The Theology of Giving
PL THE
The practice of unity in the early Church is most evident in the sharing of resources among the believers. The early Church existed to assist unfortunate people. Early believers cared for the poor both inside and outside the church. The Church was known as the organization of alms. Emperor Julian was impressed with the church’s charity work and imitated the Christian community by establishing many hostels in each city to help less fortunate town’s people and strangers. In the late first and early second century, almsgiving was regarded as equal to repentance from sin and considered better than fasting and prayer. In the church the rich and the poor lived together as one body. The rich supplied the poor with material needs, and the poor prayed for the rich. Regarding structure, the early Church was a house church, which implies “the church is the place for life” and is a house for human relationship (Pongudom 126-28).
The principle of sharing resources reflects God’s nature. God gives in order to satisfy creatures’ needs and not on the account of merit. Miroslav Volf uses the Trinitarian model and argue that God is a Giver who freely gives:
Like God, we should give to the needy without any distinction—to stranger and to kin, to undeserving and to deserving. When the needy come from, what the color of their skin is, or how they behave does not matter. Their needs and their incapacities matter, and they matter not simply as defined by us but as informed by the needy themselves. When the need is present, a gift should be given, irrespective of whose need it is. (“Being” 10)
In introducing this model, Volf draws out some important principles of giving (10-11). First, giving should aim to establish parity in the midst of drastic and pervasive inequality. God gives to creatures because God delights in them and because they are needy. Christ enters the poverty of humanity, dwells in it and makes his divine life to be their own. Christ’s gift makes each person a “Christ.” God gives so that the relationship between God and humans can be brought to greater equality. As humans, when people give, they often engage in rivalries and set up hierarchies. Conversely in the Trinity, the one who gives is not greater than the one who receives. Using the lovers’ paradigm, Volf says that the Trinity does not have first and last, and nor rivalry. Lovers give because they delight in each other and adore each other. Like gifts among the triune persons, human gifts should express and foster parity. When giving to people who are in need, writes the apostle Paul, it ought to be like food given from heaven: “The one who had much did not have too much, and the one who had little did not have too little” (2 Cor. 8:15). Nevertheless, the immediate goal is not uniformity; rather, the goal is equality of satisfied needs (Volf Free, 71-85).
Second, in giving givers seek to honor and to bless the recipients. Each giver gives glory to the recipient with each gift given. When both givers and recipients aim to outdo each other, they do not aim to get honor, whether by giving gifts or any other means, but to bestow honor (Rom. 12:10). Good givers do not give gifts to recipients and honor to themselves. They give both gifts and honor to the recipients even if they, as a result, end up being honored as good givers.
Third, in giving Christians practice the Trinitarian principle of reciprocity. Volf gives a strong reminder saying, “Without reciprocity we may be living in our isolated individual islands where we send and receive packages anonymously to those who cannot help themselves” (12). Nonetheless reciprocity exchange does not mean, “I give you so you must give me.” The heart of giving is not self-seeking; rather, in giving the givers should seek to promote other people’s benefit.
In suggesting the principle of reciprocity, Volf emphasizes the essence of humans needs for one another, for human contact, and for relationship, so people will not just channel their gifts anonymously through charitable organizations and church programs. In giving, both givers and receivers seek to bless each other in the principle of love—the self-giving—according to the gifts God has bestowed on them.
(In Search of Unity, Ch. 2, pp. 36-38 -- PL THE)
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