Page 89 - Personal Spiritual Life Syllabus w videos

The multitude of verses about giving in the New Testament call believers to a more extravagant freewill
giving in response to the gospel of the Lord Jesus, based on faith in God as Provider (2 Corinthians 9:6-
10). We will examine these principles shortly.

Those who argue for tithing point out that Abraham and Jacob both tithed prior to the Mosaic law
(Genesis 14:20 and Genesis 29:22). Thus tithing supersedes the law, they argue. If the New Testament
gave no further guidelines, that might be a valid argument. But the New Testament clearly defines a
method of giving that replaces the Law of the Old Testament tithe. There are other practices, such as
circumcision and Sabbath-keeping which pre-date the Law and yet in the New Testament are not
binding on the church today.

If you examine the references to Abraham’s and Jacob’s tithing, you will see that God did not command
them to tithe and there is no indication that this was their regular practice. On one occasion after the
victory in battle to rescue Lot, Abraham tithed 10% of the spoils from the battle, but nothing is said
regarding his other possessions or his regular income or giving (Genesis 14:20). To follow Jacob’s
example would be incorrect, because he was making a conditional vow before God, promising that if
God would keep him safe from the wrath of Esau, then he would give God a tenth (Genesis 28:20-22).
And there is no record in Scripture that he actually did! That’s hardly a good example to follow in giving
today!

As we have seen, the only mention of tithing in the New Testament are four verses
which reference the Old Testament practice of tithing. If tithing is to be practiced by
the Christian church, is seems strange that Paul did not mention tithing in one single
book he penned in the New Testament. He wrote predominately to Gentile churches
which would not be familiar with the Old Testament, so if he believed they should
tithe as commanded in the Old Testament, should he not have mentioned it to them?

The tithe that is being suggested by many pastors is really a version of the Mosaic
Law of the Tithe presented in the eleven Old Testament passages. (A good personal study would be for
you to look up every reference to tithing in the Old Testament to better understand this important law
to Israel). It is pastors who are telling their church that God’s giving plan has not changed since the New
Covenant was ushered into the Church age. The Church, they say, is still under the Law of the Levitical
Tithe. The Apostle Paul would strongly disagree!

Paul addressed this very problem to the church in Rome and the churches in Corinth and Galatia. Here
are Paul’s teaching about the law to the churches in the Galatian region:

1. The law justifies nobody. (Galatians 2:16)
2. Christians are dead to the law. (Galatians 2:19)
3. The law frustrates grace. (Galatians 2:21)
4. To go back to the law after embracing faith is “stupid”. (Galatians 3:1)
5. The law curses all who practice it and fail to do it perfectly. (Galatians 3:10)
6. The law has nothing to do with faith. (Galatians 3:11-12)
7. The law was a curse from which Christ redeemed us. (Galatians 3:13)
8. The law functioned in God’s purpose as a temporary covenant from Moses till John the Baptist
announced Christ. (Galatians 3:16 & 19, also see… Matthew 11:12-13, Luke 16:16)
9. If the law worked God would have used it to save us. (Galatians 3:21)
10. The law was our prison. (Galatians 3:23)

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