Does the New Covenant require less than the Old?
Jesus is the mediator of a better covenant established upon better promises (Hebrews 8:6-8). The Law was merely a shadow of good things to come in our present age under Christ (Hebrews 10:1). All other requirements of Christ are stricter and higher than the Old Testament commandments (see Matthew 5:21,22,27,28). Surely, then, a Christian cannot give less than did a Jew. Because we live under a better covenant, in a better age, with greater promises, we must certainly expect and want to give more than ten percent. Is ten percent giving bound on us today? No Old Testament command is bound upon Christians, as all those ordinances have been nailed to the cross of Christ (Colossians 2:14). We are no longer under the Old Jewish Law (Galatians 3:24,25). But as Christ requires more in every other New Testament commandment than God did in the Old Testament, the same is true of contributions under the Gospel age. The Old Testament commandments were merely shadows of the better commandments under
