Hebrews 9:15Meaning & Commentary from the Church Fathers

Again, concerning those deprived of inheritance, hear what He says: "I do not pray for all, but for those who believe in Me through their word."

In a testament there is what concerns the testator and what concerns those who receive the testament. It says what they must receive and what they must do.

So here also, after countless promises, Christ gives them a commandment: "A new commandment I give to you" (Jn 13:34).

Again, a testament must have witnesses. Hear once more what He says: "I bear witness to Myself, and the Father who sent Me bears witness to Me" (Jn 8:18).

He also says of the Comforter: "He will bear witness to Me" (Jn 15:26). And when sending the twelve Apostles, He said: "Bear witness before God" (Jn 15:17; 1 Tim 5:21).

"And for this reason," Paul says, "He is the Mediator of a new covenant." What does "He is the Mediator" mean?

A mediator is not the master of the matter in which he mediates. The matter is one thing, and the mediator another.

For example, at a marriage there is a mediator, but he is not the bridegroom. He only assists those entering into marriage.

So also here. The Son became Mediator between the Father and us.

The Father did not wish to leave us this inheritance. He was angry with us and displeased with us, since we had fallen away from Him.

The Son became Mediator between us and Him, and entreated Him. See how He became Mediator.

He took upon Himself both accusation and justification. He transmitted the Father's will to us, and in doing so He underwent death.

We had offended God and deserved to die, but He died for us and made us worthy of the covenant.

Thus the covenant became firm, since it was no longer made with the unworthy.

At the beginning God made a covenant with us as a father with children. But when we became unworthy, there should have been not a covenant, but punishment.

Why then, says the Apostle, do you boast in the Law?

It brought us to such a sinful condition that we would never have been saved. If our Master had not died for us, the Law would have helped us not at all, because it was weak.

Yet he proves this not only from common custom, but also from events of the Old Testament, which especially could affect them.

But they will say: no one died there. How, then, was that covenant confirmed?

In exactly the same way. How? There also there was blood, just as here there is blood.

Do not be surprised that there it was not the blood of Christ, for there was a type there. Therefore the Apostle says: "Therefore not even the first covenant was inaugurated without blood."

The covenant was again confirmed by the death of the Son, because this covenant granted the inheritance to the unworthy. For a covenant appoints some as heirs. Hear Christ's covenant: "I desire that where I am, they also may be with Me" (Jn 17:24). It deprives others of the inheritance: "I do not pray for these only, but also for those who believe in Me through their word" (Jn 17:20). A covenant has witnesses: "The Father who sent Me bears witness of Me" (Jn 8:18). And again: "The Comforter will bear witness of Me, and you also will bear witness" (Jn 15:26-27). "So that through His death, which was for redemption from the transgressions committed under the first covenant." Do you see that Christ's death was for our redemption? How, then, can you think it weak, when it was so powerful that it healed even the transgressions committed under the law? Why, then, do you turn back to the law, which was so weak that it could not correct the transgressions within it? It was not evil, but it was weak. Those who were called received the promise of the eternal inheritance. If Christ's death had not freed us from the sins by which we armed the Father against ourselves, how would we have received the heavenly inheritance? The expression "those who were called" shows that in the beginning God was disposed toward us as a Father toward sons. We were called to the inheritance. Later, through sins, we made ourselves unworthy of that inheritance.

Since some might stumble at Christ's death and therefore not believe His promises, the Apostle takes a commonly known example. Without difficulty he persuades them that for this very reason they should believe Christ's promises all the more. Testaments receive their force not during life, but after the death of the testators. In any case, Christ's death served as redemption for transgressions committed under the Old Covenant. Those who transgressed the law of that covenant were liable to death, as the law itself threatened. But Christ, by dying for those liable to death, freed them from transgressions, that is, from both sins and the punishment for sins. The phrase "eternal inheritance" is used in contrast to the temporary inheritance. The Old Covenant bequeathed only the temporary inheritance of the land, as a figure of the eternal inheritance.

For a testament is confirmed among the dead, since it has no force while the testator lives" (Heb 9:16-17). In what does the force of the apostolic proof for the necessity of Christ's death consist? The Apostle derives this necessity from two realities expressed by one Greek word, ϑιαϑήκη. This word means both covenant, in the sense of a union or mutual condition, and testament, in the sense of a posthumous command or disposition. The Apostle's reasoning is this. Christ had to die because He willed to be the Mediator of the New Covenant, that is, the intermediary or reconciler between God and men. For what brought division between men and God, namely sin, could be destroyed only by the death of the mediator and intermediary. Yet He also had to die because He willed to leave men a testament, as "High Priest of the good things to come" (Heb 9:11). The good things He bequeathed are justification before God and eternal blessedness. Every testament, as the Apostle notes, receives force only in the event of the testator's death. Therefore Christ the testator had to die.