“Paul thinks everything we have is the result of God’s grace, that the material and the spiritual are tied together, and that our responsibility is to see that God’s grace is such that our duty is to pass the grace — we get in order to give. God rescues us and we respond materially, and others provide materially and we respond spiritually. It’s tied together.
The fundamental principle of Paul’s theology of money is reciprocity. God gives to us so we can become grace to others. Paul doesn’t teach the tithe or charity. He teaches grace and grace is more radical and more revolutionary than the tithe and charity. I would say Paul was ‘post-tithing.’ Tithing is pre-gospel.”
Scot McKnight, New Testament scholar, author, and Karl A. Olsson Professor in Religious Studies at North Park University, from a post on his Jesus Creed blog.
Yes! There is a circle of grace that develops. James Dunn writes about grace flowing from God to human, through humans as gracious action and then back to God as thanks (Theology of Paul p. 707). This grace infused giving is so much more radical than tithing or charity, and Scot expresses that very well.
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