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Scripture Reading: Jer. 31:33; Heb. 8:10; 10:16
I still feel that we need to see something more clearly concerning the law of life. Jeremiah 31:33a says, “This is the covenant which I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares Jehovah: I will put My law in their inward parts and write it upon their hearts.” I would ask you to pay attention to the phrase in their inward parts. Most Christians do not understand what is meant by in their inward parts. For many years as a Christian I never heard a message or read something concerning the inward parts. It is only in the last few years that the Lord has guided us to pay attention to this term, which also appears in Psalm 51:6. In the new covenant God promises to put His law in our inward parts and write it in our hearts. In Jeremiah law is singular, not laws. Moreover, He first puts His law within us, and then He writes it upon our hearts. This is the order in this verse.
In Hebrews the apostle quoted this verse twice. The first time is in 8:10a, which says, “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.” We have to learn the way to study the Word. The best way to study is to compare related passages. Then we can see the differences, and by the differences we can know something deeper. In the quotation of Jeremiah 31:33, law becomes laws. Here there is no longer only one law. Something else also changes. In their inward parts becomes into their mind. By this we can realize that inward parts refers to the parts of the soul, because the mind is one part of the soul. There is no passage in the Bible that tells us what the parts of the soul are, but if we read the entire Scriptures and pay attention to this matter, we will find adequate proofs to confirm that within the soul there are at least three parts. The leading part is the mind, and there are also the emotion and the will. By comparing Hebrews 8:10 with Jeremiah 31:33, we realize that the inward parts are the parts of the soul, of which the mind is the leading part. Hebrews 8:10 continues, “And on their hearts I will inscribe them.” Them is plural, referring to the laws.
Hebrews 10:16 is the second quotation of Jeremiah 31. This verse says, “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.” There is a difference between Jeremiah 31, Hebrews 8, and Hebrews 10. I do not think that the apostle made a mistake. There is a real purpose in his making a change. In Jeremiah there is the singular law, and in Hebrews there are the plural laws. This is the first difference. Then in Jeremiah there are the inward parts, and in Hebrews there is the mind. This is the second difference. Then even between the two quotations in Hebrews there are changes. In chapter 8 the mind is first and then the heart, but in chapter 10 the heart is first and then the mind.
However, there is one consistency in all three passages, in the original and in the two quotations. They all use put or impart first, and then they use write or inscribe. The King James Version uses the word write in Hebrews, but the Greek Interlinear version uses the word inscribe, and the Amplified Bible uses engrave in 8:10. Both inscribe and engrave mean something deeper than write. To engrave is to write by cutting or carving, and to inscribe is to cut in, to write not with an ink pen but with a knife. To put or impart, however, is very general. To put the law somewhere is general, but to inscribe it somewhere means much more. For me to put a composition on you is easy, but to inscribe it on you may require a whole year. Moreover, you must cooperate with the inscribing. Sometimes because you feel the pain, you may stop cooperating, and I can do nothing. The writing is here, but I will not be able to inscribe it on you.
According to the lexicon, to put or impart means to give or to pass on. To impart His laws into our mind is to give His laws to us in our mind. After this giving, however, there is the need for engraving. To inscribe or engrave is much deeper than giving. This is why these passages refer first to imparting and then to inscribing.
God’s economy, God’s eternal purpose, and God’s intention are to work Himself into us by being life to us. This is a basic word, the foundation, which we should not forget. God can work Himself into us only by being life to us. If He could not be life to us, He can never be worked into us. The only possibility for God to work Himself into us and be mingled with us is to be life within us. Even with physical things, the only way for something to be worked into us is that we take it as our life supply. How can a big cow be worked into us? The only way is for the cow to become our life supply. Through a kind of death and resurrection, the cow must be taken, eaten, swallowed, and digested by us. Then the cow becomes us. By being life to us, the cow mingles itself with us and becomes us.
In order to know the Scriptures, we must know the central thought of God’s economy. Without comprehending this central thought, we can never understand the Bible; we will not know what this book is talking about. The entire Scriptures reveal to us this one thing, that God is always working Himself into us as our life. And what is life? Life is nothing less than God Himself in three persons. We must always remember the economy of the three persons of the Godhead—the Father, the Son, and the Spirit. I am not asking you to learn the doctrine and theology of the Trinity. I would ask you to forget mere doctrine and theology. Rather, I am speaking of the economy of the persons of the Godhead: the Father as the source, the Son as the course, and the Spirit as the flow. This Triune God comes into us; that is, the Father is in the Son, the Son is the Spirit, and the Spirit with the Son and the Father comes into us as life. Never think of the Holy Spirit as being something other than God Himself. That is wrong. If we have the Spirit, we have the Son, and if we have the Son, we have the Father. I long that I could have the adequate time to speak this very thing to the Lord’s children.
The Triune God comes into us as our life. If we apprehend and grasp this in our understanding, the entire Bible will be new and gloriously open to us, and we will understand it in a heavenly way; we will know what it is talking about. We have this wonderful life, which is nothing less than the Triune God in the Spirit dwelling in our spirit.
There are three main things that we must know concerning this life. The first is the fellowship of life, the second is the sense of life, and the third is the law of life. Why must we know these particular three aspects of the divine life in us? It is because they match the three functions of our spirit. The spirit is the organ for us to fellowship with God; this is the first function of the spirit. There is also a deeper function, which is the intuition, the direct sense within our spirit, for us to sense something of God. Third, in our spirit there is the conscience. The fellowship of life is related to the fellowship in our spirit; the sense of life, the consciousness of life, the inner feeling, is related to the intuition; and the law of life is related to our conscience. In order to know the inner life, that is, God as life to us, we must know all these things. This is the spiritual “medical science,” and we are learning to be the spiritual “medical doctors.” Without knowing the science of eating, we do not know our physical body. In the same way, if we do not know the above matters in detail, we simply do not know the way to experience the inner life; we do not have the spiritual science of the inner life.
The fellowship of life comes from life. When life comes into us, there is the flow, the current, of life, which is the fellowship. By this flowing, the fellowship of life, we constantly have the inner sense, the inner feeling, the inner consciousness, which is the sense of life. Then this sense helps us to realize the law of life regulating within us all the time. If the fellowship is broken, that is, if the inner current is stopped and frustrated, then the sense of life is gone, and the regulating of the inner law seems to no longer work. In this case we become dull, we are in darkness, and we cast off all feeling, becoming a person without regulation (Eph. 4:18-19). This is dangerous. Many Christians are like this. Today, however, we have been taught that the Triune God has come into us to dwell in our spirit as life. With this life there is the constant flowing and current, which is the fellowship of life, and by this flowing of life there is always the bountiful sense of life, the rich consciousness of life, the richness of the inner feeling. Then by this inner sense the law of life regulates in everything all day long. What I am saying here is not mere knowledge; it is based on experience. Your own experience confirms this.
Again I say, if the fellowship of life is frustrated, stopped, and broken, the inner sense will be lost, and the regulating will not work. In this case, we are outside of life. We may still be very good and moral, but we are merely keeping the moral laws; there is no inner regulation of life. We Christians should not be regulated merely by outward moral regulations. We are persons who are regulated by the inner regulation of the inner law, the law of life. This is the big difference between the people in the world and Christians. The worldly, moral persons act only according to outward regulations, but we Christians walk according to the inward regulation. Why do I not do certain things? It is not because of outward regulations but because of the inner regulation. Something within me is regulating, so I cannot do those things, I cannot say certain things, and I cannot go to certain places. Others can go because they do not have the inner regulating. But I have it, so I cannot go. Strictly speaking, a Christian is a person who lives, acts, and does things from within. Whatever he does must be something of life, something as the working out of the inner life, not merely an outward behavior.
In principle, the law is the regulating of the being of God’s people by God Himself, or rather, by what God is. We as the people of God must be regulated by what God is. We must live, move, and have our being according to what He is and corresponding to what He is. If God were a God of hatred and murder, we would have to live in the way of hatred and would murder people day by day. In this way our moving and acting would be corresponding to God. But, as we know, our God is a God not of hatred but of love. Therefore, we must live according to His love, being regulated by what He is.
There are two ways to have God as our law, our regulation. One way is to paint a picture of God, that is, to write down a description of what He is and put it before us. Then we may read it and see what kind of God He is. This is the way of the Ten Commandments. The Ten Commandments are a description, a picture, of God. This outward way does not work well. To be regulated outwardly by a description of even a small person is not easy. We would have to walk as he walks, stand as he stands, and pronounce our words with his accent. This is not easy.
The other way is that God Himself—the living law, not the written law; the real person, not the picture—comes into us. If a living person comes into us to be the law within us, there is no need of an outward description. This is the difference between the old law, the law of letters, and the new law, the law of life. The old law was a picture, a photograph, a description of God presented to us outwardly, according to which we should live, walk, and do things. This does not work. The new law, the law of life, is God Himself coming into us to be the law. He comes into us to be a person, so there is no need only to have His picture. The person Himself is within us, living and working in us as the living law.
God within us is the unique law. Therefore Jeremiah 31:33 speaks of the law in the singular number: “I will put My law in their inward parts.” We may illustrate this from our experience. Before we were saved, we understood and considered things in a certain way. But from the first day we were saved, there was a change in our understanding, our thinking, and our way to consider things. There was also a change in our emotion and will. We may say that this is due to God’s salvation, but beyond that we must realize that this was the putting of the law into us, into our inward parts, the parts of our soul. The tripartite man has a human spirit as his center, a soul surrounding it, and a body as the environment for it. At the time we were saved, God came into our spirit as our life. By this, there was an influence in our mind, will, and emotion. We may call this an influence from God being life in our spirit, but God calls it the putting of His law within us. God put His law into our mind, our will, and our emotion.
However, the putting of His law within us is general; it is not very deep. After this putting, God works on us to engrave, to inscribe, to do something deeper within us. If, after we are saved, we cooperate with God by going along with the sense of life from the fellowship of life, day by day God’s inscribing hand works on us to inscribe Himself into our mind, will, and emotion. The more we fellowship with Him, and the more we live, move, and have our being according to the inner sense in the fellowship, the more God has the opportunity to engrave and inscribe. Then the law put into us will become a law not only written on us but inscribed in us. This is the real transforming work. When God’s law is inscribed on our mind, our mind is transformed. The more God’s law is increased in our mind, the more our mind is renewed and transformed. Ten years ago our mind may have been awful, wild, ugly, earthly, sinful, and even satanic, but today our mind has been improved and refined by the inward regulating, and if we cooperate with God in a fuller way over the years, our mind will even be wonderful. It is the same with our emotion and our will. We often speak of the growth in life, or we may say that a brother has had some improvement. In actuality, the growth and improvement in life are the inscribing of the law in our inner parts.
Too many real Christians are still wild in their thinking. Their minds have never been refined and renewed because their minds have never been regulated by God’s inscribing. Similarly, many sisters are dear, but their emotions are poor, peculiar, and ugly. I have been ministering for more than thirty-five years, and I do know the problem in the church with the sisters. Their problem is their emotions. I do not like to contact many sisters because of their troublesome emotions. If the emotions of the sisters could be dealt with, the church would be spiritual and truly in the heavens. If the sisters and even the brothers would simply cooperate with God and let Him inscribe on their emotions, let Him put the regulating of the inner law in a deeper way into their emotions, then their emotions will be renewed. The building of the church has been very much frustrated by the emotions of the brothers and sisters. The building cannot proceed in a successful way simply because the emotions of the dear saints have not been dealt with and renewed by God. God needs a full and thorough cooperation so that He can inscribe His law upon our emotions. What is the growth in life? It is the constant inscribing of God’s hand in us.
It is the same with our will. The natural will of some people is wild, stubborn, stiffened, and hard. Others, however, are so soft that it seems they have no will at all. Some brothers among us are like this. If you say the earth is heaven, they will say, “Yes, it is heaven,” but if you say it is the earth, they will say, “Yes, it is the earth.” Whatever you say is right, because they have no direction, goal, or will. In the so-called churches in Christianity today, people admire this kind of person. They say, “Look how nice he is. Whatever you say, he just goes along with you.” However, there is no possibility for a person with such a soft will to be coordinated in the church. We can build a building with solid stones, but we cannot build with mud.
On the other hand, there are many in the church who are the opposite. If you say, “This is the earth,” they will say, “No, it is heaven,” and if you say “It is heaven,” they will immediately say, “It is the earth!” This is a stubborn will. A good number of brothers like this never go along with others. When they initiate something, they feel it is right, but if others initiate it, they say no to it, even if it is the same thing. If such a brother is driving, he may say, “Let us go on Beverly Street,” but if someone else is driving and takes Beverly Street, he will say, “No, go on Third Street.” We do not realize how fallen our will is. This is why it is hard to build the church. I have learned this, and I am still learning. In my early days, even thirty years ago, I caused trouble with the brothers and sisters, because at that time I did not know the secret. Today if someone says, “Go on Beverly,” I go on Beverly, and if they say, “Go on Third,” I go on Third.
The problem is that for many years after we were saved, we did not cooperate with God to let Him inscribe His law on our mind and will. If we cooperate with Him and let Him inscribe His law on our will, we will have the renewing of our will; a real transformation will be worked on our will. Our will, in this case, will be good and adequate for the building of the church. If the brothers’ mind, emotion, and will have been renewed by God’s inscribing, we will see the real growth in them.
I like the phrase God’s inscribing. God inscribes Himself as the law on our mind, emotion, and will. Then this law is not only put into but inscribed upon us. The law is written by inscribing. At this point the one law becomes many laws: a law in the mind, a law in the emotion, and a law in the will. One law becomes many laws, just as the one river in Genesis 2:10 was parted into four streams in four directions. The one law in our spirit becomes many laws in our many inward parts.
Christianity with its teachings today is too shallow. Many Christians are deep in the doctrinal letter, but they do not know much about the inner life. Many seek victory over sin and the overcoming of their besetting sin. However, if we learn the lesson to cooperate with God to let Him inscribe on our mind, will, and emotion, there is no need to seek victory over sin. There will be something deeper within us. Then we will see transformation, an inner change. Even only two years after being saved, a brother may have a great change not merely in his outward behavior and conduct but in his way of thinking, of loving and hating things, and of making decisions. Such a brother has growth and a real improvement, and within him we can see a measure of Christ. Our measure of Christ depends on how much God inscribes on our mind, will, and emotion, that is, how much God works Himself into us. First, He puts Himself into us, and after this He starts inscribing all the time. This inscribing is the regulating, and this regulating is the work of the inner law. The regulating depends on the inner sense, and the inner sense comes from the fellowship of life. This is very practical.
Someone may say, “I praise the Lord that I am saved. Now I do not do anything sinful. It is good that some brothers pray early in the morning, but I don’t like to do that. Rather, on Sundays I come to the church meeting.” This is a rough, careless, outward Christian, one not walking by the inner sense and not regulated by the inner law. If we are persons who truly cooperate with God, there is no other way but to love Him, and if we mean business to love Him, we will realize the flow within. We must love Him without any other intention, aim, or goal; we love Him simply because of who He is. We should say, “Lord, I love You. I have no motive; I just love You.” If we do this, the flow within us will be vigorous and powerful. This flow is the fellowship of life, and this fellowship will operate. How much the fellowship operates depends on how much we love Him. The more we love Him, the more it works. This flow, this inner fellowship, brings us a sense and consciousness. The more we have the fellowship of life, the more we will have the sense of life, and the sense will be deeper. This inner sense then helps the regulating of the inner law. This means that God is inscribing His law upon our mind, will, and emotion to renew, saturate, permeate, and take possession of all our inward parts, that is, to transform us into His image.
The more God inscribes on us, the more He transforms us into His image and the more we will be like Him and have His likeness. What God inscribes on us is the image of Himself. Originally, we had only an outward picture of God, but now we have an inward image inscribed by God within us. This is the work of transformation.
The Old Testament is called “the Law and the Prophets” (Matt. 22:40). The law and the prophets are the two elements of the Old Testament. As we have seen, the law is fixed principles that never change. To honor our parents is a law, a fixed principle, and no one can change this. To love our neighbor is also a fixed principle. There is no need to seek guidance as to whether or not we should love our neighbor and honor our parents, because a principle has been set up in the law. The law also says that we should not make an image of God and worship it, so there is also no need to seek guidance about the worship of images. No one can change the principle; everyone has to take it and be regulated by it.
It is different, however, with the prophets. With the prophets there is guidance. We cannot find in the regulation of the law whether or not to visit a certain place. There is no regulation of the law as to whether one should stay in Nazareth or go to Bethlehem. For these matters we need the guidance. Since there was no prophet to help Joseph, the husband of Mary, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, “Flee into Egypt” (2:13). In principle, that was the ministry of the prophets. This is guidance, not regulation. Again, we may illustrate this with shopping. Whether to go to one department store or another is a matter of guidance. However, once I go to the store, there is the need for regulation in the things I buy. Some things I as a Christian should not and cannot buy, because that would be against the inner law, the inner regulating. I cannot, for example, go to a bookstore and buy a book all about movies; this would be against the nature of God and the inner regulation. This is a matter of regulation, not of guidance. As a Christian walking in the presence of God and living by Christ, can we say something dirty and evil with our mouth? No, because that is against God’s nature and the inner regulating. When we contact people and speak for the Lord, however, what we say is not a matter of regulating but a matter of guidance.
In the Old Testament there are the law and the prophets, but in the New Testament the law of life replaces the law of letters, and the inner anointing replaces the ministry of the prophets. The inner anointing is not the law but the guidance. Today we do not need the law of Moses because we have the law of life within, and we do not need the ministry of the prophets because we have the inner anointing. When we have the law of life and the anointing, we have the regulating and the guidance.
The regulating is a narrow realm, and the guidance is a very broad realm. We may compare the regulating to Washington, D.C., and the guidance to the whole of the United States. If Washington, D.C., is in order, the whole of the U.S.A. will be in order, but if Washington, D.C., is upside down, the condition of the fifty states will be terrible. In the same way, if we are not clear about the inner regulation, we can never be clear about the inner guidance. Many Christians do not know the guidance of the Lord, simply because they do not take care of the regulating. The law comes first and then the prophets. Even in the Old Testament the first part is the law and the latter part is the prophets. Therefore, we must learn to take care of the inner regulating; then we have to learn to take care of the anointing.
First John 2:27 tells us that since the anointing abides in us and teaches us concerning all things, we have no need that anyone teach us. Similarly, Hebrews 8:11 tells us that since the law of life regulates within us, there is no need to teach our brother to know the Lord. Verse 10 also tells us that God is God to us by this inner regulating, and we are a people to God also according to the inner regulating. The relationship between us and God can be maintained only by this inner regulating. Whenever we neglect the inner regulating, the relationship between God and us as His children is a mess. Therefore, we all must learn how to take care of this inner regulating. Then by this inner regulating we will be helped to realize the inner anointing. When we are under the regulating, we will have the guidance in all things.
