The Ohio Independent Baptist, January 1964

Is compulsory tithing grace? By Ralph T. Nordlund tl t \,t il'l"'l '-'l'tl('crr1 f t)t t 11~ ll )C tr ill' \,t ~ ,\('C l fCl'l Cl)ll\( l'llt'(i ll) all- \\ ~t P,l,ll)f l ll'\ cl( tl ll\)lll(1\l10·, .,bit' a~th."lc \1n l1tl11ng tl1at ,ll'PC,1rc<..I n th"' ,, c,11 per '"'tie 1 li<.", ~o \\ t th cr"-',ll .1d1111rattl)O ft1r l)ttr hr tl1er·. ... ,, l,r 1n t)tlr state ,lnLi a glnd ack.n \\ l- e i tl n 1 c n t f h t .. ' s 1 ncc r it \ 1 • I al o have :::- . t,1t1ght t1thi ng f L1f n1nn} ) car . anti l'r.1cticcd it. ht1t I ha\e held that in tl11.." cht1r h age it n1t1 .. t be a \ lt1ntary ded icati n of ur ,, 1 alth t od and not n1pt1l r)' . ear ago I e en tried f r a h rt tin1e to preach tore– h ti e tithing ( f r all the e pen and bene, 1 nee of the church. of cour e. a 1t \\ a fir t ad ocated now on1e 40 , ear ago). Ho,vever, I found no real . "-' ripture proof of it. and it eemed to n1ak hou ehold lave out of be– lie, er in tead of teward ; and o a a Bapti t I oon dropped it. Bap– ti t have al, ay tood for the freedom of the individual con cience. Then church hi tory cautioned n1e again t eas,' acce,ptance of modern tithing propaganda. I remembered that the French R evolution came becau e of the grinding effects of a triple tithe. The king forced the peasant to pay a fir t tithe, the local lords a econd. and the Catholic Church a third. oluntary giving of more than a tithe may be bles ed, but it becomes a galling yoke when it i enforced. It i true that when church members fir t join their pastor in putting the tithe into their church con titution , the 1· may feel that they are doing so voluntarily· but let a new generation come that did not vote for it and rebellion will soon brew. A pastor must also ask himself whether a hope of gain and fame makes him too willing to believe that tithing is God's present method of finance. As our brother admits it is indeed true that books of theology, commentaries, and volumes from modern Bible teachers are either silent on the tithe or warn us of the danger of legalism. Can it be that the church waited for us to come and point out God·s method? Assumptions Not Enough It i a rule of interpretation that onl)' clear-cut verses should be used to prove a doctrine. Allegories and similitudes ma,· be used as Paul did to illustrate clearly taught truth, but mus t not be used as proof. In the Page 4 , JANUARY, 1964 <.1Vl'111l1cr article '"l' f<.)tltl<.l 111a11v ;1s– ,t11111t11n,. atl<.I tl1c11 tl1c conclt1,1l)t1, ,vcrc tt~cti for pr of. Hl.... an<.l" in IJcv. ~5.21 \\as a\. t1111cll to n1can earth. anti Psalm 24: 1 wac:; t1c.;cti to hol~tcr the co11clt1<;i n. Ho,vevcr. in all tithing reference. the "lan(i" i al\vay<; plainly Pale, tine. and P aln1 24 ha nothing to d Vlith tithing. It i a st1n1ed that brahan1 learned of the tithe by revelation, and o wa pt1t Linder the tithe while he wa till under grace, but Gen. 14 doe not even hint uch a thing. or can we prove that he continued to pay tithe to Melchizedek. Hi tithing wa volun– tary. The ame can be aid of J acob, except that he at lea t promi ed to continue to tithe. And yet. to whom did he pay his tithes? Wa he not hi own priest, even a every father wa until God et Aaron a ide to that office? Let Deut. 14:21-27 suggest how he u ed the tithe before there were any Levites to receive it. Actual– ly, we can only gue s and gues e make poor proof. It is assumed that the saints at Philip.pi used their tithes to support their pastor and other worker , and so had to take a special offering for P aul even if he was a missionary. The only reason for that conclusion is that Paul calls it giving and not paying. If tithing i voluntary, i it not giving? Jesus said that the Phari– sees paid tithes and these legali ts indeed did; but can we find one ver e between Acts 2 and Rev. 22 that say that the Christians paid tithes? It is also assumed that a completed revela– tion must contain instruction on church finance, but that sound like telling God how to write the Bible. God has in fact, left hundreds of things to the leading of the Spirit, such as how to take in members, how to elect officers, whether to build church edifices, etc. Must we write a final chapter on tithing and in ert it somewhere in First or Second Corinthians? Is not that "adding to the book'? I Cor. 9 : 14 Mo t tithing literature makes much of I Corinthians 9: 14, and o we find it here. It all depends upon what the Greek word ' 'houto ' mean . Our Bible read, '"Even so. ' What doe that mean? One tithing expert in i ted that it meant "exactly so." The trouble is that proves too much, and we \V<)ulcl l1avc t<> go l1ack lt> Jewish altar a11cl sacrifices an<I to a family J1ricst– l1oc)cl. I or. 9: it is cvic.lcnt , howP;vcr, t h a L r > a t 11 ti i c.l not 111 ca 11 "c act I y so " t <)r J1c c1 t1otcd f ro111 Dett t. 25: 4 and tlC)l fron1 t1r11. 18: 1 1. H e only triccl to prove the general principle that n laborer in tl1c goc;pcl fielc.ls has a right to 11 vc off hi5 preaching and shotil(I r1ot l1c m t1L71e<l. H e n1t1st n1can the c:;an1c thing when he tLtrns to the wcll– knov n 5ttpport of Levite anc.i priests L1t1der the temple econo111y, for othcr– wi c he would have taL1ght that Chri~tian mu t bring tithes of wheat to church a i tants and acrificial animal to upport pa tor . H e would al o be aying indirectly that pastors were priest . o, it i plain enoL1gh that Paul did not mean we should use the exact method of the Old Te ta– ment, but only that we should provide for those who give full time to the ministry. We ought not to do less under grace than the Jews did under law. What Is Legalism? We are assured almost jocularly in the article that we need not fear the law of the tithe· but in Galatians we find that Paul was very much afraid of such little things as circumcision and the keeping of Jewish holy days. We leave it to our readers to decide who feels the compulsion of law the most - the one who was circumci ed when he was a baby or the one who feel that he mu t count his pennie every week and give exactly one tenth to the ministry and then enough offering besides to keep hi church going. We are even told that tithing i grace because it wa given to Abraham before Moses gave the law, and therefore Abraham wa under pure grace. That i another a sump– tion that mo t fundamentali ts make but cannot prove! Where does the Bible teach that? We need not argue that, for we have already shown that it i pure assumption to say that Abraham mu t have received tithing by revelation. Melchizedek wa not Chri t, but only a type of Christ. (Continued on page 14) Ralph T. Nordlund THE OHIO INDEPENDENT BAPTIST