The truth your pastor will never tell you about tithing

The truth your pastor will never tell you about tithing – Emmy Chi Bandoh, discusses the issue of tithing in the 21st century Nigeria. When a pastor or preacher asks you to pay tithes, he is either very ignorant of the Bible truth, or he’s trying to take your money using Bible tricks.

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I know many would hastily blast me without reading this piece, especially members who are fanatic about their pastors and reverends. It is my advice that you read through before criticising.

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Ask yourself one question, is tithing an obligation for the new covenant Christian?

Tithe is the tenth part of an agricultural produce or personal income set apart as an offering to God. Tithing is the practice established by God in the Old Testament of returning 10% of your earnings to God.

Tithe, which is a Mosaic law, started in the Old Testament. Like any other law under the Mosaic covenant (the Old Covenant), it was strictly observed by all Israelites, and was considered as robbing God when one failed to remit tithe. Malachi 3:8-12 says: “Will a man rob God? Yet you have robbed Me! But you say, ‘In what way have we robbed You?’ In tithes and offerings. You are cursed with a curse, for you have robbed Me, even this whole nation. Bring all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be food in My house, and try Me now in this,” says the Lord of hosts, “If I will not open for you the windows of heaven and pour out for you such blessing that there will not be room enough to receive it. And I will rebuke the devourer for your sakes, so that he will not destroy the fruit of your ground, nor shall the vine fail to bear fruit for you in the field,” says the Lord of hosts, “And all nations will call you blessed, For you will be a delightful land,” says the Lord of hosts.”

I once heard a pastor say, “The tithe was not given based on the needs of the priests, of the church or of the poor. It was given simply in recognition and gratitude for the blessings that God had bestowed on the individual. Thus, every believer had a need to tithe to God.” As true as that pastor may sound, he might just be wrong. Not wrong because of how he presents his case, but wrong because he thinks payment of tithe is an obligation of the new generation Christians.

I told a friend that we were no longer bound by the laws of the Old Testament, he vehemently disagreed with me, citing Matthew 5:17-18: “Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them. I tell you the truth, until heaven and earth disappear, not the smallest letter, not the least stroke of a pen, will by any means disappear from the Law until everything is accomplished”.

It is frequently argued just as the case with my friend that if Jesus did not “abolish” the law, then it must still be binding. Accordingly, such components as tithing, the Sabbath-day requirement must be operative still, along with perhaps numerous other elements of the Mosaic Law. This assumption is grounded in a misunderstanding of the words and intent of this passage. Christ did not suggest here that the binding nature of the law of Moses would remain forever in effect. Such a view would contradict everything we learn from the balance of the New Testament (please read Romans 10:4 ; Galatians 3:23-25 ; Ephesians 2:15 ).

The Mosaic Covenant is also referred to as the Old Covenant (2 Corinthians 3:14 ; Hebrews 8:6, 13) and was replaced by the New Covenant in Christ (Luke 22:20; 1 Corinthians 11:25; 2 Corinthians 3:6; Hebrews 8:8; 8:13; 9:15; 12:24). The New Covenant in Christ is far better than the old Mosaic Covenant that it replaces because it fulfills the promises made in Jeremiah 31:31-34, as quoted in Hebrews 8.

Based on the argument posed in Matthew 5-17, we would have to take Jesus’ words as enjoining every single commandment and regulation in the Law of Moses on Christians! The reason is because Jesus said that “not the smallest letter, not the least stroke of a pen” from the entire body of the Jewish Holy Scriptures would disappear until “everything is accomplished.”

To ask again: did Jesus mean Christians had to keep all the regulations of the Law of Moses, including the “holy time” regulations of the Sabbath, or strict tithing, or the food laws? Consider what that line of reasoning would demand. Christians would be obligated to keep all the sacrificial, ceremonial and civil laws described in the Law of Moses. They would have to keep every single law mentioned in Genesis through Deuteronomy — and the rest of the Old Testament. The Jews calculated that there were 613 laws in their Holy Scriptures. Christians, then, based on the idea that Jesus was telling his disciples to keep the regulations of the Law and the Prophets, would have to keep all 613 laws. No wonder the apostle Paul said that thinking in these terms was wrongheaded (Galatians 3:10).

To pick a few examples of this line of reasoning, Christian men would have to be physically circumcised. All Christians would have to offer sacrifices. Men, at least, would have to travel to Jerusalem to keep the annual festivals. Christians would have to keep the various purification rituals. One of these rituals specified that individuals who came in contact with dead bodies would be “unclean” for seven days. They would have to ceremonially wash themselves on the third and seventh day (numbers 19:11-13). If any person failed to do this, he or she would be “cut off from Israel” (verse 13). There are many dozens of such laws in the Law of Moses that would have to be followed.

Before you concur with keeping the obligation of tithing, remember that there is a curse attached to keeping some laws and leaving out the rest. Deut. 27 vs 26; says you are cursed if you don’t keep all the laws. Lev. 20 vs 22; says keep all my decrees & laws and follow them. Are you keeping all of them or are you just keeping only tithe.

Do you remember what apostle Paul told the Jews who still wanted to practice the laws of Moses in Gal. 3 vs 10? Also in Acts 15 vs 5-11, the apostles made it clear that we are not to observe the laws again.

Now let me tell you more about what God said concerning the Old Testament and its law in the New Testament. Hear what Rom. 7v6 says, “But now by dying to what once bound us [the law of Moses], we have been released from the Law so that we serve in the new way of the Spirit [the New Testament], and not in the old way of the written code [the law of the Old Testament]“. Hear this again, “Therefore no one wil be declared righteous in God’s sight by observing the law,” Rom. 3v20. Why? Because a new testament has come with its own new law.

Heb. 7v18-19 says the former regulation (the old laws of the Old Testament) is set aside because it was weak and useless for the law made nothing perfect and a better hope is introduced (the new testament) by which we draw near to God. Heb. 8v13 says again: “By calling this covenant ”new” He has made the first one or the old one obsolete,” i.e useless or dead. What other explanations will anybody give you that is more clear than this simple statement?

Don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying the Old Testament is useless, no, far from it. It’s very useful, but it’s not useful in practice. Remember Romans 15 vs 4 says: “For everything that was written in the past was written to teach us, so that through the endurance taught in the Scriptures and the encouragement they provide we might have hope”.

Whatever is written in the Scripture has been written for our learning. We can learn by reading the Book of Deuteronomy. We can learn by reading Malachi or any other Old Testament book. However, though all was written for our learning, not all is written for our application. The Old Testament is addressed to Jews that were living under the Mosaic law. Jesus Christ had not yet come. The price for the atonement of our sins had not yet been paid. The high priest had not yet arrived. As Paul says in Galatians 3:23-26: “But before faith came, we were kept under guard by the law, kept for the faith which would afterward be revealed. Therefore the law was our tutor to bring us to Christ, that we might be justified by faith. But after faith has come, we are no longer under a tutor. For you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus.”

On a final note, this write-up is not meant to discourage our church congregation from providing for the church, because even the Bible supports this in the strongest possible way.

The key to understanding how God wants us to give to the church is found in 1 Corinthians 16:2: “On the first day of the week [Sunday] each of you should set aside whatever he can afford,“ and in 2 Corinthians 9:5-8: “So I thought it necessary to encourage the brothers to go on ahead to you and arrange in advance for your promised gift [donation], so that in this way it might be ready as a bountiful gift and not as an exaction”.

Consider this: Whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows bountifully will also reap bountifully. Each must do as already determined without sadness or compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver. Moreover, God is able to make every grace abundant for you, so that in all things, always having all you need, you may have an abundance for every good work.

To paraphrase: God doesn’t demand a fixed amount of money from us. He wants us to give from the heart. If people are forced by their church to give a certain percent of their income, that’s extortion. If they give freely and cheerfully the amount they are able to, that’s a gift.

What’s your take on this?? Leave your comments below..

Emmy Chi Bandoh

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