“Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. Test me in this,” says the Lord Almighty, “and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that there will not be room enough to store it.” (Malachi 3:10)
The teaching of “tithing” for Christians is not limited to only the heretical Prosperity Movement. So what does the Bible have to say about tithing for Christians living in the Age of Grace?
The modern-day Charismatic Prosperity Movement is built on one thing and one thing alone, and it’s not Jesus Christ. It’s tithing. Tithing literally means to “give a tenth”, and we find this in the Old Testament. Curiously, tithing it is not found anywhere in the writings of Paul, the apostle for the Church Age, and mentioned only in the gospels as it applied to the Pharisees. Hebrews mentioned tithing but it is repeating the Genesis passage about Abraham.
In the Bible, we see three groups of people who tithed, and they are as follows: Abraham, Israelites living under the Old Testament Law of Moses, The Pharisees as mentioned in Matthew and Luke.
#1). Abraham’s tithe was a onetime only event with a deeper meaning. The Bible records that Abraham, after the battle to return his capture nephew Lot, met in the way both Melchizedek and the King of Sodom. Abraham gave a tenth of Lot’s returned goods to Melchizedek while at the same time refusing to receive anything from the King of Sodom. The message here about Abraham’s loyalties are crystal-clear.
“Then Melchizedek king of Salem brought out bread and wine. He was priest of God Most High, 19 and he blessed Abram, saying, “Blessed be Abram by God Most High, Creator of heaven and earth. And praise be to God Most High, who delivered your enemies into your hand.” Then Abram gave him a tenth of everything. The king of Sodom said to Abram, “Give me the people and keep the goods for yourself.” But Abram said to the king of Sodom, “With raised hand I have sworn an oath to the Lord, God Most High, Creator of heaven and earth, that I will accept nothing belonging to you, not even a thread or the strap of a sandal, so that you will never be able to say, ‘I made Abram rich.’ I will accept nothing but what my men have eaten and the share that belongs to the men who went with me—to Aner, Eshkol and Mamre. Let them have their share.” (Genesis 14:18-24)
When Abraham chose to give a tithe to the pre-incarnate Jesus Christ in the form of Melchizedek and refused to accept anything from the king of wicked and soon to be destroyed Sodom, we see why he was called “the friend of God”. In the very next chapter, we see God rewarding Abraham for making the right choice: “After this, the word of the Lord came to Abram in a vision: “Do not be afraid, Abram. I am your shield, your very great reward.” (Genesis 15:1) No where in any of this account is a command given, and you will note that Abraham was not commanded to tithe. He did it as a free will offering.
#2). Jews under the Old Testament Law were commanded to tithe. The second time we see tithing is in Leviticus, and it is a command to tithe of the land and of the cattle.
“A tithe of everything from the land, whether grain from the soil or fruit from the trees, belongs to the Lord; it is holy to the Lord. Whoever would redeem any of their tithe must add a fifth of the value to it. Every tithe of the herd and flock—every tenth animal that passes under the shepherd’s rod—will be holy to the Lord. No one may pick out the good from the bad or make any substitution. If anyone does make a substitution, both the animal and its substitute become holy and cannot be redeemed.’” These are the commands the Lord gave Moses at Mount Sinai for the Israelites.” (Leviticus 27:30-34)
You will note that the context of the passage shows us that tithing as a command was given by Moses to the children of Israel, the Jews. Christians in the Age of Grace are not the “children of Israel”. Born again Christians are the children of God, not of Israel.
“So in Christ Jesus you are all children of God through faith, for all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. If you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise.” (Galatians 3:26-29)
Interestingly, this verse shows up in the same context of Christians being called the “seed of Abraham” in verse 29. Abraham who gave a free will offering, and not figured as from Moses who commanded tithing.
#3). The Pharisees in the New Testament were tithers. When we read about people who tithes in the New Testament, it is of note to observe that they were being rebuked by Jesus Christ for their hypocritical following of the Law of Moses. Tithing here is mentioned in a very negative context.
“Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You give a tenth of your spices—mint, dill, and cumin. But you have neglected the more important matters of the law—justice, mercy, and faithfulness. You should have practiced the latter, without neglecting the former.” (Matthew 23:23) Need we say more? There is no New Testament command for any Christian to give a tithe to their church
Search the New Testament from Matthew 1 to Revelation 22 and you will find no commands for a Christian to tithe their money to their church. It does not exist. Paul, the apostle for the Church Age whose writings are our doctrine, only mentions giving a few times. Here is the main verse he wrote for us: “Each of you should give what you have decided in your heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.” (2 Corinthians 9:7)
And there you have the New Testament, rightly divided doctrine of Biblical giving for Christians in the Church Age. God leaves it up to the Christian themselves to determine how much and how often they want to give to the church. God wants you to do it because you have a sincere and honest desire to see the work of the Church continue. Not because you expect a blessing from it, not because some greedy pastor shamed you into it, but because you in your heart want to do it. As a free will offering.
But the notion that Christians are to, every Sunday, sit down and write a 10% check of their weekly income and give it to their pastor is unbiblical. There are millions of poor Christians who, because of false teaching on tithing, take the money that should be used to put food on the table and power the light bill and give it to a millionaire pastors living in a mansion. Churches need money to operate on, yes that’s true. But so much of today’s building programs and fund raising only serve to increase the personal wealth of the pastor and those at the top.
If your church preaches on tithing more than twice a year, save your offering for people actually trying to get the gospel out. Take a moment and read some of the Bible verses never preached by the Prosperity Gospel crowd:
“But godliness with contentment is great gain. For we brought nothing into the world, and we can take nothing out of it. But if we have food and clothing, we will be content with that. Those who want to get rich fall into temptation and a trap and into many foolish and harmful desires that plunge people into ruin and destruction. For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. Some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs.” (1 Timothy 6:6-10)
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