Yesaya 49:8

49:8 This is what the Lord says:

“At the time I decide to show my favor, I will respond to you;

in the day of deliverance I will help you;

I will protect you ¹  and make you a covenant mediator for people, ² 

to rebuild ³  the land ⁴ 

and to reassign the desolate property.

Matius 26:28

26:28 for this is my blood, the blood ⁵  of the covenant, ⁶  that is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins.

Lukas 1:69-72

1:69 For ⁷  he has raised up ⁸  a horn of salvation ⁹  for us in the house of his servant David, ¹⁰ 

1:70 as he spoke through the mouth of his holy prophets from long ago, ¹¹ 

1:71 that we should be saved ¹²  from our enemies, ¹³ 

and from the hand of all who hate us.

1:72 He has done this ¹⁴  to show mercy ¹⁵  to our ancestors, ¹⁶ 

and to remember his holy covenant ¹⁷  –

Roma 15:8-9

15:8 For I tell you that Christ has become a servant of the circumcised ¹⁸  on behalf of God’s truth to confirm the promises made to the fathers, ¹⁹  15:9 and thus the Gentiles glorify God for his mercy. ²⁰  As it is written, “Because of this I will confess you among the Gentiles, and I will sing praises to your name.” ²¹ 

Roma 15:2

15:2 Let each of us please his neighbor for his good to build him up.

Kolose 1:20

1:20 and through him to reconcile all things to himself by making peace through the blood of his cross – through him, ²²  whether things on earth or things in heaven.

Galatia 3:15-17

Inheritance Comes from Promises and not Law

3:15 Brothers and sisters, ²³  I offer an example from everyday life: ²⁴  When a covenant ²⁵  has been ratified, ²⁶  even though it is only a human contract, no one can set it aside or add anything to it. 3:16 Now the promises were spoken to Abraham and to his descendant. ²⁷  Scripture ²⁸  does not say, “and to the descendants,” ²⁹  referring to many, but “and to your descendant,” ³⁰  referring to one, who is Christ. 3:17 What I am saying is this: The law that came four hundred thirty years later does not cancel a covenant previously ratified by God, ³¹  so as to invalidate the promise.

Ibrani 8:6

8:6 But ³²  now Jesus ³³  has obtained a superior ministry, since ³⁴  the covenant that he mediates is also better and is enacted ³⁵  on better promises. ³⁶ 

Ibrani 9:15

9:15 And so he is the mediator ³⁷  of a new covenant, so that those who are called may receive the eternal inheritance he has promised, ³⁸  since he died ³⁹  to set them free from the violations committed under the first covenant.

Ibrani 12:24

12:24 and to Jesus, the mediator ⁴⁰  of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood that speaks of something better than Abel’s does. ⁴¹ 

Ibrani 13:20

Benediction and Conclusion

13:20 Now may the God of peace who by the blood of the eternal covenant brought back from the dead the great shepherd of the sheep, our Lord Jesus Christ,

[49:8]  ¹ tn The translation assumes the verb is derived from the root נָצָר (natsar, “protect”). Some prefer to derive it from the root יָצָר (yatsar, “form”).

[49:8]  ² tn Heb “a covenant of people.” A person cannot literally be a covenant; בְּרִית (bÿrit) is probably metonymic here, indicating a covenant mediator. Here עָם (’am, “people”) appears to refer to Israel. See the note at 42:6.

[49:8]  ³ tn The Hiphil of קוּם (qum, “arise”) is probably used here in the sense of “rebuild.”

[49:8]  ⁴ tn The “land” probably stands by metonymy for the ruins within it.

[26:28]  ⁵ tn Grk “for this is my blood of the covenant that is poured out for many.” In order to avoid confusion about which is poured out, the translation supplies “blood” twice so that the following phrase clearly modifies “blood,” not “covenant.”

[26:28]  ⁶ tc Although most witnesses read καινῆς (kainhs, “new”) here, this is evidently motivated by the parallel in Luke 22:20. Apart from the possibility of homoioteleuton, there is no good reason for the shorter reading to have arisen later on. But since it is found in such good and diverse witnesses (e.g., Ì^37,45vid א B L Z Θ 0298^vid 33 pc mae), the likelihood of homoioteleuton becomes rather remote.

[26:28]  sn Jesus’ death established the forgiveness promised in the new covenant of Jer 31:31. Jesus is reinterpreting the symbolism of the Passover meal, indicating the presence of a new era.

[1:69]  ⁷ tn Grk “and,” but specifying the reason for the praise in the psalm.

[1:69]  ⁸ sn The phrase raised up means for God to bring someone significant onto the scene of history.

[1:69]  ⁹ sn The horn of salvation is a figure that refers to the power of Messiah and his ability to protect, as the horn refers to what an animal uses to attack and defend (Ps 75:4-5, 10; 148:14; 2 Sam 22:3). Thus the meaning of the figure is “a powerful savior.”

[1:69]  ¹⁰ sn In the house of his servant David is a reference to Messiah’s Davidic descent. Zechariah is more interested in Jesus than his own son John at this point.

[1:70]  ¹¹ tn Grk “from the ages,” “from eternity.”

[1:71]  ¹² tn Grk “from long ago, salvation.”

[1:71]  ¹³ sn The theme of being saved from our enemies is like the release Jesus preached in Luke 4:18-19. Luke’s narrative shows that one of the enemies in view is Satan and his cohorts, with the grip they have on humanity.

[1:72]  ¹⁴ tn The words “He has done this” (referring to the raising up of the horn of salvation from David’s house) are not in the Greek text, but are supplied to allow a new sentence to be started in the translation. The Greek sentence is lengthy and complex at this point, while contemporary English uses much shorter sentences.

[1:72]  ¹⁵ sn Mercy refers to God’s loyal love (steadfast love) by which he completes his promises. See Luke 1:50.

[1:72]  ¹⁶ tn Or “our forefathers”; Grk “our fathers.” This begins with the promise to Abraham (vv. 55, 73), and thus refers to many generations of ancestors.

[1:72]  ¹⁷ sn The promises of God can be summarized as being found in the one promise (the oath that he swore) to Abraham (Gen 12:1-3).

[15:8]  ¹⁸ tn Grk “of the circumcision”; that is, the Jews.

[15:8]  ¹⁹ tn Or “to the patriarchs.”

[15:9]  ²⁰ tn There are two major syntactical alternatives which are both awkward: (1) One could make “glorify” dependent on “Christ has become a minister” and coordinate with “to confirm” and the result would be rendered “Christ has become a minister of circumcision to confirm the promises…and so that the Gentiles might glorify God.” (2) One could make “glorify” dependent on “I tell you” and coordinate with “Christ has become a minister” and the result would be rendered “I tell you that Christ has become a minister of circumcision…and that the Gentiles glorify God.” The second rendering is preferred.

[15:9]  ²¹ sn A quotation from Ps 18:49.

[1:20]  ²² tc The presence or absence of the second occurrence of the phrase δι᾿ αὐτοῦ (di’ autou, “through him”) is a difficult textual problem to solve. External evidence is fairly evenly divided. Many ancient and excellent witnesses lack the phrase (B D* F G I 0278 81 1175 1739 1881 2464 al latt sa), but equally important witnesses have it (Ì⁴⁶ א A C D¹ Ψ 048^vid 33 Ï). Both readings have strong Alexandrian support, which makes the problem difficult to decide on external evidence alone. Internal evidence points to the inclusion of the phrase as original. The word immediately preceding the phrase is the masculine pronoun αὐτοῦ (autou); thus the possibility of omission through homoioteleuton in various witnesses is likely. Scribes might have deleted the phrase because of perceived redundancy or awkwardness in the sense: The shorter reading is smoother and more elegant, so scribes would be prone to correct the text in that direction. As far as style is concerned, repetition of key words and phrases for emphasis is not foreign to the corpus Paulinum (see, e.g., Rom 8:23, Eph 1:13, 2 Cor 12:7). In short, it is easier to account for the shorter reading arising from the longer reading than vice versa, so the longer reading is more likely original.

[3:15]  ²³ tn Grk “brothers.” See note on the phrase “brothers and sisters” in 1:11.

[3:15]  ²⁴ tn Grk “I speak according to man,” referring to the illustration that follows.

[3:15]  ²⁵ tn The same Greek word, διαθήκη (diaqhkh), can mean either “covenant” or “will,” but in this context the former is preferred here because Paul is discussing in vv. 16-18 the Abrahamic covenant.

[3:15]  ²⁶ tn Or “has been put into effect.”

[3:16]  ²⁷ tn Grk “his seed,” a figurative extension of the meaning of σπέρμα (sperma) to refer to descendants (L&N 10.29).

[3:16]  ²⁸ tn Grk “It”; the referent (the scripture) has been specified in the translation for clarity. The understood subject of the verb λέγει (legei) could also be “He” (referring to God) as the one who spoke the promise to Abraham.

[3:16]  ²⁹ tn Grk “to seeds.” See the note on “descendant” earlier in this verse. Here the term is plural; the use of the singular in the OT text cited later in this verse is crucial to Paul’s argument.

[3:16]  ³⁰ tn See the note on “descendant” earlier in this verse.

[3:16]  sn A quotation from Gen 12:7; 13:15; 17:7; 24:7.

[3:17]  ³¹ tc Most mss (D F G I 0176 0278 Ï it sy) read “ratified by God in Christ” whereas the omission of “in Christ” is the reading in Ì⁴⁶ א A B C P Ψ 6 33 81 1175 1739 1881 2464 pc co. The shorter reading is strongly supported by the ms evidence, and it is probable that a copyist inserted the words as an interpretive gloss. However, this form of the “in Christ” expression is somewhat atypical in the corpus Paulinum (εἰς Χριστόν [ei" Criston] rather than ἐν Χριστῷ [en Cristw]), a fact which tempers one’s certainty about the shorter reading. Nevertheless, the expression is used more in Galatians than in any other of Paul’s letters (Gal 2:16; 3:24, 27), and may have been suggested by such texts to early copyists.

[8:6]  ³² sn The Greek text indicates a contrast between vv. 4-5 and v. 6 that is difficult to render in English: Jesus’ status in the old order of priests (vv. 4-5) versus his superior ministry (v. 6).

[8:6]  ³³ tn Grk “he”; in the translation the referent (Jesus) has been specified for clarity.

[8:6]  ³⁴ tn Grk “to the degree that.”

[8:6]  ³⁵ tn Grk “which is enacted.”

[8:6]  ³⁶ sn This linkage of the change in priesthood with a change in the law or the covenant goes back to Heb 7:12, 22 and is picked up again in Heb 9:6-15 and 10:1-18.

[9:15]  ³⁷ tn The Greek word μεσίτης (mesith", “mediator”) in this context does not imply that Jesus was a mediator in the contemporary sense of the word, i.e., he worked for compromise between opposing parties. Here the term describes his function as the one who was used by God to enact a new covenant which established a new relationship between God and his people, but entirely on God’s terms.

[9:15]  ³⁸ tn Grk “the promise of the eternal inheritance.”

[9:15]  ³⁹ tn Grk “a death having occurred.”

[12:24]  ⁴⁰ tn The Greek word μεσίτης (mesith", “mediator”) in this context does not imply that Jesus was a mediator in the contemporary sense of the word, i.e., he worked for compromise between opposing parties. Here the term describes his function as the one who was used by God to enact a new covenant which established a new relationship between God and his people, but entirely on God’s terms.

[12:24]  ⁴¹ sn Abel’s shed blood cried out to the Lord for justice and judgment, but Jesus’ blood speaks of redemption and forgiveness, something better than Abel’s does (Gen 4:10; Heb 9:11-14; 11:4).