Rethinking Tithing (Part 3)

We are now tackling Part 3 of our series, “Rethinking Tithing.” This week, we shall study a little-known fact about Biblical tithing that may shock you.

In Parts 1 and 2, we saw that the Biblical basis for tithing is found in the Old Testament, particularly in the books of Leviticus and Deuteronomy. The specific tithing instructions given in these two books refer to the produce of the land and not to other forms of income.

Money was never an acceptable form of tithing in Jewish Law. As we have seen in Part 2 of this series, the idea behind tithing was not only to support the priestly system but also to help those in need and to build a stronger sense of community. And this support was in the form of eatable material such as cash crops and livestock.

 “A tithe of everything from the land, whether GRAIN from the soil or FRUIT from the trees, belongs to the LORD; it is holy to the LORD” – Leviticus 27:30 (NIV).

“Be sure to set aside a tenth of ALL THAT YOUR FIELDS PRODUCE each year. EAT the tithe of your GRAIN, NEW WINE and OLIVE OIL, and the firstborn of your HERDS and FLOCKS in the presence of the LORD your God at the place he will choose as a dwelling for his Name, so that you may learn to revere the LORD your God always” – Deuteronomy 14:22-23 (NIV).

“Moreover, we will bring to the storerooms of the house of our God, to the priests, the first of our GROUND MEAL, of our GRAIN offerings, of the FRUIT of all our trees and of our NEW WINE and OLIVE OIL. And we will bring a tithe of our CROPS to the Levites, for it is the Levites who collect the tithes in all the towns where we work” – Nehemiah 10:37-38 (NIV).

“Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be FOOD in my house” – Malachi 3:10 (NIV).

These verses show that the tithe was something you put in your mouth and swallowed into your stomach, not something you deposited in your wallet or bank account. An argument has been advanced that the Jews in Old Testament times did not have a system of money used as a medium of exchange for goods and services, i.e., currency money as we know it today. This is inaccurate. The Old Testament Jews had a currency known as the shekel. To date, the shekel is still used as the official currency of Israel.

In the Old Testament, the shekel was used to buy slaves (Gen. 17:12), buy land (Gen. 23:16), pay court fines (Ex. 21:18–36), pay temple dues (Ex. 30:11–16), pay temple vow charges (Lev. 27:1–7), pay census taxes (Num. 3:47–48), and pay dowry (Deut. 22:29). The shekel was never used to pay the three tithes prescribed by the Law.

In Deuteronomy 14, God introduces a scenario where a Jew who lived too far from Jerusalem would find bringing the tithe (remember, the tithe was physical crops and animals) physically taxing.

“But if that place is too distant and you have been blessed by the LORD your God and cannot carry your tithe (because the place where the LORD will choose to put his Name is so far away), then exchange your tithe for silver, and take the silver with you and go to the place the LORD your God will choose. Use the silver to buy whatever you like: cattle, sheep, wine or other fermented drink, or anything you wish. Then you and your household shall eat there in the presence of the LORD your God and rejoice” – Deuteronomy 14:24-26 (NIV).

Notice that the far-flung Jew was allowed to exchange his tithe (crops and animals) for silver, i.e., the shekel, and travel to Jerusalem with the money. On reaching Jerusalem, he was instructed to buy “cattle, sheep, wine or other fermented drink, or anything you wish” to present at the temple as his tithe. He was NOT ALLOWED to present the money at the temple as his tithe.

A monetized tithing system

There is an ulterior motive behind this monetization of the tithe; it is not as straightforward or innocent as it may seem on the surface. The motive behind it is the desire to increase church donations at the expense of a genuine concern for those in need.

This monetized tithing system has caused the Church to grow in power and influence over the centuries. This was particularly true during the Middle Ages when the Church became one of the most powerful institutions in Europe. The wealth and influence of the Church attracted many people who were more interested in gaining power and influence than in serving the poor. The priorities of the Church shifted. More emphasis is now placed on accumulating wealth and building elaborate buildings and monuments.

With time, the Church became increasingly disconnected from the needs of the poor. Run by avaricious leaders and filled by equally greedy congregants who clamour for wealth, the Church butchered the Gospel of Christ. She deceitfully injected Old Testament tithing practices and added a smattering of heresies, such as the sowing seed heresy, aimed at manipulating God to gain wealth. As Leonard Ravenhill says, “The early Church was married to poverty, prisons, and persecutions. Today the Church is married to prosperity, personality, and popularity.“

“Some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs” – 1 Timothy 6:10 (NIV).

It has been rightly said that greed is a black hole that sucks in everything around it. This monetized tithing system has sucked in many aspects of the true Gospel of Jesus Christ. I shall highlight two of them: good works and evangelism.

Good works

Throughout the New Testament, we see a heavy emphasis on good works, i.e., serving others and bringing positive change to needy individuals. Taking care of the poor (1 John 3:17), offering hospitality (1 Peter 4:9), and caring for widows and orphans (James 1:27) are just a few examples of good works that can make a real difference in people’s lives. Giving your money to a pastor who has a home, drives a car, and is sufficiently clothed is not a good work. It’s more like giving a cheeseburger to a cow. There is a difference between tithing and financing a luxury lifestyle. One pleased God under the Old Covenant, the other just makes you broke. But apparently, some pastors missed the memo and think riches are God’s way of saying, “Well done, My good and faithful servant.”

See the emphasis on and practice of good works in the New Testament Church:

“In Joppa there was a disciple named Tabitha (in Greek her name is Dorcas); she was always doing good and helping the poor” – Acts 9:36 (NIV).

“Peter went with them, and when he arrived he was taken upstairs to the room. All the widows stood around him, crying and showing him the robes and other clothing that Dorcas had made while she was still with them” – Acts 9:39 (NIV).

“Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up. Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all people, especially to those who belong to the family of believers” – Galatians 6:9-10 (NIV).

“For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do” – Ephesians 2:10 (NIV).

Evangelism

Attention to good works was very prevalent in the Church in its infancy and was an effective evangelistic tool. The early Church was largely made up of people who were not wealthy or powerful, people who saw it as their mission to help those who were less fortunate. Jesus did teach: “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moths and vermin destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moths and vermin do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also” – Matthew 6:19–21, (NIV). Consider some of the teachings of the early Church fathers:

“Instead of the tithes which the law commanded, the Lord said to divide everything we have with the poor. And he said to love not only our neighbours but also our enemies, and to be givers and sharers not only with the good but also to be liberal givers toward those who take away our possessions” – Irenaeus, 130-200 AD.

“Christians love one another. They do not overlook the widow, and they save the orphan. The one who has ministers ungrudgingly to the one who does not have. When they see a stranger, they take him under their own roof and rejoice over him as a true brother, for they do not call themselves brothers according to the flesh but according to the soul” – Aristides, early 2nd century.

“The rich are in possession of the goods of the poor, even if they have acquired them honestly or inherited them legally” – John Chrysostom, 347-407AD.

These good works ended up being a means through which the Holy Spirit persuaded people of the genuineness of the Gospel. For example, when a plague struck Caesarea in the early fourth century, it found the population already weakened by a preceding famine and war. The city’s inhabitants started to leave in search of safety in the countryside, leaving the diseased behind. Christians in the city chose to stay behind. Eusebius, a bishop and early Church historian, wrote in “The Church History”: “All day long some of them [the Christians] tended to the dying and to their burial, countless numbers with no one to care for them. Others gathered together from all parts of the city a multitude of those withered from famine and distributed bread to them all.” Eusebius continues to note that this unusual show of compassion in the midst of the plague caused the Christians’ faith to be “on everyone’s lips, and they glorified the God of the Christians. Such actions convinced them that they alone were pious and truly reverent to God.” Isn’t this what Jesus had in mind when He said: “In the same way, let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven”? – Matthew 5:16 (NIV).

A few centuries after Eusebius, Julian the Apostate, the last pagan emperor of Rome, did acknowledge that the Christian practice of compassion was a major contributing factor in the making of the Christian faith into a cultural force. Julian was raised as a Christian but later rejected Christianity and became a follower of paganism. He sought to restore paganism and the old Roman ways and to shoot down Christianity. He restored pagan temples, promoted pagan education, and pulled the plug on Christian privileges. Despite all his efforts, the Christian faith thrived. Julian acknowledged the power behind Christians’ good works in a letter to a pagan priest: “When it came about that the poor were neglected and overlooked by the [pagan] priests, then I think the impious Galileans [Christians] observed this fact and devoted themselves to philanthropy. [Christians] support not only their poor, but ours as well. All men see that our people lack aid from us.”

What can we make of all this?

First, the monetization of the tithe has led to a slow but sure de facto change in the qualifications of a church leader. Paul writes to Titus that “since an overseer manages God’s household, he must be blameless—not overbearing, not quick-tempered, not given to drunkenness, not violent, NOT PURSUING DISHONEST GAIN” – Titus 1:7 (NIV). Contrary to Paul’s instructions, modern churches are infested with materialistic leaders who present themselves as people of immense faith but, in reality, prioritize their own interests over the needs of their congregation.

Second, the monetization of the tithe has led to an unequal distribution of resources within the Church. A wealthy Christian might be able to pay his tithe simply by writing a cheque, but a poorer Christian will struggle to meet the required amount with his or her meagre income. Remember, as we saw in Part 2 of this series, the Old Testament tithe was enacted in such a way as to lessen the burden on poorer Jews and also ensure the basic needs of the poor were catered for.

This callousness of the modern Church creates a sense of inequality and resentment within the Church and goes against the biblical principles of caring for the poor and marginalized.

Third, greed in the Church that has birthed the monetized tithing system has been a source of torment for people throughout history. Greed exploits vulnerable people and collects tithes on the basis of fear and coercion. Greed uses religion as a tool to gain material wealth, promising divine help and miracles in exchange for money. Greed has undermined the credibility of the Gospel and eroded its sanctity. Greed has led people away from the faith and hurt those who have stuck to its heretical beliefs.

Greed in the church has birthed the prosperity gospel, a controversial religious belief that equates material wealth with spiritual success. Instead of promoting true generosity and compassion, the prosperity gospel encourages a self-centred pursuit of wealth and personal gain. The negative effects of this misguided belief system can be seen in the behaviour of church leaders who use their position of influence to amass personal fortunes at the expense of their congregants. The proliferation of the prosperity gospel highlights the dangers of allowing greed to distort one’s understanding of the true Gospel. Mbugua et al in their book Prosperity? Seeking The True Gospel, write, “One of the problems of the prosperity gospel’s solution is that it is very similar to the cause of the problem. Adam and Eve lacked satisfaction in what they had in God, pursuing pleasure outside of their relationship with God and in addition to what he had promised. Similarly, the prosperity gospel, instead of proclaiming that God is more than enough, invites us to seek Him in order to attain additional material pleasures.”

Jesus’ message to the modern Church steeped in greed is: “These are the words of the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the ruler of God’s creation. ‘I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were either one or the other! So, because you are lukewarm—neither hot nor cold—I am about to spit you out of my mouth. You say, ‘I am rich; I have acquired wealth and do not need a thing.’ But you do not realize that you are wretched, pitiful, poor, blind and naked. I counsel you to buy from me gold refined in the fire, so you can become rich; and white clothes to wear, so you can cover your shameful nakedness; and salve to put on your eyes, so you can see. Those whom I love I rebuke and discipline. So be earnest and repent’” – Revelation 3:14-19 (NIV).

Conclusion

Pastors who insist on tithing under the new covenant and additionally replace crops and animals with money are taking advantage of the faith of others. Authentic tithing, as taught in the Old Testament, used crops and livestock as an offering to God while incorporating the notion of charity and compassion for the less fortunate.

Nobody should use their faith as a tool to secure wealth. Jesus and His apostles emphasized the importance of compassion, generosity, and selflessness. At no time did they use faith to justify greed or materialism. The modern Church’s use of faith as a tool to accumulate wealth is a result of focusing on personal gain rather than on spiritual growth or the well-being of the community.

Heber J. Grant once said, “What I count as real prosperity… is the growth in a knowledge of God, and in a testimony, and in the power to live the gospel and to inspire our families to do the same. That is prosperity of the truest kind.” In the end, true wealth and fulfilment come from the forgiveness of sin and the cultivation of a genuine relationship with God through Jesus Christ. Real happiness and contentment have nothing to do with one’s financial situation. While financial stability is important, it must not be the chief focus of one’s life, as taught in the prosperity gospel.

“Watch out! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; life does not consist in an abundance of possessions” – Luke 12:15 (NIV).