Voluntary Love Versus Compulsory Tax in God's House
Maclaren identifies a fundamental rupture in ecclesiastical practice: the Old Testament operated on the principle of law—'Thou shalt' or 'Thou shalt not'—with fixed assessments on...
This is historical examples on voluntary giving versus compulsion and institutional stewardship, drawing on 2 Kings 12:4-15.
Maclaren identifies a fundamental rupture in ecclesiastical practice: the Old Testament operated on the principle of law—'Thou shalt' or 'Thou shalt not'—with fixed assessments on each man. But the New Testament animates itself by love's voice: 'Though I have all boldness in Christ to enjoin thee ... yet for love's sake I rather beseech.' The money given from compulsion versus the money that 'cometh into any man's heart to bring' differs not merely in quantity but in spiritual substance.…
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