ARE FIRST-FRUITS AND TITHES THE SAME?

In God’s Word, firstfruits and firstborn are never the same thing as tithes. 

Firstfruits were the first wave-sheaf of the whole harvest, not the best (Leviticus. 23:10); in addition to the tithe, they were the “first offspring of your herds and flocks,” not the best (Deut. 12:7). 

Unlike the food-tithe, it was a very small token amount of the first crops harvested and was small enough to fit into a hand-held basket (Deut. 26:1-10). 

Firstfruits were a very small token offering -- like a handful of grapes or olives. And, like tithes, first-fruits and first-born were always only food from inside God’s holy land of Israel. 

35 ''..We also assume responsibility for bringing to the house of the Lord each year the firstfruits of our crops and of every fruit tree.

36 “As it is also written in the Law, we will bring the firstborn of our sons and of our cattle, of our herds and of our flocks to the house of our God, to the priests ministering there.

37 “Moreover, we will bring to the storerooms of the house of our God, to the priests, the first of our ground meal, of our grain offerings, of the fruit of all our trees and of our new wine and olive oil. Nehemiah 10:35-37.

In Nehemiah 10:35-37 above, first-fruits and first-born offerings went directly to the Temple and were required to be totally consumed by ministering priests only inside the Temple. While the Levites ate only the tithe, the priests could also eat from the first-fruits, first-born offerings and other offerings. All of this is very clear from God’s Word.

1 Tim 5:8 But if any provide not for his own, and especially for those of his own house, he hath denied the faith, and is worse than an infidel.

First Timothy 5:8 is the new Spirit-taught "first." A Christian's first obligation is for the needs (not wants) of his/her immediate family. 

God wants you to make sure you can buy medicine, feed and shelter your family. Even the heathen do that (Rom 2:14-16).

Read: First Fruits Offering, Should Christians Give? Here.

A Christian who neglects his/her family's necessities is worse than unbelievers. And a pastor who convinces Christians to give their first to the church to the neglect of caring for their own family is guilty of sin against God's cleat post-Calvary command.

Because the differences between firstfruits and tithes are so clear, one must conclude that educated tithe-teachers deliberately lie when they equate firstfruits with tithes! 

There is simply no honest excuse for this distortion of God’s Word. Yet almost all of them tell this lie. It is an outrage almost to the point of blasphemy and must stop!

By Russell Earl Kelly, PHD 

Our message is the kingdom of GOD. Our mission is to prepare you for it.