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represents God as His designated
recipient! Those who a re preaching
the gospel a re to gain their liveli–
hood through financia! contribu–
tions (I Cor. 9: 14). Paul wrote: "Let
the elders thal rule well be counted
worthy of double honour [Greek,
remuneration), especially they who
labour in the word and doctrine"
(1
Tim. 5: 17).
The Bible is crys1al clear on this
point. T he Church is to be honored
by reaping a fixed proportion of the
physical blessings of the people
(along wi th addi tiona l freewi ll offer–
ings) in order lo perform the great
commission of preaching the gospel
to the world as a witness.
But the firsl and fourth com–
mandments are no t the only ones
tha t relate to tithing. Consider a lso
the eighth commandment.
You Shall Not Steal
One of the ca rdinal si ns committed
in the Garden of Eden was s1ealing.
When Adam and Eve ate of the for–
bidden fru it- took what was not
theirs-they, in effect. stole directly
from their heavenly Father.
The question is asked in
1
Samuel
2:25: " If one man sin against an–
other, the judge shall judge him: but
if
a man sin against the Lord,
who shall intreat [intercede] for
him?"
Cou ld one actually sin against the
Creator G od by withholding tithes
and offerings? The prophet Ma lachi
answers:
" Wi/1 man rob God? Yet
you are robbing me.
But you say,
' How a re we robbing thee?'
In your
tithes and o.lferings.
You are cursed
with a curse, for you a re robbing
me; the whole nation of you" (Mal.
3:8-9, RSV).
Fa ilure to tith e, as shown by Ma–
lachi, is regarded by God as out–
right robbery.
lt
is an affront to
God!
lt
is a symptom of both per–
sonal and national disrespect for our
Creator. God asks: "A son honour–
eth his father, and a servant his
master : if then
1
be a father, where
is mine honour?" (Mal.
1
:6.)
The apostle Paul wrote to the
Ephesian Church of God: " Let him
that stole
sleal no more ... "
(Eph.
4:28). That is good advice for any–
body who might a llow himself the
The
PLAIN TRUTH October-November 1978
" luxury" ofwithholding a portion of
his income from God.
Of course, our failure to tithe does
not of itself hurt God! He already
owns lhe universe and everything in
it. The real hurt is borne by our
neighbors. Many are not able 10
hear, see o r read the good news of
God's coming Kingdom because the
necessary funds have not a lways
been forthcoming. God commands
His Church 10 preach and publish
the gospel to all nations around the
world (Matt. 24: 14; 28: 19-20; Acts
1
:8). But it takes hard cash to buy
radio and television time, no t to
mention paying for skyrocketing
publishing and postal costs.
Covetousness ls ldolatry!
Covetousness is a major sin in the
Western world today. But the sin
doesn't stop with lusting a fter what
belongs to somebody else.
lt
is very
difficult to separa te sins against your
neighbor from sins against God.
Paul wrote to the Ephesian breth–
ren: ' 'For this ye know. that no
whoremonger, nor unclean person,
nor covetous man, who is an idolater,
hath any inheritance in the kingdom
of Christ and of God" (Eph. 5:5).
Paul did not mince words. Breaking
the tenth commandment also breaks
the first . Cove tousness is idolatry!
And whether you covet wha t be–
longs to God o r what belongs to
your neighbor, it is still a violation
of the " first and great command–
ment" so far as God is concerned. lf
you covet that portion of your in–
come that you know, deep down,
should go to God in the service of
His Work, you are guilty of violat–
ing the first and last command–
m e nt s . So there is a vital
rela tionship between tithing and the
T en Commandments.
And the New T es tament also
shows that the ten points of the
Decalogue h ave been summed up in
the two great precepts of !ove of
God and neighbor (Matt. 19: 16- 19;
Luke 10:25-27; Lev. 19: 18; Deut.
6:5). But Jesus went even furth er.
He said: "On these two command–
ments [!ove of God and love of
neighbor] hang all the law [ in–
cluding títhing] and the prophets"
(Matt. 22:40).
o
REAL
-
(You-·t
win the priza
•lessyou
start the racel
The apostle Paul likened the
Christian lite toa race, which
must be run for the " prize"
of eternallife. A person does
not even begin his "race,"
however, until he has under–
gone a
genuine
conversion.
The New Testament concept
of conversion involves much
more than a mere intellectual
or ritualistic acceptance of a
set of beliefs. True con–
version can
be
defined in
two parts. The first involves a
definite event which occurs
when God fulfills His promise
to place the Holy Spirit
within a person after certain
conditions are met. The sec–
ond part is a process which
continuas through the Chris–
tian's lite. lf you'd like to
know more about the Bible's
teaching on conversion,
request the free. booklet
Just
What Do You Mean-CON–
VERSION?
Write to
The Plain
Truth
(see addresses on in–
side front cover.)
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