1What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound? 2May it never be! We who died to sin, how could we live in it any longer? 3Or don’t you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? 4We were buried therefore with him through baptism into death, that just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we also might walk in newness of life.
5For if we have become united with him in the likeness of his death, we will also be part of his resurrection; 6knowing this, that our old man was crucified with him, that the body of sin might be done away with, so that we would no longer be in bondage to sin. 7For he who has died has been freed from sin. 8But if we died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him, 9knowing that Christ, being raised from the dead, dies no more. Death no longer has dominion over him! 10For the death that he died, he died to sin one time; but the life that he lives, he lives to God. 11Thus consider yourselves also to be dead to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus our Lord.
12Therefore don’t let sin reign in your mortal body, that you should obey it in its lusts. 13Also, do not present your members to sin as instruments of unrighteousness, but present yourselves to God as alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness to God. 14For sin will not have dominion over you, for you are not under law, but under grace.
15What then? Shall we sin because we are not under law but under grace? May it never be! 16Don’t you know that when you present yourselves as servants and obey someone, you are the servants of whomever you obey, whether of sin to death, or of obedience to righteousness? 17But thanks be to God that, whereas you were bondservants of sin, you became obedient from the heart to that form of teaching to which you were delivered. 18Being made free from sin, you became bondservants of righteousness.
19I speak in human terms because of the weakness of your flesh; for as you presented your members as servants to uncleanness and to wickedness upon wickedness, even so now present your members as servants to righteousness for sanctification. 20For when you were servants of sin, you were free from righteousness. 21What fruit then did you have at that time in the things of which you are now ashamed? For the end of those things is death. 22But now, being made free from sin and having become servants of God, you have your fruit of sanctification and the result of eternal life. 23For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
This passage marks a significant shift in divine revelation: whereas God previously spoke through prophets in various ways, He now speaks definitively through His Son (Hebrews 1:1-2).
The phrase “last days” refers to the Messianic era, signifying the transformation of the Jewish covenant into its fulfillment in Christ (2 Timothy 3:1). The New Testament does not suggest that the Gentile Church replaced Israel as God’s chosen people. Rather, as Romans 11 demonstrates, God brought together believing Jews and Gentiles into a fulfilled Chosen People, not a replaced one.
Thus, unbelieving Jews like Annas and Caiaphas and unbelieving Gentiles like Nero were outside the Ekklesia—the called-out community of the New Covenant or “Church.” Membership in this covenant was open to all, requiring only that they confess Jesus as Lord and believe in His resurrection (Romans 10:9-10).
In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus declared, “Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them. For truly, I tell you, until heaven and earth pass away, not a single jot, not a stroke of a pen, will disappear from the Law until everything is accomplished” (Matt 5:17-18, emphasis added).
Jesus did not say the Law would never pass away—He set two conditions for its fulfillment, each marked by the word “until”:
The end of the world (heaven and earth pass away).
The completion of His mission (everything is accomplished).
The second “until” came before the first. Jesus signaled this fulfillment on the Cross when He proclaimed, “It is finished” (John 19:30). Later, at the dawn of the New Heaven and New Earth, He reaffirmed, “It is finished. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end.” (Revelation 21:6).
Thus, Mosaic Law ceased to be in force after Christ’s mission was completed—even during the apostolic age (Acts 10:9-16, 28; 15:28-29; Romans 6:14; 10:4; 2 Corinthians 3:7-11; Galatians 3:10, 13, 24-25; 5:18; Colossians 2:14-17; Hebrews 8:13).
“By His Son”—Unlike prophets and angels, Christ is the ultimate revelation of God’s will, speaking directly and fully as the One eternally in the Father’s presence (John 1:18).
A Greater Revelation—The gospel surpasses all prior revelations, offering a clearer understanding of:
“Heir of all things”—Christ’s divine authority extends over all creation, fulfilling Psalms 2:8.
“Through whom He made the worlds”—As the eternal Word, Christ was instrumental in creation (John 1:3; Col 1:16; Heb 1:10), proving His preexistence and divinity.
Since Christ is both Creator and ultimate Judge, believers find complete assurance in His authority. The apostle’s argument in Hebrews hinges on Christ’s supremacy, demonstrating that the New Covenant is greater, final, and complete.