Hi Homer, Aaron & Sean,
Sean,
You took the words right out of my mouth, er... fingers.
Homer,
Paul (and Peter) did indeed also apply the temple metaphor to the gathering of believers (the ekklesia, or church) as well as the individual believer. If you look at the context of the use of the metaphor though, it pertains to the indwelling of God. This is beautifully illustrated in the Pentecost story in Acts 2 where the manifest presence of God returns, not to the temple as anticipated by the Jews, but to the believers gathered together in one place.
I think one must be careful about applying this metaphor beyond it's obvious context. To do so is to read something into the text that isn't there.
However, even if one did stretch the metaphor to accomodate the application of Levitical tithing laws to the New Testament church, all that would yield is, as Sean said, giving to one-another within the church. One doesn't need to misappropriate the metaphor to see that that is the type of giving shown in the New Testament.
Aaron,
I would challenge you to do a study on giving in the New Testament. Here are some scripture references to get you started:
Matt. 19:21, 25:34-40, Luke 12:33, 14:13-14, 18:22, 19:8, Acts 2:44-45, 4:34-35, 9:36, 10:31, 24:17, Romans 15:26, 1 Cor 13:3, Gal 2:10, 1 Tim 5:3-4, 5:16, James 1:27. This is just a sampling, and what they all have in common is that the recipient of the giving is the poor.
I need to take you to task on a few other points:
Once again, mort, you make it all about the Levites. Why do you insist that it is only a "law" thing. Was Abraham under the law, was Jacob under the law.
I've already addressed the point about Abraham (which also applies to Jacob), as have others. I also provided you a link for more in-depth reading. Tithing (aka paying tributes) was a common practice in the ancient Middle-East. For example, A. H. Sayce, the famed Professor of Assyriology at Oxford, wrote the following:
"This offering of tithes was no new thing. In his Babylonian home Abram must have been familiar with the practice. The cuneiform inscriptions of Babylonia contain frequent references to it. It went back to the pre-Semitic age of Chaldaea, and the great temples of Babylonia were largely supported by the esra or tithe which was levied upon prince and peasant alike. That the god should receive a tenth of the good things which, it was believed, he had bestowed upon mankind was not considered to be asking too much. There are many tablets in the British Museum which are receipts for the payment of the tithe to the great temple of the sun-god at Sippara, in the time of Nebuchadnezzar and his successors. From one of them we learn that Belshazzar, even at the very moment when the Babylonian empire was falling from his father's hands, nevertheless found an opportunity for paying the tithe due from his sister." (Patriarchal Religion, p. 175)
It's worth pointing out that most city-states of that time were theocratic in some form or other. Tithes, tributes and taxes were often one and the same. Abram's tithe (and Jacob's) was a typical cultural practice and applied to both deities and rulers (often considered one and the same by pagans). It's generally regarded by historians that the Israelites adopted this practice from the Canaanites and incorporated it. Or, you could say that God applied this well-known practice to the Levitical system. So obviously the concept of tithing pre-dates the Levites and was practiced throughout the pagan cultures of the ancient Middle-East.
Now, I've asked you a number of questions which you have not addressed. I'll repeat them:
1. Please provide an example from the New Testament where the
tithe is given to the church. (I'm not referring to just giving, but to the tithe as described in Levitical law).
2. Show me the scriptures that allow you to transfer the tithe from the temple system onto the New Testament church.
3. If your basis is simply that nowhere is the tithe explicitly revoked in the New Testament then I must ask how many of the other Levitical laws do you still keep? For example, do you make sure not to wear two different types of fabric at once? (Lev 19:19)
4. So then, on what basis do you support your view of the tithe? After all, you might lay out a great case using nothing but scripture and still be wrong about it. Is your basis "hearing the Lord"? Lots of cults have been started by people who claimed to hear God (but contradicted scripture). Is your basis the teachings of your pastor? Paul's commendation of the Bereans would seem to indicate that you have a responsibility to search the scriptures to see if what you are taught is Biblical. So I ask again, on what basis do you support your view of the tithe?
The bottom line is this: The entire system and covenant that the tithes were a part of was fulfilled in Christ 2,000 years ago.
If you go through the scriptures I listed earlier in this post you will see that the giving in the New Testament church is nowhere described as a "tithe" and was directed towards helping the needy within the church, helping struggling churches in other cities (such as the Corinthians collecting funds to send to the Jerusalem church, which was experiencing poverty and oppression) and sometimes supporting missionaries (such as the Philippians supporting Paul while he was under house-arrest in Rome). Offerings were not used to pay for buildings or minister’s salaries. Paul was adamant about working with his own hands and not taking money from those he was ministering to (1 Cor. 9, 2 Cor. 6, 2 Cor. 11, 2 Thess. 3). Paul used the money he earned from making tents to meet his own needs and those of his companions.
The giving that we see in the New Testament seems quite different from the method of giving that is typically taught in churches today (and referred to as “tithing”). In fact, the practice of tithing that is taught in Evangelical churches today bears no resemblance to how the early church gave (or, for that matter, to the tithing of the Old Testament Israelites). So where did this practice come from? According to the New Catholic Encyclopedia (vol. XIV, pp. 174-175):
"The early Church had no tithing system. The tithes of the Old Testament were regarded as abrogated [abolished] by the law of Christ.... But as the Church expanded and its material needs grew more numerous and complex, it became necessary to adopt a definite rule to which people could be held either by a sense of moral obligation or by a precept of positive law. The tithing of the Old Law provided an obvious model, and it began to be taught.... The Council of Macon in 585 ordered payment of tithes and threatened excommunication to those who refused to comply."
And according to the Encyclopaedia Americana:
"It (tithing) was not practised in the early Christian church but gradually became common (in the Roman Catholic church in western Europe) by the 6th Century. The Council of Tours in 567 and the 2nd Council of Macon in 585 advocated tithing. Made obligatory by civil law in the Carolingian empire in 765 and in England in the 10th Century...
So the form of tithing that you are advocating is actually a tradition instituted by the Catholic church in the 6th century.
In a typical modern-day Evangelical church, 85% of the tithes collected are used to pay for the building and pastoral salaries. The other 15% is divvied up for donuts, coffee, office supplies, advertising, etc. The percentage that actually goes to the poor is miniscule. You tell me, does this accurately reflect the value that God places upon the poor?
If you really wanted to bring yourself into literal obedience to Malachi 3, here’s what you'll would need to do:
1. Move to Israel and buy a farm.
2. Find some Levites to support.
3. Begin observing the Old Testament festivals (including animal sacrifices).
4. Bring 20% of your crops and herds to the temple in Jerusalem (a real challenge since the temple in Jerusalem was destroyed 2000 years ago!)
If you successfully complete steps 1 through 4, you might then be able to claim that you were practicing Biblical tithing.
