Kleptomaniac

Before addressing Paul’s writings, keep in mind that Paul never wrote a word about tithing in his epistles nor did he require any church to pay him a tithe. That’s because the food tithes still went to the Temple Levites and priests. Paul was not a Levite so he had no authority to collect tithes from the Ekklesia. To do so, he would have been stealing the Levites inherence, which belonged to them as long as the temple stood. This fact is established throughout this book. Now we have to ask whether Paul taught on the issue of support for gospel workers.

We have to obtain a clear picture of Paul’s cultural background as a Hebrew of Hebrews. This is important to help set up the context of what he believed about work and receiving support as an Apostle. According to Jewish thought concerning the law, interpretations of the law unsuitable for everyday life should be avoided. Since this is the case, changing the biblical food tithe (“maaser”) from herds, flocks and crops to money (“maaser kesafim”) is not suitable for a modern monetary economy because it creates an entitlement aristocracy among pastors and preachers in the ministry. Based on Paul’s background and from “the ages of antiquity in Jewish thought, it has always been taught that a Jewish son who is taught Torah which is not combined with teaching of a skill with the hands leads finally to laziness and sin. Thus inactivity gives way to evil impulse and leads to a fall. A profession meant studying the things of heaven and practical life. He who does not teach his son a profession makes him a good-for-nothing.”⁹⁶ In other places, it is said that a Jewish man who does not teach his son a trade, teaches him to become a thief. Jewish boys were all compelled to learn trades to support themselves. If you study Jewish culture, there are many examples that show it was considered disreputable if a man did not have a secondary skill outside of teaching Scripture. It was also important to have practical knowledge of a trade, which was necessary and regarded as a requisite to personal independence. Today, many pastors would starve to death because they lack professional skills with which to make a living; this makes them 100 percent co-dependent on others for every aspect of life. Paul would frown on this behavior today.