is tithe teaching for the church, or is it error? Part 2

In my previous article “is tithe teaching for the church, or is it error? Part 1”, I loosely divided the Bible into three parts for the purpose of writing my views concerning the deceptive teaching of the 10% tithe being required of the New Covenant believer. Again, the three parts are as follows;

1. Before the Law of Moses = the book of Genesis and up to Exodus 20.
2. During the Law of Moses = started in Exodus 20 [Ten Commandments] and ended on the cross.
3. The Church Age = started in Acts and ongoing today.

The New Testament clearly tells us, as believers in Jesus Christ, we are no longer under the Law of Moses.

So, even though this is part two of the series, today I want to address;

3. The Church Age, starting in Acts and ongoing.

As a general rule, the only laws from the Old Testament that are commandments for the Christian are those that are mentioned again in the New Testament letters. This will help to accurately divide scripture.

Nowhere in the New Testament is tithing required to maintain a ministry or a place of assembly! {Or money in general for that matter.}

Nowhere in the New Testament is tithing required as a means to pay the “salaries of ministerial staff”! {Nor is a “salary” encouraged, but that is for another day.}

Nowhere in the New Testament is collection of the tithe advocated as a means to help the poor!

Nowhere in the New Testament is collection of the tithe advocated as a means to help spread the Gospel!

Nowhere in the New Testament is the believer commanded to tithe, or encouraged in any way to obey or practice the Old Covenant law of the tithe!

Shocking, I know!

At least it was for me when the Lord opened my eyes to this truth! My journey started with the Lord asking me a question in response to my repeated voiced frustrations to Him.

After years of faithful “10% and above” tithing that included thousands of dollars and still not having enough many times to meet the basic needs of my family, I was frustrated.

We were in a mega church in Texas attending a New Years Eve service that night. We were so excited to be there, to be a part of “what God was doing”!

The title of the pastor’s sermon was, “First Things First!” He opened up the service by informing us since it was the beginning of a New Year he was going to focus on a basic, foundational, “first in importance truth”!

That so called “truth” turned out to be 10% tithing. We were informed once again if we wanted God’s blessing in the upcoming year we would have to be faithful in our tithing! This  man said the reason many were struggling financially was because they weren’t faithful in their tithe! “Bring all the tithes into the storehouse!” he said.  I had heard it all so many times before.

But that night, among the weak chorus of “Amen!” in the audience, I heard another Voice. That still small voice inside of me in the form of a question.

“If tithing is a basic, foundational, first in importance truth for the church, why did Paul never teach on it in any of his letters to the churches?”

I couldn’t believe it!

Revelation started pouring into me as I sat there. Revelation that completely negated everything this pastor was saying!

I spent weeks, even months pouring over scriptures {or lack thereof in the New Testament} on the subject of tithing. I soon came to the realization I had been fed a lie, possibly unintentionally, but a lie nevertheless! It remains a subject I am passionate about many years later.

I found Hebrews 7 to be the only mention of the tithe in the New Covenant writer’s teachings and it was not written as a command for believers to tithe. It was written to explain the high priesthood of Jesus and the priesthood of every believer.

I found in Acts 15 where New Testament church leaders had a meeting concerning what parts of the Law the Gentile converts would be required to obey. They came up with a very short list and tithing wasn’t in the list!

I found in Acts 20 where Paul declared he had been faithful to deliver the whole counsel of God, and yet he never once mentioned the tithe as a commandment or requirement.

I also found Paul worked as a tentmaker to pay his own way and refused to be a burden to anyone, setting an example for the rest of the church to follow and to help them be able to differentiate between true and false apostles. 2 Thess. 3, and 1 Cor. 11

I found in an early church apostolic writing, called The Didache, Chapter XI, “...And when the apostle goes away, let him take nothing but bread until he lodges.  If he asks for money, he is a false prophet.”

I found the three times the subject of tithing was mentioned by Jesus in the four gospels, all were examples of hypocrisy and the tither failing in his attempt to please God. I don’t believe those three accounts were accidental.

I could go on and on. Once the flood gates of revelation opened for me, the flow was tremendous!

Even though my eyes were opened and I saw the truth almost immediately, it took me quite a while to become free enough to walk in this truth.  I had been so indoctrinated with fear of “disobedience to the law of the tithe”!

I also began to share my findings and they weren’t received very well, to say the least.

There were several explanations and objections presented to me.

One such explanation I would like to address was,  “10% is a starting point for our giving. The New Covenant is a better Covenant, so 10% is the least we should give”.

That sounds good and very persuading but the problem is, after the good persuasion, we still don’t have any scripture commanding us as Christians to give or tithe 10% or better. So it is a persuasion based on the silence of scripture and therefore not valid.

What we do have scripture for is, Spirit led, purpose in your own heart, cheerful giving. And we do have scripture commanding us to help the poor, especially among the brethren.

We do have scripture stating the rich should be willing to share. {Not take more at the expense of the those that have less.}

We also have scripture warning us about perverse disputing of men with corrupt minds, who are destitute of truth, who suppose that godliness is a means to financial gain or livelihood.

From such withdraw yourself.  1Tim 6:5

 

Related articles

• is tithe teaching for the church, or is it deception? Part 1 (eatinglocusts.wordpress.com)
• If we, as Christians, are under the new covenant of Grace, why is tithing the tenth still an acceptable doctrine? (thejoyfulchristian.wordpress.com)
• On the Law of the Tithe (boyd41.wordpress.com)