Christ, as the High Priest in the heavens, brings us into heaven, from the earthly outer court into the heavenly Holy of Holies, which is joined to our spirit by Him as the heavenly ladder (Gen. 28:12; John 1:51).
Christ, as the High Priest in the heavens, brings us into heaven, from the earthly outer court into the heavenly Holy of Holies, which is joined to our spirit by Him as the heavenly ladder (Gen. 28:12; John 1:51).
cf. Rom. 15:8
One who ministers as a priest. As a minister of the true (heavenly) tabernacle, Christ ministers heaven (which is not only a place but also a condition of life) into us that we may have the heavenly life and power to live a heavenly life on earth, as He did while He was here.
See note Heb. 5:11.
Or, copy, representation.
Referring to the ministry of a priest; derived from the same Greek word as minister in v. 2.
In His heavenly ministry Christ, as the Mediator, is the Executor of the new covenant, the new testament, which He bequeathed to us by His death.
This better covenant not only was enacted upon better promises of a better law, the inner law of life (vv. 10-12), but also was consummated with Christ's better sacrifices (Heb. 9:23), which accomplished for us an eternal redemption (Heb. 9:12), and the better blood of Christ, which purifies our conscience (Heb. 9:14). Even more, the High Priest of this better covenant, the eternal Son of the living God, ministers with a more excellent ministry (v. 6) and in the greater and more perfect tabernacle (Heb. 9:11).
Just as the old covenant was the old law enacted by God, so the new covenant is the new law enacted by God, as mentioned in vv. 10-12.
The better promises are given in Jer. 31:31-34 and are quoted in vv. 8-12 of this chapter and Heb. 10:16-17.
The first covenant is the old covenant, and the second is the new covenant.
Or, space; metaphorically, occasion, condition.
In Jer. 31:33, the source of this quotation, the word used is law (singular), whereas in this verse it is laws (plural). This proves that it is one law that spreads to become a number of laws. This one law is the law of life (see the law of the Spirit of life — Rom. 8:2). Every life has a law. The higher the life, the higher is its law. The divine life that we receive of God is the highest life; therefore, it has the highest law, the law referred to here. By imparting His divine life into us, God puts this highest law into our spirit, whence it spreads into our inward parts, such as our mind, emotion, and will, and becomes several laws.
The law of life differs from the law of letters. The law of life regulates us from within by and according to its life element, whereas the law of letters regulates us from without by and according to its dead letters. The law of dead letters depends on outward teachings, but the law of life depends on the inward consciousness. Since we all, great or small, have the law of life, we do not need outward teachings that are according to the law of letters (v. 11).
Here, mind corresponds with inward parts in Jer. 31:33. This proves that the mind is one of the inward parts and that it is the interpretation of the term inward parts. The inward parts consist of not only the mind but also the emotion and the will. These three are components of the heart, mentioned in the succeeding clause.
First, God imparts His laws into us; then He inscribes them on us. He does the inscribing while we are experiencing the law of life.
Lit., I will be to them for God.
Lit., they will be to me for a people. It is according to the law of life that we are a people to God and that He is God to us. God's relationship with us today is based fully on the law of life, so that today we do not need to walk according to the knowledge of the law of letters but should walk according to the consciousness of the law of life.
In this verse two Greek words are used for know: the first is ginosko, which signifies the outward, objective knowledge; the second is oida, which refers to the inward, subjective consciousness. In John 8:55 the Lord Jesus told the Pharisees that they did not know ( ginosko) God the Father (even in the outward, objective knowledge), and that He did know (oida) the Father (in the inward, subjective consciousness). Both words are used in 1 John 2:29.
The word is the root of the Greek word for make propitiation in Heb. 2:17. To be propitious is to make propitiation for our sins (see note Heb. 2:174d). In the new covenant four blessings are promised:
1) propitiation for our unrighteousnesses and the forgetting (forgiveness) of our sins (v. 12);
2) the imparting of the law of life by the imparting of the divine life into us (v. 10a);
3) the privilege of having God as our God and of being His people — the divine life's enabling us to participate in the enjoyment of God in fellowship with Him (v. 10b);
4) the function of life that enables us to know Him in the inward way of life (v. 11).
According to the covenant that God consummated, these four blessings are His promise. But according to the testament that the Lord bequeathed to us, they are His bequests. See note Heb. 9:161.
I.e., the old covenant. So also in Heb. 9:1.