This is a guest post by Jesse S. Greever. He is a follower of Christ, scientist, business man, and author. He has written a number of works of fiction with digital publisher Untreed Reads and co-authored a book on stewardship with Marc Farnell, Senior Pastor of Cross Ridge Church in Little Elm, Texas. That book, Learning to Give in a Getting World, aside from being an encouragement to Christ-followers who want to give to God, is also a memoir of what can happen when Christians answer the call to give. You can follow Jesse on Twitter and Facebook. If you would like to write a guest post for this blog, check out the guidelines here.

Any time the topic of giving and stewardship arises, there is likely to be some variation of the following statement: “I don’t believe tithing is a New Testament concept.”

And while the comment is often bandied about in an off-hand way, it does bring up an important question: Is tithing a command for Christ-followers?

Tithing Foundations

It is true that tithing has its foundations in Old Testament Levitical Law, and even before the law was given to Moses, as in the story of Abraham bringing a tithe to Melchizedek. And it is true that Christ came to break the chains of legalism and offer salvation through grace. But does that necessarily negate the our obligation to tithe (and beyond)?

Jesus affirmed the tithe in Matthew 23, when he confronted the Pharisees in verse 23. He rebuked the Pharisees, saying

Woe to you teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You gave a tenth of your spices–mint, dill and cummin. But you have neglected the more important matters of the law–justice, mercy and faithfulness. You have have practiced the latter, without neglecting the former” (NIV).

Notice the last sentence. Jesus said they should have shown justice, mercy and faithfulness WITHOUT neglecting the tithe.

Generous Giving

The argument about the relevance of the tithe to the modern Christ-followers really misses the point, though. Why do we squabble over percentages, when all throughout the New Testament, generous and sacrificial outpouring is modeled by Jesus and His followers?

Jesus poured out everything He had, gave up His throne in Heaven and emptied himself out for our salvation, even down to His last drop of blood.

In Acts 2:41-47, we are told of the early church and how they sold everything they had to make sure that none of their brothers and sisters were in need.

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“I need a light.”

What does that sentence mean? Obviously, most people who know English would also understand each word in that phrase. The words are not difficult, and the structure of the sentence is not difficult.

But, what does it mean?

We cannot decide what the sentence means until we know more about the context. Is the person trying to do something in a dark corner? Is she holding a cigarette? Did he just walk into a bar?

Of course, in this simple example, the ambiguity is caused by the range of meanings (and, in fact, different meanings) of the English word “light.” When you add even more words with even more possible meanings and even different possible grammatical and syntactical connections, ambiguity is increased when trying to determine what a particular sentence means.

So, how do we know what sentences and words mean? We can only determine the meaning of sentences and words by examining them in context.

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