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Author
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Topic: tithing is of faith and predates the law
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Carol Swenson
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Member # 6929
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posted
Amen! ![[Cross]](graemlins/cross.gif) ![[Bible]](graemlins/bible.gif) ![[Prayer]](graemlins/prayer.gif)
"Does our tithe all have to go to our church or can part of it go to a Christian ministry?"
This is a difficult issue to discern biblically because the Bible does not mention “special offerings” for Christian causes or parachurch Christian ministries. The Bible simply tells us to give to the Lord (1 Corinthians 16:2; 2 Corinthians 9:7). Yes, most definitely, we should be giving to the church we attend, serve at, and worship in! If a Christian believes the Lord is leading him to give 10%, does that entire 10% have to go to the church, or can it be split between the church and other Christian purposes? Sadly, the answer to this question usually breaks down based on who is responding. Churches / pastors will usually teach that the full 10% should go to the church, and any other Christian giving should be above and beyond the 10%. Christian ministries and causes usually teach that the 10% figure for giving can be divided between churches and ministries according to the Lord’s leading.
So, which view is correct? Even as a parachurch ministry, GotQuestions.org holds that a believer’s primary giving should be to his/her local church with any "additional offerings" to other Christian causes. We do not believe, though, that a believer is legalistically required to give 10% or any other set amount. The Bible instructs believers in Christ to give generously, to give cheerfully, and to give regularly. There is no biblical formula for how to split a tithe between a church and another Christian organization. If a Christian believes the tithe is binding on believers today, the 10% should go to the church (based on the storehouse principle of Malachi 3:10).
Further, if a believer prayerfully decides to give 10% in offerings, we believe he/she can give as the Spirit leads him/her; i.e., 8% to their church and 2% to other Christian causes. What matters is that believers make sacrificial financial offerings to God’s work, wherever and in whatever way He leads. Believers should pray for wisdom in regard to how much and to whom God would have them make their offerings.
http://www.gotquestions.org/tithes-church-ministry.html
Posts: 6787 | From: Colorado | Registered: Dec 2007
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Eden
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TITHING AND THE LAW
In the book of Romans, Paul discusses how Abraham's faith was counted to him for righteousness (Gen.15:6;Rom.4:3). Abraham believed that God would give him an heir from his own bowels (Gen.15:4), even though Sarah was barren (Gen.16:1), and that his descendants would be as the stars of heaven (Gen.15:5), and his faith was counted to him for righteousness (Gen.15:7).
Paul then writes in Rom.4:22-25;5:1, "Therefore it was imputed to him for righteousness. Now it was not written for his sake alone that it was imputed to him, but also for us, to whom it shall be imputed, if we believe on Him who raised Jesus from the dead ... therefore, being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ".
We are justified therefore by faith, which was before the law, because the law was not given until after Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and after Jacob settled in Goshen and dwelled there till the Exodus, and then the law was given at Mt. Sinai. Faith was thus before the law.
Likewise, tithing was established before the law. When Abraham fought against the 4 northeastern kings to recover Lot and the people of Sodom in Gen.14, after Abraham had defeated the 4 NE kings near Damascus, Abraham returned toward Hebron, but at Salem he was met by Melchizedek, to whom Abraham gave tithes of his portion of the spoil of war (Gen.14:20).
Later, when Abraham's grandson Jacob slept at Bethel, he dreamed about a ladder between earth and heaven on which the angels of God ascended and descended (Gen.28:12). "And look, the LORD stood above it, and said, 'I am the LORD God of Abraham your [grand]father, and the God of Isaac ... your seed shall be as the dust of the earth" (Gen.28:13-14).
Then Jacob called the name of that place Bethel (Gen.28:19) and Jacob vowed a vow, saying, "If God will be with me and will keep me in the way that I go, and will give me bread to eat and clothing to put on so that I come again to my father [Isaac's] house in peace, then shall the LORD by my God, and this stone which I have set for a pillar, shall be God's house; and of all that You shall give me I will surely give the tenth to You" (Gen.28:20-22).
Like faith, tithing was thus established before the law, because the law wasn't given until after Jacob went down into Egypt and dwelled in the land of Goshen, and then after the Exodus, the law was finally given at Mt. Sinai.
It is true that tithing was codified in the law so that it would be continued as a regular practice, as Lev.27:30 says, "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". That tithe has always been holy to the LORD and was the LORD's portion, and the LORD is the same yesterday, today, and forever.
So, just because the tithe was codified into a law, it merely codified something that was already established before the law, and which had begun by Abraham while he was yet in faith only (without the law), just as we, being dead to the law (Rom.7:1-6), are only in faith. Tithing is thus not of the law, but of faith.
In the New Testament, the Messiah Jesus Himself approved of the tithe, as He purposely sat by the treasury (Mk.12:41) and watched the poor widow throw in her 2 mites (Mk.12:42), and then He said, "Truly this poor widow has cast in more than all they who have cast money into the treasury".
Also in Lk.11:42, the Messiah Jesus said to the Pharisees, "Woe to you, Pharisees, for you tithe mint and rue and all manner of herbs, [but] you pass over judgment and the love of God; these [tithes] ought you to have done, but you should not have left the other [judgment and the love of God] undone".
So then, Messiah Jesus said that tithing ought to be done, and this tithing was first established by faithful Abraham and was continued by faithful Jacob before the law came, so tithing was never of the law but was of faith and was thus not fulfilled by the Messiah Jesus and needs to be continued by us.
Malachi 3:10
Bring all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be meat in My house, and prove me now therewith, says the LORD of hosts, if I will not open you the windows of heaven and pour you out a blessing so that there shall not be room enough to receive it all.
love, Eden
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