In the last episode, in this episode and in the next, we’re looking at what Scripture says about the new covenant. We’ve looked at what Jeremiah 31:31-34 actually says, how Paul interprets it, and now we want to turn our attention to the book of Hebrews where the pastor to these Jewish Christians, was facing the possibility of the defection of these Jewish Christians back to the Mosaic system and to Judaism. In response he has to show how, relative to the New Covenant, the old, Mosaic covenant is fading, obsolete, and inferior, that he argues that the “former commandment,” has been “set aside because of its weakness and uselessness” (Heb 7:19). According to Hebrews, Jesus is the “surety of a better covenant.” He argues from the inferiority of the old covenant priesthood and for the superiority of Christ’s priesthood (Heb 7:27–8:5).The old covenant of which he writes refers not to Abraham nor to Noah but to Moses. Failure to observe this distinction will result is significant confusion about the message of the writer to the Hebrews. It also leads to confusion about how to understand the history of redemption and about the nature of the new covenant itself.
Here are the episodes in this series.
Thanks for listening!