Not Written Laws on Our Heart

Not Written Laws

2 Corinthians 3:5-6 CSB
It is not that we are competent in ourselves to claim anything as coming from ourselves, but our adequacy is from God. [6] He has made us competent to be ministers of a new covenant, not of the letter, but of the Spirit. For the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.

Romans 7:6 CSB
But now we have been released from the law, since we have died to what held us, so that we may serve in the newness of the Spirit and not in the old letter of the law.

Romans 2:29 CSB
On the contrary, a person is a Jew who is one inwardly, and circumcision is of the heart—by the Spirit, not the letter. That person’s praise is not from people but from God.

Romans 8:2 CSB
because the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and death.

2 Corinthians 3:3 CSB
You show that you are Christ’s letter, delivered by us, not written with ink but with the Spirit of the living God—not on tablets of stone but on tablets of human hearts.

A Different Law

Romans 7:23-24 CSB
but I see a different law in the parts of my body, waging war against the law of my mind and taking me prisoner to the law of sin in the parts of my body. [24] What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death?

Why is it Different?

Romans 8:3-4 ESV
For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do. By sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, he condemned sin in the flesh, [4] in order that the RIGHTEOUS REQUIREMENT of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.

The Righteous Requirement of the Law Fulfilled in Us

Romans 13:8-10 CSB
Do not owe anyone anything, except to love one another, for the one who loves another has fulfilled the law.

How the Righteous Requirement is Applied to Us

Romans 5:5 CSB
This hope will not disappoint us, because God’s love has been poured out in our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us.

God is Spirit. God is Love.

2 Corinthians 3:15-18 CSB
Yet still today, whenever Moses is read, a veil lies over their hearts, [16] but whenever a person turns to the Lord, the veil is removed. [17] Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. [18] We all, with unveiled faces, are looking as in a mirror at the glory of the Lord and are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory; this is from the Lord who is the Spirit.

John 4:24 CSB
God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in Spirit and in truth.

1 John 4:16-19 CSB
And we have come to know and to believe the love that God has for us. God is love, and the one who remains in love remains in God, and God remains in him. [17] In this, love is made complete with us so that we may have confidence in the day of judgment, because as he is, so also are we in this world. [18] There is no fear in love; instead, perfect love drives out fear, because fear involves punishment. So the one who fears is not complete in love. [19] We love because he first loved us.

Questions that Challenge Your Current Understanding

1. Considering Romans 8:3-4, how does being under grace, rather than the law, transform your understanding of the Gospel? Are there aspects of the Gospel you've misunderstood in relation to grace?
   
   
2. Romans 7:6 talks about being released from the law. How does this concept challenge traditional views about obedience and righteousness?
   
   
3. If "the letter kills," what misconceptions might believers have about the Law?
   
   
4. As you reflect on the contrast between the written laws and the Spirit's leading, how do you discern misconceptions stemming from legalistic viewpoints in your spiritual journey?