To Tithe or Not To Tithe?

I received the following from a colleague recently on the relevance of tithing today. To the essence of my reply then, I've added slightly more data about tithes...

1. Do you believe in tithing and if so, why?

(Let's do the prelimary 'background' thinggy first, eh?)

The very first Biblical references to tithing are from Genesis (14:20, 28:22) where we see it represented an act of reverence (by Abraham and Jacob respetively) in response to received blessing.

In the Mosaic Law, tithing was one of the ceremonial observances heavily tied to Israel's community life in relation to the Land they were promised (which in turn was related to the Levitical priesthood):

The tithe was meant for a yearly communal celebration (and feasting!) held in a divinely-chosen venue (Deut 12:5, 14;23); kinda like an annual thanksgiving party at a special place. Read Deut 14:24-26 and notice the amount of 'fliexibility' the Israelities had with respect to converting their more bulky tithes to silver and then buying more portable food for the occasion. It seems that the exact nature of the tithes wasn't as important as the fact that every member bring something to the party and join in the celebrations!
The tithe, after every three years, would serve as welfare contributions to the most needy in the community i.e. the Levites, aliens, orphans and widows (Deut 14;28-29).
The tithe provided the means to sustain the Levites who were the full-time personnel in the worship center (Num 18:21-24, Heb 7:5)

All the above were part of the old covenant. However, with the inauguration of the new covenant in Christ (best explained in the book of Hebrews, especially 7:1-22, 9:15, 10:5-10), all regulations and requirements associated with the former arrangement passed away i.e. were made obsolete.

Let's get back to your question.

If you were asking, "Do I think that all Christians should observe the practice of tithing as
specified in the Old Testament?" then the answer is obviously No. With the change of priesthood and of law (Heb 7:12) due to the work of Jesus, the OT tithing requirements lose their framework and thus their relevance.

If you were asking, "Do I think that all Christians should give 10% of their monthly salary to the church each month?", then I'd respond with 1Cor 16:1-3, "Now about the collection for God's people:...On the first day of every week, each one of you should set aside a sum of money in keeping with his income, saving it up, so that when I come no collections will have to be made."

This verse offers some practical principles by which our giving may be demonstrated:

Perpetuity (or Regular giving) - "On the first day of every week..."
Premeditation (or Planned giving) - "...each one of you should set aside a sum of money...saving it up..."
Percentage (or Proportionate giving) - "...in keeping with his income..."

The 'each one of you' in the passage may also imply a very personal aspect to giving, one which should be undergirded one of me favourite passages which we'll quote here to close this section (the emphases - mine - should speak for themselves):

2Cor 9:6-11, "Remember this: Whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows generously will also reap generously. Each man should give what he has decided in his heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver. And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that in ALL things at ALL times, having ALL that you need, you will abound in EVERY good work."

This perfectly parallels the original spirit of the OT tithes, which was to teach and inspire the Israelites to love and be faithful to God (Deut 14:23, "Eat the tithe of your grain...in the presence of the Lord...so that you may learn to revere the Lord your God always.")

In conclusion: The modern Christian is admonished to give cheerfully (and excel in it - 2Cor 8:7!) out of the full and joyful awareness of the grace and generosity of God Himself. Our giving ought not to be sporadic but done on a regular basis; ought not to characterized by flippancy but should form an important pre-planned aspect of the Christian's budget; and ought to reflect a consistent proportion of his/her income (exactly what proportion is a separate issue, but in the OT people gave 10% and the early church gave a whole lot more - see Acts 2:45, 4:32! Food for thought, right?).

(Short commercial intrusion: A very detailed discussion on the relation between the Old and New Covenants plus all the key Scriptural passages can be found in 5 Views of Law & Gospel; an absolute mind-enricher indeed, *smile*).

2. What about churches which teach that we should tithe because that's what people did in the OT?

This teaching may not be 100% theologically correct (in my view) but a few things to note:

Christians are exhorted throughout the New Testament to 'excel in the grace of giving', to give to the poor, the needy, etc. (2Cor 8:1-12, Phil 4:15-17, and loads more - see above)
The Church does have the right to request for periodical collections and the Apostle Paul, when he was going around collecting money for the poor in Jerusalem, did ask that people set aside proportionate amounts of dough (1Cor 16:1-2). All subject to the 2Cor 9:7 thinggy no doubt... (Of course the individual Christian isn't gonna get hit by a fireball if he doesn't pay up, but what's new, eh? *grin*)
Tithes can still be used as a model/example of how pre-Christ believers offered their resources, and I for one don't see anything wrong with using that as learning benchmarks in today's churches.

All in all, I don't see anything heavily problematic with the call of contemporary churches for their members to tithe. Matter of fact, it's truly the least we ought to do, *smile*.

Hope this helps,
AL

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