Tithe: An Ordinance for all Dispensations?
Shouldn’t the practice of tithing be for all dispensations because it predated the Law of Moses? Not only did Abraham tithe, but his grandson Jacob did also.
This is a dangerous line of argument to take for three reasons. There are customs that predate the Law and are even reflected in the Law but discarded in the New Testament (NT). Secondly, the Bible records that Abraham paid tithe from the spoils of war; this does not necessarily suggest that it was a regular habit. Thirdly, if we are to adopt every practice of the patriarchs, are you suggesting that we also practice surrogate motherhood, where a wife gives her house-help to the husband for the purpose of childbearing? Sarai used Hagar, her servant, as a surrogate. Ditto Jacob’s wives.
Raising children for dead relatives was another custom prevalent in the OT. If a man died childless his brother was to take his wife, and the children produced by this second marriage were considered as the children of the first husband, who in consequence could inherit his possessions (Gen 38:8-11). It predated the Law and was incorporated into the Law (Deuteronomy 25:5-10). Should we adopt it in the NT simply because it was a practice predating the Law? Certainly not.
Physical circumcision, the removal of all or part of the foreskin from the penis, instituted by God as a sign of His covenant with Abraham, was a sign that marked out the Jews as God’s. It was instituted before the law, codified in the Law but jettisoned in the NT: For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision has any value. The only thing that counts is faith expressing itself through love (Galatians 5:6 ANIV).
What separates us today unto God is the circumcision of our hearts, the replacement of our stony hearts with that of flesh. Our neighbours, colleagues and friends should see our conduct and observe our carriage and realize we have been with Jesus as was said of Peter and John in Acts chapter 4.
God modelled the observance of the Sabbath as day of rest by resting on the seventh day from all his work and blessed and made it holy (Genesis 2:2-3). It was also integrated into the Mosaic code. People were in fact put to death for working on the Sabbath. But in the NT: ‘Don’t let anyone condemn you… for not celebrating certain holy days or Sabbaths. For these rules are only shadows of the reality yet to come. Christ himself is that reality (Colossians 2:16-17 NLT). Romans 14:5 (NJB) declares: One person thinks that some days are holier than others, and another thinks them all equal. Let each of them be fully convinced in his own mind. The NT emphasises the principle of rest; this in fact is the precursor of the practice of taking holidays (holy days).
Tithe, like many prescriptive OT practices, was allowed because the people were spiritually dead and had to be ruled from outside, so the Law had to be very detailed. However, on this side of the Cross, we are inside ruled, with a far greater sense of personal responsibility. And so, concerning the present matter, ‘each one of us should give as he has been blessed (1 Corinthians 16:2). Period!
================================
First published on 21 June 2009 in my Making Sense of Life column in The Nation on Sunday, a major Nigerian newspaper.
