For the new covenant of grace to manifest itself in our lives, we need the Holy Spirit’s presence. It is good to have knowledge of scriptural principles, but He takes that knowledge one step further by making it real and bringing it to life. The goal of both the old and new covenants is to achieve morality, but the way they go about doing so differs greatly. The law did not stop at just the Ten Commandments; it included hundreds of additional rules designed to externally regulate man’s moral behavior. By comparison, the new covenant of grace is not administered by laws written in stone or on tablets, but by the Holy Ghost who lives in us. Grace succeeds in what the law failed to do, which is to bring about transformation inwardly. Letting the new covenant’s most important commandment—the law of love—transform us from the inside out is something the law could never accomplish.
