Giving in the New Testament

Freedom, Proportion, and Generosity

If you've walked with me through Robbing God or Misreading Him? and The Tithe God Commanded, you've already seen a key distinction:

My point is not that churches are wrong to fund ministry; it is that the common mechanism (“a required ten percent tithe of wages”) is not the mechanism the apostles command.

Having seen that the Old Testament tithe was a specific, agricultural covenant requirement of specific Israelites, I want to take a look at New Covenant giving, and consider whether the common proof-texts compel a ten-percent tithe of all income on believers.

What principles does the New Testament give for financial stewardship? When we listen carefully to the apostles and watch the early church, we find a profoundly different picture from the tithe system.

Voluntary, Cheerful and Proportional Giving

The apostles never instruct Christians to give a set percentage of all income. Instead, they emphasize heart-level generosity and proportionate giving. Paul told the Corinthian church to set aside funds on the first day of every week "as God hath prospered" so that a collection for the Jerusalem saints would be ready when he arrived.^[1] There is no command to calculate ten percent; the amount is tied to God's provision.

When encouraging the Corinthians to contribute to the relief of believers in Judea, Paul grounded the appeal in grace and equality. He reminded them that sowing sparingly reaps sparingly, while sowing bountifully reaps bountifully.^[2] He insisted that "every man according as he purposeth in his heart, so let him give; not grudgingly, or of necessity: for God loveth a cheerful giver".^[3] Giving was to be voluntary and joyful, not coerced by fear of a curse.

If the tithe is required of the church—especially under threat of a Malachi-3 curse for “robbing God”—then giving becomes, by definition, a matter "of necessity"^[3:1]: the very thing Paul explicitly contrasts with New Testament giving.

Paul held up the Macedonian churches as an example of this Spirit-produced generosity. They gave "to their power, and beyond their power … willing of themselves",^[4] and he stressed that willingness is what makes a gift acceptable: "if there be first a willing mind, it is accepted according to that a man hath, and not according to that he hath not".^[5]

The goal was not a flat percentage but an equitable sharing of burdens: "your abundance may be a supply for their want … that there may be equality".^[6] In short, New Testament giving is proportionate to one's means, voluntary, and aimed at meeting needs.

Sustaining Gospel Workers without Levites

Though Christians are not under the Levitical system, the New Testament does teach that those who labour in preaching and teaching should be supported. Paul argued from Old Testament precedent that priests lived off temple offerings and then applied the principle: "Even so hath the Lord ordained that they which preach the gospel should live of the gospel".^[7] Likewise, he instructed that elders who rule well, especially those who labour in the word and doctrine, are worthy of double honor.^[8]

In Israel, the Levites received no land inheritance but were sustained by the offerings of those whose increase came from the land. In the same way, those who preach the gospel today should be materially supported by the believers they serve. But Paul is drawing a principle of support, not re-issuing a Levitical tax. To turn this into a universal rule that Christians must give ten percent of their wages to the local church is to press his analogy far beyond what the text actually says.

Scripture often handles Old-Covenant institutions this way. Circumcision becomes a picture of the circumcision of the heart; the Passover and feast days are treated as shadows pointing to Christ and the realities of the New Covenant. These things teach New Testament truths by analogy, but we do not take that as a command to reinstate the whole system of circumcision and feast-keeping in the church. In the same way, Paul’s use of the temple and priesthood to illustrate gospel ministry gives us a pattern for supporting workers, not a warrant to resurrect the Old Testament tithe as a binding requirement for Christians.

Christian giving should therefore include the support of faithful ministers and missionaries. Yet notice what is missing: there is no command to meet a ten-percent quota, nor any threat of a curse for failing to fund gospel work. Ministers are to be cared for willingly and generously, not funded through a compulsory tithe enforced by fear.

Caring for the Poor and One Another

The early church's generosity extended beyond church leaders to the entire community. The first believers in Jerusalem sold their possessions so that none had need and held their goods in common. The text presents this as voluntary and Spirit-produced generosity rather than a mandated percentage or apostolic tax.

Similarly, later texts urge those with means to "be rich in good works, ready to distribute, willing to communicate".^[9] The instruction to the rich is not "make sure you tithe," but "put your hope in God and use your resources to do good".^[10]

Paul reminded the Ephesian elders that the Lord Jesus said "It is more blessed to give than to receive".^[11] This mindset infused the early church's practice. Generosity was not a legalistic obligation but the overflow of hearts transformed by grace. Christians were warned of the deceitfulness of riches and encouraged to find joy in giving.

Why the New Testament Does Not Command Tithing

Because New Testament giving rests on grace rather than law, the apostles never impose the tithe as a requirement for Gentile believers. The Jerusalem council of Acts 15—convened over whether Gentiles must keep the Law (especially circumcision)—refuses to bind them to that yoke, and it does not add sabbath-keeping or a required tithe to its instructions.

Someone may object, “That’s an argument from silence.” But notice what is actually being demanded. The question is not whether Christians may give ten percent. The question is whether Christians must. Nothing in the New Testament forbids generous or even habitual percentages; what it never does is require one. If a ten-percent monetary tithe is a binding requirement for the church, then we should be able to show where the apostles command it.

Treating a required tithe as a condition of faithfulness functions the same way circumcision and sabbath-keeping did: it turns an Old-Covenant covenant marker into a test of New-Covenant obedience.

But the charge of “silence” actually runs in the opposite direction: the New Testament repeatedly instructs believers to give, repeatedly calls them to generosity, and repeatedly warns against greed—yet never once commands a ten-percent tithe—whether framed as wages, income, or “increase.”

To insist on a binding tithe is to impose a requirement the apostles never actually state.

Paul never uses the tithe to motivate giving; instead he appeals to Christ's self-emptying love: "For ye know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that, though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, that ye through his poverty might be rich" (2 Corinthians 8:9).

When we confuse the Old-Covenant tithe with New-Covenant giving, we risk re-imposing a law that Christ has fulfilled. The law's blessings and curses belonged to national Israel. Believers today are not under that covenant; "Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us" (Galatians 3:13). Our giving flows from gratitude, not fear.

Pastoral Encouragement

Some may worry that without a strict rule, Christians will give too little. Yet the New Testament presents a higher, not lower, standard. Instead of counting ten percent, ask: How has God prospered me? What needs can I meet? How can I honour those who labour in the word? Am I sowing bountifully or sparingly?

Generosity cannot be reduced to a calculator. Those who have seen God's grace will not be content with minimalism but will excel in the grace of giving.

Giving under the New Covenant is a privilege, not a compelled tithe. We are free from the tithe's ceremonial obligations. We are bound by love and guided by the Spirit to support gospel work, care for the poor, and invest in eternity. God loves a cheerful giver; He does not form His people through coercion.

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