BIBLICAL PRINCIPLES ON CHRISTIAN GIVING - LESSONS FROM THE TEACHINGS OF JESUS
By Ezekiel Kimosop
INTRODUCTION
There is so much confusion today regarding Christian giving such that, depending on one's Christian tradition, arguments fly across online forums as to what constitutes appropriate biblical giving.
This article will not exhaustively address this issue but I wish to narrow on a particular area of teaching by Jesus which hopefully offers us a glimpse into what should inform our Christian giving.
Jesus taught in Matthew 22:21 that we should give to Caesar what is Caesars (statutory taxes and levies) and to God what is God's (tithes and offerings). This teaching is also found in Mark 12:17 and Luke 20:25. Jesus reveals in this passage that civic obligations are distinct from our religious duties. He also acknowledged that the Roman rulers were divinely permitted by God to collect taxes notwithstanding the humiliation that the Jews felt about their occupation of Palestine. No matter how much we may dislike those in authority, we have an obligation from God to discharge our civic mandates as citizens of the country and pay taxes.
It is imperative therefore that what is left from our income after satisfying these obligations should be at our disposal and is blessed by God. Any other theological arguments or regulations that depart from established biblical principles are, in my view, misleading and should be rejected by God's people.
I persuaded that believers should tithe from their income and give offerings on a free will basis in accordance with their convictions. No believer is compelled to tithe or to give an offering to God but any believer who chooses to withhold from God has probably not discerned his relationship with Him! There are blessings attached to our giving and there are several passages of Scripture which convey these truths.
I will not get into the finer details because I have extensively delved into this topic of Christian giving in this forum and in other teaching platforms. The purpose of writing this article was partly to respond to the article shared by a reader which I posted on the forum. The story related to the Nigerian incident in which a Catholic faithful gave her entire first salary to the priest after mass as a first fruits and the priest returned the envelope to her after realizing that she had given everything.
There is absolutely nothing wrong with voluntarily sacrificing the most one can do to serve the Lord but there is everything wrong with operating under a faulty theological framework, not only in Christian giving but on general Christian living. This is a recipe for confusion!
I therefore find no biblical basis for giving one's entire salary or harvest as first fruits though I will not deny a believer their right to respond to their convictions.
I am aware that someone may quickly turn to Mark 12:42-44 and argue that Jesus approved of the entire giving of one's livelihood as biblical sacrifice (cf. Luke 21:2-3).
Is this really what Jesus was teaching here?
It would be a total misrepresentation of biblical truth if we attempt to interpret Scripture outside it's passage context in order to justify certain unbiblical practices! This is called proof texting in theological circles. The poor widow who gave all she had was commended by Jesus for her sacrificial giving in that she gave proportionately much more than the rich who gave out of their abundance!
My view is that it is nowhere taught or implied in Scripture that believers should sell all they have and give to God or to the Prophet or that they should give their entire harvest or resources to the church! How will the believer cater for his personal and family needs?
Do you recall the warning in Mark 7:10-13? Please reflect on it carefully because it is instrumental in reinforcing our moral obligations.
The challenge that Jesus threw to the rich young ruler in Matthew 19:21-22 and Mark 10:21 was simply an illustration of how many will miss out on God because of the love of the things of this passing world. We cannot develop a doctrine on Christian giving from this passage. We need to balance the Scriptures methodically so that we can discern the full counsel of God on a given issue.
Similarly, the incident in Acts 2:43-44 does not suggest that believers are compelled to dispose all their assets and give to the church or to the poor. This Scripture merely serves to illustrate how deeply this Jerusalem church was bonded. Notice that Peter was careful to clarify that the giving during the Jerusalem church context was voluntary (Acts 5:4).
In the case of the poor widow above, Jesus simply commended the sacrificial giving by the widow in comparison to the rich people who gave only a token of what they possessed so that their giving was ultimately devoid of real sacrifice. They could have done better if the standards of the poor widow were to apply.
The issue of giving is about equal sacrifice and not equal giving!
The fact that one believer gives Kshs 10,000/- and another Kshs 1000/- does not necessarily suggest that the Kshs 10,000/- guy gave more in God's eyes than the Kshs 1000/- guy.
It is possible that the Kshs 1000/- giver stretched much deeper in sacrifice given his financial or income status. This was the point here!
I hope this short article sheds some light. I welcome any feedback from readers.
© Ezekiel Kimosop 2018
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The writer is a Ph.D. student in Theological Studies at Africa International University, Nairobi Kenya.
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