Tithing ended at the Cross at Calvary

Tithing ended at the Cross at Calvary

Concerning the abolishment of Mosaic Law ordinances, Colossians, chapter
two teaches us the following:

One: The Christian who has been re-created in Jesus Christ has been forgiven of
all trespasses (v. 13).

Two: God’s forgiveness included the “blotting out the handwriting of ordinances
which was against us.” The NAS reads “having canceled out the certifi -
cate of debt consisting of decrees against us.” The NIV reads, “having canceled
the written code, with its regulations, that was against us, that stood opposed to
us.” The RSV reads, “having canceled the bond which stood against us with its
legal demands” (v. 14).

Three: Jesus spiritually “nailed” the sinner’s curse and guilt from these “ordinances,”
“decrees,” “regulations,” or “legal demands” to the cross (v. 14).

Four: By doing so, he triumphed over our adversaries (v. 15).

Five: As a result of Christ’s actions, we are not to judge one another, specifi cally
regarding the ordinances of unclean food and holy days (v. 16).

Six: These ordinances were only mere imperfect and temporary shadows of future
things (v. 17) (Heb. 10:1).

Seven: The reality and substance to which the ordinances pointed is Jesus Christ
(v. 17).
While it is certain that unknown Gnostic-like heresies contributed to the
problems of the church in Colossae, it is equally clear that some Jewish mixture of
Mosaic Law principles with grace principles was also involved. Jewish and Gentile
Christians were most likely accusing one another of violating each other’s traditional
food laws and holy days. We must remember that each culture had its own
set of ordinances, and not just the Jews.

This problem plagued the early church because it had not decided what to do
with all of the ordinances of the Mosaic Law since Calvary. This problem is faced
in Acts 10, 15, 21, Romans 14, First Corinthians 8, Galatians 2-4, Ephesians 2,
Colossians 2, and all of Hebrews. Again, it is important to note the double standard
and confusion over law ordinances which existed in the Jerusalem at least
thirty years after Calvary. See chapter on Acts 15 and 21.
Paul was right! The compromising Jewish-Christian church leaders, including
James and Peter, at Jerusalem were wrong by not also excluding Jewish Christians!
This church squabble over ordinances, by forcing Paul to go to the temple, indirectly
caused Paulimprisonment in Caesarea and later imprisonment in Rome.

For the following reasons, tithes must be included in the list of abolished ordinances
in Colossians.

One: Both reformed theology and dispensational theology interpret law ordinances
as abolished at Calvary; a third theological approach also discards it as
cultic, instead of an eternal principle.

Two: The second “festival tithe” was essential for the food and drink offerings at
the “festivals” of verse 16. There would be no food and drink offerings without
tithing.

Three: Just as circumcision was included in Colossians 2:8-11, ALL ordinances
are included in the “shadows” of verse 17 and Hebrews 10:1.

Four: Dispensational theology teaches that the Mosaic Law, the Old Covenant,
the commandments, ordinances, and judgments are all part of ONE indivisible
revelation which belonged to Old Covenant Israel. Only those laws which are
restated in the principles and wording of the New Covenant have been passed on
to the Christian church.

Five: Since none of the ordinances, including tithing, could be kept perfectly,
this resulted in the “handwriting of ordinances which was against us.” This was
an open admission in one’s own handwriting of guilt. Nobody (but Christ) could
spiritually, or physically, obey every sacrifi cial law, every food ordinance, every festival
ordinance, or every minute ordinance of giving. All of these ordinances were
only “a shadow of things to come” (2:17; Heb. 8:5; 10:1).

Six: The Greek word, dogma, translated in Ephesians and Colossians as “regulations”
(NIV) and “decrees” (NAS) is translated “ordinances” in the King James
Version. The King James translators could have given the word its more common
meaning of “doctrine,” but recognized its context and relationship to the Old
Covenant “ordinances.”

Seven: Tithing was not mentioned as an “exception” to the rule decreed by the
Jerusalem church leaders in the book of Acts.

Ephesians 2:15 says that Christ “abolished” ordinances. Colossians 2:14 says
that he “canceled” or “blotted out” ordinances. Since tithing was the foundational
ordinance that made possible the practical everyday operation of the sanctuary
service and its festivals, it must be included in that part of Israel’s religious life
that Christ ended. This is a logical principle of interpretation. Whether or not
one understands the abolished ordinances as including all of the Mosaic Law, or
just part of it—even abolishing the one ceremonial or cultic part of it makes New
Covenant tithing hard to explain.
Finally, wherever tithing is found in God’s Word, it is usually surrounded by
other religious “ordinances” that almost all Christians readily understand as being
“nailed to the cross” and not applicable in the New Covenant.