Is Giving Money to Church, Giving Money to God?

I’ve been told many times in many ways in many churches that if I give them money, that’s me giving money to God.

That is one astounding statement.

Getting yourself confused with God is the essence of pride. It is what Satan did that resulted in his fall. It’s the temptation he subsequently used to get humanity to fall—you will be like God (Genesis 3:5). He hasn’t changed tactics.

The Catholic Church historically took this notion further than anyone, blatantly saying that giving them money resulted in forgiveness of sins. Martin Luther quipped that chief Catholic money-raiser, Johann Tetzel, acted on the principle that, “As soon as the coin in the coffer rings, another soul from purgatory springs.”

Protestants love bashing on Catholics; it’s one of our favorite things to do. There’s good reason for doing so, but there’s also good reason to heed Paul’s warning when confronting other people’s sins: confront humbly, considering yourself, lest you also be tempted (Galatians 6:1).

The more we point out the fault in other people, the cloudier our vision of ourselves becomes. Yes, the Catholic Church thought they were in the place of God. The idea that Protestant churches are free from this error is laughable.

Any church that tells you that giving them money is how you give God money, is falling into the same trap.

Sure, we don’t say that exact thing, and most Protestants stop short of saying that giving them money leads to forgiveness of sins, we don’t copy the exact error, but boy howdy do we like telling people our church is in the place of God.

Protestants also like to go on about Sola Scriptura, the idea that the Bible is our sole authority for life and doctrine. This is said a lot. Way more than it’s acted on.

For instance, how many verses in the Bible tell us to give money to church?

Google, “Bible verses that say to give money to church.” You’ll come up with several results. Click on one that seems promising. Read those verses. Note how none of them say to give money to church!

2 Corinthians is often used as the go-to source for guilting people into giving money to church. That is because one reason 2 Corinthians was written was to guilt the Corinthian church into giving money!

Why did Paul want them to give money?

The church in Corinth was filthy rich. Many churches in Paul’s day were struggling and getting beat up in persecution. In 1 Corinthians Paul told them to gather up some money “for the saints” (1 Corinthians 16:1). The saints were the poor saints in Jerusalem. Paul brings up their need in Romans 15:26 also.

Poorer churches gave. Corinth did not. Paul writes 2 Corinthians to guilt them into giving their money for the poor saints. He already told other churches they would (2 Corinthians 9:1-5), and they promised they would (2 Corinthians 8:10-11), but they didn’t. Paul compels them to do what they promised.

Many people will partially quote 1 Corinthians 16:2 that we should take up a collection on the first day of the week, Sunday. Obviously this refers to taking up an offering in a church service on Sundays.

Yes, indeed, that’s what it says to do. The money, however, was to be used for the poor saints in Jerusalem. That’s the entire context of giving money in 1 and 2 Corinthians.

This is not Paul telling churches to take up an offering for salaries and buildings. It’s for the poor.

The only verse that remotely comes close to telling people to give money to church is 1 Timothy 5:17, “Let the elders that rule well be counted worthy of double honor, especially they who labor in the word and doctrine.”

Allow me to make two opinionated points:

1. All usages of giving money in the New Testament are for helping the poor. 1 Timothy 5:17 probably assumes that the elders were poor. That was probably due to the fact they were laboring in the word and doctrine, and that time commitment cut into their billable hours at a regular job.

2. There are very few elders who were supposed to be given double honor, especially in our day. I have known and do know many pastors. There are very few who are laboring in the word and doctrine. Mostly they are running a business labeled a church and putting on social programs. Yet in our day, the vast majority of all church budgets go for salaries and benefits.

OK, my two opinionated points are over.

Even 1 Timothy 5:17 doesn’t tell you to give money to a church; it says to give it to an elder who is helping you spiritually.

All other usages of giving money in the New Testament are about giving money for the poor.

The word “alms,” which Jesus uses for giving money, refers to giving money to the poor. Matthew 6 says to give your alms discreetly so no one, not even your left hand, knows about it. He’s talking about giving to the poor, not putting money in the church offering to update the furnace. You can update the furnace if it needs it, but don’t tell people that’s giving alms or giving money to God!

In Acts 2 and 4 we are told that the early church had all things in common. Members sold their personal property and took care of each other’s needs. Meeting the needs of others was the whole point of selling their stuff (Acts 2:45 and 4:34).

Luke 12:33 says we are to lay up treasures in heaven. The way to do that, based on this very same verse, is by giving alms, sometimes translated “charity.” It means giving to the poor or someone in need.

The rich, young ruler was told to sell all he had and give to the church building fund. Oh wait, I read that wrong. He was also told to give to the poor (Matthew 19:21).

Mark 12:42-44 is often used by churches to get the last drop out of their people. The widow gave her last mites into the temple treasury. The temple treasury was used for purchasing sacrifices, wood for the fires, upkeep of the temple, and also for the priests. Doesn’t this mean giving for the temporal running of the church is giving to God?

It might, it’s probably the best verse to prove that. It should be noted that the temple is not the church though. We, the individual and collective members of the Body of Christ are the temple in the NT. This fits quite nicely with the idea that giving money means giving to other people, not the running of an institution in between us and God.

The New Testament temple is not an institution or a building; it’s people. People say this all the time, but few act as though it was true.

The Old Covenant stressed the physical. The New Covenant stresses the spiritual. Christ died so we wouldn’t have to pay for animal sacrifices, and priests, and altars, and silver bowls and spoons for temple service. He freed us from that so now we can actually use our physical money and stuff for helping people. Unfortunately, most churches accumulate stuff and buildings and go right back into slavery keeping them from helping those in need.

Many who tell you that giving to the church is giving to God will use Old Testament Scriptures. Since we don’t have elders who have given themselves to the word and doctrine, very few people understand the distinctions between the two testaments in their Bible. This has lots of bad results.

Many in the Health and Wealth movement base their notions of money on the Old Testament. The Old Testament said if you obey God you will get physical blessings; if you disobeyed you would get physical curses. Deuteronomy 28 is probably the best passage to illustrate that.

The law was given to the physical race of Israel. It was written on a physical rock. All the 600+ laws were about how they physically handled physical stuff. If the physical people of Israel kept their physical laws written on a physical rock dealing with their physical stuff, God would physically bless them in their physical land (Read Deuteronomy).

The New Covenant (Testament) does away with all this (Read Hebrews).

If the verses being used to convince you that giving money to a church equals giving money to God are from the Old Testament, be careful!

There are no verses in the Bible that say you should give money to a church. All verses in the New Testament about giving money specifically say to give your money to other people: elders, the saints, and the poor or those in need.

If your church is giving to the elders, the saints, and the poor, then feel free to give to it. And yes, all churches have expenses dealing with physical things, but any church viewing their responsibility before the Lord with any seriousness, will endeavor to keep those expenses as low as possible.

I have known many pastors and I have known many churches. Very few churches are giving to the poor. Most are giving to the elders and most of those elders are not laboring in the word and doctrine. Most of the rest of the money goes for the building. And, unfortunately, many of those churches have a significant amount of their money going to a bank in interest payments.

The church today is not following the New Testament and has more or less fallen into the same unbiblical ways as the Catholic Church we so love to bash.

Money and power go together. When a church tells you that giving money to them is what it means to give to God, they are falling into the trap of money and power. Humility and meekness are much easier if you don’t have money!

If your church routinely tells you that giving to them is giving to God, this is a huge warning sign.

Be careful out there.

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