Is The 10% Tithe Biblical:
A couple times a year, I like to remind people of this.
The OT tithe was 23.3% (see ref below).
The OT tithe was crops/food (not money).
The OT tithe was for landowners ONLY!
Reference:
Tithe 1: Numbers 18:21-26
Tithe 2: Deuteronomy 14:22-27
Tithe 3: Deuteronomy 14:28-29
Any curse wielding OT verse - such as Malachi 3:9-10 - spoken to disobedient covenant bound farmers, does NOT apply to NT believers who hear and give from THE SPIRIT as opposed to a mandated set %.
In fact, there is ZERO NEW TESTAMENT command of 10% giving.
Yes, God loves a cheerful giver.
Yes, God blesses those who bless.
Yes, God honors giving of time, self, and dollars.
Yes, God has hard wired us as natural givers.
Yes, God will amaze you with His goodness.
Yes, God multiplies the fruit of the ministries we support, and Paul says that this increased growth is to our credit (Phil 4:17). But no, God will **not** curse you (cut you off from His presence) if you don't drop hard cash into the offering plate.
Folks. the NT tithe isn't 10%, the NT “tithe” is 100%. It's everything. Yes. It's all of you AND your wallet (See Acts 4:32-36).
If we want to follow the law, then 23.3% is the floor, not 10%.
Yes. You died (Col 3:3). We were bought with a price and we belong to another to bear fruit (Romans 7:1-4). And, our stuff belongs to another! We give from our wallets, giftings, and hearts as led by the Spirit. That might be every last dime you have - or it might be spending time with the hurting and broken.
If the brick and mortar spent more time teaching the body of Christ how to HEAR from God instead of following a formulaic mandate - the results just might blow the barn doors off the kingdom. And, honestly, everything God asks us to supply into the body of Christ, HE has already provided. God never directs without supply.
We don't give until it hurts, it simply hurts not to give. To be set free from the burden of the law, but to be bound in our heart-felt, spirit led giving ... is still bondage. You are, well ... mostly free at best.
God didn’t set us free from the curse of the law by His Spirit, to then legislate our financial giving. If you aren't free TO give, you aren't really free at all! Yes. 2% bound, is still fully bound. For FREEDOM you have been SET 100% free! Gal 5:1
Folks. The offering plate isn't your RIGHT standing .... the offering upon the tree is! Giving to get, is works. Giving because you love, is sonship.
Furthermore, people want to say that Abraham gave 10% to Melchizedek and that this is proof of the tithe still being a NT principle. Well. The ancient ….
Babylonians
Persians
Egyptians
Greeks
Romans
Phoenicians
Arabians
All tithed. Yep. They all offered 10% to their god of choice.
When God set up the system of tithe (3 SEPARATE tithes, yes 23.3% total) He did so with Israelites who were already familiar with the tithes of Egypt. The premise of honoring God with a portion of their crops, already made sense to them!
But. Tithing PRE law, was literally a pagan act of obedience IN fear to a dead, fake god!
Yet. THIS is precisely why in Hebrews Chapter 7 the author clearly describes Father Abraham’s 10% tithe to the priest Melchizedek as giving unto Jesus. Remember. Hebrews is a persuasive essay where the author is pleading the case for Jesus as Messiah with these semi believing Jews who are running away from the faith and back to the temple system of law, animal sacrifice, and tithing.
The author is making a historical case for faith pointing to Jesus, and not a command of our 10% giving. He is telling these Jewish people that Abraham SAW this day, and it’s here! As I’ve said previously, giving from a set command literally steals the freedom we have been given in the spirit realm. To be mandated 10% is no better than what the pagans offered to a dead, powerless god.
As led by Spirit, our true NT giving begins at 100% and rolls itself backwards from there. 10% isn’t either a floor or ceiling. It’s a pagan pre-law ritual that was revived with flat rents on property in the Middle Ages (Check out the book “Pagan Christianity” by George Barna).
In fact. Abraham didn’t just give Melchizedek 10%, he gave this priest, king forerunner of Jesus …. 100%! Yes. Abraham gave the customary 10% from the spoils of war, PLUS he gave the remaining 90% of the haul so God would get the glory for Abraham’s wealth (Genesis 14:23-24).
Like the church of acts 4, pre-law Abraham and the giving of all we have is truly the model for NT giving.