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The Law Written on the Heart

Mikuláš Török, 2008-02-10

Hebrews 8:10 For this the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, saith the Lord; I will put my laws into their mind, and write them in their hearts: and I will be to them a God, and they shall be to me a people.

Matthew 5:20 For I say unto you, That except your righteousness shall exceed of the scribes and Pharisees, ye shall in no case enter into the kingdom of heaven. Ye have heard that it was said by them of old time, Thou shalt not kill; and whosoever shall kill shall be in danger of the judgment: But I say unto you, That whosoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment: and whosoever shall say to his brother, Raca, shall be in danger of the council: but whosoever shall say, Thou fool, shall be in danger of hell fire.

Mark 12:28-34 And one of the scribes came, and having heard them reasoning together, and perceiving that he had answered them well, asked him, Which is the first commandment of all?
And Jesus answered him, The first of all the commandments , Hear, O Israel; The Lord our God is one Lord: And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength: this  the first commandment. And the second  like,  this, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. There is none other commandment greater than these. And the scribe said unto him, Well, Master, thou hast said the truth: for there is one God; and there is none other but he: And to love him with all the heart, and with all the understanding, and with all the soul, and with all the strength, and to love  neighbour as himself, is more than all whole burnt offerings and sacrifices. And when Jesus saw that he answered discreetly, he said unto him, Thou art not far from the kingdom of God. And no man after that durst ask him.

 

Hebrews 10:10-18 By the which will we are sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once. And every priest standeth 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 for ever, 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 for ever them that are sanctified. The Holy Ghost also is a witness to us: for after that he had said before, This  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  no more offering for sin.

Hebrews 10:26-29  For if we sin wilfully after that we have received the knowledge of the truth, there remaineth no more sacrifice for sins, But a certain fearful looking for of judgment and fiery indignation, which shall devour the adversaries. He that despised Moses' law died without mercy under two or three witnesses: Of how much sorer punishment, suppose ye, shall he be thought worthy, who hath trodden under foot the Son of God, and hath counted the blood of the covenant, wherewith he was sanctified, an unholy thing, and hath done despite unto the Spirit of grace?

Galatians 3:19-20 Wherefore then  the law? It was added because of transgressions, till the seed should come to whom the promise was made;  ordained by angels in the hand of a mediator. Now a mediator is not  of one, but God is one.

Romans 3:23-28 For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God; Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus: Whom God hath set forth  a propitiation through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God; To declare, at this time his righteousness: that he might be just, and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus. Where  boasting then? It is excluded. By what law? of works? Nay: but by the law of faith. Therefore we conclude that a man is justified by faith without the deeds of the law.

 

Romans 4:4-5 Now to him that worketh is the reward not reckoned of grace, but of debt. But to him that worketh not, but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness.

Romans 6:1-5 What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound? God forbid. How shall we, that are dead to sin, live any longer therein?  Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death? Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life. For if we have been planted together in the likeness of his death, we shall be also  of  resurrection:

Romans 6:7 For he that is dead is freed from sin.

Romans 7:24-25 O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death? I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord. So then with the mind I myself serve the law of God; but with the flesh the law of sin.

In the New Testament there is written that God will put His laws into our minds and write them onto our hearts (Heb 8:10). What kind of laws does He have in mind? The Law of Moses? If so, where is grace then? Jesus says that unless our righteousness surpasses that of the Pharisees and the teachers of the law, we will not enter the kingdom of God. He illustrates that on the following commandment: "You shall not murder". Is it all just about fulfilling the commandment? If this was the case, Jesus would tell us to do so. But He says something rather different. He says we are not allowed to hate (one another). But it all isn't just about fulfilling the commandment of the Law of Moses more zealously. Jesus speaks of a heart attitude. He means different righteousness, an attitude which comes out of our heart and not out of the fulfilling of some law (Mt 5:20-22). In the gospel of Mark (Mk 12:28-34) one expert of the law asks Jesus which commandment is the most important one. Jesus answers him, "Love the Lord your God with all of your heart...and with all of your strength."  The teacher of the law agrees with Him and exalts its importance above all burnt offerings and sacrifices. When Jesus saw that the teacher had answered wisely, he told him that he was not being far from the kingdom of God." He didn’t say: “You are already in the kingdom of God”, but that he had come as near as possible for a man living under the law. He had come near, not had come into it. Now, it’s impossible to enter the kingdom of God through the law. Next, we are going to look at the Epistle to the Hebrews that contains confrontation between the New and the Old Testament. In the first verse of the 10th chapter there is written that it’s impossible for the law to make us thoroughly righteous. Never. There is a possibility to gain perfect righteousness though. The author adds that we are redeemed through perfect and once for all sufficient sacrifice of Jesus Christ. It made us thoroughly righteous. And God tacks to it: “I will put my laws into their hearts, and in their minds I will write them; And their sins and iniquities will I remember no more (Heb 10:16-17)”.Thus He puts His laws into the man’s heart and mind and forgives his iniquities. The sequence is important – it points to what is really going on: righteousness comes through forgiveness and the laws in the heart makes a man righteous. The laws written on the heart are therefore a necessary condition for sins to be forgiven. As the next thing we can see here that God has no forgiveness for a sin committed voluntarily (Heb 10:26). Sins can be forgiven only when a man truly lives the laws that God has put in his heart. “Believing” in itself is not sufficient. If a man sins out of choice, it’s clear then, that God’s laws aren’t in his heart. God even points out such behavior as trampling of  His Son´s sacrifice (Heb 10:29). And which laws has God put into our hearts? The apostle Paul writes in the letter to Galatians that the Law of Moses was given to men so that it would reveal their sinful nature (Gal 3:19) – man should have fulfilled the law but it has come out that he is not able to do so, it is not in his might, though he would try sincerely and from his heart and soul. Further he reflects that it is really impossible to give such a law that would make men better (Gal 3:20) – but the reason is not that the first law was bad but because man is sinful and is not able to fulfill it even if it was the best law ever. The law served Jews as a tutor to Christ. It should have brought them to the understanding that man is sinful. Christians should not take it that improving the quality of their Christian life would lead them to adherence to the Law of Moses. The apostle Paul says to the Galatians that the people who have such an attitude are bewitched. Now, on what basis does man become righteous? Is it on the basis of the fact that he is an owner of the law? And what does it mean that he is righteous? Israel was not made righteous in that God had entrusted him with the Law. The ownership itself isn’t sufficient. Likewise, “the ownership” of Christ isn’t enough – there is a presumption that the one who received Christ would also walk together with Him. To live in Him. So, the important thing is not just “to own” Jesus but also truly live in His righteousness. Man turns righteous through grace for free, without the works of the law (Rom 3:23-28). And that on the basis of faith that believes in Him who makes the righteous from the ungodly (Rom 4:4-5). Other faith has no sense. Unlike, the law has no might to justify man – its purpose was to reveal sinfulness of man. So, when someone has received grace to justification it’s impossible  that he would sin out of choice (Rom 6:1-5). In that man died to sin, a desire for sin died in him as well, and he is longing for righteousness – just that is walking in righteousness (Rom 6:7). It is not simple to judge whether a man sinned voluntarily or because of a weakness. But God can judge it perfectly.  The law pointed at the sinfulness of man but the hunger for living a better life should have stayed in him. Apostle Paul had such a desire as well – as a Pharisee he wanted to fulfill the law but he also wanted to live in such a way that would please God. He noticed that his flesh wouldn’t allow that to him for he was sold to sin. The way out of this state  is the justification through Christ (Rom 7:24-25). This righteousness is real – God had really received us and we have really become the righteous. The righteous life according to the Spirit manifests itself in the fruit of the works. The Spirit is incorruptible and his fruit is also incorruptible. The incorruptibility has entered us through the incorruptible Word of God. He, who is living according to his flesh, will reap corruptible harvest of the eternal death.

 

 

 

 

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