Believers are not subject to the Tithe

A new subscriber to this blog (username: oluwafoy) submitted a comment in defence of Mr. E. A. Adeboye’s assertion that those who do not tithe are going to hell. While I have addressed the subject of tithing in the course of various discussions, up till now I had not given the subject a dedicated article. The comment submitted by oluwafoy has finally provoked such an article. Find his/her comment below, and my response thereafter:

About Non Tithers not going to heaven shouldn’t be an issue.

1 Cor. 6:9-10 talked about some of the categories of people that’ll not make heaven….. “Do you not know that the wicked will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: Neither the sexually immoral nor idolaters nor adulterers nor male prostitutes nor homosexual offenders 10nor thieves nor the greedy nor drunkards nor slanderers nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God”. (In verse 10, thieves can be equated to be robbers).

Robbery can be in different forms and different categories of people could be victims. Malachi 3:8-9 talked about man making a robbery victim out of God through non payment of Tithe and Offering:

8 “Will a man rob God? Yet you rob me.
“But you ask, ‘How do we rob you?’
“In tithes and offerings.
9 You are under a curse—the whole nation of you—because you are robbing me”.

The set of Non tithing Xtians that God called Thieves (Robbers) in Malachi 3:8-9 are not different from the Robbers (thieves) that Paul talked about in 1 Cor 6:10, that would be no where near Heaven’s gate.

Robbers would not inherit the Kingdom of God.(2 Cor 6:10)
Non thithers are robbers (Malachi 3: 8-9)

Therefore, the Bible is clear about the issue.

Posted by oluwafoy under Biblical message now criminalized

And below is my response:

Malachi’s prophecy NOT addressed to believers, but to Israelites

The first thing we must note about Malachi’s prophecy is that it was not directed at believers but at Israelites. The Law was given to the Jews, and as such its commandments were binding on them by reason of their covenant (the Old Covenant) with Jehovah.

Anyone outside of that covenant was not bound by any of its terms and conditions:

remember that you were at that time separated from Christ, alienated from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world (Ephesians 2:12)

The Law is not binding on Believers

Jesus fulfilled the Law of Moses and it passed away. He set up a new covenant, and this new covenant set people free from the shackles of the Old.

Colossians 2:13-14
13 And you, who were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses,
14 by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This he set aside, nailing it to the cross.

The cross of Jesus Christ set aside the demands of the Law. If Jesus set them aside (tithing inclusive), He certainly doesn’t think anyone who does not pay the tithe is robbing Him.
We are not ministers of the old covenant, but of the New

2 Corinthians 3:6-8
6 [God] who has made us competent to be ministers of a new covenant, not of the letter but of the Spirit. For the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.
7 Now if the ministry of death, carved in letters on stone, came with such glory that the Israelites could not gaze at Moses’ face because of its glory, which was being brought to an end,
8 will not the ministry of the Spirit have even more glory?

Verse 6 says God has made us able ministers of the new testament. The letter (the Law) kills. By removing believers from under grace and subjecting them to the Law again, Mister Adeboye is killing his listeners and followers spiritually.

Verse 7 says the Law was brought to an end. Tithe-peddlers are ressurecting it and bringing people back into bondage to it. Such people are not serving Christ. Their ministry is in conflict with Christ.
But Abraham paid the tithe before the Law was given?

Yes; he did. But note:

1. No-one asked him to
2. There was no commandement to pay or give anything
3. He didn’t tithe from all his income
4. And he did it only once

It was something he did of his own volition. It was not a law to him, and so he was not subject to it.

Where did someone of the stature of the General Overseer of the Redeemed Christian Church of God get the idea that Christians must tihte regularly from their income, and that if they do not, they will go to hell from?

When the Law of Moses was later given, the Jews to whom it was given became subject to it. Not paying it meant that they were robbing God. No Syrian ever robbed God by not paying the tithe. No Philistine ever robbed God by not paying the tithe. No Assyrian ever robbed God by not paying the tithe. Only Jews robbed God if they did not pay.

No Nigerian has ever robbed God by not paying the tithe. And no American, Japanese – certainly no-one bought by the blood of Jesus Christ has ever robbed God by not paying the tithe. Why, God Himself delivered us from the bondage of the tithe! He nailed the requirements of the Law to the cross of Christ!

Tithing: A parallel with Cuircumcision

Like tithing, circumcision was one of the commandments under the Law of Moses. Did you know too that Abraham carried out circumcision before the Law was given?

If we are to argue that we are to tithe because tithing preceded the Law, we might as well pick up circumcision as well. Circumcision preceded the Law. But how did Paul and the other apostles respond to some people’s insistence that circumcision was necesarry for believers?

Galatians 5:1-4
1 For freedom Christ has set us free; stand firm therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery.
2 Look: I, Paul, say to you that if you accept circumcision, Christ will be of no advantage to you.
3 I testify again to every man who accepts circumcision that he is obligated to keep the whole law.
4 You are severed from Christ, you who would be justified by the law; you have fallen away from grace.

So, I say to you too: stand firm in the liberty that Christ has set you free. If you submit to this tithing nonsense, you take up the yoke of slavery again. If you have been submitted to it, break out and walk away: Christ does not require a tithe from you.

If you accept tithing, you are obligated to keep the whole Law; you are severed from Christ; you have fallen from grace.

Heavy and grave words. But true blue.

Preachers who force the Law down people’s throats are ignorant people

1 Timothy 1:5-11
5 The aim of our charge is love that issues from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith.
6 Certain persons, by swerving from these, have wandered away into vain discussion,
7 desiring to be teachers of the law, without understanding either what they are saying or the things about which they make confident assertions.
8 Now we know that the law is good, if one uses it lawfully,
9 understanding this, that the law is not laid down for the just but for the lawless and disobedient, for the ungodly and sinners, for the unholy and profane, for those who strike their fathers and mothers, for murderers,
10 the sexually immoral, men who practice homosexuality, enslavers, liars, perjurers, and whatever else is contrary to sound doctrine,
11 in accordance with the gospel of the glory of the blessed God with which I have been entrusted.

I didn’t write those verses. Paul, by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, did. If Paul’s words are authoritative and correct, in asserting that those who do not tithe are going to hell, mister Adeboye shows himself as someone who has “swerved from the faith, have wandered away into vain discussion, desiring to be a teacher of the law, without understanding either what he is saying or the things about which he makes confident assertions” (verses 6 and 7).

Any preacher who leads people back into bondage to the law is an ignorant person. That would include Mr. E.A. Adeboye, until and unless he repents.

Guess what the apostle Paul would likely say to Mr. Enoch Adeboye on this subject?

Paul had to write the Galatian believers one of the most strongly-worded letters he ever wrote. Some other preachers had come to them teaching tham that circumcision was required of them if they would be saved.

Here are a few of Paul’s retorts – and he was filled with the Holy Spirit as he wrote these:

6 I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting him who called you in the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel–
7 not that there is another one, but there are some who trouble you and want to distort the gospel of Christ.
8 But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach to you a gospel contrary to the one we preached to you, let him be accursed.
9 As we have said before, so now I say again: If anyone is preaching to you a gospel contrary to the one you received, let him be accursed. (Galatians 1:6-9)

10 I have confidence in the Lord that you will take no other view than mine, and the one who is troubling you will bear the penalty, whoever he is.
11 But if I, brothers, still preach circumcision, why am I still being persecuted? In that case the offense of the cross has been removed.
12 I wish those who unsettle you would emasculate themselves! (Galatians 5:10-12)

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