Will a Man Rob God?

What is this page about?

The teaching on this page says three things:

1. Every Christian must give one tenth.
2. It must go to his own church. The church is God’s “storehouse.”
3. Poor people get help only from what he gives after the tenth.

The man who writes this site wanted to check these three things against the Bible and against the history of the Church.

This page is not against giving a tenth. If you want to give a tenth to your church, or more, that is good. This page is not saying churches do not need money. Pastors must be paid. This page does not name any living person.

Six points

1. The old tithe was food, and some of it was for poor people. Every third year, the tithe stayed in the town for widows, orphans and strangers.
2. Malachi’s storehouse was a room at the temple in Jerusalem. It was not a church today.
3. Jesus talked about the tithe to people who lived under the law of Moses. He said mercy was more important.
4. The New Testament never says “ten per cent.” It says: give as much as you are able, and give gladly.
5. The first Christians gave freely, and they used the money for poor people.
6. Pay your pastor. Help the poor. Do not make the poor wait. No Bible verse says the poor must wait.

The other side is not silly

People who teach the tithe have real reasons. Here are some:

• Abraham gave a tenth to a priest called Melchizedek. This was long before the law of Moses (Genesis 14:20).
• Jesus said the Pharisees should tithe. He said, “you ought to have done these” (Matthew 23:23).
• Paul said pastors should be paid, like the workers at the temple (1 Corinthians 9:13–14).
• Some Christian teachers long ago said Christians should give at least a tenth.
• Churches need money. Many churches help poor people with their money.

These things are true. But when we read each one carefully, it says less than people think. Abraham gave a tenth of things taken in a war. He did it once. Then he gave all the rest away (Genesis 14:21–24). Jesus spoke to people who lived under the law of Moses, before he died on the cross. Paul said pastors should be paid, but he did not say how much. And Paul himself chose not to take money, so that nobody could say he preached for money (1 Corinthians 9:12).

What was the tithe in the Old Testament?

In the law of Moses, the tithe was a tenth of crops and animals: grain, wine, oil, fruit, cows and sheep. It was not a tenth of money from a job.

The tithe had three uses:

• For the Levites. The Levites worked at God’s house. They had no land to farm. So the tithe was their food (Numbers 18:21).
• For a family meal. Part of the tithe was eaten by the family. They took it to God’s house and had a happy meal together before God (Deuteronomy 14:22–27).
• For poor people. Every third year, the tithe stayed in the town. Widows, orphans and strangers came and ate it.

At the end of every three years you shall bring all the tithe of your increase in the same year, and shall store it within your gates. The Levite, because he has no portion nor inheritance with you, as well as the foreigner living among you, the fatherless, and the widow who are within your gates shall come, and shall eat and be satisfied; that Yahweh your God may bless you in all the work of your hand which you do.

Deuteronomy 14:28–29 · World English Bible

In simple words: Every third year, keep the tithe in your town. The Levites, the strangers, the children with no father, and the widows will come and eat until they are full.

What does Malachi mean?

People often read these words from Malachi:

Will a man rob God? Yet you rob me! But you say, ‘How have we robbed you?’ In tithes and offerings. You are cursed with the curse; for you rob me, even this whole nation. Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house, and test me now in this,” says Yahweh of Armies, “if I will not open you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing, that there will not be room enough for.

Malachi 3:8–10 · World English Bible

In simple words: The whole nation of Israel has stopped giving the tithe. Bring the food to the temple storerooms, so the temple workers can eat. Then God will send rain and good harvests.

Look carefully at four things.

1. The storehouse was a set of rooms at the temple in Jerusalem. They kept food there for the Levites. In another book of the same time, Nehemiah says the rooms were empty, so the Levites had to leave and go back to their farms to get food (Nehemiah 13:10).
2. God was speaking to the whole nation of Israel. He was also angry with the priests.
3. The blessing was about farms. “The windows of heaven” means rain. God promised rain and good crops in the land of Israel.
4. Just before this, God talks about poor people. He says he will judge people who cheat workers of their pay and who hurt widows, orphans and strangers (Malachi 3:5).

What about the curse? The New Testament says: “Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law, having become a curse for us” (Galatians 3:13). The New Testament never says a Christian is cursed for giving too little.

What did Jesus say?

Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you tithe mint, dill, and cumin, and have left undone the weightier matters of the law: justice, mercy, and faith. But you ought to have done these, and not to have left the other undone.

Matthew 23:23 · World English Bible

In simple words: You give a tenth of your little garden plants. But you forget the most important things: being fair, being kind, and being faithful.

Jesus said the Pharisees should tithe. But he was talking to people who lived under the law of Moses. And the main point of his words is this: kindness is more important than the tithe.

Jesus told another story. A Pharisee prayed: “I give tithes of all that I get.” But God did not accept him. God accepted a sinner who asked for mercy (Luke 18:9–14).

One day Jesus watched people giving money at the temple. A poor widow gave two very small coins. Jesus said she gave more than all the rich people, because she gave everything she had. But just before this, Jesus warned about religious teachers who “devour widows’ houses.” This means: they take everything from poor widows (Mark 12:40–44).

The writer of this site asks: is “the church first, the poor later” a little like Corban? It is not the same. But in both, a gift for God is used as a reason to make people in need wait.

What does the New Testament teach?

The New Testament talks about giving many times. It never says “ten per cent.” Instead it says:

• Give regularly, as God has given to you (1 Corinthians 16:2).
• Give according to what you have (2 Corinthians 8:12).
• Give what you decide in your heart, gladly (2 Corinthians 9:7).

Let each man give according as he has determined in his heart, not grudgingly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.

2 Corinthians 9:7 · World English Bible

In simple words: Decide in your heart what to give. Do not give sadly. Do not give because someone forces you. God loves a happy giver.

The first time the Bible tells Christians to put money aside every Sunday, the money was for poor Christians in Jerusalem (1 Corinthians 16:1–2; Romans 15:26).

Why no number? Paul says: “I speak not by commandment” (2 Corinthians 8:8). He wants giving to come from love. He points to Jesus:

For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, that you through his poverty might become rich.

2 Corinthians 8:9 · World English Bible

In simple words: Jesus was rich, but he became poor for us. He gave us everything. This is why we give.

This does not mean giving less. Some poor churches gave more than they were able (2 Corinthians 8:3). The first Christians sold things and gave to everyone who was in need (Acts 2:45).

Where does the Bible put poor people?

The Bible puts poor people at the centre, not at the back of the line.

Pure religion and undefiled before our God and Father is this: to visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unstained by the world.

James 1:27 · World English Bible

In simple words: True religion is this: help children with no parents and widows when they are in trouble, and stay clean from the evil in the world.

But whoever has the world’s goods and sees his brother in need, then closes his heart of compassion against him, how does God’s love remain in him?

1 John 3:17 · World English Bible

In simple words: If you have enough, and you see a brother in need, and you do not help him, how can God’s love be in you?

When the apostles in Jerusalem sent Paul to the non-Jewish nations, they asked him for one thing: “They only asked us to remember the poor” (Galatians 2:10).

Pastors must also be paid. Paul says, “The laborer is worthy of his wages” (1 Timothy 5:18). But no verse says: pay the church first, and the poor after.

Being honest with money

Paul collected money for the poor. He was very careful. The churches chose people to carry the money with him. Paul said he did this so that nobody could think he took any of it. He wanted to be honest “in the sight of the Lord” and also “in the sight of men” (2 Corinthians 8:19–21).

Church leaders must not love money (1 Timothy 3:3). They must not lead the church to get money for themselves (1 Peter 5:2).

What did Christians do in history?

• About AD 100. An early Christian book called the Didache says: give the first part of what you get to the church’s teachers. If there is no teacher, give it to the poor. It does not say “a tenth.”
• About AD 155. A Christian called Justin wrote that every Sunday, people who had money and wanted to give, gave what they chose. The money helped orphans, widows, sick people, people in prison, and strangers.
• AD 197. A Christian called Tertullian wrote: “there is no compulsion; all is voluntary.” This means nobody was forced to give. The money helped poor people, orphans, old people and prisoners.
• Later. Some Christian teachers said Christians should give at least a tenth. But they said a tenth is “but little” (only a little). One old book of church rules says: give the tenth “to the orphan, and to the widow, and to the poor, and to the stranger.”
• From about AD 475. Church money was divided into four parts. One part was for the poor.
• AD 585. A church meeting in France made the tithe a law. But it said the tithe was for the poor and for freeing prisoners. Later, kings made the tithe a tax. In England, the tithe tax lasted until 1977.
• 1523 and 1525. Martin Luther said Christians do not have to keep the law of Moses. One German town put all its church money in one box. From that box it paid the pastor, the school, and the poor.
• From the 1870s. In America, some people taught that the local church is “the storehouse.” This idea is new. Today, at least one church group has it in its rules. Many other churches do not name any number.

What this page does not say

• It does not say tithing is wrong.
• It does not say you should give less.
• It does not say churches do not need money, or that pastors should not be paid.
• It does not say that churches who teach the tithe are bad. Many of them help poor people a lot.

It says only this: the Bible gives no number, the local church is not Malachi’s storehouse, and the Bible never tells the poor to wait.

Read it yourself

1. Read Deuteronomy 14:22–29. Who eats the tithe?
2. Read Malachi 3:5–10. Who does God care about in verse 5?
3. Read 2 Corinthians 9:6–9. How should we give?
4. Read James 1:27. What is “pure religion”?
5. Think about what you gave last year. Did any of it help widows, orphans or strangers?