Does The Tithe Apply To Christians Today?

Tim Challies with some good thoughts:

So what do we do with the tithe? Does God tell us today that we need to continue giving 10%? Well, that isn’t ever expressed clearly in the New Testament. The tithe is never reaffirmed and it is never canceled. But what is clear is that all of the New Testament laws were not lowered but heightened after Christ. The Old Testament warned against adultery; Jesus warned against a lustful glance. The Old Testament warned against murder; Jesus warned against even a hate-filled thought. Those Old Testament laws were a starting point to a much greater kind of obedience. Out of obedience to Christ and because of what Christ has done, the stakes have all been raised.

This makes it sound to me like that 10% is a mere starting point. Because there is not a clear command we need to use wisdom and we need to heed conscience, but I can’t imagine any way that Christ would have lowered the bar. In an age of law, 10% was simple obedience. In this age of grace, priceless grace, how could we say, “I now have freedom in Christ to give nothing,” or “I have freedom in Christ to give what’s left at the end of the month or what’s left in my pocket at the end of the week.” So I would encourage you to think of 10% as a kind of baseline and go from there.

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