Jeremiah 31:32,33 - I will put my law in their minds

31:32

The new covenant  will indeed be new, it will not be like the old covenant. The old covenant “failed” in the sense that it was never intended to be the final answer. Why did it fail? Because the people broke the covenant. God was faithful to it and to the people, He “was a husband to them”. The old covenant would only “work” if the people it governed were righteous. So why did God give this old covenant? It was because we need to realise that in our own strength we cannot be righteous. This is the first lesson we all need to learn, and which we devote an awful lot of effort to not learning.

31:33

So how would the new covenant work? God would “put my law in their minds and write it on their hearts”. We need to be changed. Giving new or updated laws or systems is of no use. We are the problem! This is why Jesus said we need to be born again. It is why we need the Holy Spirit. It is why being a “new creation” is fundamental to the gospel. Even after we become Christains we are so prone to going back to doing things out of our own strength, as the Galatians were and provoked Paul’s strongest letter.