Heb 8:6-7 - Christ - Minister of the New Covenant

Heb 8:06-07 - Christ - Minister of the New Covenant

Heb 8:6 But as it is, Christ has obtained a ministry that is as much more excellent than the old as the covenant he mediates is better, since it is enacted on better promises. 7 For if that first covenant had been faultless, there would have been no occasion to look for a second.


Once more the idea of the superiority of Christ is advanced, this time in connection with His ministry on our behalf. It has already been shown how vastly much superior the new covenant is to the old. And that it the basis upon which Christ’s ministry in heaven, before the throne of God, is vastly superior to the old ministry of the Levitical order.

The old ministry was based on a covenant of law and could only show how far short men really fell. All men, even the priests - including the high priest. The new ministry is based not upon anything men do, but upon what God has done in Christ on behalf of men. And beyond even that, what Christ did on behalf of men was based on the eternal counsel of God and was an entirely free gift arising from God’s grace - His unmerited favour. And the proof, the guarantor, the evidence is a Person - Jesus Christ the risen Son of God.

The writer, desiring in this sermon to disabuse the Hebrews of any notion that the old covenant still had some place in their worship and in their relationship with God, presses on relentlessly. The new covenant would hardly be needed if the old covenant actually effected salvation, instead of just pointing to the need for it.