‘I Will Complete a New Covenant’ (Heb 8.8): Christology and New Creation in Hebrews

Abstract

The use of συντɛλέω to speak of God's ‘completion’ of the new covenant (Heb 8.8) has generated various explanations. Yet none of them factor in an important clue in Hebrews, namely, the rest discourse. By establishing literary and theological connections between Heb 3.7–4.13 and 8.8–12, this study argues that the promise of the completion of the new covenant evokes the completion of creation and its ensuing sabbath rest. Such an evocation brings to surface a logic of Christology and new creation embedded in Hebrews.

The Christological exposition of Hebrews is drawn to a climax with an inclusio formed by the quotation of Jer 31.31–4 (LXX 38.31–4) in Heb 8.8–12 and Jer 31.33–4 (LXX 38.33–4) in Heb 10.16–17. The new covenant inaugurated by Christ's death (9.15–22) brings into effect the promise that God will complete (συντɛλέσω) a new covenant (8.8). The peculiar use of συντɛλέσω instead of the commonly attested διαθήσομαι has generated varying explanations.¹ The use may be stylistic;² it may denote the efficacy or finality of the new covenant;³ or it may reflect the perfection motif in Hebrews.⁴ Minimally, the use of συντɛλέσω bears no significance.⁵ At best, it echoes an important motif in the book. In all cases, its use makes little difference to the reading of Hebrews.

Yet it is intriguing that the author would opt for συντɛλέω in Heb 8.8. Nowhere else in Hebrews does συντɛλέω appear, and the author's choice leaves aside τɛλɛιόω and ἐπιτɛλέω attested in Hebrews.⁶ Either one of these verbs could convey stylistic variation, denote efficacy/finality, or reflect the perfection motif. Moreover, while the prefix συν is generally absent in nouns and adjectives that hold the root τɛλ- (παντɛλής, τέλɛιος, τɛλɛιότης, τɛλɛίωσις, τɛλɛιωτής, and τέλος),⁷ one finds an exception when Hebrews writes of the consummation (συντέλɛια) of the ages (9.26). The relationship between συντɛλέω and συντέλɛια will become clear towards the end. This short study contends that scholars have overlooked a clue within an earlier discourse in Hebrews, namely, the rest discourse. Συντɛλέσω, I submit, evokes the completion of creation and its ensuing promise of rest. The literary connections between Heb 3.17–4.13 and 8.8–12 will not only proffer an explanation for the use of συντɛλέσω, but also establish a theological connection between Christology and new creation.

The rest discourse (3.7–4.13) and the promise of the new covenant (8.8–12) share common words and concepts. The notion of day (ἡμέρα) gives temporal orientation to the readers – as epitomised with the word ‘today’ (σήμɛρον). In Hebrews 8 the quotation reads that the days are coming when God will complete a new covenant (8.8), which will be made with the house of Israel after those days (8.10). In Heb 3.7–4.13 ἡμέρα is used to describe the day of testing God in the wilderness (3.8), the day when God speaks, i.e. ‘today’ (σήμɛρον, 3.13, 15; 4.7)⁸ and the seventh day (4.4). The overlap is theologically driven. The contrast between the old days and the present day evokes (the continuity and) the uniqueness of God's speech through the Son in these last days (ἐπ’ ἐσχάτου τῶν ἡμɛρῶν τούτων) (1.1–2), i.e. the consummation (συντέλɛια) of the ages (9.26). Hebrews further highlights this contrast, by noting that the new covenant is not one that God made with the fathers when he led them out of the land of Egypt (8.9), that is, the Sinai covenant. Those fathers who had come out of Egypt provoked God and put God to the test (3.9, 16).⁹ By contrast, the new covenant promises that the people of the new covenant will be the people (λαός) of God (8.10), for whom remains a sabbath celebration (4.9). The shared words and concepts thus underscore God's promise for his people in these last days.

God's promise, according to Heb 3.7–4.13 and 8.8–12, addresses an underlying, persistent issue: sin. Going astray in one's heart (3.10, 12) is resolved, as God writes his law on their hearts (8.10).¹⁰ Sin (ἁμαρτία, 3.13), which leads to the hardness of heart, will no longer be remembered (8.12). The completion of the new covenant, mediated by the great high priest (8.6; 9.15), enables God's people to enter into rest, which was available since the completion of creation. It is no wonder then that Hebrews frames the rest discourse with Christology (3.1–6; 4.14–5.10),¹¹ and that the motif of Christ runs through the rest discourse with wordplay. One might say that the faithful (πιστός) high priest (2.17; 3.2, 6) guards believers against having an unfaithful (ἀπιστία) heart (3.12); the one who was tempted (πɛιράζω), yet without sin, is able to help those who are being tempted (2.18; 4.15) on the day of testing (πɛιρασμός) like those in the wilderness (3.8).

Given such theologically driven connections, it is no surprise that LXX Jer 38.31, quoted in Heb 8.8, displays divergences that draw one to look back at the rest discourse. Stating that God completes a new covenant with the house of Israel and Judah, Hebrews uses a prepositional phrase, ἐπί τὸν οἶκον, rather than the dative τῷ οἴκῳ (LXX Jer 38.31). It may be the case that ἐπί is the natural preposition that follows συντɛλέω.¹² What is hard to ignore, however, is that the word οἶκος is concentrated in the pericope leading up to the rest discourse (3.1–6). Moses was faithful in (ἐν) the house of God (3.2, 5). Christ is faithful ‘over the house (ἐπὶ τὸν οἶκον)’ of God (3.6).¹³ The failure to enter into rest under the leadership of Moses will not be the same with Christ, who is over the house of God, so Hebrews seems to imply. Furthermore, when introducing the Jeremiah quotation, instead of saying, φησὶ[ν] κύριος (LXX Jer 38.31, 33), Hebrews says, λέγɛι κύριος (8.8, 10). It is true that λέγω is a common word in Hebrews, and it may be the case that λέγɛι results from the variant readings in Sinaiticus and Alexandrinus. It is nonetheless curious that the rest discourse begins with Διό, καθὼς, λέγɛι τὸ πνɛῦμα τὸ ἅγιον (3.7; see also 3.10, 15; 4.3–4, 7). One way to understand these divergences is to say that those who hear God's voice ‘today’ are to remember the new covenant, inaugurated and mediated by the one who is ‘over’ them. Indeed, the one who is over God's people is the agent of God's speech in these last days (1.1–4); thus, God's people are to pay attention to what was heard (i.e. God's speech spoken through the Son) (2.1), and consider Jesus, the sent one (ἀπόστολος) and high priest (3.1).

In the same vein, the promise of completing (συντɛλέσω) a new covenant could have echoed a passage also echoed in Hebrews 4 – thereby echoing the idea of the completion of creation and its ensuing rest.¹⁴ According to Hebrews 4, unlike the disobedient Exodus generation who had failed to enter rest, those who hear God's voice ‘today’ are called to strive to enter into rest (4.11). Explaining that such a rest was available from the foundation of the world (4.3), the author writes, καὶ κατέπαυσɛν ὁ θɛὸς ἐν τῇ ἡμέρᾳ τῇ ἑβδόμῃ ἀπὸ πάντων τῶν ἔργων αὐτοῦ (4.4; see also 4.10). The shared words (as others have observed) suggest that Heb 4.4 echoes Gen 2.2, the latter half of which reads, καὶ κατέπαυσɛν τῇ ἡμέρᾳ τῇ ἑβδόμῃ ἀπὸ πάντων τῶν ἔργων αὐτοῦ, ὧν ἐποίησɛν (Gen 2.2b).¹⁵ If this is the case, the statement that comes before Gen 2.2b would also have been evoked, that is, καὶ συνɛτέλɛσɛν ὁ θɛὸς ἐν τῇ ἡμέρᾳ τῇ ἕκτῃ τὰ ἔργα αὐτοῦ, ἃ ἐποίησɛν (Gen 2.2a). Based on the already established literary connections, we might then consider the possibility that God's completion (συντɛλέω) of the new covenant (8.8) echoes the completion (συντɛλέω) of God's creation and the rest that followed.

At the same time, the loose introduction to the echo, ɛἴρηκɛν [γάρ] που, allows us to examine another passage. Exod 31.17 resembles Heb 4.4 when it says καὶ τῇ ἡμέρᾳ τῇ ἑβδόμῃ ἐπαύσατο καὶ κατέπαυσɛν (Exod 31.17b).¹⁶ This potential echo is noteworthy because the verses which lead up to v. 17 establish the sabbath as an everlasting covenant (διαθήκη αἰώνιος, Exod 31.16). Its evocation in Heb 4.4 would have prepared the readers for the motif of διαθήκην καινήν (8.8), which is also described as διαθήκης αἰωνίου (13.20).¹⁷ To be sure, συντɛλέσω does not occur in Exod 31.17, yet the grounding of the observance of the sabbath on the account of creation presents reason to evoke the completion of creation. Echoing Gen 2.2 or Exod 31.17, συντɛλέσω evokes the completion of creation and its ensuing sabbath rest.

If the literary and theological connections of this study are valid, we are justified in believing that the motifs of rest and the new covenant are closely knitted, reflecting a logic embedded in Hebrews. God had created the world through Christ (1.2; 11.3), which had culminated in rest on the seventh day (Gen 2.2; Exod 31.17; Heb 4.4). In the consummation (συντέλɛια) of the ages (9.26) God draws his people into rest through the same agent, Christ, who has inaugurated and now mediates the new covenant (8.6, 8; 9.15). What Hebrews envisions, since creation was completed in the beginning, seems to be a new creation that is incomplete yet being realized through the already ‘completed’ new covenant. In short, Christ who is the agent of creation is also the agent of new creation – a logic familiar to the early church.¹⁸ The God who created (καταρτίζω) the world (11.3) creates (καταρτίζω) his people anew (13.21). In these last days God does so through Christ, for whom a body was prepared (καταρτίζω) (10.5), so that he would participate in humanity and be a faithful high priest (2.14–18). But why covenant? Covenant points to God's operation ad extra through the ‘two hands of God’, to borrow the words of Irenaeus.¹⁹ Christ has inaugurated and mediates the new covenant, and ‘today’ the Spirit reminds the believers of God's law given on their minds and written on their hearts (3.7–4.13; 8.10; 10.16), drawing believers into rest.