The Tithe Conversion (Part 1)

by John Holler

The Teaching Snare

And he said also unto his disciples, There was a certain rich man, which had a steward; and the same was accused unto him that he had wasted his goods. And he called him, and said unto him, How is it that I hear this of thee? give an account of thy stewardship; for thou mayest be no longer steward. Then the steward said within himself, What shall I do? for my lord taketh away from me the stewardship: I cannot dig; to beg I am ashamed. I am resolved what to do, that, when I am put out of the stewardship, they may receive me into their houses. So he called every one of his lord’s debtors [unto him], and said unto the first, How much owest thou unto my lord? And he said, An hundred measures of oil. And he said unto him, Take thy bill, and sit down quickly, and write fifty. Then said he to another, And how much owest thou? And he said, An hundred measures of wheat. And he said unto him, Take thy bill, and write fourscore.

Luke 16:1-7

In recent years, the teaching that tithes stopped in the New Testament has arisen, which has captivated people’s imaginations and subjected their souls to bondage and delusion. This teaching has arisen from unjust servants of the Master, who, having been stripped of the position of a righteous servant of God, are unfaithful stewards of the Word of God and of His house. These false teachers seek to lessen the requirements of the Word to preserve their livelihood and win a following. They are incapable of honest work and are too proud to ask for truth or charity, and so, seek to win favor by manipulating and diminishing the requirements of the Gospel. These are false witnesses who cannot rightly divide the Word of God because the Word of Truth is not in them. The following pages proves that tithes and offerings are not only in, but are perfected in the New Testament. To perceive this, we must first understand a few principles.

Jesus Fulfills the Law

Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil. For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled. Whosoever therefore shall break one of these least commandments, and shall teach men so, he shall be called the least in the kingdom of heaven: but whosoever shall do and teach [them], the same shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven. For I say unto you, That except your righteousness shall exceed [the righteousness] of the scribes and Pharisees, ye shall in no case enter into the kingdom of heaven.

Matthew 5:17-20

To say that Jesus “did away” with the Old Testament is contrary to the very words of Jesus Christ. The assertion that the Old Testament does not apply to the New Testament is not a new teaching. This heresy has weaved itself through the church under different names for centuries. The basic teaching is that the New Testament is without law; even, in opposition to the law. It is this fallacy which leads people to preach that, since tithing is in the Old Testament, it does not apply to the New. To make such an assertion is ludicrous. They might as well say that fornication (a practice prohibited in the Old Testament) is permissible in the New. That is, in fact, the very reasoning that has led to the rampant and vile acceptance of the heinous practices, such as homosexuality, gay marriage, cross-dressing, and many others, adopted by many churches and denominations. No one can pick and choose what does or does not apply. If you remove one requirement, you violate the integrity of them all and destroy the authority of God’s Word. But here, Jesus says, very plainly, that He is not destroying the law or the prophets. He is fulfilling them. He is doing, perfectly, what the law and the prophets require because the law and the prophets spoke the perfect will of God. The Old Testament law and prophets were an expression and an illustration of the nature of God. The flaw in the Old Testament was not the law. It was the weakness and carnality of man.

[There is] therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death. For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh: That the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. For they that are after the flesh do mind the things of the flesh; but they that are after the Spirit the things of the Spirit. For to be carnally minded [is] death; but to be spiritually minded [is] life and peace. Because the carnal mind [is] enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be. So then they that are in the flesh cannot please God.

Romans 8:1-8

The problem was never the law. The law is perfect (Psalm 19:7). The carnality and weakness of the flesh were the problem. It was sin, in man, which made it impossible to fulfill the law. That is what Jesus came to fix - not the law; rather, the man who could not fulfill the law. In Christ, God did away with the weakness of sinful flesh by crucifying it on the cross so that it could no longer separate and impede His people from fulfilling the righteousness of the law.

This was the problem. Though mankind was able to practice the behaviors outlined in the law, the sinful nature polluted every action with selfish desires and wicked motives. The righteous, lawful acts were insufficient because the nature of man was insufficient. Christ came to set us free, not from the law, in the sense of the righteous actions, but from the “law of sin and death.” He came to set us free from the nature of sin which polluted the actions so that the “righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us.”