King James Version
Hebrews 8
13 verses with commentary
The New Covenant
Now of the things which we have spoken this is the sum: We have such an high priest, who is set on the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in the heavens;
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KJV Study Commentary
'Now of the things which we have spoken this is the sum' introduces the epistle's central point—'We have such an high priest.' This high priest is 'set on the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in the heavens,' fulfilling Psalm 110:1. His session (sitting) indicates completed work; His location (right hand) indicates supreme honor; His position (throne) indicates sovereign authority.
Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(1) **Now of the things . . .**—Better, *Now in the things which we are saying* (literally, *which are being said*)* this is the chief point.* Opinion has been much divided as to the meaning of the first Greek word, whether it should be taken as “summary” or as “chief point,” each of these meanings being well supported by the usage of the language. The words joined with it, “in the things which we...
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
5. I am no longer here to withstand these things; be thou a worthy successor of me, no longer depending on me for counsel, but thine own master, and swimming without the corks [Calvin]; follow my steps, inherit their result, and the honor of their end [Alford].
**watch thou--**literally, "with the wakefulness of one sober."
**in all things--**on all occasions and under all circumstances (Tit 2...
Read full commentary →A minister of the sanctuary, and of the true tabernacle, which the Lord pitched, and not man. of the sanctuary: or, of holy things
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KJV Study Commentary
Christ serves as 'minister of the sanctuary' (Greek 'leitourgos ton hagion'—servant of holy things) and 'of the true tabernacle.' This 'true tabernacle' was 'pitched' (established) by 'the Lord, and not man,' contrasting with Moses' man-made (though divinely patterned) structure. The earthly tabernacle was a copy; the heavenly is the reality. Christ ministers in the true, original sanctuary.
Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(2) **Of the sanctuary**.—The word here rendered “minister” (see Hebrews 1:7; Hebrews 1:14) is very commonly used in the LXX. for the officiating priest. It is difficult, however, to decide on the meaning of the words here joined with it—whether they denote holy things or holy place; if the latter, what is the distinction between this holy place and “the true tabernacle”? The ordinary usage of the...
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
**6. Greek, "For I am already being offered"; literally, as a libation; appropriate to the shedding of his blood. Every sacrifice began with an initiatory libation on the victim's head (compare Note, see on Php 2:17). A motive to stimulate Timothy to faithfulness--**the departure and final blessedness of Paul; it is the end that crowns the work [Bengel]. As the time of his departure was indicated ...
Read full commentary →For every high priest is ordained to offer gifts and sacrifices: wherefore it is of necessity that this man have somewhat also to offer.
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KJV Study Commentary
Every high priest is appointed 'to offer both gifts and sacrifices,' therefore Christ 'also must have something to offer.' This establishes the necessity of Christ's sacrifice. A priest without an offering is no priest. Christ's offering is Himself (7:27), the only sacrifice sufficient to remove sin. Reformed substitutionary atonement sees Christ as both priest (offerer) and victim (offering), uni...
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(3) This verse and the three following confirm and illustrate the importance of the statement just made. The general course of thought appears to be as follows:—That which stands “at the head” of what we are saying, and gives completeness to the whole, is, that we have a High Priest who ministers in heaven itself (Hebrews 8:1-2). For, whereas the very conception of high-priestly duty would, were H...
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
7. "I have striven the good strife"; the Greek is not restricted to a fight, but includes any competitive contest, for example, that of the racecourse (1Ti 6:12 [Alford]; 1Co 9:24, &c.; He 12:1, 2).
**kept the faith--**the Christian faith committed to me as a believer and an apostle (compare 2Ti 1:14; Re 2:10; 3:10).
For if he were on earth, he should not be a priest, seeing that there are priests that offer gifts according to the law: there: or, they are priests
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KJV Study Commentary
If Christ were on earth, He 'would not be a priest, since there are priests who offer the gifts according to the law.' This counterfactual highlights the incompatibility of earthly Levitical priesthood with Christ's heavenly Melchizedekian priesthood. They can't coexist - the new replaces the old. Christ's priesthood is exercised in heaven (8:1), where He intercedes with the efficacy of His once-f...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(4) **For if he were . . .**—The oldest Greek MSS. and two important versions read, “If then He were”; and two other changes in the text of this verse also rest on high authority. In its correct form the verse will stand thus: *If then He were on earth, He would not even be a priest* (that is, He would not be a priest at all), *seeing there are those who according to law offer the gifts.* The argu...
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**8. a crown--**rather as Greek, "the crown." The "henceforth" marks the decisive moment; he looks to his state in a threefold aspect: (1) The past "I have fought"; (2) The immediate present; "there is laid up for me." (3) The future "the Lord will give in that day" [Bengel].
**crown--**a crown, or garland, used to be bestowed at the Greek national games on the successful competitor in wrestling...
Read full commentary →Who serve unto the example and shadow of heavenly things, as Moses was admonished of God when he was about to make the tabernacle: for, See, saith he, that thou make all things according to the pattern shewed to thee in the mount.
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KJV Study Commentary
Earthly priests serve 'a copy and shadow of the heavenly things.' The Greek 'hypodeigmati kai skia' emphasizes the earthly sanctuary's derivative, inferior nature. It's not the reality but a teaching model. Moses was warned to make everything 'according to the pattern' shown on the mountain (Exodus 25:40). Reformed typology sees the tabernacle/temple as divinely designed pointers to Christ's perfe...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(5) **Who serve unto . . .**—Better, *men who serve a copy and shadow of the heavenly things.* So in Hebrews 13:10 we read of those who “serve the tabernacle.” On the connection of thought, see Hebrews 8:3. “Copy,” not in the sense of perfect resemblance, but rather a *token* suggesting and designed to suggest the original. (See Note on Hebrews 9:23, where the same word is used.) “Shadow,” as the ...
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
9. (2Ti 4:21; 2Ti 1:4, 8.) Timothy is asked to come to be a comfort to Paul, and also to be strengthened by Paul, for carrying on the Gospel work after Paul's decease.
But now hath he obtained a more excellent ministry, by how much also he is the mediator of a better covenant, which was established upon better promises. covenant: or, testament
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KJV Study Commentary
Christ has obtained 'a more excellent ministry' (Greek 'diaphorous leitourgias'—superior service) for two reasons: He is 'mediator of a better covenant' and it is 'established upon better promises.' The new covenant surpasses the old in both its mediator (Christ vs. Moses) and its promises (grace vs. law, internal transformation vs. external requirement).
Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(6) **But now.**—That is, as the case really is. (See Hebrews 8:3.) We have here another of those proportional statements commented on in Hebrews 1:4; Hebrews 3:3; Hebrews 7:22. The last of these passages is closely akin to this. There we read that by how much the Priest appointed by the divine oath is raised above all other priests, by so much is His covenant better than theirs. Here, that as He ...
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
**10. Demas--**once a "fellow laborer" of Paul, along with Mark and Luke (Col 4:14; Phm 24). His motive for forsaking Paul seems to have been love of worldly ease, safety, and comforts at home, and disinclination to brave danger with Paul (Mt 13:20, 21, 22). Chrysostom implies that Thessalonica was his home.
**Galatia--**One oldest manuscript supports the reading "Gaul." But most oldest manuscri...
Read full commentary →For if that first covenant had been faultless, then should no place have been sought for the second.
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KJV Study Commentary
If the first covenant 'had been faultless, then no place would have been sought for a second.' This logical argument demonstrates the first covenant's inadequacy. The fault wasn't in God's law itself but in its inability to transform hearts and permanently remove sin. The very prediction of a new covenant (Jeremiah 31) proves God planned to replace the old. Reformed covenant theology sees this as ...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(7) **For the second.**—Rather, *for a second.* This verse connects itself with the words, “a better covenant” in Hebrews 8:6. The form of expression used clearly points to the intended inference—that covenant *was* faulty, and a place was sought for a second; this makes plain the connection with Hebrews 8:8. The failure of the first covenant was manifest (Hebrews 7:11; Hebrews 7:18) to God, who, ...
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
**11. Take--**Greek, "take up" on thy journey (Ac 20:13, 14). John Mark was probably in, or near, Colosse, as in the Epistle to the Colossians (Col 4:10), written two years before this, he is mentioned as about to visit them. Timothy was now absent from Ephesus and somewhere in the interior of Asia Minor; hence he would be sure to fall in with Mark on his journey.
**he is profitable to me for th...
Read full commentary →For finding fault with them, he saith, Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah:
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KJV Study Commentary
God found fault 'with them' (the people, not the law) and promised: 'Behold, the days are coming, says the LORD, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah.' The fault was human inability to keep covenant, not divine failure. The 'new covenant' (Greek 'kainē diathēkē') will be new in quality (effective), not merely time. This covenant is 'with Israel and J...
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(8) **Finding fault with them.**—Not, “with it,” but with those through whom the covenant had failed. The following quotation (Hebrews 8:8-12) is taken from Jeremiah 31:31-34. It is the crowning point of that collection of prophecies which is brought together in Heb 30-33, descriptive of the hope and salvation of Israel. The characteristics of the prophecy and its significance in this place will b...
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**12. And--**Greek, "But." Thou art to come to me, but Tychicus I have sent to Ephesus to supply thy place (if thou so willest it) in presiding over the Church there in thy absence (compare Tit 3:12). It is possible Tychicus was the bearer of this Epistle, though the omission of "to thee" is rather against this view.
Not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day when I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt; because they continued not in my covenant, and I regarded them not, saith the Lord.
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KJV Study Commentary
The new covenant will 'not be according to the covenant I made with their fathers' at the Exodus, which 'they did not continue in' despite God's husbandly faithfulness ('I disregarded them' better translated 'I was a husband to them'). The old covenant was bilateral (conditional on human obedience); the new is unilateral (based on Christ's obedience and God's sovereign grace). Reformed theology em...
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(9) **Not according to the covenant.**—The difference is declared below (Hebrews 8:10-12). “In the day when” they were led forth out of Egypt the token of God’s covenant was the deliverance itself. At Sinai, Exodus 24:7-8 (see Hebrews 9:18-22), the “book of the covenant” was read, and “the blood of the covenant” was “sprinkled on the people,” who had promised obedience to all the words that the Lo...
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**13. cloak ... I left--**probably obliged to leave it in a hurried departure from Troas.
**Carpus--**a faithful friend to have been entrusted with so precious deposits. The mention of his "cloak," so far from being unworthy of inspiration, is one of those graphic touches which sheds a flood of light on the last scene of Paul's life, on the confines of two worlds; in this wanting a cloak to cove...
Read full commentary →For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, saith the Lord; I will put my laws into their mind, and write them in their hearts: and I will be to them a God, and they shall be to me a people: put: Gr. give in: or, upon
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KJV Study Commentary
The new covenant's mechanism: 'I will put My laws in their mind and write them on their hearts.' This is internal transformation, not external legislation. The Spirit enables obedience from regenerate hearts, not merely external compliance. The result is intimate relationship: 'I will be their God, and they shall be My people.' Reformed theology sees regeneration and the Spirit's indwelling as dis...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(10) **I will make.**—Literally, *I will covenant*—not the same word as in Hebrews 8:8.
**Israel.**—Formerly (Hebrews 8:8), Israel and Judah. When the reunion of the nation had once been signified, *“*Israel” could stand alone as the name of the one people.
**I will put.**—Better, *putting my laws into their mind, I will also write them on their heart.* In the former clause the Hebrew has, “I will...
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**14. Alexander the coppersmith--**or "smith" in general. Perhaps the same as the Alexander (see on 1Ti 1:20) at Ephesus. Excommunicated then he subsequently was restored, and now vented his personal malice because of his excommunication in accusing Paul before the Roman judges, whether of incendiarism or of introducing a new religion. See my Introduction. He may have been the Alexander put forwar...
Read full commentary →And they shall not teach every man his neighbour, and every man his brother, saying, Know the Lord: for all shall know me, from the least to the greatest .
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KJV Study Commentary
Under the new covenant, there's no need for human teachers saying 'Know the LORD,' because 'all shall know Me, from the least to the greatest.' This doesn't eliminate teaching offices (Ephesians 4:11) but emphasizes direct, personal knowledge of God through the Spirit available to all believers. The democratization of covenant knowledge surpasses the old covenant's mediation through priests and pr...
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(11) **His neighbour.**—Rather, *his fellow-citizen, *according to the best reading. The second promise is the universality of the knowledge of God. The divine teaching shall not only be internal, but for this very reason shall extend to all.
Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
**15. our words--**the arguments of us Christians for our common faith. Believers have a common cause.
For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and their iniquities will I remember no more.
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KJV Study Commentary
The new covenant's foundation: 'I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and lawless deeds I will remember no more.' Complete, final forgiveness is promised. God's 'not remembering' doesn't mean divine amnesia but choosing not to hold sins against believers. This is possible only through Christ's perfect sacrifice that satisfied divine justice. Reformed theology grounds assuranc...
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(12) **Merciful.**—Literally, *propitious.* On the kindred word “make propitiation,” see Hebrews 2:17.
**To their unrighteousness.**—Rather, *to their unrighteousnesses, and their sins will I remember no more.* The words “and their iniquities” are omitted by the best authorities. Here is given the third and chief promise: the characteristic of the new covenant is the full pardon of sin.
Of this ne...
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**16. At my first answer--**that is, "defense" in court, at my first public examination. Timothy knew nothing of this, it is plain, till Paul now informs him. But during his former imprisonment at Rome, Timothy was with him (Php 1:1, 7). This must have been, therefore, a second imprisonment. He must have been set free before the persecution in A.D. 64, when the Christians were accused of causing t...
Read full commentary →In that he saith, A new covenant, he hath made the first old. Now that which decayeth and waxeth old is ready to vanish away.
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KJV Study Commentary
By calling it a 'new covenant,' God 'has made the first obsolete' (Greek 'pepalaīōken' - has made old/worn out). What is obsolete and aging 'is ready to vanish away.' This is pastoral courage - declaring God's clear intention to replace the old covenant system. Written before AD 70, this may have been fulfilled shortly after in the temple's destruction. The old covenant served its purpose and is n...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(13) **In that he saith . . .**—Rather, *In saying “new” He hath made the first old: now that which groweth old and is failing for age is nigh unto vanishing away.* The very language of the prophet contains a declaration of the speedy dissolution of the former covenant. If “nigh unto vanishing” at the time when Jeremiah wrote, well might it now be believed to have passed away.
**Ellicott's Comment...
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**17. the Lord--**the more because men deserted me.
**stood with me--**stronger than "came forward with me" (Greek, 2Ti 4:16).
**strengthened--**Greek, "put strength in me."
**by me--**"through me"; through my means. One single occasion is often of the greatest moment.
**the preaching--**"the Gospel proclamation."
**might be fully known--**might be fully made (see on 2Ti 4:5).
**that a...
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