- Studies show that in American churches, the poor give to the church a greater percentage of their income than those who are wealthy. Keep in mind that some of the Mosaic tithe was actually to be given to those in need (such as seen in Deut. 26:12), rather than it being money that’s taken from them. The poor had actually received some of the tithes of food, and all of the Israelites personally consumed a considerable portion of their tithes and offerings. Much of the second festival tithe and all of a special third-year tithe went to the poor. We are to take care of the poor, and many laws protected the poor from abuse and expensive sacrifices which they couldn’t afford (some of the many examples are Lev. 14:21; 25:6, 25-28, 35-36; 27:8; Deu. 12:1-19; 14:23, 28-29; 15:7-8, 11; 24:12, 14-15, 19-20; 26:11-13; Mal. 3:5; Matt. 12:1-2; Mark 2:23-24; Luke 2:22-24; 6:1-2; 11:41; 14:13-14; 2 Cor. 8:12-14; 1 Tim. 5:8; Jas. 1:27).
- The early church didn’t teach or practice tithing, they gave freewill offerings and many times gave abundantly. Scripture has made it clear that freewill offerings are sufficient and sometimes even more than enough, starting in passages such as Exodus 36:5-7 and 1 Chronicles 29:16-17. The Wycliffe Bible Commentary admits that, “The main objective of giving in the early church was to provide for the needs of the poor brothers rather than to support the preaching of the gospel as is the case today.” Irenaeus (150-200 A.D.), bishop of Lyons and teacher of Hippolytus, clearly taught that the church was a dispenser of necessities for the poor. The pre-Constantine church (pre-325 A.D.) was a charity organization which received offerings only to serve the poor.
- The Mosaic tithe was always only food, and Jews are still following the Old Covenant, but they no longer tithe food (except for a few Orthodox Jews living in Israel). The Old Covenant was given specifically just to Jews, but why do they no longer tithe? What do they know that we don’t know? They no longer tithe because the Temple has been destroyed as well as the records of Levites, and the Jews were only allowed to give their tithe of food to to Levites. Instead, as a substitution, Jews now give money to charity. After their banishment from the land of Israel, The Code of Jewish Law stated that, “tithe money must not be used for the purpose of any other religious act, like buying candles for the synagogue, but it must be given to the poor.” The poor were still not required to tithe and the poor are, “not obligated to give to charity, for his own sustenance takes precedence over another’s.”
- Also, teachings in the Mishnah prohibit rabbis from taking money for teaching the Torah, and most Jews consider it a sin to make a profit from teaching the law. The Southern Baptist textbook by H. E. Dana, The New Testament World, (p. 149) states, “most rabbis followed some trade or secular pursuit for a livelihood.” The New Bible Commentary states, “It was regarded as proper for a rabbi to practice a manual occupation, so as not to make a monetary profit out of his sacred teaching.” Wycliffe Bible Commentary states, “It was customary for Jewish rabbis not to receive pay for their teaching.” Alfred Edersheim, an authority on Judaism, wrote, “as for the occupation of ordinary life, it was indeed quite true that every Jew was bound to learn some trade or business. But this was not to divert him from study; quite the contrary. It was regarded as a profanation- or at least declared such- to make use of ones learning for secular purposes, whether of gain or of honor.” Zootorah states, “The Talmud derives an exegesis from Scripture that just as Moses taught Torah to the Jewish people for free, so too must all Jews teach for free. Alongside with this, the Sages taught that Torah study should be accompanied by derech eretz [earning a livelihood], and in numerous places stressed the importance of being self-sufficient.”
- John Milton (1608 – 1674), author of Paradise Lost, “And yet the Jews, ever since their temple was destroyed, though they have rabbis and teachers of their law, yet pay no tithes, as having no Levites to whom, no temple where to pay them, no altar whereon to hallow them: which argues that the Jews themselves never thought tithes moral, but ceremonial only. That Christians therefore should take them up, which Jews have laid them down, must needs be absurd and preposterous.”
- In 198 A.D., Tertullian, a defender of the early Christian faith, when explaining Christian finances in his book entitled Apology, says that when giving, “it is a voluntary offering.” He also wrote, “Every man brings some modest coin once a month or whenever he wishes, and only if he is willing and able; it is a freewill offering… the funds… are spent… on the support… of the poor.” Also, our other early church leaders, Clement of Rome (c95 A.D.), Justin Martyr (c150 A.D.), and Irenaeus (c150-200 A.D.) all opposed tithing as being a strictly Old Covenant Jewish tradition. Rather than teaching that they were obligated to receive tithes, many of the early church leaders took vows of deep poverty.
- Justin Martyr, in his book, First Apology, Chapter LXVII, “the wealthy among us help the needy…they who are well to do, and willing, give what each thinks fit [and this is then given to] the orphans and widows and those who, through sickness or any other cause, are in want, and those who are in bonds and the strangers sojourning among us, and in a word takes care of all who are in need.”
- From Irenaenus’ Book – Against Heresies, Section 3, “instead of the law enjoining the giving of tithes, [we are] to share all our possessions with the poor…” Please note that in his writings, money is not mentioned by Irenaeus at all. “It is interesting to see that these writings appear in his book, Against Heresies, Irenaenus probably would have labeled all modern day tithe teaches as heretics. Therefore my friends, please realize that the early Church never practiced tithes and they didn’t even believe that they were commanded to tithe unlike what our modern day tithe teachers tell us.” Information from: https://tithingstudy.wordpress.com/
- The word “tithe” shouldn’t be in the vocabulary of a follower of Christ. That word doesn’t relate to Christians who are filled with the Holy Spirit.
- Throughout history, when believers were unable to have their own Bible to study, as the power of the Roman Catholic Church grew, the knowledge of our being a priesthood of believers decreased in an inverse proportion. Once the people were put under the authority of a religious organization with its clergy, bishops and the pope as its head, rather than following the leading of the Holy Spirit, that is when the concept of rebuilding the law of tithing was introduced. The Catholic Encyclopedia reveals that in 567 A.D., the Roman Catholic Church needed money to support itself, so they made up rules loosely based on the Bible to convince people to begin to tithe reveals that in 567 A.D., the Roman Catholic Church needed money to support itself, so they made up rules loosely based on the Bible to convince people to begin to tithe money. However, they were unsuccessful in enforcing tithing on its members and it wasn’t until over 200 years later that Emperor Charlemagne legally allowed the Pope to collect tithes, but it was only to gain favor with the Pope, who then crowned Charlemagne as the Holy Roman Emperor. Also, 906 A.D. was the first year that the king of England, King Edgar, began to enforce tithing, but it was still only a tithe of food (this information can verified in the history of tithing in the Encyclopedia Britannica and Americana). That religious organization built their foundation upon the requirement of tithing, yet we see in 1 Corinthians 3:11-13, “For no other foundation can anyone lay than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ. Now if anyone builds this foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, and straw, each one’s work will become clear; for the Day will declare it, because it will be revealed by fire; and the fire will test each one’s work, of what sort it is.”
- Apparently, if we had lived in America over 100 years ago, we probably would’ve been taught about giving freewill offerings as directed by the Holy Spirit and wouldn’t have been taught that tithing applied to Christians who are now in the New Covenant. We might’ve even been the ones to physically build our “church” building with our own hands, which would’ve been an offering to God. Places of worship shouldn’t require millions of dollars annually just to stay in operation, especially if the money is obtained by laying guilt on its members to meticulously tithe regardless of their circumstances.
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