Day 19

And I will put my Spirit in you and move you to follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws. Ezekiel 36:27

Christians live in two worlds. We live in the world of the 21st century, caught up in all the currents and crosswinds of contemporary culture. But we also live in the world of union with Christ in his unchanging eternal state. How these two worlds interconnect is a challenge for us, especially in the area of morality and behavior which is twisting, turning, and straining in every area.

In much of the western world, the Ten Commandments were a cornerstone of ethical behavior. Now, they are old-fashioned and irrelevant. They come to us in Scripture, as autobiographical statements about God, given to reveal what He is like so that we might know what we are to be like, having been created in His image. God never steals; is never greedy, never lies, does not cheat, does not murder, does not covet, does not give false witness and is always faithful. When God said, "You shall not steal", the reason was not because stealing is bad, (though it is), but because God is not a thief, and humanity was created to express His moral image.

The nature of the Gospel is reconciliation to God for the restoration of His moral image. Apart from God Himself being active, we are incapable of that. Paul says, "What the law was powerless to do in that it was weakened by the sinful nature, God did by sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful men to be a sin offering" (Romans 8:3). The law is powerless to change anyone. It can demand what is right but cannot produce what is right. What the law cannot do, God sending His Son; first as our substitute to pay the penalty for sin, and then to give the gift of the life of Jesus to indwell us by the Holy Spirit.

Under the Old Covenant, the law was written on tablets of stone, but under the New Covenant, God has written the same law in our hearts. When the law says you shall not steal, we do not steal and when the law says you shall not covet, we do not covet, not because we are more disciplined than we were before, but because the righteous requirements of the law are being met in us by the indwelling Spirit of Christ. The Spirit works in us both to desire and to perform what God intends for us (see Philippians 2.12). Instead of a burden imposed on us, the Ten Commandments move from commandments we are unable to fulfill to promises the Holy Spirit fulfills in us.