Jeremiah 31:33-34 (NRSV)
For by a single offering he has perfected for all time those who are sanctified. And the Holy Spirit also testifies to us, for after saying,
“This is the covenant that I will make with them
after those days, says the Lord:
I will put my laws in their hearts,
and I will write them on their minds,”
after those days, says the Lord:
I will put my laws in their hearts,
and I will write them on their minds,”
he also adds,
“I will remember their sins and their lawless deeds no more.”
Hebrews 10:14-17 (NRSV)
The Church of Christ, which was my tradition for most of my first 25 years, has a significant portion of its conservative constituency that believe that the Holy Spirit is not active today, but was instead the guiding force behind the Bible, meaning that the Bible is essentially the embodiment of the Holy Spirit. I will admit that there is something endearing about the concept that we are completely free of the necessity of listening to the Spirit today, and instead have all we need in the Bible.
As such, I am very
well aware of how to use the Bible to determine right and wrong, looking
at it as a rule book of sorts. Further, I am very well aware of the
tension when I feel one thing is right while the Bible appears to say
something different. Historically, I've had to side with the Bible
because my conscience was part of my sinful flesh. I just had to submit
to the Bible. My conscience had no standing to protest. This is still a common refrain from conservative traditions.
I've spent a lot of time thinking about this passage from Jeremiah above. I am reluctant to put a New Testament meaning to the verses of the Hebrew Bible, as I'm sure Jewish scholars can give me another interpretation of this passage that may indicate more of its original intent. However, I make a rare exception for this passage, because it is quoted twice in the book of Hebrews (8:10-12, 10:16-17), and in the Hebrews 10 passage, the author specifically attributes its words to the Holy Spirit (or at least that's my interpretation). So given that the book treats these as the words of the Holy Spirit, I will approach that in the same manner.
What does the Spirit mean by putting the laws in their hearts and writing them on their minds? Frankly that sounds like reason and conscience to me. But what if our conscience seems to conflict with the Bible?
N. T. Wright has an old lecture where he discusses how a story can be authoritative. Though I'm sure I'm mangling is ideas somewhat, I really love when he starts discussing existence as a 5 act play, and we are living in the second half of act 5. In a 5 act play, by Act 5, you know the characters. You know what they're like, and you would know if they suddenly did something out of character. The history of the Bible and the stories therein serve as those opening acts. We get an idea of the character of God through the story we are told.
In light of this, we can look at the epistles as examples of those filled with God's spirit exhorting others. We can learn a lot about what it means to be a follower of Christ by reading the stories of those who started the movement. However, it is relevant to recognize the epistles as part of a story rather than looking at them as a rulebook written for us today. Where did these authors get their words and understanding of God's will? Through the Holy Spirit, who put God's law on their hearts. How did they know how to live out God's will without a New Testament to guide them? Through the Holy Spirit, who wrote God's law in their minds. The Epistles in the Bible show a demonstration of the Spirit through what he put on the hearts of the authors, as an example of this.
Indeed, all scripture is God-breathed and useful for teaching, because it is useful to understand what it looks like to be a disciple of the living God. It is useful to know the stories of God working in the world. It is instructive to see how the early church used the wisdom of the Spirit to deal with unique circumstances. It's a valuable template for how it looks to live as a follower of Christ. And it allows us to be discerning when we want to know whether an action or posture is consistent with the will of God. It gives the setting for our part of Act 5.
Now we get to figure out what that looks to live out today, and it can look different than it did in Biblical times. We have our model to understand what concepts can be of God and what cannot be of God. We have the law on our hearts. So what do we do when our Spirit-filled conscience conflicts with something we read from the Bible? If we go against our conscience, we violate the very passage I quoted above. If we act with our conscience in seeming contradiction of what we see in a Biblical passage, then we've violated the passage in question. One way or another, we're going against scripture. So we have to make a decision as to which portion to violate. How do we make that decision? With the law on our hearts.
N. T. Wright has an old lecture where he discusses how a story can be authoritative. Though I'm sure I'm mangling is ideas somewhat, I really love when he starts discussing existence as a 5 act play, and we are living in the second half of act 5. In a 5 act play, by Act 5, you know the characters. You know what they're like, and you would know if they suddenly did something out of character. The history of the Bible and the stories therein serve as those opening acts. We get an idea of the character of God through the story we are told.
In light of this, we can look at the epistles as examples of those filled with God's spirit exhorting others. We can learn a lot about what it means to be a follower of Christ by reading the stories of those who started the movement. However, it is relevant to recognize the epistles as part of a story rather than looking at them as a rulebook written for us today. Where did these authors get their words and understanding of God's will? Through the Holy Spirit, who put God's law on their hearts. How did they know how to live out God's will without a New Testament to guide them? Through the Holy Spirit, who wrote God's law in their minds. The Epistles in the Bible show a demonstration of the Spirit through what he put on the hearts of the authors, as an example of this.
Indeed, all scripture is God-breathed and useful for teaching, because it is useful to understand what it looks like to be a disciple of the living God. It is useful to know the stories of God working in the world. It is instructive to see how the early church used the wisdom of the Spirit to deal with unique circumstances. It's a valuable template for how it looks to live as a follower of Christ. And it allows us to be discerning when we want to know whether an action or posture is consistent with the will of God. It gives the setting for our part of Act 5.
Now we get to figure out what that looks to live out today, and it can look different than it did in Biblical times. We have our model to understand what concepts can be of God and what cannot be of God. We have the law on our hearts. So what do we do when our Spirit-filled conscience conflicts with something we read from the Bible? If we go against our conscience, we violate the very passage I quoted above. If we act with our conscience in seeming contradiction of what we see in a Biblical passage, then we've violated the passage in question. One way or another, we're going against scripture. So we have to make a decision as to which portion to violate. How do we make that decision? With the law on our hearts.
I have been thinking on this since you wrote it. I had also been thinking about the conscience. I still need more time to think. But I'm so glad you wrote this!
ReplyDeleteThank you for reading! It's nice to know that my words are appreciated by someone!
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