NT Text: Hebrews 9:15
OT Source(s):
Source: Beale & Carson (eds.), Commentary on the New Testament Use of the Old Testament (2007); Susanne Lehne, The New Covenant in Hebrews (1990); Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Reference Type: Allusion
Connection Method(s): Promise-Fulfillment + Longitudinal Theme
Anchor Text: Jer 31:31-34 — The New Covenant
Significance: Having quoted Jeremiah 31:31-34 in full one chapter earlier (Heb 8:8-12), the author now draws the consequence: "Therefore Christ is the mediator of a new covenant... now that He has died to redeem them from the transgressions committed under the first covenant" (Heb 9:15). The phrase diathēkēs kainēs mesitēs ("mediator of a new covenant") carries Jeremiah's LXX terminology (kainē diathēkē, Jer 38:31 LXX). The verse exegetes two clauses of the oracle at once: it explains the broken covenant Jeremiah 31:32 named ("transgressions committed under the first covenant") and grounds the forgiveness Jeremiah 31:34 promised ("I will remember their sin no more") in a death that actually redeems. Jeremiah announced forgiveness but did not say how a just God could remember sin no more; Hebrews answers: a death has occurred. The "promised eternal inheritance" is the new covenant's content now secured. The significance lands on Christ the Mediator — the better covenant is desirable precisely because its forgiveness is purchased, not presumed, and the inheritance it confers is eternal and unbreakable, resting on his blood rather than on Israel's failed "we will do."