fhansen
Oldbie
Good Day,
I posted this to provide a biblical response to a question about our obedience to God. I was surprised at the push back on this verse and its clear meaning.
EZE 36 And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules.
My take (short) on this verse is - His work of giving, removing and replacing, and putting His Spirit has direct effects that are the direct appointed purpose of his doing. Which are causing us to walk in His statues, and obeying His rules.
Why do some people find this verse and its clear language so hard to accept?
What is the primary and effective cause of obeying God rules?
In Him,
Bill
The only right cause or motivation for obedience is love. This is why it's said that love fulfills the law (Rom 12) and this is why the Greatest Commandments are what they are; they literally define righteousness for man. And they are the only commandments that cannot be faked or done strictly out of fear or obligation or desire for gain, etc.; the only way to fulfill them is to actually love. And that kind of love is only obtainable via God. That's what it means to be given hearts of flesh, and that's what it means for God to place His law in our minds and write it on our hearts (Jer 31). God, alone, can justify man and obedience comes to the extent that we're transformed into the image of God Himself, who is love and whose own motivations for the good He does for us is love. We just need to remain open to the work the Holy Spirit wants to do in us. Anyway, I appreciate the words of Basil of Caesarea, a fourth century believer:
"If we turn away from evil out of fear of punishment, we are in the position of slaves. If we pursue the enticement of wages, . . . we resemble mercenaries. Finally if we obey for the sake of the good itself and out of love for him who commands . . . we are in the position of children."
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