This brings us to the New Covenant.
Hebrews 8:10-13 (See also Jeremiah 31:33)
For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, saith the Lord; I will put my laws into their mind, and write them in their hearts: and I will be to them a God, and they shall be to me a people: And they shall not teach every man his neighbour, and every man his brother, saying, Know the Lord: for all shall know me, from the least to the greatest. For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and their iniquities will I remember no more. In that he saith, A new covenant, he hath made the first old. Now that which decayeth and waxeth old is ready to vanish away (Hebrews 8:10-13).
God begins to write HIS laws upon our CIRCUMCISED HEARTS once we are genuinely born again- having trusted Christ with an “Abrahamic Faith” that rejects TRUSTING the “flesh” (GK Sarx Sin Nature). Once our heart is ‘exposed’ with open face (as it were) it can then be changed into the image of Christ from glory to glory by the Spirit of God (II Corinthians 3).
It was a lite thing for God to form man out of the dust of the earth; it would prove to be a great work to form Christ in us (Galatians 4:19). This is the true essence of sanctification- that Christ would be fully formed in us.
The writing of the laws of God upon our heart or the changing of our hearts into His image from glory to glory is a process that requires several things to happen. First, we have to deal with our CONSCIENCE. And that, because the end of the commandment is going to be (among other things) a pure conscience. As it is written… Now the end of the commandment is charity out of a pure heart, and of a GOOD CONSCIENCE, and of faith unfeigned (I Timothy 1:5)… and again… Holding faith, and a GOOD CONSCIENCE; which some having put away concerning faith have made shipwreck (I Timothy 1:19)… and again… The like figure whereunto even baptism doth also now save us (not the putting away of the filth of the flesh, but the answer of a GOOD CONSCIENCE toward God,) by the resurrection of Jesus Christ (I Peter 3:21).
Our CONSCIENCE is that unaffiliated member of our being that God has placed in us to speak on HIS behalf. It is a double or joint knowledge, namely, one of a divine law or rule, and the other of a man's own action. It calls our actions against the laws written upon the heart-- exactly as it sees them.
The conscience in its God given form is used by the Holy Spitit to convict us of sin (John 8:9). It is the mechanism of moral judgment which men/women pass on the morality of his/her own actions, and as to their purity of his/her motives. It is the secret testimony of the soul, whereby it approves things that are good, and condemns those that are evil without partiality. The will of God is the only rule that should immediately bind the conscience. No one has authority over the conscience but God. Man can sear their conscience; but they cannot make it call evil good and good evil.
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Robert Wurtz II ( - )
For almost 20 years I have served as a author and teacher of advanced biblical studies. My interests are the New Covenant, apologetics and classical revival. Native of the Kansas City, Mo area and reside now in Independence, MO with wife Anna.He is the author of many books including the newest Televangelicalism. In this insightful and thought provoking book, Robert Wurtz II traces the history of Christian evangelism from the book of Acts to modern times. The contrast between pre-1900 and post-1900 evangelism is so sharp, that the book is divided into two sections: Part 1, the pre-Billy Sunday era and Part 2, the post-Billy Sunday evangelistic era. This book is a must-read for anyone that has concerns about issues such as "the sinner's prayer" or shallow concepts of conversion.