What Is Tithing - and What Were We Taught?
For many Christians, tithing is taught as a foundational act of obedience: you give 10% of your income to the church, because that’s what God requires. It’s often framed as non-negotiable - a sign of spiritual maturity, faithfulness, and even financial blessing.
Churches distribute annual giving statements. Some tie tithing to leadership eligibility. Others explicitly link financial blessing to “faithful giving.” The message is clear: if you tithe, God blesses. If you don’t, you're "robbing God." (Malachi 3:6-12)
6 “I the Lord do not change. So you, the descendants of Jacob, are not destroyed. 7 Ever since the time of your ancestors you have turned away from my decrees and have not kept them. Return to me, and I will return to you,” says the Lord Almighty.
“But you ask, ‘How are we to return?’
8 “Will a mere mortal rob God? Yet you rob me.
“But you ask, ‘How are we robbing you?’
“In tithes and offerings. 9 You are under a curse—your whole nation—because you are robbing me. 10 Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. Test me in this,” says the Lord Almighty, “and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that there will not be room enough to store it. 11 I will prevent pests from devouring your crops, and the vines in your fields will not drop their fruit before it is ripe,” says the Lord Almighty. 12 “Then all the nations will call you blessed, for yours will be a delightful land,” says the Lord Almighty.
But that 'clear message' is running into harder questions.
In recent years, lawsuits have emerged challenging how some churches manage the tithes they collect. In 2023, a federal court heard arguments from former members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, who claim they were misled about how their donations would be used. Similar cases are playing out across the country, raising questions about accountability, misuse, and spiritual manipulation.
And it’s not just courts asking questions.
In 2018, televangelist Jesse Duplantis made headlines after asking his followers to help him purchase a $54 million private jet - his fourth. He said God told him to believe for the jet and argued that Jesus, if alive today, wouldn’t be riding a donkey.
“I really believe that if the Lord Jesus Christ was physically on the Earth today, he wouldn't be riding a donkey. He'd be in an airplane flying all over the world.”
Jesse Duplantis
The backlash was swift, but the donations still came. And his request wasn’t unusual. Other televangelists have made similar appeals, often citing faith, efficiency, or spiritual warfare as justification. The deeper issue? People were told that giving to these causes, including luxury jets, was an act of obedience and a path to blessing.
When you see that, or when you hear about lawsuits over church investments, or pastors who tie tithing to your spiritual worth - it’s fair to ask the question:
Is this what God actually asked for?
Tithing in the Old Testament: A System of Support, Not a Personal Tax
Ancient Israel didn’t have a single “tithe” - it had a system of giving that included at least three types:
- The Levitical Tithe - yearly, to support priests/Levites
- The Festival Tithe - yearly, to be consumed in Jerusalem
- The Poor Tithe - every third year, stored locally for those in need
This brings the total close to 23.3% per year on average - not 10%. And it wasn’t all given to one place or person. Different tithes served different functions: worship, support, celebration, justice.
The Levitical Tithe
In Numbers 18, God sets up a very specific structure: the Levites - one of the twelve tribes of Israel - were not given land like the others. Instead, their inheritance was their service to God. They worked full-time at the tent of meeting (later, the Temple), handling worship, sacrifices, maintenance, and guarding sacred things. It was a deeply serious role. Mistakes could lead to death (Numbers 18:3, 7).
But because they had no land - no way to grow food, raise herds, or generate wealth in the typical way - God commanded the other tribes to support them. (Numbers 18:21)
21 “I give to the Levites all the tithes in Israel as their inheritance in return for the work they do while serving at the tent of meeting.
The tithe wasn’t a general religious tax. It was a replacement for inheritance, ensuring that the Levites - and especially the priestly family of Aaron - could live, eat, and serve.
And even the Levites themselves were required to tithe from the tithe they received. (Numbers 18:26)
26 “Speak to the Levites and say to them: ‘When you receive from the Israelites the tithe I give you as your inheritance, you must present a tenth of that tithe as the Lord’s offering.
So yes, tithing was absolutely required - but it was required of the Israelites under a very specific covenant tied to the temple system, priesthood, and land-based economy of ancient Israel.
However, this system does not exist today. There are no Levites guarding a sanctuary. There is no singular Temple. There is no tribal inheritance system.
The Festival Tithe
Each year, Israelites were commanded to set aside a tenth of their agricultural produce - not for the priests, but for themselves. This tithe wasn’t about institutional support or charity. It was about celebration in God’s presence. (Deuteronomy 14:22–26)
22 Be sure to set aside a tenth of all that your fields produce each year. 23 Eat the tithe of your grain, new wine and olive oil, and the firstborn of your herds and flocks in the presence of the Lord your God at the place he will choose as a dwelling for his Name, so that you may learn to revere the Lord your God always. 24 But if that place is too distant and you have been blessed by the Lord your God and cannot carry your tithe (because the place where the Lord will choose to put his Name is so far away), 25 then exchange your tithe for silver, and take the silver with you and go to the place the Lord your God will choose. 26 Use the silver to buy whatever you like: cattle, sheep, wine or other fermented drink, or anything you wish. Then you and your household shall eat there in the presence of the Lord your God and rejoice.
This tithe was meant to fund the annual pilgrimage festivals and serve as a reminder of who provided the harvest. The tithe was consumed and enjoyed in God’s presence. It wasn’t about surrendering something; it was about honoring God through intentional joy. It still involved sacrifice; taking time off work, traveling, and sharing. But the point wasn’t giving something up. The point was remembering that all of it came from God in the first place.
This tithe was part of the rhythm of worship, built into life - not just to sustain others, but to remind you that worship includes celebration. Reverence wasn’t just shown through sacrifice or silence. It was shown by rejoicing with what God had given.
The Poor Tithe
Every third year, a separate tithe was collected for the poor - including foreigners, widows, and orphans. (Deuteronomy 14:28–29)
28 At the end of every three years, bring all the tithes of that year’s produce and store it in your towns, 29 so that the Levites (who have no allotment or inheritance of their own) and the foreigners, the fatherless and the widows who live in your towns may come and eat and be satisfied, and so that the Lord your God may bless you in all the work of your hands.
This was known as the triennial tithe, separate from the regular Levitical tithe. It wasn’t taken to the temple - it was stored locally in towns and villages. Again, this wasn’t money. It was produce. Grain, oil, wine - the fruit of the land. It reflects an agrarian economy where the increase was measured in crops and flocks, not income or bank balances.
The Levites, as already discussed, had no land. They couldn’t farm. No land meant no crops, no self-sustaining livelihood. This tithe was a matter of economic justice - making sure those serving the spiritual life of the nation could eat.
But it doesn’t stop there.
Here’s where the real heart of God is revealed. This tithe wasn’t just about supporting the religious structure - it was about the vulnerable:
and the foreigners, the fatherless and the widows
The people with no legal or tribal rights in Israel, the children without inheritance or family support, and the women in a patriarchal system who had lost their financial and social protection. In other words: this tithe was about provision, inclusion, and compassion. This wasn’t a symbolic gesture. It wasn’t scraps. It was meant to fully satisfy their needs. This is radically generous. It’s communal, not institutional.
Giving wasn’t just about duty - it was tied to blessing, but not in a transactional way. The idea is that when you care for others - especially the overlooked - God is pleased. He blesses everyone through that kind of shared care.
What Giving Looks Like Now
This raises an honest question:
If the biblical tithe was tied to land, crops, Levites, and temple systems that no longer exist… what does giving look like now?
The answer is simple - but also challenging.
In the New Testament, there is no command to tithe.
Not once are Christians told to give 10% of their income. There’s no set percentage. No required amount. No threat for falling short. The system of structured, national tithes ended with the Old Covenant - when the temple fell, the priesthood ended, and the Church became a spiritual body rather than a geographic one.
And yet… Christians still gave. Generously. Radically. Often sacrificially. But it wasn’t because they were following a rule.
Paul encouraged churches to take up collections to support struggling believers elsewhere (1 Corinthians 16:1–4). He asked them to set something aside regularly, according to their means - not to meet a number, but to meet a need.
16 Now about the collection for the Lord’s people: Do what I told the Galatian churches to do. 2 On the first day of every week, each one of you should set aside a sum of money in keeping with your income, saving it up, so that when I come no collections will have to be made. 3 Then, when I arrive, I will give letters of introduction to the men you approve and send them with your gift to Jerusalem. 4 If it seems advisable for me to go also, they will accompany me.
There was generosity. Planning. Consistency. But never compulsion. Never shame. (2 Corinthians 8:3)
3 For I testify that they gave as much as they were able, and even beyond their ability. Entirely on their own,
There was generosity. Planning. Consistency. But never compulsion. Never shame.
And that’s a key distinction:
Christian giving was always encouraged. It was never enforced.
So What Does That Mean for Us Today?
It means we’re free.
Not free from giving - but free from treating it like a tax bracket. Free from guilt-driven formulas. Free from the idea that God only shows up if we meet a quota.
But also - we’re free to give. To be generous. To support one another. To meet needs in our communities. To bless the people doing good work. To love tangibly. To respond when we see someone struggling. To give without tracking what we might get in return.
Tithing was never just about giving stuff up. At its best, it was about building a community where no one was forgotten - not the priest, not the widow, not the stranger in town. It was about participating in a shared life under God's care.
That part still matters.
If You Want a Rule, You’ll Be Disappointed
There isn’t one.
The New Testament doesn’t hand us a chart. It hands us people - selling fields, feeding neighbors, sharing homes, offering what they had. Not because they had to. Because they wanted to. Because it mattered. If 10% is meaningful for you, do it. If it's more - or less - and it's coming from a place of love, do that. Just don’t give because someone said you’re cursed if you don’t. Don’t give out of fear. Don’t give to buy favor.
God doesn’t want a cut of your income. He wants your trust. And one of the clearest ways to show trust - in God and in each other - is to hold what we have loosely, and use it well.
That’s what giving looks like now. Still generous. Still sacred. But no longer required - and never for sale.
What If We Gave Like It Mattered - Not Just Where We’re Told
If the Old Testament tithes were about worship, justice, and shared provision - and if the New Testament calls us to give from the heart - then the question isn’t just how much we give. It’s where and why.
Does it have to go to a church? Maybe. If your church is transparent, humble, and using funds to serve others - to lift burdens, to meet needs, to care for people - then yes. That’s worth supporting.
But if your church feels more like a business than a body… If most of the giving stays inside the walls… If it funds buildings, private jets, salaries, and branding, but rarely touches the real needs outside…
Then maybe it’s time to ask whether that’s where your giving belongs. Because giving doesn’t need a middleman to be holy. Support a mission trip. Pay someone’s electric bill. Buy groceries for a single mom. Help fund a community shelter. Cover therapy for someone who can’t afford it. Quietly send money to someone too proud to ask. Tip extra. Share freely.
That’s giving, too. You don’t need a plate passed down the row to make it spiritual. The early church didn’t have a finance team or a giving portal. They had people. Needs. Willingness. You just need open eyes and a willing heart.
32 All the believers were one in heart and mind. No one claimed that any of their possessions was their own, but they shared everything they had.
Acts 4:32
That’s the model. Not the rule. Not the percentage.
So give - not because you're obligated, but because you're awake. Because you’ve been blessed. Because someone out there needs the help you’re able to give. And because generosity has always been one of the clearest ways to say, “I trust God - and I care about people.”
Tithing Isn’t the Point. Love Is.