Does Hebrews 8 suggest that Torah has “become obsolete?”

LET’S EXAMINE HEBREWS 8 IN CONTEXT – especially some of the passages that suggest Torah has “become obsolete”:

I recently saw a Facebook post from a Christian who attempted to use the following passage as a “proof text” that, since God made a “new covenant,” He tossed the “old one” into the trash can:

Hebrews 8:13 In that He says, “A new covenant,” He has made the first obsolete. Now what is becoming obsolete and growing old is ready to vanish away.

MY QUESTION IS, are you suggesting that YHWH has been busy writing a a decaying and vanishing covenant on our hearts? Why would He do that?

THE ANSWER IS: The problem lies with the Greek translations, NOT with the Word of God!

Let’s delve a little deeper:

First of all, most people are not aware the word "covenant" is nowhere to be read in Hebrews 8:7 and Hebrews 8:13 in the original Aramaic or Greek Texts!

Reading Hebrews 8 in context - specifically, verse 8:10 - one has to wonder why would YHWH write a decaying and vanishing covenant on our hearts? Hebrews 8 is definitely not informing us that the Torah is obsolete! If you read all of Chapter 8 in context, you'll see the author was implying the Levitical priesthood is being replaced by the Messiah....

Below are some more favorite Christian "proof texts" that Torah is obsolete:

Hebrews 8: 6. But now, Y'shua the Mashiyach has received a ministry which is better than that: as also the covenant of which he is made the Mediator is better, and is given with better promises than the former. 7. For, if the first (covenant) had been faultless, there would have been no place for this second (one).

8. For he rebukes them and says: Behold the days come, says Master YHWH, when I will complete with the family of the house of Israel and with the family of the house of Yehuda, a renewed covenant;[1] 9. not like the covenant which I gave to their fathers in the day when I took them by the hand and brought them out of the land of Egypt; (and) because they continued not in my covenant, I also rejected them, says Master YHWH.

10. But this is the covenant which I will give to the family of the house of Israel after those days, says Master YHWH: I will put my Torah in their minds and inscribe it on their hearts; and I will be to them a Elohim, and they will be to me a people. 11. And one will not teach his son of the city[2] nor his brother, nor say: You shall know your Master YHWH: because they will all know me, from the youngest of them to the oldest. 12. And I will forgive them their iniquity; and their sins will I remember no more. 13. In that he said a Renewed (Covenant), he made the first old; and that which is old and decaying, is near to disappearing.[3] (AENT)

Let’s look at some facts, using footnotes from the AENT:

[1] Most Christians seem to forget that without the first covenant, the second one is impossible! In very short order Rav Shaul will quote Jeremiah 31:31-34, indicating that the Renewed Covenant is a contingency triggered by, and deriving authority from, the first covenant. YHWH declared that the Ancient Covenant He made with Israel was good; it was to bring life, but the people of Israel chose to willfully break this Covenant and treat it as a vain thing. See Deuteronomy 32:46, 47.

[2] The phrase in Aramaic is bar medintheh, which literally means "son of his city" but idiomatically carries the meaning of "fellow citizen, neighbor" and most definitely a metaphor Greek does not have. This fact puts Peshitta well before the end of the Second Century when the mistranslated Greek texts were done. It is also important to note that this is the last book of the Eastern canon. As a result, the entire collection must have circulated prior to this very early date.

[3] The context is Jeremiah 31:31-34, what is "near to disappearing" is the sinful nature of man that breaks Torah, not the standard of Torah. Remember that we broke Torah, not YHWH! YHWH did not drop the standard of Torah because Israel chose disobedience; rather, He installed a Renewed Covenant to write Torah upon the heart through the work of the Ruach haKodesh, according to Mashiyach. The fact of the matter is that in Mashiyach, YHWH raised the bar; He magnified Torah; see Isaiah 42:21. Because mankind broke Covenant, YHWH requires complete renovation on our part, not YHWH's part of the Covenant. This verse in its twisted form, became one of the "crown jewels" of Torahless Christianity which teaches that Torah is decaying and is near to disappearing, but nothing could be farther from the truth. See 2 Peter 3:16.

Hebrews 8 refers back to Jeremiah 31:31-34:

Jeremiah 31: 31 "Here, the days are coming," says ADONAI, "when I will make a new covenant with the house of Isra'el and with the house of Y'hudah. 32 It will not be like the covenant I made with their fathers on the day I took them by their hand and brought them out of the land of Egypt; because they, for their part, violated my covenant, even though I, for my part, was a husband to them," says ADONAI. 33 "For this is the covenant I will make with the house of Isra'el after those days," says ADONAI: "I will put my Torah within them and write it on their hearts; I will be their God, and they will be my people. 34 No longer will any of them teach his fellow community member or his brother, 'Know ADONAI'; for all will know me, from the least of them to the greatest; because I will forgive their wickednesses and remember their sins no more." (CJB)

…AND THERE YOU HAVE IT: The Truth becomes very clear once you start reading the Bible via a Hebrew mindset. Don’t try to make YHWH’s Word or His covenants “obsolete”; instead, do away with your Greek mindset that has served to confuse, skew and throw that proverbial “monkey wrench” into His Truth. (For more, please read our complete article explaining some “problem” passages.)