Credo
15 July 2024
Whenever I teach seminary courses, I have an “ask-me-anything” policy to promote student learning. Some years back, when I taught a course on hermeneutics (i.e., how to read the Bible) in a local seminary, many in my class took me up on my offer and grilled me on the topic of tithing.
They asked: “Why should we tithe? How much should we tithe? What should we tithe to?” But these questions were not a mere intellectual exercise for them. A few of them had given very generously to their churches to the point of significant personal deprivation, but the money had been subsequently mismanaged.
It was appropriate that they asked me these questions in a hermeneutics course since our understanding of tithing is, first of all, linked to how we read Scripture. Second, it is also linked to how we apply Scripture in the context of Singapore.
Not ten percent
As an example of the first point (“how we read Scripture”), the most common question they asked me was whether they should tithe ten percent of their salary to their church. When I asked them why they proposed that figure, they cited Old Testament tithing guidelines such as Leviticus 27.32:
And every tithe of herds and flocks, every tenth animal of all that pass under the herdsman’s staff, shall be holy to the LORD. (ESV)
But when I asked them why ten percent was required by the Old Testament, they admitted they had not given that question much thought. It was a teachable moment. So, I pointed them to God’s commandment in Numbers 18.24:
For the tithe of the people of Israel, which they present as a contribution to the LORD, I have given to the Levites for an inheritance. Therefore I have said of them that they shall have no inheritance among the people of Israel. (ESV)
In other words, the purpose of the tithe is for supporting the ministry of the Levites since they had no territorial inheritance. Since there were eleven other tribes, ten percent of tithing from each tribe approximately made up one whole tribe’s income (remember that the Levites themselves also had to tithe to the Lord, i.e., a tithe from the tithe, cf. Numbers 18.26).
If we understand this, then we would realise that the Torah’s ten percent figure was a practice contextualised to the ancient state of Israel. We should not thoughtlessly apply it to our own practices of tithing today.
How much should we then give?
So, if not ten percent, how much should we tithe? My students were shocked by my answer: everything. I pointed them to a couple of New Testament texts:
I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. (Romans 12.1, ESV)
Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body. (1 Corinthians 6.19–20, ESV)
These texts teach us that Christians are called to present the whole of their selves to God because we were redeemed (a financial term!) from our sins by Jesus on the cross. God owns us – all one hundred percent of us.
Giving everything wisely
However, this does not mean that we should give all of our salaries to our local church, as I reminded my students. This is because of the second point I raised earlier: tithing is linked to how we apply Scripture in the context of Singapore.
One key rule of Scriptural application is to recognise that the Bible proposes a whole range of principles that we should understand and apply together. Where possible, these principles ought to complement each other, with no one principle monopolising our spirituality.
There are at least four such principles that should shape the way we steward our resources through the act of tithing:
- Provide for your own family
1 Timothy 5.8 reminds us that “if anyone does not provide for his relatives, and especially for members of his household, he has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever.” (ESV) Thus, we ought to ensure that our families are taken care of from the fruits of our labour.
In fact, the Pharisees were indicted by Jesus for depriving their parents of support by hypocritically declaring that those resources had been given to God (cf. Mark 7.6–13).
But an important question we ought to ask is: how much should we set aside for our family? To address this, a rule of thumb I find helpful is to consider what is a frugal and humble lifestyle in the country that we live in.
Since this may differ from place to place since each country’s costs of living differ, this is where our contextual application comes into play. For example, in Singapore, providing for our children to have a local university education is not considered ostentatious, esp. given the generous government subsidy for undergraduate education.
- Provide for your church
This is a principle that most of us are familiar with. “The labourer deserves his wages.” (1 Timothy 5.18) We ought to support those who lead and serve the church, especially “those who labour in preaching and teaching” (5.17). Such support should also include Christian organisations that support the work of the Church, such as seminaries and mission organisations.
Here, the contextual question that we need to ask is: how much should we pay the staff members of a Christian organisation? We should ask this question thoughtfully since we should be committed to regularly giving to support such salaries.
Another helpful rule of thumb to address this question is to consider what is reasonable in Singapore. For this reason, some Christian organisations take guidance from the National Council of Social Service’s Salary Guidelines for the Social Sector (updated yearly), since such organisations view the nature of church ministry as comparable to that of social service agencies.
- Provide for the poor and needy
An aspect of Christian giving that is often forgotten is the Christian’s responsibility to support the poor and needy. In James 2.15–17, the apostle James reminds us that if a fellow believer lacks basic necessities, we must provide for them – not with platitudes, but with real practical support. To hammer this point home, James states starkly: “faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead.” (v. 17)
- Give for your own spiritual growth
Finally, we should recognise that Scripture teaches us to give for our own spiritual growth. After thanking the church in Philippi for their financial support, Paul reminds that congregation that he does not seek their gift, but rather he desires “the fruit that increases to your credit.” (Philippians 4.17, ESV) Tithing contributes to our spiritual growth.
Thus, another rule of thumb that I challenge my own congregation with is to give until it hurts (and not necessarily to give to our church, but also to mission organisations or to the needy). I remind them that this is a good way for us to imitate the faithfulness of the poor widow, which Jesus commends:
… this poor widow has put in more than all of them. For they all contributed out of their abundance, but she out of her poverty put in all she had to live on.” (Luke 21.3-4, ESV)
By giving until it hurts, tithing becomes a regular spiritual discipline to train us in self-sacrificial love (which Jesus calls us to, cf. John 15.12–13).
Speaking of spirituality, we must be careful never to allow tithing to become transactional. That is, we must never come to think that God owns us anything due to how much we tithe. Remember: everything you have is already His. We are not “giving” to God; we are simply stewarding His resources on His behalf.
Conclusion
After I shared my thoughts with my students, some told me that they had never heard proper teaching on tithing before. Perhaps pastors, desiring not to be seen to self-advocate for their own salaries, have abstained from preaching on this important topic. Nonetheless, we should preach on tithing since it is a spiritually-rich discipline. It is a valuable opportunity for fostering Christian growth as disciples. In particular, tithing helps us combat the love of money, a frightful idol that we must confront in a money-obsessed society like Singapore.
Moreover, pastors should also teach on this topic to remind ourselves about the high standards of governance that we ourselves ought to apply to our stewardship of church resources. It brings me great sorrow to think about the financial mismanagement that my students told me about. After all, if we call our members to steward God’s resources well, we as church leaders must first excel in this area ourselves!
Ps Leow Wen Pin is the Associate Pastor of Bethany Evangelical Free Church. He is also Board Chairman of the Koinonia Inclusion Network, a mission organisation that enables churches to welcome and disciple people of all abilities. He also often teaches in local seminaries, and has written several books on Christian topics. See leowwenpin.com for more information.