FS-107 - Tithing Truths

This lesson examines whether the tithe — giving a tenth of one’s income — is binding on New Testament believers. It traces tithing from its first appearance in Genesis 14, through the detailed tithing system codified in the Mosaic Law (the Levitical tithe, the tithe of the feasts, and the tithe for the poor), into the practice of the early Church, where giving was voluntary and communal rather than a fixed percentage. The lesson then follows the historical shift by which tithing was formally re-adopted by the institutional Church beginning in the sixth century, and examines three arguments commonly used today to bind Christians to tithing — testing each against its context in Genesis, Hebrews, Malachi, and the Gospels. The lesson concludes by presenting the New Testament’s actual giving model: cheerful, voluntary generosity (2 Corinthians 9:6-7), as distinct from the Old Testament’s mandatory tithe.