Are Christians Supposed to Tithe?
Is it mandatory for followers of Jesus to give 10% of their income?
I can still remember the hair standing up on the back of my neck. I was sitting next to my father, listening to the pastor during a Sunday evening service (a second Sunday service we went to for extra points, I guess). He had just finished reading Malachi 3:8-10 from the King James Version:
Will a man rob God? Yet ye have robbed me. But ye say, Wherein have we robbed thee? In tithes and offerings. Ye are cursed with a curse: for ye have robbed me, even this whole nation. Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be meat in mine house, and prove me now herewith, saith the LORD of hosts, if I will not open you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it.
The look in the pastor’s eyes told us he was deadly serious. “Do you want to be guilty of robbing God?” Absolutely not! I don’t know what kind of effect he was having on the rest of the congregation, but I was one ten-year-old kid who was going to make sure he faithfully brought his 10% into the storehouse—whatever that was.
We were recently studying the book of Hebrews in our church, and this study leads to questions about the Old Testament law and what still applies to Christians today. Are New Testament believers required to—according to Scripture—give 10% of their incomes to their churches? This is a familiar question to most pastors. To answer this, we first need to explore some of the historical background and biblical context to really understand what we’re talking about.
What does “tithe” mean?
It’s not uncommon to hear people say they tithe a certain amount or percentage of their income. While having a planned approach to how you give can be a good thing, this isn’t necessarily a “tithe” in a biblical sense of the word. The word translated tithe in Scripture means “tenth.” So if we want to speak of the specific biblical references to tithing, we’re talking about giving 10%.
Early examples of tithing
The first time we see tithing in the Bible is in the 14th chapter of Genesis. Abram’s nephew Lot had been living in the city of Sodom. Enemies wiped out Sodom’s army, plundered their city, and took captives as slaves, including Lot and his family. God enabled Abram to overtake and defeat the enemies of Sodom, and to recover all the captives and plunder. The king of Sodom offered all the spoils to Abram, but Abram refused. He took only food for his men to eat, a share for his allies, and he then gave a tenth of all the goods to Melchizedek, who’s described in the text as the king of Salem and priest of God Most High.
We should first notice that Abram wasn’t giving a tithe of his own goods, but of the recovered plunder that had belonged to the city of Sodom. Was this tithe a one-time event, or a regular practice for Abram? We have no way of knowing from the text. It does seem clear Abram’s gift is completely voluntary, not in response to a command from God. So this story only tells us what happened on this one occasion, it doesn’t show a command from God concerning tithing, and it doesn’t even have to do with Abram’s personal possessions. This shows us an early example of someone voluntarily giving 10%, but not much else.
The next example of tithing is found in Genesis 28. Jacob was on his way back to his own people to find a suitable wife. One night, in a dream, he sees a stairway going up to heaven, angels going up and down the stairway, and he sees God. Overwhelmed by this dream, Jacob vows that if God will be with him and protect him on his journey, provide him with food and clothing, and return him safely to his father’s home, then he would give back to God a tenth of everything God gives him. The way this vow is emphasized in the story, it seems tithing wasn’t a normal practice at this time. (Notice that Jacob hadn’t been tithing prior to having this dream of God.) And, again, the tithing is voluntary, not in response to divine instruction regarding tithing.
Some have stressed these examples came before the Mosaic Law, and this is true. But there’s nothing in these passages instructing God’s people to tithe, or even showing the people of God regularly tithing at that time. We don’t want to base a command to believers on unclear, isolated examples from narrative accounts. That’s not a proper use of Scripture. (Actually, we could say there’s a really clear pattern in Genesis of returning to one’s own people to acquire a wife—but I don’t know anyone suggesting this as a model we should follow today!) We can choose to emulate Abram and Jacob in their voluntary tithing, but this would be a personal choice, not a biblical command. For clear instructions on tithing we need to look to the Old Covenant Law.
Tithing under the Old Covenant
Many Christians have an idea the people of Israel regularly gave 10% of their income to God. This isn’t entirely accurate. There are actually three different tithes the Israelites were to observe:
Levitical Tithe
Because the tribe of Levi was dedicated to serving the Lord and his Temple, they weren’t allotted any land among the other tribes. Instead of actual land, the other Israelites were to bring a tithe of everything the land produced for the Levites (see Numbers 18:20-21). This would have included meat, crops and wine.
Celebration Tithe
The people were to set aside another tithe of all their crops—grains, olive oil, wine, and the firstborn males of all their flocks and herds. They were to bring this tithe to a designated place of worship, and then “feast there in the presence of the LORD your God and celebrate with your household” (Deuteronomy 14:22-27). This tithe was set aside for a big feast! Eating, drinking and celebrating as a form of worshiping God. What an idea! But don’t laugh this off as just an excuse for a big party. This was a sacred obligation, and the people still had to set aside this additional tithe for this annual celebration (and share with those who didn’t have enough).
Charity Tithe
Every third year, the people were to collect another tithe for the care of Levites, orphans, widows and foreigners living among them. (See Deuteronomy 14:28-29.)
So, rather than 10%, the combination of different tithes actually equals an annual 23.3%. This was a kind of early tax system for the nation of Israel to support their national priestly tribe, the poor and the foreigners among them. There are a couple of other things worth noting:
The people didn’t give money; they gave a tithe of their crops and herds.
These tithes weren’t voluntary as was the case with Abram and Jacob; they were mandated by the Old Covenant Law.
The Old Testament practice of tithing was mandatory, but it otherwise looks very different from the traditional concept of tithing most of us were taught.
Are we supposed to follow the Old Covenant practice of tithing today?
After seeing everything the Old Covenant practice of tithing entailed for the people of Israel, we might respond to this question by asking: “How can we?” Are we supposed to all acquire fields and herds, so we can set aside a tithe of our produce, and bring it once a year to . . . the Temple, so the . . . Levites can have food and wine? And should Christians today set aside another 10% of their crops and herds to gather with the people of Israel in a designated place and celebrate together? (If we’re worried the Malachi passage above is warning us today not to rob God, this is what we need to start doing because this is what the passage is talking about.)
Some reading this are now thinking of ways to apply these laws to the church—but be careful. We can’t change the Law that God gave to the people of Israel. It’s very specific about the nature of these tithes, what was to be set aside and how it was to be distributed. We don’t have the right to alter these commands. . . . But are these commands given to us?
To whom was this law given? To the nation of Israel. Are we part of the nation of Israel? No, we’re not. We still study the Old Covenant because it teaches us about God, about how he interacted with his people, and how his grand plan developed in the Old Testament period. But the Old Covenant isn’t our covenant. We’re part of the New Covenant people of God. Christ accomplished the purpose of the Old Covenant law (Matthew 5:17) and superseded it (Galatians 3:19-25; Hebrews 7-10). We’re no longer under the Old Covenant Law of Moses, but the New Covenant Law of Christ (1 Corinthians 9:19-21; Matthew 22:34-40). The Old Covenant law we find in the Old Testament is now obsolete and out of date (Hebrews 8:13).
In the New Testament, Jesus and the apostles affirm the unchanging moral requirements of God (not worshiping other gods, not murdering, not committing adultery, etc.). But the legal requirements that were peculiar to the nation of Israel are now obsolete (keeping the Sabbath, dietary laws, etc.).
Jesus’ ministry in the Gospels was a time of transition, when the Old Covenant was coming to an end and the people were being prepared for the New Covenant. The New Covenant wasn’t actually established until Jesus’ death on the cross (Luke 22:20). This is why—though Jesus seemed to go out of his way to flaunt the traditions of the Jewish leaders—he never violated the Old Covenant law itself during his earthly ministry. We have to understand his teaching to the Jewish people was still in an Old Covenant context. If we don’t realize this, we’ll misinterpret many passages.
This explains why Jesus would give instruction on offering one’s sacrifice at the Temple altar (Matthew 5:23-24), why he would tell those whom he had healed of leprosy to go show themselves to the priests (Luke 17:14), and why he would tell the people to listen to the Pharisees because they “sit in the seat of Moses” (Matthew 23:1-4). This also sheds light on Jesus’ comment to the Pharisees that it was good for them to tithe, but they should be even more focused on the weightier matters of justice, mercy and faith (Matthew 23:23). We have to remember he was speaking to people still under the Law of Moses.
But beginning with Acts and throughout the letters to the churches, we don’t find even a hint of tithing as a practice of the New Testament churches. It seems clear this mandatory tithing was an Old Testament requirement for the nation of Israel, and that it’s not affirmed as a requirement for the New Testament church. Instead, the principle seems to be, as expressed by Paul in 2 Corinthians 9:7:
You must each decide in your heart how much to give. And don’t give reluctantly or in response to pressure. “For God loves a person who gives cheerfully.”
So is tithing wrong?
There’s nothing at all wrong with setting aside 10% of your income to give back to God. But it’s simply not biblical for us to teach that Christians must meet this requirement. Our monetary-based system is very different from the agrarian society of the Old Testament. Some believers today aren’t able to contribute 10%, and some others could be giving much more. Giving is a scriptural mandate, but it’s between the individual believer and God how much they should give. If we try to suggest a standard that all Christians must meet, we’re reestablishing the law for our brothers and sisters, and this is something we’re not to do.
What of the common instruction we hear from some church leaders to give to God first, before anything else, whether you’re in debt or not? I know many of you have amazing stories of how you committed to give a certain amount or percentage of your income to God and how he blessed you by meeting your needs. I’ve also heard stories from people about how you honored your commitment to God, took money that was needed to pay bills and gave it to the church, and ended up suffering serious consequences when the funds you needed didn’t miraculously appear. We need to be careful not to base our practices—or our urging of others—on anecdotes or even our own experiences, but on the clear teaching of Scripture.
As a general principle, I would suggest if you’re committed to making a specific payment—especially if you’re past due on money owed to someone else—then this is no longer your money to freely offer God. It already legitimately belongs to someone else. Is God honored if you take your rent money from your landlord and give it to your church? I don’t think so. Of course, if God has clearly directed you to contribute the money anyway, you can trust he’ll provide the funds needed to pay your debts.
I realize this has been somewhat technical this week. I’ve tried to make it as painless as possible! We’ve discussed the intricacies of the Old Covenant practice of tithing, but we haven’t really looked that much at how we should give as New Covenant Christians. There’s a lot more to discuss about this, so, next week, we’ll look at New Testament principles of giving.