What Creflo Dollar said recently about the practice of tithing according to the customs of the Old Testament and how it does not apply to the “church” is contextually correct for these reasons mentioned below. This is not to say that this episode of Misconceptions Clarified XVI is in agreement with everything Creflo Dollar said, just the part regarding how tithing is not a specific command given to the Gentile church in the New Testament.

1). The command to tithe was given specifically to the nation of Israel through the law of Moses. For those that may be unaware, the Gentile church to whom half of the New Testament is written to is not addressed to the nation of Israel. The church that Jesus Christ built on the rock where the gates of hell shall not prevail where people from every nation, tribe, people, and language will worship Him in Spirit and in truth was established to fulfill God’s desire for all people who have confessed Jesus Christ as their Lord an Savior and who have repented of their sins to be redeemed to eternal life and have a seat at the Great Messianic Banquet at the consummation of all things.

2). The context of Malachi 3:10 is also different than the context of the Early Church. The differences include different empires (Persian vs. Roman), the sacrificial system versus no sacrificial system in place in the church, Malachi 3:11 involved only the Jews versus the Early Church composed of both Jews & Gentiles, and the temple located in Israel was eventually destroyed by the Romans in 70AD versus the church that continued to thrive globally, not just in one nation. The question God posed to Israel in Malachi 3:8, “Will a man rob God?” is in the context of the Second Temple where Israel developed a sense of forgetfulness from the seventy years of not being able to tithe into the storehouse because the temple was destroyed by the Babylonians in 586BC and Israel had to wait until the temple was rebuilt again in 515BC. The prophet Malachi was the messenger God chose during that time to question Israel’s lack of tithing to the storehouse after the temple was rebuilt.

3). To give a tithe according to the Old Testament was to give a literal tenth of your animal/crop sacrifices. No such command to give a tithe as was performed in the Old Testament is found in the New Testament. In Leviticus 27:30-33 its says, “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. Whoever would redeem any of their tithe must add a fifth of the value to it. Every tithe of the herd and flock—every tenth animal that passes under the shepherd’s rod—will be holy to the Lord. No one may pick out the good from the bad or make any substitution. If anyone does make a substitution, both the animal and its substitute become holy and cannot be redeemed.” The tithe of everything the nation of Israel were commanded to give was in relation to the land, to the animals, and to the fruit and vegetation.

4). The command to bring your tithes to the storehouse is not attached to any form of currency in comparison to what is taking place in the church today with the giving of tithes. The temple of Israel possessed a literal storehouse to keep the tithes and a compartment within the storehouse known as the treasury was available to store gold and silver. The first century ekklesia/church had no such buildings to store anything as the early church operated in a non-legal status for the first 300 years. In Acts 4:32, the believers “shared” everything they had, not stored everything they had. The tithe was specifically for the Lord and for the levites, whereas the donations collected in the New Testament were made available to supply the needs to all within the local body of Christ/church, not just one group of people.

5). This command to tithe was not given to the Gentile church as evidenced in the Council of Jerusalem in Acts 15 when Gentile believers were flocking to the faith by the thousands. The Apostle James, the Lord’s brother said in Acts 15:19, “it is my judgment, therefore, that we should not make it difficult for the Gentiles who are turning to God. Instead we should write to them, telling them to abstain from food polluted by idols, from sexual immorality, from the meat of strangled animals and from blood.” Notice that nothing pertaining to the ceremonial law or the temple law such as tithing was included in these prohibitions outlined in Acts 15. In fact, no command exists in the New Testament that commands the church to tithe or to give an exact percentage. Paul commands the church at Corinth in 2 Corinthians 9:27 that, “Each of you should give what you have decided in your heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.”

6). The temple and the church have similarities but also functioned differently; the high priest of the temple in Israel participated in the temporary sacrificial system to atone for sin on the Day of Atonement every year while the church serves and worships the One true messiah, the Lord Jesus Christ who became the ultimate sacrificial lamb on the cross for the sin of the world and became the High Priest in the order of Melchizedek once and for all. The church does not have to supply a tithe or a tenth according to the Old Testament tradition because no animal sacrifices were needed to atone for sin since Jesus fulfilled the sacrificial system with his own sacrifice, no storehouse existed in the early church, and no crops were offered to the church as was performed in the temple to supply the Levitical priesthood with food so they could continue to perform their temple duties, which was why the Lord commanded Israel to offer their tithes. The temple functions performed in the Old Testament strictly belonged to Israel. The church on the other hand composed of both Jew and Gentile believers gathered together in the name of Jesus at a designated location who put their resources together to supply the needs of all within the assembly.

7). Even when Paul addresses the rights of the levitical priests who received their food from the temple and their share of what was offered on the altar under the Old Covenant according to 1 Corinthians 9:13-15, Paul doesn’t command the church to pay a tithe, nor does Paul exercise his right to receive his living from the gospel, but only “that those who preach the gospel should receive their living from the gospel.” Paul falls short of commanding the church to tithe as was practiced under the law of Moses because the church would adopt a variation of this practice that was similar in nature to tithing that could meet the needs of all the believers in the local body of Christ.

8). Even though the command to tithe a specific amount is nonexistent in the New Testament, the church did participate in offering. They shared everything they had, they sold property and possessions, and they collected money to support the cause of advancing the gospel and to distribute to anyone who had a need. So, even though the command to tithe does not apply contextually to the church, there was an alternate method of giving that the church utilized to expand the growth of the early church according to Acts 2:45, Acts 4:32-35, and 1 Corinthians 16:1-2.

In short, this episode of clarifying the misconception regarding whether or not the practice of tithing applies to the church is not insinuating that believers should refrain from offering from their heart what they feel convicted by the Holy Spirit to give. Instead, it is just simply clarifying that Israel’s practice of tithing contextually does not apply to the Gentile church upon further examination for the reasons stipulated above. To tithe meant to give a tenth of everything in correlation to the land regardless if it was in one’s heart to give. On the other hand, the practice of giving that was adopted in the church is a variation that involves a multitude of things that can be given freely from one’s heart for the sake of advancing the gospel and for providing the needs of all believers in the local assembly to include possessions, the sale of property, money, exercising one’s gift, time, and servitude. Additionally, the practice of offering in light of the New Testament goes beyond what a person gives physically. Paul says in Romans 12:1, “Therefore, I urge you brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God - this is your true and proper worship.” The greatest offering that a person can give to the Lord is not what a person can give physically or monetarily, but how they live and offer their life in obedience to His one and only Son Jesus Christ. A person can be committed to donating a specific amount of money to the church while their hearts are far removed from the Lord. In Isaiah 1:13, the prophet addresses this issue of vain offering when he says, “Stop bringing meaningless offerings!”

Again, offering is so much more than what someone gives physically to the church, but offering in the New Covenant now involves the heart of a person. The poor widow in Mark 12:41-44 and Luke 21:1-4 is a great example of this. While many were offering their money into the temple treasury, the poor widow gave two small copper coins, which Jesus tells his disciples that she put in more than all the others because she gave in faith out of her property, whereas everyone else gave out of their abundance. So, although the practice of tithing as performed under the Old Covenant does not apply contextually to the Gentile church, the principle of giving out of one’s heart to the Lord for all that He is, for all that He has done, and to advance His kingdom on earth as it is in heaven is still very much in effect for the church today.

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