Repentance:  To repent is often described as deep regret of your actions, but it includes more than just regret. To repent is to change direction, to abandon the old pathway and instead go in a different direction. New believers will likely have repentance on their mind in the days and weeks following conversion, but the concept is just as valid for established Christians well into their walk back to God. The Old Testament includes repeated stories of the Israelites falling away from God before repenting and turning back.

Dead: The greek word used here is ‘necros’ the root word of many medical terms, such as necrosis, which means dead cells or tissues in the body. Lifeless. Unable to give life, unable to sustain life. 

Works translates as “the things we normally do” with an implication of work or tasks. This same word for work is used in this context in Mark 13:34: 

“It is like a man on a journey, who left his house, gave authority to his slaves, gave each one his work, and commanded the doorkeeper to be alert.” 

— Mark 13:34

So dead works are the things we do that cannot give life. In the context of our Hebrew author, this refers to the Law of Moses. The devout Jew followed the Law down to the letter, but it was unable to give life. The whitewashed tombs of the religious leadership (Sadducees, Pharisees) tell us the more devout one looked on the outside the less likely it was they were rooted in Love, which is the Greatest Commandment. Instead, they were rooted in Law. Follow the rules, no straying. A rigid adherence to a set of guardrails rather than love of the Creator, or even the created. Law makes no provision for love, no room for mercy, no room for grace. This is why the United States judicial system uses a human judge or a jury to interpret the rigidity of the law through a human lens that can filter it through mercy and grace, and also justice. 

There is a distinction between self-control and discipline, and it may be greater than we’d care to acknowledge. It can be easy to equate a disciplined life with a healthy heart, but if that’s your only metric, it would be a mistake, as we learned from Jesus own interactions with the religious leaders of the time. They were able to live a disciplined life, but they missed the heart of the matter. 

“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! You are like whitewashed tombs, which appear beautiful on the outside, but inside are full of dead men’s bones and every impurity. In the same way, on the outside you seem righteous to people, but inside you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness.” 

— Matthew 23:27–28

Jesus expressed frustration at the effects of sin on the Jewish people. It even ruined the law. But not only the law, sin infects and manipulates and ruins everything. This must be understood clearly, and this buttresses the truth that the distinction of the New Life is that is relational, it is the why that matters, not the what. 

“Is the law therefore contrary to God’s promises? Absolutely not! For if a law had been given that was able to give life, then righteousness would certainly be by the law. But the Scripture has imprisoned everything under sin’s power, so that the promise by faith in Jesus Christ might be given to those who believe.”

— Galatians 3:21–22

In summary, the law is a set of guardrails, put in place to keep God’s chosen people from going to very far off the rails until Jesus came. Now that Jesus has come, the gift of Jesus allows us to step out from under the weight of the law, the daily reality of trying to meet a checklist of actions. You can place yourself under the law – as many practicing Jews do daily, or you can step out from under the law and step into grace. 

“Christ has liberated us to be free. Stand firm then and don’t submit again to a yoke of slavery. Take note! I, Paul, tell you that if you get yourselves circumcised, Christ will not benefit you at all. Again I testify to every man who gets himself circumcised that he is obligated to keep the entire law. You who are trying to be justified by the law are alienated from Christ; you have fallen from grace.” (Galatians 5:1–4, HCSB)

When Jesus says, “come to me, my yoke is easy” in Matthew’s gospel, He is talking about love. In John’s gospel (13.34) Jesus says “I give you a NEW command. Love one another, as I have loved you.” 

And then in 15.12 Jesus further clarifies, this is my command. Love one another.  

This is a strong footing that we can depend on.