Hi, I'm David Bercot on The Historic Faith. And we are looking at questions that have been submitted on the Ask David Bercot anything about the historic faith or about the early Christians. So the question for this week was submitted. Here's the question. Please explain tithing according to the early Christians and what they might say to someone today who claimed he could not afford to do so. Okay, so basically, the early Christian view was that Christians are no longer under the law of tithing.
We don't have a law that we have to give 10%. If we give 9%, we're not stealing 1% from God. If we give 11%, we somehow haven't been extra generous. We are free to give what our heart desires that could be more than 10% or less than 10%. Nevertheless, the teachings of Christ would indicate that we should give more than the ancient Jews, not less.
I mean, if they were to give 10% and some people interpret the Old Testament that they had several tithes, so maybe I've heard read articles that said they gave as much as 30% under the law, and I haven't researched that to express a personal opinion. But let's just say they were commanded to give 10%. It would seem odd that we, as Christians, who are under a higher standard than the law, that we would give less. For example, Jesus encouraged the rich young ruler who came to him.
He told him to give all or at least most of what he had to the poor. He didn't say, " Well, make sure you give 10%. " At the same time, and I'm going to be reading you just a couple of quotes to represent this, the early Christians did not seem to expect the poor and needy among them, which was a large percentage of them, to give 10%, but just to give whatever they were able, and maybe that was next to nothing. All right, let me just give you a few quotations. The first one is from Justin Martyr.
This would be about the year 150. And all of these quotations can be found in the dictionary of early Christian beliefs. That's where I've drawn them from in this question. And he says this. This is in his first apology. He says, " The wealthy among us help the needy. As for the persons who are prosperous and are willing, they give what each thinks fit. " So he definitely indicates there's no thought of 10% being some magic number, and it's the willingness of what each should give.
Now, again, this is an apologetic work, so he's telling the Romans about what Christians do. He's not talking to fellow Christians. It's important to keep that in mind because this next quote is from Irenaeus, given maybe a couple decades later, and now he is writing to Christians, and he says this, " For the offering is now made not by slaves, " talking about the Jews, but by free men. The Jews had indeed the tithes of their goods consecrated to God.
In contrast, those who have received liberty set aside all their possessions for the Lord's purposes, bestowing joyfully and freely not the less valuable portions of their property since they have the hope of better things. So talking to Christians, you know he's saying we are commanded by Christ, looking at what he told the rich young ruler, looking at what he says in the Sermon on the Mount. We're to give all or at least a generous portion of it. So the thought is definitely more than 10%.
Now, going now to Tertullian, this is maybe 20 years after that quote from Irenaeus. And he says this. But again, this is in his apology. He's talking to the pagans. He says, " On the monthly day, if he likes, each puts in a small donation, but only if it is his pleasure, and only if he is able, for there is no compulsion, all is voluntary. " So he's not telling the Romans something that is false, but again, he's not speaking to Christians and emphasizing the need to be generous in our giving.
He is trying to explain to the Romans that Christians are free to give what they want or don't want. And what you see the Christians giving liberally is out of their own desire to do that. It's not under compulsion. Okay, then I'm going to give one more quote. And this is Cyprian writing to fellow Christians. This is about the year 250. He says, " In New Testament times, they sold houses and estates so that they might lay up for themselves treasures in heaven.
They presented the proceeds from them to the apostles to be distributed for the use of the poor. However, now we don't even give a tenth of our patrimony. " And I think by patrimony, he means what we inherit from our parents, that people were not even giving a tenth of that. So obviously, Christians weren't feeling an obligation to have to tithe everything they received. And Cyprian is rebuking them for their lack of giving, for not doing at least 10% in contrast to what we see in Acts.
All right, so my conclusion is to fellow Americans, look, we live in America, the richest country in all of human history. No one in America goes hungry unless it's through because they're mentally ill or they're elderly and neglected, something like that. But even a person living out on the streets is able to get enough food through various government agencies, get food stamps, and all of that, that they don't go hungry, again, unless it's by choice.
In fact, often the people who are asking for money for food and all of that are often extremely overweight. I mean, the problem isn't that they don't have enough to eat. So we are in a very rich country. If the Jews were to give 10%, I mean, what are we to give in a country where we have riches that were not at the disposal of the average Jew? I would think 10% would be a minimal goal for most American Christians. I recognize there are exceptions.
There are people who've had certain hardships, huge medical expenses, things like that. But I guess I would encourage you listeners that if you're not tithing, again, not that tithing is the law, but if that was the bar for the Jews and Christ has given us a greater set of commandments, then we should look at that as sort of the floor and try to give more than that. Now, I have found just personally in my own life, and this is nothing, there are people so much more generous than me.
I'm in no way using myself as an example of generosity. But I just found back when I was a young man, the best thing to do was just to take that money out, just like taxes are taken out of our paycheck. We don't normally, you know at the end of the year, have to come up with our tax money, which would be difficult for most of us. It's taken out regularly. If we're self-employed, we're supposed to be sending it in quarterly, setting it aside each month, and then sending it in quarterly.
And so I realized I needed to do the same thing with my Christian giving. It's just take it out of my earnings right at the beginning, just like taxes, and set them aside. Otherwise, I was going to be inclined to forget about it or think I was giving more generously than what I really was. And so I would encourage that if you're in a position to do that. Just set aside the same way taxes are set aside to just set your giving aside.
You don't have to give it right then, but have it in a separate bank account, a separate envelope at your home, or whatever, so that you are aware of how much you're giving each month, and then you're able to do that on a regular basis.
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