THE LAW WRITTEN ON THE HEART

By Dale Ratzlaff

Introduction

A number of people have written asking questions regarding the law that is written on the heart. “Isn’t the law written on the heart the Ten Commandments? If it is, then isn’t the Sabbath of the Fourth Commandment included in this law?”This is such an important topic that we can only begin to address it in this article. Our goal, as always, is to let Scripture lead us to the correct answer.

The promise of a new covenant is clearly stated in Jeremiah 31:31–34:

“Behold, days are coming,” declares the Lord,“when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah, not like the covenant which I made with their fathers in the day I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, My covenant which they broke, although I was a husband to them,” declares the Lord. “But this is the covenant which I will make with the house of Israel after those days,”declares the Lord,“I will put My law within them and on their heart I will write it; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people.“They will not teach again, each man his neighbor and each man his brother, say- ing, ‘Know the Lord,’ for they will all know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them,”declares the Lord,“for I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin I will remember no more.”

The writer of Hebrews states emphatically that this promise has been fulfilled in the new covenant inaugurated by Christ. He quotes Jeremiah with a few subtle changes and adds additional information that will be vitally impor- tant in reaching a correct conclusion about the nature of the law written on our hearts.

But now He has obtained a more excellent ministry, by as much as He is also the mediator of a better covenant, which has been enacted on better promises. For if that first covenant had been faultless, there would have been no occasion sought for a second. For finding fault with them, He says, “Behold, days are coming, says the Lord, When I will effect a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah; Not like the covenant which I made with their fathers on the day when I took them by the hand To lead them out of the land of Egypt; for they did not continue in My covenant, and I did not care for them, says the Lord. For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the Lord: I will put My laws into their minds, and I will write them on their hearts. And I will be their God, And they shall be My people. And they shall not teach everyone his fellow citizen, And everyone his brother, saying,“Know the Lord,” For all will know Me, From the least to the greatest of them. For I will be merciful to their iniquities, and I will remember their sins no more” (Hebrews 8:6-13).

When He said,“A new covenant,”He has made the first obsolete. But whatever is becoming obsolete and growing old is ready to disappear. Now even the first covenant had regulations of divine worship and the earthly sanctuary. For there was a tabernacle prepared, the outer one, in which were the lampstand and the table and the sacred bread; this is called the holy place. Behind the second veil there was a tabernacle which is called the Holy of Holies, having a golden altar of incense and the ark of the covenant covered on all sides with gold, in which was a golden jar holding the manna, and Aaron’s rod which budded, and the tables of the covenant (Hebrews 9:1-4).

Reading the context of both passages gives us specific insight and also raises several questions that deserve answers.

First the insights:

• The old covenant in view is the Mosaic or Sinaitic covenant, not the Abrahamic Covenant.
• The new convent has a better ministry, is a better covenant, and is enacted on better promises.
• The new covenant is not like (is different from) the covenant God made with Israel at Sinai.
• In the new covenant God’s laws will be written in our minds and on our hearts.
• In the new covenant God will be our God and we will be God’s people.
• In the new covenant we will not teach our fellow citizen and brother saying,“know the Lord,”for all will know Him.
• In the new covenant there will be no preferential under- standing of God. All will be able to know the Lord.
• In the new covenant God will be merciful to our iniqui- ties and remember our sins no more.
• The new covenant makes the first covenant obsolete. The old is terminated with the coming of the new.
• Included in the first (called old in other places in the NT) covenant were the tabernacle furniture and services.
• Included in the first covenant were the tables of the covenant (the Ten Commandments).

Now for the questions:

• Who is to be included in the new covenant? Is the new covenant only for “the house of Israel” and “the house of Judah”? Is this promise also for the Gentiles who accept Christ?
• To what do “mind” and “heart” refer?
• What exactly is the “law” that will be written on the minds and hearts of the people included in the new covenant?
• Does the law written on the heart of new covenant Christians differ from the law that was written on stone? If so, in what way is it different?
• How does the law written on the heart relate to “natural law” that is written on the heart of everyone, including those who are unbelievers and are “without law”?
• Under the arrangement of the new covenant, how is the new covenant Christian to use and apply the letter of old covenant law?
• How are we to understand that there will be no need to teach a brother to “know the Lord”?
• Last, and probably most important for the readers of Proclamation!, does the law written on the heart include the keeping of the Sabbath? If so, what Sabbath laws apply to the new covenant Christian? How is one to demonstrate that he is keeping the Sabbath, if indeed the Sabbath is included in the law written on the heart?

We now turn our attention to analyzing the above insights and finding biblical answers to these questions.

The new covenant promise applies to all Christians.

The New Testament makes it clear that this promised new covenant is for both Jewish and Gentile Christians. While Hebrews was written specifically to Jewish Christians who were in danger of giving up Christianity and returning to Judaism, a careful read through this book makes it evi- dent that it does not exclude any Christian.1 It is evident that this new covenant is the same new covenant that Jesus inaugurated at the last supper.

And in the same way He took the cup after they had eaten, saying,“This cup which is poured out for you is the new covenant in My blood” (Lk. 22:20).

Then in his epistles Apostle Paul applies the teachings of the new covenant and its associated blessings to both Jews and Gentiles. He goes to great lengths to prove the Gentiles have been incorporated into the promises made to Israel.

For this reason it is by faith, in order that it may be in accordance with grace, so that the promise will be guaran- teed to all the descendants, not only to those who are of the Law, but also to those who are of the faith of Abraham, who is the father of us all (Ro. 4:16).

That is, it is not the children of the flesh who are children of God, but the children of the promise are regarded as descendants (Ro. 9:8).

Therefore, be sure that it is those who are of faith who are sons of Abraham (Gal. 3:7).

Note well that Paul never grounds the inclusion of the Gentiles into the new covenant promise by their obedience to any of the laws of Sinai. Rather, he always grounds the incorporation of the Gentiles into the gospel by way of the faith of Abraham.

The promise of the new covenant in Jeremiah 31 mentions both the “house of Israel” and “the house of Judah”. However, Israel, the northern Kingdom, was taken captive and interspersed with the other nations to such an extent that it is no longer identifiable by race. Some have taught the “British Israel” theory, but it is without foundation in fact. No reputable historian supports this theory.2 Therefore, one could say that the “house of Israel” is now blended into what the Bible calls “the Gentiles” or other nations while “the house of Judah” would refer to the Jews of the southern kingdom.

Paul also states that the inclusion of the Gentiles into the promised salvation of God was not clearly made known in other generations. Therefore, we should not expect Jeremiah in his mention of the new covenant to clearly articulate the inclusion of the Gentiles.

By referring to this, when you read you can understand my insight into the mystery of Christ, which in other genera- tions was not made known to the sons of men, as it has now been revealed to His holy apostles and prophets in the Spirit; to be specific, that the Gentiles are fellow heirs and fellow members of the body, and fellow partakers of the promise in Christ Jesus through the gospel (Eph. 3:4-6).

Paul makes it patently clear that within the arrangement of the new covenant there is now only one body, the church, comprised of both Jewish and Gentile Christians. Considering all of the above evidence—and we have only scratched the surface on this topic—we conclude that the new covenant promise given in Jeremiah 31and applied in Hebrews as well as the epistles of Paul is for all Christians.

The “mind” or “heart” is the memory coupled with the conscience.

Few would disagree that “heart” or “mind” refers to the memory and conscience which is the moral judging component of the mind. Therefore, I will not here list the supporting biblical evidence for this conclusion. I have written two articles on conscience that may be found at: http://lifeassuranceministries.org/Proclamation2002_JanFeb.pdf and http://lifeassuranceministries.org/Proclamation2002_MarApr.pdf. However, as the conscience is a vitally important topic especially for those in transition, I will list here the summary conclusions referenced in the above mentioned articles.

• We should all recognize that our own conscience database may be deficient.
• We should always follow our conscience.
• When we follow our conscience, wanting to do right and thinking we are doing right, but end up doing wrong, God treats us with grace and mercy and (usually) gives opportunity for enlightenment.
• Acting contrary to our conscience causes spiritual disaster.
• Refusing to study and look at the facts can be as dangerous as going against our conscience, causing spiritual disaster.
• In solving Christian disagreements, we should use the way of love, not the way of knowledge.
• It takes time to reeducate the conscience.
• We should never urge a person to go against his conscience, even if we are confident that his conscience database is incorrectly educated.
• We sin if we cause a person to go against his conscience.

The law written on the heart of an unbeliever who is “without law”

In the first chapter of Romans Paul declares that all men know something about God.

…that which is known about God is evident within them; for God made it evident to them. For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood through what has been made, so that they are without excuse (Ro. 1:19-20).

The following references indicate that God works with those who are “without law”, seeking to bring a measure of truth to them and holding them accountable for whatever truth they do have. Paul shows that by not acknowledging God’s divine attributes of eternal power and divine nature as seen in the created world they are without excuse. Then, by rejecting what they did know about God, God gave them over to follow their own corrupt ways. So these people turn from the limited knowledge God has revealed in nature and in so doing continue down the road to destruction. This natural revelation does not appear to be a saving knowledge.

However, in chapter two of Romans Paul seems to open the door slightly for those who followed this natural revelation with a clear conscience.

For when Gentiles who do not have the Law do instinctively the things of the Law, these, not having the Law, are a law to themselves, in that they show the work of the Law written in their hearts, their conscience bearing witness and their thoughts alternately accusing or else defending them, on the day when, according to my gospel, God will judge the secrets of men through Christ Jesus (Ro. 2:14-16).

Later, in speaking to the Athenians, Paul said this:

Therefore having overlooked the times of ignorance, God is now declaring to men that all people everywhere should repent (Ac. 17:30).

Whether or not natural law provides a saving knowledge of God is not the purpose of this article. Nevertheless, we can say that natural law exists, should be followed, and when followed will point a person in the direction of God.

All societies and cultures have an innate understanding of right and wrong. In their excellent book, I Don’t Have Enough Faith to be an Atheist, Geisler and Turek write,

When we say that Moral Law exists, we mean that all people are impressed with a fundamental sense of right and wrong. Everyone knows, for example that love is superior to hate and that courage is better than cowardice. University of Texas at Austin professor J. Budziszewski writes,“Everyone knows certain principles.There is not a land where murder is virtue and gratitude vice”. C.S. Lewis, who has written profoundly on this topic in his classic work, Mere Christianity, put it this way:“Think of a country where people were admired for running away from battle, or where a man felt proud to double-cross all the people who had been kindest to him.You might just as well try to imagine a country where two and two made five.” In other words, everyone knows there are absolute moral obligations. An absolute moral obligation is something that is binding on all people, at all times, in all places. And an absolute Moral Law implies an absolute Moral Law Giver.3

The scope of natural law that is written on the conscience of those who are “without law” usually includes knowing right from wrong relative to the following moral issues: murder and/or the value of life, stealing (at least from certain groups), lying (at least in some circumstances), some accepted form for correct sexual activity and/or marriage relationship, and some accepted relationship between parent and child. These appear to have a close relationship with the second table of the Ten Commandments.

Was the Law written on the hearts of old covenant believers?

There are a number of places where the Old Testament mentions the law and heart together. For example:

…he said to them,“Take to your heart all the words with which I am warning you today, which you shall command your sons to observe carefully, even all the words of this law (Dt. 32:46).

With all my heart I have sought You; Do not let me wander from Your commandments. Your word I have treasured in my heart, that I may not sin against You (Ps. 119:10-11).

The law of his God is in his heart; His steps do not slip (Ps. 37:31).

I delight to do Your will, O my God; Your Law is within my heart (Ps. 40:8).

In the psalms of David the law is often the focus of meditation and insight.4 Considering these verses—and many others too numerous to list—we conclude that the law in the heart of old covenant believers included natural law, a limited understanding of the ritual of sacrifice, and then at Sinai, the instruction included in the Torah.

However, while there may have been “law” in the hearts of old covenant believers, the new birth experience and the law of the Spirit of Christ Jesus being written on the heart is specifically said to be that which makes the new covenant “not like” the old and is the main point of contrast.

We must be careful to answer this question in the light of the insights given us by the Lord as recorded by Jeremiah and interpreted by the writers of the New Testament. The new covenant is not a continuation or reworking of the old.5 While there are similarities, there are also marked differences.6,7 The old becomes aged and “near to vanishing away”8 or “obsolete”9 with the coming of the new. It is “not like” the first covenant. And one of the different, or new, parts of the new covenant is that God will put His law in our minds and write them on our hearts. This leads us to two important questions. First, is this “law” that is written on our hearts identical with the“law”given to Israel? If not, how and why is it different? If it is different, then how can it still be called “My Law”? Second, how does the process of God writing His law on our hearts differ from what was available to old covenant believers?

We start with the teachings of Jesus who is the new covenant Keeper10 and who inaugurated the new covenant.

You have heard that it was said,“You shall not commit adultery”; but I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lust for her has already committed adultery with her in his heart (Mt. 5:27-28).

Here Jesus quotes one of the Ten Commandments but moves from the letter of the law11 to the eternal moral principle behind the letter of the law and then applies that principle which has greater moral depth, wider application, and deals with the attitudes of the heart.

Jesus does the same thing with the commandment against murder.

You have heard that the ancients were told,“You shall not commit murder” and “Whoever commits murder shall be liable to the court.” But I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother shall be guilty before the court; and whoever says to his brother,“You good-for-nothing,”shall be guilty before the supreme court; and whoever says,“You fool,” shall be guilty enough to go into the fiery hell (Mt. 5:21-22).

Murder involves activity. Again Jesus moves away from the letter of the law to the moral principle behind the law which again has greater moral depth and much wider application. Anger is not an activity; it is an attitude of the heart. Jesus goes on to show that the principle behind this commandment even forbids condemnatory speaking and thinking.

Like Paul, Jesus shows that the law condemns. He ends his discussion of law with these words:

Therefore you are to be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect (Mt. 5:48).

If we take the teachings of Jesus seriously we must conclude that it is utterly impossible to keep the law when the full reach of the law is made clear.

When asked,“What is the greatest commandment in the law?” Jesus did not even go to the Ten Commandments but to other laws within the Torah.

And He said to him,“You shall LOVE THE Lord your God with all your HEART, and with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the great and foremost commandment. The second is like it,“You shall LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR AS YOURSELF.” On these two commandments depend the whole Law and the Prophets (Mt. 22:37-40).

Again, who really loves the Lord with all the heart? Who truly loves the neighbor as him/herself? Nevertheless, Jesus teaches that if one truly loves, he will be in harmony with the whole Law and Prophets. In other words, the new covenant law that is written on the heart is the law of love.

Paul agrees with and expands on the teachings of Jesus.

For this,“You shall not commit adultery,You shall not murder, You shall not steal, You shall not covet,” and if there is any other commandment, it is summed up in this saying, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” Love does no wrong to a neighbor; therefore love is the fulfillment of the law (Ro. 13:9-10).

For the whole Law is fulfilled in one word, in the statement,“You shall love your neighbor as yourself”(Gal.5:14).

James says the same.

If, however, you are fulfilling the royal law according to the Scripture,“You shall LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR AS YOURSELF,” you are doing well (James 2:8).

Here we should note well that in every instance where love is said to be the fulfillment of the law, it refers to the “whole law,” but never is the Sabbath mentioned. The words of Jesus as represented in the four Gospels, the theology of Paul, and the writings of John and James are all in agreement that love is the foundational principle of life in the new covenant; it is the law that is written on the heart. In the gospel of John, Jesus calls love “a new commandment” and says that love is the sign by which all men will know that they are Christ’s disciples.

A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another, even as I have loved you, that you also love one another. By this all men will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another (Jn. 13:34-35).

This is My commandment, that you love one another, just as I have loved you (Jn. 15:12).

This I command you, that you love one another (Jn. 15:17).

For this is the message which you have heard from the beginning, that we should love one another (1 Jn. 3:11).

Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God (1 Jn. 4:7).

In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins (1 Jn. 4:10).

In our discovery of the law written on the heart of the new covenant Christian we must also take into consideration the many biblical statements that confirm the law is not the focus of the new covenant Christian. Following are only samplings:

For as many as are of the works of the Law are under a curse; for it is written,“Cursed is everyone who does not abide by all things written in the book of the law, to perform them. Now that no one is justified by the Law before God is evident; for,“The righteous man shall live by faith” (Gal. 3:10-11).

…in order that in Christ Jesus the blessing of Abraham might come to the Gentiles, so that we would receive the promise of the Spirit through faith (Gal. 3:14).

What I am saying is this: the Law, which came four hundred and thirty years later, does not invalidate a covenant previously ratified by God, so as to nullify the promise. For if the inheritance is based on law, it is no longer based on a promise; but God has granted it to Abraham by means of a promise. Why the Law then? It was added because of transgressions, having been ordained through angels by the agency of a mediator, until the seed would come to whom the promise had been made. Now a mediator is not for one party only; whereas God is only one. Is the Law then contrary to the promises of God? May it never be! For if a law had been given which was able to impart life, then righteousness would indeed have been based on law. But the Scripture has shut up everyone under sin, so that the promise by faith in Jesus Christ might be given to those who believe (Gal. 3:17-22).

In the statements that deal with the law written on the heart, it is emphasized over and over again that it is not the letter of the law that is written on the heart, but rather it is the law of the Spirit of Christ working in love that guides us in our application of the moral principle behind the letter of the law.

…who also made us adequate as servants of a new covenant, not of the letter but of the Spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life. 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, how will the ministry of the Spirit fail to be even more with glory? For if the ministry of condemnation has glory, much more does the ministry of righteousness abound in glory. For indeed what had glory, in this case has no glory because of the glory that surpasses it. For if that which fades away was with glory, much more that which remains is in glory. Therefore having such a hope, we use great boldness in our speech, and are not like Moses, who used to put a veil over his face so that the sons of Israel would not look intently at the end of what was fading away (2 Co. 3:6-13).

Paul makes it very clear that for the one who has sin in his life (and that is all of us) the letter of the law (old covenant law) works for death.

For while we were in the flesh, the sinful passions, which were aroused by the Law, were at work in the members of our body to bear fruit for death. But now we have been released from the Law, having died to that by which we were bound, so that we serve in newness of the Spirit and not in oldness of the letter (Ro. 7:5-6).

Now, in Christ we are released from the law in that the law can only condemn to death once. Once the law has carried out its execution, it no longer has jurisdiction over us! If we have been baptized into Christ by the Holy Spirit, Christ not only died for us, but we died in Him; thus we are released from the law and sin, and we should from that point on consider ourselves to be dead to sin. We should never see ourselves as sinners again! God sees us as righteous as His righteous Son, and we should see ourselves accordingly! Wow!

Or do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus have been baptized into His death (Ro 6:3)?

For the death that He died, He died to sin once for all; but the life that He lives, He lives to God. Even so consider yourselves to be dead to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus (Ro. 6:10-11).

But, note the next verse:

Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its lusts (Ro 6:12).

How do we do this? Not by focusing on law or as some would say, on the “spirit of the law”. Why? Because the writer of Hebrews clearly states when he said “new” he made the first covenant “old,” and we should now consider it to be “obsolete”12 Rather,

For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and of death (Ro. 8:2).

It is NOT the letter of old covenant law or even the so called,“spirit of the law”(an unbiblical term) that is to be written on our hearts. Rather it is the indwelling “law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus” that fully meets “the requirement of the law”—love, which is the law’s fulfillment..

For what the Law could not do, weak as it was through the flesh, God did: sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and as an offering for sin, He condemned sin in the flesh, so that the requirement of the Law might be fulfilled in us, who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit. For those who are according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who are according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit (Ro. 8:3-5).

We are now to focus on what God has done for us. It is the glory of the cross, the glory of the resurrection, it is the glory of forgiveness of all sin, it is the glory of imputed righteousness, it is the glory of now being sons and daughters of God, it is the glory of now being redeemed, it is the glory of now being qualified to share in the inheritance of the saints in Light. Yes, it is the assurance that we are now saved, not by anything we do but only and always by and in Christ Jesus alone.