To Tithe or Not to Tithe
Excerpted from God and Money: How We Discovered True Riches at Harvard Business School by John Cortines and Gregory Baumer.
“With the price of everything else going up these days, aren’t you glad the Lord hasn’t increased the tithe to 15 percent?”—Anonymous
We want to briefly discuss a contentious topic in the Church today: Are Christians required to tithe? Here, we specifically define tithing as a religious contribution equal to 10 percent of one’s income. Teaching on tithing today can be broadly bucketed into three categories:
Christians are required to tithe.
Christians “should” tithe, even if we are not technically required to do so.
Christians are not required to tithe.
Even pastors are split on the subject. In 2011, a survey of pastors and leaders of denominations was conducted by the National Association of Evangelicals, mission organizations, and Christian universities. The survey found that 42 percent of respondents believe that giving 10 percent of one’s income is mandated of New Covenant believers by the Bible, while 58 percent do not.
Old Testament vs. New Covenant
Why the split opinion? Commenting on the NAE survey, Dr. John Walton, Professor of Old Testament at Wheaton College, said it all goes “back to the old argument—are we under law or under grace?” That is to say, to what extent were the Old Testament fulfilled and therefore no longer required by Christ’s death? Jesus says, “Do not think I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them” (Matthew 5: 17).
However, the apostle Paul says, “ . . . you are not under law but under grace,” (Romans 6: 14) and continues, “For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes” (Romans 10: 4). A common way of explaining this apparent discrepancy is that Christ fulfilled the civil and ceremonial aspects of the Old Testament law. (Thus, believers do not offer temple sacrifices, and they eat pork.) Christ also fulfilled the moral requirements of the law through his perfectly obedient life and his death for our moral failure. Yet, insofar as the commands in the Old Testament reflect timeless moral truth (grounded in the very nature of God and structure of creation), they continue to find expression in the Spirit-empowered obedience of God’s New Covenant people. The question, then, is which Old Testament commands represent an inherent moral principle and should therefore be upheld today (e.g., “Thou shalt not kill”), versus which Old Testament commands are civil, ceremonial, or culturally conditioned in some way? Bible-believing Christians sometimes disagree on these issues. We both grew up in typical conservative evangelical churches where the tithe was the gold standard, at least in practice if not in rule. However, after researching the subject for ourselves, we have come to the view that Christians are not required to tithe. We hold this view for several reasons.
Three Tithes? Seriously?
First, the Mosaic Law actually commanded three distinct tithes—the Levitical Tithe, the Festival Tithe, and the Charity Tithe. When added together, these three tithes represented approximately 23 percent of an Israelite’s income every year. To the extent Christians are using the Old Testament law as the basis for requiring a tithe today, it should be 23 percent, not 10 percent!
Second, neither Jesus, Paul, nor any of the other New Testament writers specifically command Christians to tithe. Jesus only explicitly mentions tithing twice: Matthew 23:23 and Luke 18:9-14. In Matthew 23 Jesus admonishes the Pharisees for succumbing to legalism by tithing their homegrown herbs and spices while neglecting “weightier matters” like justice, mercy, and faithfulness. The New Testament includes other passages where Jesus, Paul, or other writers do not directly mention tithing, but may discuss the “concept” of tithing. Of these, the most interesting are Matthew 22:15-22 (“Give to Caesar what is Caesar’s and give to God what is God’s”) and 1 Corinthians 9:13-14 (“ . . . the Lord commanded that those who proclaim the gospel should get their living by the gospel”). Again, neither passage is about tithing per se, and, in our view, neither passage is strong enough to affirmatively institute tithing as a command in the New Covenant.
Reflecting God’s Character
Finally, the New Testament offers a great deal of instruction on giving. The core message of this instruction is that rather than following a strict formula, Christian giving should exhibit a set of qualitative traits that honor and reflect God’s character. Second Corinthians 8:3 and 9:7 teach that giving should be of free volition (i.e., not compulsory). Second Corinthians 8:2-3 and Philippians 4:17-18 teach that giving should be generous; Mark 12:42-44 goes further, teaching that God honors sacrificial giving. Second Corinthians 9:7 teaches that we should give cheerfully. Second Corinthians 8:4-5 and 1 Corinthians 9:3-14 teach that giving should support local ministers. Acts 20:35 and Matthew 25:31-45, among many other passages, state that giving must support the poor and needy in our communities. These traits of our giving—voluntary, generous (even sacrificial), cheerful, and supportive of local ministers and the poor—all reflect God Himself in His generous giving (James 1:17-18). Rather than following strict laws, the mode of giving outlined in the New Testament actually frees Christians to generously serve others out of thankfulness to God for His provision. In his excellent book, Money, Possessions, and Eternity, Randy Alcorn calls tithing “the training wheels of giving.” He offers several specific benefits of tithing, including the ease with which it can be taught to others (especially children), its clarity and sharpness as a spiritual discipline, its demonstrated force as a catalyst of overall spiritual growth, and its effectiveness as a starting point for learning the joy of giving.
Ultimately, our view is that tithing is not a requirement but can be an excellent starting point for Christians seeking to honor God through their generosity. We agree with Alcorn that Jesus “never lowered the bar. He always raised it.” Recall what Jesus says about murder, adultery, and following through on promises in Matthew 5:17-48. We believe the same is true of tithing. Our ambition is to strive for a level of generosity far exceeding the Old Testament tithe.
Faith & Finance Perspective
Our human nature often seeks to do only what is required of us. But our redeemed nature seeks to reflect God’s nature by surpassing the minimums, just as He does. His love, compassion, generosity, mercy, and grace often far exceed what His children need. And He does so with great joy—the same joy we experience when we emulate His character.
It’s interesting to consider that things not necessarily “required” by God can still be pleasing to Him and bring Him glory. Whether or not you believe that tithing is a mandate, it’s hard to ignore the impact it has had in advancing the ministries of the local church, caring for suffering and marginalized people, and moving us forward toward the completion of Christ’s Great Commission and His ultimate return.
And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come.
- Matthew 24:14