6 But now his position as priest is higher. because through him God has made a better agreement with man, based on the giving of better things.
Who has made us able to be servants of a new agreement; not of the letter, but of the Spirit: for the letter gives death, but the Spirit gives life. For if the operation of the law, giving death, recorded in letters on stone, came with glory, so that the eyes of the children of Israel had to be turned away from the face of Moses because of its glory, a glory which was only for a time: Will not the operation of the Spirit have a much greater glory? For if the operation of the law, producing punishment, had its glory, how much greater will be the operation of the Spirit causing righteousness? For the glory of the first no longer seems to be glory, because of the greater glory of that which comes after. For if the order which was for a time had its glory, much more will the eternal order have its glory.
Now to Abraham were the undertakings given, and to his seed. He says not, And to seeds, as of a great number; but as of one, he says, And to your seed, which is Christ. Now this I say: The law, which came four hundred and thirty years after, does not put an end to the agreement made before by God, so as to make the undertaking without effect. Because if the heritage is by the law, it is no longer dependent on the word of God; but God gave it to Abraham by his word. What then is the law? It was an addition made because of sin, till the coming of the seed to whom the undertaking had been given; and it was ordered through angels by the hand of a go-between. Now a go-between is not a go-between of one; but God is one. Is the law then against the words of God? in no way; because if there had been a law which was able to give life, truly righteousness would have been by the law.
For if that first agreement had been as good as possible, there would have been no place for a second. For, protesting against them, he says, See, the days are coming when I will make a new agreement with the house of Israel, and with the house of Judah; Not like the agreement which I made with their fathers when I took them by the hand, to be their guide out of the land of Egypt; for they did not keep the agreement with me, and I gave them up, says the Lord. For this is the agreement which I will make with the people of Israel after those days: I will put my laws into their minds, writing them in their hearts: and I will be their God, and they will be my people: And there will be no need for every man to be teaching his brother, or his neighbour, saying, This is the knowledge of the Lord: for they will all have knowledge of me, great and small. And I will have mercy on their evil-doing, and I will not keep their sins in mind. When he says, A new agreement, he has made the first agreement old. But anything which is getting old and past use will not be seen much longer.
And for this cause it is through him that a new agreement has come into being, so that after the errors under the first agreement had been taken away by his death, the word of God might have effect for those who were marked out for an eternal heritage. Because where there is a testament, there has to be the death of the man who made it. For a testament has effect after death; for what power has it while the man who made it is living? So that even the first agreement was not made without blood. For when Moses had given all the rules of the law to the people, he took the blood of goats and young oxen, with water and red wool and hyssop, and put it on the book itself and on all the people, Saying, This blood is the sign of the agreement which God has made with you.
Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Matthew Henry Commentary » Commentary on Hebrews 8
Commentary on Hebrews 8 Matthew Henry Commentary
Chapter 8
In this chapter the apostle pursues his former subject, the priesthood of Christ. And,
Hbr 8:1-5
Here is,
Hbr 8:6-13
In this part of the chapter, the apostle illustrates and confirms the superior excellency of the priesthood of Christ above that of Aaron, from the excellency of that covenant, or that dispensation of the covenant of grace, of which Christ was the Mediator (v. 6): his ministry is more excellent, by how much he is the Mediator of a better covenant. The body and soul too of all divinity (as some observe) consist very much in rightly distinguishing between the two covenants-the covenant of works and the covenant of grace; and between the two dispensations of the covenant of grace-that under the Old Testament and that under the New. Now observe,