not according to the covenant which I made to their fathers in [the] day of my taking their hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt; because *they* did not continue in my covenant, and *I* did not regard them, saith [the] Lord.
Commentary for this verse has not been generated yet.
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.
Commentary for this verse has not been generated yet.
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.
Because I will be merciful to their unrighteousnesses, and their sins and their lawlessnesses I will never remember any more.
This verse closes God's promise of a new covenant — not with a demand, but with mercy. The little word "for" ties everything before it to this last line: knowing the Lord, and having Him as your God, rests on sins dealt with and never brought up again.
Verse 11 says all will know the Lord. Verse 12 explains how that becomes possible.
For it is in saving mercy that the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ has revealed Himself to those who receive His truth. So the account of the new and better covenant closes with an unqualified promise of complete forgiveness... The carrying out of God's perfect work of truth and mercy is laid as the basis of His people's knowledge of Himself.
One writer takes the two clauses apart and shows how far each reaches.
God promises two things. First, mercy for unrighteousness. Second, an eternal forgetting of iniquities and sins. Both clauses are equally absolute. Looking at His people in themselves, God saw unrighteousness to be their born condition and their natural state. If their works are weighed in His sanctuary, they are found to be iniquities and sins. In the riches of His mercy He has met their personal unrighteousness with a complete forgiveness that carries no reproach.
The writers quoted here follow an older translation. In it, God is merciful to "their unrighteousness," and remembers "their sins and their iniquities" no more. Some copies of the letter also add a third term, "and their lawlessnesses."
Notice that the words "and their lawlessnesses" disappear. They are not in the Greek Old Testament, the Septuagint, any more than in the original Hebrew... In any case, grace meets souls who were once guilty but are now renewed. It comforts those who feel and admit their sinfulness with the assurance of divine forgiveness.
Notice who does the promising in this covenant. One phrase keeps coming back.
This new covenant depends entirely upon the sovereign grace of God. It sets out the terms on which He can be with man, in keeping with 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 will I 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 promise is not that God's memory fails. One writer weighs the two words with care.
He can no more forget than He can change His mind; yet in a relative sense both terms can be used of Him. He does not remember our sins when He treats us, and is to us, as if they had never happened. He does not remember them when we can find nothing at all in His conduct toward us that shows He remembers them. Then they are no longer a cloud in our sky — not even a speck of dust in the sunshine of His perfect love.
Another writer pictures it as a debt.
I might owe a heavy bill to a tradesman, and he might forget all about it and never present it for payment. That does not cancel the debt. But if he presents it and I pay it, it is finished. He does not send it to me again. He remembers it against me no more. The sins were not forgotten; the full account of them was presented for payment at the cross, and the blood of Jesus has wiped out the dreadful record.
One writer draws out what follows for sacrifice.
Not only does God forgive, but — if I may use such an expression — He forgets. Not in the human sense, as if it had passed out of His consciousness, but in a divine sense, that it is no longer against His people. The apostle shows later that if there is no more remembrance of sins, there is no more need for a sacrifice. All is divinely settled.
The covenant is named as being with Israel and Judah, and commentators hold that its full form waits for a future day. But they also insist that the forgiveness it promises is already given.
There will be the mercy of the Lord. By it their sins will be dealt with so righteously that God will be able to say, "Their sins and their iniquities will I remember no more." Into this great blessing every believer is brought today.
The practical effect reaches ordinary life. Human pardon rarely does this.
An earthly ruler once said when granting a pardon, "I forgive, but I cannot forget." If God acted like that, we could never be happy in His presence, but He says: "Their sins and their iniquities will I remember no more." So we can live in liberty in His presence, and rejoice in His grace.
- Cause. The verse opens with "for" — mercy is the reason everyone under this covenant will know the Lord, not the reward for knowing Him.
- Gift. Every clause is an "I will." Nothing rests on what man does or wants.
- Meaning. God does not lose the facts. The cross paid the debt in full, so He never raises it again.
- Reach. Both promises are absolute — mercy covering what we are by nature, forgetting covering what we have done.
- Result. Where sins are remembered no more, no sacrifice is left to offer. God has settled the whole matter.