Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Jeremiah 31:33
But this [shall be] the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel; After those days, saith the LORD, I will put my law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts; and will be their God, and they shall be my people.
33. We may compare, in support of Jeremiah’s authorship, ch. Jer 4:4 (“foreskins of your heart”); also Jer 24:7. Moreover, the post-Jeremianic Isa 51:7 seems to be a reference to this passage.
I will put my law heart ] thus securing that henceforward no complex system of ordinances will be needed. The inner life, emotional and intellectual alike, will be in full harmony with Jehovah’s will.
and I will be my people ] This relationship, existing under the Old Covenant, shall be restored, but with a new and permanent significance.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Jer 31:33
I will put My law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts.
The newness of the covenant
A covenant is a contract or agreement between two parties, binding each to the other, and equally binding on both. The eligibility of any such covenant depends on the fitness of the parties concerned to carry out the terms, the conditions of it,–when on both sides equally, there is alike the will and the power to act upon it, to adhere to it. The two parties to the covenant referred to in the preceding verse, were the God of Israel, and the house of Israel. It was made with their fathers in the day that He took them by the hand, to bring them out of the land of Egypt. That was the date of it. It was a covenant of mutual friendship or goodwill, and of mutual service. He was an husband unto them (Jer 31:32), and it was something equivalent, in respect of sacredness, to the marriage vow by which, as His chosen bride, their fidelity was pledged to Him. Which covenant, however, they brake. Their idolatry was adultery. The only claim which Israel had thereafter was to get a bill of divorcement, and to be put away. Her merited doom would have been final rejection,–to have had a full end made of her, as there was to be, as there has been, of the other nations, such as Babylon, whither the Lord scattered her. Instead of this, however, a wondrous announcement, prefaced by the word Behold, is here made (Jer 31:33). The former covenant having come to nought, through the failure of one of the contracting parties, God Says, He will make another,–He will make another with the same treacherous house of Israel He will bind Himself to them anew. But He Will so make it this time, as to ensure its being kept. He will become bound for both the parties, He will undertake for the fidelity of His partner, as well as for His own. It is the covenant of grace, of which the text speaks, as the presently existing regime, the basis of the constitution, under which,-as the subjects of Gods moral government, we now live; the covenant, one and alone, without a second, like the one bow in the cloud, in the day of ram, spanning the world in its embrace. It is new in form, though not in substance. It was new to Adam, the first covenant-transgressor, when, instead of doom, he found in it deliverance. It was new to Abraham, when his faith in it was counted to him for (or unto) righteousness, when he received the seal of his acceptance with God, not after, but before he was circumcised. It was new to as many of Abrahams posterity, under the law, as had faith enough to discern its newness through the haze, and amid the shadows of that comparatively dark economy,–devout men like Simeon, and devout women like Anna, who waited for the consolation of Israel. It was new–a new revelation to the world–when that new thing was created in the earth of which the prophet speaks (Jer 31:22), the sinless humanity of Christ, when God sent forth His Son, &c. It is new still to every newly awakened sinner, when he first gets a sight of it, reads it with his own eyes, and finds out that there is a place in it for him. It is new in this respect, that it shall never be old, or become obsolete, or go out of date, or lose its charm, or disclose all that is wonderful in it, never, even in eternity! There are four clauses, or articles, in it, setting forth the fourfold provision which He has made for carrying it into effect, i.e., for carrying out what has been His invariable purpose, in all His transactions with men as His creatures, from the beginning, even to bless them, by making and keeping them obedient to Himself–to make them happy, in their being obedient and holy.
1. Clear understanding. I will put My law into their mind. God does this when He lets us see ourselves as the breakers of it, and Christ as the keeper, the fulfiller of it,–when He reveals to us the length, the breadth, the spirituality, the beauty of the law,–in Christs living and dying, obedience to it,–how it was magnified by Him!
2. Permanent Impression. I will put My law into their mind,–to dwell there. I will write it in their hearts, so as to be indelible, and so as to be ever at hand, available, as a rule of duty, a standard of appeal.
3. There is, however, something more engaged for on our behalf than mere acquiescence or approval. There is pleasure and delight. What is written in the heart is the object of thy hearts esteem, love, complacency. And this is true of Gods law; when He writes it, then He makes its very strictness look beautiful, its severity seem sweetly reasonable. Its perfection becomes its charm.
4. Where there is clear intelligence, and constant remembrance, and cordial choice of the law, there will also be–there cannot but be–an abiding, practical influence,—a loyal subjection to it, such as the legal, carnal mind, that is so fond of making a bargain with God, will not, cannot yield. (J. G. Burns.)
Means of the worlds conversion
I. What instrument will be employed to bring about the blessed condition of the human family predicted in the text. This instrument is Divine truth, most expressively called in the text, knowledge of the Lord: that is, the exhibition of the Divine character, more than any other truth, before all consciences, is to be the mighty engine by which heaven will work out the moral revolution of the world. What is the moral law itself, but Gods character–a catalogue of His perfection, written out in the form of precepts? The soul that knows what God is, sees intuitively what itself ought to be. To know Him, is to know His character, His government, His rights, His claims on us, and our duties to Him. It is to know His plan of mercy,–His Son, and His Spirit–His pardoning and sanctifying grace.
II. By what methods and agency is this grand instrument to be applied to the renovation of the world? How is this knowledge of the Lord to be spread all over the earth, and to be brought in contact with every human heart? In this stage of the Churchs history at least, it is evidently the Divine arrangement that men shall be themselves the instruments of saving their own race. That this is the way to do a great work, we learn from the analogies of the natural world. How are the coral isles of the ocean made? Not by being upheaved, by some great convulsion, from the bosom of the deep; but by the ceaseless labours of little insects, each of which works in its own place, and adds its mite to the accumulated mass. It stops not to form combinations and lay plans, but labours in its sphere. How is the huge globe watered, and made productive? Not by great seas, but by little streams, or, rather, by single drops of rain and dew, each refreshing a single leaf, or blade of grass. How is bread produced for the millions of mankind? Each stalk of corn becomes responsible for a limited number of grains. And, in the moral world, we see the same results produced in the same way. How is it that vice is propagated? How are drunkards, gamblers, and infidels made? Not by wholesale, but by individual contact. One corrupt heart infects some other heart: one polluted soul taints some other soul with the infection of its own depravity; and thus recruits are ever multiplied for the host of Satan. Let it be so in the work of salvation. Let each Christian labour to rescue his neighbour and his brother, and how soon will the world be filled with the knowledge of the Lord! Nor will such benevolence be restricted to its own immediate circle. A genuine concern for the salvation of one soul is of the nature of the most enlarged philanthropy. From this subject we learn–
1. The true remedy for all our social and political evils. It is by spreading the knowledge of the Lord.
2. The excellence of those methods of doing good, which exercise the conscience on questions of personal duty. Hence the excellence of all those forms of effort in which teaching is employed: the mother amid her children–the teacher of a Sabbath School, or Bible class–the faithful distributor of tracts–and, pre-eminently, the pastor and the missionary.
3. The mode in which revivals of religion may be promoted. A revival that shall penetrate the mass of the community, must be carried into it by the living agents, who are accustomed to mingle with the mass; and who will go hither and thither, attaching themselves to individuals. (C. Hall.)
The law written on the heart
I. This tablets upon which God writes His law. I will put My law in their inward parts.
1. Thus, you see, the Lord has selected for His tablets that which is the seat of life. It is in the heart that life is to be found, a wound there is fatal: where the seat of life is, there the seat of obedience shall be.
2. Observe next, that not only is the heart the seat of life, but it is the governing power. It is from the heart, as from a royal metropolis, that the imperial commands of the man are issued by which hand and foot, and eye and tongue, and all the members are ordered. Ii the heart be right, then the other powers must yield submission to its sway, and become right too.
3. But before God can write upon mans heart it must be prepared. It is most unfit to be a writing-table for the Lord until it is renewed. The heart must first of all undergo erasures. It must also experience a thorough cleansing, not of the surface only, but of its entire fabric. Truly, it was far easier for Hercules to purge the Augean stables than for our hearts to be purged; for the sin that lies within us is not an accumulation of external defilement, but an inward, all-pervading corruption. In addition to this, the heart needs to be softened, for the heart is naturally hard, and in some men it has become harder than an adamant stone. Nor would the softening be enough, for there are some who have a tenderness of the most deceiving kind. They receive the Word with joy: they feel every expression of it, but they speedily go their way and forget what manner of men they are. They are as impressible as the water, hut the impression is as soon removed; so that another change is needed, namely, to make them retentive of that which is good: else might you engrave and re-engrave, but, like an inscription upon wax, it would be gone in a moment if exposed to heat. In a word, the heart of man needs to be totally changed, even as Jesus said to Nicodemus, Ye must be born again.
II. The writing. I will put My law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts. What is this writing?
1. First, the matter of it is the law of God. God writes upon the hearts of His people that which is already revealed; He inscribes there nothing novel and unrevealed, but His own will which He has already given us in the book of the law. Observe, however, that God says He will write His whole law on the heart, this is included in the words, My law. Gods work is complete in all its parts, and beautifully harmonious. He will not write one command and leave out the rest as so many do in their reforms. Mark, again, that on the heart there is written not the law toned down and altered, but My law,–that very same law which was at first written on the heart of man unfallen.
2. But to come a tittle closer to the matter: what does the Scripture mean by writing the law of God in the heart? The writing itself includes a great many things. A man who has the law of God written on his heart, first of all, knows it. Gods Spirit has taught him what is right and what is wrong: he knows this by heart, and therefore can no longer put darkness for light, and light for darkness. This law, next, abides upon his memory. God has given him a touchstone by which he tries things. It is a grand thing to possess a universal detector, so that, go where you may, you are not dependent upon the judgment of others, and therefore are not deceived as multitudes are. This, however, is only a part of the matter, and a very small part comparatively. The law is written on a mans heart further than this: when he consents unto the law that it is good; when his conscience, being restored, cries, Yes, that is so, and ought to be so. That command by which God has forbidden a certain course is a proper and prudent command: it ought to be enjoined. But, furthermore, there is wrought in the heart by God a love to the law as well as a consent to it, such a love that the man thanks God that He has given him such a fair and lovely representation of what perfect holiness would be; that He has given such measuring lines, by which he knows how a house is to be builded in which God can dwell Thus thanking the Lord, his prayer, desire, longing, hungering, and thirsting, are after righteousness, that he may in all things be according to the mind of God.
3. If anybody should inquire how the Lord keeps the writing upon the heart legible, I should like to spend a minute or two in showing the process. He enlightens by knowledge, convinces by argument, leads by persuasion, strengthens by instruction, and so forth. So far also we know that one way by which the law is kept written upon a Christians heart is this,–a sense of Gods presence. The believer feels that he could not sin with God looking on. Next, the Christian has a lively sense within him of the degradation which sin once brought upon him. But a sense of love is a yet more powerful factor. Let a man know that God loves him, let him feel sure that God always did love him from before the foundations of the world, and he must try to please God. Another very powerful pen with which the Lord writes is to be found in the sufferings of our Lord Jesus Christ. Besides that, God actually establishes His holy law in the throne of the heart by giving to us a new and heavenly life. Once more, the Holy Ghost Himself dwells in believers.
III. The writer. Who is it that writes the law upon the heart? It is God Himself. I will do it, saith He.
1. Note, first, that He has a right to indite His law on the heart. He made the heart; it is His tablet: let Him write there whatever He wills.
2. Note, next, that He alone can write the law on the heart. This is noble work, angels themselves cannot attain to it. This is the finger of God. As God alone can write there and must write there, so He alone shall have the glory of that writing when once it is perfected.
3. When God writes He writes perfectly. No holiness can excel the holiness produced by the Holy Spirit when His inward work is fully completed.
4. Moreover, He writes indelibly. I defy the devil to get a single letter of the law of God out of a mans heart when God has written it there. Written rocks bear their inscriptions long, but written hearts bear them for ever and ever.
IV. The results of the law being thus written in the heart.
1. Frequently the first result is great sorrow. If I have Gods law written on my heart, then I say to myself, Ah me, that I should have lived a law-breaker so long! This blessed law, this lovely law, why I have not even thought of it, or if I have thought of it, it has provoked me to disobedience. Sin revived, and I died when the commandment came.
2. The next effect of it is, there comes upon the man a strong and stern resolve that he will not break that law again, hut will keep it with all his might.
3. That strong resolve soon leads to a fierce conflict; for another law lifts up its head, a law in our members; and that other law cries, Not so quick there: your new law which has come into your soul to rule you shall not be obeyed: I will be master.
4. But does not something better than this come of the Divine heart-writing? Oh yes. There comes actual obedience. The man not only consents to the law that it is good, hut he obeys it; and if there be anything which Christ commands, no matter what it is, the man seeks to do it,–not only wishes to do it, but actually does it; and if there be aught that is wrong, he not only wishes to abstain from it, but he does abstain from it.
5. As this proceeds, the man becomes more and more prepared to dwell in heaven. He is changed into Gods image from glory to glory even as by the Spirit of the Lord. (C. H. Spurgeon.)
And will be their God-God in the covenant
I. How Is God Especially The God Of His Own Children? We answer, that in some things God is the God of all His creatures; but even there, there is a special relationship existing between Himself and His chosen creatures, whom He has loved with an everlasting love. And in the next place, there are certain relationships in which God does not exist towards the rest of His creatures, but only towards His own children.
1. First, then, God is the God of all His creatures, seeing that He has the right to decree to do with them as He pleases. He is the Creator of us all; He is the potter, and hath power over the clay, to make of the same lump, one vessel to honour and another to dishonour. He is the God of all creatures, absolutely so in the matter of predestination, seeing that He is their Creator, and has an absolute right to do with them as He wills. But here again He has a special regard to His children, and He is their God even in that sense; for to them, while He exercises the same sovereignty, He exercises it in the way of grace and grace only. Again, He is the God of all His creatures, in the sense that He has a right to command obedience of all But even here there is something special in regard to the child of God. Though God is the ruler of all men, yet His rule is special towards His children; for He lays aside the sword of His rulership, and in His hand He grasps the rod for His child, not the sword of punitive vengeance. Again, God has an universal power over all His creatures in the character of a Judge. He will judge the world in righteousness and His people with equity. Our loving God is the Judge who shall acquit our souls, and in that respect we can say He is our God. So then, whether as Sovereign, or as Governor enforcing law, or as Judge punishing sin; although God is in some sense the God of all men, yet in this matter there is something special towards His people, so that they can say, He is our God, even in those relationships.
2. But now there are points to which the rest of Gods creatures cannot come; and here the great pith of the matter lies; here the very soul of this glorious promise dwells. God is our God in a sense, with which the unregenerate, the unconverted, the unholy, can have no acquaintance, in which they have no share whatever. First, then, God is my God, seeing that He is the God of my election. If I be His child, then has He loved me from before all worlds, and His infinite mind has been exercised with plans for my salvation. If He be my God, He has seen me when I have wandered far from Him; and when I have rebelled, His mind has determined when I shall be arrested–when I shall be turned from the errors of my ways. He has been providing for me the means of grace, He has applied those means of grace in due time, but His everlasting purpose has been the basis and the foundation of it all; and thus He is my God as He is the God of none else beside His own children. Furthermore, the Christian can call God his God, from the fact of his justification. A sinner can call God–God, but he must always put in an adjective, and speak of God as an angry God, an incensed God, or an offended God. But the Christian can say my God without putting in any adjective except it be a sweet one wherewithal to extol Him. Again, He is the believers God by adoption, and in that the sinner hath no part.
II. The exceeding preciousness of this great mercy. I will be their God. I conceive that God, Himself, could say no more than that.
1. Compare this portion with the lot of thy fellow-men! Some of them have their portion in the field, they are rich and increased in goods, and their yellow harvests are even now ripening in the sun; but what are harvests compared with thy God, the God of harvests? Or, what are granaries compared with Him who is thy husbandman, and feeds thee with the bread of heaven? Some have their portion in the city; their wealth is superabundant, and in constant streams it flows to them, until they become a very reservoir of gold; but what is gold compared with thy God? Some have their portion in this world, in that which most men love–applause and fame; but ask thyself, is not thy God more to thee than that? What, if a thousand trumps should blow thy praise, and if a myriad clarions should be loud with thine applause; what would it all be to thee if thou hadst lost thy God?
2. Compare this with what thou requirest, Christian. To make thee happy thou wantest something that shall satisfy thee; and come, I ask thee, is not this enough? Will not this fill thy pitcher to its very brim, ay, till it runs over? But thou wantest more than quiet satisfaction; thou desirest, sometimes, rapturous delight. Come, soul, is there not enough here to delight thee? Put this promise to thy lips; didst ever drink wine one-half so sweet u this, I will be their God? Didst ever hear harp or viol sound half me sweetly as this, I will be their God? But then thou wantest something more than present delights, something concerning which thou mayest exercise hope; and what more dost thou ever hope to get than the fulfilment of this great promise, I will be their God? O hope! thou art a great-handed thing; thou layest hold of mighty things, which even faith hath not power to grasp; hut though large thine hand may be, this fills it, so that thou canst carry nothing else. I protest, before God, I have not a hope beyond this promise. Oh, say you, you have a hope of heaven. Ay, I have a hope of heaven, but this is heaven–I will be their God.
III. The certainty of this promise; it does not say, I may be their God; but I will be their God. Nor does the text say, Perhaps I shall be their God; no, it says, I will be their God. Oh! cries the sinner, I will not have Thee for a God. Wilt thou not? says He, and He gives him over to the hand of Moses; Moses takes him a little and applies the club of the law, drags him to Sinai, where the mountain totters over his head, the lightnings flash, and thunders bellow, and then the sinner cries, O God, save me! Ah! I thought thou wouldst not have Me for a God? O Lord, Thou shalt be my God, says the poor trembling sinner, I have put away my ornaments from me; O Lord, what wilt Thou do unto me? Save me! I will give myself to Thee. Oh! take me! Ay, says the Lord, I knew it; I said that I will be their God; and I have made thee willing in the day of My power. I will be their God, and they shall be My people.
IV. Make use of god, if He be yours. It is strange that spiritual blessings are our only possessions that we do not employ. There is the mercy-seat, for instance. Ah, my friends, if you had the cash-box as full of riches as that mercy-seat is, you would go often to it; as often as your necessities require. But, you do not go to the mercy-seat half so often as you need to go. Most precious things God has given to us, but we never over-use them. The truth is, they cannot be over-used; we cannot wear a promise threadbare; we can never burn out the incense of grace; we can never use up the infinite treasures of Gods loving-kindness. But if the blessings God gives us are not used, perhaps God is the least used of all. Though He is our God, we apply ourselves less to Him, than to any of His creatures, or any of His mercies which He bestows upon us. Have thou not a God lying by thee to no purpose; let not thy God be as other gods, serving only for a show: have not a name only that thou hast a God. Since He allows thee, having such a friend use Him daily. (C. H. Spurgeon.)
The Christians portion in God
Christian! here is all thou canst require.
1. To make thee happy thou wantest something that shall satisfy thee; and is not this enough? Desire is insatiable as death, but He who filleth all in all can fill it. The capacity of our wishes who can measure? but the immeasurable wealth of God can more than overflow it.
2. But thou wantest more than quiet satisfaction; thou desirest rapturous delight. Come, soul, here is music fit for heaven in this thy portion, for God is the Maker of heaven. Not all the music blown from sweet instruments, or drawn from living strings, can yield such melody as this sweet promise, I will be their God. Here is a deep sea of bliss, a shoreless ocean of delight; come, bathe thy spirit in it; swim an age, and thou shalt find no shore; dive throughout eternity, and thou shalt find no bottom.
3. But thou wantest more than present delights, thou cravest something concerning which thou mayest exercise hope; and what more canst thou hope for than the fulfilment of this great promise, I will be their God? This is the masterpiece of all the promises; its enjoyment makes a heaven below, and will make a heaven above. Live up to thy privileges, and rejoice with unspeakable joy. (C. H. Spurgeon.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Verse 33. After those days] When vision and prophecy shall be sealed up, and Jesus have assumed that body which was prepared for him, and have laid down his life for the redemption of a lost world, and, having ascended on high, shall have obtained the gift of the Holy Spirit to purify the heart; then God’s law shall, by it, be put in their inward parts, and written on their hearts; so that all within and all without shall be holiness to the Lord. Then God will be truly their God, received and acknowledged as their portion, and the sole object of their devotion; and they shall be his people, filled with holiness, and made partakers of the Divine nature, so that they shall perfectly love him and worthily magnify his name.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
With the house of Israel; that is, with those Israelites indeed, who shall be without guile, (as Christ saith of Nathanael, Joh 1:47) with those who are (as the apostle speaks, Rom 2:29. Jews inwardly, by the circumcision of the heart and Spirit, spoken of and promised by God, Deu 30:6. After those days, saith the Lord, I will put my law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts: in the times of the gospel, Gods law is not abrogated and made void. Christ himself came not to destroy the law, but to fulfil it; but it is written in the hearts of Gods true Israel by the finger of the Spirit, not in tables of stone only; and they become obedient to it, not from compulsion and force, but from their secret approbation of it, and acknowledgment of it, as holy, just, and good, the delight they take in it after the inward man, Rom 7:22. But some may object, How was this a new covenant? Did not God of old write his law in the hearts of his people? Did not David, and other the servants of God, (of whom we read in the Old Testament,) serve God out of a principle of love and delight in his law?
Answ. Undoubtedly David and others did so, and the law of God was wrote in their hearts, but it was by virtue of this new covenant, from the free and efficacious grace of God. Mr. Calvin, I think, judgeth right, that the prophets design here is to express the difference betwixt the law and the gospel. The first showeth duty; the latter bringeth along with it the grace of regeneration, by which the heart is changed, fitted, and enabled for and unto duty. All under the time of the law that came to salvation were saved, not from the law, or by that, but by the gospel, and this new covenant; but this was not evidently exhibited, neither was the regenerating grace of God so common, under the time of the law, as it hath been under the gospel, which maketh it look like a new covenant with men, though it was the same covenant which God was always in with his people; for what difference is there between the terms of the covenant as recited here, Jer 24:7; 30:22, and as made with Abraham? Gen 17:7; Deu 30:6. It is further observable, that God maketh the writing the law in peoples hearts his own work. There were no need of Gods putting his law into mens inward parts, if they had such an inward power (as some talk of) of themselves to do it, and could write it there with a pen of their own making. The papists allow God a share in this work, only give man himself the greatest share. Others indeed give God nothing but the honour of giving man a reasonable soul, furnished with such a power, and that he hath done to heathens as well as those within the pale of the church, and the preaching of the gospel; and to those within the church, a further aid and assistance to them than heathens have to use their natural power well. But let any understanding person judge whether this be probably the sense of this text, or comprehensive of all within the covenant which God hath made with his people; or supposing this were true, what that is which differeth one man living under the gospel from another, but himself; and whether by this doctrine man be not made a god to himself that is, the principal cause of all spiritual and eternal good, which how it comporteth with the honour and glory of God, or with this text, and many others of like nature, I do not understand.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
33. will be their God (Jer32:38).
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
But this [shall be] the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel; after those days, saith the Lord,…. The several articles or branches of the covenant next follow, which show it to be different from the former:
I will put my law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts; not the ceremonial law, which was abolished when this covenant was made; but rather the moral law still in force, which is a transcript of the nature and will of God; was inscribed on Adam’s heart in innocence; is greatly obliterated by sin; a contrary disposition to it is in man; this is reinscribed in regeneration; and hence a regard is had to it by regenerate persons, in which lies part of their conformity to Christ: or else, since the word here used signifies doctrine or instruction, the Gospel and the truths of it may be meant; see Isa 2:2 Ro 3:27; which have a place and dwell in the hearts of renewed ones. The Septuagint version reads it in the plural number, “laws”; and so does the apostle, Heb 8:10; and may design the ordinances of the Gospel, and the commandments of Christ; which such, who are called by grace, have at heart to keep, and are made willing to be subject to; besides, the principle of grace in the soul is called “the law of the mind”; Ro 7:23; it has the force of a law; is a reigning, governing, principle; and which is implanted in the genre by the spirit and power of God; the tables on which this law or laws are written are not tables of stone, but the fleshly tables of the heart; the heart is the proper seat, both of the law of God and Gospel of Christ, as well as of the grace of God in all regenerate persons: and the “putting” of those things there denotes knowledge of them, as of the spirituality of the law, and its perfection; that there is no righteousness by it, and is only fulfilled by Christ; and that it is a rule of walk and conversation; and also of the doctrines of the Gospel, in the power and savour of them, and of the ordinances of it, so as to practise them, and walk in them; and an experience of the truth and reality of internal grace: and “writing” them here may denote affection for, and subjection to, the above things; and a clear work of grace upon the soul, so as to be legible, and appear to be the epistle of Christ, written not with the ink of nature’s power, but by the Spirit of the living God; see 2Co 3:3. This passage is applied to future times, the times of the Messiah, by the Jews m:
and will be their God, and they shall be my people; God is the God of his covenant ones; not as the God of nature and providence only, but as the God of grace, and as their God and Father in Christ; which is preferable to everything else; all things are theirs; nor can they want any good thing; they need fear no enemy; they may depend upon the love of God, and be secure of his power; they may expect all blessings here and hereafter; for this covenant interest will always continue: and they are his people in such sense as others are not; a distinct, special, and peculiar people; a people near unto the Lord; high in his favour, and greatly blessed by him; all which is made to appear in their effectual calling; see 1Pe 2:9.
m Shirhashirim Rabba, fol. 3. 2.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
He now shews a difference between the Law and the Gospel, for the Gospel brings with it the grace of regeneration: its doctrine, therefore, is not that of the letter, but penetrates into the heart and reforms all the inward faculties, so that obedience is rendered to the righteousness of God.
A question may however be here moved, Was the grace of regeneration wanting to the Fathers under the Law? But this is quite preposterous. What, then, is meant when God denies here that the Law was written on the heart before the coming of Christ? To this I answer, that the Fathers, who were formerly regenerated, obtained this favor through Christ, so that we may say, that it was as it were transferred to them from another source. The power then to penetrate into the heart was not inherent in the Law, but it was a benefit transferred to the Law from the Gospel. This is one thing. Then we know that this grace of God was rare and little known under the Law; but that under the Gospel the gifts of the Spirit have been more abundantly poured forth, and that God has dealt more bountifully with his Church. But still the main thing is, to consider what the Law of itself is, and what is peculiar to the Gospel, especially when a comparison is made between the Law and the Gospel. For when this comparison ceases, this cannot be properly applied to the Law; but with regard to the Gospel it is said, that the Law is that of the letter, as it is called elsewhere, (Rom 7:6) and this also is the reason why Paul calls it the letter in 2Co 3:6,
“
the letter killeth,”
etc. By “letter” he means not what Origen foolishly explained, for he perverted that passage as he did almost the whole Scripture: Paul does not mean there the simple and plain sense of the Law; for he calls it the letter for another reason, because it only sets before the eyes of men what is right, and sounds it also in their ears. And the word letter refers to what is written, as though he had said, The Law was written on stones, and was therefore a letter. But the Gospel — what is it? It is spirit, that is, God not only addresses his word to the ears of men and sets it before their eyes, but he also inwardly teaches their hearts and minds. This is then the solution of the question: the Prophet speaks of the Law in itself, as apart from the Gospel, for the Law then is dead and destitute of the Spirit of regeneration.
He afterwards says, I will put my Law in their inward parts By these words he confirms what we have said, that the newness, which he before mentioned, was not so as to the substance, but as to the form only: for God does not say here, “I will give you another Law,” but I will write my Law, that is, the same Law, which had formerly been delivered to the Fathers. He then does not promise anything different as to the essence of the doctrine, but he makes the difference to be in the form only. But he states the same thing in two ways, and says, that he would put his law in their inward parts, and that he would write it in their hearts (54) We indeed know how difficult it is that man should be so formed to obedience that his whole life may be in unison with the Law of God, for all the lusts of the flesh are so many enemies, as Paul says, who fight against God. (Rom 8:7) As then all our affections and lusts thus carry on war with God, it is in a manner a renovation of the world when men suffer themselves to be ruled by God. And we know what Scripture says, that we cannot be the disciples of Christ, except we renounce ourselves and the world, and deny our own selves. (Mat 6:24; Luk 14:26) This is the reason why the Prophet was not satisfied with one statement, but said, I will put my Law in their inward parts, I will write it in their hearts.
We may further learn from this passage, how foolish the Papists are in their conceit about free-will. They indeed allow that without the help of God’s grace we are not capable of fulfilling the Law, and thus they concede something to the aid of grace and of the Spirit: but still they not only imagine a co-operation as to free-will, but ascribe to it the main work. Now the Prophet here testifies that it is the peculiar work of God to write his Law in our hearts. Since God then declares that this favor is justly his, and claims to himself the glory of it, how great must be the arrogance of men to appropriate this to themselves? To write the Law in the heart imports nothing less than so to form it, that the Law should rule there, and that there should be no feeling of the heart, not conformable and not consenting to its doctrine. It is hence then sufficiently clear, that no one can be turned so as to obey the Law, until he be regenerated by the Spirit of God; nay, that there is no inclination in man to act rightly, except God prepares his heart by his grace; in a word, that the doctrine of the letter is always dead, until God vivifies it by his Spirit.
He adds, And I will be to them a God, and they shall be to me a people Here God comprehends generally the substance of his covenant; for what is the design of the Law, except that the people should call upon him, and that he should also exercise a care over his people? For whenever God declares that he will be our God, he offers to us his paternal layout, and declares that our salvation is become the object of his care; he gives to us a free access to himself, bids us to recumb on his grace, and, in short, this promise contains in itself everything needful for our salvation. The case is now also at this day the same under the Gospel; for as we are aliens from the kingdom of heaven, he reconciles us by it to himself, and testifies that he will be our God. On this depends what follows, And they shall be my people; for the one cannot be separated from the other. By these words then the Prophet briefly intimates, that the main object of God’s covenant is, that he should become our Father, from whom we are to seek and expect salvation, and that we should also become his people. Of these things there is more to be said again; but I have explained the reason why I now so quickly pass over things worthy of a longer explanation. He adds, —
(54) All the nouns in Hebrew are of the singular number, — “law, inward part, heart,” and also “iniquity and sin;” and so are they in the Vulg., except the second, which is rendered “bowels;” but in the other versions and the Targ., they are mostly pluralized. The words as quoted in Hebrews are not exactly according to any of the versions, but for the most part according to that of the Sept.
There is in many copies a ו before נתתי, “I have put,” by which it is turned into a future, “I will even put.” This seems to be the true reading, —
I will even put my law in their inmost part, And on their heart will I write it.
It is the same as if it was said, “I will put my law in the inmost part of each of them:” the persons are individualized, in order to shew that the act extends to every one alike. — Ed.
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
(33) This shall be the covenant . . .The prophet felt that nothing less than this would meet the wants of the time, or, indeed, of any time. The experiment, so to speak, of a law requiring righteousness had been tried and had failed. There remained the hopenow, by the Divine word that came to him, turned into an assuranceof a Power imparting righteousness, writing the law in the inward parts, the centre of consciousness and will, in which God required truth (Psa. 2:6), in the heart as the region at once of thoughts and of affections. In 2Co. 3:3-6 we have a manifest reference not only to the idea, but to the very words of Jeremiahs prophecy.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
33. I will put my law in their inward parts So far from being set aside or abrogated, it shall be enthroned and enshrined at the source and centre of life. For the best commentary on these words, see the Sermon on the Mount.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Jer 31:33 But this [shall be] the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel; After those days, saith the LORD, I will put my law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts; and will be their God, and they shall be my people.
Ver. 33. I will put my law in their inward parts. ] This the apostle calleth the “law in their minds,” opposed to the “law of their members”; Rom 7:23 for the natural man is inversus decalogus, oposed to the law, “he is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be.” But God putteth into the hearts of his people the counterpart of his holy law; he stamps, as it were, a decalogue upon their spirits; he puts into them an inward aptness, answering the law of God without, as the lead answereth the mould, wax the seal, as tally answereth tally: or as indenture indenture.
And I will be their God, and they shall be my people.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
the house of, &c. Some codices, with four early printed editions (one in margin), read “the sons of”: i.e. of the whole nation.
in their hearts = on their hearts. Compare Eze 11:19; Eze 36:26. Heb 10:16.
and will be their God. Compare Jer 24:7; Jer 30:22; Jer 32:38.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
But this shall be the: Jer 32:40
I will: Deu 30:6, Psa 37:31, Psa 40:8, Isa 51:7, Eze 11:19, Eze 36:25-27, Rom 7:22, Rom 8:2-8, 2Co 3:3, 2Co 3:7, 2Co 3:8, Gal 5:22, Gal 5:23, Heb 8:10, Heb 10:16
and will: Jer 31:1, Jer 24:7, Jer 30:22, Jer 32:38, Gen 17:7, Gen 17:8, Eze 11:20, Eze 37:27, Zec 13:9, Joh 20:17, Rev 21:3, Rev 21:7
Reciprocal: Exo 3:6 – I am Exo 6:7 – will take Exo 15:2 – my God Exo 20:2 – the Lord Exo 24:12 – tables Exo 29:46 – that I am Exo 31:18 – the finger Lev 25:38 – and to be Lev 26:12 – will be Deu 6:6 – shall be Deu 30:8 – General 2Sa 7:24 – art become 1Ki 8:58 – incline Neh 2:12 – my God Psa 25:5 – teach Psa 51:6 – in the hidden Psa 63:1 – thou Psa 67:6 – our own Psa 84:5 – in whose Psa 95:7 – For he Psa 119:5 – General Psa 119:29 – grant me Pro 3:1 – let Pro 7:3 – General Son 2:16 – beloved Isa 29:18 – the deaf Isa 40:2 – that her iniquity Isa 48:17 – which teacheth Isa 51:16 – Thou art Jer 7:23 – and I Jer 9:24 – knoweth Jer 11:4 – ye be Jer 22:16 – was not Eze 14:11 – that they Eze 34:24 – I the Lord will Eze 36:27 – cause Eze 36:28 – be people Eze 37:23 – they be Eze 37:24 – they shall Hos 2:1 – Ammi Hos 2:20 – and Zep 3:13 – not Zec 8:8 – they shall be my Mal 3:17 – they shall Mat 9:2 – be Luk 1:75 – General Luk 7:42 – he Luk 8:15 – in an Joh 3:10 – and knowest Joh 6:45 – And they Joh 7:17 – General Joh 8:32 – ye shall Joh 14:21 – that hath Joh 14:26 – he Joh 17:3 – this Act 3:19 – that Act 27:23 – whose Rom 3:29 – General Rom 3:31 – yea Rom 9:4 – covenants 2Co 6:16 – I will be 2Co 8:5 – first Gal 3:14 – might Gal 4:7 – heir Eph 2:10 – we are Eph 3:16 – the inner Phi 2:13 – God 2Th 3:5 – into 2Ti 2:25 – if 1Jo 2:27 – and ye
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
LIGHT-WRITING
I will write [My law] in their hearts.
Jer 31:33
(A sermon to children)
Did you ever think that the best writer in the world is light? A photograph is a writing by means of light. When you go to a studio and say, I want my photo, what the artist does is this: he puts you in a certain position, then he arranges the cameraa darkened box with an opening in front, in which a glass to catch up and refract the rays of light is insertedthen into the back part of this box he places a little glass; and then in a moment your image, formed on the glass in front, is focused in the other glass in the back part. There you are! The light has done what pen and ink could not do. Now see in this a type of the photograph spoken of by the prophet.
I. What it is that receives the image.If you speak to the photographer about his art, he will tell you that the sort of surface which suits him is one that is sensitiveeasily affected by the suns rays. Now if you look at the word of Jeremiah you will notice that in Gods photographic work the camera is said to be the inward part: that which takes the image is the sensitive fleshy table of the heart. If there is no writing of God there, the saving work of the blessed light has not yet been begun.
How can we receive the writing of God in our hearts? A photographer must get his glass or lens made specially for his work. God needs a heart specially for His writing, and He alone can give you that heart. A new heart also will I give you. Gods will is to take away the stony heart, and give you His heart which will receive His light.
II. What is the image received?I will write My law in their hearts. The photograph which God makes in the heart is myself as I should be. When I see any child showing a wicked temper, I say, that is not the real, right child. Just as we are, sinners away from God, we are not our real, right selves. My real, right self is in the law of God. Gods law is exceeding broad, but the whole law is gathered up in Jesus Christ. A great preacher of old used, when preaching, to hold a tablet with the name of Jesus written on it. We hold up His name before you, praying that you may have it written on the table of your hearts.
III. How the picture formed is perfected.Suppose that you looked at the glass after the photographer was done with you. What would you see? Nothing. Your likeness is there, but it is scarcely visible. The artist has to wash the plate in acids, and by and by the likeness comes out. And so when Gods light streams into your heart, the image is written, but it needs many washings to bring out the likeness. There is a fountain filled with blood. There is nothing so strong as that blood of Christ. The Holy Spirit takes that heart to the fountain, and washes and bathes it, until little by little the mind is renewed and the beauty of holiness gradually grows.
The photographer, when all is ready, says, Now look steadily. Look straight to your loving Saviour, and pray for His Holy Spirit. He it is Who can open your eyes and give you the power to look.
Fuente: Church Pulpit Commentary
Jer 31:33, One of the differences between the two covenants is indicated by the words write it in their hearts. Under the Jewish covenant a boy baby was circumcised when 8 days old which made him a full member of the group. But the new covenant has to be entered by accepting it in the heart or mind.
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
Jer 31:33-34. This shall be the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel That is, with those who are Israelites indeed, in whom is no guile, Joh 1:47, who are Jews inwardly, Rom 2:29, by the circumcision of the heart and spirit, spoken of and promised by God, Deu 30:6. I will put my law in their inward parts, &c. In the times of the gospel Gods law is not abrogated and made void; for Christ came not to destroy the law, but to fulfil it: but it is written in the hearts of Gods true Israel by the finger of his Spirit; and they become obedient to it from their secret approbation of it as holy, just, and good, and from the delight they take in it after the inward man. But it may be asked, How was this peculiar to this new covenant? Did not God of old write his law on the hearts of his people? Did not David and others, the servants of God, of whom we read in the Old Testament, serve God, out of a principle of love and delight in his law? We must answer, Undoubtedly they did, and the law of God was, in a measure, written in their hearts; but this was not through the virtue of the Mosaic dispensation, but through the grace of this new covenant, revealed and communicated, though but obscurely and partially, even under that dispensation. The principal design of the prophet here is evidently to express the difference between the law and the gospel: the law shows man his duty, the gospel brings the grace of regeneration, by which the heart of man is changed, and he is enabled to do his duty. All who, during the time of the Mosaic dispensation, attained salvation, were saved by virtue of this new covenant; but this was not then evidently exhibited; neither was the renewing grace of God so generally and largely given as it has been under the gospel. And they shall teach no more every man his neighbour This must not be so interpreted as if under the gospel there should be no more need of ministerial teaching, for Christ himself sent out his apostles to preach; nor yet as if there should be no further need of brethren in Christ teaching one another, for the contrary is commanded, Col 3:16. This expression only signifies the great increase of divine knowledge, especially of the knowledge of the being and attributes of the one living and true God, and of the relations in which he is pleased to stand to his people, which is the knowledge here chiefly intended. For they shall all know me, from the least unto the greatest Even the least of them, who have an interest in this new covenant, and are ingrafted into the good olive, and partake of the fatness of the root, even babes in Christ, and much more they who have arrived at the measure of the stature of his fulness; shall all savingly know me, and have eternal life in and by that knowledge. For I will forgive their iniquity, &c. Here God represents the free pardon of all their sins as being the root and foundation of this grace, and of all the privileges and blessings of this new covenant.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
31:33 But this [shall be] the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel; After {k} those days, saith the LORD, I will put my law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts; and will be their God, and they shall be my people.
(k) In the time of Christ, my law will instead of tables of stone be written in their hearts by my Holy Spirit, Heb 8:10 .
Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes
Instead of God’s law being external to them, the Lord would write it on their heart (i.e., mind and will; cf. Jer 17:1). He will do something for them that they cannot do for themselves (cf. Deu 30:5-6). "Writing on the heart" suggests the removal of written documents and merely human mediators. Having the Lord’s Word in the heart prevents sin and fosters obedience (cf. Deu 11:18; Psa 119:11). [Note: See Femi Adeyemi, "What Is the New Covenant ’Law’ in Jeremiah 31:33?" Bibliotheca Sacra 163:651 (July-September 2006):312-21, who concluded that this refers not to the Mosaic Law but to a law yet to be given to Israel by Christ. Ibid., "The New Covenant Law and the Law of Christ," Bibliotheca Sacra 163:652 (October-December 2006):438-52, equated this new law with the Law of Christ (1 Corinthians 9:21; Galatians 6:2).] David equated having the law written on his heart with desiring to do God’s will (Psa 40:8)
"It will become part of the nature of God’s people; it will be instinctive. The core of the new covenant is God’s gift of a new heart (cf. Eze 36:25-27). Herein lies the sufficient motivation for obeying God’s law." [Note: Feinberg, "Jeremiah," p. 576. Italics mine. Cf. 32:39 [LXX]; Ezekiel 11:19; 18:31; and Wiersbe, p. 123.]
". . . there is no further need of any external means like mutual teaching about God . . ." [Note: Keil, 2:36.]
God would also enter into an intimate relationship with His people as His covenant partners (cf. Jer 7:23; Jer 11:4; Jer 24:7; Jer 30:22; Jer 31:1; Jer 32:38; Deuteronomy 31; Eze 11:20; Eze 36:28). The old Mosaic Covenant being broken, a new relationship would begin.
"If the sheer grace of God’s election of Israel as covenant partner was apparent in the first covenant making, how much more so in this promise following their history of unfaithfulness and rebellion (Jer 31:32)." [Note: Scalise, p. 133.]
Notice that Jeremiah revealed nothing about human responsibility under the New Covenant. That would come later with the teachings of Jesus Christ and the apostles.