SHOULD CHRISTIANS TITHE?

Introduction

The protestant evangelical church is replete with pastors and their staff who stand in the pulpit every Sunday with a message from God. One such message is tithing. Spend any amount of time in a Southern Baptist megachurch and there will most likely be a sermon preached from the book of Malachi about how not tithing ten percent of a household’s income is robbing God. Perhaps God feels more robbed when a ministry uses funds to purchase a fog machine for the sake of a cool worship experience rather than individuals giving more or less than ten percent of their income. Tithing matters because pastors are telling entire congregations, which can often be thousands of people, that God expects each of them to hand over at least ten percent of his/her household’s income. For emphasis, pastors will also add the retribution principle to the tithing principle. If an individual gives the church ten percent, God will then pour out more blessing than he/she can handle. If the individual has a hard heart and will not tithe, God will not bless him/her since these people are robbing God. This paper seeks to walk through the scriptures and look at arguments made for a ten percent tithe to reveal that these defenses are not substantiated in the Scriptures for New Testament believers. This does not mean, however, that believers should not give. Christians are to be led through the power of the Spirit to give generously out the abundance of a transformed heart.

Tithing and the Old Testament

            The Old Testament covers the pre-mosaic, mosaic, and prophetic periods. Some scholars, such as George Davis, attempt to argue that if there was a tithe before the Law, then no argument can be made about tithing being legalistic. Davis argues that in Gen. 14:18-20, Abraham tithed to Melchizedek. He concludes from this passage that tithing was an acceptable form of worship, and Paul, in hindsight, never called him a legalist, but an example of being justified by faith. Because Christians are also justified by faith like Abraham, Christians should tithe like him.

Unfortunately, this conclusion misses the point of the text. Abraham is not tithing to support a ministry or out of obligation. He is showing worship to God through the tithe to Melchizedek. Abraham was simply acknowledging Yahweh as His God. This will be briefly discussed further under the thought process present in Hebrews 7.

The most famous passage concerning the tithe is Malachi 3:7-12. The Israelites have accused God of being unreliable and fall into a downward spiral of doubt and faithlessness. In 3:7, God calls them to return to Him, yet they ask Him how it is possible. This is most likely not a genuine question out of desire for reconciliation, but a suspicious question out of their ignorance of sin. God then accuses them of robbing Him of tithes and offerings and curses them for their thievery. These tithes were used to support the Levitical priesthood, the temple, and support for the community’s poor. Failing to adhere to this tithing command was robbing God, because robbing the temple and the needy was akin to robbing Yahweh. God tells them that if they bring the full tithe to the storehouse, He will pour out blessing on them. The storehouse was a room in the temple used to store the first tithe so that it could be redistributed later and refilled. This promise is made in relation to the laws in Lev. 23:23 and 27:30-33. If they return to worshipping God and obey the law, He will bless them for it.

The most common interpretation of this text among evangelicals today is that failing to give God ten percent of one’s income is robbing what God has given to bless that person. Not returning a tenth back to what is God’s in the first place may incur God’s punishment on the believer. Therefore, simply give a tenth to the “storehouse” (church), and God will bless it. This is blatant misapplication of the text. As shown in the previous paragraph, this text was directed towards Israelites under the law. The Lord created the tithing system as a type of income tax to support the priests who owned nothing and the needy. Frank Viola concludes from the context of the passage that God’s main concern is oppression of the downtrodden. Nevertheless, there is no idea concerning the storehouse in the New Testament. The believer is the temple, not the building. Ministries are supplied and supported by people. Church buildings are not storehouses, but places of worship.

Tithing and the New Testament

There is clearly a tithing system present in the Old Testament under the mosaic law. The question must be raised, however, as to the nature of tithing for a people no longer under that law. Jesus is the fulfiller of the law, and he mentions tithing once in a discussion found in Matthew 23. Jesus tells the Pharisees that they tithed but neglected the more important aspects of the law, such as justice and mercy. Jesus calls them blind and says that they should have practiced both. What it comes down to for those who support tithing is that this verse suggests that Jesus believed in tithing. If Jesus does it, Christians should do it. While this logic seems fairly straightforward, there are a few things to consider about this passage. First, Jesus is addressing scribes and Pharisees who are under the law. Jesus tells them that they should tithe, because the law commands them to do so. Second, the point of the passage is not obedience to a tithing law, but a lack of concern for love, mercy, and justice. Laws are not supposed to distract people from love, but lead them towards it. Finally, James Quiggle concludes that Jesus’ point can be found in verse 24. According to Lev. 11, a gnat was the smallest unclean animal and the camel was the largest. The principle here is that one righteous act does not alleviate a person from living righteously all the time. Tithing cannot be substituted for weightier aspects of the law like love and mercy.

Second Corinthians 9:6-7 is the most important passage for Christians attempting to understand what their obligations are concerning the tithe. Paul tells the Corinthians that they should give from their hearts and not under compulsion. God loves a cheerful giver. He begins in verse six with farming language. A good harvest is produced from good seeds being sown, while little seed produces a poor harvest. Paul emphasizes reaping in his verse in order to encourage giving. According to Paul, this giving should be done from the heart and not reluctantly. A willing heart is grounded in the Old Testament by willingly giving towards the Tabernacle (Ex. 25:2, 35:5). This collection from voluntary giving turned out to be more than enough (Ex. 36:5-7). Furthermore, God’s love for the cheerful giver has a foundation in Proverbs 22:8. There is honor for those who are willing to give generously. If tithing were an obligation, this would be the perfect opportunity to explain it. Yet, Paul is absolutely silent on the concept of tithing in all of his letters. Instead of telling them what they must give as a tithe, he simply tells them to offer up what they willingly decide to give from the heart. A lack of obligation diction softens arguments made in favor of the tithe.

The final passage germane to this discussion is Hebrews 7:1-10. Gary North argues that because the priestly office of Christ is equated with that of Melchizedek, the tithe is still required. This is because the order of Melchizedek is superior to that of the Levitical priesthood. Christians, therefore, cannot dismiss tithing as a mosaic law, but must adhere to it, since Hebrews 7 grounds tithing into Melchizedek. Attempting to escape the tithe is therefore an assault to the order of Melchizedek, who is the representation of Jesus Christ. There are several problems with using Hebrews 7 to justify tithing. First, the flow of the author’s argument in Hebrews has the ultimate goal of setting Jesus up as the high priest who is far more superior to the Levites. Melchizedek is simply used as an analogy for Christ’s superiority based out of Psalm 110:4. Tithing is used as an example for why Melchizedek was so great. Second, this reading of Hebrews 7 back into Gen. 14 requires that Abraham act as an archetype for Christians. If this is true, tithing still would not look like it does today, because Abraham gave his spoils from war voluntarily and only once. An obligatory ten percent tithe to the church is not in view here. Finally, if the passage is followed carefully, then the conclusion is that believers actually do not tithe. Levi is said to have tithed to Melchizedek through Abraham. Levi’s order is then inferior to Melchizedek. Jesus, who is the representative of Melchizedek’s order, then becomes superior to the Levite priesthood. The logical conclusion for Christians is that since they are in Christ and He tithes to no one, believers tithe to no one.

Conclusions from the Scripture

In the Old Testament, God institutes a tithing system to care for the priesthood and the needy. This was a mandate, because God cared for the oppressed. God binds Himself to His covenant and promises to bless those who give their tithes. There were three different types of tithes collected: those for Levites with no inheritance in Canaan (Lev. 27:30-33), those for religious festivals in Jerusalem (Deut. 14:22-27), and those for the needy (Deut. 14:28-29). Rather than ten percent, this turned out to be around twenty-three percent of yearly income. These tithes were grains, fruits, nuts, and cattle given eight out of twelve months. Money was never tithed, and priests were not required to participate. Entering into the New Testament period, Jesus sets aside what is old and ushers in the new (Heb. 7:12-18, 8:13). Through Christ, each person is now a priest. There is no temple other than the gathered body and no priesthood that represents God to man. The veil has been torn, and each person has access to God through Jesus. The Christian call, through the power of the Holy Spirit, is to give generously from the heart. This is not an obligation, because God loves a cheerful giver. Furthermore, the New Testament offers principles of giving that seemingly contradict the tithing system of the Old Testament. Some of the most obvious are: Christians live from the gospel rather than the law (1 Cor. 9:14), each person gives from his/her own ability (Acts 11:29), believers are to give consistently and regularly (1 Cor. 9:13), giving should be done willingly and sacrificially (2 Cor. 8:2-3, 12), giving should be done cheerfully and not from obligation (2 Cor. 9:7), and believers should not burden themselves financially (2 Cor. 8:13). The principle that seems to endure both old and new covenants is generosity.

A final place of contention on this issue is how schools of thought view the law. Some groups, such as the Dispensationalists, believe that the entire law is a unit. Other groups, such a Reformed Covenant theology, split the law into moral, civil, and ceremonial. This may cause some groups to see the tithe as still binding. While it may be convenient to split the law, the Bible itself never seems to do this. Hebrews 8 speaks of the law as a unit which Jesus’ ministry made obsolete. In Matt. 5:17, Jesus also says that He came to fulfill the law and prophets. A straightforward reading indicates the entire law is in view, not portions of it. If the law cannot be split, it becomes much more difficult to justify a tithe based in the law.

Theological Integration

            The implications of tithing have a direct connection to ministry. While ministry is so much more than money, it is difficult for one to flourish without the financial giving of the ministry’s congregation. This does not mean, however, that congregants should be placed under a tithing law in which they do not belong. D.A. Carson warns that tithing can foster a sense of pride. If one believes that God demands ten percent and nothing more, it can breed idolatry. Further, choosing to give more than ten percent can breed pride. He concludes with a passage of scripture that speaks towards giving. 2 Cor. 8-9 shows the people in Corinth under tribulation. In the midst of their sorrow, they gave themselves first to the Lord (8:5) and gave generously even in their poverty (8:2). In 8:9, the text says that Christ became poor so that the Corinthians might become rich through His poverty. This is obviously not monetary wealth, but in the same generous spirit, believers should overflow with generosity knowing what the Son of God did on the cross.

Pastors are standing in pulpits across the world and demanding that their congregations give ten percent of their paycheck, because God requires it. The tithe in the Old Testament was good news to the poor, not a burden. People who can barely make ends meet are giving out of obligation, because they feel as though they cannot afford to not tithe. The Old Testament tithe was designed to help these people from the abundance of others, not make them go deeper into poverty. On the opposite end, churches are full of people to whom ten percent of their income is nothing. These individuals have been blessed with great jobs, but they are only giving ten percent when much more could be offered for advancing the kingdom. Ten percent is not a magic number that pleases God. What pleases God is a cheerful giver. The church should not be afraid to step away from an obligatory tithe. Christians, those who have trusted in the gospel of Christ and are currently indwelled with the Spirit, should seek to live a life pleasing to God and reminiscent of Jesus’ earthly ministry. The power of God, which is now at work in each believer, will not move the body away from generosity but spur it on towards a Christ-like generosity.

3 Reasons We Love Making The Bible A Rule Book

The Bible is first and foremost a story. It is a story that reveals who the creator of the universe is, His dealings with humanity, the redemption He offers through the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ, and how that played out through the early church as they sought to advance the Kingdom of God. We should primarily relate to scripture as the continuation of the story that God is making and fulfilling. Yet, this is not how we find ourselves using the Bible often times. We would rather search for verses that will produce 5 tips for healthy relationships. We would also rather have a Bible that lays out rules so that we know exactly whats expected of us at all times. We want answers, but the Bible isn’t always set up to provide the answers we are seeking. It is, however, set up to show us our maker’s character through the true image of our God who is Jesus! Through His life and death, we can learn so much about what it means to live out Christ’s call to love God and love others in our present day and time. But there is still something inside of us that desperately wants to cling to a Bible that offers rules, instead of a Bible that offers us a story.

Here are three reasons I believe that we love making the Bible a rule book:

1) It’s easier to follow rules than live a life grounded in love

For a person who is born into sin, love isn’t exactly something that comes natural to us. The only thing we enter the world loving is ourselves. Unfortunately, God doesn’t tell us that the greatest command is to love ourselves. He says that the greatest command is to first love God and to secondly love other people. If we are following the example of Christ, then love is going to look humble, selfless, gracious, compassionate, gentle, and kind. Living out this kind of love is much more difficult than living out a prescribed set of rules. If you have had a hard day at work, and your spouse nags you for not taking out the trash, it would be much easier to not yell if there was simply an established rule that forbade yelling at a spouse. It would be much more difficult to take a deep breath and ask ones’ self “what is the best way to love my spouse in a compassionate and gentle way.” We’re sinners. We aren’t wired to naturally think about others. Rules are easy. Living out love is hard. Ultimately, when we choose to live from a place of love that comes from an overflow of the love that Christ has filled in our hearts, it is a much more satisfying experience than simply obeying a bunch of rules that has no connection to who we are (or who we desire to be) as people.

2) The Holy Spirit can be dangerous

In many churches, the Spirit functions like that weird uncle at Christmas that no one wants to talk about. He’s there, but He’s a little different from the rest of the group, and when He starts to speak up or do something out of the ordinary (which is always likely to happen), the subject is quickly changed and heads and quickly turned the other way. Jesus doesn’t teach us that He is going to leave us with a book that has rules in it to guide us. He teaches us that he is going to leave us his Spirit. Let me interject here that I totally believe that scripture is useful for teaching, correcting, rebuking, and training in righteousness. But we often cling to the Bible to the neglect of the Spirit (as if they were equals). We worship the God who is presented in the Bible, yet many come eerily close to worshipping the Bible itself. Without the power of the Holy Spirit, you can just close the book. It’s not going to work the way it needs to work without God being totally present in His guidance as you read His word. We worship a God that is never dull. He is full of surprises, yet we tend to flee from progress and change. We would much rather stick to what we know. The Bible is a book where the words never change. John 3:16 is always going to be John 3:16 no matter what day you turn there. But the Spirit is constantly pushing us to see things in a new way. The Spirit challenges our boundaries and often sends us off the edge as we attempt to weave our way through this journey called life. When we cling to a familiar Bible full of rules and devoid of a wild Spirit, we will never live up to the potential that God created us to have.

3) We believe God’s holiness and perfection necessitates strictness and black and white thinking.

God tells the Israelites that they have to be holy, because He is holy. They are supposed to obey all the laws set for them in the Old Testament, which sets the apart from the other nations. In the New Testament, we learn that the law was set up to reveal the sinfulness of our hearts. Fortunately, we serve a God of grace. And where sin abounds, grace abounds all the more. Think of a daughter who disobeys her father. He must punish her for her disobedience and says that she is not allowed to use the phone for 2 weeks. There is nothing inherently wrong about using the phone. It is the Father’s way of punishing His daughter for disobeying. Its super similar with the laws that God establishes for Israel. God had planned on making Israel a kingdom of priests. He tells them to come up Mt. Sinai with Moses, but they get afraid and refuse to go. Instead of consecrating them at the top of the mountain as a Kingdom of Priests, God gives Moses laws and creates a Kingdom with priests instead. Hebrews teaches us that Jesus is the ultimate High Priest and that through Him, we also are a kingdom of priests. It is so awesome how God unfolds His story! I don’t believe that dads are unreasonable or believe talking on phones is evil when daughters are punished for disobeying. I don’t believe God is unreasonable or believes that lobster is evil because His sons and daughters disobeyed Him. There is a time and purpose for everything that God does! We are living in and through a Messiah who understands what it means to be human. God is holy, but that doesn’t mean he loves to weigh us down with rules. If He did, He would not have sacrificed His son to set us free!

May you live in the grace and peace of a God who desperately loves you and wants to use you to tell His story.

The One Where You Read the Bible

If you grew up in an evangelical household, then you probably heard someone tell you that we are people of the book. This means that we take scripture seriously as God’s word and follow it precisely. If the Bible says it, then I believe it. If the Bible says it, then that settles it.

This is a great way to live until you open the Bible and realize that there is a lot in it that you do not do by the book. There are even commands that Jesus gave, which we aren’t practicing.

Isn’t that a little shocking? You might have thought “Oh sure, some of those Old Testament commandments about stoning someone to death are no longer relevant, but I do everything Jesus commands.” Do you?

Have you ever made an oath to anyone?
When was the last time you washed someone’s feet?
Did you give up all your possessions to follow Jesus?
Have you fasted recently? Or better yet, do you even believe you need to fast?

With a brief flick of our cultural context wand, we do away with sweeping portions of our Bible. And all the while, we affirm that we are people of the book. We live by the Bible, our final rule of faith.

If the Bible is so great and worthwhile, then why do we keep trying to get rid of it? Is it wrong for us to take an oath? Should we wash each other’s feet? Should women be quiet in church? Should we have slaves, but just treat them nicely? Should men greet one another with a holy kiss, or would a holy handshake suffice? The Bible doesn’t say anything about holy handshakes. It clearly says greet each other with a holy kiss. Is it okay to just change the Bible because you feel uncomfortable about holy kisses?

These are important questions to ask if we are going to claim to be Bible-believing Christians. What do we do with a scripture that is sometimes difficult to understand and hard to swallow? Here are three ideas that may help you answer these questions.

THE BIBLE IS A STORY

While many great theologians have attempted to systematize the Bible, this is not its intended purpose. Scripture is not a systematic theology. The Bible is first and foremost a grand narrative of God’s dealings with humanity. Scripture is a collection of writings written by men, inspired by the Holy Spirit, that tell the Story of a God who loved the world he created so much that He sent His only Son to die for the sins of people, so that anyone who believes and follows Jesus will have eternal life. When we attempt to chop the Bible into verses that we can live by and place on mugs, it divorces those verses and passages from a story that can’t be told without them. When we come across passages that do not make sense or make us uncomfortable, do not forget that those sentences do not stand alone. They are one piece of a huge story.

THE BIBLE IS ABOUT JESUS

Scripture is a grand narrative with an intended end. This story telling us about God and His dealings with people has the ultimate goal of pointing us to Jesus Christ. The Bible is prepared to lead us towards salvation through the testimony and witness of Jesus. We often will read the Bible and become perplexed over a passage that is hard to swallow.

Why does God command the murders of thousands of children? Why would a loving God allow sin to be in the world? Why would He allow anyone to go to Hell?

These questions are so important, yet they are often asked in isolation based on a single passage of scripture and without any thought given to Christ. Take for instance the question concerning why God would allow sin in the world? At first glance, a God that allows sin seems like a pretty terrible God. But when we place this truth back into the story, we can see a much larger picture. God, who is indescribably in love with His creation, gave us the opportunity to make decisions for ourselves. Instead of obeying our Creator, we chose to give into our own desires and do what should not be done. Sin enters the world not because God is bad or doesn’t care, but because He is just. Yet, our God is also full of grace and mercy. And the point of the story is to lead readers to Jesus. God is not going to leave people in sin. He has a plan to rescue sinners and make them new. There is pain in the night, but joy comes in the morning. This hope that produces perseverance provides us with a righteousness that is only found in Jesus.

THE BIBLE IS INCARNATE

When I say incarnate, I do not mean that the Bible is equal to God or that it is simply a human book. I mean that something holy has happened in human form. The Bible is God’s word, but He chose to give us that word in particular times, in particular ways, and in particular places. As we read God’s grand narrative that points us to the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus, we must never forget that the way God relates and communicates with ancient Israelites will most likely not be the way God relates to post-modern Americans in 2015.

There would be no reason for God to describe an intricate process of creating the world with atoms, when the people of that day didn’t understand them. We cannot expect from Scripture anymore than it is set up to offer. If we consider the times, places, and people from which God inspired the Bible, it may help us understand some of those complicated ideas that do not make much sense to us.

It’s extremely troubling to me at how easily people accept the idea that God foreordains evil. Because of the resurgence of reformed theology due to popular pastors like John Piper and Mark Driscoll, this is an idea that is spreading faster and being accepted more easily. I struggle to square God’s goodness with the thought of God rendering people to do evil, even if it is for some greater good as many argue. That would be like saying this: Mary has a friend named Jane. Jane is getting physically beaten by her husband. Mary shares this information with her husband, Bob. Bob proceeds to ball up his fist and beat the crap out of Mary. When she regains consciousness, Bob is holding her hand and he says: “Mary, I love you so much. I beat you so that you could understand what it was like in order to relate better and help out your friend Jane.” What kind of logic is that? Moreover, what kind of love is that? I definitely do not have all the answers, but I think that we need to start being more careful and humble about how we speak of God’s providence. I think there are perimeters that we should set and not cross, one of them being a stark separation between God and evil. Scripture tells us that God is good. That God is love. That God hates sin and evil. I just don’t see how those truths can be reconciled with a God who causes evil things to happen. That is my rant for the night. 

A DECEITFUL HEART REVISITED

For the longest time, the church has been adamant about teaching its congregation not to trust their feelings, and rightly so. Our emotions go up and down constantly. We change our minds. Feelings aren’t the most reliable source of truth. Jeremiah 17:9 tells us that “the heart is deceitful above all things and desperately sick. Who can understand it?” Instead of listening to your heart, then, it follows that we need a more stable form of truth, something not constantly changing, something reliable. That reliability comes in the form of God’s word. For the Christian, our final authority above all other authorities should be Scripture. If we believe that The Bible is God’s perfect word to us, then we really have no reason not to trust it.

I think that what we’ve failed to understand is a proper definition of the heart. When scripture speaks of the heart, its talking not only about our feelings and emotions, but also our minds and reasoning ability. We use Jeremiah 17:9 as a proof text to not trust our feelings, but we never seem to consider the fact that if we can’t trust our feelings because our hearts are deceitful, then neither can we trust our reasoning. If we can’t trust our own ability to reason, then we can’t approach scripture with the confidence that we can actually properly understand anything that’s being said. If this is true and our reasoning is so tainted with sin that we can’t know anything, then God is self defeating in offering us a word that reveals Himself. A perfect God who knows us better than we know ourselves would not offer us a means to know Him that we could not properly grasp. We have his Word, because through it, He reveals Jesus Christ to us. So if we can trust our reason to some extent, then we also have to trust our feelings to some extent.

I think it does a great disservice to the testimony of scripture when we throw away our emotions and feelings. Maybe that’s the point. Maybe when we read that God wiped out the world with a flood, its supposed to make us uncomfortable. Maybe it should make us sad. When we read scripture, instead of denying your feelings, wrestle with them. Ask yourself why you feel the way you feel. Is something moral happening in the text? Is there selfishness being revealed in your heart? Are you scared to do what God clearly wants you to do? We can learn so much from our feelings. Our emotions and our minds are intimately connected. Even if they’re deceitful and tainted with sin, theres a redeeming quality in them. God thought it worthwhile to use his sinful creation for His glory. Even though we screwed up, we were still good for something. Your feelings, as sinful as they can often be, are also good for something.

When Jesus was in the garden before His arrest, He prayed to the Father that if there was anyway else to do this, that the cup would pass from His hands. There wasn’t another way. Jesus dealt with his emotions. He brought his feelings before the Father. We should go and do likewise. As you read scripture, as you make important decisions, don’t throw away your feelings. Deal with them. Take your emotions before the cross and submit them to God. Read the word and let it act as your final authority, but stop being scared of your heart. Stop trying to suppress your feelings. I think you’ll find that while your feelings are often wrong, there’s many times when your feelings are right.