Deuteronomy 30: Choose Life in Christ

Deuteronomy 30 shows that true life comes by God’s grace through faith in Christ, calling us to choose Him with all our heart and soul.

Introduction

Deuteronomy 30 calls Israel to choose life by turning to the Lord with all their heart and soul. After hearing the blessings and curses, Moses sets before them a choice. Life comes by loving the Lord, obeying His voice, and clinging to Him. Paul later applies this passage to the gospel, showing that Christ is the true fulfillment of this call (Romans 10:6-10). For us today, this chapter reminds us that eternal life is found in trusting Christ with all our heart.

Doctrine

This passage teaches that life comes through God’s gracious work in the heart. Moses declares that the Lord will circumcise their hearts so that they may love Him and live (Deuteronomy 30:6). Salvation has always been by grace through faith, not human effort. Paul quotes Deuteronomy 30 to show that the word of salvation is not far away but near—in the gospel of Christ (Romans 10:8-10). The truth is clear: eternal life is God’s gift, received by turning to Him in faith. This chapter points to Christ as the One who brings the righteousness of God to those who believe (Romans 10:4).

Reproof

This passage exposes the error of thinking that life can be secured by human strength. Israel was warned not to turn their hearts away and worship other gods (Deuteronomy 30:17). Many today make the same mistake, trusting in works, traditions, or false hopes. Paul’s application in Romans 10 rebukes the pride that seeks righteousness by the law instead of submitting to Christ’s righteousness. Any attempt to be saved apart from Christ is a stubborn refusal of the life God offers.

Correction

The remedy is to turn fully to the Lord. Moses urges the people to return with all their heart and soul (Deuteronomy 30:2). Paul shows this means confessing with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believing in your heart that God raised Him from the dead (Romans 10:9-10). Correction comes by embracing the righteousness of God through faith in Christ, not by striving to establish one’s own. Life is found only in Him who perfectly obeyed the Father and bore our curse on the cross.

Instruction

Believers are called to live in wholehearted devotion. Choosing life means daily loving the Lord, listening to His Word, and holding fast to Him (Deuteronomy 30:20). This includes confessing our sins to God, agreeing with Him about our sins and calling them what He calls them. On the basis of Christ’s propitiating atonement, the believer who confesses his sins receives forgiveness and cleansing, restoring him to fellowship with God (1 John 1:9). Choosing life also means walking in the Spirit. This involves recognizing that we died with Christ to sin, rose with Him to newness of life, and counting this to be true (Romans 6:6-11). We then yield our members as instruments of righteousness to God, no longer obligated to sin (Romans 6:12-14). As we walk by the Spirit, He produces fruit in us—love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control (Galatians 5:22-23). Our calling is to let the Spirit lead us into deeper love for God, daily repentance, and consistent obedience.

Encouragement and Hope

This passage assures us that God delights to restore His people when they return to Him. He promises to gather them, prosper them, and rejoice over them again (Deuteronomy 30:3, 9). For the believer in Christ, this hope is even greater. We are promised eternal life, the resurrection of the body, and the inheritance of glory with Christ. Even when we fail, God’s grace calls us back, and His Spirit keeps us until the day of redemption.

Invitation

The choice Moses set before Israel still stands before us—life or death, blessing or curse. But now we see its fulfillment in Christ. We all deserve death, for the wages of sin is death (Romans 6:23). Yet Christ took our place, dying under the curse of the law (Galatians 3:13). He paid the penalty we owed and rose again to give us life. God now calls every person to repent, to change their mind about sin, and to call on the name of the Lord. If you confess Jesus as Lord and believe that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved (Romans 10:9-13). Today, choose life—trust Christ, who gave Himself for your sins, and receive the gift of eternal life.