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.

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When we read about the early church and how they handled money, one of the first examples we come to, and also the most famous, is the account in Acts 4:32-5:11. The text begins by stating that nobody in the community was in need because those who had more shared with those who had less.One example is given where a man named Barnabas sells some of his property and gives the money to the apostles who then distribute it to those within the church who had need (Acts 4:32-37).

Following this, in Acts 5, we read about a husband and wife in the church named Ananias and Sapphira, who decide to do something similar. They also sell some of their possessions, with the intention of giving the proceeds to the church. But when they receive the money, rather than give everything, they only gave part of the proceeds. However, they tell the apostles and the rest of the church that they had given everything. As a result, both of them are struck dead by the Holy Spirit (Acts 5:1-11).

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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.

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