Is tithing biblical?

- A question many Christians have is whether we should tithe and tithing for most people means giving 10%. Well, we'll return to that question. The first thing I want to say is good Christians disagree on this.

This isn't the clearest thing in the Scriptures. And maybe the second thing I'd want to say is it's an important question, but it's not the most important thing. It's the kind of thing that we as Christians can disagree on and have good fellowship together, if we disagree on that matter.

I would say, is a tithe required, 10% tithe. I would say, no, because the tithe is part of the Mosaic covenant, it's part of the Mosaic law, the covenant made at Sinai with Moses and with Israel. And the New Testament is very clear, we're not under that covenant any longer, Galatians 3, Romans 7, Hebrews 9 and 10.

So there's a lot of texts that indicate we're not under the Mosaic law. The tithe, the 10% that was given, is actually tithed to the tabernacle and the temple, to the Levitical priesthood. I mean, where did those tithes go?

They went to the temple, they went to the tabernacle, they went to the priests. Well, we don't have a temple or a tabernacle anymore. We don't have Levitical priests or Aaronic priests anymore.

Jesus is our great high priest. The Church of Jesus Christ, we are the temple. So, clearly, the tithe, as part of the Mosaic covenant, since that covenant has passed away, it's not required of believers.

Sometimes people appeal to Abraham and Jacob giving tithes. They gave 10% on occasions in their life, Abraham to Melchizedek, Jacob when God met him at Bethel, promised to give 10%. But those are one time, temporary events.

There's no indication that this is something they regularly did, nor is there any command, universal command, given to believers from those passages. It gets even more complex. Jesus commends tithing in Matthew.

So some people look at that passage and say, look, Jesus commands tithing. But we have to be careful there. Jesus also commends forgiving your brother before you offer a sacrifice at the altar, in Matthew 5.

Jesus spoke to his contemporaries, Jesus lived himself under the Mosaic law, because that covenant was in force until after his ministry, death, and resurrection. So Jesus commending tithing, when he's speaking to the Pharisees, is no indication that it's still in force today. We always have to think, when we read a passage in Scripture, where is this in the Bible?

So what does the New Testament emphasize? It emphasizes, 2 Corinthians 8 and 9, sacrificial, generous giving. For most of us, that's 10%, at least, or more.

However, I still am hesitant to give any particular percent. Sacrificial, generous giving. I would say for virtually everyone, one or two percent, that's not sacrificial, generous giving, is it?

So God calls upon us to give sacrificially, but we want to heed what the Scripture says and to say to believers in Jesus Christ that we're to give 10%, well, I don't think that's in accord with the Scriptures. One other point. Actually, when we read the Old Testament, this is a very difficult question.

They gave more than 10%. There are several tithes and sorting that all out, I tried to sort it out once, I didn't spend oodles of time on it, but I tried to sort it out, it's really hard to know how much they gave. But it's probably somewhere in the 20 percentile range.

So the tithe, we say 10% today, that's our tradition. But the tithe, when you add up all the different tithes, the tithes is somewhere in the 20% range. So if we're really going to tithe according to the Old Testament, it's not 10%, it's somewhere around 20.

And as I said, we're not under that covenant, we're not required to tithe today, but we have the opportunity, the joy, of giving sacrificially and generously. Don't take this answer as an invitation to say, oh, I don't have to give generously, I can keep my money for myself. God calls upon each one of us to be generous, sacrificial givers.

He tells us that will increase your joy. (music) - [Narrator] Thanks for watching Honest Answers. You can submit your questions by email, Twitter, or in the comment section below.

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