Lawrence Kohlberg (1927-87), professor of psychology at the University of Chicago and Harvard, was fascinated by these questions. Over the course of his career he catalogued six different answers. That is, he enumerated six identifiable stages of moral development through which people grow, although most level off somewhere in the middle, never attaining what he dubbed the “post-conventional” stages.
We won’t try to re-teach Psych 101. Just Google “Kohlberg” and you’ll find concise summaries. We do want to highlight how Biblical teachings on financial stewardship hit on every one of these stages. Consider:
• Stage I: Some people give in order to avoid punishment, and Malachi reinforces that: Will anyone rob God? Yet you are robbing me! But you say, “How are we robbing you?” In your tithes and offerings! You are cursed with a curse, for you are robbing me — the whole nation of you! (3:8-9).
• Stage II: Some people give in order to gain a tangible benefit, as Jesus promises: Give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over, will be put into your lap; for the measure you give will be the measure you get back (Luke 6:38).
• Stage III: Some give in order to gain social acceptance, and Paul warns of the alternative. Regarding financial matters, he says, Take note of those who do not obey what we say in this letter; have nothing to do with them, so that they may be ashamed (II Th. 3:14).
• Stage IV: Some give in order to obey authorities, thereby maintaining law and order, as Jesus both scolds for its selective application and commands toward complete obedience: “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you tithe mint, dill, and cumin, and have neglected the weightier matters of the law: justice and mercy and faith. It is these you ought to have practiced without neglecting the others” (Matt. 23:23).
• Stage V: Some give in order to fulfill community norms and covenants, as was exemplified by the early post-Pentecost believers who set an unprecedented (and seldom emulated) standard for community life: All who believed were together and had all things in common; they would sell their possessions and goods and distribute the proceeds to all, as any had need (Acts 2:44-45, see also 4:32-37).
• Stage VI: Some give in order to follow universal ethical principles, as modeled in the parable of the generous Samaritan (Luke 10:25-37).
Why would Scripture send such mixed messages regarding our giving?
It’s safe to say that neither Jesus, nor the prophets or apostles was teaching with Lawrence Kohlberg in mind. But as wise educators, those Spirit-inspired teachers knew to communicate to their students via developmentally appropriate reasoning. As effective missionaries, the Spirit-led evangelists translated the message to terms understandable to their respective mission fields. As homileticians, the Spirit-filled preachers proclaimed the word in ways compelling to their respective audiences.
And as Spirit-guided stewardship committees, deacons, elders, educators, and pastors, we all do well to teach those under our charge to give — in terms they can best understand.
Critical to Kohlberg’s thesis is the observation that everybody can understand the need to do good, and to give well, but the way each of us grasps that responsibility differs according to our own stage of moral reasoning. The convictions typical of my stage of reasoning seem self-evident, and the thinking of those in earlier stages I can easily explain, but the thinking of those in higher stages eludes my grasp. So while your teaching and preaching about stewardship will reach me when directed at my stage of development, you better address those other stages at the same time, so as to make compelling arguments for all the others in the congregation.
Church leaders will most effectively convince the doubters among us that “It is more blessed to give than to receive,” if they express that message in the giving languages each of us can best comprehend.
— JHH
