And now, my most beloved, are we the people which God chose before the foundation of the world, and made a better testament with us, than he made with Israel, who daily had to offer up sacrifice for sins, by which they could nevertheless not atone? Eph. 1:4; Heb. 7:22,27. For burnt offerings and offering for sin he would not, neither did God have pleasure therein, which were offered by the law; then said he (namely Christ), Lo, I come to do thy will, O God. He taketh away the former, that he may establish the second. By the which will we are sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all. And every priest then stood daily ministering and offering oftentimes the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins: but this man, after he had offered one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down on the right hand of God; from henceforth expecting till his enemies be made his footstool. For by one offering he hath perfected forever them that are sanctified. Whereof the Holy Ghost also is a witness to us: for after that he had said before (as is written Jer. 31:31). This is the covenant that I will make with them after those days, saith the Lord; I will put my laws into their hearts, and in their minds will I write them; and their sins and iniquities will I remember no more. Now where remission of these is, there is no more offering for sin, as Paul writes. Heb. 10:8–18.
Therefore, my dear and beloved wife, we have (verse 19) a free and secure entrance into the holiest by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way, which he hath consecrated for us, through the vail, that is to say, his flesh; and we have a high priest over the house of God, which is the church, which he cleansed with his blood, that it might be holy, without spot or wrinkle; of which you are a member, for it is the body of Christ, and we the members of that same body, and Christ the head and priest of the house of God, as stated. Eph. 5:26,27; 1:22. Hence, my most beloved, adhere to it diligently, and let us always, draw near with a true heart, in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience, and let us wash our bodies with pure water, that is, put off all uncleanness of the heart and the flesh, and perfect all righteousness and holiness; and hold fast the profession of your faith without wavering, for he is faithful that promised; and always consider yourself--this I entreat you, my most beloved--to provoke unto love and to good works. Hebrews 10:22–24; 2 Cor. 7:1.
Since you are a child of the New Testament, I write you this for a testament according to your request. Hence it is my request of you, my dear lamb, despised of men, but chosen of God, and called to his Testament, since he left us the Testament, that we should thereby remember his death; namely the breaking of the bread, showing by it that he was broken for us on the tree of the cross, and that we should also remember thereby, that we are delivered through him from the hand of our enemies. This he left us for an everlasting Testament, to observe it, even as the children of Israel were commanded to eat the passover, and to observe it yearly for a memorial of their having been delivered from King Pharaoh; all of which was a figure and shadow, of which we now have the true substance, in the true observance of our redemption through the true passover Christ, and his communion, in which you are certainly included, since it is but a short time ago that we showed it among the others by the breaking of bread, and drinking of wine, that you are a partaker of the New Testament, and of all the glorious promises which are promised the children of the New Testament. Hence it is my request that you will faithfully continue therein unto the end, so that you may inherit all the promises, for he that overcometh shall inherit all things; to him that overcometh will I grant to sit with me in my throne; he that overcometh, the same shall be clothed in white raiment; he that overcometh, him will I confess in heaven before my Father, and will write his name in the book of life; and other beautiful promises that, as you well know, are promised to all that overcome. Revelation 21:7; 3:5,21.