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Tithing: Difference between revisions
→Does the New Testament require tithing?
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:''Each one must '''give as he has decided in his heart''', not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver. <ref>The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton: Standard Bible Society, 2001), 2 Co 9:7.</ref> | :''Each one must '''give as he has decided in his heart''', not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver. <ref>The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton: Standard Bible Society, 2001), 2 Co 9:7.</ref> | ||
==But didn't Abraham paid tithes before the law was given== | |||
Many ministers (and not just message pastors) use the argument that, because Abraham paid tithes to Melchizedek, we are obligated under covenant to pay tithes to the church. | |||
This is wrong for a number of reasons: | |||
#Abraham was not under obligation to pay tithes; | |||
#Abraham only paid tithes once in his life, not every year; | |||
#Abraham didn't tithe on his income but on his plunder from war; and | |||
#Abraham also was required to be circumcised as part of the covenant, does that mean that circumcision is also required today? | |||
==Didn't Jesus teach us to tithe?== | |||
Jesus said: | |||
:''Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For eyou tithe mint and dill and fcumin, and have neglected the weightier matters of the law: justice and mercy and faithfulness. These you ought to have done, without neglecting the others.<ref>The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton: Standard Bible Society, 2001), Mt 23:23.</ref> | |||
While message ministers would love to say that this passage proves that Jesus commands Christians to tithe, on close examination it actually states the opposite: | |||
#The tithe here is a tenth of their spice crop, not ten percent of their monetary earnings (Leviticus 27:30 "A tithe of everything from the land..."). | |||
#Jesus is correcting the Pharisees. He is speaking directly to them. This is before the cross and therefore the Pharisees are clearly under the law. What was happening was that the Pharisees were getting a lesson in the law from the one that wrote the law. W@hat Jesus is saying is not aimed at Christians who are under grace and not under the law. | |||
#Jesus wasn't endorsing Abraham's tithe. Jesus is simply confirming that tithing is part of the law, not something that was before the law. Remember Jesus fulfilled the law so that we don't have to. | |||
:''But now we are released from the law, having died to that which held us captive, so that we serve in the mnew way of nthe Spirit and not in the old way of the written code.<ref>The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton: Standard Bible Society, 2001), Ro 7:6.</ref> | |||
==But doesn't the Book of Hebrews require us to tithe== | |||
The author of the Book of Hebrews states: | |||
:''See how great this man was to whom Abraham the patriarch gave a tenth of the spoils! And those descendants of Levi who receive the priestly office have a commandment in the law to take tithes from the people, that is, from their brothers, though these also are descended from Abraham.<ref>The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton: Standard Bible Society, 2001), Heb 7:4–5.</ref> | |||
This passage tells us a number of things: | |||
#It confirms that all that Abraham paid tithes on was his plunder from the war; | |||
#This verse states that the '''tithe is collected by the priests'''. Doesn't 1 Peter 2:9 state that '''we are part of a "royal priesthood"'''? So shouldn't all Christians collect the tithe? And the priests were the only ones that didn't have to tithe. | |||
#Hebrews goes on to state that: | |||
:''For on the one hand, '''a former commandment is set aside''' because of its weakness and uselessness (for the law made nothing perfect); but on the other hand, fa better hope is introduced, through which we draw near to God.<ref>The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton: Standard Bible Society, 2001), Heb 7:18–19.</ref> | |||
So just tell your pastor that you're going to go out and fight some people and he can have ten percent of anything that you take from the people that you beat up. NOT! | |||
=Should the tithe go to the ministry?= | =Should the tithe go to the ministry?= | ||