"11 And every priest stands daily at his service, offering repeatedly the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins. 12 But when Christ[b] had offered for all time a single sacrifice for sins, he sat down at the right hand of God, 13 waiting from that time until his enemies should be made a footstool for his feet. 14 For by a single offering he has perfected for all time those who are being sanctified.
15 And the Holy Spirit also bears witness to us; for after saying,
16 “This is the covenant that I will make with them
after those days, declares the Lord:
I will put my laws on their hearts,
and write them on their minds,”
17 then he adds,
“I will remember their sins and their lawless deeds no more.”
18 Where there is forgiveness of these, there is no longer any offering for sin."
Hebrews 10:11-18
Once more we have the contrast in 11, 12 between the repetitive nature of the old covenant sacrifices and the once-for-all offering of Christ. Notice the significant phrases, 'sat down' (12) and 'perfected for ever' (14). They speak of a work that has been completed. In God's sight the work (of redemption) has been done, and no more offering for sin is required (18). This is what constitutes the incomparable superiority of the new over the old. The quotation from Jeremiah 31:31-33 does not receive its full point in the AV, and a modern version should be consulted. It should read thus: "After the Holy Ghost says, 'This is the covenant....', He then adds, 'And their sins and iniquities will I remember no more'. In other words the heart of the new covenant is the remission of sins, their removal, being blotted out from the very memory of God. And if this be so, obviously there can be no kind of need for further offerings for sins that are no longer remembered by God. It was precisely because Jeremiah could see that the old covenant could not do this that he realised that another, new covenant was necessary. That new thing has come, says the Apostle here, in Christ, in Whom we have forgiveness for the past and the gift of new life with hearts inscribed with the laws of God (16).