Many of us are accustomed to thinking that strict rule-keeping is spirituality in itself, although the word "spirituality" already indicates that true spirituality comes from the Spirit of God. If someone calls themselves spiritual, they must have their heart filled with the Spirit of God and be led and guided in everything by the Spirit of God. Precisely because the Spirit of God is in their heart, such a person does not want to sin and fulfills God's will from the heart, sincerely desiring it, because the Spirit of God produces in them thoughts and desires pleasing to God.
The Apostle Paul makes a shocking statement concerning the law of Moses: "The letter kills." How should we understand these words, and where is the boundary between righteous behavior pleasing to God and the dangerous "ministry of death-dealing letters" that robs us of God's saving grace?
Let us analyze this with the help of Scripture.
What does "the letter kills" mean? (2 Corinthians 3:6)
The most direct explanation is found in 2 Corinthians. Paul writes:
"Who also hath made us able ministers of the new testament; not of the letter, but of the spirit: for the letter killeth, but the spirit giveth life." (2 Corinthians 3:6, KJV)
Paul contrasts being led by the Spirit of God with being led by the letter of the law according to the flesh — that is, through human efforts and human wisdom without the participation and influence of the Holy Spirit or the working of God's grace.
By "letter" here is meant the Law of Moses, written on stone and in the book of the law. The Law itself is holy and perfect: "The law of the LORD is perfect, converting the soul" (Psalm 19:7, KJV). But for the sinful man, a slave to sin, it becomes a death sentence because it demands sinlessness which he does not have. He is a slave to sin, and sin controls his behavior from his dead, stony heart, separated from God. The stone tablets were given for stony hearts hardened by the sin that dwells in them.
The apostle continues the same thought:
"But if the ministration of death, written and engraven in stones, was glorious... how shall not the ministration of the spirit be rather glorious?" (2 Corinthians 3:7-8, KJV)
Notice: Paul directly calls the written law the "ministration of death." Why? Because "the wages of sin is death" (Romans 6:23, KJV), and the law only registers our sin but gives no power to overcome it or to be freed from slavery to sin. The law of Moses was given to spiritually dead people, separated from God, sold under sin in Adam, or under the control of the devil and the powers of darkness.
How did a law given for life become "death-dealing"? (Romans 7)
This paradox is best explained in Romans 7. Paul writes about how a slave to sin feels — one in whose heart sin dwells — because all of us in Adam were sold as slaves to sin or to Satan and the powers of darkness. They rule over fallen humanity in Adam, for when God created Adam, all humanity was created in him, as it is written: "in him all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God" (Romans 3:23, KJV). Adam is the first man in whom all his descendants — that is, all humanity — were contained.
"For I was alive without the law once: but when the commandment came, sin revived, and I died. And the commandment, which was ordained to life, I found to be unto death." (Romans 7:9-10, KJV)
Key phrase: "the commandment, which was ordained to life, I found to be unto death." Why? Because sin uses the commandment of the law to kill. Sin, through thoughts and the inward influence from the heart, controls human behavior. Sin produces in fallen man thoughts opposed to the commandments of the law. Thus, "sin, taking occasion by the commandment" (Romans 7:11, KJV) causes man to break the commandment and thereby kills him. The slave to sin cannot help but sin, because he is under sin's control, and the law of sin and death is in his heart.
This happens when we try to use God's perfect Law as a means of salvation. It becomes a "mirror" that shows our sins and condemns us to death, but does not cleanse us.
To avoid confusion, Paul immediately clarifies:
"Wherefore the law is holy, and the commandment holy, and just, and good. Was then that which is good made death unto me? God forbid. But sin, that it might appear sin, working death in me by that which is good." (Romans 7:12-13, KJV)
The problem is not the Law (it is good), but sin that dwells in man.
The main difference between the Old and New Covenants
All of 2 Corinthians 3 is built on this contrast:
Old Covenant (Letter) New Covenant (Spirit)
"Ministration of death" (v. 7) "Spirit gives life" (v. 6)
Engraved in stones (v. 7) Written in hearts (v. 3)
Leads to condemnation (v. 9) Gives righteousness (v. 9)
Glory fading away (v. 11) Glory remaining (v. 11)
Therefore Paul says that Christians are called to serve "not in the oldness of the letter, but in the newness of spirit" (Romans 7:6, KJV).
For what purpose was the law given if it did not solve the problem of the Fall?
For the slave of sin, the law is "a schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ" (Galatians 3:24, KJV), to show the impossibility of saving oneself from slavery to sin by one's own strength. Man realizes that he cannot stop sinning, that he is internally and spiritually controlled by the powers of darkness, and he understands that he needs a Savior or Messiah — a Liberator given by God to free him from slavery to sin.
The law also helped preserve the people of Israel from corruption by sin, so that lawlessness and manifestations of sin would be minimized, and so that Israel would not become another Sodom and Gomorrah.
The danger of the "letter" arises when we:
1. Rely on works of the law for salvation (Galatians 2:16, KJV: "Knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law, but by the faith of Jesus Christ" ). That is, we switch our faith and believe not in God as our Savior, but that we are able to save ourselves by our own efforts.
2. Judge others according to the letter, forgetting mercy (James 2:13, KJV: "For he shall have judgment without mercy, that hath showed no mercy" ). The law only accused and killed, but God is merciful, longsuffering, and abundant in mercy.
A practical example: Paul's zeal without knowledge
The Apostle Paul himself knew this firsthand. Before his conversion, he was a Pharisee who served God by destroying Christians. He writes:
"For I bear them record that they have a zeal of God, but not according to knowledge. For they being ignorant of God's righteousness, and going about to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted themselves unto the righteousness of God." (Romans 10:2-3, KJV)
This is what "the letter kills" means: sincere but blind zeal for the letter of the law led Paul (then Saul) to murder and imprison Christians.
Main conclusion: Do not choose between the letter and the spirit
· The law is perfect (Psalm 19:7) — that is true.
· The letter kills — that is also true (2 Corinthians 3:6).
How do we reconcile these? Only through Christ, who fulfilled the law for us: "Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil" (Matthew 5:17, KJV). He gave us His Spirit so that we might live according to the spirit, not according to the letter.
"But if ye be led of the Spirit, ye are not under the law." (Galatians 5:18, KJV)
This is not a call to lawlessness, but a call to a life where the main thing is not mechanical rule-keeping, but living faith, love, and following Christ under the guidance of the Spirit of God.
The law was given temporarily through Moses until the coming of the Seed or Descendant of Abraham, Jesus Christ. The law given through Moses is a pattern, not the very essence of things. The Israelites served "the example and shadow of heavenly things" (Hebrews 8:5, KJV). As God Himself said to Moses: "See... that thou make all things according to the pattern showed to thee in the mount" (Hebrews 8:5, KJV). Even the Ten Commandments or Decalogue are a pattern of the spiritual law.
The law of the letter says: "Thou shalt not kill" (do not physically kill anyone according to the flesh), although inside a person may hate.
But the Spirit gives a person love in the heart, and the one who has love will not kill anyone, nor is there hatred in his heart. That is why it is written: "Keep thy heart with all diligence; for out of it are the issues of life" (Proverbs 4:23, KJV), and only "the pure in heart... shall see God" (Matthew 5:8, KJV).
The law of the letter is a pattern of the true spiritual law that proceeds from the Spirit of God. Jesus Christ brought the truth and the essence of things and gave commandments for the purification of our hearts, so that we might grow spiritually and become like Christ in everything.
And Christ "nailed the law of the letter to the cross", thereby taking away the power of principalities and powers (the powers of darkness), because "the strength of sin is the law" (1 Corinthians 15:56, KJV). Sin should no longer have dominion over you; you are not slaves to sin, nor are you under the law. Rather, God Himself works in you by His Spirit and His grace.
Do not reject the grace of God, nor try to become righteous through works of the law by your own efforts. As it is written: "Let no man therefore judge you in meat, or in drink, or in respect of an holyday, or of the new moon, or of the sabbath days: which are a shadow of things to come" (Colossians 2:16-17, KJV).
No one can be justified by circumcision, keeping the Sabbath, observing regulations about clean and unclean food, or other ordinances of the law of Moses that pertain to the flesh, which are patterns and were given only temporarily until the coming of Christ, the establishment of the true new priesthood, and the arrival of the new spiritual law and the teaching of Christ. By faith the true law that proceeds from the Spirit of God is established — the law that changes the heart and the inner nature of man.
No comments:
Post a Comment