Hebrews 8:6-13 - Questions and Answers

Note: Many of the questions on this section of the website were taken from John Reisinger’s web site: http:\www.soundofgrace.com

 

 

Hebrews 8:6 - But the ministry Jesus has received is as superior to theirs as the covenant of which he is mediator is superior to the old one, and it is founded on better promises

n      Here we see three comparisons :

n       The (priestly) ministry of Jesus is superior to the priestly ministry of the Jewish (Levitical) priesthood

n       Because: The covenant of which Jesus is a mediator is superior to the old covenant

n       Because: The new covenant (of which Jesus is a mediator) is founded on better promises than the old covenant.

 

Questions:

n    According to this verse, what is the basic thing that makes the Jewish priestly ministry so inferior and Christ's so superior?

n      Christ's ministry is better because it is based on a better covenant. Christ is the “mediator of a better covenant” (KJV).

n    What was the covenant under which the Jews ministered? (Hint: Look at the next few verses, especially verse 9)

n      The "old covenant" given to Israel at Mt. Sinai that established their nationhood (Heb. 8:6-13)

n    What is the covenant under which Christ ministers? (Hint look at the following verses, especially verses 8b-13)

n      The new, and better covenant based on grace that was established by Christ in His obedient life and vicarious death. It is "not like" the old covenant (Heb. 8:6-13).

 

Hebrews 8:7-9 For if there had been nothing wrong with that first covenant, no place would have been sought for another. 8 But God found fault with the people and said: "The time is coming, declares the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah. 9 It will not be like the covenant I made with their forefathers when I took them by the hand to lead them out of Egypt, because they did not remain faithful to my covenant, and I turned away from them, declares the Lord.

 

Questions:

n    According to this text, why did God promise another (new) covenant?

n      Because there was something wrong with the first one.

n    What was wrong with the first (old) covenant?

n      There is nothing wrong with the covenant per se, the problem was with the people (see verse 8). Sinful man cannot keep covenant.

n    What Old Testament text records the promise that God would make a new covenant, since Israel couldn’t keep the first one?

n      Jeremiah 31:31-34

 

Hebrews 8:10-13 This is the covenant I will make with the house of Israel after that time, declares the Lord. I will put my laws in their minds and write them on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people. 11 No longer will a man teach his neighbor, or a man his brother, saying, 'Know the Lord,' because they will all know me, from the least of them to the greatest. 12 For I will forgive their wickedness and will remember their sins no more." 13 By calling this covenant "new," he has made the first one obsolete; and what is obsolete and aging will soon disappear.

 

Questions:

n      How are the qualities of the new covenant that are listed in this text different in the old covenant?

n       The new covenant is written on the heart, the old covenant was written on stone

n       In the new covenant everyone “knows the Lord” (is saved), in the old covenant there were saved and unsaved Jews

n       In the new covenant everyone in it is forgiven, in the old covenant everyone in it is proven guilty

n      What happened to the Old Covenant as a result of the New Covenant being introduced?

n       It became obsolete and disappeared.