Download Lesson 4 June 22 2008

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Lesson Four
Exodus 20:3-5
Exodus 20:3-5
3 Thou shalt have no other gods before me.
4 Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven
image, or any likeness of any thing that is in
heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or
that is in the water under the earth:
5 Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor
serve them: for I the LORD thy God am a jealous
God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the
children unto the third and fourth generation of
them that hate me;
Exodus 20:6-9
Exodus 20:6-9
6 And shewing mercy unto thousands of them
that love me, and keep my commandments.
7 Thou shalt not take the name of the LORD thy
God in vain; for the LORD will not hold him
guiltless that taketh his name in vain.
8 Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy.
9 Six days shalt thou labour, and do all thy work:
Exodus 20:10-11
Exodus 20:10-11
10 But the seventh day is the sabbath of the LORD
thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work, thou,
nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant,
nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy
stranger that is within thy gates:
11 For in six days the LORD made heaven and
earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested
the seventh day: wherefore the LORD blessed the
sabbath day, and hallowed it.
Exodus 20:12-16
Exodus 20:12-16
12 Honour thy father and thy mother: that thy
days may be long upon the land which the LORD
thy God giveth thee.
13 Thou shalt not kill.
14 Thou shalt not commit adultery.
15 Thou shalt not steal.
16 Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy
neighbour.
Exodus 20:17
Exodus 20:17
17 Thou shalt not covet thy neighbour’s house,
thou shalt not covet thy neighbour’s wife, nor
his manservant, nor his maidservant, nor his ox,
nor his ass, nor any thing that is thy neighbour’s.
Focus Verse
Exodus 20:6
And shewing mercy unto thousands of them
that love me, and keep my commandments.
Focus Thought
The law was given to be a schoolmaster of
things to come and to make sin evident.
Although the law was holy, just, and good,
it did not give power to live above sin.
Only the Spirit of Christ resident within
the believer can accomplish this.
Introduction
Introduction
In Exodus 20, God proclaimed the Ten
Commandments to Israel. Before announcing these
commandments, God had redeemed the people of
Israel from Egyptian bondage and had brought them
miraculously across the Red Sea (Exodus 12-14).
They were encamped at the foot of Mount Sinai
when God gave His commandments (Exodus 19:12).
Introduction
It was an awe-inspiring and reverent occasion. The
Lord warned Moses that anyone who touched the
base of the mountain would pay with his life
(Exodus 19:16, 18-19). After the people of Israel
had witnessed a terrifying demonstration of God’s
power and majesty on Sinai (Exodus 19:17), God
again cautioned that only Moses and Aaron could
ascend the fiery mountain (Exodus 19:21-25).
Introduction
In this atmosphere of God’s holy and fearful
presence (Exodus 20:18-21), God spoke the Ten
Commandments. These commandments, also
known as the Decalogue (meaning “ten words”),
formed the basis of the covenant agreement into
which the people of Israel were about to enter with
the Lord (Exodus 24:3-8) and would shortly renew
(Exodus 34:10-28).
Introduction
They had to renew the covenant because they
immediately violated it by worshiping Aaron’s
golden calf (Exodus 32). Angry at this incident,
Moses broke the first set of stone tablets containing
the Ten Commandments (Exodus 32:19); he later
cut out a new set of tablets (Exodus 34:1-4) and
helped mediate a covenantal renewal between
Israel—“a stiffnecked people” (Exodus 34:9)—and
the Lord.
Introduction
Unfortunately, the golden calf affair signaled only
the beginning of the Israelites’ failure to live up to
their promise to keep the Ten Commandments.
God’s terrifying presence on Sinai coupled with His
severe warnings could not cause them to follow His
good and holy commandments. What they sorely
needed was a Savior who could transform their
rebellious natures and write His commandments on
their hearts. This Savior, who came to fulfill the
law, was Jesus Christ (Matthew 5:17).
The
Strength
I. The Strength of the Law
of
the
Law
(A)
While it may be tempting to fault the law as the
primary culprit responsible for Israel’s failure, the
law itself was not to blame. Rather, human sin and
rebellion were at fault. As we shall see, the Bible has
many positive things to say about the law and its
purposes.
I. The
theas aLaw
The TenStrength
Commandmentsof
served
summation of
the various laws instituted by God and elaborated
upon later in (A)
the Pentateuch, the first five books of
Moses. (For example, see Exodus 21-23.) These
commandments outlined the requirements to live
pleasing and righteously before God. They were
divine in origin; God initiated them with a special
goal in mind: to lead people to Jesus Christ.
I.
A. The Law Is Our
TheSchoolmaster
Strength of the
(A)
Law
The apostle Paul had a great deal to say about the
law in his epistles. He had been raised as a Jew and
had served as a member of the sect of the Pharisees
before his conversion in Damascus (Acts 21:39;
22:3; Philippians 3:5). Paul was well acquainted
with the challenges of keeping the law, and after his
encounter with Christ, he was forced to rethink his
entire approach to it.
The problem
of the law of
was intensified
by the
I. The
Strength
the Law
inclusion of Gentiles into the church. Were the
(A)
Gentiles, who
were for the most part unfamiliar
with the various stipulations of Jewish law, required
to keep the law in order to be saved?
This issue
was hotly debated
at the Law
Jerusalem
I. The
Strength
of the
council (Acts 15), where the apostles decreed that
(A) to the law was not required of
absolute adherence
Gentile converts. However, they admonished them
in a letter to “abstain from meats offered to idols,
and from blood, and from things strangled, and
from fornication” (Acts 15:29).
In the matter
of Gentile of
Christians
I. The
Strength
the keeping
Lawthe law,
Paul became especially alarmed over believers in
the region of(A)
Galatia who were being enticed by so-
called Judaizers to revert to law-keeping as a basis
for their justification before God (Galatians 3:1-4).
Paul argued that the patriarch Abraham received
God’s promise and was justified by faith several
centuries before the advent of the law (Galatians
3:5-9, 16-18).
Paul said
that the law was
I. The
Strength
ofgiven
the“because
Lawof
transgressions, till the seed should come to whom
the promise (A)
was made; and it was ordained by
angels in the hand of a mediator” (Galatians 3:19).
The divinely
inspired law
delivered
by the
I. The
Strength
ofwasthe
Law
mediator Moses and served a temporary and
(A)purpose. It was a provisional
forward-looking
measure in which “before faith came” the doers of
the law “were kept by the law, shut up unto the faith
which would afterward be revealed” (Galatians
3:23).
The lawStrength
was never intended
be a Law
long-term
I. The
of tothe
solution to the problem of sin. Rather, Paul
(A)
explained, the
law was a “schoolmaster” (Greek
paidagogos; Galatians 3:24)—a teacher or tutor
assigned with the responsibility of the oversight of
children until they reached maturity. In biblical
times, this individual, typically a slave, looked out
for the well-being of the children and trained them
in the behaviors and skills necessary to become
upright and productive members of society.
“A tutorStrength
in ancient Greek
accompany
I. The
ofculture
thewould
Law
the children in his care, instructing and disciplining
(A) The law was like a tutor
them when necessary.
because it both corrected and instructed the
Israelites in God’s way until Christ was revealed,
and such a tutor was no longer needed” (Nelson
Study Bible, Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson, Inc.,
1997), 1974). Used by permission.
Once Jesus
Christ stepped
the Law
scene and
I. The
Strength
ofonto
the
accomplished His transforming work in people’s
(A)
hearts, the law
had essentially performed its
purpose.
B. The Law Declares Sin
I. The Strength of the Law
The law also
served to declare and identify sin.
(B-E)
After their expulsion from the Garden of Eden,
Adam and Eve no longer experienced the presence
of and communion with God that they once had
enjoyed.
I. The
Strength
of
the
Law
After their separation from the garden, sin ran
rampant in(B-E)
the world, and earth became an
increasingly violent and immoral place. A means
was needed to enlighten people of their sin, for
“the heart is deceitful above all things, and
desperately wicked: who can know it?” (Jeremiah
17:9).
I. The
Strength
of
the
Law
Paul addressed this very issue when writing to the
Romans. By
introducing a standard by which to
(B-E)
determine right from wrong, the law functioned to
draw a person’s attention to his sin. Paul wrote, “I
had not known sin, but by the law” (Romans 7:7).
I. The
Strength
of
the
Law
Citing Paul’s example, had it not been for the tenth
commandment,
“Thou shalt not covet” (Exodus
(B-E)
20:17), Paul would have been ignorant of the sin of
covetousness (Romans 7:7). The commandment
forbidding this sin acted to highlight the reality,
essence, and wickedness of the transgression.
I. The
Strength
of
the
Law
It awakened a profound awareness in the sinner of
the seriousness
of his offense against God. Again,
(B-E)
Paul wrote, “For I was alive without the law once:
but when the commandment came, sin revived, and
I died” (Romans 7:9).
I. The
Strength
of
the
Law
Furthermore, this awareness brought on by the law
helped to (B-E)
rouse or stir up an even deeper yearning
to carry out the very sins it had forbidden. By
prohibiting sin, the law created a more intense
desire to sin! “But sin, taking occasion by the
commandment, wrought in me all manner of
concupiscence” (Romans 7:8).
C. The Law Is Holy and Just
I. The Strength of the Law
In his exposition on the excellent characteristics of
(B-E)
the law (Romans
7:7-12), Paul concluded that the
law is ultimately a positive force that contrasted
sharply with sin. “Wherefore the law is holy, and
the commandment holy, and just, and good”
(Romans 7:12).
I. The Strength of the Law
In effect, the law was a trustworthy device capable
(B-E)
of detecting
the presence of sin. The law magnified
sin so that it could be seen clearly as the
wickedness that it is. The problem was not the law
itself, which originated from a holy and just God,
but the spiritual condition of peoples’ sin-darkened
hearts.
D. The Law Is Good
I. The Strength of the Law
In writing to Timothy, his son in the gospel, Paul
(B-E)
further elaborated
on the concept that the essence of
the law is good. Paul had assigned Timothy the
responsibility of superintending the work in
Ephesus (I Timothy 1:3), where false teachers were
abusing the proper use of the law.
I. The Strength of the Law
These instructors aspired to teach the law but did
(B-E)
not understand
what they were talking about (I
Timothy 1:7). They evidently were teaching and
disputing over the law in a legalistic fashion
without bearing in mind the centrality of love and
faith (I Timothy 1:4-6). Paul reminded Timothy that
“the law is good,” provided it is employed
“lawfully” (I Timothy 1:8).
I. The Strength of the Law
The central role of the law was not to instruct
(B-E)
righteous persons
(who already knew what was
good and right), but to target sinners.
I. The Strength of the Law
The law was intended “for the lawless and
(B-E)
disobedient,
for the ungodly and for sinners, for
unholy and profane, for murderers of fathers and
murderers of mothers, for manslayers, for
whoremongers, for them that defile themselves with
mankind, for menstealers, for liars, for perjured
persons, and if there be any other thing that is
contrary to sound doctrine” (I Timothy 1:9-10).
E. The Law Is Spiritual
I. The Strength of the Law
Although the Ten Commandments originally were
(B-E)
engraved on
cold tablets of stone (Exodus 31:18;
32:15-16), Paul pointed out in his letter to the
Romans that the law in and of itself was a spiritual
entity (Romans 7:14).
I. The Strength of the Law
Paul reasoned that while it might at first glance
seem that a(B-E)
good thing (the law) had turned into a
bad thing (death), this was not so. Rather, the law,
which is good, enlarged or amplified sin, which is
bad, “that sin by the commandment might become
exceeding sinful” (Romans 7:13).
I. The Strength of the Law
The law revealed to humanity how far mankind was
(B-E)God, diagnosing his true
from the righteous
spiritual condition. “For we know that the law is
spiritual: but I am carnal, sold under sin” (Romans
7:14).
The
Weakness
II. The Weakness of the Law
of
the
Law
(A-C)
Like radar, the law was able to spot sin, but it could
only diagnose the problem. Like some antiviral
computer software, the law could detect the
presence of harmful “viruses” but was ill-equipped
to remove the intruders.
II. The
Weakness
of
the
Law
Sin had entered and marred humanity, and the law
identified the
perpetrator, but the commandments
(A-C)
virtually were powerless to release humanity from
the grip of sin and eliminate the “disease” that was
infecting people and destroying their lives.
A. Lacking in Power
II. The Weakness of the Law
Despite the presence of the law, Jews (along with
(A-C)
Gentiles) lived under the bondage of sin until the
appointed time when the Son of God arrived to
redeem mankind from sin (Galatians 4:1-5). The
law was inherently weak and ineffective in treating
sin.
II. The Weakness of the Law
Paul discovered that the very commandments
(A-C)
“ordained to life” ironically resulted in the opposite:
“death” (Romans 7:10). Sin took advantage of the
law to deceive and slay humankind (Romans 7:11).
II. The Weakness of the Law
As James Dunn has observed, “Here in a nutshell is
(A-C)
the sharpness of the human dilemma, and the depth
of man’s tragedy: were it not for sin the law would
promote life with God; but given the power of sin
the law in actuality provokes man’s self-assertion
and so cuts him off from the life of God” (Romans
1-8, Word Biblical Commentary 38A, 384).
B. External in Nature
II. The Weakness of the Law
If the law was so proficient in identifying sin, why
(A-C)
was it so weak and ineffective in curbing sin? The
reason is that an external commandment was not
able to penetrate to the human heart.
II. The Weakness of the Law
The scribes and Pharisees scrupulously kept many
(A-C)
of the external requirements of the law (Matthew
23:23-24), but they pathetically fell short in the
matter of maintaining the internal spiritual
conditions presumed by the law. They appeared
righteous on the outside, but they failed to deal
with their wicked hearts (Matthew 23:25-28).
Someone
could keep the letter
of the Law
law by not
II. The
Weakness
of
the
committing murder (the sixth commandment) but
be a murderer
in his heart by hating his brother
(A-C)
(Matthew 5:21-22; I John 3:15). Likewise,
someone may not commit adultery physically, yet
he could violate the seventh commandment by
committing adultery in his heart (Matthew 5:2728). A person could keep the letter of the law but
break the spirit of the law.
The law
could clean up a of
person
on the
outside but
II. The
Weakness
the
Law
not on the inside. The issue was how to deal with
humankind’s
internal, fallen nature. Paul wrote, “I
(A-C)
am carnal, sold under sin” (Romans 7:14).
The law
simply was inadequate
as a means
to
II. The
Weakness
of
the
Law
accomplish a transformed life on the inside. Had it
been adequate
for the job, there would have been
(A-C)
no need of a Savior: “If there had been a law given
which could have given life, verily righteousness
should have been by the law” (Galatians 3:21).
But the
law did not have the
power
toLaw
enable a
II. The
Weakness
of
the
person to live above sin. Such deliverance was
reserved for
the advent of the Savior, Jesus Christ,
(A-C)
who could transform the hearts of individuals.
Romans 8:3
“For what the law could not do, in
that it was weak through the flesh,
God sending his own Son in the
likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin,
condemned sin in the flesh”
(Romans 8:3).
Requirements
III. Requirements of the Law
of the Law
(A-B)
Since the law was good and spiritual, what did it
require? The Ten Commandments (Exodus 20:317), which condensed the law into ten brief
mandates, may be listed and summarized as
follows:
(1)
(2)
(3)
(4)
(5)
you shall have no other gods before Me,
you shall not make a graven or carved image,
you shall not take the Lord’s name in vain,
remember the Sabbath day,
honor your father and your mother,
III. Requirements of the Law
(A-B)
(6) you shall not murder,
(7) you shall not commit adultery,
(8) you shall not steal,
(9) you shall not bear false witness, and
(10) you shall not covet.
III. Requirements of the Law
(A-B)
These Ten Commandments may be divided further
into two categories. Commandments one through
four pertained to Israel’s relationship to God and
were essentially vertical in nature. Commandments
five through ten pertained to the relationship
between fellow Israelites and were essentially
horizontal in nature. The Ten Commandments were
designed especially to set apart and sustain Israel as
a sanctified and holy people unto the Lord as they
settled in the Promised Land.
III. Requirements of the Law
(A-B)
A. Toward God
III. Requirements
of
the
Law
The God-focused laws were reflected in the first
through fourth
commandments. The first
(A-B)
commandment highlighted the Israelites’ covenant
obligation to confine their allegiance solely to the
Almighty and to no other. God sternly warned
Israel before affirming the covenant that “if thou
serve their gods, it will surely be a snare unto thee”
(Exodus 23:33).
III. Requirements
of
the
Law
The second commandment prohibited the making
of graven(A-B)
images because He was a jealous God. In
disobedience to this commandment, Aaron
“fashioned [the gold] with a graving tool” and
created a golden calf, which Israel declared to be
the deity that brought them out of Egypt (Exodus
32:4). Paul noted that idolatry was a key factor in
man’s fall from righteousness (Romans 1:21-23).
III. Requirements
of
the
Law
The third commandment, which prohibited the
taking of (A-B)
the Lord’s name in vain, served to
establish and preserve the consecrated and
reverential nature of the Lord’s name.
III. Requirements
of
the
Law
The fourth commandment, to remember the
Sabbath, harkened
back to the seventh day of
(A-B)
creation and upheld the sacred nature of this
special day of rest. (See Genesis 2:2-3.)
B. Toward Man
III. Requirements of the Law
The remaining commandments addressed the need
(A-B)
to treat others
properly. The fifth commandment
addressed the issue of honoring one’s parents,
which Paul identified as “the first commandment
with promise” (Ephesians 6:2).
III. Requirements of the Law
God’s promise of long life is associated with the
(A-B)
keeping of
that commandment. This
commandment also could fall under the first
category. How respectfully a child treats his
parents can indicate to what degree that child
respects God, for the family is a God-ordained
unit.
III. Requirements of the Law
The sixth through the tenth commandments,
covering(A-B)
murder, adultery, stealing, bearing false
witness, and coveting, all have serious
implications for the way a person treats his
neighbor and thinks in his heart.
III. Requirements of the Law
As Paul explained to the Romans, loving one’s
(A-B)
fellow human
being summed up the essence of
several of the Ten Commandments: “For this,
Thou shalt not commit adultery, Thou shalt not
kill, Thou shalt not steal, Thou shalt not bear false
witness, Thou shalt not covet; and if there be any
other commandment, it is briefly comprehended in
this saying, namely, Thou shalt love thy neighbour
as thyself” (Romans 13:9).
IV. New
NewTestament
Testament
Teachings
Concerning
the Law
Teachings
Concerning
(A)the Law
the Jewish teacher and miracle worker began His
public ministry in Israel, questions loomed in the
minds of the people who encountered Jesus Christ.
IV.
New
Testament
What would this Jewish man say about the law?
Would He
change the law? Would
try to abolish
Teachings
Concerning
theHeLaw
the law held so dear and sacred to the Jewish
people? These
were critical concerns.
(A)
IV.
New
Testament
Jesus and His followers stirred up considerable
controversy
over the interpretation
the law, and
Teachings
Concerning
theofLaw
martyrs such as Stephen paid with their lives for
their approach
to the law. Stephen’s accusers
(A)
claimed that he “ceaseth not to speak blasphemous
words against . . . the law” and that he declared that
“Jesus of Nazareth . . . shall change the customs
which Moses delivered us” (Acts 6:13-14).
IV.
New
Testament
While the accusations were not true, they were
serious Concerning
indictments, for many the
Jews, such
as some of
Teachings
Law
the Pharisees, commanded that the law of Moses
must be followed
(A)(Acts 15:5). So what did Jesus
teach about the law?
New Testament
A.IV.
Fulfillment
of the Law
Teachings Concerning the Law
During His address on the Sermon on the Mount,
which echoes(A)
Moses’ delivering of the law from
Mount Sinai, Jesus unveiled His approach to and
interpretation of the law.
IV. New Testament
Teachings Concerning the Law
Jesus announced that He had no intention of doing
(A)
away with the
law but that He came to present an
entirely new understanding of the law. All the
requirements and stipulations of the law that God’s
people had been trying (and failing) to follow for so
many centuries had been satisfied in one person—
Jesus the Savior.
IV. New Testament
Teachings Concerning the Law
Jesus explained, “Think not that I am come to
(A)
destroy the law,
or the prophets: I am not come to
destroy, but to fulfil” (Matthew 5:17). To their
amazement, Jesus was claiming that He was
fulfillment of the law! Far from abolishing the law,
the law would be realized and accomplished in all
its totality and in every minute aspect through Him.
Matthew 5:18
“For verily I say unto you, Till
heaven and earth pass, one jot or one
tittle shall in no wise pass from the
law, till all be fulfilled”
(Matthew 5:18).
B.IV.
The
Greatest
New
Testament
Commandments
Teachings Concerning the Law
(B-C)
At various times, the Jews approached Jesus with
questions about His new understanding of the law.
When asked by a lawyer of the Pharisees what the
greatest commandment was, Jesus referred to
Deuteronomy 6:5 as “the first and great
commandment”:
IV. New Testament
Teachings
Concerning
Law
“And thou
shalt love the Lordthe
thy God
with all
thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy
(B-C)
might.” The
second was found in Leviticus 19:18:
“Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.” (See
Matthew 22:35-39.)
IV. New Testament
Teachings
Concerning
the mandated
Law love
In short,
these two commandments
for God and love for one’s neighbor. These
(B-C)
commandments
were so significant and allencompassing that Jesus stated, “On these two
commandments hang all the law and the prophets”
(Matthew 22:40). By keeping the essence of these
two commandments, one could claim to have kept
the entire law.
C.IV.
The
NewTestament
Commandment
New
Teachings
Law
In HisConcerning
farewell address to Histhe
disciples
in the
Gospel of John, Jesus informed them, “A new
(B-C)
commandment
I give unto you, That ye love one
another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one
another” (John 13:34). The “new commandment”
to love one another would serve as the identifying
mark of a true follower of Jesus Christ.
John 13:35
“By this shall all men know that ye
are my disciples, if ye have love one
to another” (John 13:35).
IV. New Testament
Teachings
Concerning
Love was
God’s essence, andthe
those Law
who failed to
love did not know God (I John 4:7-8, 16). The
(B-C)
commandment
to love one’s neighbor was so
indispensable that failing to keep it signaled a
failure to keep the commandment to love God.
IV. New Testament
Teachings
Concerning
the
Law
“If a man
say, I love God, and
hateth
his brother,
he is a liar: for he that loveth not his brother whom
(B-C)
he hath seen,
how can he love God whom he hath
not seen? And this commandment have we from
him, That he who loveth God love his brother also”
(I John 4:20-21).
D.IV.
The
Royal
Law
New
Testament
Teachings Concerning the Law
In his letter predominantly to Jewish-Christians,
(D-E)
James sternly
warned them to avoid the sin of
partiality or respecting persons (James 2:1).
IV. New Testament
Teachings Concerning the Law
If, for example, they showed preferential treatment
(D-E)
toward a wealthy
visitor but treated a poor visitor
with scorn, they were guilty of partiality (James
2:2-4). Moreover, they were in effect despising
God’s chosen people (the poor) and favoring the
very people who oppressed their churches (the rich)
(James 2:5-7).
IV. New Testament
Teachings Concerning the Law
While they would be doing well to fulfill the royal
law, “Thou(D-E)
shalt love thy neighbour as thyself”
(James 2:8), to violate this commandment would
ensure that the judgmental force of the law would
come into effect. “But if ye have respect to persons,
ye commit sin, and are convinced of the law as
transgressors” (James 2:9).
NewWritings
Testament
E.IV.
God’s
Our Hearts the Law
TeachingsinConcerning
(D-E)
How can we ultimately keep the law in light of
Israel’s long-standing failure to do so? If the law
was a schoolmaster leading God’s people by the
hand to Jesus Christ (Galatians 3:24), how has Jesus
made it possible for us to uphold the essence of the
law?
IV. New Testament
In our coming
to Jesus by faiththe
and receiving
the
Teachings
Concerning
Law
new-birth experience (repentance, water baptism in
Jesus’ name(D-E)
for the remission of sins, and receiving
the Holy Ghost according to Acts 2:38), He
transforms us into new creations. (See II Corinthians
5:17; Galatians 6:15.) Consequently, we then are
able to keep the spirit of the law. Jesus changes us
on the inside!
IV. New Testament
Jeremiah
predicted centuries ago
thatLaw
God would
Teachings
Concerning
the
make a new covenant with Israel (Jeremiah 31:3132). This covenant
(D-E)would entail radical, spiritual
surgery on a person in which God would inscribe
His laws on the individual’s heart.
Jeremiah 31:33
“I will put my law in their inward
parts, and write it in their hearts; and
will be their God, and they shall be
my people” (Jeremiah 31:33).
IV. New Testament
Rather than
learning and attempting
to
keep all the
Teachings
Concerning
the
Law
individual stipulations of the Mosaic law, each
person entering
into this new covenant would
(D-E)
intimately know God for himself and experience
forgiveness of sins (Jeremiah 31:34).
IV. New Testament
ThroughConcerning
the new-birth experience,
God’s
Teachings
the
Law
commandments become written on our hearts, and
we receive(D-E)
the power to carry them out through His
Spirit. Paul employed the metaphor of an epistle to
reflect this transformation in the Corinthians.
IV. New Testament
The Corinthians
were able to embody
God’s desire
Teachings
Concerning
the
Law
for them to be like Christ, not because they were
attempting (D-E)
in their own strength to follow the Ten
Commandments, but because they were living
representatives of the law who had experienced
inward regeneration.
IV. New Testament
Paul wrote
to them, “Ye are our
epistle
written in
Teachings
Concerning
the
Law
our hearts, known and read of all men: Forasmuch
as ye are manifestly
(D-E)declared to be the epistle of
Christ ministered by us, written not with ink, but
with the Spirit of the living God; not in tables of
stone, but in fleshy tables of the heart” (II
Corinthians 3:2-3).
Reflections
The Ten Commandments summarized Israel’s
proper relationship to God and mankind and
formed the basis of Israel’s covenant with God.
These commandments served to regulate and
promote spiritual and moral behavior, to awaken
the knowledge of sin, and ultimately to act as a
tutor pointing to the need for a Savior.
Reflections
Jesus Christ came not to abolish the law, but to
fulfill it (Matthew 5:17). Through the Holy Ghost,
the essence of the law is inscribed upon our hearts
so that we can love God and others, thus fulfilling
the Ten Commandments in our lives.