It amazes me how many Christians try to marginalize the tithe. I have even seen post where people have posed the question, “Can you show me that tithing is a command of God.” Why yes, I could probably give dozens.
In this post I will state why I believe that the tithe is a command of God, I would be interested in a scriptural basis of why the tithe is an optional concept.
First of all the most commonly used scriptures on tithes:
Mal 3:7-8
7 Even from the days of your fathers ye are gone away from mine ordinances, and have not kept them. Return unto me, and I will return unto you, saith the LORD of hosts. But ye said, Wherein shall we return?
8 Will a man rob God? Yet ye have robbed me. But ye say, Wherein have we robbed thee? In tithes and offerings.
Through the Prophet Malachi God tells His people to return to Him and He would return to them. Then the question is posed, “How do we return to you?” The answer, “In tithes and offerings.” It would be my guess that they didn't return to Him since they entered into the dark years.
How can we rob God in tithes? Either we knock off the usher as he carries the plate to the back room and steal all the tithes or we keep what God has declared as His. If the latter is true then
the tithe does not become the tithe when it is given, but becomes the tithe when you increase.
Throughout the Old Testament we see God saying that the tithe is holy, it is His, and that we are not to touch it. The tithe is a tenth. Therefore, the reality is .90 cents is yours out of $1.00. It is not your dollar that you are going to give God a dime. The dime is His when you get the dollar. You steal it by not returning to Him what is His.
I have also heard people say that they tithe 5% and I have heard people say that they tithe 20%. Both are incorrect because a tithe is a tenth. Anything over a tenth is an offering and anything less than a tenth, well I guess is an offering also.
In the NT
Hebrews 7 deals with the tithe:
Heb 7:1-5
1 For this Melchizedek, king of Salem, priest of the Most High God, who met Abraham returning from the slaughter of the kings and blessed him,
2 to whom also Abraham gave a tenth part of all, first being translated "king of righteousness," and then also king of Salem, meaning "king of peace,"
3 without father, without mother, without genealogy, having neither beginning of days nor end of life, but made like the Son of God, remains a priest continually.
4 Now consider how great this man was, to whom even the patriarch Abraham gave a tenth of the spoils.
5 And indeed those who are of the sons of Levi, who receive the priesthood,
have a commandment to receive tithes from the people according to the law, that is, from their brethren, though they have come from the loins of Abraham; (NKJ)
Who receive the priesthood in the NT? What is termed the five-hold. They have a command to receive the tithes from the people
according to the law.
Why do people try to say tithing is OT when prayer, fasting, and worship were all OT activities also?
Why do people try to say that tithing was under the law when it precedes the law going back to Cain, Able, Abraham and Isaac?
Why do people marginalize Jesus saying, “Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye pay tithe of mint and anise and cummin, and have omitted the weightier matters of the law, judgment, mercy, and faith: these ought ye to have done,
and not to leave the other undone.”
Why do people try to make
Hebrews 7 some kind of OT rehashing, when in fact the only place the tithe was fully explained was during the time of the giving of the law and it has never changed? The tithe is received according to the law, not under the law.
I am sure any here that would disagree with me would be different than my experiences, but I have only seen people who are tight with money or who want to spend money on themselves try and make an argument that tithe is not a command.
I wish it were possible to know the percentage of gross income given in 2007 by any who would try and say the tithe is not a command, and it would be interesting to also know how much they were in debt (people who fight giving principles are typically heavy in debt). I know that would be impossible, but it would be very interesting.
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