What is tithe?

According to Webster 1828, the word tithe is the tenth part of any thing; but appropriately, the tenth part of the increase annually arising from the profits of land and stock, allotted to the clergy for their support. Tithes are personal, predial, or mixed; personal, when accruing from labor, art, trade and navigation; predial, when issuing from the earth, as hay, wood and fruit; and mixed, when accruing from beasts, which are fed from the ground.

The first mention of tithe in the Bible is in the following verse:

Genesis 14:20 “And blessed be the most high God, which hath delivered thine enemies into thy hand. And he gave him tithes of all.”

Abraham paid tithes to Melchisedec.

What is the difference between paying tithes and offerings?

The tithing system is more for Old Testament Jews. Protestant churches today focus on churchgoers to pay tithes of a minimum of 10% of their taxable income or total income. Church leaders may be enforcing tithes for church membership, but none of these are according to the scriptures.

Offerings are instead out of the heart (that’s why it’s called freewill offerings), as “God loves a cheerful giver.” Christians in the New Testament and in this age are exhorted to give willingly and out of their hearts, and that amount should exceed 10%.

Different Names Of Giving

The Bible has different terms for giving, including but not limited to tithe.

  1. ‘grace’ = giving of money

    2 Corinthians 8:7 “Therefore, as ye abound in every thing, in faith, and utterance, and knowledge, and in all diligence, and in your love to us, see that ye abound in this grace also.”

  2. Grace is likened to power

    When we give money to the church, whether it’s $1 or $100, we’re doing a great service to the Lord.

    2 Corinthians 8:3 “For to their power, I bear record, yea, and beyond their power they were willing of themselves;”

  3. Collection

    1 Corinthians 16:1-3 “Now concerning the collection for the saints, as I have given order to the churches of Galatia, even so do ye. Upon the first day of the week let every one of you lay by him in store, as God hath prospered him, that there be no gatherings when I come. And when I come, whomsoever ye shall approve by your letters, them will I send to bring your liberality unto Jerusalem.”

  4. Offering

    Luke 21:1-4 “And he looked up, and saw the rich men casting their gifts into the treasury. And he saw also a certain poor widow casting in thither two mites. And he said, Of a truth I say unto you, that this poor widow hath cast in more than they all: For all these have of their abundance cast in unto the offerings of God: but she of her penury hath cast in all the living that she had.”

  5. Tithes: means 1/10 or one tenth of our income

    Malachi 3:8 “Will a man rob God? Yet ye have robbed me. But ye say, Wherein have we robbed thee? In tithes and offerings.”

    Tithes are something that came up a lot in the Old testament law and for the Jews.

How Often To Give (Tithe/Offering) to God

  1. Weekly

    1 Corinthians 16:2 “Upon the first day of the week let every one of you lay by him in store, as God hath prospered him, that there be no gatherings when I come.”

  2. Individually

    1 Corinthians 16:2 “Upon the first day of the week let every one of you lay by him in store, as God hath prospered him, that there be no gatherings when I come.”

  3. Proportionately

    We can give as much as the Lord has given to us.

    1 Corinthians 16:2 “Upon the first day of the week let every one of you lay by him in store, as God hath prospered him, that there be no gatherings when I come.”

    The least amount which we believe in giving is a tithe (1/10). It’s fine if we want to give more or to give less, God is understandable about how much money we’re earning

  4. Cheerfully

    When we give to the Lord, we’re supposed to give with all our hearts, with happiness. If we give with a complaining or unhappy heart, the Lord does not want our money.

    2 Corinthians 9:7 “Every man according as he purposeth in his heart, so let him give; not grudgingly, or of necessity: for God loveth a cheerful giver.”

  5. Sacrificially

    The idea is that when we’re giving to the Lord and that’s not much of a sacrifice even though we’re giving a tenth to the Lord, then that means we should give more.

    2 Corinthians 8:2 “How that in a great trial of affliction the abundance of their joy and their deep poverty abounded unto the riches of their liberality.”
    Luke 21:1-4 “And he looked up, and saw the rich men casting their gifts into the treasury. And he saw also a certain poor widow casting in thither two mites. And he said, Of a truth I say unto you, that this poor widow hath cast in more than they all: For all these have of their abundance cast in unto the offerings of God: but she of her penury hath cast in all the living that she had.”

Rewards Of Giving

  1. God will always give us back

    This passage is doctrinally for Old Testament Jews but we can devotional and spiritually learn from this passage.
    ‘tithes’ here refers to meat (Lev 27:32)

    Malachi 3:8-10 “Will a man rob God? Yet ye have robbed me. But ye say, Wherein have we robbed thee? In tithes and offerings. Ye are cursed with a curse: for ye have robbed me, even this whole nation. Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be meat in mine house, and prove me now herewith, saith the LORD of hosts, if I will not open you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it.”

    The lesson to learn from this passage is to test God out by our giving. God will give us back. It does not mean that God will give us blessings of wealth.

  2. Give to God and God will also give to us in return

    Luke 6:38 “Give, and it shall be given unto you; good measure, pressed down, and shaken together, and running over, shall men give into your bosom. For with the same measure that ye mete withal it shall be measured to you again.”
    2 Corinthians 9:6-8 “But this I say, He which soweth sparingly shall reap also sparingly; and he which soweth bountifully shall reap also bountifully. Every man according as he purposeth in his heart, so let him give; not grudgingly, or of necessity: for God loveth a cheerful giver.And God is able to make all grace abound toward you; that ye, always having all sufficiency in all things, may abound to every good work:”

  3. Giving will also bless us with increasing fruit

    2 Corinthians 9:10 “Now he that ministereth seed to the sower both minister bread for your food, and multiply your seed sown, and increase the fruits of your righteousness;)”

  4. God will outgive us

    Acts 20:35 “I have shewed you all things, how that so labouring ye ought to support the weak, and to remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how he said, It is more blessed to give than to receive.”

Whom To Give Offerings to

We may think that offerings are limited to the local church, but that is not what the Bible says.

  1. Poor and needy

    Mark 10:21 “Then Jesus beholding him loved him, and said unto him, One thing thou lackest: go thy way, sell whatsoever thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come, take up the cross, and follow me.”

  2. Struggling Christians

    1 Timothy 5:16 “If any man or woman that believeth have widows, let them relieve them, and let not the church be charged; that it may relieve them that are widows indeed.”
    2 Corinthians 9:7 “Every man according as he purposeth in his heart, so let him give; not grudgingly, or of necessity: for God loveth a cheerful giver.”
    2 Corinthians 9:12 “For the administration of this service not only supplieth the want of the saints, but is abundant also by many thanksgivings unto God;”

  3. Ministries

    2 Corinthians 9:7 “Every man according as he purposeth in his heart, so let him give; not grudgingly, or of necessity: for God loveth a cheerful giver.”
    2 Corinthians 9:1 “For as touching the ministering to the saints, it is superfluous for me to write to you:”
    2 Corinthians 9:13 “Whiles by the experiment of this ministration they glorify God for your professed subjection unto the gospel of Christ, and for your liberal distribution unto them, and unto all men;”

  4. Gospel
    When we give to the Lord, that’s supposed to help the gospel of Lord Jesus Christ. It’s all a matter of reaching souls with the gospel.

    2 Corinthians 9:7 “Every man according as he purposeth in his heart, so let him give; not grudgingly, or of necessity: for God loveth a cheerful giver.”
    2 Corinthians 9:13     “Whiles by the experiment of this ministration they glorify God for your professed subjection unto the gospel of Christ, and for your liberal distribution unto them, and unto all men;”
    1 Corinthians 9:7     “Who goeth a warfare any time at his own charges? who planteth a vineyard, and eateth not of the fruit thereof? or who feedeth a flock, and eateth not of the milk of the flock?”
    1 Corinthians 9:13-14     “Do ye not know that they which minister about holy things live of the things of the temple? and they which wait at the altar are partakers with the altar? Even so hath the Lord ordained that they which preach the gospel should live of the gospel.”
    1 Corinthians 9:23     “And this I do for the gospel’s sake, that I might be partaker thereof with you.”

What We Ought To Give

  1. Wholly to the things of God

    1 Timothy 4:15 “Meditate upon these things; give thyself wholly to them; that thy profiting may appear to all.”

  2. Attendance to the word of God
    Paying attention to the word of God being preached or during Bible study

    1 Timothy 4:13 “Till I come, give attendance to reading, to exhortation, to doctrine.”

  3. Take earnest heed to what we hear
    Not just hearing it but we got to take it seriously

    Hebrews 2:1 “Therefore we ought to give the more earnest heed to the things which we have heard, lest at any time we should let them slip.”

  4. Give continually to prayer

    Acts 6:4 “But we will give ourselves continually to prayer, and to the ministry of the word.”

  5. Thanks in everything

    1 Thessalonians 5:18 “In every thing give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you.”