Hebrews 8:13

“In that he saith, A new covenant, he hath made the first old. Now that which decayeth and waxeth old is ready to vanish away.”

Part of the Torah Eternal study — examining every passage cited to argue the Law has been abolished.

The Common Reading

The old covenant — including all of Torah — is obsolete and has vanished. The new covenant replaces it entirely, and believers are no longer bound by any of the old covenant’s commands. Hebrews declares the old system finished.

What the Passage Actually Says

The Same Passage Preserves the Law

The argument for Torah’s abolition from Hebrews 8:13 requires ignoring what Hebrews 8:10 says — three verses earlier, in the same quotation:

“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 write them in their hearts: and I will be to them a God, and they shall be to me a people.” — Heb 8:10 (quoting Jer 31:33)

The $renewed-covenant’s defining feature is not the removal of laws — it is the relocation of laws. The Hebrew word translated “new” in Jer 31:31 is H2319 chadash — from the root H2318 meaning “to renew, repair, rebuild.” The same laws (“my laws”) move from stone to mind and heart. The everlasting covenant (Heb 13:20) was not replaced — it was renewed. The author of Hebrews quotes this as the superior covenant’s greatest promise. If the laws were abolished, writing them on hearts is meaningless.

What Is the “First Covenant”?

The entire context of Hebrews 7–10 defines what is being superseded:

The Levitical priesthood:

“If therefore perfection were by the Levitical priesthood (for under it the people received the law), what further need was there that another priest should rise after the order of Melchisedec?” — Heb 7:11

“For the priesthood being changed, there is made of necessity a change also of the law.” — Heb 7:12

G2420 hierōsynē — priesthood. The change is in priesthood — from Levitical (Aaron’s line) to Melchizedek (Christ’s order). “A change also of the law” refers to the legal framework governing the priesthood — who serves, how sacrifices are offered, which tribe mediates. It does not mean the moral and instructional content of Torah is repealed. A change in who holds the office of priest is an administrative change, not a content change.

Sacrifices and perfection:

“For the law having a shadow of good things to come, and not the very image of the things, can never with those sacrifices which they offered year by year continually make the comers thereunto perfect.” — Heb 10:1

“By the which will we are sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.” — Heb 10:10

The repeated animal offerings could never make anyone perfect (G5048 teleioō — to complete, bring to the goal). Hebrews’ point is not that sacrifices have no function — it is that they cannot accomplish what only Yeshua’s blood can: perfecting the conscience (Heb 9:9, 14) and providing eternal atonement. Old Testament saints were not saved by their sacrifices. No one ever was. All people for all time are saved by the same means — faith in God’s provision, the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world (Rev 13:8).

But sacrifices serve a different function: they allow sinful flesh to approach God’s holy presence. This function did not end at the cross. Ezekiel 43:18–27 prescribes sin offerings for the altar in the millennial temple. Ezekiel 45:15–25 commands burnt offerings, grain offerings, and sin offerings at the appointed times. Ezekiel 46 prescribes Sabbath and new moon offerings. These do not add to or compete with Yeshua’s atoning sacrifice — they operate on a different plane, dealing with ritual uncleanness in the physical presence of God’s holiness, just as they always have.

The tabernacle service:

“Which was a figure for the time then present, in which were offered both gifts and sacrifices, that could not make him that did the service perfect, as pertaining to the conscience.” — Heb 9:9

The “first covenant” in Hebrews is the Sinai administration: its Levitical priesthood and the mediation system centered on Aaron’s line. This administration was transferred — the priesthood changed from Levi to Melchizedek (Heb 7:12) — because a better Mediator and better blood have come. But the Torah the priesthood administered, and the sacrificial functions it performed, are not abolished. He does not change (Mal 3:6). One law for all, for all time.

“Ready to Vanish Away” — Written Before 70 AD

“Now that which decayeth and waxeth old is ready to vanish away.” — Heb 8:13

G854 aphanismos — vanishing, disappearance. The present tense (“decayeth… waxeth old… is ready”) indicates a process in progress, not yet complete. Hebrews was written in the 60s AD — before the destruction of the Temple in 70 AD. The Levitical administration was still operating but “ready to vanish.” Within a few years of this writing, the Temple was destroyed and the Levitical priesthood lost its place of service.

But “vanish” applies to the Levitical administration, not to Torah or to sacrifices as an institution. Ezekiel 40–48 prophesies a future temple with offerings — sin offerings, burnt offerings, grain offerings at the appointed times — operating under the Melchizedek priesthood of Messiah. The Levitical administration vanished. The law it administered did not. The Sabbath did not vanish. The command to love your neighbor did not vanish. And the sacrificial function of allowing sinful flesh to approach God’s presence did not vanish — it was always distinct from the means of salvation.

Hebrews 8:10 Repeated in 10:16

The author quotes Jeremiah 31:33 a second time to drive the point home:

“This is the covenant that I will make with them after those days, saith the Lord, I will put my laws into their hearts, and in their minds will I write them.” — Heb 10:16

Two quotations of the same promise, both emphasizing that the $renewed-covenant writes laws on hearts. The repetition is deliberate. The author of Hebrews considers the preservation of the laws — in a new location, through a better mechanism — to be the central feature of the $renewed-covenant.

The Priesthood Change in Detail

Hebrews 7:12 deserves careful attention: “the priesthood being changed, there is made of necessity a change also of the law.”

G3331 metathesis — transference, change of position. G3346 metatithēmi — to transfer, transpose. The priesthood is transferred from Levi to Melchizedek. The “change of law” is the legal change required to authorize a non-Levitical priest. Under the Sinai covenant, only Levites could serve as priests (Num 18:1–7). For Christ (of the tribe of Judah, Heb 7:14) to serve as priest, the priesthood law had to be changed.

This is an administrative change — who holds the office — not a content change. When a country changes its head of state from a king to a president, the criminal code is not abolished. The governing structure changes; the laws it administers may persist.

Harmony

1. Heb 8:10 says the $renewed-covenant writes “my laws” on hearts — the same laws, new location. This is three verses before v.13. The Hebrew chadash means “renewed,” not “replaced.”
2. What became “obsolete” is the Levitical administration — the priesthood transferred from Aaron’s line to Melchizedek (7:11–12). Sacrifices themselves were never the means of salvation and continue in Ezekiel’s millennial temple (Ezek 43–46).
3. “Ready to vanish” describes the Levitical system — still operating when Hebrews was written (60s AD), ended at the Temple’s destruction in 70 AD.
4. The “change of law” (7:12) is a priesthood transfer — from Levi to Melchizedek — not an abolition of Torah content or of sacrificial function.
5. The author quotes Jer 31:33 twice (8:10 and 10:16), making the preservation of the laws on hearts the defining promise of the $renewed-covenant.

Greek Reference