The Hebrew writer quoted from Jeremiah 31:31-34 to show the promise of the new covenant (Hebrews 8:8-12). Long before it came into effect, God planned for the new covenant to replace the old one that God had made with the Jews after leading them out of Egyptian bondage. There are a few characteristics of the new covenant listed in this text. I would like for us to consider one in this article.
“And they shall not teach everyone his fellow citizen, and everyone his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ for all will know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them” (Hebrews 8:11).
The point of this verse is not that the coming of the new covenant would mark the end of the necessity of evangelism. The point is not that everyone in the world would know God when the new covenant was established. So what is the point?
This passage is contrasting the relationship between God and His people under the old and new covenants. Under the first covenant, the people were born into a covenant relationship with God. Then, as they grew up, they had to be taught to know the Lord.
Under the new covenant, there would be a new way for people to enter into this relationship with God. As Jesus explained to Nicodemus, one must be “born again” (John 3:3). Nicodemus, thinking about the physical birth, questioned Jesus how this would be possible. Jesus explained the new birth was not a physical one, but is “of water and the Spirit” (John 3:5).
This new birth, which we learn from other passages to be baptism (Acts 8:36; 1 Corinthians 12:13), puts one into this covenant relationship with God. This baptism must be preceded by belief in the Lord (Mark 16:16; Acts 8:36-37).
So why is it unnecessary to teach our brethren to know the Lord? They already know Him. They had to know Him in order to obey the gospel and become one of His people.
However, we can and should teach others to know the Lord. There are many outside the body of Christ who need to be taught. Salvation is open to all. Peter recognized this when he said, “In every nation the man who fears Him and does what is right is welcome to Him” (Acts 10:35). Therefore, we should work to teach others about the Lord so that they might also become one of His people.
