Are Christians Expected To Tithe? (An Ultimate Guide)

Are Christians expected to tithe? Tithing, in the current church vernacular, is giving ten percent of one’s gross income to their local church. Was tithing abolished under the Law or does it continue in the New Testament church? Why are there such fierce and vitriolic discussions surrounding the subject? How could ministers such as R.C. Sproul and John MacArthur come to different conclusions on tithing?

Tithing is a volatile and emotionally charged theological subject. Some Christians harshly judge those who see tithing differently. Others refuse to consider any alternative views on the subject. What if they were wrong (sunk cost fallacy)? Few change their views as they’re firmly entrenched in how things have been. Tithing is complicated.

Proponents of tithing typically use stories, testimonies, and antidotes instead of theological arguments. Few preachers do a deep dive into all of the verses. They briefly mention Abraham and Jacob, cruise over to Malachi 3, and finish with Matthew 23:23. In between they highlight some successes, threaten cursing, and finally proclaim that the subject is obvious to anyone who is not greedy.

Are Christians expected to tithe? I will address twelve of the most common beliefs proclaimed by pastors and teachers who support the idea that Christians must tithe. Some of these arguments are stronger than others but not are immutable.

1) Tithing Was Established Before The Law

Genesis 14:18-20 (NIV) Then Melchizedek king of Salem brought out bread and wine. He was priest of God Most High, and he blessed Abram, saying, “Blessed be Abram by God Most High, Creator of heaven and earth. And praise be to God Most High, who delivered your enemies into your hand.” Then Abram gave him a tenth of everything.

Abram Tithed Before The Law

Abram went to war to capture his nephew Lot. His military campaign was successful and his nephew was safely returned. Abram also obliterated and plundered the other fighting force. When Abram was returning he happened to bump into Melchizedek. As was the custom of the day, Abram gave him a tenth of the war spoil.

Additionally, he gave the other 90% of the war spoils (minus some immaterial expenses) to the king of Sodom. That’s something that no pastor, preacher, or teacher has attempted to establish a doctrine around that act of generosity by Abram.

There is no additional proof that Abram gave ten percent of any of his income before or after this event. Plus, the giving by Abram was isolated to the war spoils and not his other riches. Building a doctrine around a one-time event is faulty.

Jesus prayed for an hour in the garden. Is an hour the minimum that a Christian should pray?

Peter and Jesus paid the temple tax. Should Christians adopt the temple tax?

Abram’s example does not support tithing for Christians.

Jacob Tithed Before The Law

Genesis 28:20-22 (NIV) Then Jacob made a vow, saying, “If God will be with me and will watch over me on this journey I am taking and will give me food to eat and clothes to wear so that I return safely to my father’s household, then the Lord will be my God and this stone that I have set up as a pillar will be God’s house, and of all that you give me I will give you a tenth.”

There are a few issues with Jacob’s tithing commitment. Primarily, that he was playing Let’s Make A Deal with God. Jacob’s offer to give a tenth was conditional.

God had to be with him. Plus, God has to watch over him. Jacob required that God provide him with food and clothes. He also expected to be returned safely to his father’s house. If that all happened then and only then would Jacob consider God to be his God.

Pastors using this example use smoke and mirrors and sleight of hand to prove their point.

This argument is unconvincing.

Some even believe that Adam’s transgression was a result of not tithing. Read more here.

2) Tithing Was Established In The Law

Yes, we all agree that tithing was established in the Law. However, the definition of tithing is rarely agreed upon. What does Moses say about it?

Leviticus 27:30-34 (NIV) 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 tithes 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. These are the commands the Lord gave Moses at Mount Sinai for the Israelites (emphasis mine).

Moses described the tithe as farm crops and animals from the land of Israel. The commandment was made to Israelites and specifically to farmers or land owners.

Garrett Booth, the pastor of Grace Church Houston, defined the tithe as such: “The return the first tenth of your income to God through the local church.” This is not a Biblical definition but a manipulation of various Bible verses.

The first fruits were a small “sample” of the upcoming harvest. God didn’t require the first animal but the tenth animal. He also didn’t require the best animal. Those ideas are all theology by folklore. Giving a tithe to the local church will be addressed later in this article.

How Many Tithes Were Established Under The Law?

There were three tithes established under the law. The first tithe was the Levitical tithe. The Levitical tithe is established in Leviticus 27:30-34; and Numbers 18:21-24. A second tithe was established to provide food and drink for the festivals. The festival tithe is established in Deuteronomy 14:22-27. Finally, the charity tithe is the third tithe and it is memorialized in Deuteronomy 14:28-29.

Which of the three tithes does the Christian need to pay? If it’s the Levitical tithe how is that possible? The entire Levitical and Aaronic priesthood was destroyed in AD 70.

The Levitical Tithe

Do Christians believe that modern preachers are a type of the Levites or Aaronic priests? If so, then we need to take the entire text and not cherry-pick verses.

Levites could not own land and were recipients of the tithe as they were poor.

People outside of the tribe of Levites could not serve in the temple or the Tabernacle. That would end all church servanthood and ministry gifts in the church.

The Festival Tithe

Christians no longer celebrate the Festivals. Okay, some do but it’s not the same as it was in the Old Testament.

Jesus is our Passover Lamb.

Christians are not making annual pilgrimages to Jerusalem to celebrate the Passover, Pentecost, or The Feast of Booths.

The festival tithe is unnecessary.

The Charity Tithe

This one probably has the most applicability to Christianity. Yet, I don’t know a single pastor who would be okay with church members tithing every third year and not tithing at all every seventh year.

Here is an intriguing article that asks 21 specific questions about tithing. Where do you stand?

3) Jesus Validated Tithing In The New Testament

The idea that Jesus validated the tithe is believed to be supported by Matthew 23:23.

But does it?

Matthew 23:23 (NIV) Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You give a tenth of your spices—mint, dill, and cumin. 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.

The Gospels are not technically part of the New Testament. Yes, I know that our Bibles include them in the New Testament. There’s more to it than that, though.

Jesus taught under the law and ultimately fulfilled the law. When He pronounced woes upon the Pharisees He did so while teaching under the law.

Jesus also made it clear that tithing was a “matter” of the law. Supporters of tithing declare that tithing is not a matter of the law but it supercedes the law.

Jesus was nailing the Pharisees for microscopically tithing garden herbs (Luke 11:42). They were obsessed with tithing from their Chia pets while simultaneously neglecting justice, mercy, and faithfulness. Technically, they should have tithed. They were under the law.

We are not under the law.

Plus, the Pharisees in this situation, were not giving ten percent of their income. They were “tithing” edible food items, not money.

Here’s another peek into what Jesus said about tithing.

4) The Apostles Didn’t Condemn Tithing

The Argument From Silence fallacy is strong when it comes to tithing. This fallacy occurs when conclusions are drawn based on silence or lack of evidence. It’s consistently used by well-meaning preachers despite its fallacious nature.

Tithing is not condemned in any of the New Testament epistles. It’s only mentioned briefly in Hebrews and different conclusions are drawn on that text. Can one say with certainty that tithing is established because Peter, James, and Paul didn’t explicitly renounce the practice?

None of them condemned brothers marrying their sister-in-law either. Should that practice be continued? How about the practice of indentured servanthood? There are several things that epistle writers didn’t prohibit. That doesn’t necessarily memorialize the practice, though.

Did the apostles have an opportunity to reiterate tithing? I suggest that they did and did not.

The Council at Jerusalem

Circumcision was a hot topic among the Jewish Christians. Jewish Christians (Pharisees) insisted that Gentile Christians become circumcised. As one can imagine that was some reluctance and hesitancy among the Gentiles. The apostles and elders convened to consider the situation. Matters of the law were carefully considered and the apostles and elders required only a few things to be carried over to the Gentile Christians. In a letter written to the believers in Antioch, Syria, and Cilicia the following instructions were given:

Acts 15:28-29 (NIV) It seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to us not to burden you with anything beyond the following requirements: 29 You are to abstain from food sacrificed to idols, from blood, from the meat of strangled animals and from sexual immorality. You will do well to avoid these things. Farewell.

This would have been an ideal time to reestablish the requirement to tithe but it was not.

5) Tithing Is Established As A Moral Law

The Westminster Confession of Faith divides the Mosaic Law into three categories: Moral, civil, and ceremonial. Only the moral laws, in this belief, apply to the Christian church. Moral laws then are the Ten Commandments and laws that are repeated in the New Testament.

Some proponents of tithing believe that it’s a moral law. However, their approach to tithing is not scripturally based. They believe that tithing is 10% of one’s income —which it is not. Their argument would be better if they held to the entire tithing process. Instead, they pick and choose the parts that fit their narrative.

6) Will A Man Rob God?

Thieves will not inherit the Kingdom (2 Corinthians 6:9-11). Non-tithers rob God (Malachi 3:8). Robbers are thieves. Therefore a person who does not tithe goes to hell when they die.

That’s the logic, anyway.

Again, we encounter faulty Bible interpretation in Malachi 3:6-10. Malachi was written broadly to Old Testament Jews. The robbing and cursing admonition was written specifically to the Levites and the Aaronic priests. Somehow preachers have turned this rebuke on the church laity and it’s been universally accepted. Its acceptance, however, doesn’t establish it.

One must truly understand how tithing operated in the Old Covenant. The Americanized version of bringing 10% of one’s income to the local church is simply not Biblical.

7) Grace Requires More

Christian personal finance experts such as Dave Ramsey, Ron Blue, and Randy Alcorn all state that giving ten percent is the baseline for Christian charity. Alcorn even goes so far as to call tithing the training wheels of giving.

The idea that tithing is only the minimum originates from the Sermon on the Mount. Jesus went through some of the laws during this sermon and raised the stakes so to speak.

He told the listeners that their righteousness had to exceed that of the Pharisees. These guys strained grats and swallowed camels! How would that even be possible?

Matthew 5:20 (NIV) For I tell you that unless your righteousness surpasses that of the Pharisees and the teachers of the law, you will certainly not enter the kingdom of heaven.

What does this mean? Many interpret this to mean that more must be done. Is that His point? This interpretation is a slippery slope towards legalism — just the opposite point Jesus was making.

8) Israel Was An Agrarian Society

I’ve probably heard this specific argument more than any other. At first blush, it seems to make sense. Is it biblical though? Here are three Bible verses that reflect the use of money in ancient Israel specifically around giving.

Leviticus 27:31 (NIV) Whoever would redeem any of their tithe must add a fifth of the value to it.

A 20% upcharge was initiated when a farmer decided to keep their animal or harvest. That’s a pretty steep penalty.

Numbers 18:15-16 (NIV) The first offspring of every womb, both human and animal, that is offered to the Lord is yours. But you must redeem every firstborn son and every firstborn male of unclean animals. When they are a month old, you must redeem them at the redemption price set at five shekels of silver, according to the sanctuary shekel, which weighs twenty gerahs.

Money In the Old Testament

Money was given to the temple in the form of redemption of the firstborn. The temple tax was also paid with silver (Exodus 30:11-15)

Deuteronomy 14:24-26 But if that place is too distant and you have been blessed by the Lord your God and cannot carry your tithe (because the place where the Lord will choose to put his Name is so far away), then exchange your tithe for silver, and take the silver with you and go to the place the Lord your God will choose. Use the silver to buy whatever you like: cattle, sheep, wine or other fermented drink, or anything you wish. Then you and your household shall eat there in the presence of the Lord your God and rejoice.

Traveling to Jerusalem was challenging. Tithers had the option to exchange their tithe for money before the journey. Once in Jerusalem, they were to exchange the money for tithing items.

Yes, Israel was an agricultural society but they had money. Not everyone was a farmer or a shepherd. Jesus as a carpenter did not produce a tithe. Peter, James, and John were fishermen and did not tithe.

Preachers, pastors, and teachers do not have the spiritual authority to alter scripture.

9) God Challenges Christians To Test Him In Tithing

Israelites were blessed through obedience and cursed through disobedience (Deuteronomy 28). The curses outnumbered the blessings. There are 68 verses in Deuteronomy 28 and only thirteen verses pertain to blessing.

When Christians declare that Malachi is the only place God tells us to “test” Him that’s simply untrue. God promised blessing for perfect obedience in Deuteronomy 28 and Leviticus 26.

However, these blessings were predicated on perfect obedience. An Israelite had to keep all 613 commandments. If they tithed (properly and not the American version) yet stumbled at one or two others there was no blessing.

Some Christians act as though tithing is the ultimate test.

Obedience is 100% required. However, our blessings are not dependent upon us keeping the laws of the Old Covenant. Attempting to do so results in us falling from grace and being alienated from Christ (Galatians 5:4).

10) Wouldn’t You Want To Give Ten Percent?

This “appeal to generosity” is nothing more than spiritual manipulation. The idea of giving ten percent of income was universally rejected by the early church. Martin Luther, John Calvin, and Charles Spurgeon all rejected the concept.

Ten percent is an arbitrary number. Tithing training wheels don’t exist. Christians want to give to worthy, gospel-centric causes. However, most cannot due to many reasons. Shame, guilt, coercion, and manipulation are just the opposite of what Paul taught to the church in Corinth.

The idea began in the United States in 1873 when states began cutting off financial support to state-sponsored churches. If you’d like a great historical lesson on tithing check out Russel Kelly’s breakdown.

11) Non-Tithers Are Greedy

“Non-tithers are greedy” is an ad hominem attack by those without a Biblical argument. Name-calling is not a legitimate substitute for a Biblical stance.

Regrettably, every Christian deals with greed. Our fallen nature is insatiable. Jesus told His followers to deny themselves, pick up their crosses, and follow Him daily. Greed must be crucified. However, that does not mean anyone searching for truth on this issue is because they are refusing to crucify greed.

Christians should support the truth. We should want clear Biblical teaching. It’s possible to sift through Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy, Nehemiah, and Malachi and still come to different conclusions. We still must do the heavy lifting and not take shortcuts through name-calling.

12) Tithing Is A Spiritual Discipline

Christians understand that prayer, worship, and regular Bible study are healthy disciplines. We also understand that giving is important for a vibrant Christian life. I have never encountered a single Christian who believed that giving was not a great idea. However, giving and “tithing” are two very different things.

Jesus simply said, “When you pray” and gave a general guideline to prayer (Matthew 6:5-14). Before His teaching on prayer, fasting, and worrying He discussed giving. Similar to prayer and fasting He simply said, “When you give to the needy” and provided some basic ground rules. Amounts were not discussed.

Paul wrote about giving often in his epistles. He went deep into the subject in 2 Corinthians 8 and 9. Giving in this context was not for the local church, though. He was receiving an offering for the suffering saints in Jerusalem. Paul addressed the “How much?” question in his first letter to the church in Corinth.

Giving Should Be Proportionate

1 Corinthians 16:2 (NIV) On the first day of every week, each one of you should set aside a sum of money in keeping with your income, saving it up, so that when I come no collections will have to be made.

Essentially he is telling us to give, as Ron Blue indicates, proportionate to our income. Mr. Blue equivocates towards the ten percent mark but Paul and Jesud do not.

I wholeheartedly agree that giving is a spiritual discipline. There is zero biblical evidence that giving starts at ten percent, however.

Dave Ramsey once declared that if a person cannot live off of 90% then they cannot live off 100%. That’s an arbitrary statement designed only to support a false tithing narrative. My family finances took a dramatic positive shift when my income increased by 10% in one year. It goes both ways.

13) Christians Now Tithe To Jesus

I’ve heard it said that since Jesus is our High Priest we now tithe to Him. I’m not even sure what that phrase means.

Tithes were not presented to the Priests in the Old Covenant but to the Levites. Jesus is the Lion of the Tribe of Judah not the Lion of the Tribe of the Levites.

This is another argument that falls flat in its persuasiveness. Tithes were presented to the Levites because they had no inheritance. The tithe was their inheritance (Numbers 18:21). Levites could not own land. The laity could not serve in the temple (Numbers 18:22).

Christians do not tithe to Jesus.

14) We’re Lucky That We Only Pay 10% and Not 23.3%

I recently heard this statement for the first time and found it quite unsettling. The concept is that Christians have it easier. God only expects Christians to give ten percent (one of the three tithes). As such we should consider ourselves fortunate. Christians, in this person’s belief, are getting a 13 1/3% discount on what’s required of them. Complaining is ridiculous with such a deal!

The problem with this argument is obvious (at least to me). Truth took a back seat to a good deal. Getting a discount on the minimum giving expectation was more important than truth.

So, how much should Christians give and should it go to the local church?

How Much Should Christians Give?

The Bible is unclear as to how much one should give. Are Christians expected to tithe (give ten percent)? To whom should the Christian give?

God took an offering in Exodus to build the Tabernacle. Even God didn’t provide a specific amount to give.

Exodus 25:2 (NIV) Tell the Israelites to bring me an offering. You are to receive the offering for me from everyone whose heart prompts them to give.

God’s only requirement is that the offering must come from the heart.

Grace giving is more difficult than forced, law-based giving. In grace giving one must be in communion with God. We also must crucify our wants and desires. Grace-giving removes all pride. Until we give it all there is always something more to give.

In tithing, people can reach that magical number and begin to think more highly of themselves than they ought. Think about the Pharisee who compared himself against the tax collector (Luke 18:9-14). His is a tale of extreme caution yet it happens in many churches each week.

Where Should Christians Give?

I am a local church person. There are no specific Bible verses that indicate Christians should give only to their local church. The church and the storehouse (Malachi 3:10) are not the same thing. Those who teach that are stretching things and changing the meaning of the text.

Jesus promised to build His church. Christians who are submitted and committed to a local church have a great opportunity to support the mission. How much one gives is between you and God, though.

Should Christians give to para-church ministries? Yes, I believe that we should. Where to give is another question that is between you and God. Diversification in giving can be a powerful way to make friends in heavenly places.

Give Cheerfully

In Exodus, God wanted hearts before donations. Paul wrote specifically that Christians should give as they’ve decided in their heart and not reluctantly or under compulsion. It’s difficult to give “cheerfully” if we put in our last $20 and both the fridge and car are on their last legs.

Give what you can when you can. Develop the giving muscle so to speak. Allow God to work in your heart and your checking account. Resist human comparisons.

Our bar is Jesus. He set the bar super high for us all.

2 Corinthians 8:8-9 I am not commanding you, but I want to test the sincerity of your love by comparing it with the earnestness of others. For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sake he became poor, so that you through his poverty might become rich.

Tithing Debate — Russell Kelly and Mike Kola Ewuosho

Here is a civil debate between two people on opposite sides of the tithing question. If you’re interested in want to go a step deeper this is a good introduction.

https://youtu.be/okw70Ron6CQ?si=xpHgxQWYQiAY4WoM