ESTUDIO DEL VERSÍCULO
Hebrews 8:6-13 — The Better Covenant and the New
Christ's priestly ministry surpasses the old because he mediates a better covenant grounded in better promises, as proven by God's promise of a new covenant that writes the law on hearts, gives true knowledge of the Lord, and forgives sins.
Escritura
- 6.Pero ahora tanto mejor ministerio es el suyo, cuanto es mediador de un mejor pacto, establecido sobre mejores promesas.But now hath he obtained a ministry the more excellent, by so much as he is also the mediator of a better covenant, which hath been enacted upon better promises.
- 7.Porque si aquel primero hubiera sido sin defecto, ciertamente no se hubiera procurado lugar para el segundo.For if that first covenant had been faultless, then would no place have been sought for a second.
- 8.Porque reprendiéndolos dice: He aquí vienen días, dice el Señor, En que estableceré con la casa de Israel y la casa de Judá un nuevo pacto;For finding fault with them, he saith, Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, That I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah;
- 9.No como el pacto que hice con sus padres El día que los tomé de la mano para sacarlos de la tierra de Egipto; Porque ellos no permanecieron en mi pacto, Y yo me desentendí de ellos, dice el Señor.Not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers In the day that I took them by the hand to lead them forth out of the land of Egypt; For they continued not in my covenant, And I regarded them not, saith the Lord.
- 10.Por lo cual, este es el pacto que haré con la casa de Israel Después de aquellos días, dice el Señor: Pondré mis leyes en la mente de ellos, Y sobre su corazón las escribiré; Y seré a ellos por Dios, Y ellos me serán a mí por pueblo;For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel After those days, saith the Lord; I will put my laws into their mind, And on their heart also will I write them: And I will be to them a God, And they shall be to me a people:
- 11.Y ninguno enseñará a su prójimo, Ni ninguno a su hermano, diciendo: Conoce al Señor; Porque todos me conocerán, Desde el menor hasta el mayor de ellos.And they shall not teach every man his fellow-citizen, And every man his brother, saying, Know the Lord: For all shall know me, From the least to the greatest of them.
- 12.Porque seré propicio a sus injusticias, Y nunca más me acordaré de sus pecados y de sus iniquidades.For I will be merciful to their iniquities, And their sins will I remember no more.
- 13.Al decir: Nuevo pacto, ha dado por viejo al primero; y lo que se da por viejo y se envejece, está próximo a desaparecer.In that he saith, A new covenant he hath made the first old. But that which is becoming old and waxeth aged is nigh unto vanishing away.
Qué significa este pasaje
Verses 6-7 state the thesis: Jesus' ministry is more excellent because he mediates a better covenant enacted on better promises, and if the first covenant had been faultless, no second would have been sought. The standard for measuring priesthood shifts from external ritual location to the quality of the covenant itself, and by that standard the old arrangement comes up short.
Verses 8-12 quote a divine speech that diagnoses the problem with the first covenant — the people did not remain in it, so the Lord 'regarded them not' — and then promises a replacement. The new covenant differs in three ways: the law is placed in the mind and written on the heart rather than on stone, every person from least to greatest knows the Lord directly without needing a neighbor to teach them, and iniquities are forgiven with sins remembered no more.
Verse 13 draws the conclusion from the prophetic language itself. Because the Lord says 'new,' he has made the first 'old,' and what is old and aging is near to disappearing. The author is not merely noting a contrast; he is announcing that the first covenant's role has been superseded by the covenant Christ now mediates.
Contexto
Hebrews 8 opens by describing Jesus as a high priest seated at the right hand of the Majesty in the heavens, serving the true tabernacle that the Lord pitched (8:1-2). The argument then grounds this heavenly priesthood: every high priest must have something to offer (8:3), and if Christ were on earth he would not be a priest at all since others offer according to the law (8:4). Those Levitical priests serve 'a copy and shadow of the heavenly things,' as Moses was warned to make the tabernacle according to the pattern shown on the mount (8:5), so the target passage's claim that Christ's ministry is 'more excellent' follows directly from this copy-versus-reality contrast.
No verses after 8:13 are provided in the chapter, so the passage stands at the hinge of the chapter's argument: the old covenant's inadequacy is established in chapter 7, the heavenly nature of Christ's priesthood is established in 8:1-5, and 8:6-13 supplies the scriptural warrant — drawn from a prophetic oracle — for declaring the first covenant obsolete and Christ's mediated covenant the replacement.
Preguntas frecuentes
Why does the author call the first covenant defective?
Verse 7 states the criterion plainly: if the first covenant had been faultless, no place would have been sought for a second. The fault does not lie in God's institution but in the people, as verse 9 specifies — 'they continued not in my covenant.' The new covenant is therefore not a repair of the same arrangement but a replacement.
What makes the new covenant 'better' according to this passage?
Verse 6 says it is enacted on 'better promises,' and verses 10-12 name them: laws written on the heart rather than externally, universal direct knowledge of the Lord from least to greatest, and complete forgiveness of iniquities with sins remembered no more. The 'better' is qualitative — internalization, universality, and full remission — rather than merely chronological.
Does verse 13 mean the first covenant has already vanished?
The text says the first covenant is 'becoming old and waxeth aged' and is 'nigh unto vanishing away,' language of a process nearing completion rather than a single past event. The author's present-tense description (8:4-5 still speaks of priests offering gifts 'according to the law') indicates the old order is in its final stage at the time of writing.