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Understanding tithe and tithing, Olawunmi’s expose on Abraham’s covenant

By Segun Durowaiye
24 June 2018   |   3:56 am
Understanding Tithe and Tithing by Seyi Olawunmi, and published in 2017, by the School of Success Publishers, Lagos, Nigeria, is a spiritual excursus. The book has 148 pages, nine chapters, an introduction and an Afterword. The book is replete with biblical quotations. And in an attempt to justify tithing, the author takes his reader through…

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Understanding Tithe and Tithing by Seyi Olawunmi, and published in 2017, by the School of Success Publishers, Lagos, Nigeria, is a spiritual excursus.

The book has 148 pages, nine chapters, an introduction and an Afterword. The book is replete with biblical quotations.

And in an attempt to justify tithing, the author takes his reader through a lot of Biblical verses, saying, the purpose of tithing is to teach the Christian that he or she must always put God first in life.

Tithing is the spiritual practice of giving back to God the first 10 percent of your earning. “Bring all the tithes into the storehouse so there will be enough food in my Temple.

If you do, says the Lord of Heaven’s Armies, “I will open the windows of heaven for you.

I will pour out a blessing so great you won’t have enough room to take it in. Try it. Put me to the test”- Malachi 3:10.

The reader discovers that tithing precedes the laws of Moses, Galatians 3:26-29.

The tithe is a 10th of a believer’s income that is given to God in support of the Church.

It is a way of expressing devotion or worship of God. It started with Abraham and Jacob, continuing with the Pharisees and the Scribes whose practice warranted Jesus’ statement on tithing in Matthew 23:23 and Luke 11:42.

As a reviewer, the author ought to have written out those quotations from Jesus as he said in Matthew and Luke.

However, according to Pastor Olawunmi, throughout scripture, we’re encouraged to give part of our resources to God as an expression of honor and gratitude.

In the modern world, congregations have started to question the clergy on whether Jesus supports tithing?

The author’s answers may be found in the concluding chapters. The answers show the author believes Christians should support tithing, if even Jesus did not expressly approve of it.

Since Melchizedek was a priest before the law, he was not Levite. He collected tithe like the Levites.

Christ is a high priest in the order of Melchizedek, so, in today’s Christianity, we can collect tithe that is the opinion of author, Olawunmi.

But the Levitical priesthood has been abolished and the order of Melchizedek remains.

Thus, according to the author, if the order of Melchizedek subsists intact, then Melchizedek was a type of Christ.

The reasons provided include, that Melchizedek’s name means: the king of righteousness; and the king of Salem made Melchizedek “the king of peace.”

And Hebrew 7:3 states- “Without father or mother, without genealogy, without beginning of days or end of life, like the Son of God, Melchizedek remains a priest for ever.”

Thus, the author asserts, with a high priest in Christ, superior to Melchizedek, in this era of grace, it will be nothing wrong in giving our tithe in as much as we are all Abraham’s seed and heirs according to God’s promise of grace.

Read Galatians 3:23-29 to amplify your comprehension. Aaronic- Levitical priesthoods, which succeeded Melchizedek enacted tithing as an obligation to the priests throughout Israel.

Tithing is in fulfillment of the Covenant between God and Abraham, Jacob.

That was why Abraham tithed from the spoils of his triumphs in war- meaning: we don’t tithe to gain blessing; but that we tithe from the profit of our labour.

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