Jeremiah 31:33 says, “But this is the covenant which I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares Jehovah: I will put My law within them and write it upon their hearts; and I will be their God, and they will be My people.” The American Standard Version renders the phrase “I will put My law within them” as “I will put my law in their inward parts.” This verse speaks of a single law—“My law”—and our inward parts. Hence, God puts His one law into our many inward parts. God also writes this law in our hearts. According to the law that He puts into us, He is our God and we are His people. Verse 34 continues: “And they will no longer teach, each man his neighbor and each man his brother, saying, Know Jehovah; for all of them will know Me, from the little one among them even to the great one among them, declares Jehovah, for I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin I will remember no more.”
Hebrews 8:10, which is a quotation of Jeremiah, says, “For this is the covenant which I will covenant with the house of Israel after those days, says the Lord: I will impart My laws into their mind, and on their hearts I will inscribe them; and I will be God to them, and they will be a people to Me.” Whereas Jeremiah speaks of one law, the author of Hebrews speaks of multiple laws. Hence, the one law becomes many laws. Not only so, whereas Jeremiah states that God will put His laws into our inward parts, the writer of Hebrews says that God will put His laws into our mind. This proves that the mind is one of the inward parts. According to the remainder of the verse, God will be God to us, and we will be a people to Him based on the law that He put into us and wrote on our hearts. The next verse says, “And they shall by no means each teach his fellow citizen and each his brother, saying, Know the Lord; for all will know Me from the little one to the great one among them.”
In Hebrews 10 we read a similar passage: “This is the covenant which I will covenant with them after those days, says the Lord: I will impart My laws upon their hearts, and upon their mind I will inscribe them” (v. 16). Here, as in chapter eight, we read of many laws. However, this time, instead of being put into our inward parts or our mind, they are imparted into our heart. In the next phrase, instead of the Lord inscribing the laws into our heart, they are inscribed upon our mind. Whereas chapter eight says, “I will impart My laws into their mind, and on their hearts I will inscribe them,” chapter ten changes and says, “I will impart My laws upon their hearts, and upon their mind I will inscribe them.” Verse 17 says, “And their sins and their lawlessnesses I shall by no means remember anymore.”
Romans 8:2 says concerning the law of the Spirit of life, “For the law of the Spirit of life has freed me in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and of death.”
God is a God of covenant, and His relationship with man is based upon the covenants that He has made with him. The law of the old covenant, which is contained in the Old Testament, is the law of Moses, the essence of which is the Ten Commandments. The law of the new covenant, which is contained in the New Testament, is the law of life. God is God to man according to these two testaments, or covenants, with their respective laws. For example, if the children of Israel wanted to maintain a right relationship between God and themselves, they had to make sure that they were right according to the law of Moses. Were the children of Israel to do good things, help people, and even sacrifice their lives for the sake of others, yet be wrong with regard to the law of Moses, they would still be under the condemnation of God. This shows us that the relationship between us and God is based on law.
The law of the new covenant, of the New Testament, is the law of the Spirit of life (Rom. 8:2). This law of the Spirit of life is actually the law of life. The law of Moses, which was the center of the old covenant, was written on tablets of stone. The law that is at the center of the new covenant is the law of life. This law is written not on stone tablets but upon our hearts. Moreover, the new law, in contrast to the old law, is written not in letters but in the Spirit (2 Cor. 3:6). This new law, the law of life, is simply the life of Christ, which is the life of God. The life of God is God Himself. If we have God in Christ, we have the life of God; if we do not have God in Christ, we do not have the life of God (1 John 5:12; 2:23). The life of God and the law of the life of God are thus God Himself in Christ.
In my youth I was taught to recite the Ten Commandments. However, for some time after I was saved, I did not understand the real definition of the Ten Commandments. By studying the Scriptures, I came to know that the Ten Commandments are the testimony of God (Exo. 31:18). However, if you had asked me at that time for a definition of the testimony of God, I would have been unable to answer. It was after a long time of seeking and prayer that the Lord revealed to me what the Ten Commandments given to Moses as the testimony of God were. As the testimony of God, the law of Moses was a description of what kind of God our God is. The Ten Commandments that God gave to Moses are thus a description of God’s character—even a full description of God Himself. This law reveals to us what kind of God He is.
The laws that people write reveal what kind of persons they are. For example, if robbers make the laws, we will realize by their laws that they are robbers. If people who are just, kind, and full of love create laws, their laws will be full of justice, kindness, and love. On the other hand, if people who are full of hatred and darkness write laws, their laws will make clear that they are people who are full of hatred and darkness. A law is thus the description of the person or persons who made them. Let us suppose that I go to a brother’s house and find a list of house regulations that include the following: 1) All the members of this family must rise no later than six o’clock in the morning; 2) All the members of this family, from the oldest to the youngest, must keep everything in good order; 3) All the members of this family must learn to be quiet and considerate. Just by reading these house regulations, I know that the brother who made those rules is very strict. If, on the other hand, I read that the members of the family may rest until noon, be untidy, and do whatever they wish, I realize that this brother must be a disorderly, careless, and inconsiderate person. The laws you make reveal what kind of person you are. If you are a good man, you will make good laws; if you are an evil man, you will make evil laws. In the same way, the laws written by God on the two tablets of stone are the description and definition of God Himself.