John Calvin Commentary Hebrews 9:15

"And for this cause he is the mediator of a new covenant, that a death having taken place for the redemption of the transgressions that were under the first covenant, they that have been called may receive the promise of the eternal inheritance." — Hebrews 9:15 (ASV)

And for this cause he is Mediator of the New Testament, etc. He concludes that there is no more need for another priest, because Christ fulfills that office under the New Testament. For he does not claim the honor of a Mediator for Christ in such a way that others might remain as mediators alongside him; rather, he maintains that all others were rejected when Christ undertook the office. To more fully confirm this fact, he mentions how Christ began to discharge his office as Mediator: through his intervening death. Since this is found in Christ alone, and is lacking in all others, it follows that he alone can justly be considered a Mediator.

He further records the power and effectiveness of Christ's death by saying that he paid the price for sins committed under the first covenant or testament—sins which could not be erased by the blood of animals. With these words, he was seeking to draw the Jews away from the Law to Christ.

For, if the Law was so weak that all the remedies it applied for expiating sins in no way accomplished what they represented, who could rest in it as in a safe harbor? This one thing, then, should have been enough to stimulate them to seek something better than the Law, for they could not help but be in perpetual anxiety.

On the other hand, when we come to Christ, since we obtain full redemption in him, there is nothing that can distress us any longer. Therefore, in these words he shows that the Law is weak, so that the Jews might no longer rest on it; and he teaches them to rely on Christ, for in him is found whatever can be desired for pacifying consciences.

Now, if anyone asks whether sins under the Law were remitted to the fathers, we must bear in mind the solution already stated—that they were remitted, but remitted through Christ. Therefore, despite their external expiations, they were always held guilty. For this reason Paul says, that the Law was a handwriting against us (Colossians 2:14).

For when the sinner came forward and openly confessed that he was guilty before God, and acknowledged by sacrificing an innocent animal that he was worthy of eternal death, what did he obtain by his victim, except that he sealed his own death, as it were, by this handwriting?

In short, even then they only found rest in the remission of sins when they looked to Christ. But if only looking to Christ took away sins, they could never have been freed from them if they had continued to rest in the Law. David indeed declares, that blessed is the man to whom sins are not imputed (Psalms 32:2); but so that he might be a partaker of this blessedness, it was necessary for him to leave the Law and to have his eyes fixed on Christ. For if he rested in the Law, he could never have been freed from guilt.

They who are called, etc. The object of the divine covenant is that, having been adopted as children, we may finally be made heirs of eternal life. The Apostle teaches us that we obtain this through Christ. It is therefore evident that in him is the fulfillment of the covenant.

But the promise of the inheritance is to be taken as the promised inheritance itself, as though he had said, “The promise of eternal life is enjoined upon us only through the death of Christ.” Life, indeed, was formerly promised to the fathers, and the same has been the inheritance of God’s children from the beginning; but we do not enter into its possession otherwise than through the blood of Christ previously shed.

But he speaks of the called so that he might more effectively influence the Jews who were made partakers of this calling. For it is a unique favor when we have the gift of the knowledge of Christ bestowed on us. We should therefore take more care, lest we neglect so valuable a treasure and our thoughts wander elsewhere. Some regard the called to be the elect, but incorrectly in my judgment; for the Apostle teaches here the same thing as we find in Romans 3:25: that righteousness and salvation have been procured by the blood of Christ, but that we become partakers of them by faith.