Write My Laws on Your Hearts

[marks]

Hi Marks,
What do you make of the following scriptures?

6" And He has qualified us as ministers of a new covenant, not of the letter but of the Spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.
7 But if the ministry of death, in letters engraved on stones, came with glory, so that the sons of Israel could not look intently at the face of Moses because of the glory of his face, fading as it was,"
2 Corinthians 3:6-7

The Law serves up death.

But the new covenant is not like that, instead of law providing death to us, the Spirit provides life. This is like two different trains on two different tracks.

Romans 2:14-16 ESV
"For when Gentiles, who do not have the law, by nature do what the law requires, they are a law to themselves, even though they do not have the law. They show that the work of the law is written on their hearts, while their conscience also bears witness, and their conflicting thoughts accuse or even excuse them on that day when, according to my gospel, God judges the secrets of men by Christ Jesus."

Even gentiles have a general sense of right and wrong, and they show this, when they excuse themselves, and accuse others (this is what the grammar indicates to me).

3 It is clear that you are a letter from Christ, the result of our ministry, written not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of human hearts."
2 Corinthians 3:3

Paul does not need a letter of introduction or recommendation, as the people themselves are his letter of recommendation. The tree is known by its fruit.

Now, I don't know of any other of the 613 Jewish laws engraved on stone except for the big 10, and they pretty much cover all sin. Maybe we could say the writing on the lining of the Gentiles heart is the Law of Christ, which is only two but, all the rest hang on them so...fulfill the 2 and, we won't ever break the rest...'His burdens are light'.
Not that I know what I'm talking about very well here but, it's what I can find...just to contribute here

Moses came bearing the tablets of stone written by God, but Paul comes bearing people with changed hearts.

Much love!

 

[CharismaticLady]

Gentiles being born from above are not being turned into Israel living according to Law.

And neither are the Christian Jews!

 

[marks]

The Covenant was with national Israel, but only those who accepted Christ would He put His laws on their hearts.

But when?

23 And I will sanctify my great name, which was profaned among the heathen, which ye have profaned in the midst of them; and the heathen shall know that I am the Lord, saith the Lord God, when I shall be sanctified in you before their eyes.
24 For I will take you from among the heathen, and gather you out of all countries, and will bring you into your own land.
25 Then will I sprinkle clean water upon you, and ye shall be clean: from all your filthiness, and from all your idols, will I cleanse you.
26 A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh.
27 And I will put my spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes, and ye shall keep my judgments, and do them.
28 And ye shall dwell in the land that I gave to your fathers; and ye shall be my people, and I will be your God.

When He comes, and brings them back to their land.

Much love!

 

[CharismaticLady]

25 Then will I sprinkle clean water upon you, and ye shall be clean: from all your filthiness, and from all your idols, will I cleanse you.

All who accept Christ are cleansed from their sin. Both Jew and Gentiles. But the first Christians were Jews.

God is already bringing Jews back to their land for over 100 years. And when the fullness of the Gentiles comes into the Church, then all Israel will be saved.

 

[CharismaticLady]

Moses came bearing the tablets of stone written by God, but Paul comes bearing people with changed hearts.

Yes, like the Gentiles of Romans 2. Those Gentile's nature is righteous, not carnal, so they have already accepted Christ and obey the laws written on their hearts.

 

[marks]

Paul, in his epistle to the Galatians, argues that the Law acts as a tutor/guardian. To a large degree, the "work" of the Jewish Law was to prepare the hearts and minds of the Jewish people for the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ and the gospel message. Perhaps Paul is saying something like this. In a way, Gentile law also works to prepare the hearts and minds of the Gentiles for the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ.

The law teaches us to think it terms of right and wrong, standing above the individual to obligate mutual respect and deference to others. Perhaps humanity needed to learn this prior to the coming of Jesus Christ?

My understanding is that the law safeguarded Israel, and kept them from self-destructing in unbridled sin. And the Law condemned them, showing their need for the Savior.

The Law regulates the behavior of the ungodly. The Spirit regulates the behavior of the redeemed.

Much love!

 

[marks]

The new covenant is the millennial covenant promise to Abraham toward his descendants, which we are adopted into it via a partial, pre-millennial experience per Hebrews 10:15-17.

Hi Truther,

Can you elaborate on this?

Much love!

 

[marks]

Here is how I think it works. I pray in the Spirit, It is in my being instructing me to go through the day without sinning and doing It's good works.

Amen!!



Trying to see this in terms of "law" puts us in the driver's seat, destined to crash!

Much love!

 

[marks]

Amen, and Christ/God is the vine or...He is Di-vine.

Psalm 80
8 Thou hast brought a vine out of Egypt: thou hast cast out the heathen, and planted it.
9 Thou preparedst room before it, and didst cause it to take deep root, and it filled the land.
10 The hills were covered with the shadow of it, and the boughs thereof were like the goodly cedars.
11 She sent out her boughs unto the sea, and her branches unto the river.
12 Why hast thou then broken down her hedges, so that all they which pass by the way do pluck her?
13 The boar out of the wood doth waste it, and the wild beast of the field doth devour it.
14 Return, we beseech thee, O God of hosts: look down from heaven, and behold, and visit this vine;
15 And the vineyard which thy right hand hath planted, and the branch that thou madest strong for thyself.

Israel is the vine . . . And Jesus is the true vine . . .

John 15
1 I am the true vine, and my Father is the husbandman.
2 Every branch in me that beareth not fruit he taketh away: and every branch that beareth fruit, he purgeth it, that it may bring forth more fruit.

Much love!

 

[marks]

You only need to read more of the Hebrews 8 Chapter instead of just pulling out pieces of one verse.

Heb 8:6-10
6 But now hath He obtained a more excellent ministry, by how much also He is the mediator of a better covenant, which was established upon better promises.
7 For if that first covenant had been faultless, then should no place have been sought for the second.

The above is of course about our Lord Jesus as Mediator of The New Covenant, which is what that "better covenant" is. Verse 7 also makes note that the subject is The New Covenant, a second one that has replaced the first.


8 For finding fault with them, He saith, 'Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah:
9 Not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day when I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt; because they continued not in My covenant, and I regarded them not, saith the Lord.
10 For this is 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:'
KJV

Thus that "new covenant" is... The New Covenant Jesus Christ, a "better covenant". And that New Covenant applies to ALL BELIEVERS on Christ Jesus, regardless of nationality. It is about Christ's Church.

Thus it is impossible to isolate that to be solely for the children of Israel, which is what men's doctrines like Hyper-Dispensationalism tries to do.

Hi Davy,

Doesn't this passage in the places I've bolded in your quote, isn't it the Bible itself that specifies this applies to Israel? The house of Israel and the house of Judah?

Much love!

 

[CharismaticLady]

Hi Davy,

Doesn't this passage in the places I've bolded in your quote, isn't it the Bible itself that specifies this applies to Israel? The house of Israel and the house of Judah?

Much love!

It is the same New Covenant that you are in.

 

[CadyandZoe]

My understanding is that the law safeguarded Israel, and kept them from self-destructing in unbridled sin. And the Law condemned them, showing their need for the Savior.

The Law regulates the behavior of the ungodly. The Spirit regulates the behavior of the redeemed.

Much love!

Was regulating behavior the "work" or is it something else? I'm trying to taking into account the fact that Paul speaks favorably of those who do not have the Mosaic Law, and yet, they will find approval from God.

 

[marks]

All who accept Christ are cleansed from their sin. Both Jew and Gentiles. But the first Christians were Jews.

God is already bringing Jews back to their land for over 100 years. And when the fullness of the Gentiles comes into the Church, then all Israel will be saved.

Yes I think these things are correct.

However . . .

The Jews are not keeping the Law. This modern day immigration to Israel, to live without faith in Christ, is not the fulfillment of God's promise to bring them all back for good, and in faith, and to keep all the Law.

Much love!

 

[Behold]

Paul speaks favorably of those who do not have the Mosaic Law, and yet, they will find approval from God.

Approval from God does not come by works of the law or self effort.
Approval from God, as Paul explains, is based on God's mercy that is Given as : John 3:16.
All who embrace that offer and are born again, are eternally approved by God.

 

[CharismaticLady]

Yes I think these things are correct.

However . . .

The Jews are not keeping the Law. This modern day immigration to Israel, to live without faith in Christ, is not the fulfillment of God's promise to bring them all back for good, and in faith, and to keep all the Law.

Much love!

It is in parts. First He is bringing them back into the land, and then He will save them.

 

[marks]

Was regulating behavior the "work" or is it something else? I'm trying to taking into account the fact that Paul speaks favorably of those who do not have the Mosaic Law, and yet, they will find approval from God.

They will find approval if they do right. Is there anyone who always does right?

I'm still thinking/praying about what the "work of the Law" means.

11 For there is no respect of persons with God.
12 For as many as have sinned without law shall also perish without law: and as many as have sinned in the law shall be judged by the law;
13 (For not the hearers of the law are just before God, but the doers of the law shall be justified.
14 For when the Gentiles, which have not the law, do by nature the things contained in the law, these, having not the law, are a law unto themselves:
15 Which shew the work of the law written in their hearts, their conscience also bearing witness, and their thoughts the mean while accusing or else excusing one another)
16 In the day when God shall judge the secrets of men by Jesus Christ according to my gospel.

My read of this is that if you have the Law, your sin will be judged by that Law. If you don't have the Law, yet you still have a sense of right and wrong, and that's going to do you in.

I'm reminded of 2 Thessalonians, "the secret working of lawlessness", I should take a look there with this in mind.

Much love!

 

[CadyandZoe]

Approval from God does not come by works of the law or self effort.
Approval from God, as Paul explains, is based on God's mercy that is Given as : John 3:16.
All who embrace that offer and are born again, are eternally approved by God.

In Romans chapter 2 Paul argues that God will judge us according to our deeds. So then, although we are not justified by merit according to our ritual practices, we are judged according to our deeds.

Remember what James said. I'll show you my faith by my deeds.

 

[CharismaticLady]

Was regulating behavior the "work" or is it something else? I'm trying to taking into account the fact that Paul speaks favorably of those who do not have the Mosaic Law, and yet, they will find approval from God.

Do you have some scriptures we can discuss. Remember the first 8 chapters of Romans are one teaching. Some people have made the mistake of making a whole false doctrine out of the words of one chapter and taking it our of context of the whole teaching.

 

[marks]

Approval from God does not come by works of the law or self effort.
Approval from God, as Paul explains, is based on God's mercy that is Given as : John 3:16.
All who embrace that offer and are born again, are eternally approved by God.

Something I see is people attempting to be justified in Romans 2, as if their conscience declares them innocent. But I don't see that. What I see is an ironclad argument about how we are all guilty, and we should all know it, if we are honest with ourselves.

We are accepted in Christ, not in our flawed concept of 'good behavior'.

Much love!

 

[CharismaticLady]

I'm still thinking/praying about what the "work of the Law" means.

They don't have to do with loving your neighbor as yourself, but are rituals that are outside natural instinct, like the Sabbath DAY, circumcision, feasts, which foods to choose... That is what the Judaizers were trying to get the Galatians to do, saying they MUST be circumcised in order to be a Christian. That is the self-effort that is a "work of the law." Loving someone is not an outside work of the law.