All the blessings we enjoy are Divine deposits, committed to our trust on this
condition, that they should be dispensed for the benefit of our neighbors. — John Calvin
(1509-1564), The Institutes of the Christian Religion

I promised to deal with the reason why none of the New Testament writers ever made the
tithe the basis for Christian giving. The fact is quite conspicuous and quite startling,
especially in the case of Paul. The relief fund for Jerusalem would have given him ample
opportunity and reason to insist upon the tithe if he had wanted to make it normative for
the Church. Why did Jesus, Paul, and all the Apostles refrain from making use of that
well-established biblical tradition? After having read through the New Testament witness
to simplicity, and specifically its statements on wealth, the answer to that question is
probably obvious to you. The tithe is simply in not a sufficiently radical concept to
embody the carefree unconcern for possessions that marks life in the Kingdom of God. Jesus
Christ is the Lord of all our goods, not just ten percent. It is quite possible to obey
the law of the tithe without ever dealing with our mammon lust. We can feel that our
monthly check to the Church meets the new law of Jesus, and never once root out reigning
covetousness and greed. It is quite possible to tithe and at the same time oppress the
poor and needy. The tithe is not necessarily evil; it simply cannot provide a sufficient
base for Jesus’ call to carefree unconern over provision. It fails to dethrone the
rival god of materialism. It can never bring the freedom and liberality which is to
characterize economic fellowship among the children of the Kingdom. Perhaps the tithe can
be a beginning way to acknowledge God as the owner of all things, but it is only a
beginning and not an ending.—"Freedom of Simplicity" by Richard J. Foster.
 

—

Graham J Weeks

http://www.weeks-g.dircon.co.uk/ My
homepage of quotations