3842 - Paying Tithe by Editor

Pacific Press Publishing Association · Mountain View, California · Sep 3, 1912

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 39, No. 34.

3842 — Paying Tithe

By Editor

Why do your people pay tithe, when Hebrews 7 teaches that it is not binding on the people of this day? Verse 12 says there was a change in the law; and was not tithing included in this?

The law of which Heb. 7:12 speaks is not the law of tithing, but the law of the priesthood, for it is the priesthood that is under discussion. The context clearly shows this. Note verse 11: "If there was perfection through the Levitical priesthood;" and then also verse 13, that Christ came of a different tribe. The law of the priesthood was that it was to come from the tribe of Levi, but Christ came from the tribe of Judah. The tithing antedated the law. Abraham paid tithes, and so also did Jacob. In fact, Hebrews 7 is confirmatory of the obligation of the tithe, for Christ is a priest after the order of Melchizedek, and in that sense we are living under the Melchizedek priesthood; but Abraham paid tithe to Melchizedek, and therefore the children of Abraham, or the children of faith, ought still to pay tithe. The simple fact is that tithing is an equitable arrangement which God has Himself given for the support of His gospel work. We know that there are those who object to it, and say that a Christian ought to pay all. And that is true, he ought to acknowledge that all he has belongs to God; but after he acknowledges that all he has belongs to God, certainly he would be willing to set aside a tenth, as the Lord has declared, for special support of the gospel ministry. We have the same objection regarding the Sabbath day. Some will tell us that they keep all days holy; but if they keep all days holy, they ought to be willing to keep one as God has Himself directed. But the man who contends that he keeps all days holy, generally keeps none sacred to the Lord. And he who contends that all that he has belongs to God, and consequently he doesn't need to pay tithe, usually pays very much less than a tithe for the support of the Lord's work. The whole history of the work of God shows, with hardly an exception, that those who have been faithful to God in paying tithe, by simple, glad faith, have always been blessed by it; and the church which has done this has ever prospered.