.- First let’s see what is not:
• It is not the law of Moses. As we saw in the previous article. If the father writes the ten commandments on our hearts, Christ died in vain.
• It is not an improved version of the law. It is impossible to please God by trying to observe a new law and complying with the old.
• Nor is it the knowledge of good or evil that we receive because of Adam’s disobedience.
So, what is the law that the Lord writes in our hearts and minds?
Let’s look at three things the New Testament makes clear about the new law in our hearts.
1. The law of love
John 13:34
A new commandment I give to you: that you love one another; as I have loved you, that you also love one another.
In the old covenant love was demanded. “You shall love your God with all your soul, with all your mind, with all your strength.” But, in the new covenant of grace, love is something imparted to you – “as I have loved you” – out of the abundance of that love we can love God and others.
How does this happen?
Romans 5:5
“and hope does not shame; because the love of God has been poured into our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to us.
Now we can love God not because we tried in our strength but because he first loved us and we love him.
Can you see the difference between the old covenant and the new covenant?
• In the old covenant, the law was the rule for weak men to obey. In the new covenant the law is the Spirit of Christ, who has been given to us, loving us and loving others through us.
• In the old covenant, you loved others because you feared punishment. In the new covenant, you love because love itself (God is love) lives in you and it is your nature to love.
• In the old covenant, you had to work hard to obey. In the new covenant you have to strive to disobey. It is a new way of living.
2. The law of the Spirit of Life
It is important to understand the difference between the old covenant law (the law written on tablets of stone or the ten commandments) and the new law (Christ Himself, living in you). He tries to live by the old law, like Paul tried, and it will make you miserable:
Romans 7:24
Wretched me! Who will deliver me from this body of death? (Read the entire chapter to understand this statement)
Paul could not keep the law even though he tried very hard to do so. He needed a new law and that new law is someone.
Romans 7:24-25
Wretched me, who will free me from this body of death?
I thank God, through Jesus Christ our Lord. So, I myself serve the law of God with the mind, but with the flesh the law of sin.
You see it?
The old law is a what, the new law is a someone. The old law ministers condemnation and death (2 Corinthians 3:7-9), but the new “law of the Spirit is life.”
Romans 8:2
What is it that gives life? Not a number of laws, but the Spirit of Christ that is in you. The new law is someone.
3. The perfect law of liberty
James wrote of the “perfect law of liberty” (James 1:24), which can be contrasted with the binding law of Moses (Romans 7:6).
What is the perfect law that gives freedom?
James gives us the answer:
James 1:21
Therefore, discarding all filth and abundance of malice, meekly receive the implanted word, which can save your souls.
Christ is the living Word, through him we have been reborn to a new life and through him we live our lives.
The perfect law describes what Christ has done (perfectly fulfilled and obeyed the law) and the fruit it produces in our lives is freedom, if we trust in his perfect work.
Look to the old covenant law and you will live miserable, insecure, and in fear all the time (the old covenant law was to bring you to Christ) But, look to the perfect law that is Christ himself and he will reveal to you who you are in him .
I understand that this is not easy for those who boast of their achievements, have their identity in what they do and have not understood the perfect work of the cross, grace will always be a blow against human pride.
Jeremiah said that those who have the new law written on their hearts will know the Lord and will not need anyone to teach them.
This is describing your union with Christ. You are in him and he is in you. You are one with him. Now you have his mind (1 Corinthians 2:16). His Spirit dwells in you and teaches you all things (John 14:26).
Because you know that now another law governs you. Because you are a new creature with new desires and hope. You no longer want to sin. Your desire is to love God and others and that desire has nothing to do with the old law that was written on tablets of stone, it has to do with the new nature that has now been imparted to you.
Glory to God!
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