Well then, you might ask, if these two commandments to love God and your neighbor, which have been published throughout the denominations of Christendom as the commandments of the New Covenant, are not the Laws of the New Testament, then what are? Are they in the Bible? The answer is yes, they are plainly written in the Bible. Understanding the difference between the two sets of Laws is a matter of spiritual life and spiritual death. I will first give you the two laws of the New Testament. Then I will explain how vital it is to understand the difference between these and the two pillars of the Mosaic Law.
“And this is His commandment: that we should believe on the name of His son Jesus Christ and love one another, as he gave us commandment. Now he who keeps His commandments abides in Him, and He in him. And by this we know that He abides in us, by the Spirit whom He has given us.” (1 John 3:23,24; NKJV)
So then, just as the Mosaic Covenant (also called Old Covenant, seen most clearly through the Ten Commandments), hinged upon two pillars, the New Covenant, otherwise known as the Law of the Spirit of Life in Christ Jesus (Romans 8:2) also has two pillars. As we examine them carefully, we will discover they are quite different from each other.
The first commandment we see is to “believe on the name of his Son Jesus Christ.” While this may appear to be a simple commandment, the fact of the matter is, that it is just as impossible to perform as the “You shall love the Lord your God” was in the Old Covenant. Many evangelists have given the invitation to simply “believe in the name of Jesus Christ and you will be saved.” The potential convert repeats a simple prayer, invites Jesus to come into their heart, is instructed to go to a “Bible-believing” church, and then spends the rest of his life pretty much as it has always been. They are told to believe what is written and that they are now “saved” according to the Bible. Yet they basically often feel the same as before. Then they are reminded that we must not go by our feelings, but by blind faith in the Bible. For most people who come forward during the typical Christian revival, a true awakening by God does not happen nearly as often as we are led to think. Why? Because most of these people merely followed men’s traditions, parroted men’s formulas, and responded to men’s words of fear and guilt and not the words of the Anointing of the Holy Spirit. Belief in the head and belief in the heart are two entirely different things. Paul tells us:
“‘The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart’; (that is, the word of faith which we preach): that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.” (Rom. 10:8-10)
As we can see, in this passage of Scripture that this belief must be in one’s heart, in the very center of one’s being. Furthermore, Paul brings up something called the “word of faith.” This immediately brings up a host of other Scriptures such as “Without faith it is impossible to please Him.” (Heb. 11:6) Romans 3:27 speaks of a “law of faith:” “Where is the boasting then? It is excluded. By what law? Of works? No, but by the law of faith. Therefore we conclude that a man is justified by faith apart from the deeds of the law.” The writer of Hebrews tells us that “Faith is the substance (realization or confidence) of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.” Through faith, “we understand that the ages were framed by the word of God, so that the things which are seen were not made of things which are visible” (Heb. 11:1-3).
One might immediately ask, “What is this faith?” How does one know whether they have it or not? If mental understanding and agreement to an evangelist’s invitation is not necessarily faith, then where does faith come from? How can one receive it?
Jesus asked the apostle Peter, “’Who do you say that I am?’ Simon Peter answered and said, ‘You are the Christ, the son of the living God.’ Jesus answered and said to him, ‘Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah, for flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but My Father who is in heaven” (Mat. 16:15-17). I cannot overemphasize Jesus’ statement here. Peter had heard his own brother declare Jesus to be the Messiah (John 1:41). He saw many others follow Him because they felt He was the Messiah. Peter had witnessed many miracles which according to Jewish tradition could only be performed by the Messiah, but none of these things planted “faith” into his heart. Peter also knew the Scriptures which prophesied of the coming of the Messiah. But none of these gave him faith. Peter’s faith came by way of revelation from the Father (John 1:41). What Peter saw with his eyes and what he heard with his natural ears did not produce faith. Faith is an inner word, it is revelation which comes from the Spirit of God, not from any man, system, or tradition. The preaching of the gospel is certainly important in the process. However, it is the spirit of revelation which comes only from the Holy Spirit which brings about a new birth from above. Responding to an altar call, memorizing the Bible, or sitting in the right pew in the right denomination does not necessarily bring about faith.