Reply to Pastor Terry Grey, Aletheia [Truth] Seekers on Malachi [Tithing]

Reply to Pastor Terry Grey, Aletheia [Truth] Seekers on Malachi [Tithing] http://aletheia-seekers.blogspot.com/2012/04/malachi.html Grey: [Malachi] is God's final message to the Israelites of the Old Testament time. Kelly: Yes. This is Old Testament context addressed only to Judah under Law (Ex 19:5-6; Lev 27:30-34; Mal 4:4). Grey: Malachi 1:6-1:8 Israelites and priests no longer honored God. They essentially brought garbage that they wouldn't even bring to human governors to honor God. Kelly: Yes. The context is dishonest priests under the Old Covenant. The people brought the tithes to the Levites and the Levites gave a tithe of the best tithes to the priests. The priests, in turn, bred the best animals but gave God the worst of that which they bred (Num 18:21-28; Num 35). Grey: Malachi 1:9-1:14 Israelites no longer treated God as the Great king. They bring trash God but save the best for themselves. Kelly: No. Read the entire chapter. There is no break between verses 1:1-8 and 1:9-14. The people (Israelites) are not involved here; it is still describing dishonest priests from 1:6. Grey: Malachi 2:1-2:9: Priests no longer did what they were supposed to do. Kelly: Yes. Back to context. Chapter 2:1-9 continue the address to “O priests, you” from 1:6. Grey: Malachi 2:10-2:12 Marriage at the time has become corrupted. Marriage is a holy relationship between a man and woman. A holy covenant between a man and a woman and God. And as the nation became idolatrous, so man had become adulterous. Kelly: These “Judah” texts interrupt the “you – priests” from 1:6 to 2:9 and 2:13 to end and are third person. They alone refer to Judah as a whole. Grey: Malachi 2:13-2:16 Kelly: This is a return to “you priests” whose tears cover the sin offerings. Grey: Malachi 3:6-3:12 In the Old Testament, people were commanded to give 10% of their income to God. Kelly: Wrong. The only “people” in the Old Covenant who were “commanded to give 10%” were food producers who lived inside God’s HOLY land of Israel. HOLY tithes were strictly limited by God to FOOD which He had miraculously increased. Tithes could not come from non-food producers, from Gentiles, or from outside Israel. Period. It is wrong to call tithes “income.” Although money was common in Genesis and essential for sanctuary worship, money was never a tithed item. Grey: Here [3:6-12] the people were stealing from God, because not only do they defile God's honor by sacrificing animals they don't even want, they have also stopped tithing. Kelly: Not true. Those guilty of stealing from God in 1:6-14 were the priests who were cursed 4 times from 1:13 to 2:1. According to Nehemiah 13:5-10, the priests had stolen tithes belonging to their Levite servants and only the Levites went home for food. Grey: “Should we still tithe?” Kelly: Wrong. Wrong. Wrong. “We” Gentiles have never been under the law or commanded to tithe. Israel was forbidden to share its covenant with Gentiles and no tithes were ever used to convert Gentiles. The question confuses the difference between the Old and New covenants. Grey: Matthew 23:23 Jesus expected tithing from people. Kelly: Of course. Jesus lived and died under the law (Gal 4:4-5). It would have been sin if Jesus had not taught tithing to the temple system. It would have been sin if Jesus had accepted tithes. Matthew 23:23 is (1) addressed to “you, scribes, Pharisees, hypocrites” and not to the church, (2) is in the context of “matters of the law, and (3) nobody who teaches tithing today literally obeys Jesus by accepting tithes from garden spices. Grey: Also, from Paul's writing, we are told to give regularly. Kelly: Yes, but, as a doctor of the law and rabbi, Paul had been taught that it was wrong to accept money for teaching God’s Word. And Paul knew that Holy tithes could not come off defiled pagan land or from Gentiles. Grey: Malachi 3:10-11 This is the only place in the Scriptures where God essentially said, "I dare you. Test me." Kelly: Not in practical application. One could not expect blessings while, at the same time, breaking other commands of the law. The entire law was a test. Read Deuteronomy 28 to 30. “Obey all to be blessed; break one to be cursed” (Gal 3:10). Grey: God promises that when we give, we will also receive. As we bless others with what we have, God will bless us because how we have served others. Kelly: Yes, but this does not endorse post-Calvary New Covenant tithing. The “we” of this sentence is not the “we” of Malachi 3:10. Malachi 3:10 cannot possibly be addressed to all the people. (1) They were commanded to bring their tithes to the Levitical cities (Neh 10:37b). (2) Only Levites and priests brought the tithe to the temple (Neh 10:38-39). And (3) the small temple storeroom could not hold the tithe of the nation (1 Kings 6:6). Grey: And here, we see that God challenges the Israelites to take up that promise. Kelly: Grey is switching back and forth between the tithing text of Malachi 3:10 [where tithes are still only food] and freewill giving principles – they are not the same. Some can give 10% and not be giving generously and sacrificially. Others can give 2% and still be giving sacrificially (2 Cor 8:14-16). Please stop mixing Old Covenant tithing with New Covenant principles of giving. Join me. Russell Earl Kelly, PHD www.tithing-russkelly.com\ russell-kelly@att.net