While Doctrine and Covenants 119 represents “the beginning of the tithing of my people” (D&C 119:3), it does not serve as the end of the law of consecration. Consecration is a holistic law that involves more than just temporal things; it encompasses all of an individual’s time, talents, and gifts to build up the kingdom of God. Latter-day Saints may not be asked to sacrifice all these things for the kingdom, but those who accept the sacred covenants of the temple signify their willingness to sacrifice these things if needed.

Tithing is a subset of the law of consecration. As one commentator has pointed out, “the great difference between the law of tithing [and the law of consecration] is that it [the law of tithing] requires the Saints to pay a tenth of their income before their expenses are met, not from their surplus after their needs have been satisfied.”¹ Doctrine and Covenants 119 shows that tithing is not to be a temporary replacement for the law of consecration but a “standing law unto them forever” (D&C 119:4). When this revelation was received, Church members saw the law of tithing not as an inferior commandment to the law of consecration but as another iteration of it.²

Joseph Smith did later temporarily suspend the law of consecration in March 1840.³ However, records from the Nauvoo period show that Church members attempted to implement consecration there as well.⁴ When the Church relocated to Salt Lake City, Brigham Young oversaw several different efforts to implement the law of consecration, with varying degrees of success.⁵ The principles of consecration continues to evolve within the Church as the law continues to change to fit the needs and conditions of the Saints.⁶

1. Joseph Fielding McConkie and Craig J. Ostler, Revelations of the Restoration, 2000, 936.

2. Lyndon W. Cook, Joseph Smith and the Law of Consecration, 1985, 77.

3. Discourse, 6 March 1840, as Reported by Elias Smith, p. 89, JSP.

4. See Sherilyn Farnes and Mitchell K. Schaefer, “‘Myself . . . I Consecrate to the God of Heaven’: Twenty Affidavits of Consecration in Nauvoo, June–July 1842,” BYU Studies Quarterly, vol. 50, no. 3 (2011), 101–132.

5. See Leonard J. Arrington, Building the City of God: Community and Cooperation among the Mormons, 1976.

6. See Henry B. Eyring, “Opportunities to Do Good,” April 2011 General Conference.

Since the establishment of the law of tithing, many discussions have centered around the meaning of tithe and the Lord’s definition of “one-tenth of their interest annually” (D&C 119:4). Considering the Hebrew and Greek words in the Old and New Testaments that were translated as “tithe” or “tithing,” we find that all of them mean “a tenth” or “to give a tenth.” In addition, the English word tithe is taken from the Old English teogotha, or “tenth.”⁷ The 1828 dictionary of the English language compiled by Noah Webster gives the first definition of tithe as “the tenth part of anything.”⁸

As for the meaning of “all their interest annually,” Church leaders have defined this phrase multiple times to mean ten percent of our annual income. President James E. Faust taught, “The law of tithing is simple: we pay one-tenth of our individual increase annually.  Increase has been interpreted by the First Presidency to mean income. What amounts to 10 percent of our individual income is between each of us and our Maker.”⁹ The current handbook of the Church quotes a 1970 letter from the First Presidency that reads, “The simplest statement we know of is the statement of the Lord himself, namely, that the members of the Church should pay ‘one-tenth of all their interest annually,’ which is understood to mean income. No one is justified in making any other statement than this.”¹⁰

Whenever a Church leader asks, “Are you a full tithe payer?” the question is always between the individual and God. Because the law of tithing has been defined so many times in such simple terms, it is difficult to misunderstand. Endless questions over how to calculate one-tenth of our income, how income is measured, or what is owed to the Lord are beside the point. The question of tithing is a measure of personal integrity.

The implementation of the law of tithing did lead to one major adjustment to the law of consecration. Prior to 1838, individuals worked out stewardships and their surpluses with the assistance of a bishop, who acted as a judge in Israel (D&C 42:32). In an 1855 sermon, Brigham Young commented:

When the revelation which I have read [D&C 119] was given in 1838, I was present, and recollect the feelings of the brethren. A number of revelations were given on the same day. The brethren wished me to go among the churches, and find out what surplus property the people had with which to forward the building of the Temple we were commencing at Far West. I accordingly went from place to place through the country. Before I started, I asked brother Joseph, “Who shall be the judge of what is surplus property?” Said he, “Let them be the judges themselves, for I care not if they do not give a single dime. So far as I am concerned, I do not want anything they have . . . Some were disposed to do right with their surplus property, and once in a while you would find a man who had a cow which he considered surplus, but generally she was of the class that would kick a person’s hat off, or eyes out, or the wolves had eaten off her teats.

Brigham added, “I mention these things to illustrate the feelings of many of the people, for they do not understand the spirit they are of. When a man wishes to give anything, let him give the best he has got.”¹¹

7. Stephen E. Robinson and H. Dean Garrett, A Commentary on the Doctrine and Covenants, 2005, 4:140.

8. Noah Webster, American Dictionary of the English Language, 1828, “Tithe,” http://webstersdictionary1828.com/Dictionary/tithe.

9. James E. Faust, “Opening the Windows of Heaven,” October 1998 General Conference.

10. First Presidency letter, March 19, 1970; General Handbook, 34.4.1.1

11. Brigham Young, in Journal of Discourses, 2:305–6.