Dr. Köstenberger Clarifies His Stance on Giving

Many of you are probably aware of the fact that Dr. Köstenberger was recently quoted on tithing in the Wall Street Journal. His quote appeared under the subheading "Anti-Tithing in the Classroom" and was found in the following paragraph:

The anti-tithing movement has found support in some unlikely places: theologically conservative divinity schools and church pulpits. At Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary in Wake Forest, N.C., professor Andreas Kostenberger challenges tithing in classes on the New Testament. He teaches that if you add up all taxes paid by the ancient Israelites, they exceed 10%, and that in the New Testament there's no percentage rule. He says pastors perpetuate the 10% figure out of "pragmatism, tradition and ignorance, quite frankly."

I know I was in more than one conversation about last week about giving, tithing and what Dr. Köstenberger's statement really meant.

Dr. Köstenberger responded to the quote on his blog today in post entitled Christian Stewardship and Giving as an Act of Worship. In this post, he clarifies the context around the quote, his objections with WSJ prior to it being published, and gives a response to the misconstrued interpretations of his quote that have arisen within the last week. I encourage you to read it if you had questions of your own.