The Letter of the Law vs the Spirit
“(God) 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.” II Corinthians 3:6
II Corinthians was the Apostle Paul’s follow up letter to his first letter which was written to the church at Corinth to rebuke those in the church who were not following the standards of scripture and were thus suffering many problems in the church. There were schisms in the church, and one particular member had committed a very egregious sexual sin. After some time had passed from the first letter, Paul wrote to encourage them in their efforts to follow the instructions that he had given them. Paul also felt the need to assure them of his love for them, and that all of his efforts to nurture them would be in vain if he did not depend on God. Paul was a very humble man, always giving God the credit and praise for any successes which followed his work among the churches.
In his letter, Paul made a comparison of the law of the Old Testament and of the gospel of Jesus Christ of the New Testament. Many of the teachers of Paul’s day were teaching a “works based” salvation in addition to salvation by grace through faith. They were calling people back to the law in order to be made right before God. However, the law could never save anyone from his/her sins because it is impossible to keep the law perfectly for human beings. The law was given to mankind to show them that they were sinners in need of a Savior. Paul referred to the law as a “schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ” (Galatians 3:24). Works based salvation is still being taught across the globe, but causes people to believe that their “good” deeds which outnumber their “bad” deeds” are sufficient to save them, in effect, dooming them to an eternity in hell. This is why Paul referred to following the letter of the law, that is, the attempt to obey the law perfectly, which is impossible for men and women, as that which kills a person spiritually.
Contrary to the letter of the law, the spirit of the law shows men and women that they are insufficient to fulfill the law, and also shows them that they are sinners and by the workings of the Holy Spirit, convicts them of their sin and causes them to realize that they must depend on the only One who did fulfill the law perfectly, Jesus Christ. Thus, the law kills, and the spirit gives life. The spirit of a person who attempts to follow the law is dead. There is no life in the law. It is impossible for a person’s spirit to be made alive by the law. A very simple example which illustrates this truth is that a person stops for a red light either because he doesn’t want to get caught by a law enforcement officer and suffer the consequences or because he knows it is the right thing to do. In the first scenario, he is relying on his mind, but in the second scenario, he is relying on his heart. Some folks are notorious at running red lights, thus proving that the law behind the red light can’t make them stop. It can punish, but it can’t change one’s heart.
Continuing with this example, traffic laws are good in that they save lives and allow folks to get to their destination safely as long as they obey them. However, everyone has to obey them for them to work as intended. Those who operate purely by the motive of not getting caught will at times try to beat the system and likely cause an accident because they consider getting to their destination more important that the safety of all those in the intersection. On the other hand, those who obey the law because it is the right thing to do will likely not be the cause of an accident. They do not want to do anything that might cause another person to get injured. They have a concern for others. Thus the law is good as long as it is obeyed perfectly, but, as we know, that is impossible.
All I can say is thank God for His grace. I would hate to know that we were still under the law, condemned, with no real remedy for our sin. But God loved us enough to send His Son to die for our sins and to make us free from the guilt of our sin. For that I am eternally grateful.