jon This is the final post in a three-part series on tithing. In Part 1, we looked at the origin of the tithe in the Old Testament—where it came from, how it was used, and exactly how much the Israelites were required to tithe. In Part 2, we reviewed the key New Testament texts that discuss the tithe, and discover what changed along the way. Today in Part 3, we will look at the practical aspects of New Testament giving.
We have spent the last two weeks looking at the tithe, and have come to the conclusion that giving ten percent of your income to the church is not a requirement for Christians. However, that does not mean that we are exempt from any and all giving. On the contrary, the New Testament is quite clear that we should be financially supporting the church. It is only the “ten percent” amount that is no longer required.
So how much, then?
One convenient aspect of tithing is that the math is easy. If I make $1000 per week, then it’s a simple matter of moving the decimal point, and voilà, I give $100 to my church! And let’s be clear—although the New Testament doesn’t prescribe tithing, you can still choose to give ten percent. And honestly, seeing that Christians only give around 2.5% per capita (2011 figures), if more of us did give a straight tithe, our churches would have the freedom and ability to do much more ministry. But forcing a tithe for all people creates problems. Let’s look at an example.
The CEO and the single mom
Say you have two people who are part of your congregation. One of them happens to be the CEO of a successful, mid-sized company. For simplicity’s sake, let’s say she makes $1 million per year. Being a conscientious person, she tithes on her income. She gives $100,000 to the church and lives comfortably on the remaining $900,000 (minus taxes, of course!).
Now, sitting a few rows over from her in the service every week is a single mom who works two menial jobs and brings in $30,000 per year. Being a dutiful Christian, she wants to tithe, but literally cannot afford to give $3,000 to the church. Doing so would put her in financial ruin. So she does the best she can and gives $50 per month to the church, which, quite honestly, is $50 per month more than she can “afford” to give.
So is the single mom sinning because she isn’t tithing? Is the CEO in the clear because she is giving a full ten percent? Who is really giving more? Yes, the CEO gives 166 times more than the single mom, but which one feels the sacrifice of their giving more?
This is the problem with adopting an “everybody gives ten percent” rule. Someone who is well off might give ten percent of their income away and not even notice that it is gone. Someone who struggles to make ends meet might plunge into debt or be unable to pay their bills if they tithed.
This surely is not the way things are supposed to be.
New Testament principles of giving
The New Testament addresses this issue by moving from an external standard of giving to an internal standard, and in so doing actually raises the bar for believers. It’s no longer enough to cut a check for ten percent and walk away. You can’t live by the idea that “ten percent is God’s, and the rest is mine to do with as I please.” Instead, giving is evidence of a life turned over to God. What we do with our pocketbooks is to be a microcosm of what we do with our lives. Giving has become an issue of the heart.
Köstenberger and Croteau (see note below) put together a list of principles that define what true New Testament giving looks like. So as we move away from a cut-and-dry tithe, we learn what giving should look like (and really, one could argue this would have applied to the Old Testament tithes as well—God has always been concerned with the hearts of men and women).
Giving should be systematic (1 Cor 16:1-2)
Giving is not a one-time event. Whether you decide to give weekly, monthly, quarterly, or whatever, giving is to be a regular occurrence in the life of a believer.
Giving should be proportional (2 Cor 8:1–3)
You may not have the ability to give ten percent; conversely, you may have the ability to give ninety-plus percent. How much you give should be proportionate to your ability to give.
Giving should be sacrificial (Phil 4:17–18)
Giving is a sacrifice, and sacrifices must mean something (2 Sam 24:24). To give an amount that does not affect your life in any way is not a biblical response to the God who gave you everything you have. At the same time, we shouldn’t give to the point of placing undue financial burden on ourselves.
Giving should be intentional (2 Cor 8:4; Phil 4:16)
As Christians, we are to give to meet needs, fund necessary ministries, pay our pastors, and so on. Guilt should not be a motivating factor.
Giving should be rightly motivated (2 Cor 8:9, 12–14)
There are several correct motivations for giving. The first among these is love. God gave us everything we have (most importantly, our salvation through Christ); we show our love for him in part by giving back. In addition, God’s love for all humanity should spur us on to give so that others’ needs might be met.
Another correct motivation for giving is so that we might be blessed and be a blessing. We are to give so that God, if he chooses, might give us more, so that we in turn can bless others more—not so that I can have more. (That’s the prosperity gospel, which is a false gospel entirely.) Giving in order to receive human praise, or to manipulate or control situations or people, or simply because you think you will win “brownie points” with God is not in line with biblical teaching.
Giving should be done cheerfully (2 Cor 9:7)
“God loves a cheerful giver” is one of those Bible-sounding aphorisms that actually is in the Bible! We should give with glad hearts, because we have been given so much by God.
Giving should be voluntary (2 Cor 9:7)
While the New Testament makes it clear that believers should give, ultimately it is up to each person to choose to do this. There is no room for the church or a pastor to force someone to give, or to predetermine an amount which must be given.
Final thoughts
So after all that, how much should you give?
I don’t know.
I can’t answer for you. You could choose to give ten percent, and that would be great. It’s easy to do the math, and I would wager that a true tithe is a sacrificial amount for most of us. Or you might find that a different amount is appropriate for your situation. You have to do the hard work of determining how much you can give, but the principles outlined in the New Testament are there to help you figure it out.
Here are some final questions to consider when determining how much you should give.
- Have I prayed about the amount I should give? Have I talked it over with my spouse? Are we in agreement?
- Is the amount I give sacrificial and generous?
- Have I looked at my finances recently to see how I can be a better steward of the money God has given me, and so that I might be able to increase my giving?
- Do I have a desire or plan to increase the amount I give over time?
(In order to put together this series, I have relied heavily on two scholarly articles by Andreas Köstenberger and David Croteau from the Bulletin for Biblical Research. If you want to read them in their entirety, here are the links: Will a Man Rob God? and Reconstructing a Biblical Model for Giving.)