Are the Ten Commandments Written on Our Hearts?

Sadly many people think that Jeremiah 31:31-34 (see below), and then Hebrew's quoting of it, is referring to the Ten Commandments / the law of Moses, when it doesn't say that at all. And in fact the law of Moses is called "the ministry of death" and "the ministry of condemnation" (2 Cor 3:7-9), and Paul says that the purpose of the law is to shut mouths and make people guilty (Rom 3:19). The passage in Jeremiah says that God will remember their sins no more, which is the opposite of what happened through the law. Paul says that the law is the strength of sin (1 Cor 15:56) and that the law entered so that sin might abound (Rom 5:20).

Because of all this - because the law was "against us" and "contrary to us" (Col 2:14) - Paul writes that the law was "wiped out," "taken out of the way" and "nailed to the cross" (also Col 2:14), and Eph 2:15 says that the law of commandments was "abolished in His (Jesus') flesh." And on top of all this, the very passage in Hebrews in which the passage from Jeremiah is quoted says that it was made obsolete, and it says that the New Covenant is "not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers."

So the law written in the hearts is not the law of Moses / the Ten Commandments. That would be God writing the ministry of death, condemnation, guilt and bondage in the hearts of men, and would go against the entire New Covenant! The "laws" that are not according to the Old Covenant are the "law of faith" (Rom 3:27) and the "law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus," which has "made me free from the law of sin and death" (Rom 8:2). We know that the law of Moses is "not of faith" (Gal 3:12) and again we know that the law of sin and death (and guilt, bondage and condemnation) is the law of Moses.

So this really is a new Covenant! It really is a "new and living way!" It's nothing like the Old. It doesn't derive anything from the Old. It's new, and the meaning of the Greek word for new in this case is "of a new kind, unprecedented." It's something that has never been before. Be default and by definition it cannot be based upon the Law of Moses / the Ten Commandments. The Old has gone and the New has come!

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Jer 31:31-34
31 "Behold, the days are coming, says the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah —  32 not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt, My covenant which they broke, though I was a husband to them, says the Lord. 33 But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the Lord: I will put My law in their minds, and write it on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people. 34 No more shall every man teach his neighbor, and every man his brother, saying, 'Know the Lord,' for they all shall know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them, says the Lord. For I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin I will remember no more."
NKJV

Heb 8:7-13
7 For if that first covenant had been faultless, then no place would have been sought for a second. 8 Because finding fault with them, He says: "Behold, the days are coming, says the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah —   9 not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day when I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt; because they did not continue in My covenant, and I disregarded them, says the Lord.  10 For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the Lord: I will put My laws in their mind and write them on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people.  11 None of them shall teach his neighbor, and none his brother, saying, 'Know the Lord,' for all shall know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them.  12 For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and their lawless deeds I will remember no more."

13 In that He says, "A new covenant," He has made the first obsolete. Now what is becoming obsolete and growing old is ready to vanish away.

Tithing Facts

Tithing facts:

- Abraham tithed not from his income or wealth, but from the spoils of one battle.

- Jacob vowed to give the Lord a tenth of everything. One man's vow doesn't make a principle for everyone to follow.

- Israel's tithes were food. God had told the tribe of Levi that they were forbidden to work for their own food. He commanded the other tribes to provide food for the Levites, in the form of tithes.

- Tithes were not money or income. You will find no scripture that tells anyone to give a tenth of their money in support of anything.

- The storehouse was an actual building in which food was stored, including grain, wine and oil. There were even stalls for livestock and flocks, because the livestock and flocks would be used as FOOD for the Levites. (2 Chronicles 32:28)

- There is absolutely no scripture that says that the New Covenant "church" is now the "storehouse." It is a grossly twisted misuse of the scriptures to say that the church is the storehouse.

- The recipients of the tithes were, again, the Levite tribe. Not pastors. Not churches. Not ministries.

- Jews today do not tithe. The command to tithe says that the tithes must go to the Levite tribe. They would be going against the command of God if they were to give tithes to anyone else.

- Malachi 3 was not written to Christians. It was written to Jews who had forsaken God's commands to them. Malachi 3 has nothing whatsoever to do with life in Christ.

- Why is Abraham's tithe brought up in Hebrews 7? It has nothing whatsoever to do with Christians tithing anything. Rather, the writer was making a point about how Jesus our High Priest is superior to the Levite priesthood. Melchizedek was the one who received the tithe (of the spoils of war) from Abraham, which shows that Melchizedek is greater than Abraham. Jesus is "High Priest according to the order of Melchizedek," and so therefore He is greater than Abraham. And since the Levites were in Abraham's bosom when Abraham tithed, then Jesus is also greater than the Levites. And that is the point! Jesus is superior to the Levite priesthood. It has absolutely nothing to do with Christians tithing and everything to do with showing how Jesus is superior to the Old Covenant.

- Christian are never commanded to tithe. New Covenant giving is based upon the cheerful will of the heart, not a command or a law or a rule.

Bottom line: Giving is a wonderful expression of who we are in Christ. Give, give, give to your heart's content. But there is no "percentage" that is a godly amount. You have the honor and privilege of deciding in your own heart what you want to give, how much you want to give and who you want to give it to. 2%, 9%, 40%, 83%, 7.34542%, 0.0000123%. Whatever. You don't need anyone to tell you how much to give, what to give or who to give it to. Your heart decides.