The Spirit and the Letter of the Law

When it comes to moral laws, would you rather be held to the letter of the law, or the spirit of the law?

Two young men named Brandon and Dakota, who recently moved to Chicago to further their modeling and acting careers, came from very different backgrounds, one deeply religious and one almost exclusively secular. But they nonetheless came to very similar conclusions about morality. They both favored a "spirit" approach to moral laws.

Brandon had read entirely through the Bible for a class at the Bible college he had attended, and Dakota had only heard about the Bible through the opinions of others, but both seemed only aware of the positive aspects of Jesus message.

Regardless of background, a common conclusion people reach about the Bible is that the Old Testament is harsh and strict to the letter of the law, while the New Testament is all about peace and love, such as when Jesus gave his "golden rule"‘ to "Love your neighbor as yourself.’ They forget Jesus' first commandment to love God with all our being, and that "If you love me you will keep my commandments".

These commands to love may sound easy enough - who couldn't remember this quick summary as opposed to a more detailed "letter of the law" approach such as the Ten Commandments - but is loving God and loving others really that easy to do?

Maybe we think it's easy to follow the spirit of the law and to love God and neighbor because we think we can set our own standards for just what that looks like. Many people seem to think that living by the spirit of the law means we get to decide the details - where, when, who, and how we will express our love.

But Jesus didn't say the rest of God's moral law was null and void. Rather, he said "All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments." In other words, they all fall within these two main categories. The Ten Commandments, for example, can be divided into the first four, which deal mainly with our relation with God, and the last six, which have more to do with our relations with other people, our neighbors.

Or maybe it seems easier to follow the spirit of the law because we'd rather focus on our inner feelings rather than our outward behaviors. But wouldn't real love include both our inner feelings and motivations as well as how it is expressed in our outward behavior?

I told Brandon and Dakota that I needed to throw a wrench into their concept of what it means to simply love others, because it's just not that simple. Sometimes loving others means telling them things they don't want to hear, or acting in ways that might make them think we are their worst enemy.

Jesus often preached a harsh message that was hard for people to accept, so hard in fact that it contributed to his crucifixion. For example, in Jesus' Sermon on the Mount, Jesus taught about murder, saying it's not just our actions, but our thoughts and words for which we are held accountable: ‘‘You shall not murder, and anyone who murders will be subject to judgment.’ But I tell you that anyone who is angry with a brother or sister will be subject to judgment..And anyone who says, ‘You fool!’ will be in danger of the fire of hell."

So the Old Testament says "Do not murder", but in the New Testament Jesus says it goes beyond our physical actions to our words and the attitude of our heart! So which is harder to follow?

But Jesus also said "For my yoke is easy and my burden is light". Compared to the strict law and prophets, Christians generally don't doubt that it is easier to follow God in the New Testament rather than in the Old. But how could this be possible?

Maybe instead of thinking we are "following the spirit" as New Testament Christians, we need to think of ourselves as following the "Spirit" - as in the Holy Spirit, the Helper, whom Jesus said would come after him. He said "But the Helper, the Holy Spirit whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and remind you of all that I said to you."

In contrast to the Old Testament and its emphasis on the letter of the law, the New Testament focuses on the Spirit of the law and an inward change that only God can accomplish in us. Contrary to popular opinion, we are not free to pick and choose the parameters of of our love for our neighbors. We need more than to read the Bible once or twice in our lives, we need to feed on it daily, meditating on his word prayerfully and depending on the Holy Spirit to guide us.

I'm guessing I haven't changed any minds as most readers chose to follow the "spirit of the law" to begin with. But hopefully we can realize just how impossible this would be without the help of the Holy Spirit, and put our faith not just in Jesus to save us, but in His Spirit to help us.