Hebrews Chapter Seven, A Better Hope

 

Hebrews 7:18 For on the one hand there is an annulling of the former commandment because of its weakness and unprofitableness, [19] for the law made nothing perfect; on the other hand, there is the bringing in of a better hope, through which we draw near to God.

 

Verse 18 through 19a describes what the writer entails as, “on the one hand.” This phrase is used to introduce a point of view, followed by a contrast against its counterpart. The verse begins with the annulling of the former commandment. This is the “fleshly commandment” he mentioned in verse 16, indicating the Law and all it incorporated. He speaks a little later of the earthly tabernacle, which stood at the heart of the Law, describing it as, “fleshly ordinances imposed until the time of reformation,” Hebrews 9:10. The former commandment of Hebrews 7:18 is the fleshly ordinance of Hebrews 9:10, annulled because it was only efficacious as Israel’s tutor UNTIL the time of reformation.

Verse 18 ascribes to the Law (verse 19) both weakness and unprofitability. The Law was weak; it was concerned with fleshly or ceremonial commandments that cleansed the flesh and taught discernment and awareness of sin, but gave no power to extricate oneself from it. The Law magnified sin; through awareness of the Law sin’s power became more acute, Romans 7:9, 10. Awareness of sin brought accountability, but not liberty from it. The Law was not merciful; it revealed sin, and issued the command as to sin’s ultimate penalty: death, Ezekiel 18:24, see Deuteronomy 13:8-11.

 

We are told in rather unambiguous language that the former commandment is annulled. Annulment means, “cancellation, termination, or deletion.” Paraphrased, the verse reads, “there is a cancellation of the former commandment.” The Law was weak; it did not have the power to save. What, one might ask, did it mean when it was written, “You shall therefore keep My statutes and My judgments, which if a man does, he shall live by them,”? The context involving this verse connotes the difference between the natives of Canaan who walked in their own ordinances, and Israel who is given God’s Law to live by. Later in the same chapter Moses writes that its original inhabitants defiled the land of Canaan, and so they were “vomited out” of it.

 

Leviticus 18:26 reiterates how Israel was to observe the Law, and by doing so refrain from committing the abominations of the former nations. Otherwise the land would vomit them out as well; and the persons responsible for committing the acts would be, “cut off from among their people,” a euphemism denoting capitol punishment by stoning for committing wanton sin, Leviticus 18:29. Diligent preservation of the Law prevented the dissolution of Israel as a national entity by being vomited out of the land of their inheritance. Adherence also prevented death by stoning for infraction of the Mosaic Law. Literally then, the man who does the Law shall [continue to] live by it. It makes no promises concerning eternal life, because the Law is not concerned with the eternal; the law was fleshly, concerned only with the flesh, see Proverbs 3:1. Yahweh details the blessings of obedience in Leviticus 26:3-13, and while much earthly peace is promised, eternal life is not.

 

The Law also bore with it a curse, as Paul explained. “Cursed is everyone who does not continue in all things which are written in the book of the law, to do them,” Galatians 3:10, Deuteronomy 27:26. But justification was never the point of the Law. Habakkuk the prophet wrote, “the just shall live by faith,” Habakkuk 2:4, Galatians 3:11. Those who are justified in God’s sight (again, Galatians 3:11) are those whose faith is not in the Law, but in the Lawgiver. Galatians 3:12, citing Leviticus 18:5, cinches this point when Paul writes, “Yet the law is not of faith.” Doing is not the same as believing. Obeying is not necessarily the same as trusting. The Psalms have an enlightened view of God’s holiness, and the Psalmists delighted in God’s Law because they first delighted in knowing God. One can obey the Law without having any faith in the Lawgiver. Works can come from a multitude of sources within us, and not many of them wholesome. Pride, arrogance, jealousy, fear, envy, mechanical repetition, etc.; one may perform works befitting the Law and never actually enter God’s presence. Christ Himself said as much about those who worked miracles in His name, but He did not know them, Matthew 7:21-23.

 

The Law was unprofitable as well as weak, we read. The Jew did not gain from it that which he believed he might. If one sought eternal life from Law keeping, the Law was revealed as weak and unprofitable. Only someone sinless could profit from obedience to it in that sense. It was a temporary guardian, a hedge of protection for the commonwealth of Israel until the time of reformation. Jesus, debating with the Samaritan woman, told her, “Woman, believe Me, the hour is coming when you neither on this mountain, nor in Jerusalem, worship the Father. You worship what you do not know; we know what we worship, for salvation is of the Jews. But the hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth; for the Father is seeking such to worship Him. God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth,” John 4:21-24. Jerusalem was the place where God put His name, but the Law was being annulled and worship of God would transform; it would be spiritual, not fleshly ordinances and it would be global and not geographically isolated. Salvation is of the Jews, but it is not through the Mosaic Law. It is through Jesus Christ, the Son of God.

 

Verse 19 adds that the law made nothing perfect. The Greek word for Law here is “nomos.” While “nomos” has numerous meanings in regards to law, when it is preceded by the definite article “the,” it is stressing the Law of Sinai, or the Mosaic Law. Thus the writer makes it abundantly clear that the Law he is referring to in this passage is the Law of Moses. It is weak and unprofitable, and verse 19 contributes that it makes nothing perfect. The Greek term for “perfect” in this verse is “teleioo,” a derivative of “teleios.” The word means, “to complete, accomplish, or consummate; brought to its end, or wanting nothing necessary to completeness.” The Law, the Holy Spirit inspired the writer to state, made nothing perfect, complete, brought to its end. The Apostle Peter agreed by stating the Jews could never bear the burden of the Law, Acts 15:10. Paul informs Timothy that the Law is for the unjust, not for the just, or the righteous, 1 Timothy 1:9, 10. The Law stands as a resolute witness of mankind’s penchant for sinning against a holy God and the punishment due our choices. We are, none of us, Jew or Gentile, righteous apart from God. The Law wasn’t given through Moses to give Israel life. As a revelation of God’s character, it illuminated the great gulf between man and his Maker. The Law was light so we could see; but in its light our guilt intensified, Romans 7:7.

 

Verse 19b informs the Jewish Christians that while the former commandment was annulled a better hope was brought in. That better hope is Christ Jesus our Lord. Better than the angels, Moses, the Law, the Tabernacle or the priesthood of Aaron. Christ is simply an unqualified better. As the study approaches chapter 8 and leaves this parenthetical teaching, he strives to demonstrate the superiority of Jesus Christ to the Aaronic priesthood and the tabernacle in which they served.

 

This better hope is the gateway through which we draw near to God. Jesus said, “I am the door. If anyone enters by Me, he will be saved, and will go in and out, and find pasture,” John 10:9. A little later He states, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me,” John 14:6. It is “the way” we focus on in this verse. Couple that with Christ our Lord also being the door and we find that Jesus is not only the entry to God, but He is the route. More than that, He tells us, “I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in Me, though he may die, he shall live,” John 11:25. Jesus is the resurrection; He is the endless life that gives life to all things. This is the God with whom we have to do, Hebrews 4:13.

 

If anyone enters through Christ he will be saved. What does this mean? In John 11:25 He explained it more plainly. Whoever believes in Him will have eternal life; he will be saved. This is the better hope. Christ has risen, and sits at the right hand of the Father in Heaven; He is the life of the Christian church, the source of our faith, and the summit of our hope. He is, by His own admission, the ONLY way to God. Law works will not avail anyone doing them in the hopes of meriting eternal life. Christ already worked on our behalf, and as He said in John’s gospel, He gives (immediate and present tense) eternal life to anyone whose faith is in Him. It is only through Jesus Christ that one draws near to God, washed as it were in His blood, Revelation 1:5, Hebrews 9:14. As the high priest could only approach the mercy seat once a year through the cover of the blood of sprinkling, we too are covered by our Savior’s blood, and through it washed as white as snow, Isaiah 1:18.