Why Are You Tithing...Guilt or Ignorance? 1

By Lafe Tolliver

What difference would it make in your relationship to God and in your giving of supporting works of Bible based ministries if the "tithe" (I will use this term to mean ten percent of one's gross monetary income) was determined not to be a requirement or a doctrine for the saints (born again believers) of God under the New Testament?

Would you give more than the proverbial "ten percent" tithe or would it be less? Would it be liberating to know that the tithe was never intended to be a mandatory requirement of New Testament giving but rather God had a higher design in mind that does not include the taking out of context the "proof" verses of the priesthood of Melchizedek and his encounter with Abraham (Genesis chapter 14) or the incessantly quoted Malachi 3:8-10 or Luke 6:38?

If it could be shown that sound Bible doctrine does not include tithing as an obligatory principle of New Testament living or giving, would you be relieved or full of guilt or even anger for being mislead by preachers and teachers who did not thoroughly examine the scriptures in order to make certain that tithing was a doctrine approved or taught by Jesus or expounded upon by the apostles?

The basic premise of this two part article is that the tithe was originally instituted by God for the support of the Temple Levites whom were not apportioned any land along with the other eleven tribes (Numbers 18:23, 24; Deuteronomy 14:27, 29). As such, God made provision for their physical sustenance via a tithe being paid into the Temple (Deuteronomy 14:27-29). This tithe was not money but was produce and grains and foodstuff including meat.

Malachi, which is the last book of the Old Testament and the last of the prophetic books, indicates via a careful reading of the context of the scriptures that the priests who served the Levites became corrupted and stopped bringing the whole tithes to the Temple warehouse and as such they were robbing God (Malachi 3:9). They were skimming off the top of the tithes.

As punishment for their acts of theft, God cursed the land and the corrupt priesthood and withheld the rainfall from Israel and which rainfall was vitally needed for their agrarian/husbandry economy.

When they (the priests) stopped stealing from the Temple, God said he would open the windows of heaven (indicating the resumption of the rain showers) and pour out a blessing (Malachi 3:10). By the way, nothing in Malachi remotely denotes an offering being required by God or being given to God in order to appease Him.

Basic Bible research would indicate that the Old Testament tithe(s) were not "paid" in gold or silver but rather the tithe or the "tax" was on the increase from both foodstuff and the herds of the Israeli people. Sample verses include: Leviticus 27:30, 31, Numbers 18:27 Deuteronomy 12:17, and Malachi 3:10.

Money was not the normative exchange currency even though Christ and the apostles in the New Testament could have mentioned this as an obligatory/required tithe or an offering but they did not do so.

Since Calvary, Christians are not under curses nor can curses through the Blood of Jesus come and "get us" (Galatians 3:10). Errant or willfully ignorant preachers, teachers, and pastors who preach curses upon The Body of Christ for not giving a tithe are preaching out of ignorance and/or shameless exploitation and thus placing people in fear and which fear is bondage and not the liberty that Christ bought us to in Him (2 Corinthians 3:17; 1 John 4:18).

Malachi was the last voice before we had the 400 year "blackout" of no word from God until John the Baptist (also a prophet) came on the scene. From the prophetic words of John the Baptist and until the final Book of Revelations, there is no church doctrine endorsed by either Jesus Christ or the Apostles regarding the tithe being a church doctrine or a requirement for the born again believer. None!

The giving or tithing of money was never a linkage to the covenant with God. The linkage was and will be his grace towards us and tithing and/or giving an offering was not and is not a requirement for either salvation or being blessed of the Lord (Titus 3:7; Romans 3:24; Romans 11:6).

When Jesus came as the exact image of the Father (John 1:1-3) and by his perfect life and until his death at Calvary, the law was still in effect. At the death of Jesus it is only then that we have the initiation of the New Testament and its provisions (John 19:30).

Until Jesus died, Jesus was the fulfillment of the law and what he spoke to the Pharisees about tithing was spoken to those who were still under the law and not under grace (Romans 10:4; Galatians 3:19, 24, 25; Galatians 4:4).

Grace and the provisions of the New Testament did not appear until Jesus died at Calvary. Without that understanding, tithing will be erroneously seen as an extension of Old Testament requirements including being linked to salvation by works.

Jesus does not want a paltry ten percent but rather he is seeking 100% of everything of his followers (1 Corinthians 6:20). Tithing (or as we commonly refer to it as a tenth of our gross income) is less than full commitment to the Kingdom of God. If the Holy Spirit was to tell you to give 5% or 50%...would you obey and do so gladly and not fall back to the legalistic requirement that you are only "obligated" to give a tithe?

Regrettably, I have sat under ministries wherein the pastor would literally "rant and rave" about we "owing" the tithe or ten percent and it was our offerings which would "determine" the blessing of God!

Such spiritual gibberish from the pulpit! I also heard the unsupportable doctrine of Christians being under a curse if we did not give or bring a tithe and an offering. No scripture...(save for the mis-applied Malachi chapter 3) just a lot of pulpit hoopla, emotionalism, and scriptures taken out of context meant to place people in fear of losing their status with God (as if we could be separated from the love of God by such poppycock) (Romans 8:37-39).

Think about it. We, the followers of God informing God that our tithe will bless Him and that our offerings will require or demand a flow of financial blessings to us from Him. Again, another non scriptural rendering of Malachi chapter 3.

The tithe is not our connection to the N.T. covenant but rather our connection to God is through the shed Blood of the Lamb of God. It is a blood connection...not a monetary connection! God never made financial blessings or prosperity his sign of favor to any believer.

If you think so, read the verses of the Apostle Paul and his life and fortunes or misfortunes and see where he was financially "blessed" for all of his travails with the early church (2 Corinthians 11:16-29).

I am sure the Word of Faith adherents would say that Paul did not have enough faith to believe God for his various manifold problems including his bouts of poverty or lack. The greatest in the kingdom are those who serve and it is not due to their gifting or talent in acquiring mammon (Matthew 20:26).

Real prosperity in God's eyes is holiness and the increase in the fruits of the Spirit so that we are more conformed to his image (Colossians 1:10; Matthew 7:20; Ephesians 1:11-18) and not to the bangles and lures of the Wall Street money hype or Madison Ave., and their "buy...buy...buy" slogans.

The standard of giving for the born again believer is found at 2 Corinthians 9:7 where the believer is to give cheerfully and as he has so purposed in his heart and according to how God has blessed.

The original tithe in Israel was based on an agrarian economy and not paid wages or labor. It was specifically used to support the non landholding Levites and in turn the Levites were to bring in to the Temple priests a tenth of the tithe that they received from the Israelites (Nehemiah 10:38; Numbers 18:21-24).

In Malachi, when the priests became thieves and did not account for the turning in of the tithe of the Temple, it was then and then only and not now that God placed a curse on a curse involving that situation only and to the priests and the nation of Israel.

We are now the royal priesthood (1 Peter 2:4-5) and we do not tithe to each other and nor is there a local Temple or synagogue to support since we are the Body of Christ (Ephesians 5:30).

This curse is not a transferable concept to the New Testament since according to Galatians 3:10 we are not under the law and if we try to fulfill the law in one aspect, we are guilty if we do not fulfill the law in all of its 613 requirements (Romans 11:6)! It is a wonder that the tithe grabbing pastors and preachers strangely do not mention that portion of Galatians but since it does not fit their financial planning, it is conveniently omitted.

Without proper examination of scripture (Acts 17:11) the church has erroneously assumed that the tithe was affirmed by Jesus for the New Testament believers. It was not. The doctrine that was once and for all delivered to the saints (Jude) does not and did not include tithing as a mandatory doctrine to be followed by believers.

God's standard of giving is more expansive than a confining ten percent or a tithe. Matter of fact, if we were to scrupulously follow the Old Testament law as to tithing, it would be more around a third of our "assets" not including special givings or offerings including the Levitical tithe, the tithe for the poor and the feast tithe. See for example: Leviticus 27:30.

The charlatan prosperity teachers enjoy merchandising the saints of God (2 Peter 2:1-3) with the buttery statements of giving to God in reality to their own personal kingdoms); and as their vain promise to you, they state that you will in turn reap enormous financial rewards.

Such tomfoolery has been accepted by too many gullible but sincere saints who give to God in such a manner that they believe God is obligated to give to them. Wrong. It won't happen since you are giving with wrong motives. God is not a slot machine...just put in a dollar in the offering plate and out comes five dollars.

Those false prophets and teachers and ministries that intentionally corrupt the Word of God with their flimflam of fleecing the flock for their own personal aggrandizement will face the wrath of God at the day of judgment for they attempt to make the Word of God of no effect, and worse yet, they are trying to add to scripture their own twisted interpretations so that they may benefit at your expense. Flee such doctrine and such expositors (2 Timothy 2:15)!