Paul asks: Who has ever given to God, that God should repay them? He seems to think the obvious answer is that no one has ever given God anything. Like it’s impossible to do that, or something. But that’s obviously not true.

Jacob gave back to God a tenth of everything God gave him. The people of Israel gave so much to the people building God a tabernacle, Moses had to tell them to stop. When Joshua conquered Jericho, he gave all the plunder to God’s treasury.

David gave God his own personal treasures of gold and silver, in addition to providing large quantities of all the materials needed to build God a temple. And the people of Israel willingly donated to that project, too. During the reign of Hezekiah, the people of Judah gave God freewill offerings, contributions, and consecrated gifts.

After the exile, Artaxerxes king of Persia and his advisors freely gave God silver and gold, and the Jews give God freewill offerings. Jesus said to give back to God what is God’s. Would he have said that, if it wasn’t possible to give anything to God? It clearly is possible, because as Jesus noted, the Pharisees gave God a tenth of their herbs.

Not to mention the many sacrifices that God demanded his people regularly offer him, which they did for centuries. So much that God started getting tired of all the sacrifices that people were constantly bringing him.