Bible Study series: Luke 21:1-4. It’s not about tithing from gross pay, but free will generosity.
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I also translate to learn. The translations are mine, unless otherwise noted. If you would like to see many others, please click here:
In the next link to the original chapter, I comment more and offer the Greek text. At the bottom you will find a “Summary and Conclusion” section geared toward discipleship. Check it out!
In this post, links are provided for further study.
Let’s begin.
Scripture: Luke 21:1-4
1 After he looked up, he saw the rich tossing their gifts into the contribution receptacle. 2 Then he saw a certain impoverished widow who tossed two copper coins in there, 3 and he said, “Truly I tell you that this widow, being poor, tossed in more than everyone! 4 For all these others tossed in out of their abundance, but out of her lack she tossed in all of her livelihood which she had!” (Luke 21:1-4)
Comments:
1-2:
Mark 12:43 says that Jesus was watching those who put in money, inspecting them. He was deliberate; the observation was not by chance.
“contribution receptacle”: Commentator Darrell Bock points out that there were thirteen trumpet-shaped receptacles in the temple forecourt by the Court of Women. Or the contribution receptacle may instead refer to the room by the Court of Women, which served a variety of purposes. However, the fact that they tossed in their money indicates that the receptacles are intended. These gifts were freewill offerings used for temple worship.
“copper coin”: (lepton in Greek) it was the smallest currency possible, whose value was one-eighth of a penny or one one-hundredth of a denarius. A denarius was the standard pay for a farm laborer. So she gave one one-hundredth of a day laborer’s wage (Bock vol. 2, p. 1645). This was really small!
3-4:
She gave out of her great “need” or “deficiency” (both are possible translations of “lack” in v. 4), so she gave sacrificially. I have a post on why tithing ten percent off of gross pay is not for New Covenant believers (see link just below), but the NT authors do require generosity. And the widow went well beyond this requirement.
Scroll down to point no. 21 for an interpretation of many NT passages on giving. Once again, generosity is the key.
I can imagine the hyper-prosperity teachers demanding that widows give everything they have so that the preachers can live in gigantic houses and fly around in private jets. I heard one of them yell at the top of his voice, “Money, come forth!” (This may refer to Jesus calling Lazarus to come forth.) Recall that Jesus was tempted by the devil to have all the kingdoms of the world (Luke 4:5-8). Who says that God is the one who gave this hyper-prosperity teacher all of his money, possibly over one billion dollars over his entire life?
Hyper-prosperity preachers ruin it for everyone else. How?
I believe in prosperity in this sense: it takes money to run a household, and to get money, a parent or parents need jobs. They need to succeed at those jobs. Their businesses need to grow and maintain a profit. Then they can pay the bills and have money left over to give into the kingdom. They can raise kids to be the next godly and redeemed generation. They can be generous with the kingdom with their money and their productive children.
Of course the tithe teachers—who are not necessarily hyper-prosperity teachers, but wrong in other ways—use the first-fruits idea to insist that people give ten percent taken from gross pay. However, these teachers do not take into account that part of the tithe was used to sustain a small welfare state, which today our taxes pay for. Therefore, giving ten percent off gross pay is a serious misinterpretation of the OT. They also don’t interpret the NT properly, after the cross and Pentecost, when the Christian communities were forming. These misinterpretations may be accidental or sloppy study, or they may see what is right, but they cave in to fear, motivated out of a need to meet huge budgets. Whatever the case, they are wrong.
Bottomline: We need more balance in our giving. Generosity is the key. Also, mega-church pastors and parachurch CEO’s need to voluntarily live more modestly and prudently.
Why Tithing Does Not Apply to New Covenant Believers
Does Hebrews 7:1-10 Teach Church Policy of Tithing?
Generosity in the New Testament
GrowApp for Luke 21:1-4
A.. How generous are you?
RELATED
11. Eyewitness Testimony in Luke’s Gospel
3. Church Fathers and Luke’s Gospel
14. Similarities among John’s Gospel and the Synoptic Gospels
1. The Historical Reliability of the Gospels: Introduction to Series
BIBLIOGRAPHY AND MORE
To see the bibliography, please click on this link and scroll down to the bottom. You will also find a “Summary and Conclusion” for discipleship.
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