By Jill Roberts and Michael Canalé
Michael and I are continuing our discussions about the Holy Spirit. This week, we are concentrating on one critical aspect of the Spirit’s powerful ministry in our lives – that of His role in guiding us away from the LETTER OF THE LAW and into its antithesis, the SPIRIT OF THE LAW, where He dwells.
The controlling Scriptural passage setting forth this concept is found in 2 Corinthians 3. Speaking to the believers in Corinth, Paul introduces the juxtaposed ideas of letter and Spirit, as well as the foundational element underlying the latter, i.e. the New Covenant with God:
“He (God) has made us competent as ministers of a NEW COVENANT – not of the letter but of the Spirit; for the letter kills but the Spirit gives life.” (emphasis added)
(2 Corinthians 3:6) NIV
The Message translation further explains this aspect of how the Holy Spirit acts to lead us away from the letter of the law:
“The plan wasn’t written out with ink and paper, with pages and pages of legal footnotes, killing your spirit. It’s written with Spirit on spirit, his life on our lives.”
(2 Corinthians 3:6)
What is the all important context for this remarkable verse? We find it in the Old Testament, and that part of the Bible is essential to understanding this compelling passage. Let’s begin in Jeremiah. We will be in the King James Version for a while:
“Behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that I will make a NEW COVENANT with the house of Israel and the house of Judah; not according to the covenant I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt; which my covenant they brake…But, this shall be the covenant…I will put my law in their inward parts and WRITE IT IN THEIR HEARTS…” (emphasis added)
(Jeremiah 31:31-33) KJV
When Jeremiah penned this, he distinguished “hearts” from the Ten Commandments where the law was written, not on hearts, but on stone. Note Exodus 24:
“And the LORD said unto Moses, ‘Come up to me into the Mount, and be there; and I will give you TABLES OF STONE and a law, and commandments which I have WRITTEN;“ (emphasis added)
(Exodus 24:12) KJV
Ezekiel also lays background for the future work of the Holy Spirit. God is speaking:
“…and I will put a new Spirit within you; and I will take the STONY HEART (emphasis added) out of their flesh.
(Ezekiel 11:19) KJV
With this context, we return to 2 Corinthians 3, now in the King James Version:
“Forasmuch as ye are manifestly declared to be the epistle of Christ, ministered by as written, not in ink, but with the Spirit of the living God, NOT IN TABLES OF STONE, but in fleshly tables of the HEART…our sufficiency is of God; who also hath made us ministers of the New Testament; NOT OF THE LETTER BUT OF THE SPIRIT, (emphasis added), for the letter killeth, but the spirit giveth life.”
(2 Corinthians 3:3,6) KJV
As Michael points out, “People have caused devastating wars over one verse of Scripture, following what they interpreted as the letter of the law.”
This brings us full circle with our opening verse. To review, what is the letter of the law as examined in this context? It is the bedrock of the Old Covenant, the Ten Commandments. Fortunately, Scripture further explains this as we will shortly see.
And what of this New Covenant that supersedes the Old? What does the Bible say about these two covenants? Let’s continue on in 2 Corinthians 3 to answer this question. Paul is writing:
“Now, if the ministry that brought death, which was engraved in letters on stone, came with glory, so that the Israelites could not look steadily at the face of Moses because of its glory, TRANSITORY AS IT WAS, will not the ministry of the Spirit be even more glorious? If the ministry THAT BROUGHT CONDEMNATION was glorious, how much more glorious is the ministry THAT BRINGS RIGHTEOUSNESS! …how much greater is the glory of THAT WHICH LASTS!”(emphasis added)
(2 Corinthians 3:7-11) NIV
Wait, you may be saying – Is Paul writing that the Ten Commandments are no longer law that we should strive to follow? Not at all! When Jesus preached the Sermon on the Mount, he made this crystal clear:
“Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them…Therefore, anyone who sets aside one of the least of these commands and teaches others accordingly, will be called least in the kingdom of heaven…”
(Matthew 5:17, 18) NIV
What then, is Paul speaking of in 2 Corinthians 3:7-11, where he says that the ministry that brought death was engraved in letters of stone and that this same ministry brought condemnation and is less glorious than the glory of that which lasts? What he is saying is that because people were then and are today unable to fully follow the Ten Commandments, these laws do not lead to righteousness. In fact, quite the contrary, they are convicting. As stated earlier in the citations from Jeremiah and Ezekiel, God was preparing a new and more glorious covenant long ago. This new agreement with mankind would involve a change in our HEARTS that would lead to obedience.
“The Holy Spirit also testifies to us about this. First, he says,
‘This is the covenant I will make with them after that time,’ says the Lord. I will put my laws in their HEARTS, and I will write them on their MINDS.” (emphasis added)
(Hebrews 10:16) NIV
The Holy Spirit enables us to live righteously in the New Covenant. This is well described, once again, in Hebrews:
“For this reason, Christ is the mediator of a new covenant…now that he has died as a ransom to set them free from the sins committed under the first covenant.”
(Hebrew 9:15) NIV
When Jesus died on the cross, this sacrifice settled the matter of sin once and for all. He said, “It is finished,” and it is. We now live under the New Covenant in Jesus.
Last year, I did a zoom study with English master theologian, N.T. Wright, on the subject of 2 Corinthians. He explained so well what we are studying this week. He stated that, “Moses will get you to the edge but Jesus will be needed to get you to the Promised Land.” How perfectly he puts this.
One might say, that we have gone from glory to greater glory as earlier cited. We have left the letter of the law, the violation of which convicted us, and moved to the spirit of the law. (as led by the Holy Spirit) This brings about a new emphasis on our hearts. And then, vicariously through Jesus’ righteousness. we attain the same.
While the New Covenant gives us this right standing, we are, nevertheless, to aspire to the life code set forth in the Sermon on the Mount. It is a matter of a spiritual heart transplant that we should ever be seeking. The change in us must reflect that Jesus is our model for both thought and deed. Winsome, gentle and kind are some of the attributes that need to take center stage in our lives. We must leave behind the petty and find the better angels of our beings. Jesus is counting on us to never rest on our laurels but ever to be trying to conform ourselves into the image of the one who went to the cross for us.
Jesus made it so simple and yet so profound as to what we need to do. An iconic exchange about this follows:
“One of the teachers of the law…asked him, ‘Of all the commandments, which is the most important?
‘The most important one,’ answered Jesus, ‘is this…Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength. The second is this: Love your neighbor as yourself. There is no greater commandment than these.”
(Mark 12:28-31) NIV
This is what our Holy Spirit empowers us to do. Michael reminds us to let the Holy Spirit guide us, all the while transforming our hearts. Michael and I believe that this same Spirit would also have us remember that, while thinking in this vein, there is a litmus test that will tell a person clearly when he or she goes beyond what we are to do. We cite the following passage where Jesus is speaking:
“Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”
(Matthew 11:28-29) NIV
The Message also says it well;
“Are you tired? Worn out? Burned out on religion? Come to me. Get away with me and you’ll recover your life. I’ll show you how to take a real rest. Walk with me and work with me – watch how I do it. Learn the unforced rhythms of grace. I won’t lay anything heavy or ill-fitting on you. Keep company with me and you’ll learn to live freely and lightly.
(Matthew 11:28-30)
Retuning to Paul’s letter to the believers in Corinth, takes us to verses 2-3 of 2 Corinthians chapter 3. When we surrender to the Holy Spirit who indwells us, this is what Jesus would join Paul in saying of us:
“You yourselves are our letter, (of recommendation), written on our hearts, known and read by everyone. You show that you are a letter from Christ, the result of our ministry, written not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of human hearts.”