To Tithe or Not to Tithe

One of the challenges of having a graduate degree in theology is that at any given moment, someone may ask me about a truth of the faith or the reason for some religious tradition. Like anyone in any other discipline, I have my area of specialty and a nodding acquaintance with general principles in other areas. Yet with theology there is this added dimension – a question is an opportunity to minister. This person may have struggled with a problem for years and may never ask about it again. So, I do the best I can at the spur of the moment and refer the person to other experts if they are open to it. Sometimes, I confess, I am winging it, and hopefully the Holy Spirit is there, guiding my words.

Just the other day I was out at dinner with some members of my family who were visiting from a long distance. The subject of tithing came up. Apparently a few days before, my mother had told them that tithing was in the Bible and they were checking with me to see if this was true. I told them it was. Now, I am not a Biblical scholar. I took two classes in scripture as an undergraduate! I only started reading my Bible on a daily basis (I do the daily lectionary readings) about a year ago. The only reason that I knew that tithing was in the Bible was because I had read it in the children’s Bible that I read to my kids every night! They asked me for chapter and verse. I told them I thought that it was in Exodus. I was wrong. The passage I had read was actually in the book of Malachi. They were still incredulous and decided it was a racket instituted by the Church to make money. I feel fairly confident that no one will increase their charitable giving on the basis of what I said.

Anyway, I decided to do more research on the subject as it is a matter that I have been considering as well. In the interest of full disclosure, I have never tithed. The only time I have come close is when I get some unexpected money. I will generally turn around and give 10% to some worthy organization as a way of saying “thank you”. As for our regular income, I have always tried to give what I felt we could. At times that has been comparatively little. One practice I have always done, however, is to write the check to the Church first every week when I sit down to pay the bills. I always wanted it to come out of our “first fruits” as opposed to what was left over.

Yet, at various times I have received literature (none of it from my Church) and heard people speak on the blessings of tithing – that if you give the first 10% to God, He will help the other 90% go farther. It is seen as a matter of trust in God. We trust that He will provide for us. While I have never had the nerve to give the full 10%, in a seemingly counter-intuitive move at the times in life when my husband and I have been most financially strapped, I have chosen to increase our giving. I have to say that my experience has bared the above testimony out. At those times, the light has always shown through the darkness and we have been able to get out of our financial difficulty. Perhaps it would have happened anyway, but I do think that God had something to do with it. It is often those times when you feel like you have done all you can and still aren’t getting anywhere that you most need to trust in God.

So, what does the Bible say about tithing? The Hebrew Scriptures have several references to tithing. Deuteronomy 14:28-29 tells us “At the end of every three years, bring all the tithes of that year's produce and store it in your towns, so that the Levites (who have no allotment or inheritance of their own) and the aliens, the fatherless and the widows who live in your towns may come and eat and be satisfied, and so that the LORD your God may bless you in all the work of your hands.” Leviticus 27:30 instructs, “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.” Malachi 3: 8,10 says “Dare a man rob God? Yet you rob me. But you ask, 'How do we rob you? In tithes and in offerings! Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. ‘Test me in this,’ says the LORD Almighty, ‘and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that you will not have room enough for it.’”

In the Christian Scriptures, the teachings about giving are less attached to a particular percentage and more concerned with the attitude of the giver. Jesus does refer to tithing in his criticism of the Jewish elders when he states in Matthew 23:23, “Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You give a tenth of your spices—mint, dill and cummin. But you have neglected the more important matters of the law—justice, mercy and faithfulness. You should have practiced the latter, without neglecting the former.” A broader understanding of generosity is expressed in Luke 6:38, “Give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over, will be poured into your lap. For with the measure you use, it will be measured to you." Lastly St. Paul tells us in 2 Corinthians 9:6-8, “Remember this: Whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows generously will also reap generously. Each man should give what he has decided in his heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver. And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that in all things at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work.”

It seems that for Christians, tithing certainly has not been ruled out. After all, Jesus didn’t tell the Jewish people that they did not need to tithe, and he held up as an example the widow who gave all that she had to the treasury (Mark 13:42). Neither has tithing been mandated. It is far more important that we give what we give with a cheerful heart. We should give because it is the right thing to do to help support our Church and the poor. The question of how much to give has been left to each person to decide. Regardless of the amount, it should be a gift from the heart in thanksgiving to a God who gives us so much.