Expositor's Bible Commentary Commentary Hebrews 7:22

"by so much also hath Jesus become the surety of a better covenant." — Hebrews 7:22 (ASV)

“Guarantee” (GK 1583) brings before us an unusual idea. The old covenant was established with a mediator (Galatians 3:19) but with no one to guarantee that the people would fulfill their undertaking. But Jesus stands as a continuing guarantor and that in two directions. He guarantees to the people that God will fulfill his covenant of forgiveness, and he guarantees to God that those who are in him are acceptable.

This is the writer’s first use of the term “covenant” (GK 1347), an important word he uses seventeen times. In nonbiblical Greek this word denotes a last will and testament, but in the LXX it is the normal rendering of the Hebrew berit (“covenant”; GK 1382). In the NT it usually means “covenant,” though now and then the meaning “testament” is not out of mind (e.g., 9:16). There is something absolute about a will. One cannot dicker with the testator. And in like manner, humans cannot bargain with God; he lays down the terms.