What the Bible says about Giving

I begin a series on giving. The subject of giving has been wrongly taught in the body of Christ and someone needs to present the truth when it comes to giving. I do not claim to be the only person speaking the truth about giving but others have as well.

I recently asked a friend this question: I said "friend, there are 52 weeks in the year. Suppose there were church services held on Sunday alone, what message would you say you have heard the most in a year?” His answer was "Giving"

I believe this is true of many other believers. Giving is one subject that some have abused and has led to revolt of some against the whole subject of giving. The question is "what does the Holy Scriptures teach about giving and what does Jesus teach about giving?

This series will present what the Bible teaches concerning giving. Concerning the subject of giving, it appears that the discussions on the benefits of giving is not a problem but the main issue people have is the teachings on how giving should be done in the church.

In handling the Holy Scriptures, we must understand that God is the SOLE author of the Bible, Jesus is the message of the Bible and the Holy Spirit is the interpreter of the Bible. Therefore the teaching about giving must be one clear unambiguous doctrine presented in the Bible.

1. GOD IS THE SOLE AUTHOR OF THE HOLY SCRIPTURES. In writing the Bible, God employed many writers, men who in most cases lived centuries apart and never met at all but putting all the books together forms one unique message: that is Christ.

2. THE HOLY SPIRIT IS THE SOLE INTERPRETER OF THE BIBLE. No bible interpretation can be done without the guidance of the Holy Spirit.

2 Peter 1:20-21 “KNOWING THIS FIRST, THAT NO PROPHECY OF SCRIPTURE IS OF ANY PRIVATE INTERPRETATION, FOR PROPHECY NEVER CAME BY THE WILL OF MAN, BUT HOLY MEN OF GOD SPOKE AS THEY WERE MOVED BY THE HOLY SPIRIT.”

The many doctrinal beliefs in the Body of Christ today is proof that we are not depending on the Holy Spirit for Bible interpretation.

He is the Spirit behind the Bible. Attempting to interpret the Bible without the Holy Spirit’s will merely lead to false teachings.

3. JESUS IS THE MESSAGE OF THE BIBLE. The entire Bible speaks of just one message and that message is Jesus Christ. The Old Testament speaks of His coming and the Gospels speak of His Life on Earth, Acts - Jude speaks of His work done here on earth and Revelations speaks of His second coming.

It is very important for all believers to always remember 2 Peter 1:20-21 “KNOWING THIS FIRST, THAT NO PROPHECY OF SCRIPTURE IS OF ANY PRIVATE INTERPRETATION, FOR PROPHECY NEVER CAME BY THE WILL OF MAN, BUT HOLY MEN OF GOD SPOKE AS THEY WERE MOVED BY THE HOLY SPIRIT.”

Concerning any topic, we must begin from what Jesus said about the topic. Therefore, this first of the series on giving we will begin with what Jesus taught about giving.  

Here are the claims of Jesus concerning giving:

1. It is more blessed to give than to receive (Acts 20:35), “In everything I did, I showed you that by this kind of hard work we must help the weak, remembering the words the Lord Jesus himself said: ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive.’”

2. Jesus taught that giving to the poor creates for you treasures in heaven (Matthew 19:21)

3. Jesus taught that there is a blessing in giving (Luke 6:38)

4. Jesus taught that any giving done with the intention for men to see has no reward at all (Matthew 6:1-4)

The next posts on the series on giving will be going deeper into what Jesus said about giving. We will also focus on addressing some of the wrong teachings about giving.