This is not an argument against giving. It is a definition exercise: what does God mean by “the tithe”? If we do not allow Scripture to define its own terms, we risk carrying assumptions into places the text itself does not require.
Robbing God or Misreading Him?
If you were taught Malachi 3 in church, you may have learned it like I did—with a knot in your stomach.
“Will a man rob God? …
Ye are cursed with a curse …
Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse…”[1]
For many people, the practical takeaway was simple:
“If I don’t tithe ten percent of my paycheck to the church, I’m robbing God and risk being under a curse.”
This essay is not a critique of generosity or New-Testament giving. It’s a question of scope and definition: What does God mean by “the tithe” in the passage being used to teach it today?
You shouldn’t accept my answer because I assert it.
Test it with an open Bible: truth can withstand scrutiny.
To be clear about what I am (and am not) doing:
- I am not arguing against generosity, sacrificial giving, or financially supporting the work of the gospel. The New Testament is full of calls to give freely, joyfully, and even painfully for the sake of others. Generous, freewill giving to the local church and the ministry of the gospel is something I participate in and encourage. That is not the topic or the scope of this essay.
- What I am examining is narrower: the teaching that New Testament believers are commanded to tithe ten percent of their monetary income to the local church, and that failure to do so puts them "under a curse" for "robbing God."
In many churches, Malachi 3 is treated as more than a covenant rebuke to Israel—it becomes a template for Christian faithfulness: ten percent from wages, given to the church. And when life tightens—financial struggles, job loss, debt—the passage can start to feel less like a call to repentance and more like a looming question: “Am I robbing God?”
I lived under that weight. I obeyed it. I even defended it. And it’s why I’m convinced we need to slow down and ask a prior question: what does the text mean by “tithes”? Because if we import a definition the passage itself doesn’t use, we may end up enforcing a burden Scripture never placed there.
As I struggled to loosen my grip on such a deep-seated church doctrine, I realized my pet doctrine was barking loudly and shedding verses all over the place—hoping I wouldn't notice the mess.
DID YOU KNOW? In the Law’s own descriptions, the tithe is consistently tied to produce and herds—and money enters the picture only in two narrow, highly-specific cases. We’ll walk through those definitions next.
- When Malachi 3 was taught to me, was the dominant motivator gratitude—or fear?
- Am I reading this passage as a covenant rebuke to Israel, or as a standing threat to Christians?
- If Malachi 3 were never preached again, would I still believe Christians are “under a curse” for not tithing?
- Do I interpret this text by its original audience and covenant, or by how it has been rhetorically applied?
- Would I recognize spiritual coercion if it were used to enforce a different doctrine?
Before we argue application, we have to define terms: The Tithe God Commanded.
FOOTNOTES:
Malachi 3:8-9 "Will a man rob God? Yet ye have robbed me. But ye say, "Wherein have we robbed thee?" In tithes and offerings. Ye are cursed with a curse: for ye have robbed me, even this whole nation. Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be meat in mine house, and prove me now herewith," saith the Lord of hosts, "if I will not open you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it." ↩︎