List of Doctrines on "Tithing"
827. Members of the Lord's Church are to give as tithing one-tenth of all their increase annually.
828. The law of tithing was instituted because the people could not abide the greater law of consecration.
828a. Obedience to the Law of Tithing brings blessings.
827. Members of the Lord's Church are to give as tithing one-tenth of all their increase annually.
Howard W. Hunter
President Joseph F. Smith
Elder John Taylor
President Brigham Young
Joseph Smith
President Joseph F. Smith
Related Witnesses
Jacob (Israel)
Alma, the younger
Paul
Rudger Clawson
Stephen L. Richards
Malachi
Jesus
President Lorenzo Snow
Howard W. Hunter
The law is simply stated as "one-tenth of all their interest." Interest means profit, compensation, increase. It is the wage of one employed, the profit from the operation of a business, the increase of one who grows or produces, or the income to a person from any other source. The Lord said it is a standing law "forever" as has been in the past. CR1964Apr:35
President Joseph F. Smith
The law of tithing was instituted because the people could not abide the greater law. If we could live up to the law of consecration, then there would be no necessity for the law of tithing, because it would be swallowed up in the greater law. The law of consecration requires all; the law of tithing only requires one-tenth of your increase annually. (Millennial Star, June 1894, p. 386) TLDP:106
Elder John Taylor
He [Elder Taylor] . . . said one of the clerks had asked whether any should be baptized who had not paid their tithing; it is our duty to pay our tithing, one-tenth of all we possess, and then one-tenth of our increase, and a man who has not paid his tithing is unfit to be baptized for his dead. It is as easy for a man who has ten thousand dollars to pay one thousand, as it is for a man who has but a little to pay one-tenth. It is our duty to pay our tithing. If a man has not faith enough to attend to these little things, he has not faith enough to save himself and his friends. It is a man's duty to attend to these things. The poor are not going to be deprived of these blessings because they are poor; no, God never reaps where he has not sown. This command is harder for the rich than the poor; a man who has one million dollars, if he should give one hundred thousand, he would think he was beggared forever. The Savior said, how hardly do they that have riches enter the kingdom of heaven. (Conference in Nauvoo, Ill., Oct. 6, 1844; reported in the Times and Seasons) HC7:292-93
President Brigham Young
There has been so much inquiry it becomes irksome: the law is for a man to pay one-tenth of all he possesses for the erecting of the House of God, the spread of the gospel, and the support of the priesthood. When man comes into the church he wants to know if he must reckon his clothing, bad debts, lands, etc. It is the law to give one-tenth of what he has got, and then one-tenth of his increase or one-tenth of his time. (Oct. 7, 1844, Brigham has been sustained as president of the Quorum of the Twelve, and as one of the First Presidency; he addresses the principle of tithing) HC7:301
Joseph Smith,
receiving the Word of the Lord
receiving the Word of the Lord
And after that, those who have thus been tithed shall pay one-tenth of all their interest annually; and this shall be a standing law unto them forever, for my holy priesthood, saith the Lord. (Revelation instituting the law of tithing in these latter days, July 8, 1839) D&C 119:4
President Joseph F. Smith
The tithing system of the Church . . . is in reality a system of free-will offerings. . . . [T]he members, by the law of the Church, are under moral obligation to pay one-tenth of their interest annually. . . . [T]here is no compulsory means of collecting this or any other Church revenue. Tithing is a voluntary offering for religious and charitable purposes. . . . (Address from the First Presidency of the Church to the world, delivered to and accepted by vote of the Church in general conference, April 1907) CR1907Apr(Appendix)9
Related Witnesses:
Jacob (Israel),
quoted by Moses
quoted by Moses
And this stone, which I have set for a pillar, shall be God's house: and of all that thou shalt give me I will surely give the tenth unto thee. (Jacob covenants to pay tithes—after the vision of a ladder reaching up into heaven) Genesis 28:22
Alma, the younger,
quoted by Mormon
quoted by Mormon
And it was this same Melchizedek to whom Abraham paid tithes; yea, even our father Abraham paid tithes of one-tenth part of all he possessed. (Alma tells the people about the great high priest Melchizedek, about 82 B.C.) Alma 13:15
Paul
For this Melchisedec, king of Salem, priest of the most high God, who met Abraham returning from the slaughter of the kings, and blessed him; 2. To whom also Abraham gave a tenth part of all; first being by interpretation King of righteousness, and after that also King of Salem, which is, King of peace; . . . (Letter to the Jewish members of the Church, about A.D. 60) Hebrews 7:1-2
Rudger Clawson
There are doubtless many of the people who only paid a partial tithing, or as Bishop Preston says, "a little ten per cent," which he informs us is not ten per cent at all. Ten per cent is ten per cent, and a tithing is ten per cent, neither more nor less. When it is below that, the view has been held that it is simply an offering to the Lord. . . .
. . . . We learned from President Cannon last night that the law of tithing is just as essential and as saving a principle as the principle of baptism or the laying on of hands. CR1900Apr:45
Stephen L. Richards
I have said in your presence before that tithing does not mean one-fiftieth, nor one-thirtieth, nor one-twentieth. Tithing means one-tenth. I have sometimes wondered what a part tithing means. I have never seen any definition of it, but I know what a tithing means. So far as I know, there is only one tithing, and that is one-tenth. So I believe that you brethren in authority could bring a lot of happiness to men and women throughout the Church if you yourselves would fully comply with this law that the Lord has given to us. CR1952Apr:84
Malachi
Will a man rob God? Yet ye have robbed me. But ye say, Wherein have we robbed thee? In tithes and offerings.
9. Ye are cursed with a curse: for ye have robbed me, even this whole nation.
10. 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. (The prophet Malachi to the people of Israel, about 430 B.C.) Malachi 3:8-10
Jesus,
quoted by Mormon
quoted by Mormon
Will a man rob God? Yet ye have robbed me. But ye say: Wherein have we robbed thee? In tithes and offerings. . . .
10. Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse. . . . (The resurrected Christ commands the Nephites to write the words which the Father had given to Malachi, which he would now tell them, A.D. 34) 3 Nephi 24:8,10
President Lorenzo Snow
The word of the Lord to you is not anything new; it is simply this: THE TIME HAS COME FOR EVERY LATTER-DAY SAINT WHO CALCULATES TO BE PREPARED FOR THE FUTURE AND TO HOLD HIS FEET STRONG UPON A PROPER FOUNDATION, TO DO THE WILL OF THE LORD AND PAY HIS TITHING IN FULL. That is the word of the Lord to you, and it will be the word of the Lord to every settlement throughout the land of Zion. . . . [T]he time has come when every man should stand up and pay his tithing in full. (At St. George, Utah, May 8, 1899) MOFP3:313
Author's Note: The revelation through Joseph Smith instituting the law of tithing in the latter days, July 8, 1839, required the saints to pay their surplus property to the Church and thereafter to give as tithing one-tenth of their interest annually. (See D&C 119.) In 1844 Brigham Young said: "It is the law to give one-tenth of what he has got, and then one-tenth of his increase or one-tenth of his time." Since then the prophets have interpreted the word interest to mean increase, as can be observed from the witnesses quoted above. Howard W. Hunter makes it quite clear: "The law is simply stated as 'one-tenth of all their interest.' Interest means profit, compensation, increase. It is the wage of one employed, the profit from the operation of a business, the increase of one who grows or produces, or the income to a person from any other source." (CR1964Apr:35)
828. The law of tithing was instituted because the people could not abide the greater law of consecration.
President Joseph F. Smith
Elder Joseph F. Smith
President Lorenzo Snow
Francis M. Lyman
Orson F. Whitney
Related Witnesses
Melvin J. Ballard
President Joseph F. Smith
The law of tithing was instituted because the people could not abide the greater law. If we could live up to the law of consecration, then there would be no necessity for the law of tithing, because it would be swallowed up in the greater law. The law of consecration requires all; the law of tithing only requires one-tenth of your increase annually. (Millennial Star, June 1894, p. 386) TLDP:106
Elder Joseph F. Smith
Now, if we are not faithful to this law [of tithing], what evidence have we that we shall be faithful in other things? The Lord instituted it as a substitute, because of our lack of faith, for the higher law of consecration in which the Lord requires not only all that we have, but our hearts also; and by this substitute He designs to prove us, to see whether we will be obedient or not. I perceive in this principle something that is of greater worth to me than all the substance that I put into the storehouse of the Lord as tithing. CR1899Apr:68
President Lorenzo Snow
Joseph tried to develop [the Saints] so that they would conform to the law of consecration, which is in advance of the law of tithing, and is a principle which, as sure as I am speaking, you and I will one day have to conform to. CR1900Oct:61-62
Francis M. Lyman
Before we enter upon the law of consecration, which is the celestial law of God in finance, it is necessary that we should take the training that we are now having under the law of tithing.
You may be certain, my brethren and sisters, that any person who is not able to observe this law faithfully and well will never, worlds without end, be able to observe the law of consecration. The law of tithing is a stepping stone, and it is a law that will abide forever, because a great majority possibly of the children of God will not be able to reach the higher law. CR1899Oct:34
Orson F. Whitney
Those who obey the Law of Tithing will be prepared to live the Law of Consecration. Those who do not obey it will not be prepared. That is the whole thing in a nut shell. We are tithed that the Church may have means to build and maintain temples and tabernacles, to found and sustain missions and schools, and otherwise carry on its great work throughout the world. But that is not all. The spiritual dividend that we draw from heaven as the reward of our obedience, is the principal purpose for which the Law of Tithing was instituted. All the rest is incidental or secondary. CR1931Apr:66
Related Witnesses:
Melvin J. Ballard
No man can live the Order of Enoch who has not learned how to honestly live the law of tithing. CR1934Apr:70
828a. Obedience to the Law of Tithing brings blessings.
Henry B. Eyring
James E. Faust
Joseph B. Wirthlin
Malachi
Henry B. Eyring
If we decide now to be a full-tithe payer and if we are steady in paying it, blessings will flow throughout the year, as well as at the time of tithing settlement. By our decision now to be a full-tithe payer and our steady efforts to obey, we will be strengthened in our faith and, in time, our hearts will be softened. It is that change in our hearts through the Atonement of Jesus Christ, beyond the offering of our money or goods, that makes it possible for the Lord to promise full-tithe payers protection in the last days. We can have confidence that we will qualify for that blessing of protection if we commit now to pay a full tithe and are steady in doing it. (Spiritual Preparedness: Start Early and Be Steady, CR October 2005)
James E. Faust
I am grateful the Lord has seen fit to establish again the law of tithes and offerings for this people. When we keep the law of tithing, the windows of heaven open for us. Great are the blessings poured down upon those who have the faith to keep the law of tithing. (The Restoration of All Things, CR April 2006)
Joseph B. Wirthlin
Obedience to God’s commandments is the foundation for a happy life. Surely we will be blessed with the gifts of heaven for our obedience. Failure to pay tithing by those who know the principle can lead to heartache in this life and perhaps sorrow in the next. (CR 2004Apr; Earthly Debts, Heavenly Debts, Ensign May 2004, p.40)
Malachi
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]. (Mal 3:10)
