Referencing Pagan Christianity by Frank Viola and George Barna
Barna, Tyndale House, 2002/8
7
Tithing and clergy
salaries: sore spots on the wallet, (Pagan Christianity, chapter 8 title)
You don’t have to be particularly clever to work out that
the seven things we have covered up to this point cost swags of money. The quote from John A. T. Robinson on page
157 of Pagan Christianity is well
worth the read on this matter.
Hundreds of years of history has also shown us that vast
numbers of so-called conversions – possibly even that of Constantine himself –
were political, economic and social recalibrations, rather than true spiritual
transformations. If Jesus’ words are
true, the kingdom of God was small and ‘few’, the road narrow, and its gate
tight.
And someone had to pay for all this paraphernalia. True to form in “empire” – in the kingdom of
man – the plebs pay. And from the start,
there was a clear clash with the new covenant teaching Paul brought to the
scene. As he said to the Corinthians: “For
we are not like many, peddling the word of God but as from sincerity; but as
from God, we speak in Christ in the sight of God.” [‘Peddling’ implies payment.]
The obligation to pay followed naturally from the
establishment of the ‘clergy’. But what
method or system might be useful, justifiable and convenient (for all)? The old testament already had record of a
system (the Levitical system) that seemed to work OK – so long as the people
were reminded often and prodded to maintain compliance.
Essentially, the tithe is another word for a ‘tenth’ (10%). But it wasn’t originally ten percent of wages
or income alone, it was ten percent of everything. What that meant in practical terms was that
every ten people from eleven of Israel’s tribes supported one person from the
twelfth (priestly) tribe, the Levites, and the ongoing maintenance of the
physical structures and the performance of the rites and sacrifices. Mathematically, not such a bad idea. Even today it could work: every eleventh
person is supported by the ten with minimal disparity in earnings overall.
Viola and Barna chart the history of Christian tithing as
spreading “from the state to the church.” (p. 177) noting that:
The use of the tithe, or the tenth, was
commonly used to calculate payments to landlords. As the church increased its ownership of land
across Europe, the 10 percent rent-charge shifted from secular landlords to the
church. Ecclesiastical leaders became
the landlords and the tithe became the ecclesiastical tax... It was creatively
applied to the Old Testament law and came to be identified with the Levitical
tithe. (p. 177)
I have been involved in “church life” in one way or another
since my baptism in 1968 – over 50 years now.
A lot of those years were spent in a range of leadership or oversight
roles and some in venturing into self-initiated ventures and what was called at
the time ‘church planting’ ventures. Looking back over those years, I assess my
own journey and can make some clear assertions concerning a number of key
matters to do with what we do as ‘church’ and how and why we do it. One of those is tithing. One thing I can say without equivocation is
that I DO NOT practise or endorse the ‘tithe’.
Primarily that is because there is a “better way” – one which is
consistent with the principles of the new covenant.
First, the
tithe was given to Israel as part of their legal code for guiding their life as
the community of God before Jesus. It
was their taxation system, if you like.
Neither Jesus nor the Apostles, nor the church in the first hundred
years of its life practised the tithe.
And that entire code was made redundant when Jesus completed His work
and ascended to the Father and sent His Holy Spirit into the ekklesia.
Second, the
Old Testament tithe (literally, ‘the tenth’) was not ten percent as so many of
us imagine, but at least 23.3% annually.
It was made up of 3 tithes: 2 at 10% annually and one at 10% every three
years – coming to a total of 23.3%.
Third, one
of the main purposes of the tithe was so that the Levites – Israel’s
priest-tribe – could live. They had no
inheritance to use to produce the goods they needed for daily life so it was up
to the remaining 11 tribes to contribute to a storehouse for their
priests. In the New Covenant, all the
people of God are priests, not one segment of them as in old Israel.
Fourth, the
other use of the tithe was to have a storehouse for the poor and those unable
to fend for themselves (widows and orphans, for example). This aspect of giving is clearly visible in
the life of the early believers without any reference to a tithe. They were taught by the Spirit and encouraged
by the apostles to ‘give generously’, ‘according to what you are able’ – no rules,
no law except the law of love. “As I
have loved you, so you are to love one another.”
Tithing is often used as some kind of tool to measure the
standard of our discipleship. Neither
Jesus, nor the apostles, nor the early believers treated the people of God with
such disdain. Furthermore, a case can be
made to suggest that the tithe is, as Viola & Barna suggest (pp. 178-179),
‘good news for the rich and bad news for the poor’. A 10% rule only works if the cost of living
is graded so that everything you purchase is priced as a percentage of your
income. Think about how Australia’s GST works. A refrigerator costs the same for a poor
family as it does for a rich family (sadly, sometimes more!) – and GST is ten
percent on top. The relative total cost
of the refrigerator can only be seen when it is calculated as a percentage of
the families’ incomes. Reduce the price
of the refrigerator (make it a percentage of income) and you reduce the tax as
well.
Tithing is also often “...presented as the equivalent of a
Christian stock investment. Pay the
tithe, and God will give you more money in return. Refuse to tithe, and God will punish
you. Such thoughts rip at the heart of
the good news of the kingdom of God in Jesus Christ.” (Pagan Christianity
p. 180). We DO NOT support this view or
this teaching.
In God’s plan, we are all functioning priests and have a
divine calling for that work. We do not
need an elevated class called the ‘clergy’; we do not need a “tithe” to pay
them; we do not need offering plates/bags; and we do not need ‘ushers’ to carry
them around and goad people into giving.
As Pagan Christianity
points out:
Tithing is mentioned only four times in the
New Testament. But none of these
instances apply to Christians. Tithing
belonged to the Old Testament era where a taxation system was needed to support
the poor and a special priesthood that had been set apart to minister to the
Lord. With the coming of Jesus Christ,
there has been a “change of the law” – the old has been “set aside” and
rendered obsolete by the new (Hebrews 7:12-18; 8:13 NIV). (p. 183)
The theme of this blog series is moving from old covenant to
new covenant; this matter of tithing can be seen as a litmus test for whether
that move is in fact being made. Viola and Barna make an interesting point on
page 176: “Today, the Levitical system has been abolished. We are all priests now. So if a priest demands a tithe, then all
Christians should tithe to each other.”
I actually support that. It
reminds me of the words in Acts 2, “all those who had believed were together
and had all things in common.” Perhaps
that was their way of saying we should tithe to one another.
Note to self: Remember, the tithe died on
the cross with Jesus; the new life is cheerful generosity.
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