Hebrews 8:6–13

Context

Hebrews is an epistle of unknown authorship. Many scholars hold that it was written to believers who, under persecution, were tempted to return to their former faith. Chapters 7–10 present Jesus as a high priest superior to the priests of the Levitical line. At the center of that argument, this passage introduces Christ as "the mediator of a better covenant." Verses 8–12 reproduce Jeremiah 31:31–34 in full and are known as the longest Old Testament quotation in the New Testament. Verse 13 is the author's commentary on the prophecy.

Interpretation

• Covenantal reading: The Presbyterian and Reformed traditions, grounded in covenant theology, regard the old and new covenants as different administrations of a single covenant of grace. Accordingly, they read what has been "made old" as the sacrifices and the ceremonial law, while the moral law continues, written on the heart.
• Dispensational reading: Dispensationalism places weight on the phrase "the house of Israel and … the house of Judah." Its interpreters often hold that the new covenant will be fully realized for national Israel in the future, while the church now shares in its spiritual blessings.
• Wesleyan reading: Wesleyan theology emphasizes "write them in their hearts" as a promise of inward transformation by the Holy Spirit and of sanctification.

Debates and Controversies

• The scope of the new covenant people: On the basis of verse 11, "all shall know me, from the least to the greatest," Baptists hold that the new covenant community consists of those who have professed faith, and they therefore advocate believer's baptism. Presbyterians, appealing to continuity with the Abrahamic covenant, hold that the children of believers are also included in the covenant. This disagreement is one of the principal issues in the infant baptism debate.
• The meaning of "decayeth and waxeth old": Verse 13 has been read as meaning that Judaism and Israel have been superseded. In response, many scholars today point out that the verse speaks not of the rejection of a people but of a change in the way the covenant is administered.
• Translation and manuscripts: The phrase in verse 9, "I regarded them not," follows the Septuagint (the Greek Old Testament). The Hebrew text of Jeremiah 31:32 reads closer to "although I was an husband unto them." In verse 8, "finding fault with them," the case of the pronoun varies among manuscripts, so interpreters are divided over whether the object of the fault-finding is the people or the first covenant.

In the Korean Church

The passage is often used, together with Jeremiah 31, as a text for sermons on the theme of the "new covenant." It is also sometimes expounded in connection with the words read at the Lord's Supper, "the new testament in my blood."

Related Passages

• Jeremiah 31:34
• Ezekiel 36:25–27
• Luke 22:19–20
• 2 Corinthians 3:3–6
• Hebrews 10:1