In the Question Chair

Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Oct 22, 1901

In the Question Chair.

[Designed for the consideration of such questions as will be of interest and profit to the general reader. All correspondents should give their names and correct post-office address, that queries not replied to here may be answered by mail.]

834.— ADDING TO THE TITHE.

Is it a part of the tithing system to-day, in paying borrowed tithe, to add twenty per cent, or one fifth? Please give references for the ancient custom.

C. H., Battle Creek, Mich.

ANSWER.—We know of no such requirement connected with the tithe as a part of the system. We read of a fifth part, or twenty per cent, being added to the obligations of certain ones on certain conditions. Lev. 5:16; 6:5. But the first was when a soul had committed a trespass in the holy things, through ignorance, or unwittingly, and wished to make amends. He “shall add the fifth part thereto, and give it unto the priest.” The second is when one had wronged another in a trust or things taken by violence, and had deceived him by swearing falsely: he was to restore the principal of that about which he had sworn falsely, and add a fifth part thereto, and give it unto the one to whom it appertained. By borrowing from the tithe, we suppose to be meant making use of a portion of that which belongs to the tithe fund before it is paid over into the hands of the Church. Such should naturally have a desire to make it up, or pay it back, at the earliest opportunity: and they should do so. But we do not know of any custom or obligation in this case to add twenty per cent thereto.

835.— THE LAW OF CHRIST.

In Gal. 6:2 Paul speaks of “the law of Christ.” Will you please inform us, through the REVIEW, (1) what constitutes the law of Christ; (2) when it was given, and where it can be found? A. J. F.

ANS.—We are told what will fulfill it. “Bear ye one another’s burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ.” That law enjoins upon us to bear one another’s burdens. If we look for a formal promulgation of that law, it will probably be found in the “new commandment” which Christ gave His disciples, as expressed by the apostle John: “Brethren, I write no new commandment unto you, but an old commandment which ye had from the beginning. The old commandment is the word which ye have heard from the beginning. Again, a new commandment I write unto you, which thing is true in Him and in you: because the darkness is past, and the true light now shineth.” 1 John 2:7, 8. Connect this with verse 11 of chapter 3: “For this is the message that ye heard from the beginning, that we should love one another.” Love, Paul says, in a broader sense, is the fulfilling of the law. Rom. 13:10. It may be expressed again in the language of the golden rule: “Therefore all things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them: for this is the law and the prophets.” Matt. 7:12. This is the law of Christ, which we are to fulfill, or carry out, in our lives.