Is Tithing for Today, and if not, how much should we give now in the New Covenant? (2 Cor 8 & 9)

New Testament Theology
  • Was tithing actually 10% ?,
  • what does the New Testament say about it,
  • and what are the principles for how much we should give?

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Today

  • What does the Bible say about giving in the New Covenant?
  • Tithe (10%)?
  • If not tithing, then what?

Giving to God

  1. Old Testament Tithing
  2. Is Tithing in the N.T.?
  3. N.T. Teaching on Giving

1. Old Testament Tithing

Extreme Tithing

  • Investment in guaranteed prosperity (seed faith)
  • Otherwise Satan will have a legal right to devour your wealth
  • 10% belongs to God, make sure he gets it (the other 90% is yours!)
  • Based on Malachi 3

Malachi 3

  1. Will man rob God? Yet you are robbing me. But you say, ‘How have we robbed you?’ In your tithes and contributions.
  2. You are cursed with a curse, for you are robbing me, the whole nation of you.
  3. Bring the full tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house.
    And thereby put me to the test, says the LORD of hosts, if I will not open the windows of heaven for you and pour down for you a blessing until there is no more need.
  4. I will rebuke the devourer for you, so that it will not destroy the fruits of your soil, and your vine in the field shall not fail to bear, says the LORD of hosts.
  • But in the Old Testament context
    • Keeping the law was very closely linked to blessing the land which belonged to God
    • Tithing was the product of the land, either the harvest, or animals
    • Every 7 years, they were to let the land rest for a year, because it belonged to God
      • They had to trust God that their stores would last

Three Tithes—around 23%

  1. The first tithe was for the feasts (to cover your own food costs
  2. The second tithe was to the Levites
  3. The third tithe was to be collected every three years and distributed to the poor and needy

Deuteronomy 14 CSB

  1. “Each year you are to set aside a tenth of all the produce grown in your fields.
  2. You are to eat a tenth of your grain, new wine, and fresh oil, and the firstborn of your herd and flock, in the presence of the Lord your God at the place where he chooses to have his name dwell, so that you will always learn to fear the Lord your God.
  3. But if the distance is too great for you to carry it, since the place where the Lord your God chooses to put his name is too far away from you and since the Lord your God has blessed you,
  4. then exchange it for silver, take the silver in your hand, and go to the place the Lord your God chooses.
  5. You may spend the silver on anything you want: cattle, sheep, goats, wine, beer, or anything you desire. You are to feast there in the presence of the Lord your God and rejoice with your family.

Nehemiah 10:37;
Numbers 18:25

  1. We obligate ourselves… to bring the first of our dough, and our contributions, the fruit of every tree, the wine and the oil, to the priests, to the chambers of the house of our God; and to bring to the Levites the tithes from our ground, for it is the Levites who collect the tithes in all our towns where we labor.
  2. The Lord instructed Moses, 26“Speak to the Levites and tell them: When you receive from the Israelites the tenth that I have given you as your inheritance, you are to present part of it as an offering to the Lord ​— ​a tenth of the tenth.

Deuteronomy 14 CSB

  1. At the end of every three years, bring a tenth of all your produce for that year and store it within your city gates.
  2. Then the Levite, who has no portion or inheritance among you, the resident alien, the fatherless, and the widow within your city gates may come, eat, and be satisfied. And the Lord your God will bless you in all the work of your hands that you do.

2. Is Tithing in the N.T.?

Mat 23:23 & Luke 11:42 ESV

  1. “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites!
    For you tithe mint and dill and cumin,
    and have neglected the weightier matters of the law: justice and mercy and faithfulness.
    These you ought to have done, without neglecting the others.
  • The main reason for saying we are not under tithing, is that there are a lot of places in the New Testament where we are urged to give generously, and lots of arguments are given, but never is tithing used as a reason

Absence of Tithing in the N.T.

  • Lots of reasons for giving, but never tithing
  • We are never told to give because of a rule about how much
  • The opposite is true: 2 Cor 9:7
    “Each one must give as they have decided in their heart, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.”
  • How can Paul conclude this, after two chapters trying to motivate the Corinthians to give, if tithing is still the law
    • Yet he never even hints at it
  • But he has given some other principles, which are very strong, and very important
    • and we will look at them now

3. N.T. Teaching on Giving

  • First major principle is that the “give to get” investment principle cannot be right:

Matthew 6

  1. “Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal,
  2. but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal.
  3. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

2 Corinthians 8 & 9

Chapter 8

  1. We want you to know, brothers and sisters, about the grace of God that was given to the churches of Macedonia,
  2. for in a severe trial brought about by affliction, their abundance of joy and their extreme poverty overflowed in a wealth of generosity on their part.
  3. For they gave according to their means, as I can testify, and beyond their means, of their own accord,
  4. begging us earnestly for the privilege of taking part in the relief of the saints—
  5. and this, not as we expected, but they gave themselves first to the Lord and then to us, by the will of God.
  6. So we urged Titus that as he had begun, so he should complete among you this act of grace.
 
  1. Now as you excel in everything—in faith, in speech, in knowledge, in all earnestness, and in your love for us—see that you excel in this act of grace also.
  2. I’m not saying this as a command, but to weigh the sincerity of your love against the earnestness of others.
  3. For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sake he became poor, so that you by his poverty might become rich.

Chapter 9

  1. The point is this: whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows bountifully will also reap bountifully.
  2. Each one must give as he has decided in his heart, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.
  3. And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that having all sufficiency in all things at all times, you may abound in every good work.
  4. As it is written, “He has distributed freely, he has given to the poor; his righteousness endures forever.”
  5. He who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food will supply and multiply your seed for sowing and increase the harvest of your righteousness.
  6. You will be enriched in every way to be generous in every way, which through us will produce thanksgiving to God.
  7. For the ministry of this service is not only supplying the needs of the saints but is also overflowing in many thanksgivings to God.

ESV

  • Motivations:
    • Receiving back as a valid motivation for giving, except it is primarily treasure in heaven
    • God’s joy over you when you give cheerfully

Act of Worship: Revelation 4

  1. the twenty-four elders fall down before him who is seated on the throne and worship him who lives forever and ever. They cast their crowns before the throne, saying,
  2. “Worthy are you, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power, for you created all things, and by your will they existed and were created.”

Together as Part of Worship
1 Corinthians 16

  1. On the first day of every week, each of you is to put something aside and store it up, as he may prosper, so that there will be no collecting when I come.
  • How much should I give?
  • I God gave us a figure, it would not be freely any more!
  • The book of Hebrews compares the Old Covenant and the New, and spends a lot of time on how much better the New is

Hebrews 8

  1. But as it is, Christ has obtained a ministry that is as much more excellent than the old
    as the covenant he mediates is better, since it is enacted on better promises…
  2. For this is the covenant that I will make…
    I will put my laws into their minds,
    and write them on their hearts,
    and I will be their God,
    and they shall be my people.
  • Does this include the laws about giving tithes?
  • If the old law demanded at least 10%, should we give less?
  • A simple practical suggestion, given by many Christians, is to start with 10% as a minimum, and give more as God gives you grace!

Summary

  • Receiving back is a valid motivation for giving, except it is primarily treasure in heaven
  • Be motivated by God’s joy over you when you give cheerfully
  • It is an act of worship
  • It should be as least as much as the O.T. law