Page 64 - Teaching Principles and Methods Student Textbook short

saints that the “storehouse” (which was a building in Jerusalem) is the church. This passage
does not apply to the church or believers today!

Matthew 23:23 “Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You give a
tenth of your spices—mint, dill and cumin. But you have neglected the more important
matters of the law—justice, mercy and faithfulness. Jesus rebukes the Pharisees for not
obeying the weightier matters of the law along with tithing. He also rebukes them for
tithing mint, dill and cumin which were not required in the Mosaic Law. The Pharisees made
a practice of adding hundreds of rules and regulations which must be obeyed in order to be
considered righteous. Adding more rules to the tithe made it even more difficult to keep
being self-righteous.

Luke 11:42 – 42 “Woe to you Pharisees, because you give God a tenth of your mint, rue and
all other kinds of garden herbs, but you neglect justice and the love of God. You should have
practiced the latter without leaving the former undone. A parallel bible verse of Matthew
23:23 as Jesus rebukes the Pharisees for not obeying the weightier matters of the law and
even changing the Law to demonstrate their own righteousness. .

Luke 18:12 – I fast twice a week and give a tenth of all I get.’ A Pharisee brags about his
obedience to the law and tithing. Luke is not suggesting that this be the practice of the New
Testament church today.

Hebrews 7:5-9 – 5Now the law requires the descendants of Levi who become priests to
collect a tenth from the people—that is, from their fellow Israelites—even though they also
are descended from Abraham. 6This man, however, did not trace his descent from Levi, yet
he collected a tenth from Abraham and blessed him who had the promises. Abraham’s tithe
is used to illustrate a change concerning the priesthood. Again, the author of Hebrews is
demonstrating the differences between the old covenant of the law to the new and superior
convenient of grace in Jesus Christ.

That’s it! That’s every verse in the Bible on tithing. What I have found thus
far is that the tithe is an integral part of the Mosaic Law. Even in the New
Testament all references are back to the Mosaic Law of the tithe. This
answers one question, however. Perhaps my pastor is not correct in telling
us that the Bible tells us to give a tithe to the church. The reason is that I
know from my study of Galatians that I am not bound by the Mosaic Law.

Galatians 5:18 But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law.

12.4 Let’s Practice…

1. What’s the first thing our teacher did once his pastor told him that God wants him to tithe
10% to the church?

2. The second step is to do what with the topic?

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