Kehinde kept a spreadsheet for his tithe. He was a chartered accountant with a firm on Broad Street, and he did not trust anything he had not reconciled. On the first column he entered his gross salary. On the second, his net pay after tax and pension. On the third, any side income: the consulting job for a cousin’s company, the rent from the room his late father had left him in Ibadan. A formula worked out ten percent of everything, to the kobo, and a cell at the bottom turned red if the month’s transfer to church fell short.
For years the great question of his spiritual life was whether the tenth should be calculated on gross or on net. He had read articles on both sides. He had asked three pastors and received three answers. He settled on gross, partly because it was the safer option and partly, if he was honest, because he was afraid of what might happen if he got it wrong.
One Sunday evening his eight-year-old daughter was sitting beside him on the settee while he made the month’s transfer on his phone. She watched him type the amount, pause, breathe out heavily and press the button. “Daddy,” she asked, “why do you always sigh when you give to God?”
He laughed it off. But the question followed him to bed and sat with him in traffic on Third Mainland Bridge the next morning. He gave faithfully. He had never missed a month in eleven years. And he could not remember the last time giving had felt like anything other than a bill being settled with a creditor who might punish late payment.
Kehinde’s problem was not a lack of generosity. By most standards he was a generous man. His problem was that he had learned to give from compulsion, and compulsion had quietly drained the joy out of something God meant to be glad.
Many believers live where Kehinde lived. Some give from fear of a curse, some because a preacher has promised that a particular amount will open a particular door, and some give very little because they have been manipulated before. This teaching is for all of them. The New Testament has a great deal to say about money, and when it speaks to Christians about giving, it begins with grace.
Generosity begins with grace received
The fullest teaching on Christian giving in the whole Bible is found in two chapters of Paul’s second letter to Corinth. The setting matters. The believers in Jerusalem were suffering severe poverty, probably made worse by famine and by the hostility they faced as followers of Jesus. Paul had spent years organising a collection among the Gentile churches to relieve them. Corinth had promised to take part a year earlier, and their enthusiasm had cooled. So Paul writes to encourage them, and he begins with a story about someone else:
Moreover, brethren, we do you to wit of the grace of God bestowed on the churches of Macedonia; How that in a great trial of affliction the abundance of their joy and their deep poverty abounded unto the riches of their liberality. For to their power, I bear record, yea, and beyond their power they were willing of themselves; Praying us with much intreaty that we would receive the gift, and take upon us the fellowship of the ministering to the saints. And this they did , not as we hoped, but first gave their own selves to the Lord, and unto us by the will of God.
Notice the first thing Paul calls the Macedonians’ giving. He calls it “the grace of God bestowed on the churches of Macedonia.” Before it was their generosity, it was God’s grace at work in them. The Greek word charis, grace, runs through these two chapters like a thread. Paul uses it for God’s undeserved kindness, for the gift itself, for the privilege of taking part and for the thanks that rises afterwards. Giving in the New Testament is grace flowing into a life and grace flowing out again.
Then look at the Macedonians’ circumstances. They were in “a great trial of affliction” and “deep poverty.” Philippi and Thessalonica, the churches of Macedonia, had known persecution from the beginning (Acts 16:19-24; 1 Thessalonians 2:14). These were not wealthy patrons writing cheques from surplus. Yet “the abundance of their joy and their deep poverty abounded unto the riches of their liberality.” Joy and poverty met, and generosity came out of the meeting.
Nobody pressured them. Paul says “they were willing of themselves.” In fact, they begged him “with much intreaty” to be allowed to take part. That is the reverse of almost every fundraising appeal you have ever heard. The apostle was reluctant; the givers were eager.
And the secret is in verse 5. They “first gave their own selves to the Lord.” Their money followed their hearts. A person who has given himself to Christ does not need to be cornered into generosity, because the larger surrender has already happened. Giving money becomes one more expression of a life that belongs to someone else.
The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ
Having told the Macedonians’ story, Paul turns to the Corinthians. Watch how carefully he speaks:
Therefore, as ye abound in every thing, in faith, and utterance, and knowledge, and in all diligence, and in your love to us, see that ye abound in this grace also. I speak not by commandment, but by occasion of the forwardness of others, and to prove the sincerity of your 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.
“I speak not by commandment.” This is an apostle who could issue commands when he needed to. He did so on other subjects in this very letter. Here he deliberately refuses. He wants the Corinthians’ giving to “prove the sincerity of your love,” and love that is commanded at gunpoint proves nothing. So he encourages, he gives an example, he offers advice, but he will not compel.
Instead of a command he gives them Christ. “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.” That one sentence carries the whole gospel. The eternal Son, who possessed the glory of heaven, entered our poverty. He was born to a family that could only afford the poor man’s offering of two birds at the temple (Luke 2:24). He had nowhere to lay His head. He died stripped of everything, and soldiers gambled for His clothes. He did all of it “for your sakes,” so that we might share His riches.
That is the source of Christian generosity. We do not give in order to persuade God to be gracious to us. We give because He already has been. The cross comes first, and the offering comes after it, as an echo. When you hold the grace of Jesus before your eyes, the question changes from “How little can I give without being in trouble?” to “How can I share in the kind of love that has been shown to me?”
This also guards us against pride. Everything a believer gives was first given to him. David understood this when his people gave lavishly for the temple: “for all things come of thee, and of thine own have we given thee” (1 Chronicles 29:14).
PunchlineWe do not give in order to make God gracious to us. We give because in Christ He already has been, and generosity is the echo of that grace.
Willingness, proportion and equality
Paul then gives the Corinthians some practical principles, and they are among the most liberating words a burdened giver can read:
For if there be first a willing mind, it is accepted according to that a man hath, and not according to that he hath not. For I mean not that other men be eased, and ye burdened: But by an equality, that now at this time your abundance may be a supply for their want, that their abundance also may be a supply for your want: that there may be equality: As it is written, He that had gathered much had nothing over; and he that had gathered little had no lack.
First, willingness comes before amount. “If there be first a willing mind, it is accepted.” God looks at the heart before He looks at the figure. A small gift offered gladly is precious to Him. A large gift extracted by pressure is something else.
Second, giving is proportionate. It is “accepted according to that a man hath, and not according to that he hath not.” God does not ask you to give money you do not have. He does not ask you to borrow to give, or to give away your rent and leave your landlord unpaid, or to empty the school fees account because someone on a platform has declared that tonight is your night. Generosity is measured against what you actually have. In his first letter Paul gave the same instruction for the same collection: every one should set something aside “as God hath prospered him” (1 Corinthians 16:2).
Third, the aim is equality. “For I mean not that other men be eased, and ye burdened.” Paul is not trying to transfer poverty from Jerusalem to Corinth. He wants the abundance of one community to meet the need of another, knowing that one day the situation may be reversed. Then he quotes the story of the manna in the wilderness (Exodus 16:18). God fed His people in the desert in such a way that no one hoarded and no one starved. Christian giving continues that pattern. It moves resources from where they are plentiful to where they are lacking, so that the family of God reflects the care of its Father. That is a far cry from the idea that the poor should give the most in order to become rich.
Sowing, reaping and the cheerful giver
In chapter 9 Paul introduces a picture from farming. “He which soweth sparingly shall reap also sparingly; and he which soweth bountifully shall reap also bountifully” (2 Corinthians 9:6). A farmer who plants a handful of seed should not expect a full field. Generosity is never wasted in God’s economy.
Then comes the verse many of us learned as children: “Every man according as he purposeth in his heart, so let him give; not grudgingly, or of necessity: for God loveth a cheerful giver” (2 Corinthians 9:7). The word purposeth means a settled decision made beforehand. Paul is describing giving that is thought through, decided freely, and offered without the inner groan of reluctance or the outer pressure of necessity. The Greek word translated cheerful is hilaros, from which we get hilarious. God delights in a giver who is glad.
Paul promises that God “is able to make all grace abound toward you,” and that “he that ministereth seed to the sower” will “multiply your seed sown, and increase the fruits of your righteousness” (2 Corinthians 9:8, 10). God does sustain generous people. He supplies them so that they can keep giving: “Being enriched in every thing to all bountifulness” (2 Corinthians 9:11). The purpose of that enrichment is stated plainly. It is so that they can be bountiful, generous in every direction.
And then Paul lifts his eyes to the final result:
For the administration of this service not only supplieth the want of the saints, but is abundant also by many thanksgivings unto God; Whiles by the experiment of this ministration they glorify God for your professed subjection unto the gospel of Christ, and for your liberal distribution unto them, and unto all men ; And by their prayer for you, which long after you for the exceeding grace of God in you. Thanks be unto God for his unspeakable gift.
The harvest Paul cares most about is thanksgiving. The saints in Jerusalem would have food. They would also glorify God, pray for the Corinthians and feel their hearts drawn toward Gentile believers they had never met. A gift of money would knit a divided church together. And Paul cannot finish without returning to the source: “Thanks be unto God for his unspeakable gift.” Every human gift points back to the gift of Christ.
Notice what Paul does not say. He does not tell the Corinthians that a particular amount will produce a particular return. He does not set a figure and attach a miracle to it. He does not suggest that their gift will place God under obligation. The sowing language is about God’s faithfulness to sustain generosity and the fruitfulness of a generous life, much of which is measured in righteousness, gratitude and fellowship. It is never a lever for prying blessing out of heaven’s hand.
What about the tithe?
NuggetNo teaching on giving in Nigeria can avoid this question, and sincere believers answer it in different ways. It deserves to be handled fairly.
Some Christians believe the tithe remains binding on believers today. They point out that Abraham gave a tenth to Melchizedek centuries before the law of Moses: “And he gave him tithes of all” (Genesis 14:20). Jacob vowed a tenth at Bethel (Genesis 28:22). Hebrews refers to Abraham’s tithe in its argument about Christ’s priesthood (Hebrews 7:1-4). And Jesus, rebuking the Pharisees for neglecting justice and mercy, said of their careful tithing, “these ought ye to have done, and not to leave the other undone” (Matthew 23:23). On this view the tenth is the Christian’s minimum, and failing to give it is disobedience.
Other Christians believe the tithe belonged to the covenant God made with Israel, and that it is not commanded for the church. They note that the tithe under the law supported the Levites, who had no inheritance, and also the stranger, the fatherless and the widow (Deuteronomy 14:28-29). They observe that Jesus spoke to the Pharisees while the law was still in force, before the cross, and that no apostle ever instructs a Gentile church to tithe. In the two chapters we have studied, Paul’s longest teaching on giving, the tenth is never mentioned. Believers who hold this view usually give freely and generously, sometimes far more than a tenth.
A third group sits between these positions. They do not regard the tithe as a law binding on the believer, but they see it as a wise and well-tested pattern: a tenth given first, gladly, as a place to begin.
That is where I stand. I believe the tithe is a joyful, voluntary starting point for grace-giving. It honours God with the first portion of what He provides, as the proverb says: “Honour the LORD with thy substance, and with the firstfruits of all thine increase” (Proverbs 3:9). It supports the ministry of the local church, which Scripture says believers should share in: “Let him that is taught in the word communicate unto him that teacheth in all good things” (Galatians 6:6). And it gives structure to a generosity that might otherwise remain a good intention.
But I hold it as a starting point and not as a fence. Grace often carries a believer well beyond a tenth. And the tithe must never be presented as a tax that keeps a curse away. As I have written elsewhere, the curse of Malachi 3 was spoken to a nation under the covenant of Moses, and Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law (Galatians 3:13). A believer who cannot give a tenth this month, because she is caring for a sick husband or keeping a child in school, is not under a curse. She is a child of God going through a hard season, and she should be helped, not threatened.
Whatever view you hold, hold it with charity. A brother who tithes carefully and a sister who gives freely without counting a tenth may both be giving from grace.
When giving is twisted
Because money is powerful and churches need resources, giving is one of the easiest places for manipulation to creep in. The New Testament is not naive about this. Peter rebuked a man who thought “the gift of God may be purchased with money” (Acts 8:20). Paul warned about teachers “supposing that gain is godliness” (1 Timothy 6:5) and about those who teach “for filthy lucre’s sake” (Titus 1:11).
Giving becomes distorted in several recognisable ways.
It is distorted when guilt is used as a tool. If an appeal relies on making you feel that God is disappointed with you, or that your problems are the result of stinginess, it has moved away from grace. Paul refused even to command the Corinthians.
It is distorted when fear is used as a tool. Telling people that their children will fall sick, their businesses will fail or their homes will be attacked unless they give is spiritual intimidation. The cross has dealt with the curse.
It is distorted when gifts are sold as purchases. The “seed” language of 2 Corinthians 9 is regularly lifted out of its setting and turned into a scheme: sow this amount, tonight, and God must give you a car, a husband, a visa or a contract. That turns the Father into a vending machine and the preacher into the man who controls the slot. God is generous beyond measure, but He is not placed under obligation by our money. A gift given to obligate God has already stopped being a gift.
It is distorted when the poor are pressed hardest. I have sat with widows and young people who gave their food or rent money because someone told them their breakthrough depended on it. Remember Paul’s rule: according to what a person has, not according to what he has not.
There is a beautiful picture of the alternative in the building of the tabernacle. Moses invited everyone “of a willing heart” to bring an offering (Exodus 35:5). The people responded so generously that the craftsmen came to him with an unusual report:
And they spake unto Moses, saying, The people bring much more than enough for the service of the work, which the LORD commanded to make. And Moses gave commandment, and they caused it to be proclaimed throughout the camp, saying, Let neither man nor woman make any more work for the offering of the sanctuary. So the people were restrained from bringing. For the stuff they had was sufficient for all the work to make it, and too much.
Moses had the announcement made through the camp: stop bringing. That is what integrity looks like. A ministry that is honest about its needs, transparent about how gifts are used and willing to say “enough” has nothing to fear from grace-giving. Free hearts will support it gladly.
The story of Ananias and Sapphira is sometimes used to frighten people about withholding money. Read it closely:
But a certain man named Ananias, with Sapphira his wife, sold a possession, And kept back part of the price, his wife also being privy to it , and brought a certain part, and laid it at the apostles’ feet. But Peter said, Ananias, why hath Satan filled thine heart to lie to the Holy Ghost, and to keep back part of the price of the land? Whiles it remained, was it not thine own? and after it was sold, was it not in thine own power? why hast thou conceived this thing in thine heart? thou hast not lied unto men, but unto God.
Peter’s words are striking: “Whiles it remained, was it not thine own? and after it was sold, was it not in thine own power?” Ananias was under no obligation to sell his land, and no obligation to give all of it once he had. His sin was lying. He wanted the reputation of total generosity while keeping part back in secret. The passage is a solemn warning against hypocrisy in giving. It is also one of the clearest statements in the New Testament that what a believer gives is genuinely his own decision.
More blessed to give
On his last journey to Jerusalem, carrying the very collection we have been reading about, Paul stopped at Miletus and called the elders of Ephesus to meet him. He knew he would probably never see them again. His farewell speech ends with these words:
I have coveted no man’s silver, or gold, or apparel. Yea, ye yourselves know, that these hands have ministered unto my necessities, and to them that were with me. I have shewed you all things, how that so labouring ye ought to support the weak, and to remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how he said, It is more blessed to give than to receive.
Paul had every right to be supported by the churches. He taught the Corinthians that “they which preach the gospel should live of the gospel” (1 Corinthians 9:14). Yet in Ephesus he chose to work with his own hands, making tents, so that he could support himself, his companions and the weak. He coveted no man’s silver. Leaders who ask for money should be able to say the same.
Then he quotes a saying of Jesus that does not appear in any of the four Gospels. Luke preserved it here: “It is more blessed to give than to receive.”
Notice that Jesus does not say it is more profitable to give. He says it is more blessed. The word speaks of a deep happiness that God gives. A receiver gains something he lacked. A giver gains the joy of resembling his Lord, of being part of what God is doing, of watching a need met and thanks rising to heaven. That blessedness is real whether or not money ever comes back.
Paul connects that blessing to labour: “so labouring ye ought to support the weak.” A carpenter in Abeokuta and a nurse on night shift in Enugu share in this. Their daily labour, offered to God, gives them something to place in His hands.
Does God prosper those who give?
Let me say this plainly, because the abuse of the message should not rob us of its truth. God is not against His people prospering. John wrote to his friend Gaius, “Beloved, I wish above all things that thou mayest prosper and be in health, even as thy soul prospereth” (3 John 1:2). The psalmist praised the Lord “which hath pleasure in the prosperity of his servant” (Psalm 35:27). Jesus said, “Give, and it shall be given unto you; good measure, pressed down, and shaken together, and running over” (Luke 6:38). Paul assured the Corinthians that God would supply the sower with seed. You may expect your Father to care for you, provide for you and make you fruitful. Poverty is not holier than provision, and a believer who prospers through honest work has nothing to apologise for.
But prosperity must be held within guard-rails, or it becomes another idol.
Wealth is not the measure of God’s favour. The Macedonians were in deep poverty and Paul held them up as a model of grace. Jesus Himself became poor. A believer whose business struggles is not less loved than one whose business thrives. If we measure favour by money, we will despise the poor and flatter the rich, which James calls sin (James 2:1-9).
God’s promises are not a formula. Luke 6:38 comes in a passage about forgiving and showing mercy, and the measure Jesus speaks of includes far more than money. God gives back in many currencies: provision, peace, relationships, open doors, fruit in other people’s lives, treasure in heaven. He decides the timing and the form.
The purpose of prosperity is generosity. Paul says God enriches His people “to all bountifulness.” The flow of blessing is meant to keep moving. A believer who receives more is given the joy of giving more.
PunchlineSo give expecting God to be faithful. Just do not give in order to put Him in your debt.
Kehinde never did answer the gross-or-net question. He simply stopped asking it.
He told me that it happened during a slow reading of 2 Corinthians 8 one Saturday morning, when he reached the words “though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor.” He sat at his dining table for a long time. He realised that he had been giving to God the way he paid his company tax: carefully, accurately and resentfully, with one eye on the penalty for getting it wrong.
He deleted the red cell from the spreadsheet. He still gives a tenth first, every month, but now he thinks of it as the place where his giving begins. He and his wife set aside a further amount each month in what they call “the Macedonian account,” for needs they hear about: a colleague’s medical bill, a widow’s rent, a student from their church who could not pay for her final-year project. Some months it is spent within a week. Some months it builds up until a need arrives.
A few weeks after that Saturday, his daughter was beside him again on the settee when he made the monthly transfer. She watched him closely. He pressed the button, put the phone down and smiled at her.
“You didn’t sigh,” she said.
“No,” he said. “I’ve remembered what I’m giving thanks for.”
That is generosity beyond compulsion. It is not a bill paid to keep trouble away, or a fee paid for a miracle. It is a grateful child sharing what his Father has given, because the Son of God became poor so that he might be rich.
Teaching Companion
For Reflection
- When you give, what do you most often feel: fear, duty, resentment, pressure, or joy? Where do you think that feeling comes from?
- How does 2 Corinthians 8:9 change the reason you give?
- Which of Paul’s principles in 2 Corinthians 8:12-15 (willingness, proportion, equality) do you most need to hear at present?
- Have you ever given under pressure or manipulation? How might you bring that experience to God without becoming cynical about generosity?
- What view of the tithe do you hold, and how can you hold it with charity toward believers who see it differently?
This Week
Before you give anything this week, read 2 Corinthians 8:1-9 slowly and spend a few minutes thanking God specifically for the riches Christ has given you through His poverty. Then sit down, alone or with your spouse, and decide in advance what you will give this month, “as he purposeth in his heart.” Begin with what you can give joyfully. Finally, set aside a small amount, however modest, for one person in need whom you will help quietly before the month ends.
A Prayer
Lord Jesus, thank You that though You were rich, for my sake You became poor, so that through Your poverty I might be rich. Forgive me for the times I have given from fear, guilt or calculation, and for the times I have held back because I was afraid there would not be enough. Make me a cheerful giver. Teach me to give willingly, according to what You have given me, and to delight in meeting the needs of others. Guard me from manipulation, and guard me from cynicism. Let my generosity cause thanksgiving to rise to You. Thank You for Your unspeakable gift. In Your name, Amen.
Truth received brings freedom. Truth believed establishes the heart.
Scripture quotations are from the King James Version. · Illustrations using first names only are composites unless stated otherwise.