Contents
Introduction
If we're going to talk about tithing honestly, we must acknowledge that there are no similarities between what scripture teaches and what is actually taught today.
1. Scriptural Tithing
1a. Abraham
- Gave one time after the battle of the kings (Genesis 14:16-20; Hebrews 7:4)
- From the spoils of war, not income (Genesis 14:11, Genesis 14:16; Hebrews 7:4)
- Not money, not a system (Genesis 14:20; Hebrews 7:4)
- No command from God is given in the text
- Given to Melchizedek, not a local pastor (Genesis 14:18-20; Hebrews 7:1-2)
1b. Jacob
- Made a conditional vow (Genesis 28:20-22)
- "If God blesses me… then I will give" (Genesis 28:20-22)
- Not commanded by God in the passage
- Personal, conditional, and voluntary (Genesis 28:20-22)
- No later record in Scripture shows Jacob actually paying this tithe
1c. The Law of Moses
- Given to Israel only (Leviticus 27:34; Numbers 18:24)
- For Levites, who had no inheritance (Numbers 18:21, Numbers 18:24; Deuteronomy 18:1-2)
- Based on food, crops, seed, fruit, herds, and flocks — not money (Leviticus 27:30-33; Deuteronomy 14:22-23)
- Part of Israel's land, temple, priesthood, and covenant system (Deuteronomy 12:5-6, Deuteronomy 12:11; Nehemiah 10:37-39)
- Included more than one tithe, not simply a flat ten percent system (Deuteronomy 14:22-29; Deuteronomy 26:12-13)
- The priests got 1/10 of 1/10, or 1%, not 10% (Numbers 18:26-28; Nehemiah 10:38)
2. Modern Church Tithing
- Money, not agriculture
- Ongoing requirement, not one-time or voluntary
- Given to a single pastor or church
- The pastor gets all 10%; the priests got 10% of 10% or 1% only
- That pastor is not a Levitical priest
- No temple, no land system, no covenant structure
- Excludes the widows and the fatherless
- It excludes the temple servants and the singers
3. Why the Differences?
Clearly pastors do not want to relinquish their main source of income. But more importantly, they need to follow the prescription clearly and firmly established by Scripture, not by tradition, financial and material needs or any other external factors.
4. The Key Issue
Here's the key issue:
There is not one command in the Apostolic writings telling the Church to tithe.
Not one.
The Apostles never once taught, took, or paid tithes. There is no Apostolic text to support it.
That's why pastors have to go back to:
- Abraham (one-time event)
- Jacob (conditional vow)
- The Law (Old Covenant system)
Because they cannot find it in the New Testament Church.
5. Hebrews 7:18
In fact, the only direct teaching we get about tithing is that it has been CANCELLED:
"For there is verily a disannulling of the commandment going before…" — Hebrews 7:18
That commandment includes the Levitical system — the very system tithing belonged to.
6. New Testament Giving
New Testament giving is different.
"Not grudgingly, or of necessity…" — 2 Corinthians 9:7
- Not commanded
- Not enforced
- Not percentage-based
7. Bottom Line
Modern tithing:
- Is not Abraham
- Is not Jacob
- Is not the Law
- Is not taught by the Apostles
Modern tithing is not Apostolic. It is not supported by or modeled after the Old Testament tithe either. That's why it has to be pieced together from passages that don't actually support the system being preached today. However, the system being preached today does not resemble any form of Biblical tithing.
8. No Scriptural Support
There are no Scriptures that support converting the biblical tithe from agriculture to money, making it an ongoing requirement rather than a one-time or voluntary act, giving it to a single pastor or local church, or allowing the pastor to receive the full ten percent when the priests only received ten percent of the Levites' tithe.
Modern pastors are not Levitical priests, and the New Testament church has no temple, land inheritance system, or Old Covenant structure to support such a practice.
Modern tithing also excludes the widows, fatherless, temple servants, and singers who were included in the biblical tithe system.
9. Law, Grace, and Man-Made Commandments
Modern church tithing takes dissimilar Old Testament laws and requirements, borrows the blessings and curses attached to those covenant-specific commands, and then tries to impose them upon believers under Grace.
The result is a perverted gospel that binds believers to a system Christ fulfilled and another system unfounded in scripture and fabricated for personal gain. This is the very definition of "filthy lucre".
10. Malachi 3:8-10
Furthermore, using the curse of Malachi 3:8-10 given to the Jews under the Old Covenant to intimidate the Apostolic born-again children of God is nothing short of extortion in the church of the living God.
Conclusion
Every honest discussion about tithing must begin with the difference between biblical tithing and modern church tithing.
Modern church tithing does not match Abraham, Jacob, the Law of Moses, or the Apostolic Church. It is not Apostolic. It is not supported by the New Testament. It is not modeled after the Old Testament tithe system being appealed to.
The Church should give, but the Church should not be bound by a man-made system that Scripture does not command and the Apostles did not teach.
End of article.