Tithing and Jesus: A Biblical Meditation

By Jennifer Anne Cox

The Old Testament is still important for Christian believers, but it must be understood in light of the truth that it is fulfilled in the person of Jesus Christ (Matt 5:17). For this reason, we must read it carefully. One of the topics often preached from the Old Testament is tithing. Much of the time, Christians are taught about tithing as if it were a means to receiving God’s financial blessing or blessing in general. Teaching on tithing can therefore involve arguments about such matters as whether a person should give ten percent of their gross income or only ten percent of their net income. The problem with these approaches to tithing for Christian believers is that tithing is not given its proper New Testament context; it is not seen through the lens of the person and work of Christ. What I have attempted to do in this short book is to consider tithing in a different way. Instead of teaching tithing as if all Christians were Israelites under the old covenant, I have produced a meditation on tithing that considers the purposes of the tithe in the Old Testament and examines the ways in which these purposes are transformed in the New Testament.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Jennifer Anne Cox
• Release date: Jul 30, 2019
• ISBN: 9780463137161

Jennifer Anne Cox

Jennifer Anne Cox has a PhD in theology and is the author of several theological books. Dr Cox seeks to provide theological resources that will help the church to understand the Bible and to put Christ at the centre of all things.

Book preview

Tithing and Jesus

A Biblical Meditation

Smashwords edition

Jennifer Anne Cox

Copyright 2019 Jennifer Anne Cox

Scripture quotations are from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version, copyright ©2016 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

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work of this author.

Table of Contents

Introduction

Chapter 1: The Significance of the Tithe

Chapter 2: The Tithe as Holy to the LORD

Chapter 3: The Tithe as a Means of Support for the Priests

Chapter 4: Tithe as a Celebration of God’s Blessing

Chapter 5: Tithe as a Means of Providing for the Poor

Chapter 6: Tithing as an Act of Hypocrisy

Chapter 7: Tithing as a Means to Financial Blessing?

Chapter 8: New Testament Commendations of Outrageous Giving

Conclusion

About the Author

Introduction

Many Christians are unsure of what to do with the Old Testament. Sometimes the Old Testament is taught to Christians as if the old covenant still applied directly to believers under the new covenant. Alternatively, Christians may ignore the Old Testament altogether. Neither of these approaches is appropriate. The Old Testament is still important for Christian believers, but it must be understood in light of the truth that it is fulfilled in the person of Jesus Christ (Matt 5:17). For this reason, we must read it carefully.

One of the topics often preached from the Old Testament is tithing. Much of the time, Christians are taught about tithing as if it were a means to receiving God’s financial blessing or blessing in general. Some churches consider the matter of tithing central to their worship and demonstrate this through preaching a short sermon on giving every week before taking up an offering. I have heard of churches that actually keep records of how much each family