“If God can change our hearts do we really have freewill?”
Have you ever had that moment as you read your Bible when something stuck out to you, but not in the form of Holy Spirit illumination (a.k.a., the “aha!” lightbulb feeling); instead it felt more like uneasiness? This is similar to the feeling that initially arises when you go to start your car early in the morning…but instead of the engine turning over like clockwork, you hear nothing except the click of the dashboard lights flashing on. In a second, uneasiness fills your heart as your mind goes to the worst-case scenario. “The car is going to need a new engine. We just paid off the loan and now we’ll have to get a shiny new car. Oh God, why is this happening to me?!”

Just me?

It’s important in moments of anxiety like this, whether it’s from your car not turning over, or from a conflicting passage you just read in Scripture, to begin the humble approach of investigation.
In medical school, doctors are taught, “When you hear hoofbeats, think horses, not zebras,” meaning a doctor should first think about what is a more common — and potentially more likely — diagnosis. When doctors begin to see the signs of potential threat, the process of investigation begins. The first step should not be going to the worst-case scenario (zebras) and then working backward, but from what is common (horses).

This is a similar approach that we can take when reading Scripture. When we are reading Scripture and come across a concern, we (every believer) have been given tools to rightly interpret God’s word. We could spend an entire article on the different tools we’ve been given to help us with the reading of God’s word, but today we’ll stick with CONTEXT.

Context is simply the understanding of how this specific passage fits into the story of the Bible like a single puzzle piece that comes together with a thousand other pieces to create a picture. Context is about seeing how A TEXT fits together with THE TEXT: the Bible and the overarching story of the Bible, which is the story of Jesus.

So let’s practice using this tool with the text today in Deuteronomy 30.

And the Lord your God will circumcise your heart and the heart of your offspring so that you will love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul, that you may live.
Deuteronomy 30:6 (ESV)

At face value, this verse makes it out as if God will make a change in our hearts that makes us love God with “all your heart and with all your soul”. So the big question is, if God changes our hearts - do we have free will? To answer this we need to look at the context, not just in this chapter, but in this book and even farther into Christ.

So well look at the MICRO, MACRO, AND CHRISTOs context of this verse.

MICRO (Deuteronomy chapter 30)
Sometimes one of the most simple things we can do is look at the sub-heading found in our physical Bible. It’s important to know that the subheadings that we see in our modern Bibles today were not found in the original manuscripts and scrolls of the Bible, but have been added to break up the text and help as checkpoints for us when trying to reference back to a particular place in scripture. Even though these subheadings are not BIBLE, as in found in the original writings, they are context clues for us today.

Just a glance at my Bible helps me find context for this specific verse that we are investigating today. Verse 6 may cause you to feel like we don’t have free will or a part to play but that couldn’t be further from the truth. My Bible’s subheading for chapter 30 says “Repentance and Forgiveness”.

This entire chapter is written from the standpoint of REPENTANCE: turning back to God, walking in obedience, and experiencing the blessings that follow. According to this understanding, we see that, yes, God does change our hearts to follow Him, but that is contingent on us responding to His invitation.

MACRO (The Book of Deuteronomy)
If we zoom out a little bit we find out that this is not only a theme found in chapter 30, but throughout the book of Deuteronomy. Deuteronomy translates to “second law” and is comprised of laws given to Moses by God, for the children of Israel. These laws, contrary to popular belief, were not given for the Children of Israel to be forgiven by God, but were given so that they could be in a relationship with Him. Also, God desired to set apart His people from all the other nations in such a real and practical way that all surrounding nations would see the tangible blessing of God on Israel and recognize the one true God they served.

This second law given to Israel may seem overly burdensome, but was given that they may trust God’s perfect ways IN ORDER TO HAVE TRUE LIFE.

And the Lord your God will circumcise your heart and the heart of your offspring so that you will love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul, that you may live.
Deuteronomy 30:6 (ESV)

All of this, though it would require God’s power, was contingent on their choice to trust.

CHRISTOs (Jesus in the book of Deuteronomy)
Moses is the giver of this “second law”. He presents this to the people plain and simple. “Follow God and you will experience life abundantly. Follow false gods and you will experience cursing. It’s your choice.” But the children of Israel struggle with this. Moses knows this and even goes so far as to warn them of their future exile due to their adultery against God.
No matter how the law was communicated and given to the people, it would never be enough. Moses was a great prophet but did not have the power to help Israel (or himself) truly follow the Law. This is why Moses talks about “circumcision of the heart” which was a foreshadowing of the work only Jesus would be able to do as our ULTIMATE lawgiver.

“Jesus is the ultimate law-giver because he writes the law on our hearts.”
Tim Keller

When Jesus came, He told us that He did not come to abolish the law, but to fulfill the law. In other words, nobody will ever really be able to successfully walk in God’s law and experience the blessings that come from obeying His law apart from Jesus. Not just the work of Jesus on the cross, but also the fulfillment of all our heart’s desires IN JESUS through our relationship with Him.

“Commandment number four. You’re never really going to get Sabbath rest until you enter into the real rest Jesus gives you through the Gospel. Commandment five. You’re never really going to honor your parents unless you get the fatherly love that comforts you in Jesus Christ. You’re never really going to keep from adultery until you receive the spousal love of Jesus. You won’t fall into the temptation to find another love when you find it in Jesus. The only way to not steal and be greedy is to recognize the wealth we have been given by Jesus. Jesus is the ultimate law-giver who not only writes the law on our hearts but gives us the resources to walk out the law.”
Tim Keller

Fast-forward from the “second law” to our modern New Covenant context today, the reality is still the same. God has placed the ball in our court. Will we choose blessing or cursing? The only difference is that now blessings are found in complete trust, surrender, and devotion to Jesus and not in our ability to follow the law.

We don’t have to choice of choosing life over death 100% of the time. If we did then we wouldn’t need Jesus. We can’t choose 100% obedience to the law all the time. If we could then we wouldn’t need the cross of Calvary. But we DO have the choice to trust in the finished work of Jesus!

This trust in Jesus is what allows God to do what only He can do, which is the spiritual work of cutting away our old self and growing the fruit of the Holy Spirit in us, which is visible in a life naturally obeying the law of God.