One of the most famous passages in Scripture about tithing is Genesis 14:18-20.

Genesis 14:18-20

In this passage, Abraham’s nephew Lot has been taken captive by an invading army. Abraham gathers his trained men and pursues this army to rescue Lot. Abraham is successful, and returns from the battle with Lot, Lot’s family, all the people who had also been taken captive, and all the goods and possessions which had been carried away. On their return trip, Melchizedek, the King of Salem, comes out to meet them and he blesses Abraham and blesses God. In response, Abraham gave to Melchizedek a tenth (or a tithe) of everything. And that is everything that this text says about tithing. One little line.

Hebrews 7:1-10

This passage would probably not be so prominent in the tithing debate if it were not for the comments on this passage by the author of the book of Hebrews. In Hebrews 7, the author of Hebrews makes the claim that Jesus is superior to the Levitical Priesthood. He begins this argument in 7:1-10 with a rather complex discussion about who has the right to receive tithes, and that Melchizedek is superior to the Levitical priests because through “the loins” of Abraham, the Levites paid a tithe to Melchizedek. Frankly, the whole argument sounds somewhat silly to modern ears, but was quite consistent with Hebraic ways of thinking about their ancestors and helps solve the dilemma about how Jesus could be our High Priest even though He was not of the Tribe of Levi.

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Under the Client-Patron system of church finances, the church buildings and most of the clergy were funded by the national and local governments. For the most part, this was the only way that churches and clergy received funding for the first 800 years of the church.

The Tithing Tax

But in the ninth century, as the expense of financing all these churches and clergy became enormous, some local governments began to excise additional taxes on the people, which went to help cover the costs of maintaining the church buildings and clergy.

The Mosaic Law about the tithe was used to justify this additional tax. The explanation given to the people by the church and government authorities was that God instituted a ten percent tax on the people of Israel to support the Levitical Priesthood and the construction of the tabernacle and temple. This is not exactly true (as we will see below), but it is the explanation that was given when the government added a 10% tax on people to cover the costs of local church buildings and clergy.

The Parish System

However, this practice was not widespread until the late eighth century AD, when Emperor Charlemagne developed the parish system for the church. He wanted to control what the churches were teaching, and who the bishops and priests were in a particular church. So with the help of various church leaders, he developed the parish system, and exponentially increased the number of archbishops to oversee these various parishes. They were given the task, in coordination with the local political rulers, of hiring and paying clergy to oversee all the people in a particular parish.

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As we saw yesterday, in the era of the New Testament, there were two main ways of gaining financial support for the work of the ministry. You either worked a job to pay your own expenses, or you found a rich Patron who would you on as a client and pay for your expenses.

The Early Church Fathers

Outside of the New Testament, we see these two methods referenced over and over in the writings of the early church fathers. Some worked with their hands and supported themselves. Others sought out a Patron to provide for their needs and give them the food and clothes they needed so they could teach, travel, study, and write. Typically, the first few lines of a book indicate whether an early church father was a client or not, as those who have Patrons usually always dedicate their book or pamphlet to their Patron. For example, the patron of St. Jerome was Pope Damasus, and Jerome makes frequent references to works that had been commissioned to him by Damasus, and that once written, they would be dedicated to Damasus.

The Client-Patron Pope

The fact that the Pope was a Patron raises an interesting point. At this point in church history, the spiritual leader in the church of Rome was also a Client. He was a Client of the Roman Empire. When Emperor Constantine converted to Christianity and made it the official religion of the Roman Empire, the church was unified with the Roman Empire, and was viewed as a Client to the Empire. The Empire turned over all the pagan temples and most of the pagan priests to the Church, and paid for them all out of the Empires vast tax and war revenue.

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Did you know that practice of tithing, as it is taught today in many churches, is only about 300 years old? It did not exist in the days of Jesus. It was not taught or practiced in the churches planted by Paul. Even where we do read in Scripture about tithing (a few places in the Old Testament, and fewer still in the New), the practice then was not at all what we are encouraged to practice today: giving 10% of your income to the church.

Later this week we will look at some of the Scripture passages used to defend the practice of tithing, but first I want to discuss the history of tithing.

We begin with looking at how things worked for most of the first millennium.

Two Ways of Getting Money

Roughly the first 1000 years of the church operated under the Client-Patron system. Under this system, wealthy patrons would offer to protect, sponsor, and provide for the needs of scholars, philosophers, doctors, in exchange for their full-time service. Patrons also would provide for peasants and farmers in similar ways, but with different sets of requirements.

So if one wanted to be a philosopher, doctor, or religious teacher, you had two choices. You either had to pay your own way by having a job, or you had to find a Patron who would take you on as a client, and pay your way for you.

Examples from Scripture

We see examples of both in Scripture. Jesus was trained as a carpenter, but He did not support His ministry through carpentry. Instead, it appears that He had a small network of patrons who supported His work and ministry. Luke 8:3 indicates that Jesus had several followers who provided for Jesus out of their wealth. In others words, Jesus was their client. They believed in what He was doing, and so they supported Him so He could do it full time.

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