In many of my discussions with people of the pro-tithe persuasion, the following argument has been given…
“If you cannot provide a Scripture verse where Jesus cancelled the monetary tithe, then it was never cancelled by Jesus!”
One could just as easily counter with the statement…
“If you cannot produce a Scripture verse where Jesus said money is to be tithed, then money is not to be tithed.”
However, that answer will not convince the die-hard tither who has been sitting under the doctrine of a monetary tithe requirement for many years.
It is much wiser to approach the former claim from a different angle.
We know in Genesis 14 that Abram tithed war spoils. The fact that it was war spoils that were tithed is irrefutable. Genesis 14:16 says that Abraham recovered the goods that the wicked kings had taken fro Lot and from the towns of Sodom and Gomorrah. Hebrews 7:4 also affirms that the tithes that the tithes Abraham gave to Melchizedek were indeed, of the spoils of war. Those war spoils may, or may not have contained things used as money in the time of Abram, i.e.; silver, gold, brass, etc., etc.
The Bible is silent as to whether the spoils contained money, or not. However, for the sake of an argument, let’s speculate that gold and silver were recovered at the slaughter of the wicked kings in Hobar.
Then, we return to the question, “Can you provide Scripture where Jesus cancelled a monetary tithe?”
However, using the word of God, I can prove that Jehovah God did cancel the tithe of war spoils (which may, or many not, have contained money)…and even forbade a monetary tithe.
Leviticus 27:30-33 And all the tithe of the land, whether of the seed of the land, or of the fruit of the tree, is the LORD’S: it is holy unto the LORD. And if a man will at all redeem ought of his tithes, he shall add thereto the fifth part thereof. And concerning the tithe of the herd, or of the flock, even of whatsoever passeth under the rod, the tenth shall be holy unto the LORD. He shall not search whether it be good or bad, neither shall he change it: and if he change it at all, then both it and the change thereof shall be holy; it shall not be redeemed.
Leviticus 27 is the first time we see God giving any inkling of what His holy tithe is to consist of. There is no mention of money being a titheable commodity. Only agricultural products, i.e.; crops, flocks, and herds.
If that isn’t proof enough that money is no longer accepted by God as titheable, we can produce further proof,…
Numbers 31:28 And levy a tribute unto the LORD of the men of war which went out to battle: one soul of five hundred, both of the persons, and of the beeves, and of the asses, and of the sheep:
The soldiers who had taken the spoils were to give one beeve out of five hundred; one ass out of five hundred; one sheep out of five hundred…was what God required from spoils taken in war. That is far, far less than a tenth.
And of the half given to the children of Israel, only one beeve out of fifty; one ass out of fifty; and one sheep out of fifty was required to go to the House of the Lord. One out of fifty is far less than a tenth.
And for those still not convinced…
Deuteronomy 12:8 Ye shall not do after all the things that we do here this day, every man whatsoever is right in his own eyes.
Deuteronomy 12:8 states that man could not do what seemed right in his own eyes. God said His holy tithe was to come from agricultural crops, flocks, and herds. (see Lev. 27:30-33). Therefore, even if it seemed right to tithe money, God said money was not to be tithed.
His holy tithe was to come from agricultural crops and livestock. He cancelled any authority for His holy tithe to come from any other source than “the seed of the land, the fruit of the trees, and every tenth animal to pass under the rod.”
God Himself cancelled any monetary tithe that people might have given more than thirty-four hundred years ago.
And neither He, nor Jesus Christ, ever reinstated a monetary tithe in the Bible.
