Shabbat Shalom

[Timothy416]

We can't be left hanging here about what or rather Who is written on our hearts now that we are in Christ.

What is this new law that is written on our hearts seeing as we know it's not the ten commandments in the form given in the Law.

What is this New Covenant that Ezekiel is prophesying about that was to come and now is here manifested in Christ's finished work on the cross and resurrection?

What is the Law Written on Our Hearts?

Six-hundred years before Jesus came, the prophet Jeremiah spoke of a new covenant that God would make with his people:


“This is the covenant I will make with the people of Israel after that time,” declares the Lord. “I will put my law in their minds and write it on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people. No longer will they teach their neighbor, or say to one another, ‘Know the Lord,’ because they will all know me, from the least of them to the greatest.” (Jer 31:33-34)

What is the law that God writes on our hearts and minds? Here are three things it is not:

• It is not the law of Moses. As we saw in the last post, if God wrote the Ten Commandments on our hearts then Jesus died for nothing.

• It is not a new and improved version of the law. It is not the new commands of Jesus or the New Testament. We cannot please God by keeping a new law any more than we could please him by keeping an old one.

• It is not the knowledge of right and wrong that was bestowed upon us – against the Lord’s wishes – by Adam.

So what is this law that the Lord writes on our hearts and minds and embeds in our very being?

It is Christ Himself.

Let’s look at three things the New Testament says about the new law in our hearts.

1. The law of love

A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. (John 13:34)

Under the old law covenant, love was demanded from you. “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength.”

But under the new covenant of grace, love is given to you – “As I have loved you” – and out of the overflow of Christ’s measureless love we are able to love others.

How does it happen?

God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us. (Rom 5:5)

God abundantly pours his love into our hearts by giving us the Holy Spirit, a.k.a. the Spirit of Christ. Do you see the difference between the old and new?

• Under the old, the law was a rule for weak men to obey. Under the new, the Law is the Spirit of Christ given to us, loving us, and loving others through us.

• Under the old, you loved others because you feared punishment. But under the new, you love because a Lover lives in you and it is his nature to love.

• Under the old, you had to make an effort to obey. But under the new you have to make an effort to disobey. It’s a whole new way of life.

2. The law of the Spirit of life

It’s important that you understand the difference between the old law (a written code you can’t keep) and the new Law (Christ himself, living in you). Try and live by the old laws, as Paul did, and it make you miserable:

What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body that is subject to death? (Rom 7:24)

Paul couldn’t keep the old law no matter how hard he tried. He needed a new law and that new law is a Who:

Who will rescue me…? Thanks be to God, who delivers me through Jesus Christ our Lord. (Rom 7:24-25a)

Do you see? The old law is a what; the new law is a Who. The old law ministers condemnation and death (2 Cor 3:7-9), but the new “law of the Spirit gives life” (Rom 8:2).

For the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life. (2 Cor 3:6)

Who gives life? Not a set of rules, but the Spirit of Christ within you. The new law is a Who.

3. The perfect law of liberty

James wrote of “the perfect law that gives freedom” (Jas 1:25), which can be contrasted with the law of Moses that binds (Rom 7:6).

What is the perfect law that gives freedom? Well, what is the implanted word that can save you (Jas 1:21)? It’s not the Ten Commandments or the Bible. It’s Jesus, the living Word who sets us free.

The perfect law of liberty describes what Jesus has done (perfectly fulfilled or completed the law) and the fruit he will bear in our lives (liberty) if we trust him.

But whoever looks intently into the perfect law that gives freedom, and continues in it – not forgetting what they have heard, but doing it – they will be blessed in what they do. (Jas 1:25)

Look into the mirror of Moses’ law and you will be miserable, for it exposes all your faults. But look into the perfect law which is Jesus and you will be blessed, for it reveals His righteousness.

“Don’t just listen but do what it (the perfect law of liberty) says” (Jas 1:22). In other words, allow the Spirit of Christ to convince you that in Him you are righteous and holy.

Don’t walk away from the perfect law and forget who you are in Christ. Fix your eyes on Jesus. Look intently with an unveiled face and be transformed into his likeness.

The Law written in our hearts is Jesus

Jeremiah said those who had the new law written on their hearts would know the Lord and would no longer need others to teach them. This is describing your union with Christ. One with the Lord you have the mind of Christ (1 Cor 2:16). His Spirit dwells in you and teaches you all things (John 14:26).

The law of the Lord written into your members is your Father’s spiritual DNA. It is the seed of God birthed in you by the Holy Spirit. It’s Jesus Himself.

How do you know He’s there? Because you are a new creation with new hopes and desires. You no longer want to sin. Your desire is to love God and others and that desire has nothing to do with old rules written in stone.

Christian, you are who you are because Christ lives in you. He is the new law written, by God, in your heart and mind.

https://escapetoreality.org/2015/04/...on-our-hearts/

If God wrote the Ten commandments on our hearts Jesus died for nothing?

Flee from these websites!

I do not set aside the grace of God, for if RIGHTEOUSNESS could be gained through the law Christ died for nothing
Gal2:21

 

[Timothy416]

The power of sin is the law( of righteousness) 1cor 15:56

God did an amazing thing. He transferred the law from an external law written on tablets of stone to an internal law written on tablets of human hearts. A law written down, or typed does not mean you in your heart want to obey it. The Israelites under the old covenant are testimony to this.
Whichever country you live in you have a set of laws to abide by, but that does not mean you in your heart want to obey them, because that is the case, each law carries an attached penalty to dissuade you from breaking it.
But by God putting the desire within your heart to live as he desires, he was then able to remove the penalty for non compliance. With the law of righteousness removed, sins true power has been removed from your life, while the good, holy and righteous law of God remains intact in your heart.
The born again christians heartfelt desire to obey can now come to fruition, for what opposes obedience(sin) has been dealt a great blow by its true power being removed from your life

What a covenant!

Hence:
Do we then nullify the law by this faith( a righteousness of faith in Christ not observing the law) not at all! Rather we uphold the law
Rom3:31

God will not, and could not remove his desire the christian should not murder, steal, commit adultery, bear false witness etc. That is impossible

 

[Timothy416]

It's obvious that you are not understanding what I am saying....perhaps I am not articulating it good enough but I think this is going to be fruitless.

I'll just leave it at that and we have put down what we believed and we can leave it all in the Lord's hands. We can trust the Holy Spirit in us to reveal Christ Himself to us and yes we both love the Lord and desire to walk with Him.

Bless you brother!....

I have understood what you are saying, I simply disagree with your viewpoint.

God bless, have a great weekend

 

[TMS]

If God wrote the Ten commandments on our hearts Jesus died for nothing?

Flee from these websites!

I do not set aside the grace of God, for if RIGHTEOUSNESS could be gained through the law Christ died for nothing
Gal2:21

Can i turn it around? you need to understand a difference between those that try to gain righteousness by keeping the law and those that gain there righteousness through Christ.
If i try to earn salvation by keeping the law than Gal 2:21 applies. But does it still apply if i obey the Lord because i Love Him or if my love for leads me to keep the commandments of God.

Joh_14:15 If ye love me, keep my commandments.


Joh_15:10 If ye keep my commandments, ye shall abide in my love; even as I have kept my Father's commandments, and abide in his love.


1 Jn_5:2 By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God, and keep his commandments.


1 Jn_5:3 For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments: and his commandments are not grievous.

If i could earn righteousness by keeping the law than Christ didn't need to come. .

 

[Timothy416]

Can i turn it around? you need to understand a difference between those that try to gain righteousness by keeping the law and those that gain there righteousness through Christ.
If i try to earn salvation by keeping the law than Gal 2:21 applies. But does it still apply if i obey the Lord because i Love Him or if my love for leads me to keep the commandments of God.

Joh_14:15 If ye love me, keep my commandments.


Joh_15:10 If ye keep my commandments, ye shall abide in my love; even as I have kept my Father's commandments, and abide in his love.


1 Jn_5:2 By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God, and keep his commandments.


1 Jn_5:3 For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments: and his commandments are not grievous.

If i could earn righteousness by keeping the law than Christ didn't need to come. .

I guess ultimately it comes down to this.

Do you believe the requirement to enter heaven is obeying the Ten commandments?

BTW

A lot of people quote Jesus words:

If you love me obey my commandments.
But in over fifty years of going to various denominational churches I have met no one who has even tried to obey each and every literal command of Christ.

But Paul didn't believe we obey Christs commands that way.

Carry each others burdens( love them) and so fulfill the law of Christ Gal6:2

 

[Timothy416]

Can i turn it around? you need to understand a difference between those that try to gain righteousness by keeping the law and those that gain there righteousness through Christ.
If i try to earn salvation by keeping the law than Gal 2:21 applies. But does it still apply if i obey the Lord because i Love Him or if my love for leads me to keep the commandments of God.

Joh_14:15 If ye love me, keep my commandments.


Joh_15:10 If ye keep my commandments, ye shall abide in my love; even as I have kept my Father's commandments, and abide in his love.


1 Jn_5:2 By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God, and keep his commandments.


1 Jn_5:3 For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments: and his commandments are not grievous.

If i could earn righteousness by keeping the law than Christ didn't need to come. .

Many say.
If I love God I prove this by obeying the ten commandments.
Therefore if I dont obey them I dont love God.
The problem then is. Attaining heaven ultimately depends on a justification of obeying the letter the bible says kills, and is the ministry of death and condemnation

The ten commandments are an inflexible law. There is no pass mark of obedience to them that can entitle you to enter heaven. Perfectly obey them or stand guilty before them. Those commands do not mention mercy or forgiveness.

But Paul tells us the christian has been released from the law, they serve in the new way of the Spirit, not the old way of the written code( rom7:6)

It is easily proved Paul is including the ten commandments in this statement.

It is actually old covenant, not new to keep referring to the ten commandments as law that must be obeyed with the inference heaven hinges on it

 

[TMS]

We've been over this subject many times
God gave mankind a gift in Eden, a day set aside for holy use. (that day was the Sabbath)
God told the Jews to keep the Sabbath and Jesus kept it.
The early church kept it and Paul kept it.
Lets keep it simple
God doesn't change.
Love fulfills the law
Rom_13:8 Owe no man any thing, but to love one another: for he that loveth another hath fulfilled the law.
Rom_13:10 Love worketh no ill to his neighbour: therefore love is the fulfilling of the law.

 

[Timothy416]

We've been over this subject many times
God gave mankind a gift in Eden, a day set aside for holy use. (that day was the Sabbath)
God told the Jews to keep the Sabbath and Jesus kept it.
The early church kept it and Paul kept it.
Lets keep it simple
God doesn't change.
Love fulfills the law
Rom_13:8 Owe no man any thing, but to love one another: for he that loveth another hath fulfilled the law.
Rom_13:10 Love worketh no ill to his neighbour: therefore love is the fulfilling of the law.

I dont really want to get into a discussion about observing a set seventh day Sabbath if you don't mind.

Absolutely. Love fulfills the law

We don't look to the literal letter of commandments to fulfill the law, we love others.

And Paul said:

Obedience comes from faith( rom1:5)

Hence he also said:
The only thing that counts is faith expressing itself through love

Gal5:6

 

[TMS]

Many say.
If I love God I prove this by obeying the ten commandments.
Therefore if I dont obey them I dont love God.
The problem then is. Attaining heaven ultimately depends on a justification of obeying the letter the bible says kills, and is the ministry of death and condemnation

The ten commandments are an inflexible law. There is no pass mark of obedience to them that can entitle you to enter heaven. Perfectly obey them or stand guilty before them. Those commands do not mention mercy or forgiveness.

But Paul tells us the christian has been released from the law, they serve in the new way of the Spirit, not the old way of the written code( rom7:6)

It is easily proved Paul is including the ten commandments in this statement.

It is actually old covenant, not new to keep referring to the ten commandments as law that must be obeyed with the inference heaven hinges on it

i agree with most but from a different way.
i don't agree with this, "The problem then is. Attaining heaven ultimately depends on a justification of obeying the letter the bible says kills, and is the ministry of death and condemnation".
We are justified by faith alone and by faith in the works of Jesus alone.
If you love someone and want to serve them it isn't a condition but a result of love.

yes the law condemns of sin and sin results in death. If we are all sinners we are all condemned to death.

Because the Ten commandments are inflexible and their is no pass mark except perfect obedience for justification and there is no mercy from the law we are all helpless or doomed if that was it.

Rom 7:6 But now we are delivered from the law, that being dead wherein we were held; that we should serve in newness of spirit, and not in the oldness of the letter.

The law held us dead but we have been delivered from the consequences of the law (by Christ), delivered from death that the law held us in. But we should serve in newness of the Spirit, the law still stands to point out sin but Christ died to save us from sin. can you see how we are freed from the laws hold on us?

 

[TMS]

I dont really want to get into a discussion about observing a set seventh day Sabbath if you don't mind.

Absolutely. Love fulfills the law

We don't look to the literal letter of commandments to fulfill the law, we love others.

And Paul said:

Obedience comes from faith( rom1:5)

Hence he also said:
The only thing that counts is faith expressing itself through love

Gal5:6

If i obey for any reason other than faith it is useless.
Faith without works is dead.
Because there is sin today there must be a law that identifies sin or tells us what sin is and Jesus said "go and sin no more". .

 

[Timothy416]

i agree with most but from a different way.
i don't agree with this, "The problem then is. Attaining heaven ultimately depends on a justification of obeying the letter the bible says kills, and is the ministry of death and condemnation".
We are justified by faith alone and by faith in the works of Jesus alone.
If you love someone and want to serve them it isn't a condition but a result of love.

yes the law condemns of sin and sin results in death. If we are all sinners we are all condemned to death.

Because the Ten commandments are inflexible and their is no pass mark except perfect obedience for justification and there is no mercy from the law we are all helpless or doomed if that was it.

Rom 7:6 But now we are delivered from the law, that being dead wherein we were held; that we should serve in newness of spirit, and not in the oldness of the letter.

The law held us dead but we have been delivered from the consequences of the law (by Christ), delivered from death that the law held us in. But we should serve in newness of the Spirit, the law still stands to point out sin but Christ died to save us from sin. can you see how we are freed from the laws hold on us?

If you believe we are justified/righteous by faith alone, you cannot believe the requirement to attain heaven is obedience to the Ten Commandments.
I would also agree with much of what you have written. However:

But now, we have been released from the law so that we serve in the new way of the Spirit and not the old way of the written code.

I may not have understood you correctly, but you seem to be saying we have been released from the condemnation of the law, but still look to the law as the way of obedience.(forgive me if I have misunderstood you)

Rom7:6 doesn't state that

I completely agree, the law points out sin, and is placed on the heart therefore the christian wants to obey what is on their heart. But the law cannot condemn the born again christian.

The christians righteousness is faith in Christ, not observing the law as scripture many times states

 

[Timothy416]

If i obey for any reason other than faith it is useless.
Faith without works is dead.
Because there is sin today there must be a law that identifies sin or tells us what sin is and Jesus said "go and sin no more". .

Absolutely, the heart of the law has been put in the believers most inward parts, it has not and cannot be removed. And that law makes us conscious of sin. But we are not justified by obeying it, but by faith in Christ.

Jesus said:

Go and sin no more.
Do you think he was saying?
Go forth with the intent of living a new life where you do not seek a life of sin?

Or was Jesus expecting the woman to literally sin no more/ never commit sin of any kind again?

The problem with dwelling on the verse that states faith without works is dead is, you end up convinced you are justified by works of the law. Then, satan has snatched the word out of your heart that was planted there
( the first example of the parable of the sower)

Paul tells us sin shall not be our master for we are not under law( of righteousness) but under grace.
Satan obviously will do anything he can to convince you otherwise, for he wants the power of sin to remain in your life, and he is subtle

 

[Grace777x70]

Can i turn it around? you need to understand a difference between those that try to gain righteousness by keeping the law and those that gain there righteousness through Christ.
If i try to earn salvation by keeping the law than Gal 2:21 applies. But does it still apply if i obey the Lord because i Love Him or if my love for leads me to keep the commandments of God.

Joh_14:15 If ye love me, keep my commandments.


Joh_15:10 If ye keep my commandments, ye shall abide in my love; even as I have kept my Father's commandments, and abide in his love.


1 Jn_5:2 By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God, and keep his commandments.


1 Jn_5:3 For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments: and his commandments are not grievous.

If i could earn righteousness by keeping the law than Christ didn't need to come. .

Amen...there is a difference between the Old Covenant mindset and a New Covenant mindset when it comes to "commandments" - of which again some people revert in their minds to the law of Moses when they see the word "commandments." Jesus gave us different ones but these different ones fulfill the intent of the whole law of Moses.

A very big factor in looking at scripture is the "lens" we use to view the scripture.

In the Old Covenant " you had to do or else"..If you do this..then I God will do that.." = conditional on the person performing

New Covenant = Jesus has done it for you which empowers you to "do"

Let's take a look at a common scripture with these 2 mindsets.

Jesus said.." If you love Me, you will keep My commandments"

Old Covenant mindset = conditional on the person "doing"..

So they would read it this way.."IF you love Me you will keep My commandments"..in their mind it's saying.."Keep My commandment and you will prove you love Me."

New Covenant mindset = it's a description of who you are in Christ.

They would see this "Jesus' love is in me so I keep His commandments"..it stems out of relationship and it is not conditional but descriptive of the believer.

Jesus New Covenant commandments are His enablements and they empower grace to operate in our lives. The love of God inside us is released by the life of Christ and it is expressed by walking in love and thus we fulfill the full intent of the law of Moses.

Only we do this "by Christ" who is in us and not by obeying external laws or commandments. The mind of Christ is a whole different dynamic in the New Covenant.

 

[Timothy416]

Amen...there is a difference between the Old Covenant mindset and a New Covenant mindset when it comes to "commandments" - of which again some people revert in their minds to the law of Moses when they see the word "commandments." Jesus gave us different ones but these different ones fulfill the intent of the whole law of Moses.

A very big factor in looking at scripture is the "lens" we use to view the scripture.

In the Old Covenant " you had to do or else"..If you do this..then I God will do that.." = conditional on the person performing

New Covenant = Jesus has done it for you which empowers you to "do"

Let's take a look at a common scripture with these 2 mindsets.

Jesus said.." If you love Me, you will keep My commandments"

Old Covenant mindset = conditional on the person "doing"..

So they would read it this way.."IF you love Me you will keep My commandments"..in their mind it's saying.."Keep My commandment and you will prove you love Me."

New Covenant mindset = it's a description of who you are in Christ.

They would see this "Jesus' love is in me so I keep His commandments"..it stems out of relationship and it is not conditional but descriptive of the believer.

Jesus New Covenant commandments are His enablements and they empower grace to operate in our lives. The love of God inside us is released by the life of Christ and it is expressed by walking in love and thus we fulfill the full intent of the law of Moses.

Only we do this "by Christ" who is in us and not by obeying external laws or commandments. The mind of Christ is a whole different dynamic in the New Covenant.

You and i could much be in agreement, if you did not relate the law on stone placed on the heart to that same law under the old covenant. A law then that was the letter that kills, and the ministry of death and condemnation

 

[Timothy416]

Actually, growing up, the law placed within me was the ministry of death and condemnation, for I only had half a covenant. The law written on my mind and placed on my heart. I was miserable for many years, eventually giving up crushed by my failure to obey that law to the standard set. What can I say now, looking back at that time:

Is the law sin? Nay, I had not known sin but for the law. For I would not have known lust except the law had said. Thou shalt not covet. But sin, taking occasion by the commandment aroused all manner of concupiscence in me, for without the law sin was dead.
For I was alive without the law once, but when the commandment came sin revived( or sin consciousness sprang to life) and I died.
And the commandment that was ordained to life( if I obeyed it) instead brought death( for i could not keep it.)
For sin, taking occasion by the commandment deceived me, and by it slew me
Rom7:7-11

Remarkable really. I had gone to a christian church and tried to attain heaven as Saul the Pharisee tried to attain it and I got exactly the same result he got.