Rethinking Tithing: A New Testament Approach to Generosity and Church Giving

Voxology

Religion & Spirituality, Philosophy, Society & Culture

4.7 • 1K Ratings

🗓️ 27 August 2018

⏱️ 31 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

What if tithing isn’t actually a New Testament teaching? In this honest and deeply practical solo episode, Mike tackles an insightful listener question about the theology behind tithing, prosperity gospel implications, and whether churches should be offering “90-day tithe challenges” with promised blessings (and optional refunds). Unpacking Scriptures like Malachi 3, Matthew 23, and key passages from 1 & 2 Corinthians and Acts, Mike invites us to reframe our understanding of generosity, stewardship, and the church’s mission in the world.

Mike explores how the early church didn’t prescribe a 10% tithe, but instead fostered radical, heart-led generosity focused on caring for the poor and supporting gospel work. He contrasts this with modern church practices that often confuse or pressure members into rigid financial expectations, sometimes under theological pretenses that mimic prosperity gospel teachings.

Get ready for a robust biblical breakdown and a challenging reorientation of how we view money, blessing, and the church’s financial asks.

Key Takeaways:
• Tithing Isn’t Commanded in the New Testament – The early church encouraged giving “as each one is able” rather than enforcing a 10% standard.
• Generosity Is a Spiritual Discipline – Mike emphasizes cultivating cheerful, voluntary giving as a form of resistance to materialism and worship of money.
• Support for Church Workers Is Biblical – While generosity to sustain gospel workers is affirmed, Scripture does not equate church giving with a prosperity formula.
• Blessing ≠ Wealth – God’s blessings aren’t defined by financial prosperity; obedience often brings spiritual growth, not necessarily material gain.
• Giving Should Focus on Justice – The New Testament prioritizes supporting the poor, not funding large-scale church infrastructure or flashy programs.

Resources Mentioned:
• 2 Corinthians 8–9 – Paul’s teaching on generosity and heart-led giving
• Acts 4:32–35 – Early church practices of communal support and radical sharing
• Matthew 23:23 – Jesus rebuking the Pharisees for missing justice while tithing mint and cumin… what did he mean?

Join the conversation about how the church can practice more transparent, meaningful generosity rooted in New Testament principles. Subscribe, leave a review, and follow Voxology on your favorite platform to keep deconstructing and reconstructing faith with us.

As always, we encourage and would love discussion as we pursue. Feel free to email in questions to [email protected], and to engage the conversation on Facebook and Instagram.

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Follow Mike on Twitter: www.twitter.com/mikeerre

Music in this episode by Timothy John Stafford
https://www.timothyjohnstafford.com/
Instagram & Twitter: @GoneTimothy

As always, we encourage and would love discussion as we pursue. Feel free to email in questions to [email protected], and to engage the conversation on Facebook and Instagram.

We're on YouTube (if you're into that kinda thing): VOXOLOGY TV.

Our Merch Store! ETSY

Learn more about the Voxology Podcast

Subscribe on iTunes or Spotify

Support the Voxology Podcast on Patreon

The Voxology Spotify channel can be found here: Voxology Radio

Follow Mike on Twitter: www.twitter.com/mikeerre

Music in this episode by Timothy John Stafford

Instagram & Twitter: @GoneTimothy

Transcript

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0:00.0	Hey, everybody, Mike here. So glad to be a part of your journey, whatever you're doing,
0:24.1	wherever you're at, and honored to be invited into your life, whether it's to help you go to
0:31.9	sleep or to motivate you to work out or for any other reason, grateful that we get to do this together
0:40.6	and form a community together.
0:42.0	And so, welcome to the Vox podcast.
0:43.8	If you're new, Vox is the Latin word for voice.
0:47.6	And we operate under the conviction that Jesus is God's voice to the world, but is vastly
0:53.1	misrepresented by the subculture that
0:56.1	bears his name. And so we work not only to give permission for people to deconstruct their
1:03.6	faith, but we also want to encourage sort of gentle reconstruction of faith around Jesus in a way from the Christian subculture,
1:14.7	at least in America, that has, at least in evangelicalism, that has come up around and
1:21.5	been built up around Jesus. And so there's a, there's work that needs to be done. It's a project
1:27.0	that must be undertaken to kind of
1:28.7	put faith back together once it's separated out from politics, certain kinds of politics,
1:36.0	from certain kinds of understandings of the world and of God and so on. So it is a wonderful
1:43.2	privilege to be able to get to do this. Again, thank you so much
1:46.4	for those of you who go onto iTunes, write a review, like, subscribe, all that stuff is hugely
1:52.6	important. It keeps our podcast out in front of people. And for those of you that support us on
1:57.0	Patreon, thank you. Patreon is a kind of a kickstarter for artists. I consider myself an
2:03.0	artist, or at least because I'm part of Patreon, I can. Patreon, you have different levels of
2:10.5	gifts and you have different levels of rewards that you can sign up for. So if you're interested in that, Vox, go to patech.com and then look up
2:22.7	the Vox Podcast or my name, and you'll track us down there. Now, we've got some questions,
	...

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