Before You Tithe Again

An Honest Look at God's Commands and Our Assumptions.

Most people don't argue about the tithe. They just feel vaguely guilty about it.

When the preacher mentions Malachi, some people get a knot in their stomach. The familiar warning hangs in the air. And the congregation absorbs it quietly — those who tithe faithfully nodding along, those who don't, or can't, carrying a low-grade guilt they've never quite been able to shake.

Few people ask the question out loud. This series did.

Not whether generosity is good. It is. Not whether Christians should give sacrificially. They should. Just the narrower question sitting underneath those:

What has God actually commanded His church?

That question led to six essays. You don't have to read all six. Find the one that names what you've been quietly thinking, and start there.

Part 1 — Robbing God or Misreading Him?

Malachi 3:10 may be the most preached verse in every giving season. "Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse." Most believers have heard it applied directly to them, as a live warning still in force today. But Malachi was written to someone specific, about something specific, in a particular moment of Israel's history. Part 1 asks who he was actually talking to — and whether that changes what the passage means for us.

Part 2 — The Tithe God Commanded

Before settling anything about whether Christians should tithe, it's worth knowing what the tithe actually was — not the version that gets preached, but the version that's in the text. The biblical tithe is more specific, more structural, and more tied to Israel's covenant life than most giving conversations acknowledge. Part 2 defines it from Scripture, carefully. Whatever you conclude from it, the definition itself is worth knowing.

Part 3 — Giving in the New Testament

The New Testament has more to say about money than most people realize. The apostles were not shy about it. Part 3 traces what they actually commanded, commended, and left to conscience — and asks what that full pattern means for how Christians think about giving today.

Part 4 — Do the Proof-Texts Prove the Tithe?

Four passages come up in almost every conversation about tithing: Abraham and Melchizedek, Jacob at Bethel, Jesus and the Pharisees, and Hebrews 7. They're regularly cited as proof that tithing is permanent, pre-Law, and still binding on believers. Part 4 examines each one closely. Wherever you've landed on the question, these texts deserve a careful reading.

Part 5 — The Weight of What We Teach

Teaching about money is one of the most sensitive things a pastor does. What we say about giving, and how we say it, does something to the people in the room — to their conscience, their sense of God, their shame or their freedom. Part 5 looks at what happens when that teaching carries more weight than the text can bear.

Part 6 — Give Like Someone Set Free

Whatever Scripture teaches, there's a practical question underneath it: what does faithful, generous, grace-shaped giving actually look like for a Christian today? Part 6 tries to answer that honestly and practically. It is not an argument for giving less. It is a case for giving better.

The question underneath all six essays is the same one the church has always had to answer:

What has God actually commanded His people?

Whatever the answer is, it deserves an honest look.