Hebrews 8 - Introduction

Analysis Of The Chapter

This chapter Hebrews 8:1 is a continuation of the argument which has been prosecuted in the previous chapters respecting the priesthood of Christ. The apostle had demonstrated that he was to be a priest, and that he was to be, not of the Levitical order, but of the order of Melchizedek. As a consequence he had proved that this involved a change of the Law appointing the priesthood, and that in respect to permanency, and happy moral influence, the priesthood of Christ far surpassed the Jewish. This thought he pursues in this chapter, and shows particularly that it involved a change in the nature of the covenant between God and his people. In the prosecution of this, he:

(1) States the sum or principal point of the whole matter under discussion - that the priesthood of Christ was real and permanent, while that of the Hebrew economy was typical, and was destined in its own nature to be temporary;Hebrews 8:1.

(2) There was a fitness and propriety in his being removed to heaven to perform the functions of his office there - since if he had remained on earth he could not have officiated as priest, that duty being by the Law of Moses entrusted to others pertaining to another tribe; Hebrews 8:4.

(3) Christ had obtained a more exalted ministry than the Jewish priests held, because he was the Mediator in a better covenant - a covenant that related rather to the heart than to external observances; Hebrews 8:6. That new covenant excelled the old in the following respects:

1. It was established on better promises; Hebrews 8:6.
1. It was not a covenant requiring mainly external observances, but pertained to the soul, and the Law of that covenant was written there; Hebrews 8:7.
2. It was connected with the diffusion of the knowledge of the Lord among all classes from the highest to the lowest; Hebrews 8:11.
3. The evidence of forgiveness might be made more clear than it was under the old dispensation, and the way in which sins are pardoned be much better understood; Hebrews 8:12. These considerations involved the consequence, also, which is stated in Hebrews 8:13, that the old covenant was of necessity about to vanish away.