BIBLICAL QUESTION

Should Christians Tithe?

The biblical tithe, the Mosaic covenant, Christian giving, and what grace requires of the believer’s possessions.

Church, Worship & OrdinancesChristian Living

Scripture Defines ScriptureBy Extreme Hermeneutics

The biblical tithe, the Mosaic covenant, Christian giving, and what grace requires of the believer’s possessions.

2 Corinthians 9:7“Every man according as he purposeth in his heart, so let him give; not grudgingly, or of necessity: for God loveth a cheerful giver.”

The Old Testament speaks often about tithes. Abraham gave a tenth to Melchizedek. Jacob promised a tenth to God. The law of Moses required tithes from Israel. Malachi accused the nation of robbing God by withholding tithes and offerings. Jesus rebuked religious leaders who carefully tithed herbs while neglecting weightier matters of the law.

Because of those passages, many churches teach that every Christian is required to give ten percent of income to the local church. Some go further and warn that giving less than ten percent is robbing God, while others treat the tithe as the minimum and offerings as anything given above it.

Other Christians answer that tithing belonged to Israel under the Mosaic covenant and is never imposed upon the Church as a fixed percentage. They point instead to New Testament commands to give willingly, regularly, generously, proportionately, sacrificially, and according to what God has provided.

The question is not whether Christians should give. Scripture is unmistakable about that. Believers should support faithful ministry, care for needy saints, participate in gospel work, and treat everything they possess as a stewardship from God.

The narrower question is whether God has commanded Christians to give exactly ten percent as the binding standard for the Church.

The New Testament does not establish such a command. The tithe has genuine biblical significance, and ten percent may serve as a useful personal benchmark, but Christians are not placed under Israel’s Mosaic tithing system. New Testament giving is governed by grace, stewardship, ability, willing purpose, generosity, love, and the needs of Christ’s work and people.

Abraham Gave a Tenth Before the Law

The strongest argument for treating tithing as a permanent principle is that Abraham tithed centuries before Moses.

After Abraham defeated the kings who had captured Lot, Melchizedek king of Salem came to meet him. Scripture says Melchizedek was “the priest of the most high God” (Genesis 14:18). He blessed Abraham, and Abraham “gave him tithes of all” (Genesis 14:20).

The act is important. Abraham recognized the dignity of Melchizedek’s priesthood and gave him a tenth of the spoil.

Hebrews later returns to this event and emphasizes it strongly:

“Now consider how great this man was, unto whom even the patriarch Abraham gave the tenth of the spoils” (Hebrews 7:4).

But Hebrews tells us why the event matters. Its argument concerns priesthood. Levi, whose descendants would later receive tithes under the law, was still in the loins of Abraham when Abraham gave tithes to Melchizedek. The writer uses the event to show that Melchizedek’s priestly order stands above the Levitical order and therefore prepares the way for the superior priesthood of Christ.

That is different from commanding Christians to tithe.

Abraham’s act occurred before the Mosaic law, but not everything Abraham did before Moses automatically becomes a universal command for the Church. Abraham built altars, circumcised his household after Genesis 17, offered animal sacrifices, and performed actions connected to his own historical setting and covenant calling. A pre-Mosaic example may reveal a principle without itself establishing a command for every later believer.

Genesis 14 records Abraham giving a tenth. It does not say God commanded all believers in every age to give ten percent.

Jacob’s Tenth Was a Vow

Jacob also spoke of giving a tenth before the law.

After God appeared to him at Bethel, Jacob vowed:

“and of all that thou shalt give me I will surely give the tenth unto thee” (Genesis 28:22).

Again, the event is significant. Jacob recognized that what he would receive came from God and promised a tenth in response.

But the form of the passage matters. This is Jacob’s vow. Scripture records what Jacob promised; it does not present the statement as a universal command issued to all of God’s people.

Abraham and Jacob therefore establish that giving a tenth was known before Sinai and could express honor, gratitude, and acknowledgment of God. They do not by themselves prove that the Church has been placed under a permanent ten-percent law.

The Mosaic Tithe Belonged to Israel’s Covenant Life

Under Moses, tithing becomes command rather than voluntary example.

Leviticus says:

“And all the tithe of the land, whether of the seed of the land, or of the fruit of the tree, is the LORD'S: it is holy unto the LORD” (Leviticus 27:30).

Numbers connects tithes to the support of the Levites:

“And, behold, I have given the children of Levi all the tenth in Israel for an inheritance, for their service which they serve” (Numbers 18:21).

Deuteronomy also gives instructions concerning tithes in connection with worship, rejoicing before the Lord, the Levite, and provision for the stranger, fatherless, and widow. Interpreters differ over exactly how the various tithing instructions relate to one another—whether they describe several distinct tithes or different uses within Israel’s larger tithing structure. But the larger point is not difficult.

The tithe was woven into Israel’s national and covenant order.

It supported the Levites, who did not receive a normal tribal land inheritance. It was connected with Israel’s sanctuary worship, agricultural life, covenant feasts, and care for vulnerable people within the nation. It was part of the economic and religious structure God gave Israel under the Mosaic covenant.

The Church is not Israel under Sinai.

That does not make Israel’s law meaningless. The law remains Scripture. It reveals God’s holiness, wisdom, concern for worship, support of ministry, justice, generosity, and care for the poor. Christians should learn from it.

But learning from a command is not the same as being placed under its covenant administration.

Why Malachi 3 Must Be Read in Context

Perhaps no passage is quoted more often in discussions of Christian tithing than Malachi 3:

“Will a man rob God? Yet ye have robbed me. But ye say, Wherein have we robbed thee? In tithes and offerings” (Malachi 3:8).

God continues:

“Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be meat in mine house” (Malachi 3:10).

These are serious words. Israel was robbing God because the nation was withholding what the Mosaic covenant required.

But the audience and covenant setting cannot be ignored.

Malachi addresses Israel. The book confronts corrupt priests, polluted offerings, covenant unfaithfulness, and national disobedience. The “storehouse” belongs to the temple order, and the tithes supplied the system God had commanded for Israel.

The curse mentioned in the passage is likewise covenantal: “Ye are cursed with a curse: for ye have robbed me, even this whole nation” (Malachi 3:9).

It is therefore wrong to lift Israel’s covenant indictment from its setting and tell a Christian that failure to give exactly ten percent places him under Malachi’s covenant curse.

Christ has not placed His Church back under the Mosaic covenant.

Malachi still instructs Christians. God takes giving seriously. Worship that withholds from Him while enjoying His provision is spiritually revealing. Those entrusted with ministry should not be neglected. Greed and faithlessness are real sins.

But application must follow interpretation. The passage first concerns Israel under the covenant God actually gave Israel.

What About Jesus Telling the Pharisees to Tithe?

Jesus said to the scribes and Pharisees:

“for ye pay tithe of mint and anise and cummin, and have omitted the weightier matters of the law, judgment, mercy, and faith: these ought ye to have done, and not to leave the other undone” (Matthew 23:23).

Jesus plainly says they should not have left tithing undone.

But again, the setting matters. Jesus was speaking to Jewish leaders living under the Mosaic law before the cross and the formation of the Church. Tithing was part of their covenant obligation.

His rebuke was not that they tithed. Their error was using meticulous attention to small matters as a substitute for judgment, mercy, and faith. They counted herbs while neglecting the moral weight of the law.

Matthew 23 therefore confirms that Israelites under the law were obligated to tithe. It does not establish that Gentile and Jewish believers in the Church are later placed under the same covenant requirement.

If this statement alone imposed Mosaic tithing upon the Church, consistency would require asking what other Mosaic obligations Christ affirmed to people living under that covenant and whether each continues unchanged after the cross. The apostles answer that larger law question by teaching that believers are not under the Mosaic covenant as Israel was.

The New Testament Had Every Opportunity to Command Ten Percent

This is one of the most important observations in the debate.

The New Testament speaks extensively about money and giving.

Jesus teaches about treasure, greed, generosity, stewardship, and care for the poor. Acts records believers sharing resources. Paul organizes collections for needy saints. He teaches churches to support gospel workers. He gives detailed instructions about how Christians should give. Timothy receives teaching about wealth and generosity. Hebrews commends doing good and communicating. John warns against closing one’s compassion toward a brother in need.

Yet when the apostles directly instruct churches about giving, they do not impose a fixed ten-percent requirement.

That absence matters.

Paul could easily have written, “Every believer must give the tithe.” Instead, he says:

“Every man according as he purposeth in his heart, so let him give; not grudgingly, or of necessity: for God loveth a cheerful giver” (2 Corinthians 9:7).

The language is difficult to reconcile with turning ten percent into a compulsory church tax. Christian giving is purposeful, but it is not extracted by necessity.

This does not mean believers may give nothing while claiming freedom. Paul’s entire argument assumes generosity. The absence of a fixed percentage is not permission for stinginess.

Grace removes the legal minimum without removing the obligation of love.

Give as God Has Prospered You

First Corinthians gives another principle:

“Upon the first day of the week let every one of you lay by him in store, as God hath prospered him” (1 Corinthians 16:2).

Giving is planned. It is regular. It is connected to the Lord’s Day rhythm of the church. It is also proportionate: “as God hath prospered him.”

That principle can produce very different amounts.

For one believer, ten percent may represent serious sacrifice. For another with substantial income and few obligations, ten percent may leave generosity almost untouched. A widow with extremely limited means and heavy responsibilities may give less while giving with tremendous faith. Another Christian may gladly give twenty or thirty percent because God has entrusted him with unusual resources.

Jesus’ observation of the widow makes the point. Wealthy people gave larger sums from their abundance. The widow gave two mites, yet Christ said she had given more because He measured the sacrifice, not merely the amount.

God sees what percentages alone cannot reveal.

The New Testament Standard Can Be More Demanding Than a Tithe

Freedom from a mandatory tithe should never be preached as though grace asks less of the believer’s possessions.

In one sense, grace asks more.

Under a strict ten-percent mentality, a person can imagine that ninety percent belongs entirely to him once God has received His portion. New Testament stewardship does not allow that division.

The believer himself belongs to Christ.

His money belongs to Christ.

His home, abilities, time, opportunities, possessions, and influence are entrusted to him by God.

Paul says of the Macedonian believers that they “first gave their own selves to the Lord” (2 Corinthians 8:5).

That is deeper than calculating a percentage.

Christian giving begins with a surrendered person. Once the believer understands that everything comes from God, the question changes from “How little must I give to satisfy the rule?” to “How should I faithfully use what God has entrusted to me?”

That may include generous support of the local church, missionaries, gospel work, needy saints, widows, families in crisis, and other legitimate acts of mercy and ministry.

The Christian is not less responsible because he is under grace.

He is responsible for everything.

Giving Must Support Gospel Ministry

Rejecting mandatory tithing does not mean churches or ministers should be unsupported.

Paul writes:

“Even so hath the Lord ordained that they which preach the gospel should live of the gospel” (1 Corinthians 9:14).

He tells Timothy:

“Let the elders that rule well be counted worthy of double honour, especially they who labour in the word and doctrine” (1 Timothy 5:17).

The Philippians materially supported Paul’s missionary work. Other churches participated in collections. Believers were expected to bear practical responsibility for the work of the gospel.

A Christian who says, “I am not under the tithe,” but uses that truth to avoid supporting any church, ministry, missionary, or needy believer has misunderstood grace.

The New Testament does not replace ten percent with zero percent.

It replaces covenant taxation with grace-shaped stewardship.

Can Ten Percent Still Be Useful?

Yes.

A Christian may choose ten percent as a personal starting point or budgeting discipline. There is nothing wrong with saying, “I want to set aside at least a tenth of my income for the Lord’s work.”

The biblical history of the tenth gives that choice meaningful precedent.

For some believers, beginning with ten percent may help establish regular, intentional generosity. For others, circumstances may make a different amount appropriate. Still others should probably give considerably more.

The problem begins when a useful benchmark is turned into a divine command Scripture does not give to the Church.

A pastor should not tell believers that God has universally commanded exactly ten percent unless he can establish that command from the New Testament’s instruction to the Church.

Nor should a church use Malachi’s covenant curse to threaten Christians into giving.