NOTES for Heb 8:1-6

Continuing the theme of the Messiah's high-priestly ministry, the author of the epistle draws attention to the new meaning contained in it, a meaning that did not and could not exist in the ministry of the former high priests. The Messiah is the true high priest not only because He fully corresponds to the ideal of the high priest, who was called to become a perfect instrument for the sanctification of the people. He is the true high priest above all because He Himself shares in that fullness of the Kingdom which is the source of all sanctification. It is in this sense that the author of the epistle speaks of the "true tabernacle" and of the sanctuary created not by human beings, but by God Himself (vv. 1-2). Such a High Priest cannot remain on earth in the sense in which every person remains here, for then He would be no different from an ordinary human being, remaining wholly under the power of the laws of our world, which has not yet been transfigured (vv. 4-5).

But in order to sanctify the people, who still remain entirely and completely in the untransfigured world, the Messiah-High Priest had to become part of it without being subject to its laws, at least insofar as they reflect the corruption of the fallen world caused by its sinfulness. Only what is clean can be sanctified, and only one who is clean can sanctify: such is the principle of Old Testament priesthood. Of course, the cleanness was relative and the sanctification incomplete, but in the fallen world nothing more could be achieved. With the coming of Christ, the situation changed radically; but even Christ Himself could cleanse and sanctify His faithful only insofar as He became part of our world. The Messiah-High Priest, like every high priest in general, had to have something to offer, while at the same time remaining near those for whom He made His offering (v. 3). The offering was not of this world, but those for whom it was made still remained under the power of this world. Thus the new, messianic union-covenant was born, and its founder was the One who became for the faithful the new High Priest, opening for them the way no longer into an earthly sanctuary, but to the altar of the Kingdom (v. 6).