Is it still important for Christians to tithe?
There is no doubt that the powerful truth taught by God in the book of Malachi still rings true today:
“‘Will a man rob God? Yet you have robbed Me! But you say, “In what way have we robbed You?” In tithes and offerings. You are cursed with a curse, for you have robbed Me, even this whole nation. Bring all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be food in My house, and try Me now in this,’ says the Lord of hosts, ‘If I will not open for you the windows of heaven and pour out for you such blessing that there will not be room enough to receive it.’” Malachi 3:8–10
The King of the Universe asks a powerful question: “Will a man rob God?” When we do not faithfully return the tithes and offerings that belong to Him, it is the same as stealing from the Master. Some will say that tithing is an Old Testament, Jewish practice—therefore not required by Christians in the New Testament. However, there are a number of New Testament texts that encourage believers to follow this God-blessed practice. Jesus implicitly promoted returning to God that which is His, when He was asked about taxes:
“‘Tell us, therefore, what do You think? Is it lawful to pay taxes to Caesar, or not?’ …And He said to them, ‘Render therefore to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s.’” Matthew 22:17, 21
The fact that Jesus said to give to God “the things that are God’s” is a clear reference to Malachi 3:8–10. Also, the question was about returning money, and in this case, sending taxes to Rome. If we are bound to return money to the governments of this world, how much more should we return to God His tithe?
Here is another verse where Jesus encourages returning tithe while rebuking the legalistic Pharisees:
“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you pay tithe of mint and anise and cummin, and have neglected the weightier matters of the law: justice and mercy and faith. These you ought to have done, without leaving the others undone.” Matthew 23:23
This is the only time in the New Testament that Jesus directly references tithing. As He rebukes the Pharisees, Jesus makes it clear that along with everything else—they shouldn’t leave tithing “undone.”
“And He looked up and saw the rich putting their gifts into the treasury, He saw also a certain poor widow putting in two mites. So He said, ‘Truly I say to you that this poor widow has put in more than all; for all these out of their abundance have put in offerings for God, but she out of her poverty put in all the livelihood that she had.’” Luke 21:1–4
Notice that in this particular story—as well as others—Jesus could have declared it unnecessary to return any money to the treasury of the house of God. However, on the contrary, He commends the widow for her faith in returning all she had. Jesus could have also told the widow and everyone else to avoid giving to a church with a bunch of corrupt leaders, but He praised her, instead, for her faithful stewardship.
These are just a few examples where we see Jesus promoting the idea of returning unto God what is His. The Bible records that both Abraham and Jacob tithed, and they lived well before Moses and the establishment of the Jewish nation.
Tithing is as important today as it was in Bible days. In fact, Paul refers to it in both of his epistles to the Corinthians:
“Now concerning the collection for the saints, as I have given orders to the churches of Galatia, so you must do also: on the first day of the week let each one of you lay something aside, storing up as he may prosper, that there be no collections when I come.” 1 Corinthians 16:1–2
Here Paul refers to the principle of tithe, which is based upon our increase, or how God has prospered us. Paul was taking up collections from the new believers to be delivered to Jerusalem, the church headquarters, and distributed as God directed. His admonition in 2 Corinthians 9 was a New Testament version of Malachi 3, encouraging the church to sow bountifully in support of ministry, expecting God to “multiply your seed sown.”
Again, in 1 Corinthians 9:14, Paul explicitly says, “Even so the Lord has commanded that those who preach the gospel should live from the gospel.” The entire chapter is an eloquent argument in support of returning tithe to God for the support of His ministers. Yet Paul insists he will not use this biblical “power” lest his motives for preaching the gospel be misunderstood. Therefore, while upholding the biblical teaching of returning tithe for the support of the ministry, Paul preaches the gospel “without charge” (1 Corinthians 9:18).
The bottom line regarding returning our tithe to God for the support of the gospel is that everything is God’s, and therefore, we should desire to faithfully return the blessings He has bestowed upon us. He gives us 100 percent and only asks us to reinvest 10 percent back into His treasury. He even dares us to test Him to see the incredible blessings He will pour out upon us if we are faithful stewards (Malachi 3:10).
God knows what He is doing. Trust Him today, and watch Him bless you more with that 90 percent than you could ever imagine!