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TITHINGANDTHE
TEN COMMANDMENTS
It would be utterly ridiculous to claim that one of the Ten Commandments is "Thou shalt tithe., But
it would be equally ludicrous to say there is absolutely no relationship between the law of the Ten
Commandments and the law of tithing.
N
othing upsets us more than
to hear that someone else
has his fingers in our pocket–
book. Master Charge, VISA, Bar–
clay card, our car payment-all
combine to spend our paycheck be–
fore we even endorse it. But could
God Himself rightfully claim a por–
tian of our income in spite of all
these other encumbrances?
Most acknowledge that we should
at least adhere to the Ten Com–
mandments. But could obedience to
that royal law expressing !ove for
God and neighbor have anything to
do with the proper distribution of
one's income? This .article will ex–
amine tbe relationship between tith–
ing and severa! points in the
Decalogue.
The Great Commandment
God is the Owner, Proprietor and
Creator of everything that our eyes
can see. David wrote in the Psalms:
"The eartb is the Lord's, and the
fulness thereof; the world, and they
that dwell therein" (Ps. 24: 1). T his
verse shows that God created every–
thing, and that by virtue of that cre–
ation H e owns it all- includ ing
humankind.
By the act of tithing, we show
worship, respect, !ove and admira–
tion for our Creator. Tithing is an
expression of honor and a'n ac–
knowledgment of God's supreme
lordship and mastery of the uní–
verse. T hat's the positive .side of the
first and great commandment in its
relationship to tithing.
The negative aspect reads: " I am
the Lord thy God , which have
brought thee out of the land of
Egypt, out of the house of bondage.
T hou shalt have no o ther gods be-
30
by
John R. Schroeder
fore me" (Ex. 20:2-3). For the true
Christian, Egypt is ·a symbol of this
present evil world, out of which
God has delivered us. Therefore we
owe Him the honor of avoiding sac–
rilege in any way, manner, shape or
form.
Shunning other gods, in the true
New Testament application, in–
volves far more than not bowing
down before a literal, man-made
idol. You can easily make a god out
of the unrighteous mammon of
money and wealth. l ndeed, this is
perhaps the most common violation
of the Ten Commandments in the
Western world.
Giving one-tenth of one's income
to be used for educational and hu–
manitarian purposes helps one re–
tain a sense of proportion about
life's ultimate priorities. Money can
be a very real "root of evil" when a
person's total energies are chan–
neled toward its acquisition and
spending. It is much healthier to
focus on the needs of others–
whether those needs are to be told
about the coming Kingdom of God,
or to be ministered to in sorne other
way.
But let's look at another one of
God's commandments that few
would think bears any relationship
to tithing.
The Sabbath and Tlthing
The Sabbath commandment be–
longs to that part of the Decalogue
that expresses our !ove toward God.
It
specifically involves honoring
God witb the proper use of a fixed
period of time.
Many believe that it is not in the
nature of the New T estament God
to requi re a fixed amount of money
from those that !ove H im. They in–
sist that one should only give as
much as he wishes to-that there
should be no mínimum standard of
giving.
God does , however, require one–
seventh of our time in observing His
Sabbath. So just as there is a mín–
imum standard of time that God
insists that we devote to worship of
Him, it makes sense that there also
would be a mínimum standard of
giving-a tenth (tithe) of our in–
comes.
God tells us to "remember the
sabbath day,
to keep
it
holy"
(Ex.
20:8) and that "to morrow is the rest
of
the holy sabbath
unto the Lord"
(Ex. 16:23). So the Sabbath day def–
initely
is
holy time to God. Like–
wise, it is stated elsewhere in the
Pentateuch that the tithe is
holy
to
God (Lev. 27:30, 32-33). T he term
"holy" is primarily defined in
Web–
ster's New Collegiate Dictionary
as
being "set apart to the service of
God."
So the Christian honors His heav–
enly Father by setting apart the
tithe to the servíce ofGod's Work.
Honor Vour Heavenly Father
The Bible specifically commands us
to honor our physical parents (Ex.
20: 12). But spiritually, when we be–
come converted, God is literally our
heavenly Father and the Ch urch
is the "mother of us all" (Gal.
4:26).
One of the ways
in
which we can
honor God is to re turn to Him the
"firstfruits" of
al/
our increase (Prov.
3:9). However, for obvious reasons
it is a little difficult to g ive our fi–
nancia! blessings directly to the Cre–
ator God. Fortunately, the Church
The
PLAIN TRUTH October-November 1978