The Spirit Gives Life Series

So, what then is the spirit of the law? In part, it has to do with being a spiritual Jew.

“No, a true Jew is one whose heart is right with God. And true circumcision is not merely obeying the letter of the law; rather, it is a change of heart produced by God's Spirit. And a person with a changed heart seeks praise from God, not from people.” (Romans 2:29 NLT)

And it also has to do with being a spiritual child of Abraham.

“Therefore, be sure that it is those who are of faith who are sons of Abraham.” (Galatians 3:7 NASB)

If we are spiritual Jews because of circumcision of the heart, and we are spiritual children of Abraham because we are of faith, doesn’t it also make sense that we are in spiritual apostolic succession if we contend for the faith once for all delivered to the saints by the Apostles?

“Dear friends, although I was very eager to write to you about the salvation we share, I felt compelled to write and urge you to contend for the faith that was once for all entrusted to God's holy people.” (Jude 1:3 NIV)

Once for all means that anything that came later, whether an ancient tradition or a modern fad, is not necessarily something important enough to contend for. Here we see the line between essentials and non-essentials of the faith.

Keeping more recent traditions and neglecting the faith once delivered misses the mark. Attempting to keep the old law in the letter is impossible, because the flesh is too weak. We therefore walk in Christ, who alone could live a perfect life.

For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death. For what the law could not do in that it was weak through the flesh, God did by sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, on account of sin: He condemned sin in the flesh, that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit. For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit. (Romans 8:2-5 NKJV)

Trying to walk in the letter is called legalism. Whether that is applied to the law of Moses or church rules made up by men, it kills our faith. Touch not, taste not, don’t dance, don’t chew, and don’t go with girls that do. We can make fun of silly man-made rules, but the deeper we look, the more we realize that there are a lot of things taught in Christian circles that neither came from Jesus nor the Apostles.

Such is the confidence we have toward God through Christ. Not that we are adequate in ourselves so as to consider anything as having come from ourselves, but our adequacy is from God, who also made us adequate as servants of a new covenant, not of the letter but of the Spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life. But if the ministry of death, engraved in letters on stones, came with glory so that the sons of Israel could not look intently at the face of Moses because of the glory of his face, fading as it was, how will the ministry of the Spirit fail to be even more with glory? (2 Corinthians 3:4-8 NASB)

The letter kills, but the Spirit gives life. That’s an important consideration. Let’s walk according to the Spirit and so fulfill the royal law of love.