Erasmus Makarimayi ELSEWHERE on this platform, we said we make topical issues subjects that Jesus taught in the four Gospels and further expanded and advanced in the Epistles by the Spirit.
We would like to pause this current series so that we bring in other issues closely related to the subject. In the very near future, we will round up the subject.
As a follower of this column, you would want to be aware that we have so far given so much space to the subject not as a doctrinal requirement, but that there are misfits in the body of Christ who have elevated this subject so high that we thought it prudent to equip you so that you know the truth and also teach others.
Jesus in the four Gospels relegated it to the periphery of the Doctrine of Christ. We saw it in Matthew 23:23, New King James Version: “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you pay tithe of mint and anise and cummin, and have neglected the weightier matters of the law: justice and mercy and faith. These you ought to have done, without leaving the others undone.”
Take note of this. Tithe is of the Law not of the New Covenant. Even in that vein, there are more important issues.
It becomes off the mark if Jesus never collected tithe in His earthly ministry and the current church makes it first and higher up priority.
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For starters, for the first 40 years that Moses told the Israelites to give tithe, they did not because they were in the wilderness.
They were supposed to start giving it in the promised land, Canaan. We will study further this and other points when we resume the inquiry.
You would want to be aware that after the destruction of the second temple in Jerusalem, no one could identify the tribe of Levi so argues the respected historian Josephus and others.
It becomes interesting that in Zimbabwe mainly the Charismatics managed to trace the Levites! Fraud and daylight robbery!
We know that there are those who grew up in settings where they simply followed the tradition of the fathers and never checked the Bible for themselves.
These ones, we may call them innocently heretic. They need schooling. There are those who know the truth but are afraid to lose members and income from tithes.
I know big ministries in terms of congregates who almost had to restart after members left after the preacher started teaching that by growing in the Word, they found out that tithing is not of the New Covenant. The sweetest thing is to preach with clear conscience and conviction. The numbers belong to the Chief Shepherd.
Is it not frightening and raises a red flag when the great Jerusalem Council in Acts 15 had no tithing on its agenda?
Does it not probe you to examine that Apostle Paul never collected tithes at the following churches, Rome, Corinth, Galatia, Ephesus, Philippi, Collosse and Thessalonica.
He neither instructed his protégés Timothy and Titus to collect tithes. Apostle Peter, John, James and Jude are silent on the matter!
If you read progressively the letter to the Hebrews, you will find out that when the writer mentions tithes before the Law, the issue was not tithing. In Chapter 1, the author brings to our attention that Jesus Christ is greater than the angels.
As we get to Chapter 7, we are made aware that the High Priesthood of Jesus far exceeds that of Melchisedec. We can safely say the New Covenant doctrinal books don’t teach on collecting tithes.
Digest this, Hebrews 7:11-16: “[11] If therefore perfection were by the Levitical priesthood, (for under it the people received the law,) what further need was there that another priest should rise after the order of Melchisedec, and not be called after the order of Aaron? [12] For the priesthood being changed, there is made of necessity a change also of the law. [13] For he of whom these things are spoken pertaineth to another tribe, of which no man gave attendance at the altar. [14] For it is evident that our Lord sprang out of Juda; of which tribe Moses spake nothing concerning priesthood. [15] And it is yet far more evident: for that after the similitude of Melchisedec there ariseth another priest, [16] Who is made, not after the law of a carnal commandment, but after the power of an endless life.”
Jesus is not Melchisedec. He’s greater than Melchisedec, Levitical order or Aaronic order. He functions at a higher plane of endless life.
Now unto him that is able to keep you from falling, and to present you faultless before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy, To the only wise God our Saviour, be glory and majesty, dominion and power, both now and ever. Amen. Grace and peace be multiplied to you through knowledge.