Because this [is] the covenant that I will covenant to the house of Israel after those days, saith the Lord Giving my laws into their mind, I will write them also upon their hearts; and I will be to them for God, and *they* shall be to me for people.
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And they shall not teach each his fellow-citizen, and each his brother, saying, Know the Lord; because all shall know me in themselves, from [the] little one [among them] unto [the] great among them.
Hebrews 8 sets out the promise of a new covenant, and this verse gives one of its terms. A day is coming when no one will need to urge a neighbour or a brother to know the Lord. That promise raises two questions. What kind of knowing is meant, and who is included?
Two different Greek verbs for knowing stand in this verse. Writers who study the words of Scripture explain the pair like this:
ginosko means "to come to know." It is used of knowledge picked up and passed on from outside, a true grasp of impressions received. oida is different. It comes from idein, to "see with the mind's eye," and means inward awareness, knowledge held in your own mind. We read in Hebrews 8:11 that there will be no need to say "know (ginosko) the Lord, for all shall know (oida) me" — awareness in oneself, inward knowledge.
The teaching stops because the need for it has gone:
There will be no more need to teach one another so that they know God from outside (that is, know about Him, Greek ginosko), because all will know Him from within, in their heart and intuition (eido).
Human teaching never brings everyone to the same level. So who makes this knowledge reach every last person?
In that day Israel's salvation illustrates Scripture so fully that the ignorant will need no knowledge from outside (gnosis), because all will already hold conscious knowledge within (eidesousi), from the little ones to the great ones among them. This result covers everyone, and that shows it is God who ensures it. Under human teaching, however good, we see every degree of progress, and at best knowledge far from perfect.
The order of the phrase runs upward — it starts at the bottom, not the top:
"They shall all know me, from the least to the greatest" — not "from the greatest to the least" — that is, Israel will know God not as a nation but as individuals. In the knowledge of God we have the love of God, and that is why Paul prays: "May the Lord direct your hearts to the love of God."
This promise rests on two gifts, and it reaches the whole nation:
Forgiveness of sins for the conscience, and a new heart that may delight in God and walk in His ways! Because of this, there will be no need to say, "Know the Lord." God will be known and loved by all His people. "All your children shall be taught by the LORD." As a nation Israel will be born again, and not merely certain people in the nation.
Notice who does the promising in this covenant:
This new covenant depends entirely on the sovereign grace of God. It sets out the terms on which He can be with man according to His own holy nature and His own will. In setting out the blessing of the new covenant, again and again the Lord says, "I will." He says: "I will make a new covenant"; "I will put My laws into their mind"; "I will be to them a God"; "I will be merciful"; "Their sins and their iniquities I will remember no more." It is clear that the blessings of the new covenant depend not on man's doings or man's will, but on God's sovereign will. The heart of the new covenant is that the Lord Himself undertakes to carry it out.
So where does this leave believers today?
In Hebrews, while the writer shows the old covenant as "ready to vanish away" through the introduction of the new, he never presents its application as a present thing. The two blessings of the new covenant that we get as Christians are forgiveness of sins and direct teaching from God. Christians are not under a covenant in any way. They have to do with the Mediator while He is hidden in the heavens, before He renews His relationship with Judah and Israel, to whom alone the covenant belongs.
Teachers still have a place, and a duty:
There are teachers, and those who rule or guide, while Christ is on the throne of God. But they should be the first and the most earnest to guard the privileges of the simplest believer.
- Know, from within — Two Greek words meet here. One is knowledge learned from outside. The other is knowledge held within you. The verse promises the second, so the first is no longer needed.
- Known, not taught — Everyone will already have that inward knowledge. So no one needs to tell a neighbour or a brother, "Know the Lord."
- Known by all — The reach runs from the least upward. Israel will know God person by person, and the whole nation will be born again — not just a faithful few inside it.
- Known because God said "I will" — Every promise here is God's own undertaking, not a condition laid on man. That is why the result reaches everyone.
- Known already, in part — Believers today are not under this covenant. Yet they already have forgiveness and direct teaching from God. Every teacher's task is to guard that privilege in the simplest believer.