Hebrews 8:6

νυνὶ δὲ … “But, as it is, He hath obtained a more excellent ministry, by how much He is also mediator of a better covenant, which has been enacted upon better promises.” νυνὶ δὲ, i.e., He not being on earth, the δὲ pointing back to μὲν in Hebrews 8:4. For νυνὶ δὲ in its logical significance, cf. Hebrews 9:26; Hebrews 11:16; 1 Corinthians 14:20; Arist. Ethics, I. iv. 4. διαφορωτέρας λειτουργίας, more excellent, as what is heavenly or real is more excellent than what is earthly and symbolic. ὅσῳ καὶ κρείττονός ἐστιν διαθήκης μεσίτης, the ministry being a part of the work of mediating the better covenant, it must participate in the superior excellence of that covenant. And the superiority of the covenant consists in this, that it has been legally based on better promises. Had Paul so connected the law and the promises, a quip might have been supposed; but this writer uses νενομ. in its ordinary sense without any allusion to its etymology. What these “better promises” are he shows in Hebrews 8:8-12. ἥτις introduces the explanation of the κρείττονος, almost equivalent to “inasmuch as it has been, etc.” The μεσίτης (cf. Hebrews 12:24) is more comprehensive than the ἔγγυος of Hebrews 7:22, although μεσίτης is Hellenistic for the Attic μεσέγγυος, and in Diod. Sic. iv. 54 μεσίτης has exactly the sense of ἔγγυος. The full title in 1 Timothy 2:5 μεσίτης θεοῦ καὶ ἀνθρώπων presents the mediator as one who negotiates for both parties, and is something more than a guarantor. Moses was μεσίτης of the first covenant (Galatians 3:19; Exodus 20:19); so that as already intimated in Hebrews 3:1, Christ absorbed in His ministry the work of both Moses and Aaron.