It amazes me how tenaciously some people cling to doctrine despite the truth. In the coming weeks, I am going to deal with some very serious damage done to the church by the construction of doctrine around the situational biblical text. I promise you, you’re going to want to keep an eye out for this because you’re going to hear a blockbuster truth that will shake your religious foundation to dust! But the one I want to deal with today is the one that may be everyone’s favorite:

decimate

Now, I have dealt with this multiple times and in multiple articles and have empirically proven that tithing is not obligatory for the New Testament believer. And before you start down this path, let me just say that I AM all for “grace giving,” in other words, giving because it’s right, giving joyfully, giving generously, and giving consistently.

There is no Scripture that supports tithing for the New Covenant saint. Period. To support this build, you need to drag and dust off a covenant that was buried with Jesus and remained in the ground when he rose, or build an extra-biblical straw man, like, “How do you expect the church to have operating capital?” To this, I reply, “If you need all that money to operate, you may need to reevaluate the purpose of your local church body…”

Either way it doesn’t work.

The defenders of the tithe, in general, go to chapter 3 of Malachi to support their thesis. However, this fails when one considers that a) Malachi was written for priests, not saints (Malachi 2:1), and b) if Malachi is the template for the title, then the NT believer is subject to all law. – the 613 commandments (James 2:10). And many NT believers, myself included, would be upset that we would have to give up bacon to uphold the whole law!

Once Malachi’s argument is over, the tithing teachers turn to Abram (Abraham) and his encounter with Melchizedek. This is a comfortable retreat for the tithing crowd because they love to point out that this was done under the law. But we’re going to get that duck out of that blind in a bit.

Before we get to Melchizedek, we must firmly establish a fact about Abraham’s tithing that the teachers conveniently omit here:

Abram was rich. He was rich when he left Ur of the Chaldeans. And he was rich-ER after his meeting with Pharaoh (Genesis 12:16, Genesis 13:2, 6). And yet there is no record of Abram tithing before or after meeting Melchizedek.

But back to the story…

Abram meets Melchizedek, fat with the spoils of war. When he realized that Melchizedek was the king of Salem (peace), Abram broke bread with Melchizedek and gave him a tenth (tithe) of the spoils of war (Genesis 14:18-20). That’s a good basis for tithing, but even that is untenable in light of what Abram did next: he gave the rest (90 percent) to the king of Sodom so he wouldn’t be in his debt. Yes, THAT Sodom! So what Abram did was give 10 percent to the good king and 90 percent to the bad king. So what we have is that Abram basically hit the jackpot, giving 10 percent to the “church” and 90 percent to the world.

This alone should help you see the absurdity of this argument but, as they say, “wait, there’s more…”

Deuteronomy 14 is a good indicator of what to do with the title. First off, let’s do a quick set of levels – the title only applied to farming occupations. It dealt with 10 percent of agricultural products. Therefore, if you were a fisherman, a carpenter, a blacksmith, or a doctor, you had no degree! That said, in Deuteronomy 14, the instruction is given that if the future holder lives too far from the temple, he can exchange the title for money, whereupon they can do the following:

And you will give that money for whatever your soul desires, for oxen, for sheep, for wine, for liquor, or for whatever your soul desires; and you will eat there before the gentleman your God, and you and your household will rejoice (Deuteronomy 14:26)

Did you catch that? Strong drink. That translates to beer, wine, or liquor. Or “for everything your soul desires.” That is an unreserved statement!

In other words, spend your title money to host your party! I’m not advocating alcohol use, I’m just pointing out what the Word says!

Furthermore, the title only applied to agricultural production. It was not applicable to fishermen, tinkers, carpenters (!), etc.!

Tithe supporters then conveniently turn to Matthew 23:23. For your reading convenience, I will provide the text here:

Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! because you pay the tithe of mint, dill and cumin, and have omitted the most important things of law, judgment, mercy and faith; this you must have done, and not leave the other undone. (Matthew 23:23)

Note three things here, 1) Jesus is talking to legalists who should know the law, 2) This statement was made when the law was in effect, and 3) Jesus did not command anyone to do this, he simply said that they were following one part of the law while ignoring another!

Once again, you’re left with a less than airtight argument.

Where I would like to hang my hat, today, is on the last finger of the last rung of the degree teaching until it all falls into the abyss.

Hebrews 7.

There is too much text here to cut and paste. The author of Hebrews devotes a fair amount of text to tithing, doesn’t he? Yes, the author talks about tithing and Melchizedek, but he also talks about the superiority of the New Covenant over the Old. This is a clear example of taking a situational text and building a doctrine around it. There is nothing here that commands readers to watch and/or defend the title.

The problem is the context. Hebrews chapter 7 is in the midst of a stream of thought by the author that begins with chapter 5 and ends with 10. In this passage of text, the author meticulously juxtaposes the Old and New Covenants, comparing and contrasting them and highlighting the fact that the New Covenant is “more excellent”.

Isolating chapter 7 to build a straw man for tithing is bad theology at its worst.

You are absolutely not building a case for tithing because if you were, you would base this argument on the need to hold on to parts of the Old Covenant. The most important question that every tithing advocate should be asked is:

“Would you be better off under law or are you better off under grace?” Or, “Are you better off in captivity or better off when you’re free?”

By the way, most Jews don’t have titles, and they ARE still under the law!

Let me make one thing very clear: I am opposed to tithing, but giving should be a hallmark of a true believer. This is what Jesus said about giving:

Give, and it will be given to you; good measure, pressed down, shaken together, and running over, they will give into your bosom. Because with the same measure with which you measure, it will be measured to you again. (Luke 6:38)

And the Apostle Paul summed it up like this:

6 But this I say: He who sows sparingly will also reap sparingly; and he who sows bountifully will also reap bountifully.7Each one give according to what he purposed in his heart; not reluctantly, nor out of necessity, for God loves a cheerful giver. (2 Corinthians 9:6-7)

You cannot live without loving and you cannot love without giving! Give with joy Give consistently. Give generously. That’s giving grace!

This is what the author of Hebrews is saying, in a nutshell:

The old is past – The new is present

Old is slavery – New is freedom

Old was good – New is better

Do you understand? It’s that easy! You would have to pay someone a lot of money to help you misunderstand this!

Don’t give in to blackmail and arm-twisting tactics regarding giving. Giving that has to be coerced is not giving at all, it is stealing!