478 TRANSLATION, NOTES, AND COMMENTS
arflr (cursed). Jesus does not go so far as to curse the scribes and Pharisees.
Also, with blessings and woes spoken to different audiences, the new people of
God receive neither woes nor curses, only blessings. Matthew believes that
there can be no abrogation of the new covenant and no destruction of the
Church (cf. Matt 16:18).
John in a different way presents Jesus as the "new Moses" (Glasson 1963).
But for this Gospel writer, Jesus gives no new Torah, unless one identifies
such in the new commandment to "love one another" (John 13:34). Jesus
himself is the Logos. John therefore makes a law/grace dichotomy similar to
Paul's: "For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through
Jesus Christ" ( 1: 17). The Holy Spirit is John's answer to the new inner motiva-
tion required to know and do the Torah. He dwells within the believer ( 14: 17)
and in Jesus' absence will bring his teachings (Torah) to remembrance
(14:26). He will also convince the rest of the world of sin, righteousness, and
judgment (16:7-11).
In the letter to the Hebrews, the new covenant is given its most prominent
place in the NT The new covenant passage from Jeremiah is quoted twice,
once in its entirety (Heb 8:8-12) and once in abridged form (10:16-17). For
this NT writer, Christ is the great high priest of the heavenly sanctuary (7:26),
one who "has obtained a ministry which is as much more excellent than the
old as the covenant he mediates is better, since it is enacted on better prom-
ises" (8:6). The Mosaic covenant, here called the "first covenant," was shown
to be faulty because people under it turned up faulty (8:7-8a; cf. Hals 1988:
91 ). Reference is presumably being made to the first covenant's provisions for
noncompliance-i.e., the curses. The new covenant prophesied by Jeremiah
has better promises: it contains an unconditional commitment by God to for-
give sins; it is eternal (9:15; 13:20); and Jesus is the covenant's surety (7:22).
According to Hebrews, Jeremiah in announcing this new covenant treats the
Mosaic covenant as obsolete. That obsolescence is just now being seen as the
first covenant is ready to vanish away (8: 13 ).
Jesus is the "mediator of the new covenant" (Heb 9: 15; "better covenant" in
8:6; "fresh covenant" in 12:24; cf. 1 Tim 2:5-6; Isa 42:6; 49:8). In Judaism the
covenant mediator was Moses (cf. Gal 3: 19), and after his death the high priest
(Richardson 1958: 229). Jesus becomes mediator of the new covenant by vir-
tue of his death on the cross, which the author of Hebrews explains in priestly
and sacrificial categories understood within Judaism (9: 1-14). Special appro-
priation is made of the Day of Atonement ritual (Leviticus 16). As the high
priest who enters once and once only the Holy Place with his own sacrificial
blood, Jesus secures for God's elect their eternal redemption (9: 11-12, 24-28;
cf. 7:27). This death purifies human consciences (9:14; 10:22; cf. Rom 2:15),
something not possible with the earlier sacrifices (9:9).
The Holy Place-or Heavenly Sanctuary (9:24)-is for the elect also the
Promised Land of rest and inheritance ( 4:9-11; 9: 15). In raising the subject of
inheritance, the author of Hebrews uses both meanings of diatheke: "cove-
nant" and "will" (9: 15-22; cf. Gal 3: 15-18). A will does not take effect until the