JESUS – HIGH PRIEST OF THE NEW COVENANT

Hebrews Chapter 8 – Key Themes and Points

  1. JESUS AS THE HIGH PRIEST: The chapter begins by affirming that Jesus is our High Priest, seated at the right hand of God in the heavenly sanctuary. Unlike earthly priests who continually offer sacrifices, Jesus has completed His work and now intercedes for humanity.
  2. THE TRUE TABERNACLE: It highlights that the earthly tabernacle, built according to God’s instructions, was merely a copy of the true heavenly tabernacle where Jesus serves. This distinction underscores the greater reality of Christ’s ministry compared to the Levitical priesthood.
  3. THE NEW COVENANT: The chapter introduces the concept of a new covenant, which God promised through the prophet Jeremiah. This new covenant is characterized by internal transformation, where God’s laws are written on the hearts and minds of His people, fostering a direct and personal relationship with Him.
  4. INADEQUACY OF THE OLD COVENANT: The old covenant is described as having faults, primarily due to the inability of the people to uphold it. God declares that the first covenant is now obsolete, making way for the new covenant, which offers forgiveness and a more profound connection with God.
  5. BETTER PROMISES: The new covenant is established on better promises, emphasizing the sufficiency of Christ’s sacrifice and the transformative power it brings to believers. This covenant ensures that all will know the Lord, from the least to the greatest, highlighting inclusivity in God’s relationship with His people. [AI Commentary – derived from 5 SourcesNOTE#1 ]

In the many years I have been plodding through the bible, on a chapter-by-chapter basis in the case of the New Testament, this is the first time I have resorted to Artificial Intelligence  to a summarize a chapter. [The NASB text for Heb8 can be found HERE]. I have utilized AI partly because the Hebrews text is quite complex and somewhat repetitive with regard to the current theme (Christ’s Melchizedekian priesthood – covered in the previous post). But it is mainly because I am not primarily here to provide commentaries (a robot might well do better), but to draw out texts from virtually every chapter of the New Testament that are not necessarily the main theme of the passage but nevertheless provide indicators of the broader benign providence set out in my by book  that these posts are supplementing.

Christ’s work not finished

Obviously I have examined Heb8, and I find the AI summary to be broadly in line with my own understanding. Given the five sourcesNOTE1   utilized by AI appear to be doctrinally Evangelical, it is not surprising I have at least one reservation. That pertains to point one, and the reference to Jesus having “finished His work”, the context obviously being the salvation of humanity. I would say it is anything but finished – He is working now to that end, and has more to do to complete our salvation in the future (Phil3:20-21). In terms of the present, the writer to the Hebrews employs  what might appear to be a surprising term for our Lord’s current work (which assuredly is continuing)  in order that the Christian might “be saved to the uttermost” (Heb7:25), namely His intercession on our behalf. To that end Jesus has been made a λειτουργὸςG3011   (verse 2), literally, a worker belonging to the people or “Public Servant”. However the nature of His work is something that no one else could hope to accomplish, even dare I say, YHWE Himself.

Jesus – uniquely qualified

However, God’s beloved Son can act as High Priest – because He is also fully a Man.  “For since He Himself was tempted in that which He has suffered, He is able to come to the aid of those who are tempted” (Heb2:18). Likewise “we do not have a high priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but One who has been tempted in all things just as we are, yet without sin”. And surely,  “it was fitting for us to have such a high priest, holy, innocent, undefiled, separated from sinners, and exalted above the heavens” (Heb7:26).

Although neither Christ nor indeed anybody need to suffer death to atone for human sin ever again, that once-for-all Sacrifice at Calvary is presented/spot-lighted repeatedly in Heaven. For as Heb8:3 affirms: “For every high priest is appointed to offer both gifts and sacrifices; so it is necessary that this (High Priest) also has something to offer”. What our Lord offers can only be Himself – as Priest and Victim. Likewise on earth, but that is for a later post.

The monarchical status of the Father

Trinitarianism may not be unbiblical but it is non-biblical. The related parlance scarcely fits in with what is being considered here. The Monarch of the universe cannot be a priest, but His only begotten Son can be, now that He has been incarnated as a Man. I frequently refer to this ordering within the Godhead, for the Monarchical status of the Father is crucial to a vital theme in my thesis. That pertains to what Paul as 13th apostle was chosen to reveal to the world and act upon – (Matthias had replaced Judas as #12). Paul sets that out in Eph3 and Rom11vv11,12,15,30) – the secret plan hidden in God (the Father) that had been obscured from earlier generations and all pre-Pauline prophets, even, initially at least, Jesus Himself (cf.Mt15:22-24; Mt10:5-7; Mt10:23; Acts1:7). Later in His ministry He alluded to it in parables, but it was clearly not clearly understood by His disciples, even Peter (Acts10:9-16 & 11:17-18). That secret being that in the current age, fullness of salvation and spiritual Life should be granted to Gentiles as well as Jews (Acts11:18 again).

There is not space to explain it all here, but it is indicative of two levels of salvation – for Gentiles were to be offered forgiveness, i.e. saved after a fashion, but not “given an inheritance amongst those who are sanctified” (Act20:32) . But then such a concept is illustrated here in Hebrews under point 4 of the AI summary. The New Covenant is superior to the Old – God’s people of the Old Testament could be “saved after a fashion”, whilst those under the New Covenant  experience an internal transformation by which they can “be saved to the uttermost” (Heb7:25). As we will see later in Hebrews, whilst the blood of bulls and goats did atone for sins (e.g. Lev16)NOTE#2, the blood of Christ not only pardons but purgesNOTE#3 those to whom it is applied. And as just considered, the risen, ascended Christ, following His experience and suffering on earth now acts as High Priest, “having obtained a more excellent ministry, to the extent that He is also the mediator of a better covenant, which has been enacted on better promises” (Heb8:6).

NOTE #1 AI quoted sources: Executable Outlines, Bible Hub, Talktotheworld, Biblevise, BibleRef.

NOTE #2 When the writer to the Hebrews states later that  “it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins” [10:4], the key word is ἀφαιρεῖν, meaning to take away in the sense of completely remove. That is more than to atone or pardon, which the OT such as Leviticus chapter 16 affirms certain animals’ blood could do under the Aaronic priesthood.

NOTE #3 Some translations of Heb1:3 (e.g. the KJV) try to make out that our sins were purged at Calvary. That is not what the Greek relays:  “Katharismon” (purification or cleansing) is a noun, not a verb. The NIV and NASB better translate the verse as “When He had made (a) purification of sins, He sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high”. The blood of sprinkling (as Heb12:24 refers to it) must be applied.

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