“Does the teaching on tithing in Malachi 3:9-10 apply to us today?”……Malachi 3:9-10 is often used to teach the need for Christians to tithe to local churches today. That passage reads, 9 You are under a curse, for your whole nation has been cheating me. 10 Bring all the tithes into the storehouse so there will be enough food in my Temple. If you do," says the Lord of Heaven's Armies, "I will open the windows of heaven for you. I will pour out a blessing so great you won't have enough room to take it in! Try it! Put me to the test!

Does this teaching apply to Christians today?……First, the context of this passage concerns the Israelites not bringing their offerings to the temple. Because of their disobedience, God had judged them with a small harvest.

The Lord challenged them to bring the "full tithe" of grain sacrifices and see that He would bless them with an abundance of future crops.

Leviticus 6:14-23

Further Instructions for the Grain Offering

14 "These are the instructions regarding the grain offering. Aaron's sons must present this offering to the Lord in front of the altar. 15 The priest on duty will take from the grain offering a handful of the choice flour moistened with olive oil, together with all the frankincense. He will burn this representative portion on the altar as a pleasing aroma to the Lord. 16 Aaron and his sons may eat the rest of the flour, but it must be baked without yeast and eaten in a sacred place within the courtyard of the Tabernacle.[a]17 Remember, it must never be prepared with yeast. I have given it to the priests as their share of the special gifts presented to me. Like the sin offering and the guilt offering, it is most holy. 18 Any of Aaron's male descendants may eat from the special gifts presented to the Lord. This is their permanent right from generation to generation. Anyone or anything that touches these offerings will become holy."

Procedures for the Ordination Offering

19 Then the Lord said to Moses, 20 "On the day Aaron and his sons are anointed, they must present to the Lord the standard grain offering of two quarts[] of choice flour, half to be offered in the morning and half to be offered in the evening. 21 It must be carefully mixed with olive oil and cooked on a griddle. Then slice[c] this grain offering and present it as a pleasing aroma to the Lord. 22 In each generation, the high priest[d] who succeeds Aaron must prepare this same offering. It belongs to the Lord and must be burned up completely. This is a permanent law. 23 All such grain offerings of a priest must be burned up entirely. None of it may be eaten."

The "storehouse," mentioned in verse 10, is a place to store grain in the temple.…Second, this passage teaches that the Jews were to give a tithe as part of the temple worship, but it does not teach that Christians are to give to churches.

Malachi was written more than 400 years before the start of the first church in Jerusalem. Applying its command of temple giving to the local church takes these verses out of their original context.……Are New Testament Christians commanded to tithe or not?

To be clear, a tithe is literally a "tenth," or 10 percent.

Abraham gave a tenth of all he had to the priest of Salem in Genesis 14:20. Later, the Mosaic Law included commands to give a tenth for tabernacle worship. Tithing is mentioned 18 times in the Law, as the people were to share their produce and livestock to support the Levites, the caretakers of the tabernacle.

This same system of tithing would later be applied to the temple

(2 Chronicles 31:5).…Jesus rebuked the religious leaders of His day, saying,

Luke 11:42

42 "What sorrow awaits you Pharisees! For you are careful to tithe even the tiniest income from your herb gardens,[a] but you ignore justice and the love of God. You should tithe, yes, but do not neglect the more important things. These Pharisees obeyed the Law of Moses in that they tithed scrupulously, yet did not truly love God. They were challenged to do both.……The Law was fulfilled in Jesus Christ (Matthew 5:17).

17 "Don't misunderstand why I have come. I did not come to abolish the law of Moses or the writings of the prophets. No, I came to accomplish their purpose.

When the church began to grow beyond the Jewish people and reach Gentiles, leaders struggled with whether or not to command these new believers to follow the Mosaic Law.

In the end, only a few instructions were given for the sake of peace, but tithing was not among them

Acts 15:19-21

19 "And so my judgment is that we should not make it difficult for the Gentiles who are turning to God.20 Instead, we should write and tell them to abstain from eating food offered to idols, from sexual immorality, from eating the meat of strangled animals, and from consuming blood. 21 For these laws of Moses have been preached in Jewish synagogues in every city on every Sabbath for many generations."

See Jerusalem Council…The principle in the New Testament is to give voluntarily to support the needs of others …Acts 2:45

45 They sold their property and possessions and shared the money with those in need.

Romans 15:25-27…25 But before I come, I must go to Jerusalem to take a gift to the believers[a] there. 26 For you see, the believers in Macedonia and Achaia[] have eagerly taken up an offering for the poor among the believers in Jerusalem. 27 They were glad to do this because they feel they owe a real debt to them. Since the Gentiles received the spiritual blessings of the Good News from the believers in Jerusalem, they feel the least they can do in return is to help them financially.…support Christian workers…1 Corinthians 9:11-12

11 Since we have planted spiritual seed among you, aren't we entitled to a harvest of physical food and drink? 12 If you support others who preach to you, shouldn't we have an even greater right to be supported? But we have never used this right. We would rather put up with anything than be an obstacle to the Good News about Christ.

1Timothy 5:18

18 For the Scripture says, "You must not muzzle an ox to keep it from eating as it treads out the grain." And in another place, "Those who work deserve their pay!"(Deut 25:4; Luke 10:7.)

and expand Christian outreach …Philippians 4:15-16…15 As you know, you Philippians were the only ones who gave me financial help when I first brought you the Good News and then traveled on from Macedonia. No other church did this. 16 Even when I was in Thessalonica you sent help more than once.…No specific amount is ever commanded, and no percentage is suggested. While a tithe or tenth of one's finances may be a good standard to use for Christian giving, it is clear the early church did not focus on a specific amount but rather on meeting needs.

This sometimes included giving much more than a tenth, as some believers sold homes or land to meet the needs that existed in the church

Acts 4:34-37

34 There were no needy people among them, because those who owned land or houses would sell them 35 and bring the money to the apostles to give to those in need.36 For instance, there was Joseph, the one the apostles nicknamed Barnabas (which means "Son of Encouragement"). He was from the tribe of Levi and came from the island of Cyprus. 37 He sold a field he owned and brought the money to the apostles.

“What was the meaning and importance of the Jerusalem Council

(Acts 15)?”…In the earliest days of the Christian church, the church was comprised predominately of Jews. In Acts chapter 8 the gospel spread to the Samaritans (who were ethnically mixed Jews-Gentiles), and many Samaritans received Jesus Christ as Saviour.

In Acts chapter 10, the Apostle Peter was the first to take the gospel specifically to the Gentiles, and many received Christ as Saviour.

In Acts chapter 13-14, Paul and Barnabas had a very fruitful ministry among the Gentiles. All of these Gentiles turning to faith in Christ caused concern among the Jewish believers, first expressed in Acts 11:1-18, and the issues that caused concern were ultimately decided upon at the Jerusalem Council (Acts 15). The issues centred on two questions: Do Gentiles first have to become Jews before they can become Christians?

Do Gentiles have to observe the Mosaic Law after they become Christians?……The impetus for the Jerusalem council is given in Acts 15, verses 1 and 5, While Paul and Barnabas were at Antioch of Syria, some men from Judea arrived and began to teach the believers[a]: "Unless you are circumcised as required by the law of Moses, you cannot be saved."├ö├ç┬¬5 But then some of the believers who belonged to the sect of the Pharisees stood up and insisted, "The Gentile converts must be circumcised and required to follow the law of Moses."

Some Jewish Christians were teaching that Gentiles had to observe the Mosaic Law and Jewish customs in order to be saved. Since this teaching clearly contradicted the fact that salvation was by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone (Acts 15:11), the apostles and church leaders held the first Christian council to settle the issue. In verses 7-11

7 At the meeting, after a long discussion, Peter stood and addressed them as follows: "Brothers, you all know that God chose me from among you some time ago to preach to the Gentiles so that they could hear the Good News and believe. 8 God knows people's hearts, and he confirmed that he accepts Gentiles by giving them the Holy Spirit, just as he did to us. 9 He made no distinction between us and them, for he cleansed their hearts through faith. 10 So why are you now challenging God by burdening the Gentile believers[a] with a yoke that neither we nor our ancestors were able to bear? 11 We believe that we are all saved the same way, by the undeserved grace of the Lord Jesus."

The apostle Peter spoke of his ministry with the Gentiles, as recorded in Acts chapter 10. Peter focused on the fact that the Holy Spirit was given to uncircumcised Gentiles in precisely the same manner the Holy Spirit was given to the apostles and Jewish believers on the day of Pentecost.

This led Peter to the conclusion that there should be no "placing a yoke on the neck of the (Gentile) disciples that neither our fathers nor we have been able to bear" (Acts 15:10).……Jesus' half-brother James, who had become a leader of the church in Jerusalem, agreed with Peter and declared, "It is my judgment, therefore, that we should not make it difficult for the Gentiles who are turning to God" (Acts 15:19). …The Jerusalem Council then proceeded to give four "rules" that Gentile Christians should live by. These were not rules the Gentiles must follow in order to be saved.

Rather, the rules were to build harmony between Jewish and Gentile Christians in the first century.

The four rules the Jerusalem Council decided upon were that Gentile Christians should abstain from: …Food polluted by idols

Sexual immorality

The meat of strangled animals

And blood.

The instructions were not intended to guarantee salvation but to promote peace within the early church.……It is interesting that the issue the Jerusalem Council was dealing with is still very much an issue in the church today. …There are groups still teaching that Christians must obey the Old Testament Law. Whether it is the Sabbath day or the food laws or all of the Old Testament Law outside of the sacrificial system.

There are groups which declare observance of the Law is either required for salvation, or at least a crucially important aspect of the Christian life.

Sadly, these groups either completely ignore or grossly misinterpret the decision of the Jerusalem Council.

The specific goal of the Jerusalem Council was to decide what aspects, if any, of the Old Testament Law, Christians must observe.

The Jerusalem Council, for the sake of melding the Jewish and Gentile cultures within the Antioch church, said that the Gentiles should steer clear of their former pagan practices associated with idolatry.

There was no mention of the Sabbath whatsoever.

Further, the Jerusalem Council made it abundantly clear that these rules were not requirements for salvation by reaffirming that salvation is by grace for both Jews and Gentiles (Acts 15:11).

How many arguments would be solved if the church today would simply follow the principle set by the Jerusalem Council-limit your liberty for the sake of love?

……“What is the curse of the law?”…As opposed to the blessing, which is grace, the Law is a curse upon all mankind, none of whom can possibly fulfil its requirements. While the Law itself is perfect and holy, those who try to justify themselves before its holy Author bring not His blessing, but His curse upon themselves. The Bible itself tells us what the curse of the Law is: "All who rely on observing the law are under a curse, for it is written: 'Cursed is everyone who does not continue to do everything written in the Book of the Law.' Clearly no one is justified before God by the law, because, 'the righteous will live by faith.' The law is not based on faith; on the contrary, 'The man who does these things will live by them.' Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us, for it is written: 'Cursed is everyone who is hung on a tree'" (Galatians 3:10-13).……What we must understand from this passage is that the curse is not the Law. The curse is the penalty levied for not keeping the Law. The "Book of the Law" refers to the covenant laws that God made with His people during the time of Moses. The Law can point out where we fail and fall short of God's will, but it cannot pronounce us righteous; that was not its purpose.……In Galatians 3 the apostle Paul is telling us that everyone who does not keep the Law perfectly is cursed by it (Deuteronomy 27:26Galatians 3:10). The reason is that no one can obey the Law perfectly. In fact, there were over 600 laws the Jews had to keep to be right in the eyes of God. The breaking of even one commandment put a person under condemnation. Trying to achieve salvation through obedience to the Law is futile. For example, we all regularly break the first and greatest commandment by failing to love God first with all our hearts, minds and strength (Matthew 22:37-38). As a result, everyone has broken the commandments, and everyone is cursed.……The Law demands perfection-an impossibility because we're all sinful

(Romans 3:10,23). As a result, all who try to live by the Old Law were under a divine curse. But the good news is that Jesus Christ "redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us" (Galatians 3:13). Jesus made the ultimate sacrifice on the cross when He bore God's curse. Paul explains how in his letter to the Romans: "God presented [Jesus] as a sacrifice of atonement, through faith in His blood. He did this to demonstrate His justice, because in His forbearance He had left the sins committed beforehand unpunished-He did it to demonstrate His justice at the present time, so as to be just and the One who justifies those who have faith in Jesus" (Romans 3:25-26). The curse of the Law fell on Christ on our behalf so that the righteousness of God could fall on us, though we did not deserve it (2 Corinthians 5:21).

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