What About Tithing?
By Greg Ward, February ??, 2023. This article was originally published on the Emmanuel Presbyterian Church blog. Reposted here with permission.
As a Pastor, and a sometimes Hebrew Bible Professor, I occasionally get questions about the Biblical principle of tithing. What is it? Are Christians required to do it? Should they do it, or are they just supposed to give to charity? Or isn’t that just Old Testament law stuff that we are free from in Christ? The goal of this article is to examine the Old Testament practice of tithing and consider what principles from it may apply to us in the Church as we consider our own giving habits.
What is a Tithe?
When I hear people talk about tithing I’ve noticed they often mean different things. Some seem to think of a tithe as any giving, or perhaps regular giving, to the church. So, any amount I give to the church is a “tithe”. Others think of tithing as taking ten percent of their income and giving it to charity in some way: the church, missions, other good causes, etc., which is to say they take ten percent of their income to give away and divide it up as they see fit. But what is a tithe from a Biblical perspective?
A tithe is one tenth of one’s annual income, set aside for sacred or religious purposes. In some cases a tithe is given for a chunk of income from a particular transaction or on the spoils of a war victory. The principle of the tithe is quite ancient preceding the law of Moses and formal Judaism. The first example of a tithe in the Bible is one given by Abraham to Melchizedek in Gen. 14:17-20 (see also Heb. 7:4).
What System of Tithing Was Implemented in the Law of Moses?
The tithing system in the OT is complicated, and it gets more so under Rabbinic tradition. This is part of what Jesus is complaining about in Luke 11:42, when he warns them about the hypocrisy of their tithing. Tithing according to the OT Law is not simply 10% of your money, although it often gets generalized into this in Christianity.
The First Tithe - The 1st tithe, which was given to the Levites (and Priests) is prescribed in Num. 18:21-32. The tribe of Levi, from which the Priests are selected, serves in the temple of the Lord. They are unique amongst the tribes of Israel in that they have no inheritance of land allotted to them in the promised land. When we look at this passage we see it stressed that the purpose of this tithe is to support them in their work in the temple, because they have no inheritance.
The Second Tithe - The 2nd tithe comes from the remaining 9/10 and is used for celebrating festivals in Jerusalem, Deut 12:5-18. A portion of this tithe also benefits the Priests and Levites.
The Third Tithe - There is also a “Poor Tithe”, or 3rd tithe, specified in Deut. 14:28-29 which is taken up every third year for those in need, including the Levites, the poor, the sojourner, the widow, and the orphan.
In the OT law, tithing is almost always connected to two things: 1) dwelling in the land and 2) providing for the Levites, Priests, and Temple/Tabernacle worship. The one exception to this is the “3rd Tithe” which was primarily for the poor. Tithes were either collected by Kings (1Sam 8:15-17, these are really more like taxes) or the Levites (Num. 18:21-32).
What Does This Mean for Christians?
This places all of the tithing laws pretty squarely in the territory of civil and ceremonial law, which we understand as having been abrogated and fulfilled in Christ. The Christian is not in the promised land. There is no temple or Levites to pay tithes to. Furthermore tithing is barely mentioned in the NT (3 times tithing is an example of false piety in the gospels, Matt 23:33, Luke 11:42, Luke 18:12 and then in a discussion of the tithe of Melchizedec in Heb. 7). It certainly is not commanded or reiterated.
That said the principle of tithing does predate the Mosaic law, and the principle of giving is quite clear in the NT: Acts 4:32-37; 2 Cor. 9; Phil. 4:15; etc. Further, Paul explicitly develops the principle of giving to support ministers of the Gospel in 1 Cor. 9:4-14, 1 Tim 5:17-18.
But what is particularly interesting is that Paul uses the analogy of the support of the Priests through tithing to the temple as a justification for supporting ministers in 1 Cor. 9:13. “Do you not know that those who are employed in the temple service get their food from the temple, and those who serve at the altar share in the sacrificial offerings?” This connects best with the 1st tithe, and I believe provides warrant for people giving first to their local church before giving to other para-church ministries and charities.
So in sum, like much of the ceremonial law there is a moral principle in the tithe that carries forward in the NT, but NT giving is not the same as OT tithing and is not called such. This is understandable as it would have been quite confusing when the temple was still in operation, up to 70 AD.
So Pastor, How Much Should I Give?
I can’t tell you exactly how much you should give, but I know you should be doing it! Here are a few principles of giving we can glean from the New Testament.
In Acts 4:32-37 and 2 Cor. 9:6, 11, we see that giving should be done generously. It seems reasonable that a tithe would be a starting point for generous giving, but again this is a guideline. It is not a hard rule, nor is it a limit to giving.
Further, 2 Cor. 8:3 tells us “they gave according to their means … and beyond their means” which suggests that at least in some cases giving should be done sacrificially, ie. sacrificing one’s lifestyle in order to give.
However, Acts 11:29 says, “the disciples determined, every one [give] according to his ability”, which is to say giving should be reasonable and proportional to our ability. Some are able to give more than others. There are seasons to economic life, and we all have economic responsibilities to our families. We may have forms of debt that hinder our ability to give. In some cases, long-term planning will be necessary for us to achieve Biblical levels of generosity without neglecting financial obligations.
Giving should also be done willfully and cheerfully. For as Paul says in 2 Cor. 9:7 “Each one must give as he has decided in his heart, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.”
Giving should be deliberate and not just spontaneous. 2 Cor. 8:10-11 shows that the Corinthians had been steadily putting aside money for the poor in Jerusalem for a year.
Finally our giving is something we do in response to God’s grace (2 Cor. 2:8-9), which is to say giving is something we do because everything we have comes ultimately from God. This is why in our church we recite Psalm 24:1 (which Paul himself quotes in 1 Cor. 10:26), “The earth is the LORD’S and the fullness thereof, the world and those who dwell therein” just before we take up our offering in our worship service. Everything we have is by God’s grace. Therefore one reason we give back is to remind ourselves of this simple fact.
So, give generously and responsibly with great joy. Give first to the church and then to others. It is our privilege to do so as part of our worship of God.
Greg Ward is the Senior Pastor of Emmanuel Presbyterian Church in Cedar Park, TX.
