It is true that I think that 10% is an awfully small amount of money to do the Lord’s work. On the scale from 0% to 100% you’ll find me racing with a passion to the 100% side of the scale. You see I don’t think that ten percent is enough because of a desire to see people give more to God’s work, but instead I view that all of what the Lord has in your life is His. My friend and brother in Christ, Tony, once called me and told me that, “Someone ran into God’s car.” I chuckled because it was a great way for him to express his understanding that the car, which has monetary value, is God’s. The house that he and his bride are raising their three children in is God’s. Even the three children are God’s. There is no question on his mind that all things are God’s.
This brings us to the question of whether the tithe should be grasped as a New Testament concept. I’ll grant other Christians hold to a reformed view of theology which says that the church is the Old Testament’s Israel brought into a new covenant and therefore the things which aren’t done away with in the New Covenant are still valid for New Testament saints. I disagree with this view as a dispensationalist and I don’t want that to be confused so I’m going to just state it plainly: None of the Old Testament Law is for the New Testament believer. Lets take a look at why the tithe is also not acceptable in the eyes of the New Testament authors.
Pre-New Testament Passages and Thoughts to Consider
Adam never paid a tithe. Not one bit of what Adam had went to a tithe. Adam’s relationship with God was personal and there were no priests to go between he and the Lord. The sacrifices portrayed in the early chapters of Genesis show a relationship with God that clarify a respect for God’s ownership of all things that man worked for (as a result of the fall). By the time of the flood and God’s provision of Noah God still owned everything and even though it was Noah and the other seven on the boat as well as many, many animals they were all God’s. God had brought them all to the boat and when they got off of the boat it was at God’s direction. Noah sacrificed animals to God in recognition of God’s protection and provision for all that God owned. No tithe there. Surely Abraham must have tithed. Nope. There was no tithe in Abraham’s time, just sacrifices of praise and obedience. In fact Abraham had no written Law to observe, he merely had his conscience! There was no tenth offering, he knew God had provided all that he owned.
When the tithe was finally instituted it was for the nation of Israel it was given as a percentage to support the Levites and for the fatherless & the widow. Go ahead and read Deuteronomy 14:22-29. There you will see that the tithe was:
- Ten percent of their yearly gain
- For the nation of Israel (and not surrounding nations) which was initially a theocracy
- It was a gift of agricultural things and livestock. Other material possessions were not involved.
- It is not the same as first fruits (see: Exodus 23:19, Leviticus 19:23-25)
- The tithe was to be administered by the people and not the priests.
I think that its clear by now that the often cited tithe is not what we often call an offering or tithe by New Testament practices. With that in mind, lets look at what the New Testament shows us.
New Testament Giving Principles
The book of Acts starts out the church age with an amazing display of generosity between believers in acts 2:42-47 being the slightly greater context. Specifically verse 45 says that they began selling things to provide for one another’s needs. That’s not a ten percent offering. Its a whatever percent provision of grace. The recognition that all things were God’s things helped the believers get past any sense of possession that we often face as New Testament saints. From that point forward you’ll find other instances of giving as needed including Romans 12:13 further encouraging the believer to give as other saints have need and to be hospitable (hospitality will need to be a post of its own).
Philippians 4:18-19 covers the use of sacrifice in a New Testament metaphor, but it is merely a reference to the gifts of the New Testament saints being sent to the apostle Paul. It is not encouraging a literal sacrifice of animals or grains as previously used in Old Testament times. Instead verse 19 goes on to outline the fact that God has used the Philippian saints to provide for Paul’s needs. If we look for the application from this passage we see that
- God has given Paul a need
- God has the abundance and ability to fulfill that need
- God has blessed the Philippians with their resources
- God has given the Philippians a desire to give to Paul’s ministry
- God is glorified by the Philippians’ generocity
- God is glorified by Paul for His work through the Philippians
None of those things involves a set ten percent or a monetary percentage, but instead comes from the heart of an abiding believer. One who is resting in his or her relationship with Christ in the heavenlies (Col. 3:1-3). Because the saint is aware of the need the saint seeks out a way to fulfill it. This leads me to believe that the church is to focus more on getting to know one another than they are to focus on financial things!
One scenario that I read about just today discussed tithing in the context of debt. Since the debt is a prior obligation it should be noted that the believer should first pay the debt and with whatever is left over seek the Lord’s direction for the money to be given. Debt should be avoided in the life of the believer so that this problem goes away (while this is something I know I am currently attempting to get out of debt. I have walked in the flesh, too, and understand the need to abide in my stewardship of God’s money. Lesson learned). Giving during debt isn’t a required Law, but instead we should see that we have relationships within the body where we can see needs, both financial and physical, and give to those needs rather than believers being put into debt due to lack of resources. In this particular case I would recommend the believer give only what the Lord has provided in excess beyond the needs of paying creditors. Right now I am currently giving less than I would like, but instead of feeling guilt I rejoice that the Lord has given what He has and I look forward to the day when I can give even more to various needs in the body of Christ.
Conclusion
In conclusion the Tithe is an outdated Law that has been done away with and instead the New Testament saint is to focus on relationship and fellowship and looking for ways that the Lord may use them to provide for the needs of others. There is nothing in the New Testament that calls us to support a ten percent giving command, but likewise nothing says not to do it. Giving falls under Christian liberty (See Romans 14 and 15) where we are to give what our conscience feels is right. If that is fifteen, ten or one percent for you, then give what the Lord has put on your heart.
Whatever percentage you give, let it be with a heart of gratitude and thanks! May you give graciously because God graciously gave His mercy and love to you. Don’t tithe out of compliance with the Law, but instead walk in His grace and give as He provides.
Randy,
Well done!
Great article! And here are some other points I like to bring up with those that would put the church under tithes:
1) Jesus, Peter, and Paul never tithed. As a tithe was an agricultural tax and Jesus made his living from carpentry, Peter from fishing, and Paul from tent making.
2) Churches that go back to the law to reinstitute the tithe never seem to go back to how the tithe was to be spent: 1/3 for the orphan and widow. And also, those who received of the tithe were not to own real estate.
3) Funny how some churches teach that we are to walk by the Spirit and listen to His voice in all areas except for finances, where an automatic 10% is assumed.
I don’t see what the problem is. My church encourages to give a tithe, but doesn’t require it. Some give more, some less.
We leave it up to the giver’s heart. If we don’t pay a tithe, how is the church supposed to pay it’s bills.
I think this is a side issue when looking at the big picture. Instead of arguing whether to give the church 10% or 50%, we should be working on getting the gospel to those who haven’t heard it.
susan it is not about money.
it is about what you do about what god says.
if you don’t determine what god says about one thing how can you trust him in other things.
@roy – unfortunately it is ALL about the money.
I have found in my experience that the only folks that tend to have issues with tithing as a concept (not a law or a demand) are those that don’t want to support the work of God at all. They use every excuse under the sun yet still purport to be a Christian supporting God’s works. So an excuse like “it’s an old testament law” or whatever.
Either we accept the word of God 100% accurate or we don’t. So if it says give 10% (and this as a by the by is a stating point not a maximum or an exact science) then give we should. Cheerfully, pressed down and running over to mis-quote a portion of God’s word.
Yes we’re under a new covenant but it doesn’t negate the principles and practices of the old either. If that was the case then we might as well just give up now.
@Hmmm – I don’t for a second think that God’s word is inaccurate. I am a dispensationalist which means that I believe that God’s revelation is progressive and that God dealt with different people differently at different times. Why else would Paul write to the church in Galatia that they were dead to the Law and no longer under it’s cruel tutelage? The Law for the tithe is not repeated in the New Testament, instead Paul emphasizes in Romans 12:13 that the believers should give to one another as they see need.
Your assumption of what people who say there is no tithe are up to is a dangerously broad sweeping generalization and not reflective of my financial state. I give to various ministries and not for one minute do I expect that just because I’m not under the Law of the tithe that the Holy Spirit wouldn’t direct me to give His excess to someone in need, some ministry who could use it to further biblical teachings or as an evangelistic tool in the case of a missionary. Be careful that you don’t make broad sweeping generalizations based on what people say, but instead you carefully analyze what is directed in scripture and ignore experience, which will show human failure, and instead cling to the life of Christ that dwells inside of every believer.
If you are a consistent dispensationalist, though claiming a progressive approach to Scripture, then the only hermeneutic you could possibly maintain is an exclusive NT hermeneutic. Therefore, any continuity between the OT and NT is irrelevant except for the prescriptive Mosaic Law, i.e. The Ten Commandments. Everything descriptive in OT for Israel would be out. The NT Apostles Scripture was the OT, and if the tithe was forbidden and abrogated by Christ, why did the Apostles not forbid tithing in the church? Instead, it seems the tithe is only the starting point, not the sticking point. The Apostle Paul used His God given Church ordained authority (Acts 15) to instruct the Gentiles to give monetary gifts to help the poor Jews back in Jerusalem. We must begin with the Apostles thoroughly Jewish Christocentric hermeneutic to read the OT rightly in the Christ of the NT, who himself never forbade the Tithe, even the one who came to set captives free (Is. 61) and never missed the window’s gift to the temple treasury as the very worship of God.
I agree with Susan and Hmmmmm. People who are very bitter after being in churches that abuse the tithe system tend to overcompensate and try to find any and all arguments that excuse them from tithing.
Jesus said to not neglect the tithe. These words were uttered by Christ himself in Matt 23:23 and Luke 11:42. Also see Hebrews 7 for an explanation of how Christ is the new High Priest in the order of Melchizedek, and as Abraham tithed to Melchizedek, so we are to tithe now to Christ.
People need to try to stop making escuse for themselves through “justification interpretations”.
Hmmmmmm said:
“I have found in my experience that the only folks that tend to have issues with tithing as a concept (not a law or a demand) are those that don’t want to support the work of God at all. They use every excuse under the sun yet still purport to be a Christian supporting God’s works. So an excuse like “it’s an old testament law” or whatever.”
People go on about the Old Testament and the New Testament without even understanding what the word Testament means. It means “covenant” and so basically the Old Testament is basically a collection of covenants that God made with man. e.g. the covenant God made with Adam, Noah, Abraham, Moses, etc. And so is the New Testament too – the new covenant. Now interestingly in Matthew 1:1 the Scripture reads – “A record of the genealogy of Jesus Christ the son of David, the son of Abraham”. What this means is that God in his sovereignty pulled out of the Old Testament – two covenants he made and brought them into the new – the covenant with Abraham and the covenant with David. He chose to honour those two covenants. The covenant with Abraham “Of thy seed shall all nations be blessed” – which was fulfilled through the coming of Jesus Christ…and the covenant with David 2 Samuel 7 “And thine house and thy kingdom shall be established forever before thee; thy throne shall be established forever” – fulfilled through the second coming of Jesus Christ.
Now the Law that most of us are familiar with his the Mosaic law – the commandments given to the Israelites through Moses.
Now the tithe was not introduced to Moses. It was introduced to Abraham. Abraham was not under Law. Abraham tithed to the Lord in Genesis 14:20 when he met King Melchizedek after his victory over the four kings who had attacked and kidnapped his nephew Lot. King Melchizedek (whose name means King of Peace, King of Righteousness) was none other than the Lord himself appearing to Abraham. Abraham’s tithing was not an act of duty as unto the Law but an act of faith and love! The tithe started with Abraham and not Moses. It was carried on by Moses for the Levitical tribe who served as the Lord’s priests. So the tithe is as much a part of the New Covenant as the worship and tabernacle of David is to the New Covenant.
So tithing is not of the Old Testament and neither is tithing being in bondage to the Law! God has honored his covenant with Abraham who first tithed, and so that act of love is as much a part of the New Testament as it was with Abraham. He did not do it because it was Law, but out of love and faith.
So to say the tithe is outdated Law is not to understand the full counsel of God’s word.
I’m going to disagree with your definition of testament, I’m going to disagree with your assertion that Melchizedek was Jesus prior to His birth on this earth, and I think you’ll have a hard time finding other places where the tithe is commanded either for the Old Testament Gentiles or for New Testament saints.
Hermeneutically speaking why is the tithe appropriated or applicable in the life of the New Testament saint?
Randy you are under no obligation to agree with my opinion. You feel that you cannot agree…no problem.
Donald, while I don’t have to agree with your opinion, I desire for all of us to observe Paul’s command for believers to protect, or guard, the unity of the faith. That means that we seek to work out doctrinal unity through patience, observation of hermeneutical differences, and as much as possible work toward unity. Please consider the points I made and rebut them if you think that there’s something missing from the equation. We need to have unity in doctrine through God’s Word.
I am called freewillgiver
I am an African American Preterist who has come to believe that the tithing taught in most churches is not the tithing of the old testament and cannot be applied to Christians. There is a website directly related to this topic. When I read the scripture in Deuteronomy 14 about “eating the tithes” and the beer tithe of Deuteronomy 14:26 when I was a teenager I knew that tithes were more complicated than most Christians understand them to be. There are long passages concerning eating the tithes which are almost never quoted in Churches. I will present a few odd facts about Old testament tithing.
Please consider this, if the New testament abolishes tithing then a lot of pastors are demanding money which could be spent on the poor or Christian schools or many other gospel centered activities. This is a Large issue. Anyone looking up all the scriptures about tithing will be enlightened.
Tithes were not ten percent in the Bible. If one owned 9 head of cattle one paid zero tithes. If one owned 19 cattle one paid 1 cattle in tithes. The tithe was paid on the 10th cattle. There were also more than one tithe. The total in tithes worked out to between zero and 45% of a land owners increase from the land. Fishermen did not pay tithes of fish. Tent makers did not pay tithes of tents. Brick makers did not pay tithes of bricks. Tithes were only what was laid down in the Law of Moses.
The poor received the tithes they did not pay one. Tithes were never money, Tithes were always food, Only land owners and owners of cattle, in Israel paid tithes. This is a large issue. Many Christians give 10% to the local church in neglect of what they should be doing for Jesus with their money. Giving to poor relatives, sending their kids to christian schools, supporting missionaries in persecuted countries ect. Offering Offering Offering is what Christians should give very generously not 10% of their money. The 10% moneytithe doctrine is of the devil and a very recent doctrine to evangelical churches. Before 1873 no major evangelical church denomination demanded money as tithes. Tithing is a recent as dispensationalism. All christians are priest under the law of Jesus so tithing is abolished. There are no levites or temples so tithing is dead as the Old testament Law. If anyone wants to debate this topic please check out this site. You will be enlightened. Moneytithing is of the devil. Free will offerings is what Christians give that is all.
Give generously as the spirit of Jesus demands but all Christians should be free will givers.
http://churchtithesandofferings.com/blog/
I have been studying the scripture surrounding this as well and agree that the tithe is not a requirement for the church. I want to include another bit of scripture to support this. It is from Acts 15 where the question has arisen in the early church on what to do with gentiles who were never under the law; they had never tithed. In verse 5, some Pharisees in the church insisted the gentiles keep the law. However, in verse 19 & 20 it was determined by the apostles and elders that the gentiles need not keep the law. So, you see the first gentile believers who had never tithed under the law were told not to take the yoke of the law upon themselves. Instead, they were taught to give as described in Paul’s letters and in Randy’s article above.