JESUS CAME TO FULFILL THE LAW, NOT TO RELIVE THE LAW
Christians believe that Jesus came to FULFILL the Law of Moses by RELIVING the law of Moses in His own personal life. He assuredly did not. This is an entire study of itself, however, I want to prove to you from the Scriptures that Jesus did not concern Himself with Tithes and Taxes, and restrictions of the Law of Moses.
THE TEMPLE TAX
Not only did Jesus not tithe, because He was a carpenter and carpenters were not obligated to tithe, but neither did He pay the Temple tax, which was commanded by the Law of Moses for all men in Israel to pay annually. Of the 613 laws of Moses, this is Law # 404:
"This they shall give, every one that passes among them that are numbered, half a shekel after the shekel of the sanctuary: (a shekel is twenty gerahs): an half shekel shall be the offering of the Lord.
Every one that passes among them that are numbered, from twenty years old and above, shall give an offering unto the Lord.
The rich shall not give more, and the poor shall not give less than half a shekel, when they give an offering unto the Lord, to make an atonement for your souls.
And you shall take the atonement money of the children of Israel and shall appoint it for the service of the tabernacle [in Jesus’ time, to the Temple] of the congregation; that it may be a memorial unto the children of Israel before the Lord, to make an atonement for your souls" (Exodus 30:13-16).
Jesus Christ did not pay this yearly tax to the Temple, for the same reason that Jesus did not keep the Sabbath day commandment. Jesus Christ is Lord of the Sabbath, (Matt. 12:8). And likewise, Jesus is not only Lord of the Temple, Jesus is the Temple,
(John 2:19). And, furthermore, Jesus was the Lord to Whom Israel gave the half shekel as an offering. Jesus does not need an atonement for His soul; Jesus Christ is the Atonement, (Rom. 5:9-11).
Notice this remarkable story of the only time the temple tax came up in the ministry of Jesus. Most Christians will never hear an explanation of these verses as long as they live! These verses are highly incriminating to those who teach the tithing of money to the Church:
"And when they were come to Capernaum, they that received tribute money came to Peter, and said, Does not your master pay tribute [Greek: ‘pay the double drachma’ which was the exact amount of the annual Temple tax]?
He says, Yes [Peter was embarrassed and apparently not honest with his answer]. And when he was come into the house, Jesus prevented him [Greek: ‘prophthano,’—‘to get an earlier start of,’ ‘forestalls’ or ‘anticipated him’], saying, What do you think, Simon? Of whom do the kings of the earth take custom or tribute [taxes]? Of their own children [sons] or of strangers?
Peter said unto Him, of strangers. Jesus said unto him, THEN ARE THE CHILDREN FREE.
Notwithstanding, LEST WE SHOULD OFFEND THEM, go thou to the sea, and cast an hook, and take up the fish that first comes up; and when you have opened his mouth, thou shall find a piece of money [Gk: ‘statar’ –the exact temple tax for two]: that take and give unto them for Me and thee" (Matt. 17:24-27).
What an amazing story! What a telling teaching truth from Scriptures we have here! No wonder most Christians have never heard this Scripture explained in Church.
The reason Peter said "yes" to the tribute collector is because it was embarrassing to Him to say, "NO, my master does NOT pay temple tax." It was such a small amount of money (less than a dollar). But now Peter has to go into the house give Jesus an appraisal of what just happened. Jesus being merciful to Peter does not reprimand him for not being honest with the tribute collector, but rather, cuts him off [forestalls him] before he can speak and saves Peter the embarrassment.
The point is this: Jesus did not pay temple tax because Jesus is the King of the kingdom. And if the children are free, certainly the King Himself is free.
Might I add that, neither did Jesus stone or condone others to stone, the woman caught in the very act of adultery even thought the Law of Moses demanded it:
"And the man that commits adultery with another man’s wife, even he that commits adultery with his neighbor’s wife, the adulterer AND THE ADULTERESS SHALL SURELY BE PUT TO DEATH" (Lev. 20:10).
Now then, did Jesus come to "fulfill" this Law of Moses by living, teaching and carrying out that law? He surely did not. He rather said, "He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her." (John 8:7). If we are to believe that "fulfilling the law" of Moses can only be accomplished by living, teaching and enforcing the law of Moses, then something is wrong with that theory because Jesus obviously did NOT carry out many commands of the law of Moses in His own life!
The theologians have debased the New Covenant as being nothing more than the Old Covenant, with a few added twists. Jesus "fulfilled the law" not by adding a few spiritual twists to it, but by keeping a MUCH HIGHER SPIRITUAL LAW that actually contradicted much of the letter of Moses’ Law.
One doesn’t need a physical law of the letter chiseled in stone, to "keep the sabbath" when he has entered into "God’s SPIRITUAL REST" in his heart.
One doesn’t need a physical law of the letter to "swear by His name" when in his heart his desire is to "swear NOT at all."
One doesn’t need a physical law chiseled in stone telling him "thou shalt not commit adultery" when in his heart he no longer "even looks on a woman to lust after her."
One doesn’t need a physical law telling him to "HATE his enemies" when now in his very heart, he "LOVES his enemies."
For you newcomers to the world of theology, LOVE is lot different than just putting a spiritual twist on HATE. Not swearing at all is more than putting a spiritual twist on the commandment TO SWEAR. Am I going too fast for anyone?
And neither did Jesus take the commandment to "bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse" and spiritually twist it into "bring ye all the money into the pastor’s bank account."
And so what is it that Jesus is teaching us with regards to money? Simple, neither the king nor his children pay tax—any tax (including even Temple tax)! "…then are the children FREE." Need I remind anyone that we are the children of God’s kingdom? And neither our King, nor we, pay taxes or tithes to our own kingdom.
"Herein is our love made perfect, that we may have boldness in the day of judgment: because as He [Jesus] IS, SO ARE WE in this world" (I John 1:17).
And so the reason… the only reason, that Jesus paid this tax was, "…lest we should offend them." Not because it was a LAW OF MOSES and Jesus had to keep the law of Moses, but only because, "…lest we should offend them."
Furthermore, where did Jesus get the money (the very small amount of money) to pay this temple tax so as to not offend them? From His own pocket? From the treasury held by Judas? From Peter’s house? No. He had God provide for it in a fish from the sea. Jesus did not even deign to pay this tax from His own money. And say, did you notice that Jesus paid for Himself and Peter only? He did not even pay for the other eleven.
Do you suppose we are sinning if we follow His steps by not tithing? Should we follow His steps, or commandments of the clergymen?
"Then Peter and the other apostles answered and said, We ought to obey God rather than men" (Acts 5:29).
"For even hereunto were ye called: because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example, that we should follow His steps" (I Pet. 2:21).
GIVING IS VOLUNTARY
The New Testament teachings on giving are unpretentiously simplistic involving the heart and not some law:
"…freely ye have received, freely give" (Matt. 10:8b).
"Give to him that asks you, and from him that would borrow of you turn not thou away" (Matt. 5:42).
"The churches in Macedonia and Achaia, you see, have thought it a good thing to make a contribution towards the poor Christians in Jerusalem. They have decided to do this, and indeed they owe it to them. For if the gentiles have had a share in the Jews’ spiritual good things it is only fair that they should look after the Jews as far as the good things of this world are concerned" (Rom. 15:26-27, J. B. Phillips Translation).
"Give and it shall be given unto you; good measure, pressed down, and shaken together, and running over…" (Luke 6:38).
"I have showed you all things, how that so laboring ye ought to support the weak, and to remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how He said, It is more blessed to give than to receive" (Acts 20:35).
"But this I say, He which sows sparingly shall reap also sparingly; and he which sows bountifully shall reap also bountifully. Every man according as he purposes in his heart, so let him give; not grudgingly, or of necessity [Gk: ‘compulsion’ as in a commanded law]: for God loves a cheerful giver" (II Cor. 9:6-7).
Follow these admonitions on giving and you will be blessed of God.
There is one more very important Scripture that should go in this group and that is I Tim. 5:8,
"But if any provide not for his own, and specially for those of his own household, he has denied the faith, and worse than an infidel."
Now I have emails and letters from elderly and disabled people who were told by their pastor that they are expected to tithe on their meager income regardless as to whether there is sufficient left over to care for the family. This is disgraceful beyond comprehension. And this is one of the main reasons that I write the material that I do for our bible-truths web site.
Numerous times I have heard ministers intimidating TBN viewers to contribute money that they did not have. Even if they owed more money to creditors in monthly payments than their salaries could possibly pay, they were still asked to make huge donations to TBN. Some contend that the more money one needs to meet his already staggering obligations, the more money he needs to send in. They are even told to pledge huge amounts (TWO THOUSAND DOLLARS was the asking pledge when last I saw this reprehensible carnival sideshow chicanery) of money that they did not have, and then to send in ten percent of the pledge and pay the rest off in installments. Have they no shame?
"HOW ARE WE TO PAY THE CHURCH BILLS IF THE PEOPLE DON’T TITHE?"
I get asked that question regularly. I tell them all the same thing: "Pay your church bills the same way I pay my living expenses—with a check." Here’s the thing: You don’t need to lie and deceive and pervert the word of God in order to pay church expenses.
Why doesn’t your pastor just ask the people to contribute toward paying the church expenses? I can tell you why. A few do, but most don’t. And why is that? It is because those who teach false doctrines to exact money illegally from their congregation don’t have faith to trust their people to contribute voluntarily out of love. They only know how to teach the Old Testament laws, which are carnal, and therefore don’t know how to teach the New Testaments laws, which are SPIRITUAL.
Most pastors see two options:
Teach that people will be cursed if they don’t tithe ten percent of their annual salaries,
Trust God in faith to provide the money from voluntary gifts given from the heart.
If, in reality, trusting would bring in more money than pronouncing curses, no one would ever hear a sermon on tithing again, anywhere on earth. And if anyone suggested to any of these same pastors that tithing is an Old Testament law that Christians must keep or be cursed, those same pastors would ridicule you to scorn for ever suggesting such an obvious unscriptural doctrine that is not binding on New Testament Christians.
They will do whatever brings in the most money. And it is a proven fact, unscriptural threats of curses for no tithing, and blessings for tithing brings in more money than trusting the people, in faith, to supply the needs of the Church.
It is our hope and intention here at bible-truths to free as many as possible from the unscriptural hypnotic tactics of these TV auctioneers who peddle the Word of God like so much merchandise for sordid gain. But what about those small congregations that don’t even want huge cathedrals and the pastor doesn’t want to be rich or drive a $80,000 Mercedes. All they want is to preach the gospel and care for a local congregation and all that that involves. Surely it is not wrong for them to teach their congregation to tithe their salaries to the church, is it? Of course that is wrong. That’s like saying, I don’t want to rob a bank: I just want to take a few small things from the super market without paying for them! IT’S THE SAME CRIME, with the only difference being the amount stolen.
GIVING VERSUS TITHING
Do any of these Scripture references quoted above regarding voluntary giving, have anything to do with "tithing?" Absolutely not. Notice what the definition of Christian tithing is:
"tithe (tith) n. 1a. A tenth part of one’s annual income contributed voluntarily or due as a tax, esp. for the support of the clergy or church." (The American Heritage College Dictionary, p. 1444).
Tithing was commanded by the LAW.
Giving is voluntary from the HEART.
THE APOSTLE PAUL VERSUS CHRISTIAN TITHING
The Apostle Paul never tithed, never taught Gentiles to tithe, never collected tithes, and never accepted tithes. Can anyone imagine what Paul would have said had someone come up to him and offered him $100 saying: "Here Paul, here is my payment according to the tithing law with regards to my thousand-dollar paycheck." I don’t know what his exact words would be, but I have studied the writings of Paul, and I can tell you what he would have said in principle:
"Sir, MONEY is not a tithable commodity. Furthermore, tithes can be paid to the Levitic priests only, and I am not a Levite, I am from the Tribe of Benjamin. Furthermore, as a believer in Jesus Christ, you are also freed from the law of Moses. Jesus Christ has taught us that, ‘FREELY you have received, FREELY give." One cannot give ‘freely’ that which is demanded by law. I am sorry, but I cannot accept money that is given out of obligation to a law. Jesus has freed us from carnal ordinances, and whom Jesus has freed, ‘is FREE indeed.’"
Now then, give that same $100 to any number of priests of Christendom, and one might receive this retort: "Well, if this $100 is your tithe, where is your offering? Don’t you know that the tithe is commanded and demanded by law? You have only given me what is commanded by law of you to give. You have not really giving me anything until you give me money in excess of your tithes"
Well, what more can I say about that?
CHRIST’S ONLY TWO EXAMPLES OF TITHERS
Paul was inspired by God's Holy Spirit to declare that "God loves a cheerful giver" (II Cor.9:7). Why was not Paul inspired by God’s Holy Spirit to declare that, "God loves a cheerful tithe-payer?" In fact, why does not Paul mention the words tithe, tithes, or tithing in any of His thirteen epistles—not once? (Paul did not write the book of Hebrews, II Thes. 3:17). Why does not Peter, James, John, or Jude mention tithing in any of their epistles? Why didn’t the early Christian Fathers mention tithing as a doctrine of the New Testament Church? Therefore, why are innumerable thousands of evangelists, theologians, teachers, preachers, and clergymen teaching the world that if they don’t tithe ten percent of their salaries, that God will curse them with a curse?
The only two times in the New Testament that Jesus mentions tithing is in condemnation of the Pharisees. At the time of Jesus’ ministry there was a temple and there was a Levitic Priesthood, hence tithing was still in effect for the Jews. Hear now the only words ever recorded of Jesus mentioning tithes:
"But WOE [deep distress, misery, grief, misfortune, calamity, sorrow, dismay] unto you Pharisees! For ye tithe mint and rue and all manner of herbs [some had farms; some had gardens], and pass over JUDGMENT and the LOVE OF GOD: these ought ye to have done, and not to leave the other undone" (Luke 11:42).
And just what kind of a blessing did Jesus pronounce on these Pharisees for their "tithe of the mint and herbs"? No blessing, just a startling "WOE"!
"And the Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself, God… I fast twice in the week, I give tithes of all that I possess" (Luke 18:12).
And just what kind of a blessing did Jesus pronounced on this Pharisee for his "tithe"?
No blessing, no justification, just a promise that people like him will be "abased" (Ver. 14).
What does being an utter hypocrite and passing over "Judgment and the Love of God" have to do with "tithing?" That’s the whole point. These gross sins have virtually nothing to do with tithing!
Tithing to Jesus was so absolutely insignificant to the gross sins of failing to properly Judge the widows and orphans and fatherless and poor, and to not show any Love of God toward them. Tithing was the smallest most inconsequential thing Christ could think of to show the utter hypocrisy of this Pharisees. They were very meticulous about tithing (a law of virtually no spiritual consequence what so ever), and yet… and YET they would do the tithe thing and neglect judgment, love and mercy.
Now please don’t all write me at once telling me that I have missed the whole point of these two sets of Scripture by not realizing that it was their very gross sins that will bring "woes’ and "abasements" on them, and not that they are being condemned for what they did do correctly, namely "tithe." That is quite true. However, it appears that most have missed the very reason why Jesus gives two examples of two Phariees, who were gross sinners deserving the worst possible chastisements, and then says that they were both tithe-payers.
Christ’s attention to the fact that they were both meticulous tithe-payers, proved the hypocrisy of these two Pharisees. They would pay strict attention to very miner details of a law, and yet totally abandon a very reason and purpose for the whole existence of the law—LOVE, MERCY, JUDGMENT.
The Law of Moses regarding tithing produce from the land was still in effect during Christ’s ministry, and therefore, all of the nation of Israel who had land were to tithe from their land and give it to the Priests and Levites, strangers, fatherless, widows, poor, and even consume some of it themselves at God’s annual festivals. However, this system with its laws and temple were all part of the original church of God in the wilderness. Jesus, however, did not tithe. Likewise, His apostles, did not tithe. Furthermore, neither Jesus, nor His Apostles, nor Paul, ever taught new Christian converts to the newly established Church of Christ, to tithe to this new church!
Here then is the bottom line: Neither, Jesus nor His apostles tithed themselves or taught tithing to others. And within a generation God pronounced to the entire world by the total destruction of both the nation of Judah, and their city of Jerusalem with its temple, that the church established in the wilderness, was now superseded by the Church of Christ. The nation of Israel was gone, the temple was gone, the priests were gone, the Levites were gone, and concerning the very Law of Moses containing the law of tithing, we read this:
"In that he says, A NEW covenant, He has made the first OLD. Now that which DECAYS and waxes OLD is ready to VANISH AWAY" (Heb. 8:13).
But the Church today doesn’t want the New Covenant to replace the Old. They want to put the New Wine (of the New Covenant), in the Old Bottles (of the Old Covenant). And they want to put the New Cloth (of the New Covenant), on the Old Cloth (of the Old Covenant). And what did Jesus tell us would be the result of such an unharmonious and unequal yoking?
"And no man puts new wine into old bottles; else the new wine will burst the bottles, and be spilled and the bottles shall perish."
However, in two thousand years, the church is still trying put the Old and the New together as One, and the results are always disastrous.
Just why is it that they like the Old covenant better than the New? Here’s the answer from the lips of our Master Himself: "No man also having drunk old wine [lived by the Old Covenant] straightway desires new [the spiritual New Covenant]: for he says, The old is better" (Luke 5:39).
But not only is the Church blinded by the new wine, they are also intoxicated from the old wine to the point that they have no idea what it’s purpose was in the first place. Jesus said, "You blind guides, which STRAIN OUT A GNAT [are attentive to TINY insignificant things like paying tithes on mint and pepper pods], and SWALLOW A CAMEL [totally neglect the weightier matters of the law which are of HUGE consequence, like judgment, faith, mercy, and the love of God]" (Matt. 23:24).
How many millions of sermons are geared toward "straining out gnats" on Sunday morning, so that the Pastors can "swallow camels" all week long?
HOW THE APOSTLE PAUL FINANCED HIS INTERNATIONAL MINISTRY
Worldliness in the Church today is not looked upon as shameful, but rather as being chic. Power, wealth, and notoriety are not things to be repented of, but are rather to be lusted after and pursued with great vigor. Young aspiring ministers are not thought to be vain or ambitious when seeking worldliness, but are rather thought of as being enthusiastic for the work of the Lord. Let’s see how Paul did things.
"For yourselves know how you ought to follow us: for we behaved not ourselves disorderly among you: Neither did we eat any man’s bread for naught; but wrought with labor and travail NIGHT AND DAY, that we might not be chargeable to any man. Not because we have not power, but to MAKE OURSELVES AN EXAMPLE UNTO YOU TO FOLLOW US" (II Thes. 3:7-9).
But how many truly follow Paul’s example? You be the judge.
"For ye remember, brethren, our labour and travail: for LABOURING NIGHT AND DAY, because we would not be chargeable unto any of you, we preached unto you the Gospel of God" (I Thes. 2:9).
Imagine that: Paul could not only walk and chew gum at the same time, but he could work "night and day" and "preach the Gospel of God" at the same time! Just maybe there is a lesson in there somewhere. Paul travels to Corinth:
"And because he was of the same craft [trade], he abode with them, and wrought [worked]: for by their occupation they were tentmakers" (Acts 18:3).
"I have coveted no man’s silver, or gold, or apparel. Yea, ye [all of you] yourselves know, that these hands have ministered unto my necessities, and to them that were with me. I have showed you all things how that so labouring ye ought to support the weak, and remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how He said, It is more blessed to give than to receive" (Acts 20:33-31).
Don’t kid yourself, there’s a whole army of men of the cloth out there coveting your gold and your silver. Many television ministries are little more than highly sophisticated Hollywood-produced, tithe-collecting infomercials. They make me ill watching them.
One final example of how Paul ministered and financed his ministry:
"For I think that God has set forth us the apostles last, as it were appointed to death: for we are made a spectacle unto the world, and to angels, and to men.
We are fools for Christ’s sake, but ye are wise in Christ; we are weak, but ye are strong; ye are honorable, but we are despised.
Even unto this present hour we both hunger, and thirst, and are naked, and are buffeted, and have no certain dwellingplace;
And labor, working with our own hands; being reviled, we bless; being persecuted, we suffer it:
Being defamed, we intreat: we are made as the filth of the world, and are the offscouring of all things unto this day.
I write not these things to shame you, but as my beloved sons I warn you.
For though ye have ten thousand instructors in Christ, yet have ye not many fathers: for in Christ Jesus I have begotten you through the gospel.
Therefore I beseech you, BE YE FOLLOWERS OF ME" (I Cor. 4:9-16)!
Cheerfully giving from the heart is a virtue. However, fraudulently fleecing the flock by exacting ten percent of parishioner's paychecks under fear of breaking an Old Testament law of tithing is a sin!
It is far past time that we offer a little comfort to the millions of people in our nation and around the world who are chafing under the constant burden of supporting ministers and televangelists who live lifestyles so materialistic and worldly that even Hugh Heffner would be envious. I’m not trying to be humorous about these characters; I’m dead serious.
Well I certainly don’t begrudge any minister an honest living. However, I do believe that when many of these modern televangelists (and others) feel the need to have everything they own gold gilded, just maybe their greed and vanity starts to destroy their effectiveness as dispensers of God’s Truths.
There is no need for people to feel guilty over any religious doctrine. It is time we rid ourselves of guilty consciences. Hopefully, by the time you have finished reading this paper your guilt over tithing or non-tithing will be gone forever!
It is our sincere desire that all who have been chafing under the unscriptural burden of Christian tithing will feel free at last to follow their heart in giving to whomever they desire as God prospers them. John 8:32 tells us that Truth is Freedom:
"And ye shall know the Truth, and the Truth shall make you FREE."
