Tithing
New Covenant giving is led by the Spirit, not a legal tithe.
In the New Testament, Christian giving is fundamentally rooted in the heart's attitude rather than adhering to a fixed percentage or law.
The Apostle Paul succinctly describes this giving:
"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." II Corinthians 9:7
Paul’s statement succinctly encapsulates the New Covenant principle that Christian giving should be cheerful, regular, generous, and Spirit-led in giving, reflecting the generosity of God Himself to us.
The Distinction from Old Testament Tithing
Under the Old Covenant, the Israelites were explicitly required to give the Temple a percentage of their income.
However, tithing in the Old Testament extended well beyond a mere 10%. The word “tithe” means “tenth.”
In ancient Jewish culture, faithful Jews gave multiple tithes, which amounted to around 33.3% of an individual's income. This included:
The Levitical Tithe (Numbers 18:21-24): This was a 10% (tithe) for support of the Levites, those responsible for the spiritual leadership of the nation.
The Festival Tithe (Deuteronomy 14:22-27): An additional 10% was set aside for religious festivals, ensuring the community’s worship and celebration.
The Offering for the Poor (Deuteronomy 14:28-29): Every third year, an additional 10% was given to support the poor, the widows, and the orphans. This offering equated to roughly 3.3% of annual income.
Thus, the total mandated giving in the Old Testament was 33.3% of income, and included all state taxes, Hebrew priests' salaries, and social welfare support.
The Corruption of the Biblical Teaching on Giving
Many pastors of Christian churches will tell you that God demands that you give a tenth of your income to your local church, and if you don’t, you’re stealing from God.
They base their command to tithe on a verse from Malachi:
"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 there will not be room enough to store it." Malachi 3:10
The former pastor of Gateway Church in Southlake, Texas, went further than Malachi.
To entice people to give a “tithe” of their income to Gateway Church, Pastor Robert Morris promised a “money-back guarantee.” If members tried tithing for one year, and after that year, if members weren’t “satisfied” (whatever that means), Robert Morris would give “your money back" (watch this eighteen-second clip below).
Each time I heard Robert Morris say this when he spoke at other churches, I wondered two things:
How can Robert Morris “give your money back” when the 501 C3 non-profit is the church and not the pastor? Where does he get the “authority” to give money back?
If he genuinely believes not tithing is “stealing from God” (as he taught), then why would you be “complicit” in stealing from God by giving back God’s money?
The answers to those questions reveal that many Christian leaders have an unbiblical view of pastoral authority, something I call Fraudulent Authority. In time, churches that allow legalistic leaders to have that much authority over people will crash and burn.
Christian Giving Is “Spirit-Led Giving”
In contrast, the New Testament does not mandate a specific percentage for your charitable giving or a particular place where you are required as a Christian to give.
The focus shifts from an Old Covenant legal requirement to a New Covenant love response to God’s grace in Jesus Christ.
Christ-followers are characterized as generous givers in response to God’s grace. But how we give, where we give, and how much we give is to be led by the Holy Spirit.
Jesus and the apostles emphasized that giving should flow from a heart transformed by the Gospel, where generosity expresses love and worship.
The principle of sacrificial giving is evident in the early church, where believers shared their resources to ensure no one lacked anything (Acts 2:44-45).
This kind of giving was not driven by obligation but by a profound sense of community and the recognition that everything they had belonged to God.
Of course, our local church is where we can all come together and do much for the poor, the needs of our community, and missions around the world.
But giving even to our local gathering of believers should be characterized as follows:
Spirit-led giving.
Cheerful giving.
Regular giving.
Generous giving.
Most Christians gather with other believers on “the first day of the week” (Sunday), but there are times when Christians gather in small groups and other settings on days other than Sunday.
Wherever you gather, whatever day you set aside for worship and communion, your giving to the Lord’s work is characterized by your gratefuleness to what God has done for you in Jesus the Messiah, not a law.
This regular practice of giving aligns with the rhythm of worship and life in the community of faith.
Conclusion
In the New Covenant, Christian giving is not bound by the law of tithing but is instead characterized by the Spirit’s direction, with personal cheerfulness, intentional regularity, and remarkable generosity.
While the Old Testament system involved a structured and substantial portion of income dedicated to various religious and social functions, New Testament giving invites believers to go beyond thinking of mere percentages.
Listen to the Holy Spirit in your giving.
Enjoy giving and advancing Christ’s Kingdom.
Intentionally and regularly give from your income.
Give with surprising generosity, for you can never outgive God.
The focus is not on the amount but on your heart's posture, which profoundly expresses faith and trust in God.
“All the promises of God to you are ‘Yes’ (Sure!) and ‘Amen’ (Certain!). He will meet all your needs because of His grace.
Get in your head.
You don’t give to get from God.
You give in response to God’s grace.
Wade, I concur with Rick about your posts. They enable me to continue to learn about Gods divine plans for his followers and Church. This verse popped into my mind after reading your post. In Proverbs 13:22 (AMPC) A good man leaves an inheritance [of moral stability and goodness] to his children’s children, and wealth of the sinner [finds its way eventually] into the hands of the righteous, for whom it was laid up. We many times see inheritance as a large financial windfall, but it also refers to good moral character, built upon honesty, integrity, humility to name a few. Five years ago, I applied the writings from today’s post. My family and I were in a state of transition with my professional career. I believe our obedience and humility contributed to a new opportunity opening up several months later. So, it is true you cannot out give God! What we must also focus on is the Biblical and moral foundations to our children and grandchildren it only cost us “time”, which is more available than gold!
Wade, I love your posts. I learn something every time I read one.
It had never rang a bell in my brain that in Old Testament Jewish tradition the people were expected to give "10%" but on multiple occasions equivalent to their giving 33+% of their annual income to Kingdom work!
But I also learn about contemporary issues like "Gateway Church" and their pastor. When I saw the short video of that pastor, it brought to mind that I had heard something of the controversy surrounding him and I did a quick search on the net to learn about his sorted past and recent resignation.
Then that led me to discover that his Gateway Church has a membership of 100,000 members!
WOW!
What's up with today's trend of having these super-mega-churches??!!
Is having an increasing giant church instead of smaller multiplying churches birthed by a mother church God's strategy for Kingdom growth and assimilation of disciples in today's church culture?
Granted, Gateway has 8 campuses in Texas and 1 in Wyoming, but they all are identified as being "Gateway" church, not 9 autonomous, independent, decision-making congregations.
Near me we have have Andy Stanley's "North Point Church" of about 30,000 members with about 8 different campuses, all led by Andy Stanley, who I like a lot, but still, that's a big role for one pastor.
Is that God's way of doing church growth today?
Here are some aspects I find common among these super-mega-evangelical churches:
1. They take pride in professing that they are "non-denominational" YET, in effect, they form their own denominations, having multiple satellites following the same leader. (Almost sounds "cultist", huh?)
2. They all have "1", high profile leader over all of their satellite campuses that primarily are the preachers for everyone's services.
It all seems to be a formula for having a downfall due to the emphasis upon their 1 high celebrity leader, i.e., Gateway Church.
OR
Woodstock Baptist Church, in Georgia, which only has about 17,000 members meeting on a 1-campus site with a 435,000 square foot facility. Still, high-profile, celebrity preacher, Pastor Johnny Hunt, fell into a hole following his escapade with a female staffer, wife of one of his Staff members.
Such a common occurrence with churches having these ultra-high profile celebrity leaders.
And so many other devastating controversies surrounding these high profile celebrity leaders.
My church has been blessed of late by the amazing power of God's Holy Spirit anointing our church's sincere service to the Lord and commitment to the priorities of "The Word", Jesus Christ as Lord, sacrificial commitment to missions, non-tethered commitment to financial "giving", etc. As a result, we are experiencing amazing growth, not due to our having a high-profile personality, leader, but apparently due to God's anointing our obedience in doing things in harmony with His Spirit's leading.
We now have a new pastor and it will be interesting to see his vision for just how we are to assimilate all of this growth; more and more worship services? We have just about outgrown our seating capacity in worship services. How will we respond? Bigger and bigger building size? Strategy of having a church with multiple satellite campuses?
OR
Will we pursue deploying multiple volunteer teams into un-churched communities for the purpose of planting autonomous, decision-making congregational, "Baptist" churches?
How would God have us respond? Which method would be most likely to be in harmony with "His" strategy for us?