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14. The letter of the law is
not binding upon Christians as a coercive code.
If the letter of the law is
binding, then we must be circumcised, offer sacrifices,
keep the seventh day, and all the Jewish ritual, for
"the law" included the "whole law"
(Gal. 3:10; 5:3).
The "righteousness" of
the law and the "spirit" of the law is one
thing, while "the letter" and outward service is
quite another. "Therefore if the uncircumcision keep
the righteousness of the law, shall not his uncircumcision
be counted for circumcision? And shall not uncircumcision
which is by nature, if it fulfill the law, judge thee, who
by the letter and circumcision cost transgress the law?
For he is not a Jew, which is one outwardly; neither is
that circumcision, which is outward in the flesh: but he
is a Jew, which is one inwardly; and circumcision is that
of the heart, in the spirit, and not in the letter; whose
praise is not of men, but of God" (Rom. 2:26-29).
Paul argues that Christians must be
circumcised, but not "outwardly in the flesh,"
as formerly, but "inwardly in the spirit, not in the
letter." By this he illustrates the difference
between keeping the law now and formerly. So, further on:
"Ye are not under the law, but under grace"
(Rom. 6:14). In the next chapter he says: "But now we
are delivered from the law, that being dead wherein we
were held; that we should serve in newness of spirit, and
not in the oldness of the letter" (Rom. 7:6).
How can anyone misunderstand
language so plain? Now, under Christ, we are delivered
from the law; that law is dead, and we serve Christ in the
spirit, "not in the old letter." The higher law
of God, namely, supreme love to God and equal love to our
neighbors, upon which the Jewish law hung, was the
"spirit," "righteousness," or real
intent of "the law." This "first and
great" law Christians do keep, while free from the
mere letter of the law, which was bondage.
"For, brethren, ye have been
called unto liberty; only use not liberty for an occasion
to the flesh, but by love serve one another. For all the
law is fulfilled in one word, even in this; Thou shalt
love thy neighbor as thyself. But if ye be led of the
Spirit, ye are not under the law" (Gal. 5:13, 14,
18). "Not in tables of stone, but in fleshly tables
of the heart." "Who also hath made us able
ministers of the new testament; not of the letter, but of
me spirit: for the letter killeth, but the spirit giveth
life" (2 Cor. 3:3, 6). The law for Christians is not
that written in the book or on tables of stone—the
letter. That which was "written and engraver in
stones" is "done away" (vs. 7). It is
"that which is abolished" (vs. 13). Christians
are under "the law of the Spirit of life"—the
new testament.
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