Tithing

2. In relation to the question ‘should Christians pay tithe?’ which is on your website, the first phrase of the answer says: ‘No, Christian are not bound to keep the precept of tithing because they are under grace and not under the law of Moses (Romans 6:14).’ However, if my memory serves me well, Abraham paid tithe, didn’t he? He was not under the law and he is the forerunner of those who live by faith in the grace of God.

Your memory serves you well. Abraham paid tithe (he gave it to Melchizedek – cf. Genesis 14:18-20). I will say something else to you, Jacob also paid tithe and he paid tithe because of a vow he had made to God (Genesis 28:20-22). Read carefully what Jacob said to God when he made that vow.

Nevertheless, I want to remind you that Abraham, who is our father as God told him that He made him a father of many nations, circumcised himself after he believed God (and his faith was accounted to him for righteousness). What shall we do then? Shall we circumcise ourselves because Abraham circumcised himself after he believed? Certainly not, because Paul commands those who were called while uncircumcised not to be circumcised (1 Corinthians 7:18). Don’t you think that Paul knew the value of circumcision according to the law of Moses? Yet, he wrote those words to the saints. Why? Because he knew that circumcision was a shadow of something who was to come, so it must not be imposed on the saints. Under grace “circumcision is nothing” (1 Corinthians 7:19 – NKJV) and avails nothing (Galatians 6:15), because the true circumcision is that of the heart, in the Spirit, not in the letter (Romans 2:29). That’s why Paul did not command the believing Gentiles to be circumcised, even though he knew that Abraham our father was circumcised.

As for tithing, we must say that the fact that Abraham gave the tenth of the spoils to Melchizedek does not justify its imposition and observance under grace. Read carefully the New Testament and you will see that it doesn’t authorize the imposition of tithing nor the imposition of the Sabbath day.

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