---
title: Hebrews 9:15
url: https://jw-apologetics.app/verses/hebrews-9-15/
markdown: https://jw-apologetics.app/verses/hebrews-9-15.md
type: verse
perspective: Protestant (historic Nicene) response to Jehovah's Witness teaching
reference: Hebrews 9:15
testament: NT
section: Letters
index: https://jw-apologetics.app/llms.txt
---

# Hebrews 9:15

## Text (Berean Standard Bible)

> Therefore Christ is the mediator of a new covenant, so that those who are called may receive the promised eternal inheritance, now that He has died to redeem them from the transgressions committed under the first covenant.

## JW Usage

Jehovah's Witnesses cite Hebrews 9:15 to support the teaching that Jesus is mediator of the new covenant only for the 144,000 anointed. The Watchtower has explicitly stated: "The Greater Moses, Jesus Christ, is not the Mediator between Jehovah God and all mankind. He is the Mediator between his heavenly Father, Jehovah God, and the nation of spiritual Israel, which is limited to only 144,000 members" (Worldwide Security, 1986, pp. 10-11). The great crowd of "other sheep" are not parties to the covenant but merely "beneficiaries" who receive blessings indirectly by associating with the anointed remnant. This teaching has been consistent from the 1930s through to at least 2010 and has never been formally retracted. Most rank-and-file Witnesses are unaware of it.

## Protestant Usage

Protestants read Hebrews 9:15 as declaring Jesus the mediator of the new covenant for every believer. The verse says Christ died so that "those who have been called might receive the promise of the everlasting inheritance." The scope of "those who are called" is not limited to 144,000; Galatians 3:26-29 says all who belong to Christ are Abraham's seed and heirs of the promise without distinction. The parallel passage in 1 Timothy 2:5 makes the scope explicit: "one mediator between God and men" — the Greek anthropon means all humanity, not a subclass. The surrounding verses (1 Timothy 2:4-6) reinforce the universal scope: God desires all to be saved, there is one mediator for all, and the ransom was given for all. If Jesus' mediatorship is restricted to 144,000, then only 144,000 have forgiveness and an eternal inheritance — leaving the remaining millions of Witnesses without a covenant basis for the forgiveness of sins. The new covenant's own terms in Jeremiah 31:34 promise forgiveness "from the least to the greatest," making any restriction to an elite class a direct contradiction of the covenant's stated purpose.

## Arguments Using This Verse

- [The Mediator Restriction](https://jw-apologetics.app/arguments/mediator-restriction.md) — 1 Timothy 2:5 — One Mediator for All [Authority]
- [Already, But Not Yet — The New Covenant's Direction of Travel](https://jw-apologetics.app/arguments/inaugurated-eschatology-already-not-yet.md) — Jeremiah 31:34 and 1 Corinthians 13:12 read together [Authority]
- [Ministers of a New Covenant](https://jw-apologetics.app/arguments/new-covenant-2cor3-direct-mediation.md) — 2 Corinthians 3:6, 18 — Paul's 'us' has no asterisk [Salvation]