THE LETTER KILLS, BUT THE SPIRIT GIVES LIFE

How the Letter Killed the Author 

Michael Edwards

HE has made us sufficient to be ministers of a New Covenant, not of the letter but of the Spirit. For the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life. 2 Cor 3:6

Placing fallen man as law keepers is a bad idea. We always end up abusing the law. Man has a habit of holding others to the letter of the God’s law which kills, while ignoring the spirit/intent of God’s laws which is “love” (Rom 13:8-10 Gal 5:14). 

Man also has the habit of wanting others to refer to the spirit of the law for their wrongs and not the letter. In other words, we all want grace but we all have a hard time showing it.

There are many example of man using the letter of the law to kill, while ignoring the spirit of the law which gives life. The woman caught in adultery (John 1:8-11) who the Pharisee’s wanted to stone and Jesus did not condemn, the self-righteous Pharisee’s when Jesus healed on the Sabbath made Jesus angry (Matt 12:10), the story of the good Samaritan (Luke 10:25-37) where the religious leaders walked past the injured Gentile man because helping him would break the law. 

There are several more of these in scripture and we see this going on everyday ourselves.

The worst abuse of ignoring the spirit of Gods law, which is love, and focusing on the letter to kill, is when they used the letter to kill the author.

The Jews answered him, “We have a law, and according to that law he ought to die because he has made himself the Son of God.” John 19:7

The day Jesus was crucified was the day that the letter of the law was utilized to kill the author of the law himself…continue reading this short study HERE.