One of the main examples that help us understand how the spirit of the law applies to the Christian is that of circumcision. It’s not a new concept but was introduced in the Hebrew Scriptures, what Christians call the Old Testament. Circumcision of the heart is more important to God than the flesh.
“Moreover the Lord your God will circumcise your heart and the heart of your descendants, to love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul, so that you may live.” (Deuteronomy 30:6 NASB)
Some argue that circumcision was not only a sign of the covenant, but also a health law that drastically reduced the frequency of cervical cancer among the wives. However, the circumcision of the heart was more important then and now. Paul explained how important circumcision of the heart is to the Romans.
“For circumcision is indeed profitable if you keep the law; but if you are a breaker of the law, your circumcision has become uncircumcision. Therefore, if an uncircumcised man keeps the righteous requirements of the law, will not his uncircumcision be counted as circumcision? And will not the physically uncircumcised, if he fulfills the law, judge you who, even with your written code and circumcision, are a transgressor of the law? For 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 of the heart, in the Spirit, not in the letter; whose praise is not from men but from God.” (Romans 2:25-29 NKJV)
If we see the cutting off of a piece of flesh as a metaphor for cutting off the sinful desires of the flesh, then we can better understand the following:
“In him you were also circumcised with a circumcision not performed by human hands. Your whole self ruled by the flesh was put off when you were circumcised by Christ, having been buried with him in baptism, in which you were also raised with him through your faith in the working of God, who raised him from the dead. When you were dead in your sins and in the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made you alive with Christ. He forgave us all our sins, having canceled the charge of our legal indebtedness, which stood against us and condemned us; he has taken it away, nailing it to the cross.” (Colossians 2:11-14 NIV)
This is further explained in the following:
For if you live according to the flesh you will die, but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live. (Romans 8:13 ESV)
So here is a metaphor explaining how the whole law applies to the Christian. The Christian life is one where the misdeeds of the sinful body are put to death. This is a heart matter, not a letter-of-the-law matter. Why? The letter of any law, be it modern civil law or God’s law, allows for too many loopholes. The Christian is not interested in escape clauses in order to avoid God’s will, but wants to obey God more fully, which includes the spirit or intent of the law, which is love.
