Blog : "No Laughing Matter"

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10/6/2008 1:02 am

"No Laughing Matter"

Paul Anderson-Walsh

"No Laughing Matter"

It was not until a recent visit to my barbers shop that I realized the full extent of the problem . it was not so much the now relentless advance of grey hair that disturbed me as it was the "hair-raising" conversation with the barber. We had been idly chatting about careers when he said, "You're a pastor, aren't you?", his genial but somewhat loaded opening remark. My normal barber was away. "Yes," I said with more than my usual note of caution. I could sense something coming but thought that any pre-qualification as to the errant concept of pastors versus the priesthood of believers would probably be a waste of time. "Hey, now that is a good business - there's real money to be made there!" Although he was a non-Christian, he went on to cite various tele-evangelists who were, by their own admission (nay, boast), "Rich." I squirmed . and sensing my discomfort, he pressed home the advantage by regaling me with one lurid story after another that he had seen on "Christian television", so-called. It was truly awful. He had seen it all - "the Profits of God" masquerading as Prophets from God. Of course, my unsaved barber does not have the whole story but he has seen something and he, if you will, "Named it and shamed it!"

In this article, I am not going to state the obvious about much of what is portrayed on TV as I told the barber that those who teach "godliness as a means to financial gain" have perverted the Gospel. Instead, I want to address an equally insidious problem which is - the question of insisting that we, who are free from the law, are under the law of tithing.

Let us begin with the basic question that we are asked time and time again - namely, "Is tithing for today?" Let me stress two things:

1. What is not at issue is whether a Christian should or should not give but rather, how we should give, now that we are under grace and free from the Law;

2. Our experience is that tithing is the tip of the legalism iceberg.

Tithing is a highly sensitive issue and I believe it is not that the current emphasis on tithing is robbing us of God. The insistence that tithing was to be commuted into the New Covenant hangs by the slenderest thread. It is argued that "tithing is for today because Abraham [the father of all who believe] paid tithes before the law." The reason the case is so precariously balanced is that there is only one reference to tithing in the entire New Covenant writings.

There is only one reference to tithing in the entire New Covenant writings

The rationale for the tithing argument goes something like this:
1. Abraham is the father of all who believe;
2. Abraham paid tithes;
3. Abraham paid the tithe before the law was introduced;
4. Tithing is pre-law and therefore, is still applicable.

In response, we make the following observations:

1. If Abraham provides the paradigm for tithing, then we may also assume that the tithe is a one-off and is paid from the spoils of war;

2. If the pre-law argument validates tithing, why do the same people not argue with equal alacrity that circumcision is a New Covenant requirement.?

The initial question that I want to explore concerns our motivation for "giving." The following may simply be a commentary on my heart and not representative of the Christian community and I trust that you will not find me unduly cynical. However, my experience is that most Christians give for one of two reasons and neither is very honourable:

1. Insurance : God will get me if I don't
2. Investment : God will bless me if I do

Therefore, we say that tithing for many a Christian, whether consciously or unconsciously, serves as their divine fire insurance premiums.

Perhaps now I am parodying the point but it seems to me at least that what we are doing in the main is on the one hand, we are paying God protection money to leave us alone and on the other hand, we are investing into the Kingdom with a view to maximizing our returns. We are seeking to protect and/or increase our asset base. What we are not doing is GIVING without any expectation of reward other than the reward of giving.

We give for one of two reasons - God will get me if don't and He will bless me if I do

Does the Hebrews text support the argument for tithing?

Even the most cursory consideration of Hebrews casts doubt on the tithing argument. To begin with, Abraham's "tithe" to Melchizedek betrays a fundamentally different spirit - notice that Abraham refused any gift in return from Melchizedek. He wanted nothing and thus, at the material level, he had want for nothing. To state our position more clearly, we are disturbed by the suggestion promoted by the legalistic linearity that giving can be employed as a mechanism for receiving. Moreover, we are intrigued that nobody, to our knowledge, has ever taught tithing without any anticipation of receiving in return. As one man once quipped, "If the only guarantee that I could give you was that if you tithe, you will have 10% less than you had before, would you still tithe?"

If the only guarantee that I could give you was that after paying your tithe, you would have 10% less money than before you gave it - would you still give?

Robbing God?

There can be few verses that are better known or more misapplied than these: Mal. 3:8-10

"Will a man rob God? Yet, you are robbing me- the whole nation of you. But you say, "How are we robbing God?" In your tithes and offerings! You are cursed with a curse, for you are robbing me - the whole nation of you. Bring the full tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house, and thus put me to the test says the Lord of Hosts; see if I will not open the windows of heaven for you and pour down an overflowing blessing."

A Response to Malachi

As with all Scripture, the book must be firstly seen within its historical and cultural setting and context.
1. To whom are Malachi's comments addressed?

2. Can you think of a verse in Scripture that addresses you, a Christian, as a of Jacob?

3. Under what Covenant was God speaking to Israel - the Old or the New?

4. True or false - Under the New Covenant, God will curse you if you do not tithe.

5. We do not dispute that Malachi 3 is inspired. We simply ask that the New Covenant reader interprets this and all other Old Covenant verses through a New Covenant lens.

Israel's Tithing System

We cannot stress too strongly the importance of interpreting Scripture in context. By the simple expedience of beginning the text two verses earlier, we can see how dramatically that alters one's perception. For example, in the New Testament, there is a verse that every Christian in the world knows - it is from Paul's letter to the church in Philippi and he writes, "Work out your salvation in fear and trembling," I imagine that most Christians are familiar with this verse but how many can complete the sentence . "for it is God that is at work within you to will and to do." [Phil. 2:12-13]

Now, if it is true that we have to be careful to set verses in their context, it is imperative that we also set the text into its historical and cultural context. In order to see these verses in their proper light, we must first ask the question - Under what Covenant was Malachi writing, the Old or the New? Quite clearly, Malachi is both Old Testament and Old Covenant. Therefore, any exposition and contemporary application needs to take that into account.

Unlike the New Covenant where we are a "Priesthood of Believers," in the Old Covenant was a "Priest-class" - a specific tribe designated as Priests and this was the tribe of Levi. The Levitical Priesthood, as it was known, is the concern of the Malachi passage. The over-arching argument of Hebrews is that the Priesthood of Jesus is better than the Levitical Priesthood. The writer to the Hebrews insists that:

1. The Levitical Priesthood was inferior to the priesthood of Melchizedek;
2. The Levitical order is both outclassed and replaced by the new order and has become redunda