Are Christians Required to Tithe? What the Bible Teaches
I do not believe the New Testament requires Christians to keep Israel’s tithe law or places us under God’s curse for giving less than ten percent. That conclusion still leaves us responsible for supporting faithful ministry and helping people in need. If I use freedom from the tithe law to avoid those responsibilities, I have found a theological excuse for selfishness. We need to understand what God commanded Israel and what He asks of the church, because careless teaching can frighten one person into giving and leave another comfortable with his greed.
Abram, Jacob, and Giving Before the Law
Everything we have belongs to God, so we are responsible for how we use His provision. We are stewards, managing what He has entrusted to us. The question is whether that responsibility requires the church to continue Israel’s Levitical tithe system. We neither possess Israel’s land inheritance nor live under the Mosaic covenant, and Christ’s priesthood has fulfilled what the temple system anticipated.
The first recorded tithe follows Abram’s rescue of Lot in Genesis 14. After kings carried captives and goods away from Sodom, Abram defeated them and returned with the recovered people and spoil. The king of Sodom came to meet him, as did Melchizedek, king of Salem and priest of God Most High. Melchizedek brought bread and wine and blessed Abram, crediting God with the victory.
Then Melchizedek king of Salem brought out bread and wine; he was the priest of God Most High. And he blessed him and said: “Blessed be Abram of God Most High, Possessor of heaven and earth; And blessed be God Most High, Who has delivered your enemies into your hand.” And he gave him a tithe of all.
Abram had already received deliverance before he gave anything. Melchizedek also blessed him before receiving the tenth, so the gift bought neither the victory nor the blessing. Abram was honoring the God who had delivered his enemies into his hand. He refused Sodom’s goods for himself as well, unwilling for its king to claim credit for making him rich.
A tithe means a tenth; the Hebrew ma’aser is related to ten. The word tells us the amount, while the surrounding account tells us what Abram gave and why. His gift came from the spoil of a particular battle. Genesis does not describe a recurring payment from his ordinary household income, nor does it command every believer to copy his percentage. I can honor Abram’s gift without making it a law the passage does not state.
I believe Melchizedek was a Christophany, an appearance of the eternal Son before His incarnation. Hebrews describes this king of righteousness and peace without a recorded father, mother, or genealogy, and speaks of his continuing priesthood. I understand that description to identify more than an ordinary king serving as an illustration. The study on Melchizedek explains my reasons more fully.
Jacob’s vow at Bethel gives us another example before Sinai. As he left home, the LORD promised to remain with him and protect him, confirming the promise of land and descendants through the covenant line. Jacob responded with a vow to give a tenth of what God would provide.
Then Jacob made a vow, saying, “If God will be with me, and keep me in this way that I am going, and give me bread to eat and clothing to put on, so that I come back to my father’s house in peace, then the LORD shall be my God. And this stone which I have set as a pillar shall be God’s house, and of all that You give me I will surely give a tenth to You.”
Jacob looked ahead to God’s care and his return home, whereas Abram gave after deliverance. Both acknowledged their dependence on the LORD, but the accounts do not establish a recurring obligation for the church. Jacob’s vow was his own promise to God. Recording that promise does not turn it into a command for every later believer.
Tithing Under Moses and the Rebuke in Malachi
Under Moses, tithing became a command within Israel’s covenant life. God had brought the nation out of Egypt and was instructing it for life in the promised land. The tithe supported an appointed priesthood and sanctuary, with further provisions for worship and people who needed help. Leviticus identifies it as holy to the LORD.
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 to the LORD.
The surrounding instructions concern the land’s produce and the animals of Israel’s herds and flocks. Deuteronomy 14:24–26 allowed an Israelite to exchange the tithe for money if the journey made it too difficult to carry. He then took the money to the appointed place and bought provisions for the household’s worship meal there. Money made the journey manageable; it did not turn the command into a rule about every worker’s paycheck in every society.
Numbers explains the tithe’s connection to the Levites’ inheritance. God set them apart for tabernacle service instead of giving them an ordinary tribal territory, and He provided for their support.
“Behold, I have given the children of Levi all the tithes in Israel as an inheritance in return for the work which they perform, the work of the tabernacle of meeting.”
Aaron’s family supplied the priests, while the other Levitical families assisted in the tabernacle’s service. The Levites also taught the Law and gave a tenth of the tithes they received. God had appointed both the work and the means of supporting it. This obligation came from Him, rather than from a religious leader deciding he was entitled to a share of everyone else’s income.
Deuteronomy connected this giving with rejoicing before the LORD and learning to fear Him. Households were to worship with gratitude and include the Levite, who must not be neglected. At the end of every third year, food was stored in the towns for the Levite and others without the same means of support.
“At the end of every third year you shall bring out the tithe of your produce of that year and store it up within your gates. And the Levite, because he has no portion nor inheritance with you, and the stranger and the fatherless and the widow who are within your gates, may come and eat and be satisfied, that the LORD your God may bless you in all the work of your hand which you do.”
The tithe sustained sacred service and fed people in need. Those responsibilities belonged to Israel’s national life under the Law. Taking the percentage while discarding the land inheritance, sanctuary, and duties attached to it would not reproduce the arrangement Moses gave. We need that setting when we read Malachi’s charge against the nation.
Malachi accused the people of robbing God because they were withholding what their covenant required. The charge addressed the whole nation, as the wording of the rebuke makes clear.
“Will a man rob God? Yet you have robbed Me! But you say, ‘In what way have we robbed You?’ In tithes and offerings. You are cursed with a curse, For you have robbed Me, Even this whole nation. Bring all the tithes into the storehouse, That there may be food in My house, And try Me now in this,” Says the LORD of hosts, “If I will not open for you the windows of heaven And pour out for you such blessing That there will not be room enough to receive it.”
The storehouse supplied the temple with food, and the blessing and curse belonged to Israel’s covenant. Malachi also confronted corrupt priests, marital unfaithfulness, and injustice. Leaders and worshipers alike were accountable for neglecting what God required. These were words to a covenant nation, rather than a fundraising appeal delivered to a church after Christ’s resurrection.
I would not tell a Christian who gives less than ten percent that Malachi places him under that curse. His church building is not Israel’s temple storehouse, and he does not live under the Mosaic covenant. We should receive Malachi’s warning about unfaithfulness without assigning Israel’s covenant penalty to someone the passage does not address. The study on how to study the Bible properly explains why we need to identify whom a command addresses before applying it.
Christ redeemed believers from the Law’s curse by giving Himself and shedding His blood. The curse lay upon lawbreakers, and He rescued us; the Father did not curse Him. A pastor should not use Malachi to threaten people bought by Christ’s blood with the covenant curse from which He redeemed them. We remain responsible to give generously, but Israel’s temple storehouse system does not become the church’s rule for giving.
Christ, the Changed Priesthood, and the Pharisees
The difference between Israel’s tithe system and Christian giving involves more than the change from an agricultural society to a modern economy. Christ’s coming changed the priesthood itself. Jesus is the final sacrifice and the eternal High Priest according to Melchizedek’s order, rather than another priest in Aaron’s Levitical line.
Therefore, if perfection were through the Levitical priesthood (for under it the people received the law), what further need was there that another priest should rise according to the order of Melchizedek, and not be called according to the order of Aaron? For the priesthood being changed, of necessity there is also a change of the law.
Paul explains in Hebrews that Melchizedek blessed Abraham, and that the greater blesses the lesser. For this comparison, he treats Levi, who had not yet been born, as represented by his ancestor Abraham. The ancestor of the Levitical priests gave a tenth to Melchizedek and received his blessing, so those priests could not claim a higher standing than Melchizedek. Paul uses Abraham’s tithe to explain the greatness of Christ’s priesthood. He does not turn that gift into a command for churches to collect ten percent.
The animal sacrifices anticipated Christ’s finished sacrifice. Because He is our one Mediator, the One through whom we come to God, we no longer bring those offerings or depend on Levitical priests for access to the Father. Continuing Israel’s temple economy as a condition of God’s favor would fail to recognize what Christ accomplished. God gave His Son, and Christ bought us with His blood. Our giving should respond to that grace.
What, then, do we make of Jesus’ instruction that the Pharisees should tithe? He gave it during His ministry before the cross, addressing Jewish leaders who lived under the Law. They carefully measured herbs for their tithe while neglecting justice, mercy, and faith.
“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you pay tithe of mint and anise and cummin, and have neglected the weightier matters of the law: justice and mercy and faith. These you ought to have done, without leaving the others undone.”
Jesus required these men to obey the Law, including its tithe command. Their meticulous giving did not excuse their neglect of justice, mercy, and faith. His rebuke does not place the church under the same covenant obligation, but it exposes hypocrisy we can practice ourselves. I could calculate an impressive giving percentage while mistreating someone at home or cheating a customer, then point to the donation as though it excused my conduct. Giving cannot purchase forgiveness or cover rebellion. Only Christ’s blood cleanses sin.
How the New Testament Teaches the Church to Give
When the apostles taught the church to give, they addressed real needs and called believers to take responsibility for meeting them. Paul organized a relief collection for needy believers in Jerusalem and instructed the Corinthians to prepare their gifts before he arrived.
On the first day of the week let each one of you lay something aside, storing up as he may prosper, that there be no collections when I come.
Each person was to set something aside regularly according to how he prospered. That takes some thought about spending. If I keep buying things I could do without, I may have nothing left for a need I sincerely intended to help meet. Planning helps me follow through. Paul’s words “as he may prosper” also allow for differing circumstances. A household whose income has grown should reconsider what it can give, while another may be struggling to afford necessities.
In 2 Corinthians 8–9, Paul urged the Corinthians to finish the relief effort they had wanted to join. He pointed to the Macedonian believers, whose deep poverty had not prevented remarkable generosity. They first gave themselves to the Lord and then gave willingly. He wanted the Corinthians to follow through with the same willingness.
So let each one give as he purposes in his heart, not grudgingly or of necessity; for God loves a cheerful giver.
“Not grudgingly” and “not of necessity” cannot be reconciled with threatening or publicly humiliating someone to extract a gift. Each believer should decide before God what to give. That does not mean sacrifice will always feel easy. A person can gladly help someone and still feel the cost of parting with money the household could have used.
Alongside relief for the poor, the New Testament teaches believers to support those who teach the Word. Paul tells them to share with their teachers and says elders who rule well deserve double honor, especially those laboring in teaching. People who devote their time to ministry still have material needs.
Let him who is taught the word share in all good things with him who teaches.
A faithful teacher spends time studying Scripture and caring for the congregation. Financial support helps make that work possible and should sustain it, rather than reward spiritual showmanship. Receiving such support never puts a leader beyond accountability. Those entrusted with gifts should use them honestly and be willing to explain where the money goes. A reasonable question about finances is not an attack on the ministry.
The account of Ananias in Acts helps us distinguish accountability from compulsory giving. Believers were selling possessions to meet urgent needs, but those sales were voluntary. Peter told Ananias that the property had belonged to him before the sale and that the proceeds remained under his control afterward. He had lied to God about his gift. Peter did not accuse him of breaking a compulsory rule requiring him to surrender everything. The Holy Spirit was producing generosity among people who chose to share.
Giving Faithfully Without Legalism or Selfishness
We can recognize that giving is voluntary and still face the Lord’s claim on our possessions. Christian freedom gives me no excuse to spend everything on myself while dismissing people I could help. My income, savings, possessions, and ability to work all belong under His direction. I need to consider how I use them, rather than look for the smallest donation that will make me acceptable.
That responsibility includes providing for my own household and honoring legitimate debts. Neglecting either so that I can appear generous in public would be irresponsible. Honest work and contentment help me fulfill those obligations and give to others. Helping someone outside my home does not release me from caring for the people already entrusted to me.
The local church that faithfully teaches and shepherds us deserves consistent support. Whether we give there or to another ministry, we should consider its teaching and how it handles money. A request for money does not establish that a ministry deserves our trust. Prayer and reasonable questions about its work can help us decide whether to support it.
We should also pay attention to people in distress. A widow or orphan may have no family to help, and a struggling believer may need food or help keeping a home. Missionaries and persecuted Christians need support too, while an exhausted family nearby may need practical help we can provide ourselves. Defending sound doctrine should never make me indifferent to people whose burdens I could help carry.
For a household learning to plan its giving, a tenth may be a useful starting habit. It should not become a law for judging everyone else or a ceiling for someone who has greatly prospered. Giving the same percentage can require a serious sacrifice from one family and scarcely affect another. We should consider our actual ability and household responsibilities alongside the needs we can meet.
Church leaders should teach those responsibilities honestly and give people room to decide before God what to give. Twisting Scripture to frighten them into a donation abuses that trust. So does promising that a gift guarantees wealth, healing, or special favor from God. Biblical teaching about sowing and reaping never authorizes a sales pitch that obliges God to return a profit. People should understand how a gift will be used and be free to give willingly.
Freedom from coercion also leaves me responsible for confronting my own selfishness. If I use freedom from the tithe law to keep everything for myself, I have defended greed with a theological argument. Some fear that churches will receive little unless they require ten percent. But a minimum percentage cannot cure a heart determined to keep everything else for itself. The New Testament calls us to give out of gratitude for God’s grace and love for the people He has placed within our reach.
God has shown us that grace through Jesus Christ. The eternal Son became truly human and willingly gave Himself to be slain as the perfect, sinless sacrifice for our sins. Wicked men tortured and killed Him. His saving sacrifice was complete through His shed blood and death, before His burial and bodily resurrection. The Father did not punish, curse, abandon, strike, bruise, or pour wrath on Jesus; Father and Son remained united in redemption. We remember Christ’s finished sacrifice when we observe communion. I give in response to His grace, rather than to persuade Him to grant me whatever I want.
Christ died for the whole world and sincerely offers salvation to every person, though people can resist His offer. Everyone who repents and believes is forgiven and justified, meaning declared righteous before God. The believer is born again, indwelt and sealed by the Holy Spirit, and eternally secure because salvation is God’s work. That assurance never permits lawlessness. A claim to be a Christian does not establish that someone has been born again; new life should become evident in how we live. Generosity grows out of that new life and cannot buy the salvation God gives freely.
My Final Thoughts
I do not believe the church is required to continue Israel’s tithe system. What we do with that freedom deserves an honest examination. If a tenth helps you plan, use it without making it a measure of everyone else’s faithfulness or the limit of your own responsibility. I want the way I earn, spend, save, and give to reflect obedience to the Lord who gave Himself for me.