Exploring the Concept of Tithes

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Okay so we come to the act of tithes – fourteen chapters into just the first book of the Bible and we read the word for the first time in the Bible. That in and of itself should say something to us. We have no law assigned to it, not definition provided of it, so we have to assume it is just describing something to us by the word – the way we might read the word a percent – and Abram gave Melchizedek a percent or a tenth portion of all that He had gathered from the Kings.

There’s no law assigned to the percent neither is there a definition provided by Moses, he just describes what happened.

Genesis 14.18-20

Part II
August 28th 2022

If God is for us, who can be against us?

Tithing: An Eternal Principle?

Some pastors suggest that this is the beginning of an eternal principle called tithing or tithes and use this example to support their view. It’s always fascinated me how the Christian community criticizes everything about Mormonism and the Law but rarely touches on their universal acceptance of the commandment to tithe.

Of course, that area is hardly touched in the Mormon/Christian debate because Christian leaders use the term and often call it the minimum place to start ones giving. Now we know that the tithe was a requirement of the law in which all Israelites were to give 10 percent of everything they earned (or grew) to the Tabernacle/Temple. And we know that the terms tithe means ten percent – so to use it on people means ten percent! If someone says tithes, it means that percent – nothing less.

References to the mandatory nature of the tithe are found in Leviticus 27:30; Numbers 18:26; Deuteronomy 14:24; 2 Chronicles 31:5. But if we are going to use the Old Testament practices of “demanded giving” then we need to point out that the Old Testament Law required multiple financial devotions from the Children of Israel – in three general areas to be exact:

Old Testament Giving Requirements

One to support the Levites; one for the use of the temple and the great feasts; and one for the poor of the land. These demands would have actually pushed the grand total percentage to around 23.3 percent, not the 10 percent which is generally considered the tithe (or the tenth part, today). I mention this just to point out that when people today apply the term “tithe” to their giving it is typically far-afield from the actual Old Testament practice of giving that was commanded and was heavier.

I want to suggest five main reasons why the word “tithe” and/or manditorily paying “a tenth part” is not part of Christianity today.

The Argument Against Mandatory Tithing

Number 1

“Making a percentage of a Christian’s income part of “mandatory minimal giving” flies completely in the face of the liberty all believers have in Christ.” Our Lord accomplished all things on the cross. All was fulfilled and completed in Him. Beneficiaries of a gift are not obligated to pay anything – the gift is free. Liberty in Him means being “freed,” or “released,” or given complete liberty from all aspects of religious demands and what is done is from the freewill devotions of the individual.

A mandated day of the week for worship? Gone. Certain rites or rituals for purity? Gone. Specific prayers, holy day observances, clothing styles, forbidden foods? Gone, baby, gone. To re-incorporate a “mandatory” anything including “a minimum for giving” flies in the face of what it means to be saved by grace and to live by faith in the Liberty Christ affords. I would go so far as to call demands under the Law as, “counter Good News.”

Either He came, as we read in Isaiah 61:1, to: “preach good tidings unto the meek;” “to bind up the brokenhearted,” “to proclaim liberty to the captives,” and the opening of the prison to them that are bound,” or not.

Was Paul right when he wrote in Romans 8:2: “For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sinMissing the mark of faith and love—no punishment, just lost growth or peace. and deathSeparation from God—now overcome. Physical death remains, but it no longer separates us from life with God..” Are believers “delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God?” or not?

When we read in 2nd Corinthian 3:17- “and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty,” is this true in every area except giving financially? Free means free – responsible to God, subject to Him and His Spirit in everything.

Liberty in Christ

To make it otherwise in any area reinstitutes a bondage that Christ came to destroy. Now, in and with our liberty, every individual is then responsible to God for what they do with their lives and how they choose to live. So there is liberty in people choosing to obey a day of the week – or to devote the whole week to Him too. There is liberty in how a person chooses to adorn themselves. There is liberty in diet and people are free to abstain from eating meat or drinking alcohol.

I have personally taken my liberty in Christ to humble my appearance relative to the modern culture. I choose to avoid gussing myself up for my own personal reasons and should be free in Christ to so do. Others are free to make themselves attractive, to pay ten or 100 percent to the Lord. It is all between the individual and the Lord guiding them. So – no law. And a tenth is a law.

Tithing in the New Testament

Numero Dos

“Tithing, in terms of it being a demand upon believers to obey, is nowhere mentioned in the Apostolic Record.” (with the exception of this allusion from the writer of Hebrews which people use to extrapolate into a universal never ending law and which we will cover).

The word itself – whether it be “tithe, tithes, or tithing” is found seven times in what we consider the New Testament – once in Matthew, twice in Luke, and then four times in the book of Hebrews. In Matthew and Luke, the references are of Jesus telling the scribes and Pharisees that they were hypocrites for the way they “tithed” and then the second reference in Luke was a Pharisee, in the midst of professing how good he was, saying:

Luke 18:12 “why, I fast twice in the week and I give tithes of all that I possess.”

The proponents of tithe-paying for believers today suggest that paying it was so matter-of-fact that there naturally wouldn’t be an out-right command to believers – that to even address it would be like telling believers to good – but the scripture does tell believers to do good, and tithing is never commanded or taught – ever. Giving generously? Sure. But from a cheerful heart only? YES.

Apostolic Instructions on Giving

The four Hebrew references to tithes, which are found in consecutive verses in chapter seven, merely reference the fact that tithes were paid to the Levitical priests. This in no way suggests that the writer is mentioning tithes to teach that tithes ought to be paid by Christians but to illustrate a completely different point (which we will get to – maybe next week at this rate).

But again, nothing in the Apostolic Record to instructs a believer to embrace tithing or pay tithes. If it was so important in the nascent church economy, the apostles from Peter to Paul would have surely mentioned something about it. Anything. But they don’t. What is said, however, about giving is from Paul. In his letter to the church at Corinth this is his instruction:

1st Corinthians 16:1 Now concerning the collection for the saints, as I have given order to the churches of Galatia, even so do ye.

We don’t even have a record of the instructions he gave to the church at Galatia that he references here. But he does tell the church at Corinth to collect offerings in the same way that he gave orders in Galatia, which he seems to summarize in the second verse where he says:

2 Upon the first day of the week (that would be a Sunday) let every one of you lay by him in store, as God hath prospered him, that there be no gatherings when I come.

It was an apostolic instruction to keep order, and it was predicated clearly on freedom in the conscience of the individual believer and a thing to occur so Paul was not involved with the collecting. Had ten percent been the minimum the apostle would have clearly said, Christians, on the first day of the week bring your tithes – hearkening back to the law – but He doesn’t.

Again, the Apostolic record talks about the importance and benefits of freewill giving but even then we must consider context and the salient points of context include:

This was the Church/Bride that was new, under duress, and being attacked – especially in Jerusalem. The command for a collection from Paul was

Understanding Christian Giving

Tithes is never used. Just freewill cheerful giving. It was a one-off from all intents and purposes. This does not mean they didn’t give nor were they not encouraged to give, but remember all four points here when it comes to giving in the Apostolic record. The scripture does, however, convey the way believers ought to give, and from the heart and cheerfully is key. Every Christian should diligently pray and seek God’s wisdom in the matter of giving and/or how much to give. This is where passages like James 1:5 come into play, which says:

“If any of you lack wisdom let him ask of God who giveth to all liberally and upbraideth not and it will be given them.”

This advice opens the door wide on Christian giving and leaves it in the hands of every individual led by the Spirit. Above all, any and all offerings – of money, time, or material should be given with pure motives and an attitude of worship to God and service to man and not by command. According to scripture, giving is a form of worship, so it ought not to ever be formulaic, but instead, open, free, and from the heart.

The Implication of Tithing in Christianity

The term tithe injures such a directive. One of the few New Testament passages regarding giving is found in 2nd Corinthians 9:7 where it says:

“Each man should give what he has decided in his heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.”

The Third point brings us to our text today: “The fact that Abraham paid tithes to Melchizedek does not somehow mean that Christians ought to do the same.” This is the very first time we read the word tithe in the Bible – right here in the Book of Genesis in the account of Abraham paying tithe to Melchizedek – which (as we’ve said) was well before God incorporated it in the Law given to Moses.

Analyzing Abraham's Example

We have to ask, is the story of Abraham paying tithes about the giving a tenth incidental to the story, in other words, is it more of a reference about a freewill offering in which Abraham gave a tenth as a sign of subservience to Melchizedek rather than a support for people to pay tithes to a church? I suggest that the story of Abraham paying tithes to Melchizedek is NOT about Abraham paying a tenth to Melchizedek but is simply a way to illustrate that even Father Abraham showed deference to this mysterious being, Melchizedek.

If you are a Christian who thinks we should still 'tithe' because 'tithing came before the law', let's take a look at the examples of tithes being paid prior to the Law. Just reading the story from Genesis 14 opens us to some things we may not have noticed before.

Verse 12 gives us the reason that Abram went after the four kings. As we have read, Abram’s nephew, Lot, was carried off with all the lawless people of Sodom and Gomorrah. Lot was not guilty of the sins that the people of those two towns were committing and was therefore taken captive as an innocent. We don’t read Abram running off to save the Kings of Sodom or Gomorrah do we? According to 2nd Peter 2 Lot was considered a righteous man. So, Abram, without direction from God apparently (because none is described) made up his own mind to go rescue him. On his return from victory over the four kings he was first met by the king of Sodom.

It seems like it could have been a three-way meeting which included the at first glance “strange” high priest Melchizedek. Whether the three of them were standing in one place at the same time is not important. What is important is what was said by each person. Melchizedek blessed Abram in verse 19 because God, he told Abram, “had delivered your enemies into your hand.” Abram then, it says, gave Melchizedek a tenth (or a tithe) of everything he got from the 4 kings. Abram gave him a tenth of everything he plundered back from the 4 kings who had plundered Sodom and Gomorrah and taken all the people (along with Lot) captive.

So again, the tenth or tithe was a portion of what Abram…

Abraham and the Tithe

It was not a portion of everything that he (Abraham) owned so it was not a personal tithe from Abraham. This is important. Abram was not paying tithes of His own flocks and gold so this is not an example of tithes existing in the personal life of the father of the faith! In fact, we never read of tithes paid by Abram before or ever again after. It was a one-time event and the amount He gave was a tenth part of the booty taken – described in the word tithe. In other words, the word “tithe” was not associated with religious giving – it was just a matter-of-fact percentage Abraham gave Melchizedek of the spoils captured from the Kings. More importantly, Abram was free to act according to what the local traditions would allow Him. According to the King of Sodom, as written in verse 21 of Genesis 14, it was within Abrams every right to keep all the goods and valuables for himself, which Abram declines to do.

Abram’s Generosity

At that point, Abram shared with the king of Sodom about the oath he (Abram) had previously taken (verses 22-24). You see, Abram had already decided that he personally was not going to accept anything at all from the king of Sodom for his victory. This means Abram didn't consider the plunder to be his own from the get go! And it was from what he did not even consider his own that Abram gave Melchizedek a tenth part! The Bible doesn't tell us where the balance of the plunder went. It seems it went either to the king of Sodom and/or back to the people who were originally plundered.

So, in all this we have a few things to consider instead of using this out of context reference to justify tithes today: Abram's gift to Melchizedek was a free will gift to the King of Righteousness from what Abram got back in His victory over Chedolaomer. There was no Law in effect and there is no evidence that God whispered 'pay a tenth' in his ear. In the Genesis 14 account, it was merely part of the description of what transpired between Abraham and Melchizedek and this is the important part – that even the Father of the Faith was subservient to the King and Priest of Salem.

Misinterpretations of Tithing

It’s opportunistic to use the recitation as evidence of tithe-giving to be a universal practice that predates even the law or to intimate that this was Abram paying tithing on his own flocks or gold. Not so. Also, Abram's gift was clearly a one-time event. Abram and Lot both were already prosperous and did not gain their prosperity because they paid tithes as proponents of tithes love to suggest is the result. He was prosperous because God said he would bless him. (Genesis 12:1-3). Abram did not have to pay God to get the blessings promised. God told Abram that he would '… be a blessing'. And according to Galatians 3:13-14 that same blessing is available to all believers now who walk by faith (not all tithe payers).

Unfortunately, for far too long Christians have believed that we have to somehow pay our way to be blessed by God. We get God's blessing in our lives by having faith in Jesus Christ and NOT by having faith in our 'tithing' or faith by our sowing. To walk by faith in Him is to act and live often without reward or results. It's what makes faith so difficult in the end. But it is what God loves. Not mandated giving.

A Lesson in Gratitude

Also, note that the only thing Melchizedek said to Abram was that “God gave him the victory.” Could we use this story as an illustration of Abraham and His gratitude to God which was manifested in His giving ten percent “to God” (or the righteous representative to the Most High God) – absolutely. It is a great example of giving from the heart or out of gratitude. But to use it as the model for mandatory giving of ten percent is not contextual. Our fourth reason is a preemptive strike against the standard appeals that paying tithe predated the Law and therefore is in place even to this day among believers.

It comes by a “second incident” which is recorded in Genesis 28:20-22. Here Jacob…

Tithing and the Story of Jacob and the Widow's Mite

made a vow promising to give God “a tenth” of all he had if God will be with him and watch over him on this journey. Kind of typical of Old Jacob, eh? “The fact that Jacob vowed to pay a tenth to the Lord in no way means Christians ought to do the same.” I would suggest that Jacob was doing what a lot of people do when it comes to giving money to God (or toward “God’s” purposes) – they are hoping for a return on their investment. The Apostolic record is clear – give because you love, because your grateful, because you cheerfully want to give NOT as a means to bargain with God, or out of binding law.

The Apostolic Record on Tithing

The final argument that can and is used that believers ought to pay tithe comes from the Apostolic Record. In my opinion the lengths people go to use this story are pretty horrible. It’s the fifth and final point of the day which is: “The fact that a widow paid her mite (as found in the Gospels) cannot somehow mean that Christians must pay tithing.” Contrary to popular belief, I suggest that the widow's story is NOT an example that believers are to follow. In fact, no widow ought to be paying in her last mite to the church – unless she is so directed by God and that is nobody’s business.

Contextual Understanding of the Widow's Mite

Let’s read the story. It’s found in Mark 12:41-44: “And Jesus sat over against the treasury, and beheld how the people cast money into the treasury: and many that were rich cast in much. 42 And there came a certain poor widow, and she threw in two mites, which make a farthing. 43 And he called unto him his disciples, and saith unto them, Verily I say unto you, That this poor widow hath cast more in, than all they which have cast into the treasury: 44 For all they did cast in of their abundance; but she of her want did cast in all that she had, even all her living.”

Now the place to start to really understand what Jesus was saying is to first read what the scriptures taught about widows. For example in, Exodus 22:22 it plainly says, “Ye shall not afflict any widow, or fatherless child.”

In Deuteronomy 14:28-29 we read:

“At the end of three years thou shalt bring forth all the tithe of thine increase the same year, and shalt lay it up within thy gates: And the Levite, (because he hath no part nor inheritance with thee,) and the stranger, and the fatherless, and the widow, which are within thy gates, shall come, and shall eat and be satisfied.”

Throughout scripture, God is always caring for the widows and the Fatherless, not exacting from them. In God’s heart, the disadvantaged deserve special treatment – not compliance to the same rules as the blessed. Understanding this let’s now let read the story of the widows mite contextually.

We’ll do this by starting a few verses earlier, at verse 38 (instead of 41). Ready? At verse 38 in chapter 12 of Mark, while Jesus taught, He said to His disciples: 38 "Watch out for the teachers of the law. They like to walk around in flowing robes and be greeted in the marketplaces, 39 and have the most important seats in the synagogues and the places of honor at banquets. 40 They devour widows' houses and for a show make lengthy prayers. Such men will be punished most severely."

Teaching on the Widow's Mite

We know that Jesus is the greatest teacher. Here, we see that He first told the disciples what the teachers of the law were doing – “They devour widows' houses,” He said. That is the pretext setting for the teaching to come. I suggest that to then demonstrate how these teachers were doing it, Jesus goes and observes offerings being made in the temple. And while He is observing, having said this about those collecting that they “devour widows houses,” along comes a poor widow and she puts in everything she had to live on in the temple coffer!

Why on earth would a poor widow do that? Jesus was demonstrating exactly how the teachers of the law were taking advantage of them by plundering their income. I don’t believe that God told that woman to give that offering! Man did and she was only doing

Exploitation and Giving in Churches

What she was taught to do by the church leaders and believing them, as a means to honor God, she gave her all.

Listen closely – rather than being an example of the type of giving that pleases God, it is really an example of the kind of exploitation these religious leaders were doing to the poor widows at that time!

Yes, Jesus did say that the poor widow '… put more into the treasury than all the others … but He was not using her as the model for poor people to imitate or for religious leaders to hold up as someone to follow. Grateful believers in a position to give from their hearts cheerfully are to give freely SO THAT the widows, fatherless, and poor can have FOR their needs. And listen, churches today don’t need to collect your money to distribute out to others. You can cheerfully give as lead directly to others and please God as much – if not more!

The Misinterpretation of Giving

When we truly understand what God wants us to do in this area, we will notice a couple of things happening to us: First, we won't feel guilty about the amount we give OR don’t give. He is our lead, not Man. Also, we won't feel like we are more special to God because we can give more nor will we feel less special to God because we can't give as much – if any. Additionally, when lead of Him we won't try to make up for not paying a full tithe by 'tithing' our time, making knitted socks, singing in the choir, driving the church bus, shoveling snow or cleaning church toilets. All giving must be freewill giving. All of it.

Often this story of the widow and her mite is used to encourage believers to somehow prove that they too, “really love the Lord,” and can show this love by giving all that they have. I would suggest that the story does not illustrate this at all – anymore then the story of Abraham paying a tenth to Melchizdek proves that ten percent is God’s minimum standard.

True Freedom in Giving

Jesus brings complete and unencumbered freedom. Liberty, folks. Freedom to worship Him as you please, freedom to live, and the absolute total freedom to financially give . . . whether it be nothing, a little, or a lot.

Question/Comments

Next week I will be absent but have pre-recorded the teaching if any live audience souls are interested in showing up.

I won’t make a habit of this but with a new Grandbaby its requisite.

PRAYER

Amelia and Jenny – Covid
Birdie and the boys
All in need of your hand today.