Under The Law?

Q

The Lord said we were not to put ourselves under the law because if we did and broke one we would be guilty of all and are cursed. The tithe is not right for today. We are to give and to do whatever we can for anyone who needs it. We do this out of love.

A

In Matthew 23:23 the Lord said, “Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You give a tenth of your spices–mint, dill and cummin. But you have neglected the more important matters of the law–justice, mercy and faithfulness. You should have practiced the latter, without neglecting the former.”

He accused them of paying attention to the smallest detail, like giving a tenth of the spices grown in their gardens, but neglecting the overarching principles of justice, mercy, and faithfulness. In other words, they were keeping the letter of the Law but not its intent. He said they should have done both, and in saying it He confirmed the validity of tithing.

The phrase “putting yourself under the law” means trying to live by the law as a means to earning or keeping your salvation. The Bible says that if you do that and break even one of God’s laws, it’s as if you’ve broken them all. But nowhere does the Bible tell us to disregard God’s Laws. It only tells us that since it’s impossible for us to fully keep them, He sent His son to pay the price for our violations.

Jesus died so that you can be forgiven for breaking His law, but His death didn’t abolish it. (Matt. 5:17). We’re still admonished not to kill or lie or commit adultery or steal from God, which is what we’re doing when we refuse to tithe.

But you’re right in saying we should do all of these things out of love because we should love to do the things that please the One Who died so that we could have life. Besides that, it gives Him so much pleasure when we return his portion of our income that He blesses us all out of proportion. So even if you don’t believe all the Bible says about it, tithing simply makes good financial sense.