Heart of Lawlessness

The terms of the New Covenant include God placing His Law within us, on our hearts. This is different from the old covenant, where God’s Law was written externally on stone tablets or Torah scrolls. As New Covenant believers, we should have God’s Law in our hearts. We should have an internal knowledge of, and desire to carry out, God’s Law.

So, do we? Is God’s Law on our hearts? Do we have a love of, a desire for, God’s Law?

The Question Every Christian Asks

In my experience, most Christians seek an answer to the question, “How can I get out of God’s Law.” Most doctrine seems directed at rationalizing why God’s Law is inapplicable in our lives and how we can discard God’s Law without suffering the consequences of doing so. Consider the following popular doctrines:

Dispensationalism

The primary purpose of dispensationalism is to divide and conquer the scriptures. Through dispensationalism, mankind categorized scripture into time periods and covenants. Then, mankind systematically discarded undesirable portions of scripture based on his own manufactured categories.

Common tactics of dispensational theology include:

1. Define who was specifically addressed in a given portion of scripture; then, insist that audience (and only that audience) is obligated to obey the given portion of scripture. See our study Given to the Jews for more information.

2. Define what covenant the commandments were assigned to; then, insist we are not in that covenant. Well…the New Covenant includes God’s Law being carried forward and placed in our hearts. So, this legalistic rationale really doesn’t hold up. Consider the following New Covenant terms recorded in Jeremiah 31:31-33 and repeated in Hebrews 8:8-10:

a) The New Covenant is made by God with Israel and Judah. To be doctrinally consistent, we should say God dispensed the New Covenant to Israel and Judah. Later, Gentiles were permitted to come into the covenant. God did not dispense a New Covenant to Israel and Judah then dispense yet another New Covenant to Gentiles; He only “dispensed” one New Covenant with Israel and Judah that Gentiles were permitted to join. And the truth is, Gentiles were permitted to join the Old Covenant as well (i.e. Ruth, Rahab, and Egyptians who believed in the time of the Exodus).

b) The New Covenant includes God’s Law being placed in our hearts and minds, not left behind in the Old Covenant. To be doctrinally consistent, we should say God dispensed His Law to the New Covenant. God did not void His Law then “dispense” a different law to the New Covenant.

Supersessionism

Supersessionism (a.k.a Replacement Theology) also uses a divide and conquer tactic to nullify God’s Law. Supersessionism insists on a strict, legalistic, distinction of Israel and “The Church”. After defining Israel and The Church as separate legal entities, Supersessionism then makes the following rationales:

1. Because Israel sinned and failed to obey God’s Law, God replaced Israel with The Church. God made a new covenant with The Church while Israel remains stuck with the curses of disobeying The Law. We’re told God will deal with faithless Israel later; right now, He loves and blesses The Church.

Well…this defies the prophecy in Jeremiah 31:31-33 and Hebrews 8:8-10, which says the New Covenant would be made with Israel and Judah. Prophecy never said God would create a new entity called The Church, which is separate from Israel.

2. All the desirable parts of the Old Covenant (salvation, inheritance, blessing, and reward) were transferred to The Church. All the undesirable parts of the Old Covenant (The Law with its duties, obligations, and penalties for disobedience) stayed with Israel. This rationale obviously plays to the flesh by telling us what our itching ears want to hear…namely, that “we” get all the good stuff and “they” keep all the bad stuff.

The Westminster Confession

This is another divide and conquer tactic. In chapter 19 of the Westminster Confession, mankind classified The Law into three categories: Moral, Ceremonial, and Civil. Having categorized The Law, mankind then summarily dismissed two of the three categories (ceremonial and civil) as inapplicable and therefore null and void. The third classification of Law (moral) is said to technically carry forward; but, it’s downgraded to more of a guideline than actual rules.

The Question Every Christian Should Ask

Instead of rationalizing how to discard God’s Law, we should ask ourselves, “Why don’t I want to obey God’s Law?” If the New Covenant involves God placing His Law in our hearts then we should have an inherent love, value, and desire for God’s Law. However, this is generally not the case (as evident by all the doctrines that seek to discard God’s Law and reassure us in breaking it).

Consider the dietary Law recorded in Leviticus 11. If we ask a Christian why he or she doesn’t want to obey God’s dietary Laws, we almost always get an answer along the lines:

1. That was only given to The Jews, and I’m not a Jew
2. Jesus “fulfilled” the dietary Laws, so I don’t have to obey them
3. I’m not under Law; I’m under grace
4. Jesus declared all food clean, so I can eat whatever I want
5. That was only for the Old Covenant

The truth is, none of these responses answer the question. These responses are a strawman argument; they ignore the question of motive and instead rationalize why the individual believes he or she can get away with breaking the dietary Laws. Honest, root-cause, answers to the question “Why don’t you want to obey Leviticus 11” would include:

1. I like the taste of pig meat, and I don’t want to give it up
2. I like traditions that include eating pig, and I don’t want to give them up
3. Pig meat is cheap and plentiful, and I don’t want to spend more on beef and fish
4. I don’t want to be bothered checking labels and monitoring my diet
5. I don’t want to stand out as different than the people around me

These would be honest answers to the question “Why don’t you want to?” And, these types of answers all point to worldly, fleshly, motives for wanting to break from God’s Law. The reason most people don’t openly give these answers is it demonstrates a heart of lawlessness.

Heart-Check

Knowing what the New Covenant entails, let us take time to consider the condition of our hearts. Do we have a desire for God’s Law or a desire to get rid of it? Are we motivated to study, understand, and practice God’s Law? Or, are we motivated to study, understand, and practice manmade doctrines that nullify God’s Law?

Join the discussion on Facebook