Is Tithing Taught in the New Testament?

Apostle Don Meares

Those who are faithful in tithing and giving offerings will see God move in spectacular and unusual ways in 2023. God’s purpose is to let us experience over and over again a hundredfold return. But we have to understand how to tithe correctly. It is a principle that will strengthen our relationship with God and bring blessings into our lives. 

In Genesis 15:9-19, God makes a blood covenant for Abraham. But in Genesis 17:7-14, He expands that covenant. He adds circumcision, later known as the sign and seal of the covenant. He says in Genesis 17:7

“And I will establish My covenant between Me and you and your descendants after you in their generations, for an everlasting covenant, to be God to you and your descendants after you.” 

What does the word “everlasting” mean? It means forever. This is the only covenant that God has ever made with mankind. Galatians 3:7-9 says, 

“Therefore know that only those who are of faith are sons of Abraham. 8 And the Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the gospel to Abraham beforehand, saying, “In you all the nations shall be blessed.” 9 So then those who are of faith are blessed with believing Abraham.”

It is also said in Galatians 3:26-29

Sons and Heirs

For you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus. 27 For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. 28 There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus. 29 And if you are Christ’s, then you are Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise.” 

If you have been born again, you are Abraham’s seed and heirs. Therefore, according to the promise, this everlasting covenant belongs to you.

1 Peter 2:5 also says: 

“you also, as living stones, are being built up a spiritual house, a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.”

Is Tithing Really for Us Today? 

Be diligent to present yourself approved to God, a worker who does not need to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.”2 Timothy 2:15

If you’re going to be approved by God, then the Scripture in Second Timothy tells us that you have to be a worker. There is something for you to learn,  study, and grasp. You must know how to divide the Word of Truth rightly. The Scripture in Second Timothy also tells us the importance of presenting God’s Truth in balance. And yet today, many major truths of God’s Word are being taken to extremes. One of the best examples is prosperity versus poverty. Many Christians are taught to take vows of poverty, claiming that it reveals the power of God. Their belief in these vows has led them to denounce money so they can freely follow Christ and not be under mammon. They are taught to take anything that deals with mammon away from their lives except the necessities. They believe that this is how God’s power will be revealed in their lives. Likewise, many teach that prosperity is determined by the amount of worldly possessions you have. Both views are taking the truth to extreme positions and are not balanced. There needs to be balance when it comes to poverty, prosperity, and handling material possessions. By definition, balance is the tension between two opposites. Imagine a weighing scale–to obtain balance, you have to put an equal amount of weight or tension on each side of the scale to obtain balance. 

Likewise, in the Scriptures and all major truths of God, like prayer, discipleship, salvation, faith, purpose, healing, and others, God will give us very strong positives and very strong negatives. For example, when ministering about salvation from a positive standpoint, we can talk about the love of God. But when teaching from a negative standpoint, the truth is that if a person does not accept Jesus, they will go to hell. It’s not an issue of whether you know who Jesus is and whether or not you believe what He has done for you. If you don’t accept Jesus as your Lord and Savior, you are going to hell. This is the negative. But there are some people who are built in such a way that they will respond greater to the negative than they will to the positive. 

Because we are the seed of Abraham, all of God’s promises are given to us. They are our inheritance. But you can only receive those promises through faith and patience. If you are not living a lifestyle of faith, you are out of God’s will for your life. You are living in sin because anything that is not of faith is sin. It’s not an “if.” If we’re going to be in the right relationship with God, we must live a lifestyle of faith, not just have faith occasionally for certain things but live a lifestyle of faith. The just shall live by faith (Romans 1:17). 

When it comes to healing, we can preach the positive: By His stripes we are healed (Isaiah 53:5). God has already healed you. It has been provided. It simply has to be accepted and received through faith, patience, and believing. But on the negative, we can also teach healing that a person who wavers in faith will not receive anything because of double-mindedness (James 1:6-7). If you waver, if you have unbelief, if you have doubt, if you have fear, it will kill your faith immediately. Every time God moves in any area of truth, He always gives us very strong positives and negatives. 

People who do not tithe or do not believe that tithing is for us today have tried it, and their testimony is that it didn’t work. And then they make this argument that tithing is under the law of Moses and not for us who are now under grace. This is why they believe that tithing is no longer for us today. Even for those who do believe in tithing, this may not work for them. Why would this happen? 

The reason is that they have never been taught about tithing in balance. They need to learn the positives and the negatives to divide the truth of tithing rightly. They either don’t know the truth, or they keep violating these truths, especially the negatives of tithing.

The Bible says, “My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge (Hosea 4:6).” You will not find many churches that teach anything about tithing because most preachers already know that the people don’t want to hear it. They don’t want you, in their opinion, to get into their money because that is their business and not the church’s business. But the fact is that Jesus had a lot to say about money. And so, when it comes to tithing, most preachers and teachers know nothing about what the Scripture teaches.

There’s also the principle that if we are hearers and not doers, then we’re never going to end up with any understanding or any kind of rightly dividing the truth and balance. Because if we hear and don’t do, we will walk in deception. A lot of people walk away in deception because they have never done what the Scripture teaches about tithing. They simply do not do what the Scripture tells us to do. 

Understanding the principle of tithing

The tithe principle was first showcased in the Garden of Eden when through the tree of the knowledge of Good and Evil, which fulfilled all the basic aspects of the principle of a tithe. This is also seen when Abel presented the firstborn of his flock and their fat portions (Genesis 4:4), when Abraham gave a tithe to Melchizedek not just for himself but for all of his men. We also see Moses developing a priesthood that involves tithing. In the Old Testament, tithing is also seen in Proverbs and of course, in the book of Malachi—a book that is written to the priesthood. 

In the Gospels, Jesus Himself taught tithing. He told the pharisees that they ought to tithe. He blesses it. In Matthew 21:12, Jesus cleansed the temple: 

 “Then Jesus went into the temple of God and drove out all those who bought and sold in the temple, and overturned the tables of the money changers and the seats of those who sold doves.”

Why was Jesus so angry? He was angry because those doing business in the temple were robbing God of His tithes and offerings by robbing the people. Deuteronomy 26 tells us that when you need to tithe, you need to bring it to the place where God places His Name. In their time, this was in the temple. Instead of carrying all the animals and harvest for the tithes and the offerings, they instead would sell it for money. Then, they would bring the money to the temple. The money changers gave the people less grain that they started with, which meant that they weren’t giving God less than a tenth. This is why Jesus said that they have made the house of God a den of robbers and thieves. 

Tithing is for us today. And if you don’t tithe, you have a broken covenant with God. Second, you also rob Him of the tithes and offerings—the part of your earnings that belongs to Him. And third, you have broken your priestly responsibilities by not paying your tithes to your High Priest—Jesus—to Whom God has placed His Name. Fourth, you have committed the sin of sacrilege. And fifth, you are an idol worshiper. 

With this last point, what makes a non-tither an idol worshiper? When you claim to follow God but refuse to tithe, you are worshiping the idol of your self-importance. You deny what God’s Word says to show yourself approved, a workman that knows how to rightly divide the Word of Truth. You have no balance. You are teaching what you want to believe and rationalize to make it happen instead of studying the Scripture. 

Lastly, when you don’t tithe, you bring a curse upon yourself because you disobey. You have execrated yourself. God did not bring the curse upon you. Your own actions have led you to this. 

Hebrews 7:7-8 (NIV) says: 

“And without doubt the lesser is blessed by the greater. In the one case, the tenth is collected by people who die; but in the other case, by him who is declared to be living.” 

When you die, or unless the rapture comes during your lifetime, you will leave Earth. Your tenth may be collected by people who die. But on the other hand, it will be collected by Him who is declared to be living—Jesus Christ. Jesus resurrected from the grave and He is alive forevermore. 

Let us read again Hebrews 7:7-8 in the New King James Version: 

“Now beyond all contradiction the lesser is blessed by the better. 8 Here mortal men receive tithes, but there he receives them, of whom it is witnessed that he lives.”

Jesus Christ has been picked by God Himself as His High Priest. God makes an oath. He will not relent. Jesus is the High Priest after the order of Melchizedek. This means, our tithes are collected by mortal men, but they are paid by faith to Jesus Christ—the High Priest. As we pay our tithes by faith to Jesus Christ, we are still to do it in a place where He has placed His Name. 

Tithing, while it was first introduced in the Old Testament, it was endorsed by Jesus in the New Testament. It is also effective even under the new covenant. When you tithe, you can eat of it in the presence of God. You can speak to God and worship Him, as you offer the tenth of your earnings. Bringing the tithes allows us to worship God on His terms. And in turn, we will reap the benefits of our obedience. When we follow this principle and stand in faith, God will bless us. We will truly experience a hundredfold increase. 

Learn more about the principles of tithing from Apostle Don Meares. 

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