The Truth about Tithing. The formatting and tone is a little odd, but the information is good.
• Robin Calamaio – No Tithe for the Christian. The author’s writing style seems a bit arrogant, but the information is helpful.
• Russ Kelly on Tithing
• Rough Hewn Ministries – Tithing
• Freed From Tithing, Free To Give by Joel Brueseke over at Grace Roots.

Do you know of any other helpful articles and studies about tithing? Include them below!

---

In the previous two posts we have looked at the poor widow who gave her last two coins to the temple, and what Jesus thought about this. He was saddened that the temple leadership had degenerated into stealing from the poor, rather than helping the poor as they were supposed to be doing.

The widow should not have given to the temple. The temple should have given to her.

Can the Rich Give to the Temple?

If this is the case with the widow, what did Jesus think about the wealthy people giving to the temple? It seems that Jesus did not want the rich to give to the temple either.

Jesus is not too concerned about their wealth (except that maybe some of them had gained their riches through devouring widow’s houses), nor even with how much they are giving to the temple. Jesus is primarily concerned with the fact that they are giving to the temple.

Here is this poor widow in their midst, who has no home, and has only two pennies left to her name, and all the wealthy people are generously giving to the temple, but should be giving some of their money to her.

I think that Jesus would say that this widow is more important than any temple.

[Read more…]

Yesterday we looked briefly at how most people understand the passage about the Widow’s Mites, where a poor widow gives her last two coins to the temple. Most people today believe that Jesus praised her for such sacrifice, but the context indicates otherwise.

I think Jesus was actually saddened by what He observed.

Devouring Widow’s Houses

The surrounding context of this passage sheds light on how Jesus felt about what was going on in the temple that day. In Mark 12, right before Jesus observes and comments upon the rich giving from their wealth and the widow giving from her poverty, Jesus condemns the religious leaders for their pride, arrogance, self-prominence, and greed. In highlighting their greed, Jesus says that they “devour widows’ houses” (Mark 12:40). According to the Law of Moses, the spiritual leaders were supposed to be taking care of the widows and orphans in the community, and providing for their needs (Deut 26:12). But here they are doing the opposite. They are taking away from the widows what little they have left, leaving them destitute, without even a home to live in.

Could it really be that only three verses later, Jesus is now praising the sacrifice of a widow for giving her last two coins to the temple? How can it be? The temple should be giving to her; not her to the temple! They have already taken her house, and now they take her last two coins as well! Jesus is not happy and encouraged by what He sees, but saddened. He is not upset at the poor woman. Far from it! He is upset and saddened at how far the worship of God in the temple has degenerated that the priests and Levites are teaching and even demanding that poor widows who have no homes and no income give up their last two coins to support the work of the Lord.

[Read more…]