Tithing and ‘Full Time’ Leaders
As we began our new journey of re-discovery of the biblical church we started questioning the concept of pastor or full time leader on a tithe.
In the New Testament, Paul was a tent maker *Acts 18:3* and he only received money once from those whom he fellowshipped with most of the time, to pay his way so he could go and speak to people in another town. When we look into it, Paul seems to say that he did not have to ask a certain church for money because his own (local church) people gave it to him. This seems to be the normal way of living where no one was on a tithe in the New Testament *2 Cor 11:9*. Also not everyone gave money; only those who had extra money, food, clothing, land etc gave to help the sick, the widow’s and the poor.
Most modern churches have a leader/pastor who is paid from the tithe to so call minister/preach, but the only mention of tithing in the New Testament was from the Pharisees and the mention of Melchizedek in a letter to the Hebrews. Abraham gave a tenth of all that he got after he won a battle *Heb 7:4* and it was from the spoils that he gave the tenth to Melchizedek. It seems that it was not even his own that he tithed, but that it was the ‘spoils of war’. Also Abraham never did it again, but there are now churches latching on to this to bring it into the New Testament just so that they can be paid a wage. It has been defined by some movements that we are sons of Abraham and by being such; we should also tithe as part of our sonship faith. We think this is quite a leap in proving NT tithes which were in fact just Old Testament taxes for the Levites who had no other means of income *Num 18:26*.
Tithes was also for the stranger, fatherless and widow in the Israelites’ care *Deut 14:29*.
It is very clear that Jesus came to place the LAW back into its proper place when he was nailed to the cross *Col 2:14*. Therefore we now no longer live by law but by the new law written on our hearts, that we should love one another as He loved us, or as stated in the Old Covenant.’, love the Lord our God with all our heart and our neighbour as our self’. |