Theological Thoughts on Tithing

Four years ago, I had to respond to an IRS inquiry into a tax return that I had filed two years earlier. The inquiry was not an audit per se; it was focused on only one area of my tax return: charitable contributions. In order to answer the inquiry, I had to gather check records and receipts that supported my charitable contribution deduction and put them together in a 30-page document that I faxed to the IRS. It may have been fifty pages, but I am trying not to embellish the story. Other than an acknowledgment of receipt, I never heard anything more about it so I assumed my submission of information sufficed. Since I am painstakingly honest with my taxes, I wondered…what triggered the inquiry? I can’t be sure, but it may have been because the percentage of my income given to charitable contributions is higher than the average U.S. taxpayer, and that is because I tithe (that is, the giving of 10 percent of my income) to the church. 

Let me be clear: Tithing does not make me a super saint. Rather, tithing is biblically understood to be the minimum requirement for contributing to the church, and when we obey the commandment, we may expect to receive the blessings of our Covenant God. It is primarily for this reason that your Elders desire for the saints of TPC to be faithful in the matter of tithing—we want you to be blessed. But we also know that faithful congregational tithing is a foundational pillar for the future health and growth of our church. As we give prayerful consideration to important matters such as the building of a new sanctuary, adding new staff, and engaging in new ministry areas, good financial health supported by faithful congregational tithing is required.

To that end, starting this month, I will cover several “Theological Thoughts” on tithing. The way ahead entails a survey of four different biblical “views” or “frames of reference” related to tithing: commandment, memorial, stewardship, and worship. Together these four points help us to build a solid theological understanding of the importance of tithing in a Christian’s life.

1. Does the Bible really command a Christian to tithe?

Let’s get this out of the way first: there is not a direct imperative statement in the New Testament that commands tithing. I think the reason for this is the New Testament books were written during a transitional period from old covenant to new, and tithing was assumed as an act of obedience by God’s children. Thus, much of what we see regarding tithing in the New Testament involves Christ admonishing the church leaders for having a sinful heart attitude about tithing (c.f. Matt 23:23; Luke 11:42, 18:12), as well as to highlight the importance of having a righteous (thankful, self-sacrificial) heart about giving to the church. Note the vivid contrast given to us in Luke 21:1-4: 

¹ And He looked up and saw the rich putting their gifts into the treasury. ² And He saw a poor widow putting in two small copper coins. ³ And He said, “Truly I say to you, this poor widow put in more than all of them; ⁴ for they all out of their surplus put into the offering; but she out of her poverty put in all that she had to live on.”

Let’s make sure we get the point here: Christ wants our hearts to be in the right place and for obedience to flow out of a good heart. At no point does He say tithing is not the standard; in fact, the example of the poor widow’s sacrificial giving implies that we should consider tithing to be a minimum.

So, the commandment to tithe is actually based in the Old Testament. If you are of the mindset that “oh, then it doesn’t apply to me now” then, by dear brother or sister, I know not what to say other than you have bigger problems than the matter of tithing. May I point you to our Lord’s statement in Matt 5:17: ¹⁷ “Do not think that I came to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I did not come to abolish but to fulfill.”

In the Old Testament, we see several references that explicitly command tithing. Since Old Testament Israel existed in an agricultural society, many of the references point to a tithe of the land’s produce: “Thus all the tithe of the land, of the seed of the land or of the fruit of the tree, is the Lord’s; it is holy to the Lord.” (Lev 27:30); “You shall surely tithe all the produce from what you sow, which comes out of the field every year.” (Deut 14.22). To emphasize the blessing that comes with obedience in tithing, Malachi 3:10 tells us: “Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, so that there may be food in My house, and test 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 a blessing until it overflows.”

Who wouldn’t want a blessing like that? If you are not yet a consistent tither, hopefully I’ve warmed you up to the scriptural basis for the spiritual discipline of tithing and you are giving it serious consideration. As a professor of mine used to say, fasten your seat belt, put on your crash helmet, and put on your body armor as we continue next month to look at what the Bible says about tithing and we rely on the Holy Spirit to illuminate our minds to help us understand.

Last month we began a brief survey of what the Bible teaches about tithing.¹ The outline we are following consists of four frames of reference: commandment, memorial, stewardship, and worship. So far, we have learned that God’s command to tithe is explicitly stated in the Old Testament, and the New Testament narrative indicates the continuance of the tithing command for the Christian today. But more than just mere obedience, the Holy Spirit seeks to grow in us a thankful, self-sacrificing heart that gives our best and first to God. That idea leads us to our second frame of reference: the concept of tithing as a memorial. 

2. A memorial unto God—whose money is it anyways?

First, a definition of terms. I am using the word memorial to mean an act of remembrance; i.e. doing something that helps us to remember something else. Another important word to consider is firstfruits, which I am using to refer to the prevalent biblical theme of the giving of the first and best of our lives and possessions to God. I could have easily called this view firstfruits; instead, I chose the title memorial because it summarizes the desired outcome of the firstfruits principle.

Let’s dig more into what the Bible says about firstfruits. We see the concept introduced in the opening scenes of Genesis in life after the Fall: “In the course of time Cain brought to the Lord an offering of the fruit of the ground, and Abel also brought of the firstborn of his flock and of their fat portions. And the Lord had regard for Abel and his offering, but for Cain and his offering he had no regard. So Cain was very angry, and his face fell” (Gen 4:3-5). Why did the Lord have no regard for Cain’s offering? Did he not give from the fruit of his own labor as a “worker of the ground“ (4:2)? The key to understanding this passage is the adjectives used to describe Abel’s offerings: “firstborn” and “fat.” In other words, Abel offered the first and best product of his labors to the Lord. These words are missing from the description of Cain’s offering, which indicates he purposefully chose to not offer the Lord his best. That Cain’s choice was sinful is clear by the Lord’s rebuke: “If you do well, will you not be accepted? And if you do not do well, sin is crouching at the door. Its desire is for you, but you must rule over it” (Gen 4:7). You know the rest of the story—Cain chose not to rule over his sin.

This opening use of the idea of firstfruits takes root and becomes a very prevalent theme in the Bible. The Hebrew words that are translated “firstborn” or “firstfruits” occur over 130 times in the Old Testament. I do not have space to cover all of the usage, but for our purposes, a quick survey of passages provides a key lesson: that firstborn and firstfruits belong to the Lord. “Consecrate to me all the firstborn. Whatever is the first to open the womb among the people of Israel, both of man and of beast, is mine” (Exo 13:2). “You shall not delay to offer from the fullness of your harvest and from the outflow of your presses. The firstborn of your sons you shall give to me.” (Exo 22:29). “We obligate ourselves to bring the firstfruits of our ground and the firstfruits of all fruit of every tree, year by year, to the house of the Lord” (Neh 10:35). I will note in passing that the Lord provided a way to redeem the Israelite’s firstborn children through the priestly service of the Levites (Num 3), and then the priestly service of the Levites was supported through the firstfruits of the other tribes (Num 18). If you are sensing an analogy with how the Church operates today, you should be.

We can see our Lord’s grace in specifying a special purpose for the first and best of our lives. The firstfruits principle gives us a way to remember something important. “You shall remember the Lord your God, for it is he who gives you power to get wealth, that he may confirm his covenant that he swore to your fathers, as it is this day” (Deut 8:18). God knows that due to our sinfulness, we need to be protected from our propensity to autonomy. All of us are susceptible to a “kingdom of self” way of thinking in which we erroneously believe we have control of our lives. Such thinking leads us to believe we are in charge of our lives, and the fruit of our labors belongs to us. Scripture teaches this is a delusion. “Your eyes saw my unformed substance; in your book were written, every one of them, the days that were formed for me, when as yet there were none of them” (Psa 139:16). “The God who made the world and everything in it, being Lord of heaven and earth…he himself gives to all mankind life and breath and everything. And he made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having determined allotted periods and the boundaries of their dwelling place” (Acts 17:24-26). 

The reality is that God is at the center of our existence. All that we are and all that we have is by Him, through Him, and for Him. Our gracious God has established the firstfruits principle so we can remember this reality. All of the fruit of our labors belongs to Him. Our tithes are a memorial unto God that reminds us that all of our wealth belongs to Him. And to Him belongs all honor and glory!

Stay tuned--next month our T³ study will continue as we consider tithing through the lenses of stewardship and worship. If you are not yet a committed tither, I pray you will keep studying this matter with a teachable heart. It is my earnest desire for you to be blessed!

Elder Mike Ruff