A friend and I were talking about Hebrews 7 a little bit.
This is my response to her, in brief. What do you think?
The New Testament actually gives about 1000 commandments. That is more than the Mosaic Covenant.
The book of Hebrews goes out of its way to explain the Old Testament legal code has been replaced by a truly New Covenant. We now have a High Priest after the order of Melchizedek, not Aaron. Having a new high priest that is of a religious order that is superior to, or greater than, what was instituted by Moses. So then the New Covenant is truly new.
There may be some similarities between the Mosaic Covenant and the New Covenant that God made with Israel (which was extended to include Gentiles), but they are simply that--similarities. When the New Covenant/New Testament says that we are Kings and Priests, it is referring to this New Covenant after the order of Melchizedek. Meaning, we are Melchizedekian priests-kings and our "head" is Yeshua, the heavenly Melchizedek.
This is the context of New Testament/New Covenant priesthood that is not understood by those I have encountered who are involved in the Hebrew Roots crowd.
Many in that stream actually want to have the Book of Hebrews removed from the Bible and teach that it should be ignored! Others are self-taught Hebrew and Greek Linguists who have discovered the MISTAKE in Strongs Concordance concerning the Hebrew word for "New" used in Jeremiah 31:31 and, have built a theology around the word "Chadash", believing it to mean, "Renew." Thus teaching mistakenly that God "Renewed the Mosaic Covenant", rather than creating a New Covenant.
The Book of Hebrews 7 is giving a proper Hermeneutic that they should be using, which correctly interprets the 1st Century Hebrew understanding of the first Jewish believers in Yeshua/Jesus.
