WHILE tithing was not specifically taught by our Lord, it was a part of God's
law for His people Israel which He recognized. He uttered a woe upon the Pharisees, not
because they were so punctilious as to tithe mint and rue, but because they passed by
judgment and the love of God (Luke 11:42). So long as the Levites officiated for Jehovah,
so long it was necessary to support them with tithes. Among believing Israelites during
the period of Acts this necessity continued, until, at the end of the book, Israel is set
aside.
Tithing was never laid upon the nations. When some of the Pharisees insisted
that they must be circumcised and keep the law of Moses, the apostles and elders decided
otherwise and made a decree which did not include tithing (Acts 15:5,19,20), declaring
that they were not to be harassed in any other way. This shows clearly that, even in
the Acts era, the gentiles were not tithed.
Whatever the law is saying it is speaking to those under the law (Rom.3:19). We
are not under law, but under grace (Rom.6:15). Were we under the law of tithing we would
be accursed if we should not obey (Gal.3:10). If we have been under law (as Paul had
been), Christ reclaims us out of the curse of the law, becoming a curse for our sakes.
God is loving a gleeful giver (2 Cor.9:7). The ecclesias of Macedonia did not
tithe, but the superabundance of their joy and the depth of their poverty superabounded to
the riches of their generosity, so that they gave beyond their ability, of their own
accord, first giving themselves to the Lord (2 Cor. 8:2-5). We pity anyone who finds
relief in the fact that tithing is not laid upon us. The believer today who does not give
a tenth from the heart is utterly unworthy of the grace which has been lavished upon him.
Let all who do not gladly give more examine their own hearts before the Lord.
