As churches continue to struggle with financial fallout from the 2020 pandemic, a debate has cropped up on whether a church should require tithing. The concept of tithing, paying 10% of one’s income to a church, comes from the Bible, with Abraham giving a tenth to the mysterious priest, Melchizedek and later in Genesis 28, when Abraham’s grandson, Jacob, vows to give a tenth to the Lord. Chapter 3 in the book of Malachi also discusses the importance of tithing and accuses God’s people of “robbing” God by withholding tithe. Jesus also appears to support tithing in Matthew 23:23. Many churches rely on tithes from their congregation in order to afford building and maintenance expenses, minister salaries, and other everyday expenses.

Pastor John Piper addressed the issue of churches enforcing tithing in a recent “Ask Pastor John” episode. The question was brought up by an anonymous follower who stated his church was requiring ministry leaders to tithe as a condition of their employment. The questioner stated feeling “conflicted” about the policy. “While I understand the importance of supporting the church financially, I’ve found myself conflicted about the approach being taken by our leaders. It seems to me that forcing individuals to tithe can potentially do more harm than good.”

Piper’s response stated that while he believed tithing to be a system established in the Old Testament, he did not believe it to be established under the new covenant of the New Testament. “I think tithing was an integral part of the Old Testament sacrificial priestly system, which God designed for the support of the priesthood — a system that no longer exists in the Christian church. That’s the short answer,” he stated.

Piper went on to outline what Old Testament commandments remain binding to Christians. “Now, not all the commandments of the Old Testament come over as binding into the New Testament. Some of them we call the moral law, which are rooted in our nature as God created us and in the nature of God’s love and justice being worked out in our lives. And some of them are simply temporary, as part of the priestly, sacrificial Old Testament system, which has passed away after the coming of Jesus Christ as our priest and our sacrifice,” he wrote. He continued to state that he believed tithing did not fall under moral law because it was originally established to support the Levitical priesthood, which is no longer necessary with Christ serving as the priest and mediators for all believers. Eventually, he concluded that, “it’s a mistake for the leaders of a church to make tithing a requirement for church leadership.” He stated he would rather followers of Christ focus on “Christian freedom in the light of the lavish generosity of God toward us in Christ” and quoted the Bible, stating, “God loves a cheerful giver.”