Friday, February 10, 2017

Take Up Your Cross

I have been a minister at our local county jail in Humboldt County for several years now. Earlier on, I had been ministering in a dorm where there was a high percentage of new inmates each week. As a result, I would bring the message of the gospel each week so that the new attendees would get a basic understanding of Christianity.

One day, after I had been doing this for a couple years, I had a group of perhaps 8 or 9 fellows. I found both myself and the fellows transfixed as the Holy Spirit poured out a profound series of scriptures from memory that constructed a clear understanding of impact of Christ's death and resurrection. Some time later, I wrote all the passages down, and since then I have added slightly to it as illuminated by the Holy Spirit.

The message is essentially an explanation on how to realize Paul's great summary statement that the "word of God in its fullness"..."is Christ in you, the hope of glory".

Col 1:25, 27 I have become its servant by the commission God gave me to present to you the word of God in its fullness-- ... To them [God's people] God has chosen to make known among the Gentiles the glorious riches of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.

What follows is that message, which I continue to use as a basic template to this day.

Take Up Your Cross and Follow Me


In Matthew chapter 10, very shortly after Jesus calls the 12 apostles, He issues to them what must have been a perplexing command. He told them:

Mat 10:38  And whoever does not take up his cross and follow me is not worthy of me.

Jesus didn't tell them this once, later in His ministry he emphasizes this again:

Mat 16:24 Then Jesus said to his disciples, "If anyone wants to come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.

A common interpretation of these passages is that following Him in this life will be hard, like carrying a cross around as we lived out our life trying to follow His ways. If we are not willing to work hard in following Him, then we are not worthy of Him. Perhaps the disciples had thoughts like this, of a hard life in the willingness to follow Him. But is this really what Jesus was saying?

The apostles really had no what He was really telling them. They were surely aware that the Romans put people to death by crucifixion, and they had surely had seen the Roman crosses with criminals hanging on them, but what did this have to do with Jesus? We can read late in Luke that the disciples did not understand any of what Jesus was talking about with regards to His death. They had not made the connection between Jesus saying He was going to die and the reality that His death was going to be carried out on a cross, and did not know the implication of that. They surely did not know what Jesus meant when He told them to take up their cross.

Luk 18:31-34 Jesus took the Twelve aside and told them, "We are going up to Jerusalem, and everything that is written by the prophets about the Son of Man will be fulfilled. (32) He will be delivered over to the Gentiles. They will mock him, insult him and spit on him; (33) they will flog him and kill him. On the third day he will rise again." (34) The disciples did not understand any of this. Its meaning was hidden from them, and they did not know what he was talking about.

The impact of Jesus' command to take up their cross and follow Him must have begun to hit them when they saw Jesus carrying the cross on the Via Dolo Rosa. They may have reacted in horror as they considered that what Jesus had told them to do was to follow Him to His crucifixion. After all, Jesus did tell them twice to take up their cross and follow Him, and here they were seeing Him for the first time with a cross, going to His crucifixion.

Paul's Understanding


What could this mean? The full understanding of what was meant by taking up their cross and following Jesus was not initially available to the disciples. It took some time before the fullness of what Jesus was saying would come to be known. The manner of taking up our cross and following Him was not meant physically, but rather spiritually. It wasn't until years later when Paul was given the revelation and understanding of what all it meant (Gal 1:11-12)  that the true meaning started to come out and be known. Paul hit directly on the meaning of "take up your cross and follow me" when he said:

Gal 2:19-20  ... I have been crucified with Christ, and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me, and that life I now live in the flesh, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.

Paul obviously had not been physically crucified, he was the one writing to the Galatians. Clearly, Paul understood the spiritual meaning behind "take up your cross and follow me" and associated it with "being crucified with Christ".

Paul further identified Jesus' words, "let him deny himself" (Mat 16:24) with "crucified the flesh together with its feelings and desires" in this passage:

Gal 5:24 Now those who belong to Christ have crucified the flesh together with its feelings and its desires.

What Paul is saying is that taking up our cross and following Jesus means death to our selfish nature with its fleshly feelings and desires. To crucify means to put selfish feelings and desires to death, to throw them away, to put them out of our mind, and to die to them.

Crucified With Christ


But this is easier said than done. No matter how hard we try, we seem powerless to accomplish setting aside selfishness and our fleshly wants and desires. So how is this accomplished?

What follows is a step by step description of how this is worked out in our lives.

James breaks down and explains the problem:

Jas 1:14-15 But each one is tempted when he is dragged away and enticed by his own desires. (15) Then desire, after it has conceived, gives birth to sin, and sin, when it is brought to completion, gives birth to death.

We see an object of desire
We allow desire to grow to uncontrollable dimensions
We are dragged away by our out of control desire
Out of control desire leads to sin being birthed
Sin leads to spiritual corruption and then to death

This process is actually the path that a man takes when he lives for the flesh, from temptation to death. Our efforts to gain freedom from this process can leave us feeling rather hopeless. All around us we can see people who are living spiritually dead lives. Death is the loss of spiritual life and peace in this life, as Paul explains here:

Rom 8:6 "For the mindset of the flesh is death, but the mindset of the Spirit is life and peace,".

As hopeless as it may seem to break free from this, Paul helps us keep it in perspective:

1 Cor 10:13 Temptation has not come upon you except what is common to humanity. But God is faithful, who will not permit you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but will also make a way out together with the temptation, so that you may be able to endure it.

What this means is that if you see people around you that are living peaceful lives there is nothing special about them, for all temptation is common. No one has greater or lessor temptations than other people. You too can experience the same peace that you see others experiencing, for God will provide you "a way out" with the temptation just like everyone else has been provided a "way out" with their temptations.

So what is the first step, where is that doorway that leads to the "way out" from the temptation?

2 Cor 10:3-5 For although we are living in the flesh, we do not wage war according to the flesh, (4) for the weapons of our warfare are not merely human, but powerful to God for the tearing down of fortresses, tearing down arguments (5) and all pride that is raised up against the knowledge of God, and taking every thought captive to the obedience of Christ.

In the explanation that James gave of the problem above, the "way out" is between "seeing the object of desire" and "allowing that desire to grow to uncontrollable dimensions". The "way out" begins with taking the thought of fleshly desire captive when it first occurs. You capture it by recognizing it before it has a chance to grow, holding it up before you and saying, "I see you, you temptation!" and grabbing a hold of it before you get to the point where you take action on it.

OK, so now you have recognized this thought and captured it, now what? The next step is to ask God for help in dealing with it while you have it captured.

Heb 4:15-16 For we do not have a high priest who is not able to sympathize with our weaknesses, but who has been tempted in all things in the same way, without sin. (16) Therefore let us approach with confidence to the throne of grace, in order that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.

Jesus has been there, He knows what we are going through, and He has promised mercy and grace, help in our time of need. Our part is to capture the thoughts and bring them to Him. His part is to help us to put the thought to death, if and when we bring it to Him.

The process of capturing thoughts, and bringing them to Jesus so they can be put down is "being crucified with Christ", and is the essence of Jesus' words, "let him deny himself, take up your cross and follow Me."

Now what happens when we bring these thoughts to Jesus? What does Jesus do when we bring thoughts captive to Him? At the moment we bring each thought captive to Jesus, we are calling out to Him and inviting His influence in us, and putting ourself in a position that will allow Him to help us. When we do that, we receive power, and pass from death to life. A "light" shines in our hearts. Paul calls this light in us "treasure in jars of clay"!

2 Cor 4:7 But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us.

2 Cor 4:10 We always carry around in our body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be revealed in our body.


So the next question to be answered is how does this power come, what form does passing from death to life take?

Resurrection Life Promised


Paul states in this pivotal passage that through "death" comes "life".

Rom 6:6-8 For we know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body ruled by sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin-- (7) because anyone who has died has been set free from sin. (8) Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him.

The reason Jesus told His disciples, and us to "take up our cross and follow Him" in this way is because if we follow Jesus in His manner of death, then we will also then be able to follow Jesus in His manner of life, the very resurrection life that can bring dead men to life.

Rom 6:4-5 Therefore we have been buried with him through baptism into death, in order that just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so also we may live a new way of life. (5) For if we have become identified with him in the likeness of his death, certainly also we will be identified with him in the likeness of his resurrection,

These words of Paul teach us that the reason for "denying ourselves", "taking up our cross and following Him", being "crucified with Christ", is because that is the only path to life. It is only through death that life comes. John recorded a metaphor that Jesus related in this discussion of taking up our crosses:

John 12:24 Very truly I tell you, unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds.

The promise of resurrection life pouring into our lives is brought about through following Christ in His crucifixion.

Resurrection Life Through Transformation


The pragmatic implantation of resurrection life in us is the fulfillment of the promise of the New Covenant. Jeremiah recorded:

Jer 31:33 "This is the covenant I will make with the people of Israel after that time," declares the LORD. "I will put my law in their minds and write it on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people.

God is doing the writing, and that writing takes place as we are transformed into Christ's likeness. Ezekiel expands on this by connecting the New Covenant with a new Spirit being placed in us:

Eze 36:26-27 I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. (27) And I will put my Spirit in you and move you to follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws. (See also Eze 11:19)

Quite simply, resurrection life comes through the Holy Spirit living inside of us.

Rom 8:11 And if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies because of his Spirit who lives in you.

And how does the Holy Spirit come to live in an abiding way inside of us? The Spirit finds room in our hearts as we capture our fleshly thoughts, wants and desires, and bring them to Jesus in our time of need. By doing this, we extend an open invitation, born of our own free will, to the Holy Spirit to come in and live within us. Along with this invitation, we consent to His influence in our minds and hearts so that changes can be brought about by Him. By this we are made into a new creation as He takes off the old man and put on the new man and transformation has its full effect in us.

2 Cor 5:17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!

Eph  4:22-24 You were taught, with regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires; (23) to be made new in the attitude of your minds; (24) and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness.

Rom 12:2 Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is--his good, pleasing and perfect will.

Tit 3:4-5 But when the kindness and love of God our Savior appeared, (5) he saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy. He saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit,


The work of resurrection life happens in us through no effort of our own, it is entirely the Holy Spirit's work. Our part is to submit and yield, allowing the Holy Spirit to do that work in us by coming to Him and accepting His help.

2 Cor 3:18 And we all, who with unveiled faces contemplate the Lord's glory, are being transformed into his image with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.

Result is Fruit and Assurance of Salvation


The outward expression of the inward transformation by the Holy Spirit is expressed agape love. The expression of love for our neighbor is the opposite of the pursuit of selfish fleshly wants and desires.

Agape love is associated with divine revelation, and is an overcoming love that is planted into us by the Spirit. Agape love is powerful, and has some of the same nature as light. In the same way that light dispels darkness, so to does agape love dispel darkness. In the same way that darkness cannot overpower light, so to evil cannot overcome agape love. The intent of transformation through and by resurrection life is simply to produce agape love for God and neighbor within our hearts and minds.

The presence of agape love in our lives is the measurement with which we can examine ourselves to see if and how deeply we are in the faith.

2 Cor 13:4-5 For to be sure, he was crucified in weakness, yet he lives by God's power. Likewise, we are weak in him, yet by God's power we will live with him in our dealing with you. (5) Examine yourselves to see whether you are in the faith; test yourselves. Do you not realize that Christ Jesus is in you--unless, of course, you fail the test?

The test that measures Christ is in us is that of expressed love. Is your life characterized by the following descriptions of love? These characteristics are the yardstick with which to examine ourselves.

Gal 5:22-23 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, (23) gentleness, self control. ...

1 Cor 13:4-7 Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. (5) It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. (6) Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. (7) It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.

Col 3:12-14 Therefore, as God's chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. (13) Bear with each other and forgive one another if any of you has a grievance against someone. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. (14) And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity.


The production of agape love as the end result of taking up our cross and following Jesus and so passing from death to life is so profound, that it is by this that we may know that we are saved. It is by the presence of agape love that we know that Christ is in us. The following passages should comfort us with the assurance of salvation based on Christ being in us as confirmed by the presence of agape love.

1 Jn 3:14 We know that we have passed over from death to life because we love the brothers. The one who does not love remains in death.

1 Jn 4:12-13 No one has seen God at any time. If we love one another, God resides in us and his love is perfected in us. (13) By this we know that we reside in him and he in us: that he has given us of his Spirit.


Christ in you, is your hope of glory!

Tuesday, February 7, 2017

The Law Written on our Hearts

In the days of Jeremiah, a prophecy was given in which God declared that He would make a New Covenant. In this declaration, Jeremiah recorded that the law of God would be written on our hearts and in our minds.

Jer 31:31-33 "The days are coming," declares the LORD, "when I will make a new covenant with the people of Israel and with the people of Judah. (32) It will not be like the covenant I made with their ancestors when I took them by the hand to lead them out of Egypt, because they broke my covenant, though I was a husband to them," declares the LORD. (33) "This is the covenant I will make with the people of Israel after that time," declares the LORD. "I will put my law in their minds and write it on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people.

What does it mean to have the law written on our hearts and minds? What form does this take? Was this a new concept, with the time prior to the New Covenant being a time when the law was written in ink and stone rather than in hearts and minds, and read and obeyed rather than internalized and obeyed?

Jesus Discusses Anger and Lust


In this famous passage from the Sermon on the Mount, it would appear that Jesus is expanding the scope of the 10 Commandments to include thoughts within the scope of all of the law. He calls out anger as an example and places thoughts within the scope of the command, "You shall not murder".

Mat 5:21-22 "You have heard that it was said to the people long ago, 'You shall not murder, and anyone who murders will be subject to judgment.' (22) But I tell you that anyone who is angry with a brother or sister will be subject to judgment. Again, anyone who says to a brother or sister, 'Raca,' is answerable to the court. And anyone who says, 'You fool!' will be in danger of the fire of hell.

Notice the words "and anyone who murders will be subject to judgment". What had happened to the people is they had been trying to obey the "letter" of the law, lest in their disobedience they would be judged and punished for breaking it; "anyone who murders will be subject to judgment". They were following the law through rote action to avoid judgment, but forgetting the intent of the law was to be obeyed through a heart change. The passage "anyone who murders will be subject to judgment" was not part of the law, but had been added by "people long ago".

Is Jesus expanding the scope of the law, or is He reminding the people of what the commands of that law had been all along? Notice this passage from Leviticus:

Lev 19:17-18 "'Do not hate a fellow Israelite in your heart. Rebuke your neighbor frankly so you will not share in their guilt. (18) "'Do not seek revenge or bear a grudge against anyone among your people, but love your neighbor as yourself. I am the LORD.

In this passage we can see that according to the law from the beginning, anger, revenge and grudges were always considered a part of the command "You shall not murder". Obedience should have come from a godly heart, not a fear of judgment. The ordinance governing the heart had been in place all along, and is here written as "love your neighbor as yourself".

We see the same thing in Jesus' discourse on lust. The command was never about just avoiding adultery, it was always about the change of heart as a part of loving your neighbor as yourself.

Pro 6:25 Do not lust in your heart after her beauty or let her captivate you with her eyes.

Jesus was not expanding, upping, or making the law harder to keep. He was reminding the people that all of the law had always governed the heart.

The Law was Always For Our Hearts and Minds


Consider these passages that qualify all of the law under the Old Covenant. Clearly from the very beginning, all of the law was to be written on our hearts.

Deu 4:9 Only be careful, and watch yourselves closely so that you do not forget the things your eyes have seen or let them fade from your heart as long as you live. Teach them to your children and to their children after them.

Deu 6:6 These commandments that I give you today are to be on your hearts.

Deu 11:18-20 "And you shall put these, my words, on your heart and on your inner self, and you shall bind them as a sign on your hand and let them be as an emblem between your eyes. (19) And you shall teach them to your children by talking about them when you sit in your house and when you travel on the road and when you lie down and when you get up. (20) And you shall write them on the doorframes of your house and on your gates,

Pro 3:1-3 My child, do not forget my instruction, and may your heart guard my commands. (2) For length of days, years of life, and peace they shall add to you. (3) May loyal love and truth not forsake you; bind them around your neck, write them upon your heart.

Pro 7:1-3 My child, guard my sayings; store my commandments with you. (2) Keep my commands and live, and my teaching like the apple of your eye. (3) Bind them on your fingers; write them on the tablet of your heart.


From these passages we can see the evidence that Jesus was not changing the law to include thoughts, the thoughts of our hearts were always a part of all of the law from the time it was first given. What Jesus was reminding them of was that the fulfillment of the law was to be found in the heart, and that fulfillment was drawing near.

Who is the Writer


Jeremiah declared that under the New Covenant: "I will put my law in their minds and write it on their hearts.". In light of the fact that the law was to have been written on our hearts from the beginning, as shown above, what was the new revelation that the New Covenant was bringing to pass?

In the passages above, notice who the writer is. God is instructing the PEOPLE to write the laws on their own hearts. Consider these instructions given to the people in just these five verses:

Don't let them fade from your heart
Impress them on your children
Talk about them
Tie them as symbols on your hands
Bind them on your foreheads
Write them on the doorframes
Put them on your hearts and inner self
Bind them as a sign on your hand
Teach them to your children
Write them on your doorframes (again)
May your heart guard them
Bind them around your neck
Write them on your heart
Store my commandments with you
Bind them on your fingers
Write them on the tablet of your heart

It is quite clear that the writer of the law under the Old Covenant is the individual PERSON. God is commanding each individual person to do the writing, binding and tying to their own hearts. Clearly the efforts of writing falls on the individual under the Old Covenant.

Now reread Jeremiah 31:33

Jer 31:33 "This is the covenant I will make with the people of Israel after that time," declares the LORD. "I will put my law in their minds and write it on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people.

How then do we reconcile God telling us that under the New Covenant that the law would be written on our hearts and minds, something that should have been done from the beginning? What is this passage actually saying?

The glory of the New Covenant can be found not only in what is being written on the hearts and minds, but in WHO is doing the writing. Under the New Covenant, God tells us that HE will write the law on our hearts and in our minds. It will no longer be left to the individual to do the writing, but Jesus through the Holy Spirit Himself will do the writing. Note this collaborating passage from Ezekiel:

Eze 36:26-27 I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. (27) And I will put my Spirit in you and move you to follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws.

Notice again in this passage from Ezekiel speaking of the coming New Covenant. It says that HE will give us a new heart, HE will put a new Spirit in us, HE will give us a heart of flesh, HE will put His Spirit in us, and HE will move us.

The writer to Hebrews collaborates this when he quotes the declaration of the Lord when He says "I will put my laws in their minds and write them on their hearts".

Heb 8:10 This is the covenant I will establish with the people of Israel after that time, declares the Lord. I will put my laws in their minds and write them on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people.

Heb 10:16 "This is the covenant I will make with them after that time, says the Lord. I will put my laws in their hearts, and I will write them on their minds."


The great change in the covenants between the Old and the New is that the writing of the law on our hearts and minds will no longer be left to us, but Jesus through the Holy Spirit will do the writing.

The connection between the coming of the Holy Spirit and the declaration that God will now do the writing is unmistakably clear. The Holy Spirit is the writer now, and it is no longer left to our own strength and power.

What is Being Written


All of this begs the question, what did God mean when He said He would write His law on our hearts and minds. Did He mean that the complete Mosaic Law would be transcribed into our hearts and minds somehow and that we would still need to keep the ordinances? Is the fulfilled state of the law different than the unfulfilled state? How can we know if the law is being written on our hearts and minds?

The evidence of what is written in our hearts and minds is easier to see then the actual writing taking place. Let's look at the evidence of the law written on our hearts and minds first.

2 Cor 3:3 You show 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.

Paul was telling the Corinthian believers that they were showing that they were a "letter from Christ" based on what was written "on tablets of human hearts" by the "Spirit of the living God". So here we have evidence that the New Covenant was in place at this time, since the person who was doing the writing had changed from the individual person, to the living God.

What is it that the Corinthians were "showing" that lead Paul to say that they were "letters from Christ"?

Love expressed is clearly the end goal of all of the law. Regardless of who does the writing, whether the people were under the Old Covenant or the New Covenant, the intent of the law was to bring change to the heart and mind with the end goal of making expressed love the preeminent and godly characteristic of mankind.

The law from the beginning was to love God and love your neighbor. Matthew recorded that all of the law contained within these two commands. The 10 Commandments bear this out, as the first 4 command us to love God, and the last 6 command us to love our neighbor:

Mat 22:37-40 Jesus replied: "'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.' (38) This is the first and greatest commandment. (39) And the second is like it: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.' (40) All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments."

Jesus was quoting two passages from Deuteronomy and Leviticus:

Deu 6:5-6 Love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. (6) These commandments that I give you today are to be on your hearts.


Lev 19:18 "'Do not seek revenge or bear a grudge against anyone among your people, but love your neighbor as yourself. I am the LORD.

It seems clear that what Jesus is saying is that the evidence of "law keeping" is completely revealed in love for God, and love for neighbor.

Rom 10:4 Christ is the culmination of the law so that there may be righteousness for everyone who believes.

The word translated "culmination" in the NIV is "tello", it means "the point aimed at as a limit, or the conclusion of an act or state". Compare "culmination" with the word translated "instruction" from the Hebrew word "yarah" in Exodus 24:12:

Exo 24:12 The LORD said to Moses, "Come up to me on the mountain and stay here, and I will give you the tablets of stone with the law and commandments I have written for their instruction."

"yarah" means to teach, instruct, inform "figuratively to point out (as if by aiming the finger)". Interestingly, the word "Torah" has a very similar meaning. The law, indeed the entire Torah was pointing to something else, and that something else was ultimately Christ, through whom the the law in it's fulfilled state would finally be written on our hearts.

The result of the law being written in our heart, it's fulfillment, what it was pointing at, that in which the culmination was Christ, was love of God and love of neighbor. This love was by Christ through the Holy Spirit as declared in the New Covenant by HIM doing the writing on our hearts.

In this way, we can see that through Christ's "culmination" of the law, all of the commands of the New Covenant are to keep the law in it's FULFILLED state of agape love poured out on our hearts.

Under the Old Covenant, love was to be expressed through our efforts at internalizing the law into our own hearts, and by it being changed into a person who accurately reflected God's loving nature. Under the New Covenant, love is "agape", love planted in our heart by divine revelation and poured out in action towards God and neighbor.

Rom 5:5 And hope does not put us to shame, because God's love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us.

The fulfillment of the law is agape love. Agape love is that love which is planted within us by divine revelation, and which then flows outwards to God and our neighbors by it's very nature. The divine revelation of agape love is the fulfilled law, written into our hearts.

When love is expressed with actions and truth, it has a specific nature, primarily, it is a love felt by the recipients, the recipients being reasonable people. This love in truth and action is described for us in several passages:

1 Jn 3:18 Dear children, let us not love with words or speech but with actions and in truth.

Gal 5:22-23 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, (23) gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law.

1 Cor 13:4-7 Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. (5) It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. (6) Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. (7) It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.

Col 3:12-14 Therefore, as God's chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. (13) Bear with each other and forgive one another if any of you has a grievance against someone. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. (14) And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity.


Therefore, keeping the law and the commands of God under the New Covenant are specifically understood to be the law in it's fulfilled state of agape love which is poured into our hearts. If Christ had not fulfilled the law, then we would still be trying to internalize the law under our own strength and power as was the case under the Old Covenant. That is the context for the following passages:

Rom 13:8 Let no debt remain outstanding, except the continuing debt to love one another, for whoever loves others has fulfilled the law.

Rom 13:10 Love does not commit evil against a neighbor. Therefore love is the fulfillment of the law.

Gal 5:14 For the entire law is fulfilled in keeping this one command: "Love your neighbor as yourself."


How is it Being Written


In the following verses we read that we become Christ like as the Holy Spirit makes us new, transforms us, and regenerates us through washing and renewal by His cleansing interaction with our mind and heart. This transformation and regeneration is the process of writing happening on our hearts.

Under the Old Covenant, change was commanded by God through the instruction to obey the law written in ink. Under the New Covenant, Christ brings regeneration and we change, that is the process of the fulfilled law being written on our heart by the Spirit.

2 Cor 3:6 He has made us competent as ministers of a new covenant--not of the letter but of the Spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.

Eph 4:22-24 You were taught, with regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires; (23) to be made new in the attitude of your minds; (24) and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness.

Rom 12:2 Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is--his good, pleasing and perfect will.

Tit 3:4-6 But when the kindness and love of God our Savior appeared, (5) he saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy. He saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit, (6) whom he poured out on us generously through Jesus Christ our Savior,


Thus, that which is doing the writing under the New Covenant is the Holy Spirit. The "pen" is rebirth, renewal, transformation, all of which lead to the presence of agape love in our hearts.

Conclusion


One of the primary factors distinguishing between the Old and New Covenants is who the writer of our hearts and minds is. Under the Old, we are commanded to be the writer, and under the New, the Holy Spirit is the writer.

Both the Old and the New Covenant law commands us to love God and love our neighbor. The Old Covenant Mosaic Law commanded us as individuals to do that, the New Covenant commands us to allow the Holy Spirit to do that through us.

While the Mosaic Law pointed at love, the Holy Spirit IS love. The writing in our hearts is not of the letter of the law which pointed at love, but of the Spirit who IS love.

When the writers of the New Testament speak of keeping the "commands" of God, they are speaking not of the law written in ink, but the fulfilled law. If Jesus fulfilled all of the law, then the commands we are told to keep under the New Covenant are those of the law in it's fulfilled state, that which the law pointed at, agape love.

Remember that "Torah", and "instruction" are both translated from Hebrew words meaning "to point towards, as if by pointing the finger" at a greater thing, such as godly character from the heart. The law was unable to produce godly character from the heart even though that is what the Israelites were commanded to do. Jesus however, was able to be a man of perfect godly character, thus fulfilling the law, and has subsequently come to live in us and by His work in us produce godly character in us Himself. Through Christ in us, we are able to realize the fulfillment of the law in us through agape love.

So there should be no confusion about what law is being written on our hearts and minds, and what we are to keep. It is the law in it's fulfilled nature, agape love, poured into us. Consider just a few of the passages that make this perfectly clear, from the perspective that "love" in the verses below is that agape love which God pours into and writes onto our hearts:

John 13:34 "A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another.

2 Jn 1:5-6 And now, dear lady, I am not writing you a new command but one we have had from the beginning. I ask that we love one another. (6) And this is love: that we walk in obedience to his commands. As you have heard from the beginning, his command is that you walk in love.
Note: The command was not new in that we have always had the command to love God and one another. But it IS new in respect to it's fulfilled nature and source, agape, love given by divine revelation.

John 15:12 My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you.

John 15:17 This is my command: Love each other.

Rom 12:10 Be devoted to one another in love. Honor one another above yourselves.

Eph 5:1-2 Follow God's example, therefore, as dearly loved children (2) and walk in the way of love, just as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.

1 Pe 4:8-9 Above all, love each other deeply, because love covers over a multitude of sins. (9) Offer hospitality to one another without grumbling.

1 Jn 3:22-23 and receive from him anything we ask, because we keep his commands and do what pleases him. (23) And this is his command: to believe in the name of his Son, Jesus Christ, and to love one another as he commanded us.

1 Jn 4:21 And he has given us this command: Anyone who loves God must also love their brother and sister.

Friday, February 3, 2017

The Law Fulfilled by Love


This is a summary outline of the progression of the Law from written to love expressed.

The Law (written Mosaic Law) was Temporary:

Gal 3:24 So the law was our guardian until Christ came that we might be justified by faith.
Luk 16:16 "The Law and the Prophets were proclaimed until John. ....
Gal 3:19 Why, then, was the law given at all? It was added because of transgressions until the Seed to whom the promise referred had come. ....

The Reason the Law Was Temporary is Because:

Gal 2:19 "For through the law I died to the law so that I might live for God.
Gal 3:11 Clearly no one who relies on the law is justified before God, because "the righteous will live by faith."
Gal 3:12 The law is not based on faith; on the contrary, it says, "The person who does these things will live by them."

Therefore......

Heb 8:13 By calling the covenant new, He has declared the old obsolete and near to disappearing.

This is the specific declaration of New Covenant law, supported by a library of collaborative scripture.....

1 John 3:23 "And this is his commandment: that we believe in the name of his Son Jesus Christ and love one another, just as he commanded us."

This Love is the Called For Fulfillment of the Law In Mat_5:17:

Rom 13:10 Love does not commit evil against a neighbor. Therefore love is the fulfillment of the law.
Rom 8:4 in order that the requirement of the law would be fulfilled in us, who do not live according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.
Rom 10:4 Christ is the culmination of the law so that there may be righteousness for everyone who believes.

The Death of Jesus Accomplished Everything Per Mat_5:18:

John 19:30 When he had received the drink, Jesus said, "It is finished." With that, he bowed his head and gave up his spirit.

Faith Expressed as Love is the only thing that counts:

Gal 5:6 For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision has any value. The only thing that counts is faith expressing itself through love.