Dr. Alan J. Dunn
In this series, we are using Jeremiah as a template by which to understand the nature of the New Covenant.
“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, 32 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. 33 “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. 34 “They will not teach again, each man his neighbor and each man his brother, saying, ‘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.”2
The first article in this series focused on the words the house of Israel. Contrary to Dispensational teaching which separates “Israel” from the “Church” in the purposes of God, we learned that the New Testament presents us with one people of God formed by the New Covenant: the Church. We will now consider the words I will put My law within them and on their heart I will write it to see that the people of the New Covenant must beware of Antinomianism.
What is Antinomianism?
Antinomianism is a view of the Christian life which minimizes and even disparages the Law of God. “Anti-” means “against” and “nomian” is from the Greek word ‘nomos” which means “law.” Antinomians are inclined to pit “grace” against “law,” to the neglect of law and an over-emphasis on grace.3 We rejoice to see a renewed proclamation of “The Doctrines of Grace” in our day. We rejoice to know that the gospel of justification by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone is being proclaimed. But in our new-found appreciation for God’s sovereign grace, we can be liable to antinomian imbalances.4 Paul had to rectify this imbalance in those who heard him preach the gospel of God’s free grace. Do we then nullify the Law through faith? May it never be! On the contrary, we establish the Law (Rom 3:31). What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin so that grace may increase? May it never be! How shall we who died to sin still live in it? (Rom 6:1-2) We cannot be so amazed at God’s amazing grace in giving us the blessings of justification that we end up minimizing our ongoing battle with sin and the necessity of living a life of evangelical obedience.5 Antinomianism over-emphasizes justification, grace, and God’s merciful love, but minimizes the necessity of holiness and practical righteousness in the life of the believer.
If we realize that Antinomianism is an imbalance, we need to be careful not to over-react and fall into the opposite imbalance of legalism. We are liable, when we discover an imbalance, to think that the farther away we get from that extreme, be better we are, when in reality, we cross the point of balance and tilt to the opposite extreme. We do not want to so emphasize the necessity of evangelical obedience to God’s commands that we start to base our relationship with God on our performance of good works. Or even worse, we make up our own rules in order to reinforce God’s commands as the Pharisees did with their many traditions. This is Antinomianism’s opposite error: Legalism. What we need is balance. At any point in time, every one of us is likely tilted toward one side or the other. If we have walked with Christ for any length of time, we can likely look back over our pilgrimage and identify times when we were inclined to antinomianism and times when we tilted into legalism. The Christian life is lived as we move forward atop the straight and narrow way. The only way to obtain balance is to press forward and run this race with our eyes fixed on Christ (Phil 3:13-14; Heb 12:1-2). Although tendencies to imbalances are part of the realism of the Christian life, we need to be careful. A man who tilts too far will eventually fall! Paul warns of those who want to be teachers of the Law, but are actually ignorant of God’s Word. But we know that the Law is good, if one uses it lawfully (1 Tim 1:6-11).6
An Antinomian over-emphasizes justification, grace, and the love of God to the place that he becomes careless about matters of personal holiness and moral righteousness. He makes much of his freedoms and liberties in Christ but ignores Scripture’s summons to obey God’s commands. He is averse to the idea of “duty.” The “disciplines” of discipleship and churchmanship look too much like “law” which infringe on his freedoms and liberties in Christ. He prefers his Christianity to spring from his own voluntary initiative, not something demanded or required of him. He looks askance on the idea of being motivated to serve Christ by the prospect of rewards. Such motivation seems “self-serving.” He is confident of his salvation, believing that he has truly believed and is thus justified and forgiven. The law once condemned him, but now that he is forgiven, he need not concern himself with the law. He is disinclined to self-examination, content in his confidence that, having believed, he is forever justified and that is all that matters.
There are aspects of truth in the Antinomian’s thinking. However, when set in the context of all that Scripture tells us about the Christian life, we see that Antinomianism is imbalanced. He fails to give due place to the Bible’s teaching on the necessity and nature of sanctification.
What Law?
When we read of God writing His Law, what comes to mind? Is there a Law that God Himself wrote? Yes. The Ten Commandments. We are repeatedly told that the Ten Commandments were written by the finger of God (see Exo 24:12; 31:18; 32:16; 34:1). These tablets on which God wrote His Law were placed within the Ark of the Covenant which was housed in the Holy of Holies in the tabernacle of God (Deut 10:10-5). When we read Jeremiah 31:33 about God writing His Law, we are right to think of the Ten Commandments.
The Law of Moses included other legislation which regulated life in the Mosaic theocracy. Those laws were revealed to Moses by God and then written down by Moses. The word “Law” is used in Scripture to speak not only of commands, but of the Word of God, and often the first five books of Moses: the Pentateuch. Theologians distinguish three kinds of Old Covenant Law: Moral, Civil, and Ceremonial.7 The Moral Law was distinct as having been written by God Himself and placed in the Ark which served as His throne from where He ruled His people. You could say, He placed His Moral Law in the heart of His Theocratic people. The Civil Law concerned issues of justice and regulated the social, economic, and military aspects of life in the Theocracy. The Ceremonial Law prescribed the worship of YHWH and regulated everything touching the tabernacle, the priesthood and the sacrificial cultus.
What Is The Significance of God Writing the Law on Our Hearts?
The idea of God’s Law being written on the human heart points us back to Creation. In Romans 2:14-16 Paul tells us that Gentiles, who did not receive God’s Law at Sinai, nevertheless do the things of the Law instinctively, that is, “naturally,” by virtue of having been created in the image of God. They evidence the work of the Law written in their hearts. In other words, by virtue of being created in God’s image, unconverted men are a law to themselves and innately behave in some semblance to the Law. Why? What in men works like the Law? Conscience. Their conscience bears witness and their thoughts alternately accusing or else defending them. Paul says men naturally have a moral monitor within them called “conscience,” which works like the Law. Conscience measures and evaluates moral behavior and pronounces judgment. Every man has a little courtroom within himself. This moral nature which works like the Law is written in their hearts. By whom? God. “Writing in the heart” is a phrase describing something God does when He creates and gives man life. Man is made with a conscience, a faculty written into his heart, which works in a way analogous to how God’s moral Law functions. Before the Fall, Adam’s conscience was a sufficient guide to direct him in the way of righteous love. He was created upright (Eccl 7:29) and made to love God and neighbor. As God’s image, man was made to relate to God as a son.8 As God’s created son, man is made to love God and his fellow man with a righteous love, a lawful love, a living love. Life, righteous love, relating to God as His sons and one another as brothers – here is our true humanity.
After the Fall, man retained his conscience but in a state of spiritual death and depravity. Conscience is now defective and can be seared, defiled and hardened. Fallen man is capable of calling good “evil,” and evil “good” (Isa 5:20). Yet, due to God’s abiding common grace, even fallen man’s conscience continues to function to some degree, in compliance with Moral Law, even while he tolerates and even promotes flagrant violations of that same Law. Fallen man is a moral schizophrenic. It is fascinating to see the various moral inconsistencies in human societies. Islamic cultures value hospitality and honoring one’s elders (Vth)9 , but turn anger (VIth) into a religious virtue. I know of a tribal people in Papua New Guinea which would not think of stealing (VIIIth), yet they care very little about the truth (IXth). American culture values a good work ethic (IVth), while the family disintegrates (Vth), sexual immorality is pervasive (VIIth), and, while possessing more material wealth than most other societies, discontent and depression (Xth) abounds.
It is often said that the Ten Commandments are what they are because YHWH is who He is. In other words, the Law is determined by the character of God. There is truth in this idea, but it is best to realize that the Law reflects the character of God – as God is imaged in man. The Law articulates the principles of righteousness prescribed for Man, God’s created son; the human who rightly bears the image of God. The Law itemizes what it means to live life as a true child of God, created to love God and man. In other words, the Law expresses what it means to be truly human.
God first made man with a conscience which Paul describes as the work of the Law written in their hearts. Then at Sinai, God again wrote His Law, but this time on tablets of stone for Old Covenant Israel. God writing His Law is a significant event. When God writes His Law, He does so in conjunction with giving life to His people. In sovereign grace, God rescued Old Covenant Israel from slavery and inevitable death in Egypt. He brought His nation to life and gave them the privilege of adoption (Hos 11:1; Rom 9:4). As He formed this privileged people to be His own possession, He wrote His Law and placed it in the heart of the nation. He gave them a land which was described in ways reminiscent of Eden. In other words, God re-created a new people, a new man analogous to Adam. National Israel was to demonstrate true humanity to the surrounding nations. As a nation, Israel would live in God’s presence as His national son. God would bless them in covenant love. In return, they would love YHWH by trusting Him and living in obedience to His Law.
Although YHWH wrote His Law on tablets and placed them in the heart of Israel’s society, that Law was not internalized in the heart of every individual Israelite. Most Israelites were spiritually dead and persisted to follow after false gods throughout the course of the nation’s history. However, there was a believing remnant within that Old Covenant people, that Israel within Israel (Rom 9:6) which is described as having the Law in their hearts. David describes the righteous: The law of his God is in his heart; his steps do not slip (Ps 37:31). As a type of Christ, David declares, I delight to do Your will, O my God, Your Law in within my heart (Ps 40:8; Heb 10:7-9). YHWH addresses this remnant in Isaiah 51:7 and says, Listen to me, you who know righteousness, a people in whose heart is My law. Do not fear the reproach of man, nor be dismayed at their revilings. The amazing thing about the New Covenant is that the Lord writes His Law on the heart of each and every member of that covenant.
The heart in Scripture is the center of man’s inner faculties. It is the place of his convictions, moral judgment, and conscience. It is the place of his innermost thoughts. It is the place of his affections, inclinations, and volition; the place in which he makes his decisions and choices. It is the source of his words and is made evident by his actions (Mat 15:18-20). In the New Covenant, God writes His Law in the hearts of His people. Notice, in His original creation, the work of the Law was written into man’s heart and he was given a conscience. In the New Covenant, God writes the Law itself into the heart of each and every member of the covenant community.
What is the Lord telling us when He says that He writes His Law on our hearts in the New Covenant? When God writes His Law on human hearts, He is giving that heart new life. This new life is a specific kind of life. It is life which by nature, conforms to the morality expressed by the Law. We are looking at the doctrine of regeneration, the new birth from above. When God spiritually resurrects His people from spiritual death, He gives them new life, holy life, a life that instinctively aligns with His Law, a life of love to God and love to neighbor. Here is the new man (2 Cor 5:17), the true human: God’s child, His image created in Christ Jesus.10 This new life is also described in Ezekiel 36:24-28 as a life lived in compliance to God’s Law. The Lord tells of the eschatological ingathering of His people to their promised land (v24).11 God brings His sanctified people into the promised land. He promises to wash them and cleanse them of idolatry (v25) and to give them a new heart (v26). This new heart will be spiritually alive, not a dead heart of stone, but a living heart of flesh. The Spirit of the Lord Himself will indwell His people and cause them to walk in His statutes and to be careful to observe His ordinances (v27). Ezekiel 36:26-27 expresses the same promise as Jeremiah 31:33 using different words. The culminating privilege in both Ezekiel 36:28 and Jeremiah 31:33 is the ultimate covenant blessing: so you will be My people and I will be your God. What does God do in the New Covenant to make us His people? He regenerates us. He removes our dead, rebellious hearts of stone and gives us a new living heart in which His Law is written and in which His Spirit dwells. He gives us new life with a new moral nature. Having written His Law in our hearts, we are inclined to live the life of obedient love to God and to neighbor, the life of a son of God, the life prescribed by the Law.
The question when we come to the New Testament therefore, is not “What is the Law?” but, “Where is the Law?” The content of the Law has not changed, but its location has. The Law is no longer housed in the heart of the Old Covenant nation, in the Ark of the Covenant in the Holy of Holies. The Law is now transcribed in the hearts of God’s New Covenant people. You are our letter, written in our hearts, known and read by all men; being manifested that you are a letter of Christ, cared for by us, written not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of human hearts (2 Cor 3:2-3). Paul has Jeremiah 31:33 in mind. In verse 2, he speaks of the Corinthian Christians as his letter, written in our hearts. He is describing that living unity he has with them in the Spirit. This is the language of Paul’s shared life and love for the Corinthians. Then, in verse 3, Paul describes how it is that the Christian is a communication of Christ to all men. As Old Covenant Israel was to be a demonstration of God’s new humanity, so the New Covenant people of God are to display the glory of God’s grace as the new humanity in Christ. The Christian is a letter of Christ, a living epistle written to men by Christ. For many in our lives, we are the only “Bible” that they will “read.” What will men “read?” A communication from Christ written not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God. They will “read” our lives. What kind of life will they see? The life of the Spirit who has written, not on tablets of stone, but on tablets of human hearts. Written what? God’s Law. We are being manifest. We are the visible media through which God communicates to men. Men will “read” our lives before they read Scripture. God’s Law is not displayed for men on tablets of stone. God’s Law is no longer located in the Ark of the Covenant, in the heart of the Old Covenant Theocracy, written on tablets of stone. God’s Law is now being manifested, displayed in the lives of His New Covenant people who authentically, from the heart, strive to love God and love neighbor. The command to love is even elevated beyond the obligation to obey God’s Law in our dealings with one another. As Christians, we are to learn how to love as Jesus loves: self sacrificially, for the eternal good of the one loved (Jn 13:34-35; 1 Jn 2:7-8; 2 Jn 1:4-5).12
Beware of Antimomianism
Do not settle for a truncated, minimized view of salvation and the Christian life. Do not allow yourself to focus solely on the blessing of justification, as though being converted and believing in Jesus as your Savior were the sum and substance of being a Christian. Understand that we are also called to live sanctified lives, to deny ungodliness and worldly desires and to live sensibly, righteously, and godly in the present age (Tit 2:12). Our faith is a living faith, an active faith, an obedient and fruitful faith. The “good news” of the gospel not only concerns the person and work of Christ, but it also concerns the persona and work of the Holy Spirit. It is good news to know that we have been given the Holy Spirit who rewires the moral circuitry of our hearts, who rewrites God’s Law into the DNA of our spiritual lives, and who enables us to live lives of love as God’s children. As Christians, we believe, not only that Jesus died and rose again for us, but that we can, by the enablement of the Spirit, live lives of righteous love.
The Law is holy, and the commandment is holy and righteous and good (Rom 7:12). The Law is good, if one uses it lawfully (1 Tim 1:5-8). Antinomianism and Legalism misuse the Law. Our concern in this article has been for Antinomian tendencies which diminish the place of God’s Law in the life of the believer and, ironically, often institute man-made or culture-derived rules in its place. We inevitably conform to someone’s standards, someone’s regulations. David says, I shall run the way of Your commandments, for You will enlarge my heart. Teach me, O Lord, the way of Your statues, and I shall observe it to the end, Give me understanding, that I may observe Your law and keep it with all my heart (Ps 119:32-34). As we learn to measure our behavior in the light of God’s Law, we discover that we can actually run with liberty, not encumbered by man-made traditions and duties which often run counter to God’s Law. We can be liberated from people’s judgment of us because we are learning to live with a good conscience before God and man (Acts 24:16; 1 Cor 4:3-5).
I heard a story of a man who came to faith in Christ during his time in prison. Soon after he was released, he went into a little church which had the Ten Commandments inscribed on one of the walls. He sat down on a pew beneath God’s Law and began to weep. The pastor saw him, sat next to him, put his arm around him and asked, “Why are you crying?” The ex-con said, “Because of those words on the wall.” The pastor assumed that he was under conviction of sin and he began to tell him that Jesus died for sinners and rose again for our justification.13 The new believer responded, “Oh, I know about Jesus’ love and forgiveness. That’s why these words are so wonderful and make me weep with joy!” The pastor was a bit confused. “What do you mean?” he asked. The ex-prisoner replied, “I just can’t get over these promises! After all the terrible things I’ve done. To think that I will not commit adultery; that I will not steal; and that I will not lie! Why, I’ve done nothing but cheat and lie all my life! These promises are wonderful!” This young believer saw God’s Law as promises of his new life in Christ! Have you ever read the Law as promises? In a real sense, they are promises, prescribing what the Spirit enables us to do as He teaches us how to love God and to love neighbor.
It Is As We Live as the Sons of God in Christ That We Balance Love and Law
If Antinomianism and Legalism are tendencies which tilt to an imbalance on either side of the question of the role of the Law in the life of the Christian, how can we find our balance? First, we must never set the Law and Love at odds with each other. Jesus tells us that God’s Law is summed up in two great commands: love of God and love of neighbor (Mar 12:28-31). Jesus joins love and law when He informs us that if we love Him, we will keep His commandments (Jn 14:15). Likewise, after specifically reiterating several of the Ten Commandments, Paul defines love as the fulfillment of the law (Rom 13:8-10). If you love me, I will trust you not to lie to me, or steal from me, or treat my wife or my daughter in an impure manner. If you love me, you will not encourage me to neglect the worship of God or attempt to entice me to serve Mammon rather than Christ (Luke 16:13). Love has a moral backbone and walks uprightly in the way of righteousness. Love does deeds of kindness, even sacrifices self for the good of the one loved (Eph 5:25-27). Albert Martin describes the relationship between love and the Law when he says, “The Law is Love’s eyes. Without Law, Love is blind. And Love is the Law’s heart. Without Love, the Law is dead.” Never think that God’s Law has an argument with Biblical Love.
Second, understand – better yet, experience – the Law written into your heart. Remember that if you are a believer, that is because God the Spirit has given you new life. He has regenerated you and united you to Christ in repentance and faith. Your new life is holy and you are inclined to love and obey God. Paul describes your new birth in Titus 3:5-7 as the washing of regeneration and renewing by the Holy Spirit. When the Holy Spirit renews us, He simultaneously washes and cleanses us (John 3:5). The life the Christian lives is, by definition, a holy life which stems from having been born of God. The regenerated Christian lives and behaves in a manner that aligns with the Ten Commandments because that Law is written into his heart.
Third, remember that the Holy Spirit is the Spirit of adoption (Rom 8:14-17). Not only are we justified, forgiven and legally righteous in Christ, we are also adopted as sons of God. We know God as our Abba! Father! The climate in which we relate to God is one of affection, security and joy in our Father’s love. Our desire, therefore, is to show Him our love and to please Him. For you were formerly darkness, but now you are Light in the Lord; walk as children of Light (for the fruit of the Light consists in all goodness and righteousness and truth), trying to learn what is pleasing to the Lord (Eph 5:8-10). It is inconceivable that we could ever please our Father by a careless disregard for His Law.
Finally, remember that you are united to Jesus, legally and livingly. You have been given His righteousness and status as justified sons of God. You have been given His Spirit in resurrection victory so that you can already begin, by faith, to live in the power of the resurrection, to live a life of love. It is as you exercise faith in Jesus and in His Spirit that you will grow as a Christian. You are wonderfully blessed! You are a son of God Most High (Luke 6:35)! Live by faith as a child of God. Strive to love and please your heavenly Father, delighting to obey His Law, willing to deny and sacrifice yourself for His glory and for the good of others. Live united to Jesus, the true Son of God who in loving obedience to His Father, lived, died and rose again for us so that we would glorify Him now and forever.
Notes:
1 This four-part series follows the main outline of A Reformed Baptist Manifesto: The New Covenant Constitution of the Church by Dr. Sam Waldron (Palmdale, CA: Reformed Baptist Academic Press, 2004). Although I follow Dr. Waldron’s main outline, I have reshaped the substance of the arguments presented in these articles.
2 I am using the New American Standard Bible. For the sake of space, quotes from Scripture will be limited, but I encourage you to read the passages referenced in your Bible so as to benefit from our study together. Let us be Berean-spirited and examine the Scriptures to see whether these things are so (Acts 11:11).
3 Often Romans 6:14b, for you are not under law but under grace, is cited while the first half of the verse and its context.
4 See Mark Jones, Antinomianism: Reformed Theology’s Unwelcome Guest? (Phillipsburg, NJ: Presbyterian and Reformed, 2013).
5 “Evangelical obedience” refers to the believer’s loving obedience to God as our Father; an obedience rooted in the ‘evangel,’ the gospel; an obedience evidencing a true, living, saving faith.
6 In verses 9-11 Paul’s uses the Law to indict sinners. This is what the Puritans called “the first use of the Law.” When you consider Paul’s vocabulary and the way in which he arranges his description of the lawless and rebellious, you can discern the morality Ten Commandments. Paul does not quote the Ten Commandments, but it is evident that God’s Law structures Paul’s thinking in verses 9-10.
7 For a helpful overview, see The London Baptist Confession of Faith of 1689 chapter 19, “Of The Law of God.”
8 That the relationship of sonship is inherent in what it means to be God’s “image,” is seen in the genealogy of Genesis 5.
9 The Roman numerals Ist, IInd, IIIrd, IVth, Vth, VIth, VIIth, VIIIth, IXth and Xth enumerate the Ten Commandments.
10 …the new self, which in the likeness of God has been created in righteousness and holiness of the truth (Eph 4:24).
11 The theme of “the promised land” is part of the backbone of Redemptive History which can be traced from the Garden of Eden to the New Heavens and Earth. Old Covenant Israel’s land was a type, a picture of the land which God ultimately gives to His resurrected people in the age to come.
12 A consideration of Jesus’ new commandment will have to wait a future article. Our interests at this point concern Antinomianism and the Law of God.
13 The Puritans speak of “Three Uses” of the Law. The first use is to define sin, to convict of sin and to restrain sin. The second use is to reveal Christ and drive the sinner to Christ. The third use is to show the Christian how to live the life of discipleship and love.
14 I have heard Pastor Martin repeat his memorable “proverb” in his public preaching and personal conversation.
© 2014 Dr. Alan J. Dunn, used with permission.