Was Jesus God’s Tithe?
The following is an excerpt from “Tithing: Low-realm, Obsolete & Defunct” by Matthew E. Narramore. You can read the full book here. Let the Truth set you free!
Disinformation: When Jesus Died on the Cross, God Was Paying His Tithe
Most people have never heard this statement, but it has become popular among some well-respected ministries. It sounds scriptural and at first it doesn’t seem to violate the gospel message, but it distorts the meaning of both the cross and the tithe. It’s an inaccurate parallel that is used to promote tithing. It seems relatively harmless, but it is part of a serious theological error that has produced a church that is weak and ineffective, by God’s standards.
When Jesus died on the cross, he was fulfilling the eternal plan of God that existed before creation. He was “the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.” (Rev. 13:8b) His death on the cross was also God’s fulfillment of a promise to Abraham. God had tested Abraham’s faith and commitment by commanding him to offer his son Isaac as a sacrifice. Abraham passed the test and the event became God’s prophetic picture of his own covenant obligation to offer Jesus as a sacrifice for man’s salvation.
Jesus’ death was a fulfillment of God’s covenant commitment but it had nothing to do with a tithe. When Abraham offered up Isaac it had nothing to do with a tithe either. Isaac was 100 percent of all that Abraham had because the rest of his wealth was worthless compared to his son. A tithe is a tenth and it leaves you with 90 percent. Abraham was giving everything when he offered Isaac.
Likewise, when the Father gave Jesus it was everything on his part as well. Colossians 2:9 says, “For in him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily.” Jesus Christ was the full expression of God and everything that he could give, not just a tithe.
Tithes are based on the increase of something that has already been received. God gave in advance, before he received anything. He gave without any guarantees. He gave without regard to whether anyone would accept the sacrifice of Jesus or not. He gave because it is his nature.
God didn’t owe a tithe to us or to himself. We owed him a debt that we could never pay. The message of the cross is that Jesus was there in our place, on our behalf. He was doing something for us that we could not do for ourselves. So if God was paying anyone’s tithe it would not have been his, it would have been ours.
Paul did describe the resurrected Lord Jesus Christ as the firstfruits.
But now is Christ risen from the dead, and become the firstfruits of them that slept. (1 Cor. 15:20)
However, a firstfruits offering is a completely different Old Covenant offering than the tithe. The how, when, and why of a firstfruits offering is based on a different concept and the two are not interchangeable. God made tithes and firstfruits distinctly different so that they would portray different spiritual lessons. Beyond that, in describing Jesus as the firstfruits, Paul was talking about his resurrection not his death. There is no sound scriptural basis to call Jesus’ death on the cross a tithe. That is a faulty parallel. It is a misleading concept that reinforces the erroneous tithing doctrine.