| Hebrews 8 - Part I |
This seems like a good place to start:
For when the priesthood is changed of necessity there takes place a change of law also
- Hebrews 7:12 [NASB].
Essentially the author of Hebrews is saying "B necessarily follows A". I'll plug in the values shortly...
Recall that the Levitical Priesthood was established on Mt. Sinai after God delivered the descendants of Israel from captivity in Egypt. It was there that Moses received, on behalf of all Israel, the rules and regulations which defined God's Covenant with Israel - including the laws associated with who could become a Levitical priest, and who could become a High Priest.
In the sermon on the mount, our Lord makes it clear that the Law (given to Israel on Sinai) cannot and will not be changed: "For truly I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not the smallest letter or stroke shall pass from the Law until all is accomplished" - Matthew 5:18 [NASB].
As the Melchizedekian priesthood is neither defined nor regulated by the Old (i.e. Mosaic) Covenant, it follows that if Christ is a High Priest according to the order of Melchizedek, that his High Priesthood would in a similar way be outside the jurisdiction of the Old Covenant Laws.
Hence, if A (Christ is a priest according to the order of Melchizedek), then B (the Old Covenant laws do not, and cannot apply to Christ's priesthood ).
The author at this point is gearing up to explain Christ's ministry in the only context it which it can be explained: in the context of the previously promised New Covenant.
“Behold, days are coming,” declares the Lord, “when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah, not like the covenant which I made with their fathers in the day I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, My covenant which they broke, although I was a husband to them,” declares the Lord. “But this is the covenant which I will make with the house of Israel after those days,” declares the Lord, “I will put My law within them and on their heart I will write it; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people. They will not teach again, each man his neighbor and each man his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ for they will all know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them,” declares the Lord, “for I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin I will remember no more.”
Jeremiah 31:31-34 [NASB]
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posted by Daniel @
2:12 PM
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