For years I would read Hebrews 6:17–18 and nod my head in vague agreement. The text says that “by two unchangeable things, in which it is impossible for God to lie, we who have fled for refuge might have strong encouragement to hold fast to the hope set before us.”
And so I struggled figuring out 2 things- isn't it just God, his character, his promise.... where is there a 2nd?
But recently, in slowing down, I realized I wasn’t paying attention to the careful argument of the writer. There are two distinct things here: God’s promise and God’s oath.
I tend to think of a promise as an oath, but the language of Hebrews makes an important distinction and that should "thrill" me as a covenantal believer.
A promise is God’s word spoken in His own faithful character. That’s already enough. When God says something, it cannot fail.
An oath is different. It is God adding a formal, covenantal ratification. In Genesis 22, after Abraham offered Isaac, God not only repeated His promise but “swore by Himself”: “By Myself I have sworn… I will surely bless you and multiply your offspring” (Gen. 22:16–17).
Why would God need to swear? Not for His sake—He cannot lie. It was for ours, a condescension to our weakness. The oath is covenantal, priestly language. It is as though God stepped into the solemnity of a legal contract, invoking His own being as the seal of assurance.
This is where Hebrews ties it all together. The author points us not only back to Abraham but forward to Christ:-
God made promises to Abraham.
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God ratified them with an oath.
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And then God sealed it all in Christ, whose priesthood is itself confirmed with an oath: “The Lord has sworn and will not change His mind: You are a priest forever” (Heb. 7:21).
In other words, the oath becomes the formal ratification of the covenant in priestly terms. The Levitical priests were not appointed with an oath. But Jesus was. His priesthood—and therefore the new covenant in His blood—is grounded not only in promise but in oath.
This double assurance, anchored in God’s unchanging character, is why Hebrews can say our hope is “an anchor for the soul, firm and secure” (6:19).
So I felt like I needed some help from my favorite Reformers to see how clear they are on this point.
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John Calvin (Commentary on Hebrews 6:18):
“He mentions two things, God’s promise and his oath. For as men confirm what they say by an oath, so God intended by this means to confirm his promise. It was indeed superfluous as to God, but necessary as to us, that we might be more assured of the certainty of His promise.”
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Martin Luther (Lectures on Hebrews):
“God added an oath to the promise, so that by two immutable things—promise and oath—we may be firmly established.”
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B. B. Warfield (The Gospel in the Epistle to the Hebrews):
“God interposed Himself with an oath, so that by two immutable things, His promise and His oath, we might have strong consolation.”
Each of them drives home the same truth: God’s word is utterly reliable, and yet, for our sake, He stooped to confirm it with an oath.
Let's review the formal aspect of this great salvation- The Covenant of Grace.
First glimpsed in God’s promise to crush the serpent (Gen. 3:15), unfolded in successive installments throughout the Old Testament until it reached its fulfillment in Christ. With Abraham, God pledged to bless all nations through his seed, confirming it with both promise and oath. Through Moses, the covenant took on a national, pedagogical form, with the Law serving as tutor to expose sin and point to the need for a Redeemer. In David, the covenant narrowed to a royal line, promising an eternal throne that would one day be occupied by the greater Son of David. And in Christ, all the shadows and types found their substance: the Seed of Abraham, the Prophet like Moses, the King from David’s line, and the Mediator of the new covenant in His blood. Thus, the Covenant of Grace, one in essence yet administered in diverse forms, was progressively revealed and formally ratified until its consummation in the person and work of Jesus Christ.
This realization changes how I read Hebrews.
We tend to skip over all of the references to priesthood-
Look at them all together......
Therefore he had to be made like his brothers in every respect, so that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in the service of God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people (Hebrews 2:17).
Therefore, holy brothers, you who share in a heavenly calling, consider Jesus, the apostle and high priest of our confession (3:1).
Since then we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin (4:14–15).
For every high priest chosen from among men is appointed to act on behalf of men in relation to God, to offer gifts and sacrifices for sins. He can deal gently with the ignorant and wayward, since he himself is beset with weakness. Because of this he is obligated to offer sacrifice for his own sins just as he does for those of the people. And no one takes this honor for himself, but only when called by God, just as Aaron was (5:1–4).
So also Christ did not exalt himself to be made a high priest, but was appointed by him who said to him, “You are my Son, today I have begotten you”; as he says also in another place, “You are a priest forever, after the order of Melchizedek.” … And being made perfect, he became the source of eternal salvation to all who obey him, being designated by God a high priest after the order of Melchizedek (5:5–10).
Where Jesus has gone as a forerunner on our behalf, having become a high priest forever after the order of Melchizedek (6:20).
For this Melchizedek, king of Salem, priest of the Most High God, met Abraham returning from the slaughter of the kings and blessed him… He is without father or mother or genealogy, having neither beginning of days nor end of life, but resembling the Son of God he continues a priest forever (7:1–3).
Now if perfection had been attainable through the Levitical priesthood—for under it the people received the law—what further need would there have been for another priest to arise after the order of Melchizedek? … For it is witnessed of him, “You are a priest forever, after the order of Melchizedek” (7:11, 17). This makes Jesus the guarantor of a better covenant (7:22).
The former priests were many in number, because they were prevented by death from continuing in office, but he holds his priesthood permanently, because he continues forever. Consequently, he is able to save to the uttermost those who draw near to God through him, since he always lives to make intercession for them (7:23–25). For it was indeed fitting that we should have such a high priest, holy, innocent, unstained, separated from sinners, and exalted above the heavens. He has no need, like those high priests, to offer sacrifices daily, first for his own sins and then for those of the people, since he did this once for all when he offered up himself (7:26–27).
Now the point in what we are saying is this: we have such a high priest, one who is seated at the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in heaven, a minister in the holy places, in the true tent that the Lord set up, not man (8:1–2). But as it is, Christ has obtained a ministry that is as much more excellent than the old as the covenant he mediates is better, since it is enacted on better promises (8:6).
These preparations having thus been made, the priests go regularly into the first section, performing their ritual duties, but into the second only the high priest goes, and he but once a year, and not without taking blood… But when Christ appeared as a high priest of the good things that have come, then through the greater and more perfect tent (not made with hands), he entered once for all into the holy places, not by means of the blood of goats and calves but by means of his own blood, thus securing an eternal redemption (9:6–12).
For Christ has entered, not into holy places made with hands, which are copies of the true things, but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God on our behalf… But as it is, he has appeared once for all at the end of the ages to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself (9:24–26).
And every priest stands daily at his service, offering repeatedly the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins. But when Christ had offered for all time a single sacrifice for sins, he sat down at the right hand of God. For by a single offering he has perfected for all time those who are being sanctified (10:11–14).
Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the holy places by the blood of Jesus, by the new and living way that he opened for us through the curtain, that is, through his flesh, and since we have a great priest over the house of God, let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith (10:19–22).
We have an altar from which those who serve the tent have no right to eat. For the bodies of those animals whose blood is brought into the holy places by the high priest as a sacrifice for sin are burned outside the camp. So Jesus also suffered outside the gate in order to sanctify the people through his own blood. Therefore let us go to him outside the camp and bear the reproach he endured. Through him then let us continually offer up a sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of lips that acknowledge his name (13:10–15).
It’s not just an abstract note about God’s honesty—it is the deep covenantal assurance of my salvation. The covenant was broken by man, but God Himself bore the blood penalty and ratified the promise with an oath. Christ’s priesthood is the ultimate seal, and now my hope rests not in my ability to hold on, but in His unbreakable word and sworn faithfulness.
Two things, unchangeable. Promise and oath. And that is why I can have strong encouragement to hold fast to the hope set before me.
One last note: I often cringe when thinking how bloody, violent, and unsightly the old administrations of the Covenant of Grace must have been. Those men were TOUGH! It must have made quite an impression on the penalty and stain of sin... We not only have a better covenant by security, we have a better one practically as well. It is bloodless now- water not blood, baptism not circumcision... but do we grow soft to the penalty and stain of sin? Something to think about.... are we thankful?
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