Hebrews 8:7-13 – A New Covenant

Before we examine the “better promises” of the New Covenant, we must settle another matter. We must not conclude that the existence of the New Covenant means that the Old Covenant was wrong or that the Law has no ministry today. Both covenants were given by God. Both covenants were given for people’s good. Both covenants had blessings attached to them. If Israel had obeyed the terms of the Old Covenant, God would have blessed them and they would have been ready for the coming of their Messiah. Paul pointed out that the Old Covenant had its share of glory (2 Cor. 3:7–11). We must not criticize the Old Covenant or minimize it.

Even though the New Covenant of grace brings with it freedom from the Law of Moses (Gal. 5:1), it does not bring freedom to disobey God and sin. God still desires that the “righteousness of the Law” should be fulfilled in us through the ministry of the Holy Spirit (Rom. 8:1–4). There is a lawful use of the Law (1 Tim. 1:8–11).

In the extended quotation from Jeremiah 31 in verses 8-12 three better promises are given.  (1) “I will put my laws into their minds” (v. 10).  (2) “All shall know me” (v. 11).  (3) “I will remember their sins no more” (v. 12). 

7 For if that first covenant had been free of fault, no circumstances would have been sought for a second. 8 For in finding fault with the people, He says, “Behold, days are coming, says the Lord,
When I will bring about a new covenant
With the house of Israel and the house of Judah,
9 Not like the covenant which I made with their fathers
On the day I took them by the hand
To bring them out of the land of Egypt;
For they did not continue in My covenant,
And I did not care about them, says the Lord.
10 For this is the covenant which I will make with the house of Israel
After those days, declares the Lord:
I will put My laws into their minds,
And write them on their hearts.
And I will be their God,
And they shall be My people.
11 And they will not teach, each one his fellow citizen,
And each one his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’
For they will all know Me,
From the least to the greatest of them.
12 For I will be merciful toward their wrongdoings,
And their sins I will no longer remember.” 

Key Takeaways:

• We can have a fresh start. Bondage to old, seemingly unbreakable patterns can be broken and replaced. We can live in the grace and freedom of Christ.
• The problems is not the original covenant or God Himself. The problem is the people. The people are at fault.
• The New Covenant is wholly of God’s grace; no sinner can become a part of this New Covenant without faith in Jesus Christ.
  • Grace and faith go together just as the Law and works go together (Rom. 11:6). The Law says, “The one who does them shall live by them.” (Gal. 3:12). But grace says, “The work is done—believe and live!”
• With the New Covenant, believers have these four provisions: (1) God’s law written on our hearts and minds (meaning an inner inclination to obedience), (2) better relationship with God, (3) knowledge of God, and (4) forgiveness of sins.

Closer Look:

Verse 7: The failure of the first covenant (the Mosaic covenant; v. 9; Ex 19:5)at Sinai demanded the institution of a second covenant. This did not suggest that the Law itself had flaws, but that the experience of human beings under the Law was faulty. The Law had not met the needs of sinful human beings. The Law could reveal sin, but it could not remove it. It could not justify or save sinners. The problem was with the people who lacked the power to obey the Law (see Rom. 7:7–12).

Moses was the mediator (go-between) of the Old Covenant in the giving of the Law (Gal. 3:19–20). The people of Israel were so frightened at Mount Sinai that they begged Moses to speak to them so that they would not have to hear God speak (Ex. 20:18–21). Sad to say, this fear of God did not last long; for the people soon disobeyed the very Law they promised to keep. The Mediator of the New Covenant is Jesus Christ, and He is the only Mediator (1 Tim. 2:5). Christ’s ministry as Mediator is more excellent than that of the Old Testament priests because it is based on a better covenant; and His covenant is founded on better promises.

Therefore, God introduced a new agreement or covenant. This statement became the signal for the author of Hebrews to use Jeremiah 31:31-34 to explain the new covenant which God had begun. By showing the promise of the new covenant, the writer argued that such a promise demonstrates the inadequacy of the old one.

Thousands of years of Jewish history were built on God’s covenant with Israel. But Christ came to rewrite the script of history. He offers a superior covenant rooted in better promises and without fault. As the prophet Jeremiah had foreseen, under the new arrangement wickedness will be forgiven, sins will be forgotten, and the old covenant will fade into the shadows before vanishing altogether (8:12, 13; Jer 31:31-34).

What an amazing message! We can have a fresh start. Bondage to old, seemingly unbreakable patterns can be broken and replaced. But first we must confess our condition and accept God’s provision, which includes His agenda for change ( 1 Jn 1:8-10). Therein lies a fresh start for our lives.

Verse seven is an excellent verse to use in Jewish evangelism.  It is the same type of argument as was used in Hebrews 7:11 where is the Aaronic priesthood was forever, why promise another priesthood? If the Mosaic law had been intended as a permanent covenant, why did God promise another covenant to supplant it?  If you want to talk to a Jew about Christ, you may want to start with Jeremiah 31 because Jeremiah 31 says, “I’m going to have a new covenant, not like the covenant that I made with Moses,” which covenant the Jews broke and so on. Almost every (if not all) Jew thinks the covenant, the Mosaic Law, is forever. It appears to be an assumption, but it seems clear from their own Scriptures, Jeremiah 31, the Mosaic is not forever. If the Mosaic Law was forever, why promise another covenant, specifically stated to be different from the Law of Moses? Jeremiah 31 says “Not like the covenant, which I made with them at Horab or Mount Sinai.” It is a different covenant, and you could do that graciously and lovingly. Graciously point it out, and then you could just usually go on to say, well, God’s method of justification has always been by faith. Move on to how the covenant is also based on faith, etc.

Verses 8–12: The extended quotation in verses 8-12 is taken from Jeremiah 31:31-34.  by the way, Jeremiah 31 is the longest quotation of the Old Testament in the Book of the Hebrews. You can tell, it’s an extended quotation of it. It should be noted that the pronoun “them” in verse 8 does not refer to provisions of the Mosaic Covenant, but to the people of Israel under the Mosaic system.  The problem is not the law but the people (cf. Heb. 8:9b; Jer. 7:23-26). The same idea is found in Romans 7:1–8:4.

The promise of a New Covenant was made, the writer pointed out, in a passage where God found fault with the people. The Old Covenant failed because of the sinfulness of the nation, for which it had no remedy. The New Covenant, however, has such a remedy.

In the passage quoted, there is first the prediction that a New Covenant will be made (v. 8) followed by a strong declaration that it will differ from the previous one (v. 9). Then follows (vv. 10–12) a description of the superior accomplishments, or enablements, of the promised covenant. There are four provisions of the New Covenant provided: (1) an inner inclination to obey (God will put His laws in their minds and write them on their hearts), and this is in contrast to the Mosaic Law, which was written on tablets of stone. (2) A firm relationship with God (I will be their God, and they will be My people). Believers will have a relationship with God fulfilling the promise of Lev 26:12 (2 Cor 6:16). (3) The knowledge of God (they will all know Me). No longer will Pharisees and scribes have to teach the intricacies of the Law to the people. And (4) the forgiveness of sins (I will forgive their wickedness and will remember their sins no more). God will forgive the sins of believers and remember them no more. The continual sacrifice of animals for the atonement of sin will cease. These are the “better promises” alluded to in verse 6.

One topic that is generally brought up at this point is the focus and application of the New Covenant. Whether the New Covenant which was originally promised to Israel but now applies to the church and is experienced by the church, or specifically focused on Israel with the church standing under its blessings, is beyond our discussion. This involves your hermeneutic and how your read these verses and Jeremiah 31. It is typically a debate between Covenant Theologians and Dispensationalist. Do your own due diligence and understand the issue and topic. The Church has a role in both views. There is a whole rabbit hole that we can go down and different parts of each view that can be brought up and discussed. At the end of the day, this does not affect your salvation. All believers will still be in heaven. We are still saved by the life and blood of Christ. Whatever the eschatological ramifications are, we, as believer’s are saved by grace through faith in Jesus.

Hebrews 8:8–12 contains the quotation of Jer 31:31–34 (LXX, Jer 38:31–34). Jeremiah 31:31–34 plays a crucial role in the New Testament. In addition to Heb 9:15; 10:13; and 12:24, it is referenced by all three Synoptic Gospel writers as well as Paul concerning the Lord’s Supper (Luke 22:20; Matt 26:28; Mark 14:24; 1 Cor 11:25). Paul makes two additional references to it (Rom 11:27; 2 Cor 3:6). In v. 8, the phrase “days are coming” is used and is a favorite expression of Jeremiah occurring nowhere else in the prophets. The text indicates God is the initiator of the new covenant. In fact, throughout Scripture, all covenants between God and man are initiated by God and never by any man. The word “covenant,” diathēkē, is the usual translation of the Hebrew berith (270 of 286 occurrences in the Hebrew text). The word never occurs in the LXX with the meaning of “will” or “testament,” although this is the predominate meaning of the word in Hellenistic Greek. This covenant is a “new” covenant—the only time in the Old Testament where the new covenant is specifically mentioned. The Synoptic Gospels refer to this new covenant in the last supper narratives, but it is only in Luke’s account (Luke 22:20) that the adjective “new” is used. Jesus’ use of this terminology references Jer 31:31–34. Furthermore, Jesus identifies the promised blessings of the new covenant in Jeremiah 31 as being inaugurated by His death on the cross.

The old covenant with its sacrificial system has been superseded by the new covenant, but such is not some clever invention of a New Testament author; rather, it is by the very design of God Himself. Furthermore, in spite of this fact, the author never devalues the Old Testament; rather the writer uses it to prove their point

Verse 13: From the Old Testament prophecy the writer had just quoted, the writer then drew the justifiable conclusion that the first covenant (the Mosaic) was “obsolete and growing old is about to disappear.” The ceremonies still being conducted under it (cf. vv. 4–5) were spiritually anachronistic and the author’s words suggest that the author recalled the prophecy of Jesus that the temple in Jerusalem would be destroyed (Matt. 24:1–2). Probably this prophecy was fulfilled soon after Hebrews was written. If so, it was a dramatic confirmation of the writer’s thesis about the Old Covenant.

The key word in Hebrews 8:13 is “new.” This adjective is kainos which emphasizes a new kind of a covenant.  Another word for “new” in Greek is neos, which basically means “recent in time.” Kainos may be recent in time, but it also indicates different in quality. The word that the author has here is kainos, a whole new kind of covenant. It’s different in kind is what the writer is saying. The point is obvious:  the law was only a temporary provision which has now been displaced by the new covenant (cf. Gal. 3:19–4:7).

The last clause of verse 13 implies the Temple was still standing when this homily was written. At the time the author of Hebrews wrote these words, the ceremonies of the Mosaic covenant were still being conducted in the temple in Jerusalem. In AD70 the Roman general Titus destroyed the temple, fulfilling these words.

The old covenant came, served the purpose of informing sinners of their need, grew old, and has died. It was viewed as already obsolete. The old covenant had done its job. It had pointed to, prepared the way for, and was now giving way to the new covenant. The new covenant offered such superior benefits to needy sinners that the old gave way to it.

The new covenant promised inward power, an intimate knowledge of God, and forgiveness of sin. Nothing in the past could equal the provisions of this new covenant. We who live today as believers can rejoice in God’s lavish provisions for our spiritual needs.