Should the Church Teach Tithing?
A Theologian’s Conclusions about a Taboo Doctrine
Russell Earl Kelly, PHD
Wycliffe Bible Dictionary of Theology (tithing)
Everett F. harrison, BAPTIST THEOLOGIAN editor
Geoffrey W. Bromiley BAPTIST THEOLOGIAN editor
Carl F. Henry, BAPTIST THEOLOGIAN editor
“tithes”, page 525
Orig. Baker’s Dictionary, 1960 (Peabody: Hendrickson, 1999), s.v. “tithe.”
Significantly the tithe is not mentioned as part of the restored temple in Ezekiel’s vision (Eze 40 to 48).
The NT is all but silent on the tithe. Jesus rebuked the Pharisees for their legalistic observance of it (Lk 18:9-14) and for their placing it above justice and the love of God (Mt 23:23). A final reference in Hebrews 7:2-9 (citing Abraham’s tithe to Melchizedek) concludes what the NT says on the busject.
“The silence of the N.T. writers, particularly Paul, regarding the present validity of the tithe can be explained only on the ground that the dispensation of grace has no more place for a law of tithing than it has for a law on circumcision.” (STCTT, P 173)
The principles of Christian giving are clearly set forth in the epistles to the Corinthian church (1 Cor 16:1, 2; 2 Cor 8-9). They do not exclude the tithe as a convenient basis for proportionate giving, nor do they limit one to the tithe.
THE SPREADING FLAME
F. F. Bruce, 1958, p192
Pious, Bishop of the Roman church towards the middle of the second century, if not a slave himself, was at any rate the brother of a slave, and Callistus bishop of the same church in the early part of the third-century was an ex slave. (STCTT, P258)
NOte by Russell Kelly: It is highly unlikely that slaves would be supported by church tithes.
PAUL, APOSTLE OF THE HEART SET FREE
Erdmann’s, 1977, p46
F F BRUCE
The (Pharisees) scrupulously tithed the produce of the soil –not only grain, wine and oil but garden herbs as well– and refused to eat food that was subject to the tithe unless the tithe had actually been paid on it.