Let’s go on walking ‘in the Grace of God’, so that ‘the Holy Spirit’s fruit of joyful giving will come out of us naturally’. Yep, brother!

By the way, I am reminded of a German Jewish religious scholar (Ruth Lapide) who explained that the Jews gave the tithe first and foremost to provide support for the fatherless and the widows. This was the way God cared for His people. Very often we can read in the OT that God wanted this provision to be done (e.g. Dt 10:18 and Ps 68:6), and He was very concerned about it (f.i. Jer 49:11 and Mal 3:5). Since God never changes there is also a hint at this issue in the NT (Jas 1:27).

Paul St, what are the Shepard’s rights and who gave it to them. There was only one group of priest that had rights to the tithe and that was the Levite Priest. Unless your Shepard can trace there lenage back to them, there is no other rights given. Paul spoke about people giving generously from a heart of joyful giving but never demanded any giving by law. If someone is called and excepts to become a Shepard there proper aditude is to live by faith not demand. If we walk in the Grace of God the Holy Spirit’s fruit of joyful giving will come out of us naturally and the Shepard and those in need will be well cared for. God Bless

Christians give freely from the heart. No calculating.

Jesus told us (anyway) that a true gift, as the widow’s, is everything. Not merely a measly 10%.

For I have been in a church that urged her believers regularly to give the tithe by at least monthly quoting Malachi 3:10, insisting on the point of view that God would not bless anybody who refuses to give it, I was very relieved by reading a very simple explanation, why we as Gentiles need not give the tenth.

THE COUNCIL’S LETTER TO GENTILE BELIEVERS

Acts 15:24-25; 28-29

‘Since we have heard that some persons have gone out from us and troubled you with words, unsettling your minds, although we gave them no instructions, it has seemed good to us, having come to one accord […]
For it has seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to us to lay on you no greater burden than these requirements: that you abstain from what has been sacrificed to idols, and from blood, and from what has been strangled, and from sexual immorality. If you keep yourselves from these, you will do well. Farewell.’

Here we can see no requirement for giving the tithe that clearly belonged to the Old Covenant.

Maybe, this could be helpful too (BTW, the Luther quote was very suitable).

Blessings,
Susanne

Did Jesus and the Disiples tithe and if not did the not love the Lord? God Bless

In this one single event Abram vowed not to keep any of the spoils of war. Of all the things written about Abraham seems this was a one time giving and not of his personal possesions but from the spoils he took from others.

Martin Luther, the founder of the Protestant Christian faith, rejected the idea of tithing and taught against tithing as it pertained to the Gentile believers. Martin Luther in his sermon on August 27, 1525 titled “How Christians Should Regard Moses” spoke of the Law of Moses as being only for the Jews and not for the Gentiles. Martin Luther states in his sermon, “The Law of Moses binds only the Jews and not the Gentiles. Here the Law of Moses has its place. It is no longer binding on us, because it was given only to the people of Israel. And Israel accepted this law for itself and its descendants, while the Gentiles were excluded.” “Moses has nothing to do with us. If I were to accept Moses in one commandment, I would have to accept the entire Moses.” “We will not regard him as our lawgiver – unless he agrees with both the New Testament and the natural law.” “For not one little period in Moses pertains to us.” Martin Luther’s viewpoint in this sermon was due to the fact that the Jews were subject to the Law of Moses, and the Law of Moses included the tithe.