Spirit verses letter

In 2 Corinthians 3:5-6 the apostle Paul refers to himself and his fellow ministers of the gospel as “servants of a new covenant – not of the letter but of the Spirit.” He then made this already powerful statement even more powerful with the addition of the following phrase: “for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.” This distinction between the “spirit” and the “letter” is one of the most powerful distinctions in the Bible, and it reveals a very significant truth about how God intends to bring about the changes he desires to see in all of our lives.

Paul refers to this same distinction between spirit and letter twice in the book of Romans. In 2:28-29 he makes the following observation: “He is not a Jew who is one outwardly, nor is circumcision that which is outward in the flesh. But he is a Jew who is one inwardly; and circumcision is that which is of the heart, by the Spirit, not by the letter.” Then later in 7:6 he declares, “Now we have been released from the Law, having died to that by which we were bound, so that we serve in newness of the Spirit and not in oldness of the letter.”

Notice in this first passage that Paul uses the following contrasts: “outwardly” verses “inwardly,” “In the flesh” verses “of the heart” and “by the letter” verses “by the spirit.” The clear point here is that there are two different levels at which we can serve God, and at which the word of God operates – an outward level and an inward level. The law, which Paul refers to in these passages as “the letter,” operated at an outward level – commanding and prohibiting various actions. Paul refers to serving God through the law as serving “in the oldness of the letter,” and he contrasts this with serving “in the newness of the Spirit.”

Hebrews 9:9-10 tells us that the law and the sacrifices offered under it could not make those who worshipped God through it “perfect in conscience” – that is, the law could not effect a lasting change “inwardly” or “in the heart” of man. This passage goes on to explain why, stating that the law and its sacrifices related “only to food and drink and various washings, regulations for the body until a time of reformation.” We see this same point clearly in Hebrews 10:1, which tells us that the law had “only a shadow of the good things to come and not the very form of things.”

What these passages tell us is that the law was a temporary, external means of governing man’s actions until the time when the Holy Spirit would come and effect a permanent change in man’s heart. The law told man not to kill or to commit adultery – both outward acts. But the indwelling of God’s Holy Spirit actually replaces the hate and lust in man’s hearts with a genuine love for his fellow man. Jesus made this point in Matthew 5:20 when he told his disciples, “Unless your righteousness surpasses that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will not enter the kingdom of heaven.” The scribes and Pharisees were serving “in the oldness of the letter” – they were keeping themselves from committing certain acts, all the while oblivious to the fact that their hearts were evil.

Unfortunately this problem was not unique to the scribes and Pharisees. Many people today, including many Christians, are still serving God “in the oldness of the letter.” But Paul made it clear in 2 Corinthians 3:6 that “the letter kills.” Trying to serve God by adhering to a set of rules can only result in death, or separation from God. The only “law” than can bring life is “The law of the spirit of Life in Christ Jesus” (Romans 8:2) – a reference to the life of The Holy Spirit filling, restoring, renewing and influencing us from within.

Allow me to suggest that, regardless of what your walk with God has been like to date, that you ask God to fill you with His Holy Spirit afresh today, so that you experience the joy and freedom of serving him “In the newness of the spirit!”