Expositor's Bible Commentary Commentary Hebrews 8:13

"In that he saith, A new [covenant] he hath made the first old. But that which is becoming old and waxeth aged is nigh unto vanishing away." — Hebrews 8:13 (ASV)

The author picks out the word “new” (cf. v.8; GK 2785) and sees it as making his essential point. It implies that something else is “old” and that the old has to be replaced. When God speaks of a “new” covenant, then, it means that the old one is “obsolete” and ineffective, unable to meet people’s needs. And that in turn means that it is close to disappearing. It is not something people should go back to with nostalgia.

The idea of the “new covenant” is not confined to this letter. It is implied in the narratives of the institution of the Lord’s Supper in Mt 26:27–28; Mark 14:23– 24, and it is explicit in Lk 22:20; 1 Corinthians 11:25. Paul also saw Christian ministers as “ministers of a new covenant” (2 Corinthians 3:6). The new covenant is thus one of the strands in the NT teaching about what Christ has done for us. While it emphasizes radical novelty, we should not overlook the fact that it also points to continuity. The new arrangement retains the term “covenant,” and it is established on the basis of sacrifice. In other words, it fulfills the old covenant rather than stands in outright opposition to it.