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repeats, in the form of an antithesis to Heb_8:4-5, the main proposition of the new section, that Christ accomplishes His priestly service in the heavenly sanctuary (Heb_8:2); in the progress of the discourse, however, advances an additional argument in favour of this main proposition: in that the naturalness of the fact asserted is evidenced by the superiority of that covenant which has been brought in by Christ
Heb_8:6 repeats, in the form of an antithesis to Heb_8:4-5, the main proposition of the new section, that Christ accomplishes His priestly service in the heavenly sanctuary (Heb_8:2); in the progress of the discourse, however, advances an additional argument in favour of this main proposition: in that the naturalness of the fact asserted is evidenced by the superiority of that covenant which has been brought in by Christ. As, therefore, the author (Heb_7:20-22) had deduced from the higher priestly rank of Christ the more excellent nature of the covenant brought in by Him; so here, conversely, from the better nature of the covenant established by Him, is inferred the higher order of His priestly ministry, νυνὶ δέ forms the opposition to εἰ μὲν οὖν , Heb_8:4, while διαφορωτέρας points back antithetically to the contents of Heb_8:5. Theophylact: Ἐκείνου τοῦ νοήματος ἤρτηται ταῦτα , τοῦ Εἰ μὲν γὰρ ἦν ἐπὶ γῆς , οὐκ ἂν ἦν ἱερεύς · νυνὶ δὲ μὴ ὤν , φησίν , ἐπὶ γῆς , ἀλλὰ τὸν οὐρανὸν ἔχων ἱερατεῖον , διαφορωτέρας ἐπέτυχε λειτουργίας · τουτέστιν , οὐκ ἔστιν αὐτοῦ ἡ λειτουργία τοιαύτη , οἵα ἡ τῶν ἐπὶ γῆς ἀρχιερέων ἀλλʼ οὐράνιος , ἅτε τόπον ἔχουσα τῆς οἰκείας τελετῆς τὸν οὐρανόν .
νυνὶ δέ ] not in the temporal, but in the logical sense: but now.
διαφορωτέρας λειτουργίας ] inasmuch, namely, as the σκηνή , in which He fulfils His office, is the ἀληθινή , ἣν ἔπηξεν ὁ κύριος , οὐκ ἄνθρωπος (Heb_8:2).
On the comparative διαφορωτέρας , see at Heb_2:4.
καὶ after ὅσῳ renders distinctly apparent the inner correspondence of the two principal members in the proposition, Heb_8:6.
μεσίτης ] Mediator (Heb_9:15, Heb_12:24; Gal_3:19-20; 1Ti_2:5; LXX. Job_9:33), inasmuch as He has proclaimed the New and better Covenant, and has sealed the same by His death on the cross.
ἥτις ] which, us such. Introduction of the proof that the covenant of which Christ is made the Mediator is a better one (Heb_7:22), i.e. affords full satisfaction to the heart seeking salvation and deliverance, which the Mosaic covenant was incapable of pacifying. The proof for this superiority the author derives from the fact that the New Covenant has been enacted upon the ground of ( ἐπί [cf. Heb_7:11; Act_14:3]) better promises, i.e. promises more excellent with regard to their subject-matter. The expression νενομοθέτηται is chosen not in order to denote the similarity of nature in the two covenant-foundings, but, after the analogy of the Pauline mode of expression, Rom_3:27 (Rom_9:31), in order to oppose to the Mosaic law, hitherto in operation, the New Covenant as in some sense a new law (comp. νόμους μου , Heb_8:10) now come into force.
μρείττοσιν ἐπαγγελίαις ] What is meant is without doubt the several factors in the contents of the passage from Jeremiah cited immediately after—to wit, the promise of the forgiveness of sins (comp. Heb_8:12), which the Old Covenant was not able to bring about (Rom_8:3; Gal_3:10 ff.), in connection with the character of innerness of the New Covenant in general (Heb_8:10-11), as opposed to the externalism of the Old.
The explaining of the κρείττονες ἐπαγγελίαι , with Theodoret, Oecumenius, Theophylact, Primasius, Clarius, Bengel, Carpzov, Whitby, M‘Lean, Bisping, and others, of everlasting blessedness and the other eternal blessings of Christianity, in opposition to the purely terrestrial and temporal promises of Mosaism (the peaceful possession of the land of Canaan, a long life upon earth, etc.), is to be rejected; because—apart from the contradiction in which this interpretation stands with the elucidation given by the author himself by virtue of the ensuing citation from Scripture—it is, as Bleek rightly observes, improbable that the author should have referred the promises deposited in the Mosaic law to merely earthly things, in place of referring them to the object of which he understands the promise already imparted to Abraham—the bringing in of the great salvation for the people of God in the person of Christ.
The view, too, that the ἐπαγγελίαι of the New Covenant are called κερίττονες because they are better guaranteed (Stengel and others), has the context against it.