The Truth on Tithing

Last updated on: February 7, 2017 at 5:20 pm by Guest Contributor

The Truth on Tithing 2017-02-07T17:20:38-05:00 Guest Contributor

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

Photo attribution: "The Shrinking Dollar" By frankieleon; CC 2.0

Photo attribution: “The Shrinking Dollar” By frankieleon; CC 2.0

Introduction: I’d like to take a moment and discuss one of my ministry areas that are near and dear to my heart. I have a few areas in particular I feel led to address in my ministry and tithing is one of them. Not as an advocate for tithing, which may surprise some, but as one to spread the message that tithing is being practiced when it should not be. For the most part I think pastors are being genuine in their teaching to adhere to the tithe, genuine but genuinely wrong. The majority are trying teach giving and how it blesses us, but still, tithing is not the New Testament pattern. In many cases, though, it is used as a manipulative tool to increase their own back accounts or at least to keep their paychecks rolling in.

A few years back I started a book on this very topic entitled, “Tattling on Tithing: Making Money Mandatory is a Mistake.” I was about two thirds the way through and lost all of my work due to a computer virus, a flood, and not backing up my work like a fool. To retrace the steps and start all over proved too daunting for my schedule, but I still like to preach and write about the error of requiring and teaching the tithe in our time.

The New Testament: The topic of tithing can be very controversial. It’s such a wide spread practice that to speak out against it can cause all kinds of backlash. When it comes to dealing with the livelihood of preachers and pastors it’s amazing how their kind, Christian attitudes can change in the blink of an eye. But what is surprising to most is the fact that the New Testament nowhere requires us to give a tenth of our income as an offering to the church, or even to God for that matter. If you don’t believe me feel free to go check for yourself. If tithing is such an essential issue why is it not taught in the New Testament. And as accepted as it is across the Church you would think tithing would be mentioned several times in the New Testament.

The word itself, “tithe,” refers to a tenth of produce and livestock prescribed by the Old Covenant as the requirement of all Hebrews to pay in order to support the Levite priesthood who were not allowed to earn wages; it was to pay for the maintaining of the temple; and it was used to provide sacrifices in the Old Testament worship system. Every single one of these needs has been done away with under the New Covenant, the New Testament, by the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Now all believers are priests because we are children of God by grace through faith in Jesus Christ our Savior. We, every believer, are now the temple of God which He has given the Holy Spirit to reside in, to indwell us, at the moment of our regeneration. There is no longer any need to make sacrifices in order to cover our sin because Christ became the sacrifice once and for all for all for our sin (past, present, and future). We are forgiven if we are in Christ. The national system of worship for Israel is now obsolete, the role of the priest and tithe has come to an end. This is why the Bible no longer requires believers under the New Covenant to tithe. It is simply not there. (See Eph. 3:12; 1 Cor. 6:19; Heb. 10:14)

Abraham and Melchizedek: People will often try and use the example of Abraham tithing to Melchizedek as a point to validate tithing. In this case it is true that Abraham gave a tenth of his belongings to Melchizedek, however, it was a one time gift where Abraham gave as a result of his own personal decision as a public action to show his thankfulness for a victory that was had during a military battle. It was not as an act of obedience from a commandment given by God.

Besides, just because something was done before the Law does not make it a permanent command of God to be added to the Law. If we are going to use Abraham to argue for the tithe then we need to follow him in other examples as well, like circumcision and the sacrifice of animals. Isn’t it odd how rare these two areas are mentioned alongside that of tithing. (Gen 14 – 16)

The real point for this incident being recorded in the New Testament is to show the supremacy of our priesthood in Christ which is represented by Melchizedek over and above the priesthood of Levi, a clear descendant of Abraham. (Heb. 7:1-10) The passage is not didactic regarding the issue of tithing, it’s not a commandment, it’s a narrative simply describing a situation that took place. Tithing is not the point to be taken from this incident.

Passages out of context: If time and space allowed at this point I could list many of the passages taken completely out of context which are used in an attempt to get people to tithe. Perhaps a brief mention of the main culprit will suffice for our purposes.

Probably the most infamous of the tithe manipulating passages of Scripture is Malachi 3:9-10, “You are cursed with a curse, for you are robbing me, the whole nation of you. Bring the full tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. And thereby put me to the test, says the LORD of hosts, if I will not open the windows of heaven for you and pour down for you a blessing until there is no more need.”

See how this is used as a manipulative tool? “cursed with a curse,” “robbing” God, bring the tithe into the “storehouse,” “put me to the test,” if you tithe you will be given “blessing until there is no more.” Well, for starters the church is not a “storehouse,” that should be the first clue. “The context of this passage concerns the Israelites not bringing their offerings to the temple. Because of their disobedience, God had judged them with a small harvest. The Lord challenged them to bring the ‘full tithe’ of grain sacrifices (Leviticus 6:14-23) and see that He would bless them with an abundance of future crops. The ‘storehouse,’ mentioned in verse 10, is a place to store grain in the temple.”* And although this passage applied to a particular group at a particular time regarding a particular issue, pastors still use it to convince people into tithing often emphasizing on being cursed if they don’t and that they are robbing God if they choose not to. A clear abuse of the use of Scripture.

Giving: So then, how are we to give as believers under the New Covenant? Well, the best example we have is that of Jesus (2 Cor. 8:9). Jesus was a walking, living, breathing sacrifice in complete and absolute dependence on God the Father (Phil. 2:5-8). Well, we aren’t Jesus so what are we to do? Actually, we are to do the same thing (2 Cor. 8:5; Rom. 12:1-2). Our giving should come naturally out of the love we have for God and His people. We should give as we are felt led to give by the Holy Spirit. Can that be 10 percent of what we make? Sure, but it can also be 2 percent or 20 percent. It will be different for each of us as he works in our hearts on an individual level. That is the freedom we have in Christ. Does the Bible teach New Testament believers to give? Absolutely. Does it teach them to give 10 percent of their gross income as opposed to their net income? Absolutely not.

Conclusion: The best advice I can give on what and how much you should give is to point you to 2 Corinthians chapters 8 and 9. I’ll leave you with a quote from that section of Scripture, “Each person should give what they have decided to in their own heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver” (2 Cor. 9:8).

*Portion in quotes comes form “Gotquestions.org, ‘Does the Teaching on Tithing in Malachi 3:9-10 Apply to us Today?’

This was a guest post from Dr. Jeff Hagan.

Jeff is an ordained Christian minister with over 23 years of ministry experience. He has attended Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary, Luther Rice Seminary, Tyndale Seminary and a handful of other institutes as well. He has earned several degrees including the Doctor of Christian Education and the Doctor of Theology.

Christian Living

Tithing

Worship

Abraham & Mekchizedek

Giving

Money

Previous Post

August 12, 2016

Local Man Confident He Can Watch Women's Olympic Beach Volleyball Without Stumbling

Next Post

August 19, 2016 Matthew 20:28: The Topsy Turvy Kingdom of Jesus

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category #ShoutYourAbortion 10 Commandments 2016 Election 2017 2020 Election Abortion Accelerate Books Adultery America Andy Stanley Arminianism Ashley Madison Atonement B&H Academic Baptism Barry Horner Beauty Biblical Elders Billy Graham Blog Book Review Bruce Jenner Caitlyn Jenner Calvin Calvinism Cheating Chick-fil-A Children Christ Christian History Christian Living Christian Podcasts Christianity Christmas Church History Church Leadership Civil Disobedience Constitutional Coronavirus Culture Death Demoninations Discipleship Doctrine Doctrine of God Donald Trump Ecclesiology Entertainment Eschatology Ethics Evangelical Evangelism Evil Evolution Fear Forgive Yourself Forgiveness Francis Chan Future Israel Gay Marriage Gender Genesis George Floyd Gospel Government Gun Control Halloween hamartiology Heavenly Reward Hermeneutics History Hollywood Holy Spirit Homeschool Homosexual Homosexuality Hope Hospitality Humor Husband Infant Baptism Interview Jesus John Piper Josh Duggar Joshua Harris Judgment Justice Kathy Griffin Kim Davis Leadership Logic Love Manhood Marriage Martin Luther Messianic Prophecy Miscarriage Mocking Modesty Money Movie Reviews Music Music Review Netflix New Testament Obergefell Old Testament Parenting Pastor Pastoring Persecution Planned Parenthood Podcast Politics Pop Culture Pornography Prayer Preaching Predestination Pride Prosperity Gospel Rachel Held Evans Racism Ravi Zacharias Redemption Reformation 500 Reformation Day Reformed Theology Relationship Repentance Salvation Same Sex Marriage Satan Satire Scripture Seminary Sex Sin slavery Sola Scriptura Soteriology Sovereignty Spiritual Gifts Spurgeon Star Wars Steven Furtick Suffering Sufficiency of Scripture Sunday School Supreme Court Technology Testimony The Church The Lord of the Rings The Problem of Evil The Shack Theology Theonomy Tithing Transgenderism Tullian Tchividjian Uncategorized Universalism Vanity Fair Video Games Virgin Birth Voting Wife Women Worldview Worship

Select a Month June 2025 April 2025 March 2025 March 2024 February 2024 January 2024 December 2023 June 2023 April 2023 March 2023 January 2023 December 2022 November 2022 October 2022 September 2022 August 2022 July 2022 June 2022 May 2022 April 2022 March 2022 February 2022 January 2022 December 2021 November 2021 October 2021 August 2021 July 2021 June 2021 May 2021 April 2021 March 2021 February 2021 January 2021 December 2020 November 2020 October 2020 September 2020 August 2020 July 2020 June 2020 May 2020 April 2020 March 2020 February 2020 January 2020 December 2019 November 2019 October 2019 September 2019 August 2019 July 2019 June 2019 May 2019 April 2019 March 2019 February 2019 January 2019 December 2018 November 2018 October 2018 September 2018 August 2018 July 2018 June 2018 May 2018 April 2018 March 2018 February 2018 January 2018 December 2017 November 2017 October 2017 September 2017 August 2017 July 2017 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015 December 2014 November 2014 October 2014 September 2014 August 2014 July 2014

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz