The Divine Library (6)

In this chapter we will look at what God writes upon the heart. We will see how he does this in human generation and in spiritual regeneration. The apostle Paul refers to the former when he wrote:

"who show the work of the law written in their hearts, their conscience also bearing witness, and between themselves their thoughts accusing or else excusing them" (Rom. 2: 15 nkjv).

Though the Hardshell Baptists attempt to apply this text to God's work of regeneration, it is not the historic Christian or Baptist interpretation, which rather says that this writing of the law of God upon the heart is what God does in the hearts of all men, being inscribed into their nature and conscience. So, why do they do this? It is because they believe that the heathen who "know not God nor obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ" (II Thess. 1: 8) may still be saved and regenerated while in that state and go to scripture to find a text that says such or find a text that they can distort so as to uphold their proposition. 

I have written on this text many times over the past twenty years. For instance, in this post (here) I cited Dr. John Gill's commentary on the passage and then wrote my own comments on what he said.

Ver. 15. Which show the work of the law written in their hearts,.... Though the Gentiles had not the law in form, written on tables, or in a book, yet they had "the work", the matter, the sum and substance of it in their minds; as appears by the practices of many of them, in their external conversation. The moral law, in its purity and perfection, was written on the heart of Adam in his first creation; was sadly obliterated by his sin and fall; upon several accounts, and to answer various purposes, a system of laws was written on tables of stone for the use of the Israelites; and in regeneration the law is reinscribed on the hearts of God's people; and even among the Gentiles, and in their hearts, there are some remains of the old law and light of nature, which as by their outward conduct appears, so by the inward motions of their minds."

To interpret Paul's words as a reference to regeneration is to completely ignore the context, for Paul is demonstrating the condemnation of the heathen Gentiles, not their salvation. Paul is not attempting to prove that some of the heathen, though ignorant of the one true and living God, and of the gospel, are nevertheless "regenerated," and the children of God, but just the opposite. He is contrasting the special revelation of the gospel with the general revelation found in nature. That general revelation is present in creation and in nature generally and includes the nature and conscience of men. This general revelation is God's witness and voice to all men in the "conscience."

All men still have this writing of God's moral law in their hearts even though it has been over-written by sin and by the Devil. So, when a person does what is immoral, he feels guilt as a result of this law written in his heart by God. Of course, it is possible that the conscience, wherein this moral law operates, may become calloused by repeated immorality so that there are no longer pricks of conscience. (I Tim. 4: 2) The persecuting Saul of Tarsus, while raging against the Lord's people, was "kicking against the goads" of God's word or moral code that was written in his nature. (Acts 9: 5; 26: 14) It is this moral law written in the hearts of men that is part of what it means to be made in the image and likeness of God and is the thing behind the conscience "accusing" or "excusing" one's actions. Further, as stated, continuous sinning overwrites, or writes on top of God's writing, and blurs it. Long ago the Lord declared:

“The sin of Judah is written with a pen of iron; With the point of a diamond it is engraved On the tablet of their heart, And on the horns of your altars." (Jer. 17: 1 nkjv)

So, men ought to read this divine writing on their hearts and in their nature and conscience and not ignore it nor act contrary to it. This divine library of God's writings on the hearts of all men is as immense as the population of the race. Further, as we will see, this divine writing of his laws upon the heart of believers is not done and completed all at once but is continuous throughout the life of believers as a part of their progressive sanctification. It will not be fully written until they enter glory when their spirits enter paradise upon the death of the body.

Book Written On The Heart

Several prophetic texts in the scriptures promise that God will write his laws, statutes, and words in the hearts of sinners when they are saved. Here are those texts:

"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." (Jer. 31: 33 nkjv)

"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. 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. For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and their lawless deeds I will remember no more.” (Heb. 8: 10-12 nkjv)

This divine writing is begun by God when a sinner believes, repents, and turns to God. Yet, it is not all finished at that time, for it continues throughout the life of the believer and will be fully written when the believer enters into his state of perfection at death. We know this for several reasons. First, this writing, like the giving of a new heart and spirit, is for the purpose of assuring that believers are kept from sinning, which will not be fully the case until they are glorified. So the Lord promised:

"I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you will keep My judgments and do them." (Eze. 36: 27 nkjv)

Though this is true to some degree now in the life of the believer, yet it will not fully be realized until God has completed his work of writing on the heart and until the heart, soul, mind, and spirit are fully renewed and made completely in the image of God.

Second, the passage above in Hebrews where the writer cites the promise of God's writing on the new heart shows that the promise will not be fully realized until the day comes when everyone on earth "knows the Lord" and redemption is finished. This divine writing on the heart is another example of what theologians call the new testament's "already, but not yet" paradigm. 

The apostle Paul wrote about this divine writing when he wrote:

"You are our epistle written in our hearts, known and read by all men; clearly you are an epistle of Christ, ministered by us, written not with ink but by the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of flesh, that is, of the heart." (II Cor. 3: 2-3 nkjv)

It is evangelical conversion that Paul alludes to, and of which he was an instrument of God in producing. And conversion to Christ is when regeneration occurs along with being born of God. In the divine writing above the heart is the tablet, the ink is the Spirit, what is written is the word or law of the Lord, and the quill or pen is the apostle Paul, and by extension everyone who is an instrument in the hand of God in bringing sinners the good news of salvation and thereby wins souls to Christ. 

"Ministered by us - The idea here is, that Christ had employed their ministry in accomplishing this. They were Christ's letter, but it had been prepared by the instrumentality of the apostles. It had not been prepared by him independently of their labors, but in connection with, and as the result of those labors. Christ, in writing this epistle, so to speak, has used our aid; or employed us as amanuenses (copyists)." (Barnes commentary)

Our Hardshell brethren and those who teach that sinners are regenerated or born again before faith or conversion will not allow that God uses human instruments in this work of writing his word on the hearts of sinners when he saves them. However, John Gill whom the Hardshells think believed as they do, held the same view as stated by Barnes, and which is the obvious meaning. This is why Paul could call this heart writing both his epistle and Christ's epistle. "You are our epistle" and "you are the epistle of Christ." Wrote Gill in his commentary:

"to be the epistle of Christ ministered by us; so that the apostles and ministers of the word were only amanuenses, Christ was the author and dictator; yea, he himself is the very matter, sum, substance, and subject of the epistle; he is formed in the hearts of his people in conversion, his image is stamped, his grace is implanted, his word, his Gospel dwells richly, his laws and ordinances are written here; he also is the exemplar, believers are but copies of him, in grace and duty, in sufferings, in the likeness of his death and resurrection: and they are "manifestly declared" to be so, by the impresses of Christ's grace upon them; by the fairness of the copy; by the style and language of the epistle; by their likeness to Christ; by their having not the form only, but the power of godliness; and by their lives and conversations: now in writing these epistles, the ministers of the Gospel are only instruments, "ministered by us". They are made use of to show the sinner the black characters which are written upon him, and that what is written in him, and to be read by him, by the light of nature is not sufficient for salvation; they are employed as instruments in drawing the rough draught of grace in conversion, and in writing the copy over again, fairer and fairer; being the happy means blessed by God, for the building up of souls in faith and holiness, in spiritual knowledge and comfort." (Gill's commentary)

Paul also says that this epistle of Christ written in the hearts of believers may be "read" by others. Every believer has this letter, this little book, written by God upon his or her heart. Millions of letters!

Another proof that this divine writing is not all done at once when a sinner is born again is seen in the fact that believers are commanded to continuously write God's laws, statutes, and words in their hearts.

Duty of All to Write

"My son, keep my words, And treasure my commands within you. Keep my commands and live, And my law as the apple of your eye. Bind them on your fingers; Write them on the tablet of your heart." (Prov. 7: 1-3 nkjv)

"Let not mercy and truth forsake you; Bind them around your neck, Write them on the tablet of your heart, And so find favor and high esteem In the sight of God and man." (Prov. 3: 3-4 nkjv)

In the old testament LORD God exhorted his people to write his words. Said the oracle of the Lord:

“And these words which I command you today shall be in your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, when you walk by the way, when you lie down, and when you rise up. You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates." (Deut. 6: 6-9 nkjv)

The people of God were to do these things to help them remember the word of the Lord, to aid in engraving it upon their hearts. I have been in houses and studies of ministers where there were numerous Bible verses on the walls. That is a good practice and a good way to remember and burn his word into the tablets of our hearts.

The above texts show that this writing of the word of the Lord upon the heart is both what God does and what the believer in the word does. You might say God and the believer are co-authors, although, of course, God is the chief author and gets all the credit because he is the one that leads the believer to do as he has been exhorted by the Lord.

Further, this writing is continuous. I have far more of the word of God written on my heart today than I had when I was first saved 55 years ago. This is why believers sing that famous song of Fanny Crosby that says: "Tell me the story of Jesus, write on my heart ev'ry word; tell me the story most precious, sweetest that ever was heard."

When the sweet Psalmist of Israel, the man after God's own heart, King David, the prophet David, said to the Lord -- "your word have I hid in my heart that I might not sin against you" (Psa. 119: 11), the words "hid in my heart" have the same effect of writing God's word on the heart.

When you write upon paper or a tablet of paper, or when you engrave in wood with a hot iron, you make an impression upon the thing being written upon. The scriptures speak of this too as a work of God. He makes impressions upon the soul, mind, heart, and spirit. This work of divine engraving is called being "sealed" with the Holy Spirit. Oftentimes this seal was a signature or a symbol for the signature. Said the apostle Paul: "Who hath also sealed us, and given the earnest of the Spirit in our hearts." (II Cor. 1: 22) In the Ephesian epistle, Paul mentioned the same "sealing," saying: "And grieve not the holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption." (4: 30) In being sealed with the Spirit God stamps his name upon their hearts, and mystically in their foreheads, and places his signature upon his work and writing. So we read:

"And there shall be no more curse, but the throne of God and of the Lamb shall be in it, and His servants shall serve Him. They shall see His face, and His name shall be on their foreheads." (Rev. 22: 3-4 nkjv)

This name is written by God just as the two stone tablets had ten commandments engraved on them by "the finger of God." So we read in the Apocalypse:

"And I saw another angel ascending from the east, with the seal of the living God. And he called out in a loud voice to the four angels who had been given power to harm the land and the sea: “Do not harm the land or sea or trees until we have sealed the foreheads of the servants of our God.” (Rev. 7: 2-3 kjv)

"And out of the smoke, locusts descended on the earth, and they were given power like that of the scorpions of the earth. They were told not to harm the grass of the earth or any plant or tree, but only those who did not have the seal of God on their foreheads." (Rev. 9: 3-4) 

"Then I looked and saw the Lamb standing on Mount Zion, and with Him 144,000 who had His name and His Father’s name written on their foreheads." (Rev. 14: 1)

God has placed his written seal upon the believer and signed his name to what he has written upon the tablet of their hearts.

Brothers and sisters, is God's word written in your hearts so that others can read it?