For a comprehensive review I refer you to Dr. Conrade Yap's very fine one. What a massive task it was that Dr. Blomberg undertook, making a thorough and exegetically sound survey of Biblical teaching on wealth and giving. Expect to be overwhelmed by the multitude of pertinent scriptures that are exposited! My contribution will be to give you a sample of some of this book's conclusions, some of which you are likely to disagree with. If you find some of Blomberg's conclusions off-putting, my recommendation is to get and read the book anyway. Allow scripture and this fine scholar's exposition to challenge your views and convict and change you in some areas where YOU are wrong, even if you end up concluding that Blomberg was off-target at some points.
1. The big assertion of the book is that most American Christians are keeping way too much of their wealth for their own use, that they ought to be giving away MUCH more of their wealth than they are currently doing. The current average giving for American Christians is 2% of income.
2. He doesn't believe that Christians are commanded by Scripture to give 10% of their income. He thinks our giving should be affected by the amount of resources that we have and some other circumstances such as size of family and previously incurred debts. He mentions (with approval) relatively poor people giving 5% of their income, and thinks many wealthier people should be giving much more even than the 23 1/3% "multiple tithe" mandated for God's people in the Old Testament. Blomberg himself, an author and seminary professor with an undisclosed but probably moderate income, gives away 50% of his income.
3. He rejects the idea that there is a Biblical requirement that the entire "tithe" should be paid to a person's local church.
4. He more highly prioritizes giving to the poor than most American Christians do. This especially includes poor Christians in our own communities and around the world, but it isn't limited exclusively to the Christian poor (despite the almost-exclusive emphasis on the Christian poor in Acts and the Epistles). Certain texts used by many teachers to motivate us towards giving to the poor in general, Blomberg says are talking about giving to believers (e.g., Matthew 25:31-46). Also he believes material help for the poor is NOT more important than spiritual help such as evangelism, so that material help should be combined with Christian witness.
5. He rejects the idea that poverty is desirable.
6. He asserts that if someone claims to have been born again but doesn't change their conduct in the area of finances and giving, that Scripture would have us conclude that they are in fact NOT Christian believers. In other words, while generous giving does not make you a Christian, being a genuine Christian WILL make you a generous giver. He makes a vigorous case for this.
7. Democratically elected governments should NOT end all social programs for the poor in favor of churches taking them over, even though churches should be doing more, much more.
8. Blomberg spends over a chapter talking about government policy issues, the most difficult part of the book for me. His conclusions favor democracy and are critical of communism, but he's also pretty critical of many of the typical ideas of American conservative Republicans (whom he thinks may be too greedily selfish). He IS concerned about excessively generous social programs leading to dependency among the poor. He is not very concerned about the dampening effects of taxation on the economy and other macroeconomic issues (that great concern of conservatives), noting that those aren't scriptural concerns and therefore are mostly beyond the scope of the book.
9. He applies Old Testament scriptures about aliens (non-Jews in Israel) to advocate for more graciousness by government and by Christian churches and individuals towards illegal aliens in the United States in our time.
10. He thinks that many American churches are spending way too much on buildings. Remember that buildings aren't mentioned in the New Testament. He doesn't think we can justifiably extrapolate the Old Testament pattern of generous spending on the tabernacle and temples to justify nice church buildings in our time.
11. He advocates much greater expenditures by churches and individuals on foreign missions.
12. He is scathing in his criticisms of the "Prosperity Gospel".
In summary, there are lots of toothy assertions in this book, some of which WILL step on your toes! Most of the time, Blomberg's assertions are more thoroughly and systematically grounded in scripture than you will find in any other Christian book on finances and giving. If you thought as you read my list of 12 items above, "I don't agree with that!", you should all the more get Blomberg's book and carefully examine the scriptural case he makes for his position. You may find yourself compelled by God to change your mind! Occasionally, it did seem to me that he veered off into his own personal opinions that seemed relatively unsupported by Scripture. You'll have to do the Berean thing, examine the Scriptures to see if these things are so. But on the whole, I highly recommend this book!
What this book is NOT is a topically-organized layperson's practical guide to financial principles. One of those that would have quite a bit of agreement with this book is Randy Alcorn's Managing God's Money. In contrast, Dave Ramsey's books are far more focused on how to become more wealthy and seem mostly contrary to most Biblical teaching about money and wealth.
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Zondervan Academic serves the needs of Christian scholars, pastors, and students. Since 1931, we have been privileged to partner with the scholarly community to develop Christ-honoring resources in service of the academy and the church worldwide.
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Sections in the Biblical Theology for Life Series include:
Queuing the Questions
Introduces the main questions being addressed in the book. Raising these questions enables readers to see clearly from the outset what each book will be pursuing, inviting them to participate in the process of discovery along the way.
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Also Available from the Biblical Theology for Life Series...
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The Mission of God's People
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Creation Care
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Following Jesus, the Servant King
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Christians in an Age of Wealth
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| Subject | God's Kingdom | The Church's Mission | The Natural World | Discipleship | Stewardship | Personal Identity |
| Author(s) | Nicholas Perrin | Christopher J.H. Wright | Douglas J. Moo and Jonathan A. Moo | Jonathan Lunde | Craig L. Blomberg | Brian S. Rosner |
| Format | Softcover | Softcover | Softcover | Softcover | Softcover | Softcover |
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| Length | 4.25 hours | 5.75 hours | 5 hours |
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- Chang Song LiReviewed in Canada on November 29, 2016
Very good book looking at the biblical theology of wealth
