January 15, 2005

Cawson Street Church of Christ

Hopewell, Virginia

Mural Worthey

 

Significant Truths for 2006--#2

 

Introduction: Letter vs. Spirit

 

Last Sunday we began our series on “Significant Truths for 2006.”  The message was “The Relationship between Jesus and God.”  I want to present another significant truth for us to remember this year.  Most of us have heard the expressions, spirit of the law and letter of the law.  But what do they mean?  The distinction between the two phrases is an important concept in understanding God’s will.  Religious people have often stumbled over this concept, misrepresenting God and his heart toward lost man.  The result is a distortion of the Gospel of Christ.

 

Three Major Texts

 

There are three major passages in the New Testament which discuss this theme.  Here are those references:

 

For he is not a Jew which is one outwardly; neither is that circumcision which is outward in the flesh.  But he is a Jew which is one inwardly and circumcision is that of the heart, in the spirit, and not in the letter, whose praise is not of men, but of God.  (Romans 2:28-29.)  To the Colossians, Paul wrote about the circumcision of Christ which is made without hands.  (Col. 2:11.)

 

But now we are delivered from the law, that being dead wherein we were held; that we should serve in newness of spirit and not in the oldness of the letter.  (Romans 7:6.)

 

But our sufficiency is of God, who had made us able ministers of the New Testament; not of the letter, but of the spirit.  For the letter kills, but the spirit gives life.  (2 Corinthians 3:5-6.)

 

There are other important passages where Jesus spoke of the role of his words in giving life.  Jesus said:

 

It is the spirit that quickens; the flesh profits nothing.  The words that I speak unto you, they are spirit and they are life.  (John 6:63.) He did not say that they were letters, but spirit.

 

Think not that I am come to destroy the law or the prophets.  I am not come to destroy, but to fulfill.  For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled.  Whosoever therefore shall break one of these least commandments and teach men so, he shall be called the least in the kingdom of heaven.  But whosoever shall do and teach them shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven.  (Matt. 5:17-20.)

 

Jesus came to fulfill the letter and the spirit of the Law of Moses.  He even fulfilled the jots and tittles!  But his words are spirit and life.  So, where does letter enter into our relationship with God and how does it cause death?

Early in church history, allegorical interpretations were favored over what they called lifeless, literal understandings of the text.  To them what was killed was the deeper, spiritual meaning of Scripture.  The letter that killed was the literal method of interpreting the Word of God.  For those promoting the direct role of the Holy Spirit in learning things about God, a scholarly study of Scripture is the lifeless letter that kills the Spirit.  Some, who promote the Holy Spirit, disdain the Bible and minimize the Lord to whom the Spirit and Scripture point.  The Biblicist claims that he alone is being true to Scripture and others are too loose or liberal in their handling of the Word of God.

 

What It Does Not Mean

 

Every interested person in God’s will must go to the Bible for information about God and what He would have us do to please Him.  It may be helpful to summarize what is not meant by letter and spirit.

 

1) The contrast is not between Scripture (graphe) and letter (gramma), but rather between letter and spirit.  Graphe and gramma both refer to writings or words.  In both Old and New Covenants, we have Scripture from God which is good and beneficial.  All Scripture is written.  Therefore, when the Bible emphasizes spirit (pneuma) over the letter (gramma), a broader more comprehensive view of the role and use of Scripture are under consideration.

2)    Letter does not mean that one uses the Bible to know God’s will. 

3) Letter does not refer to textual and expository teaching, instead of topical and subject presentations. 

4) Letter and spirit do not refer to the level of one’s enthusiasm in worship or evangelical fervor. 

5) There is a difference spirit and Spirit. 

6) We will also show that the distinction is not just between the Old and New Testaments alone.  More than that is involved.

 

What the Texts Mean

 

Romans 2:25-29.  In this section, Paul draws a contrast between two types of Jews, the outward Jew and inward Jew.  But Paul also shows how a Gentile can be accepted of God and the Jew rejected.  Physical circumcision alone did not make one approved of God.  But the key to one’s acceptance by God is the condition of the heart.  The real circumcision is of the heart.  If the Gentile had this circumcision, he was accepted; if the Jew did not have it, he was rejected.  An important point is made by Paul in verse 27; that is, one can by the letter transgress the law.  The safest position religiously is not always the most stringent or most conservative.  The Pharisees thought that they had all the bases covered, but they missed the most important one of all.

 

This text shows that letter and spirit does not pertain just to the differences between the Old and New Testaments.  Paul contrasts two Jews under the Law as well a Jew and Gentile.  What Paul wrote here has a powerful and direct application to us today under the New Covenant.  We too must make sure that we do not emphasize just the outward forms over the inner condition of the heart.  When we list the distinguishing characteristics of the people of God, let us make sure that at the top of the list we place the circumcision of the heart.  Gramma (letter) promoters despise (Luke 18:9) and persecute (Galatians 4:29) those who are children of the Spirit.  The letter kills spiritual life, one’s relationship with God.

 

In this text, Paul uses several contrasting words: outward and inward, circumcision of the flesh and circumcision of the heart, and praise of men and praise of God.  These biblical distinctions define the difference between spirit and letter.  Paul’s point in this beginning section of Romans is that both Jews and Gentiles had sinned and were without excuse before God.  No one could stand on one’s own merit before God. These words were especially painful for Pharisees (Jews who emphasized the letter of the law) to hear.  But the Gospel is good news to everyone whose heart is right with God and his fellow man. 

 

Romans 7:6.  This is the second time in Romans, whose theme is justification by faith, that Paul refers to this concept of letter and spirit.  He describes a woman whose first husband dies and then she, being free from the law of that husband, is at liberty to be married to another, even to him who is raised from the dead.  It is clear that Paul is talking about the people of God (the woman) who were under the Law, but now are delivered from that law.  The letter represents that first relationship; the spirit the second one.

 

Even though the Law is holy, just and good, it could not bring life and free man from the bondage of sin.  The righteousness of God could not be obtained, though sought after diligently, by law.  It could only be made manifest through the Gospel of Christ.  (Romans 3:20-26.)  The Law is spiritual, said Paul, but I am sold under sin.  (Romans 7:14.)  The Law accomplished what God designed it to accomplish.  By the Law is the knowledge of sin.  But no flesh could be justified by the Law.  (Romans 3:20.)  Paul concluded that he would delight in the law of God after the inward man.  (Romans 7:22.)  In this section, we find those familiar words: outward, inward, flesh, Spirit, letter, spirit, law and Jesus Christ.  There is no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.  (Romans 8:1.)

 

2 Corinthians 3:6.  Again the old and new Covenants, the Law and the Gospel, tables of stone and fleshly tables of the heart, life and death, and spirit and letter all draw a strong contrast between the Christian system and the Jewish dispensation of Law.  Then we have those strong words: The letter kills, but the spirit gives life.

 

The Ten Commandments written on cold, clay tablets vividly portray a legal system of law which cannot give life.  It was an administration of death.  God had something else planned that is represented by the glory on Moses’ face which was veiled.  This Gospel would be written on fleshly tables of the heart by the Spirit of God.

 

We have already noted that the New Testament is also a written (graphe) covenant as well as the Old.  But the distinction that Paul draws is where it is written (on the heart) and how (by the Spirit of God).  The result is life and a saving relationship with God.  Man is changed from the inside.  The Good News is that man is not left alone in the flesh to accomplish his own redemption, but that the Gospel is rewritten upon his heart.  (It was written the first time on clay tablets, papyrus or vellum.)   He is freed from the system of law-sin-and death.  Man now lives under a new system of grace-righteousness-and eternal life.  (Romans 5:19-21.)

 

New Testament Applications

 

Is it possible to have this letter versus spirit tension today?  Yes, just as under the Old Testament you could have a real Jew and a false Jew, we can have (and do) an outward Christian and an inward Christian.  (Romans 2:28-29.)  That is, there are those who emphasize the outward forms of Christianity—right words, right names, right doctrines, right deeds—to the neglect of the heart.  One can talk about the right way to worship all day and fail to actually worship from the heart.  We can sing without instruments of music, and mumble half-heartedly through all the songs.  We can take the communion every Lord’s Day and all the while trust in ourselves that we are righteous instead of trusting in his blood.  (Rom. 3:25.)  We can be hearers of the Word instead of doers of it.  (James 1:22.)

 

The prophets of Israel rebuked Israel for often bowing before God, sacrificing the animals and keeping the solemn feast days.  God told them to take it away from him because such things were just rituals and forms without any meaning to them.  “To what purpose is the multitude of your sacrifices unto me?  Saith the Lord.  I am full of your burnt offerings of rams and the fat of fed beasts.  I delight not in the blood of bullocks, lambs, or goats.  When you come to appear before me, who hath required this at your hand, to tread my courts?”  (Isaiah 1:11-12.)  Such could also be said of  us today. 

 

There are several reasons for the return of and often the triumph of letter over spirit.  The physical is easier to see and verify.  Either one has been circumcised or he has not been.  If one has been physically immersed, having repeated a few required details, then one is a Christian.  It is difficult to check up on repentance and faith.  It is also easier with the letter of the law to draw sectarian lines of distinction.  Brethren expect of their preachers to preach distinctive messages which separate one group from another.  To accomplish this, we resort to the letter, not to the spirit.  We should also add that it is easier for a person to fulfill the letter of the law rather than the spirit of it.  It is possible to be mean-spirited, unteachable, arrogant, and devilish, yet be promoted as one standing firmly for the truth.  Those who oppose them have been killed in the name of God and his Son.  Jesus said that some would do that and all the while thinking that they are doing God service.  (John 16:2.)  Saul of Tarsus arrested and killed Christians, doing exactly what Jesus said they would do.  Jesus himself was killed by those who were “letter-keepers.”  But their hearts were far from God.

 

Conclusion

 

Jesus once gave a powerful application of these texts on letter and spirit.  He said, “They that are whole need not a physician, but they that are sick.  But go and learn what this means: I will have mercy and not sacrifice. For I am not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.”  (Matt. 9:12-13.)  Jesus was quoting the Old Testament prophet.  (Hosea 6:6.)  Jesus’ words were given in response to the Jews who complained to his disciples about Jesus eating with publicans and sinners.  (Matt. 9:11.)  This is a good place to learn the meaning of letter and spirit.  The Pharisees were professionals at keeping the letter of the law, but missed the inner meaning of it entirely.

 

Jesus once said to a woman charged with adultery, “Neither do I condemn thee; go and sin no more.”  (John 8:11.)  The Pharisees who exalted themselves over this sinful woman were greater sinners than she.  They were trying to trap Jesus in their letter of the law application.  They said that they caught the woman in the act of adultery, but did not bring the man.  Jesus, instead, taught them a lesson.  If you are without sin, you cast the first stone.  “Being convicted by their own conscience, they went out one by one, beginning at the eldest.”  (John 8:9.)  The oldest one felt the power of Jesus’ words; the younger ones in their zeal took longer to see the point and to admit their mistake. 

 

David wrote, “For thou desirest not sacrifice, else would I give it.  Thou delightest not in burnt offering.  The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, thou wilt not despise.”  (Psalm 51:16-17.)

 

Jesus said to the letter-keepers among the Jews: “You search the Scriptures because in them you think that you have eternal life and they are they which testify of me.  But you will not come to me that you might have life.”  (John 5:39-40.)  The Lord is more interested in relationships than rules.  We are not under law, but under grace.  (Rom. 6:15.)