Freed from Tithing, Free to Give - Part 3

Let's Make it Clear Again: Tithe, or Tithes?
To repeat a point I made earlier, we're talking about tithes (plural). "The tithe" (ten percent of your income, given to your local church) is what is (wrongfully) taught in churches today. But contrary to what seems to be a common belief, there is more than one tithe in the Bible. There is not simply one "blanket" tithe from which we get our information about tithing. As we look closely, we see that each tithe has its own purposes. Different tithes are put to different uses. And just as a reminder (as I've previously mentioned), the tithes mentioned in Malachi 3 were not original tithing instructions, but rather were brought up because the Lord was rebuking the people for not keeping the tithes they had previously been commanded to keep. The reason I want to put special emphasis on this is simply because Malachi 3 is the predominant passage that the church wrongfully highlights when teaching the tithe - wrongfully in more way than one, as we'll see in this series.

It's also important to mention that the tithes never have anything to do with financial earnings or income, nor the handing over of finances to any individual or entity. Money does come into the picture one time in the tithing instructions, and when we get to that you may just be surprised at how it plays out in that particular tithing law! In the end, my hope here is to show the stark contrast between "the tithe" as it's taught in churches and "the tithes" as they are taught in scripture, and to show how the teaching of "the tithe" in Christian churches is way out of line.

The Mandatory Tithes - Law
Aside from Abram's voluntary tithe to Melchizedek and Jacob's promise to voluntarily tithe all of what God gave him, the rest of the mentions of tithing in scripture have to do with tithes (again, plural) that were mandatory, according to God's laws. You will thank me :) for not copying and pasting all of the scriptures that pertain to tithing into this series of posts (copied from my PC Study Bible), because when pasted onto a Word document it takes up about 6 full pages! My purpose here is not to give an in-depth analysis of all of the tithing instructions but rather to lay out the gist of the tithes for the purpose of showing that tithing was an Old Covenant practice that had specific purposes, having absolutely nothing to do with New Covenant saints giving 10 percent of their income to local churches. And in fact I think we'll find that we really don't want to use these tithes as a "type" of New Covenant giving, because it gets quite complicated due to all the rules, options and variables involved in each tithe!

Leviticus
The next time tithing is mentioned is in Leviticus 27. This particular passage has to do with instructions about "redeeming" people and property dedicated to the Lord. Instead of getting into what all that means (and it does mean something - within the context of the times and purposes of these particular instructions), I want to use this passage to point out the folly of taking scriptures out of context, as is always the case when teaching tithing as a Christian principle.

Lev 27:29-32 No person under the ban, who may become doomed to destruction among men, shall be redeemed, but shall surely be put to death. 30 And all the tithe of the land, whether of the seed of the land or of the fruit of the tree, is the Lord's. It is holy to the Lord. 31 If a man wants at all to redeem any of his tithes, he shall add one-fifth to it. 32 And concerning the tithe of the herd or the flock, of whatever passes under the rod, the tenth one shall be holy to the Lord.

What's this about being put to death? What's this about redeeming tithes, and adding one-fifth to it? What's this about one-tenth of the tithe passing under the rod being holy to the Lord and not being redeemed? My point here is that as with ALL tithes, and ALL Old Covenant laws, ordinances and instructions, we aren't to "Christianize" them. After all, if we're going to grab the "tithe" verses out of passages like this, shouldn't we also add the "put to death" verses as well? And the "redeem his tithes" verses? In the end what we are to do is to understand that these were Old Covenant practices - and we leave them in their Old Covenant contexts!

Coming up: The "tithe" instructions get even more interesting (and fun as well)! We'll see how it's so very easy for preachers to simply pluck out Malachi 3 and misapply it in the church today, but yet if those same preachers were to look into the true purposes and applications of the tithes, they'd have to chuck it all aside because it simply wouldn't work in the church! (Which is kind of the point here, anyway).

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Freed from Tithing, Free to Give - Part 2

How Much Should I Tithe?
The word "tithe" means "one-tenth." A common question that I've heard all throughout my Christian life is, "Should Christians tithe off of their gross income or net income?" Please excuse my incredulity, but come on! - The whole basis of the question is misguided, at best. It assumes that "tithing" is for Christians, and that it has to do with money. Let's begin, through the scriptures, to put those ideas to death. I do want to point out as we get into this that I am differentiating between "giving" and "tithing." "Giving" is part of the Christian's new nature, and is done through grace - just like the rest of the Christian life. Unlike the 10% tithe, "giving" has nothing to do with a set amount or a legally prescribed amount, but rather has much more to do with a cheerful heart that truly desires to give. Christian giving is by no means limited to money, but may involve the giving of possessions, time, talents, services and other resources (we'll get into this later on in the series.) Tithing, however, is a completely different story.

More Than One Tithe
It may come as a surprise to many people that Malachi 3 is really only a small portion of the scriptures that talk about tithing. Did you know that? Judging by all the tithing teachings that I've heard in my life, you'd think that Malachi 3 was "IT" when it comes to the teaching of tithing.

Notice the Malachi passage says "bring all the tithes (plural) into the storehouse." What tithes? And what storehouse? It seems the modern church is ignorant about all this (doesn't really have a clue what this really means) - and in fact has, in its ignorance, turned the Malachi passage into something that it is not. However, Israel - the actual people to whom the laws were given - knew exactly what was meant. Under the system of law that they lived in, many instructions had been given regarding various tithes, and each tithe had various purposes. As we go through them, take note as to whether or not any of them had to do with income or paychecks - or money in any way. Also take note as to the frequency of each tithe (weekly? monthly? yearly? every three years? etc). And take note as to where the tithes were taken to, and how they were distributed and used. And finally, take note as to whether the people had a free choice on whether to tithe or not. (In other words, could they decide in their hearts to give cheerfully, or did they have to give).

Abraham's Tithe
The first mention of a "tithe" in the Bible is in Genesis 14. I'll summarize the story, but make sure you read the story for yourself. It's a quick and easy read. In short, a handful of kings had gone to war against another handful of kings. During a battle, Abraham's nephew, Lot, was captured, along with his family and goods. So Abram planned and executed an attack, and was able to bring back Lot and his family, and all of the goods that had been taken. Then Melchizedek king of Salem blessed Abraham, and Abraham "gave him a tithe of all." (Update: Does "all" mean that Abraham gave a tithe of everything he owned?  I wrote this blog post on that subject.)

I don't know how many times I've heard this story used to teach the "principle" of tithing. I've heard it said that it was through "Abraham, the father of our faith," that the principle of tithing was introduced, and so we can follow Abraham's actions as an example of the principle of tithing since we're his children by faith. Well, remember - Abraham's tithe was a one-time tithe. It wasn't something Abraham continued to do, nor did it have anything to do with his salary or employment earnings or wealth. After fighting in a battle and winning back the goods and people that had been taken, he took the spoils of war and offered a tenth of it to Melchizedek. It's that simple.

(Update: Some historians note that it was either a law or custom in that part of the world at that time to give a tithe of the spoils of war to the local king or priest.  That is to say, Abraham's tithe to Melchizedek - "king of Salem, priest of the Most High God" - Heb 7:1 - had nothing to do with him having a generous or a giving heart.  He was following the local law or custom.)

Tithing Not a "Type" for New Covenant Giving
This one-time tithe of Abraham was never meant to be used to promote or teach a principle of tithing or giving in the New Covenant church.  That idea is made up. In fact the writer of Hebrews gleans something out of this story that does have to do with the New Covenant, but it has absolutely nothing to do with Christian giving. You perhaps know that many things in the Old Covenant are "types and shadows" of the "substance" of the New Covenant. It seems that Old Covenant "tithing" and the Old Covenant "storehouse" are reckoned by many as a type and shadow of Christians giving money to a church. But nothing could be further from the truth.

In the book of Hebrews we find Abraham's tithe brought up as part of the writer's explanation of something else... something that has nothing at all to do with tithing. In Chapter 7, Abraham's tithe to Melchizedek is used to show that there was a need for something greater than the Levitical priesthood, which turns out to be the priesthood and sacrifice of Jesus. It says, "Even Levi, who receives tithes, paid tithes through Abraham, so to speak, for he was still in the loins of his father when Melchizedek met him." If you read all of Hebrews 7, you'll see that the whole point of Abraham's tithe being brought up has nothing to do with Christians following some principle of tithing, but it has everything to do with showing how Jesus is superior to the Levitical priesthood. More on this in Part 7.  The point here is that Abraham's tithe is not used in the New Testament as an example of Christian giving.

Abraham's tithe was not given out of sacrifice or obligation. It wasn't given as a gesture of his good heart, or a heart of faith.  It wasn't given as a result of being "convicted" by a sermon on "giving." It wasn't given to a local church or congregation of people of faith. It wasn't given to help a cause. It wasn't given to pay a salary to Melchizedek or his "staff," nor to pay for building costs or church programs. It also had nothing to do with a principle of sowing so that he could reap. Anyone who teaches you any of these things is making it up.  Abraham's tithe to Melchizedek was simply a one-time offering from the spoils of war. Let's please take it for what it was, and not make it into something that it wasn't.

Jacob's Voluntary Tithe
In Genesis 28:22, Jacob said to God, "of all that You give me I will surely give a tenth to you." This was a voluntary vow to give God a tenth, and it was a conditional vow, starting with the "if" in Gen 28:20.  Also, Jacob said this of himself.  All of the rest of the people didn't make this same pledge.  I don't know of any other examples of the voluntary giving of a tenth. There could be more but I don't know of any. (If you know of any, please let me know). The thing I want to point out is that there is hardly enough evidence, in my opinion, to conclude - or even to merely suggest - that tithing (giving a tenth) was ever meant to be a normal part of the lives of people of faith. It's conjecture at best, with a stark absence of other examples of voluntary tithing in the lives of the Old Testament saints.

We do see plenty of examples of giving all throughout the Bible! Giving is done by all sorts of people in all sorts of ways and in all sorts of sizes and amounts. Giving is done in corporate ways and in ways that are much more personal. (More on this in Parts 9 and 10).  But to me there seems to be an underwhelming amount of evidence that would support the idea of tithing (giving a tenth) as a principle in the lives of believers.

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Freed from Tithing, Free to Give - Part 1

In the past I've mentioned that I want to do a series of posts on "tithing." Well, here I am, finally doing it! Why am I doing this? It's been my observation that "tithing," as it's taught in various Christian ("New Covenant") churches in various ways, has put people under a lot of unnecessary bondage in their walks with God. Various Old Covenant scriptures are used in the teaching of the tithe in Christian churches, with various assumptions being made as to how these scriptures apply to the New Covenant Church. But are these scriptures being used properly? Are the assumptions proper? I don't think so, and I'm going to show from the scriptures themselves how they are terribly misused in the teaching of "tithing" in the church today.

First Things First
In almost all "tithe" teachings in the Christian church, one scripture in particular is used predominantly, and one assumption in particular about that scripture is predominantly made. You probably know the scripture well. Malachi 3:8-11. The words in this passage that most people are familiar with are "bring all the tithes into the storehouse." The assumption that is made is that "the local church" is the storehouse.

We'll get into that a little later, but we really need to put first things first. See, while many Christians start with Malachi 3 in their teaching of the tithe (or at least highlight it in their justification of teaching Christians to "tithe"), Malachi 3 was actually the last thing said in Old Covenant scripture about tithing. Malachi was not giving instructions about tithing. Rather God, through this prophet, was reprimanding His people for not keeping the tithing laws He had already given them. If we start with Malachi 3, we're destined to get it all wrong right from the start.

If we want to see what tithing is really all about, then we need to look back to the scriptures that show the original tithing instructions. As we do this, my hope is that we'll begin to dispel some of the false assumptions that the New Covenant church has made in regards to tithing. Is the New Covenant church to be a people who give? Surely! I think we find that idea supported all throughout the New Covenant scriptures. But how about New Covenant people "tithing" ten percent of their income to a local church? Do we find that idea supported anywhere in the scriptures? I think the truth about all this will unfold as we start with first things first, and move on from there.

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