The scriptures in Jer 31 say that the law has been put in our
hearts. The
law has not been abolished it has been put in its proper place, our
heart (Mt
5:17), where it was supposed to be all along.
Jer 31. “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."
Of course we are not saved by the law (Eph 2:8). We know and are
convinced it
is by grace. Just like the Gentiles in Acts 15. But they grew in faith
by
hearing Moses and the prophets, acts (15:19-21). The law now takes it
rightful
place in the hearts of men because of the work of grace and we decide
not to
live a life of lawlessness as fruit of what G-d has done in our lives.
We live
in relationship to grace, not in obligation to the law. So as Rav Shaul
put it
"Should we sin so that grace may abound" (Rm 6:1). We have to make
the distinction between living in grace with the law in our hearts and
living
in grace with a lawless attitude. There is a tension here that has to be
worked
out daily in our lives. I think that G-d allows this tension to keep us
on our
toes.
A man who runs stop signs is a law breaker. If a drunk knocks down the
stop
sign the (stop sign running) law breaker has been set free from the law.
But
the man who has concern for his neighbor says, even though the sign is
down I
will not run this corner where there used to be a stop sign because I am
more concerned
for my neighbor than my right to do as I please. This man now fulfills
the law according to the interpretation of Yeshua, Mt 23:37-40.
So, the question we have to ask is who is the one who keeps the law, is
it the
one who has been set free from it because it is now in his heart or the
one who
is bound by it because it still resides on tablets of stone?
Jul 1, 2010 6:48 PM
Sha'ar Hashamayim Messianic Congregation 2 Canton St., Suite A21, Stoughton, Massachusetts