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In the last few days, we’ve been taking a look at a number of different things in the bible relating to money. We’ve looked at what the bible has to say about debt, investing, and being generous, today we’re going to take a look at one of the more controversial issues when it comes to God and money, which is tithing.

Tithing is the practice of giving one tenth of one’s income (gross or net) to the local church because it is a biblical teaching that is applicable to Christians. Church’s need money to operate, and if everyone in the congregation gave one tenth of their money to the church, there would be no problems having money for facilities and a pastor and support staff to take care of the church.

It sounds simple enough, but why all the controversy? Tithing is perhaps very controversial because it forces people to “put their money where their mouth is” if you will. Slipping $5.00 in the collection basket each week is no big deal, but when you commit to put 10% of your income to the local church, this is a much bigger commitment. The median family income is around $40,000 a year, meaning that the average family would be putting in $75 a week into the collection basket, which is a lot of money. Some people believe that it’s a biblical mandate and we should all be doing it, however others think that some churches are twisting scripture into making it what they want to say, rather than what the bible says.

For Jews living under the Old Testament covenant, tithing is rather clearly mandated. Leviticus 27:30 states, “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.” Under that covenant, it was pretty clear that those under it should give 10% of their money to the Church. God also commanded Moses to give a tithe of the inheritance he received from Israel in Numbers 18:25-29.

However when Jesus came to free us from our sins, we became no longer bound under the old covenant to follow the law. Rather we were given a new covenant with God that allows us to live in His grace and not be under the law, but rather have the freedom of the spirit. This means regardless that tithing is not an issue of salvation. You can not tithe and get into heaven. This does not answer the question as to whether or not it is good for Christians to tithe.

Clearly a church cannot survive without the support of its members, so we should definitely be giving some money, but what about the idea of a “tithe.” The original tithe was to support the church, the priests, the widows and the orphans, and now of days the Church for the most part only supports it self and the priests (or pastors). So if your church doesn’t have any ministry for widows and orphans, perhaps some of your money should go to organizations that support them, you still should pay your fair share to the local church though, as we are told to in the new testament. 1st Corinthians 16:1-2 states, “Now about the collection for God’s people: Do what I told the Galatian churches to do. On the first day of every week, each one of you should set aside a sum of money in keeping with his income, saving it up, so that when I come no collections will have to be made.”

We are also told in the bible that we should give according to what we have. There’s the story in Mark 12 about the widow who had very little but gave a large percentage of her income to the church. Here’s the story, “Sitting across from the offering box, he was observing how the crowd tossed money in for the collection. Many of the rich were making large contributions. One poor widow came up and put in two small coins—a measly two cents. Jesus called his disciples over and said, “The truth is that this poor widow gave more to the collection than all the others put together. All the others gave what they’ll never miss; she gave extravagantly what she couldn’t afford—she gave her all” (Mark 12:41-44).

Give what you can, support your local church, and God will be happy with you.



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