It's been an enlightening journey. but now we finally, come to the seventh and final edition of divine law: Believers as living epistles. As strange as it sounds, it is what Paul relates to the church of Corinth in his second letter, chapter three, verses two and three, “You yourselves are our letter, written on our hearts, known and read by everybody. You show that you are a letter from Christ, the result of our ministry, written not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of human hearts.”
The fourth edition of God's divine law came to us in the person of Jesus Christ. A significant part of his mission, in addition to securing the possible salvation of all humanity, was to fulfill the law (Matthew 5.17-18). Jesus himself said his work did not abolish the law for, as we learned last time, the law is rooted in God's character. Instead, he came to respect and live according to the law, perfectly. In this way he became the perfect embodiment of the law. Jesus is the living edition of divine law.
From the very beginning of Creation God has chosen to reveal himself and his law to mankind. Over the millennia that have passed since “day one” there have been seven editions of the revelation of God’s divine law. The first edition was written in nature, Psalm 1.19 says, “The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands.” Theologians call this “General Revelation” and while its testimony is limited, it also cannot be misunderstood. Paul also makes the argument that God’s attributes are clearly visible in nature in his letter to the Romans:
For many around the world, astronauts are true life heroes – and for good reason. To become one of the few to lose the bounds of gravity means having what novelist Tom Wolfe called the “right stuff”. That includes a lot of education – most of them have advanced degrees (think doctorate level and, for some, even beyond) and experience to match. It also includes being in great physical shape, having near perfect vision, and you must be of a certain height (neither too short or tall). The right stuff seems to be the same stuff of super heroes.
We are nearing the end of our seven-part series on the seven editions of divine law. Today we examine the sixth edition, which is written on our hearts. As we discussed a couple episodes ago, this compares to the second edition of divine law, our conscience. While these two may appear to be one and the same, they are actually quite different. The heart leads a person to make decisions while the conscience convicts us of bad decisions after the fact, prompting us to make things right. The writer of Hebrews understood this difference when he wrote:
When God created the world, he instilled in it a message to reveal himself and his law to mankind. While creating man and woman, he instilled in them a pure conscience, the second revelation of divine law. As our conscience became corrupted by sin, God issued a third edition. We fast forward through history all the way From Genesis chapter one to Exodus chapter 24. Whereas the second edition was written on our hearts, the third edition was written on a less corruptible media, stone tablets. God invited Moses up the mountain to receive the Ten Commandments, written by God’s own hand.
There are a lot of ways to celebrate the new year, and not all of them are beneficial. Take, for example, the ancient Babylonian practice that existed during the time of Abraham. Circa 2,000 BC, the kingdom would gather at the temple of Marduk and the king stripped of his royal attire. In order to justify his sovereign rein for another year the king would be slapped and dragged around the temple by his ears until he cried. Should the king not participate, he would be replaced. Honestly, despite the fact it was a ceremony to a false god, I think a good many world leaders today might benefit from such a practice.
Wide-eyed wonder. That’s how the storybooks usually describe children after having awoken on Christmas morning and catching their first glimpse of the presents under the tree. It strikes a chord in all of us, because we’ve all been there. The anticipation was built over several weeks, each day Christmas drawing nearer. Seasonal music is everywhere, spirits were lifted – even in the adults – and everyone smiled a little easier. Then the day came. Finally! Christmas! We raced to the tree anxious to tear into every package with our name on it. What did we get this year?
The fifth edition is the Bible — the entire Scripture — complete and sufficient for our every spiritual need. In the 15th chapter of his letter to the Romans Paul writes, “For everything that was written in the past was written to teach us, so that through endurance and the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope.”
The second edition of divine law was written in our conscience. The human conscience can be a tricky thing. It is intended to be a guide, or witness, to help us discern right and wrong. It doesn’t teach us right from wrong, but prods us to do what we know to be right. There is a reason, for instance, most every culture acknowledges that murder and theft are wrong. This is an example of God’s law written on our conscience (or heart, as it is referred to in the Old Testament). In Romans 2.15 Paul states:
The presents are all unwrapped, the Christmas goose is now leftovers in the fridge, and every website in the world now presents their “year in review” or “most popular” lists. I confess, the temptation to join the drill is too intense for me not to succumb. As we prepare for 2018 a look back at the top three articles of the last year is in order. While articles written in our first couple years have many times more page views than these, they have also been online longer and found by people using search engines. These articles succeeded because of you, O Gentle Reader, and your likes and shares.
Paul closes his epistle with a standard Roman greeting. First, he greets all those who will receive the letter, then sends greeting from his house which, in this case, includes a number of Christian converts among the guards which, from what we can determine from history, was likely the elite Praetorian guard. What more can be said about these three verses? After looking at these verses there is something that came to mind. Notice whom Paul greets in verse 21. The word “saints” is easy to overlook, but does raise a question: who are these saints?