Tithing

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Hi M____,
Thank you for your question about the spiritual significance of tithing.

There have been many good papers written over the years which prove that tithing was instituted only under Moses as a means of both financing the festivals of God and supporting the Levites and the priests of the temple of God. Tithing was done only upon the produce of the agriculture and the flocks of the land of Israel. All of the above mentioned functions were to be financed out of a single tithe upon that which was grown out of the ground and upon the flocks and herds of the land of Israel. There is no such thing as a second or a third tithe as the church I used to be a member of believed. Nowhere is money ever mentioned as a titheable commodity.

Lev 27:30 And 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.
Lev 27:32 And concerning the tithe of the herd, or of the flock, even of whatsoever passeth under the rod, the tenth shall be holy unto the LORD.
Num 18:26 Thus speak unto the Levites, and say unto them, When ye take of the children of Israel the tithes which I have given you from them for your inheritance, then ye shall offer up an heave offering of it for the LORD, even a tenth part of the tithe.
Deu 14:22 Thou shalt truly tithe all the increase of thy seed, that the field bringeth forth year by year.

Abraham tithed only on the spoils of the war he had fought and won to get his nephew Lot free from the kings who had taken Lot captive while plundering Sodom for rebelling against the tax, which was being exacted from Sodom and the surrounding cities.

Heb 7:4 Now consider how great this man was, unto whom even the patriarch Abraham gave the tenth of the spoils.

There is not one word of scripture to prove that Abraham ever tithed of his own possessions. He tithed only “of the spoils” of war once to Melchizedek.
Jacob thought he could make a deal with God and promised to give God a tithe “of all that God would give him.”

Gen 28:20 And Jacob vowed a vow, saying, If God will be with me, and will keep me in this way that I go, and will give me bread to eat, and raiment to put on,
Gen 28:21 So that I come again to my father’s house in peace; then shall the LORD be my God:
Gen 28:22 And this stone, which I have set for a pillar, shall be God’s house: and of all that thou shalt give me I will surely give the tenth unto thee.

There was no priesthood to whom Jacob could tithe “of all you give me,” and since Moses had not yet come with the law, which forbade sacrificing anywhere but at the tabernacle, it is very likely that Jacob’s tithes consisted of burnt offerings, which he offered upon an altar which he erected at any convenient location.
Many years later God told Moses that He would “choose a place in the land to cause his name to dwell there.” Jerusalem was that place chosen by God as the place of His name and His temple. It was only in Jerusalem that the temple was placed and it was only in Jerusalem that God placed His name. Anyone who, for the sake of holding meetings to celebrate the seven annual holy days of ancient Israel or for the sake of collecting tithes of their members, claims that God has placed His name anywhere beside Jerusalem, does so without any scriptural authority and is actually denying that God has placed His name in Jerusalem.

Deu 12:10 But when ye go over Jordan, and dwell in the land which the LORD your God giveth you to inherit, and [ when] he giveth you rest from all your enemies round about, so that ye dwell in safety;
Deu 12:11 Then there shall be a place which the LORD your God shall choose to cause his name to dwell there; thither shall ye bring all that I command you; your burnt offerings, and your sacrifices, your tithes, and the heave offering of your hand, and all your choice vows which ye vow unto the LORD:
Deu 12:12 And ye shall rejoice before the LORD your God, ye, and your sons, and your daughters, and your menservants, and your maidservants, and the Levite that [ is] within your gates; forasmuch as he hath no part nor inheritance with you.
Deu 12:13 Take heed to thyself that thou offer not thy burnt offerings in every place that thou seest:
Deu 12:14 But in the place which the LORD shall choose in one of thy tribes, there thou shalt offer thy burnt offerings, and there thou shalt do all that I command thee.
Deu 12:15 Notwithstanding thou mayest kill and eat flesh in all thy gates, whatsoever thy soul lusteth after, according to the blessing of the LORD thy God which he hath given thee: the unclean and the clean may eat thereof, as of the roebuck, and as of the hart.
Deu 12:16 Only ye shall not eat the blood; ye shall pour it upon the earth as water.
Deu 12:17 Thou mayest not eat within thy gates the tithe of thy corn, or of thy wine, or of thy oil, or the firstlings of thy herds or of thy flock, nor any of thy vows which thou vowest, nor thy freewill offerings, or heave offering of thine hand:
Deu 12:18 But thou must eat them before the LORD thy God in the place which the LORD thy God shall choose, thou, and thy son, and thy daughter, and thy manservant, and thy maidservant, and the Levite that is within thy gates: and thou shalt rejoice before the LORD thy God in all that thou puttest thine hands unto.

“Then there shall be a place which the LORD your God shall choose to cause his name to dwell there; thither shall ye bring…  your tithes.”
That “one tribe” was Judah, and “the place which the Lord chose” was Jerusalem and Jerusalem only. The tithes of God were to go nowhere else, and the festivals of God were to be kept nowhere else.

Deu 14:23 And thou shalt eat before the LORD thy God, in the place which he shall choose to place his name there, the tithe of thy corn, of thy wine, and of thine oil, and the firstlings of thy herds and of thy flocks; that thou mayest learn to fear the LORD thy God always.

To pay physical “tithes of thy corn, of thy wine, and of thine oil, and the firstlings of thy herds and of thy flocks;” anywhere but in Jerusalem, is to show no fear of the Lord, and is in direct disobedience to the explicit commandment “ in the place which he shall choose to place his name there, the tithe of thy corn, of thy wine, and of thine oil, and the firstlings of thy herds and of thy flocks; that thou mayest learn to fear the LORD thy God always… thither shall ye… bring your tithes” (Deu 12:11 and 14:23)
 This is all accompanied by a very strong warning which is spat upon by all who still insist that all these things are still physical and are not “new,” and are not “in spirit,”at all. Here is that warning:

Deu 12:13 Take heed to thyself that thou offer not thy burnt offerings in every place that thou seest:
Deu 12:14 But in the place which the LORD shall choose in one of thy tribes, there thou shalt offer thy burnt offerings, and there thou shalt do all that I command thee.

Paul tells us that if we are in Christ then “all things are become new.” The very sign of God’s relationship with Abraham has been changed from a physical to a spiritual sign. The tribe of the priesthood was changed from Levi to Judah, and the law itself was changed from a carnal to a spiritual commandment. Christ came as a reformer and changed both the priesthood and the law, and “all things:” 

Heb 7:12 For the priesthood being changed, there is made of necessity a change also of the law.
Heb 7:13 For he of whom these things are spoken pertaineth to another tribe, of which no man gave attendance at the altar.
Heb 7:14 For it is evident that our Lord sprang out of Juda; of which tribe Moses spake nothing concerning priesthood.
Heb 7:15 And it is yet far more evident: for that after the similitude of Melchisedec there ariseth another priest,
Heb 7:16 Who is made, not after the law of a carnal commandment, but after the power of an endless life.

“The similitude of Mechisedec” means that an Aaronic pedigree does not impress God in the very least. Melchisedec was a Canaanite king of whom we have no record of either his father or his mother. The law of Moses is here called “a carnal commandment”, and in 1 Timothy we are told that it is “for the lawless and disobedient” and “not for a righteous man.”
Paul tells us that if we are in Christ then “all things are become new.” The very sign of God’s relationship with Abraham has been changed from a physical to a spiritual sign. The tribe of the priesthood was changed from Levi to Judah, and the law itself was changed from a carnal to a spiritual commandment.

1Ti 1:9 Knowing this, that the law is not made for a righteous man, but for the lawless and disobedient, for the ungodly and for sinners, for unholy and profane, for murderers of fathers and murderers of mothers, for manslayers,

Read our paper entitled The Law of Moses Versus The Law of The Spirit in the essential reading section in the upper left corner of iswasandwillbe. com for a far more in depth treatment of the differences between the Old and the New Testaments.
Even the place where God has placed His name has been changed from a physical to a spiritual location. Jews, too, have be changed from physical Jews to spiritual Jews, and the seed and promises have to all be changed from a physical seed to a spiritual seed and from physical promises to spiritual promises. “Old things are passed away, behold all things are become new.”

2Co 5:17 Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.

This is as true of tithing as it is of the priesthood and the offerings and of Jerusalem itself. It is all now new, and it is very different from what it once was. Just how different are “all things?” It is as different as the physical versus the spiritual.
What is now the spiritual sign of ‘God’s chosen people’ and His special relationship with that chosen people? Where is the spiritual ‘tribe of Judah,’ in which the spiritual ‘priesthood’ now resides? What do the scriptures teach us?

Rom 2:28 For he is not a Jew, which is one outwardly; neither is that circumcision, which is outward in the flesh:
Rom 2:29 But he is a Jew, which is one inwardly; and circumcision is that of the heart, in the spirit, and not in the letter; whose praise is not of men, but of God.

There it is: physical Jews “are not Jews” at all, and physical circumcision, the sign of God’s relationship with His chosen people, is not now circumcision at all. Both are now spiritual and “of the heart, in the spirit and not in the letter, and yet not one orthodox Christian minister has been given eyes to see it.
“He is NOT a Jew which is one outwardly; neither is that circumcision, which is outward in the flesh. But He IS a Jew which is one inwardly and circumcision is that of the heart, in the spirit, and not in the letter…” All that matters now is “in the spirit.” If he is not a Jew “in the spirit” then “he is NOT a Jew at all, and if he is not circumcised “in the spirit, then he is NOT circumcised at all.”
Who then is the new “seed of Abraham?” What do the scriptures teach?

Gal 3:29 And if ye be Christ’s, then are ye Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise.

So ‘Abraham,’ the father of the faithful, is really Christ, and God’s faithful and chosen are no longer physical Jews, but are now spiritual Jews, and the sign of God’s relationship with His chosen people is no longer physical circumcision but is now spiritual circumcision of the heart, “and not in the letter.”
Like everything else, when we are speaking of “all things are become new,” that would certainly include Jerusalem and the tithes which could be brought nowhere else but to Jerusalem.
So where is this new spiritual Jerusalem to which we are to bring our spiritual tithes?

Gal 4:26 But Jerusalem which is above is free, which is the mother of us all.

“Jerusalem which is above” is the hearts and minds of all of God’s new ‘Jews’ and His new ‘circumcised chosen people’ with whom He will dwell and with whom he will eat and with whom He will partake of the offerings of His new altar:

Heb 13:10 We have an altar, whereof they have no right to eat which serve the tabernacle.

Be sure to read our paper entitled What and Where Is Heaven? on iswasandwillbe. com.

So what exactly is the spiritual significance of tithing? The answer is that tithing is but a part of the sacrificial system of ancient Israel and did not exist as a codified law until that sacrificial system came along:

Lev 27:30 And 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.
Lev 27:32 And concerning the tithe of the herd, or of the flock, even of whatsoever passeth under the rod, the tenth shall be holy unto the LORD.
Deu 14:22 Thou shalt truly tithe all the increase of thy seed, that the field bringeth forth year by year.

As an integral part of that sacrificial system, the spiritual significance of the tithe is the same as the spiritual significance of any other sacrifice. All the sacrifices of the Old Testament, including the sacrifice of the tithe, is now fulfilled in Christ. If Christ is in you, then you are fulfilling the burnt offering, the meat offering, the peace offering, the sin offering and the trespass offering. If Christ is in you, then you have entered into His rest, fulfilling the weekly sabbath. Christ is your passover, your days of unleavened bread, your Pentecost, your trumpets, your atonement, your tabernacles and your last great day. Christ is the body which cast all of those shadows, and He is the tithes and offerings which built that temple and sustains all of its functions.
How is all of this applied to each of us today? We have a video on iswasandwillbe. com by Willard Rogers which deals with the meaning of presenting our bodies to God as a living sacrifice. That video will explain how we are to pay our tithes today. Here is the scripture which tells us all how we are to present to God all of our sacrifices:

Rom 12:1 I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.
Rom 12:2 And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.
Rom 12:3 For I say, through the grace given unto me, to every man that is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think; but to think soberly, according as God hath dealt to every man the measure of faith.
Rom 12:4 For as we have many members in one body, and all members have not the same office:
Rom 12:5 So we, being many, are one body in Christ, and every one members one of another.

Far too often, those who come to see that physical tithing has been “done away” in Christ no longer see the need to offer anything to God. But as Rom 12 demonstrates, we are now to offer our entire lives as “a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is our reasonable service.”
That is the spiritual significance of tithing and that is the spiritual significance of the entire sacrificial system of ancient Israel, of which tithing was an integral part.
“Not thinking more highly of ourselves than we ought to think, but thinking soberly, according as God has dealt to every man the measure of faith,” we ought to be ministering to the body of Christ, in the office we are given. Not everyone is given the same office, but there is an office of service, a way of offering ourselves in service to Christ, for every member of the body of Christ. When we are given eyes to see who is Christ, then we will understand why Paul goes straight from the subject of offerings to the subject of the body of Christ, the various members of that body, and the various gifts which are given to the members of the body, with which to minister to the rest of the body. Here is how we are to tithe to God today. Here is how we are to “present our bodies as a living sacrifice unto God:”

Rom 12:6 Having then gifts differing according to the grace that is given to us, whether prophecy, let us prophesy according to the proportion of faith;
Rom 12:7 Or ministry, let us wait on our ministering: or he that teacheth, on teaching;
Rom 12:8 Or he that exhorteth, on exhortation: he that giveth, let him do it with simplicity; he that ruleth, with diligence; he that sheweth mercy, with cheerfulness.
Rom 12:9 Let love be without dissimulation. Abhor that which is evil; cleave to that which is good.
Rom 12:10 Be kindly affectioned one to another with brotherly love; in honour preferring one another;
Rom 12:11 Not slothful in business; fervent in spirit; serving the Lord;
Rom 12:12 Rejoicing in hope; patient in tribulation; continuing instant in prayer;
Rom 12:13 Distributing to the necessity of saints; given to hospitality.
Rom 12:14 Bless them which persecute you: bless, and curse not.
Rom 12:15 Rejoice with them that do rejoice, and weep with them that weep.
Rom 12:16 Be of the same mind one toward another. Mind not high things, but condescend to men of low estate. Be not wise in your own conceits.
Rom 12:17 Recompense to no man evil for evil. Provide things honest in the sight of all men.
Rom 12:18 If it be possible, as much as lieth in you, live peaceably with all men.
Rom 12:19 Dearly beloved, avenge not yourselves, but [ rather] give place unto wrath: for it is written, Vengeance [ is] mine; I will repay, saith the Lord.
Rom 12:20 Therefore if thine enemy hunger, feed him; if he thirst, give him drink: for in so doing thou shalt heap coals of fire on his head.
Rom 12:21 Be not overcome of evil, but overcome evil with good.

That is the spiritual significance of tithing.

I hope this has all helped you to see that tithing is but an integral part of the sacrificial system of ancient Israel, and was used to support the temple services which were offered in worship to God. That temple is now our own bodies, and the service to God with which we demonstrate our worship of God is no longer demonstrated with outward physical tithes or outward physical animal offerings. God is no longer interested in a mere physical tithe of the increase of our land. He now demands that we present our entire lives as a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is our reasonable service.

Your brother in Christ.
Mike

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