Chapter Four: Letter And Spirit

If my purpose extended no further than the development of a good moral character, I should not deem it necessary to dwell upon a subject which, though not essentially difficult, is of course less simple in its nature than would be the statement and illustration of mere precepts. But I earnestly desire to lead my readers and to bring myself into a better appreciation and fuller enjoyment of the true Christian life. And hence I venture to hope that those who are disposed to go with me will be willing to linger yet longer upon a subject which lies at the very foundation of all genuine progress.

It is familiar to every one how earnestly and constantly the Saviour labored to inculcate and enforce the very truth which we are seeking to realize. His contemporaries, with hardly an exception, had lost sight of it; and even his chosen apostles, brought up as they had been under the influence of mere externalism, were exceedingly dull of hearing and slow to understand. But, happily for us, the very grossness of messianic hopes and expectation which he encountered led the Great Teacher to a fullness of deliverance and a wealth of illustration which make our studies comparatively easy.

“The kingdom of heaven,” he says, “cometh not with observation.”It is not an outward and visible thing. It does not consist of forms and ceremonies. These may gather about it, and may have more or less intimate and important connect with it, but they are not the thing itself. The true, vital, heavenly kingdom“is within you.” Its territory is the soul; its throne is the heart; and there its King lives and rules and reigns.

Again, he says that this kingdom is “like leaven which a woman took and hid in three measures of meal, till the whole was leavened.” Now it matters not what view we may take of the merely circumstantial phrases of this instructive parable. We may or may not attribute special significance to such words as “woman,” “took,” or “three measures,” but in any case the essential meaning cannot be mistaken. The vital and vitalizing principle, represented by the term “leaven,” is hidden away out of sight in the human heart; and it works there in secret. At once this suggests to us the new covenant: “I will put my law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts.”

In like manner, the parable of the sower, that of the mustard see, and the others relating to seeds and sowings, all proclaim this same truth. And surely no one can read the Sermon on the Mount with perceiving how Christ glorifies the law by lifting it out of the rigidity of mere letter, and presenting it as a free and living principle. Nay, his own commandments come to us not as fixed and inflexible precepts, to be observed in simple punctilio, but rather as blessed and luminous instructions, addressed to the spirit of love, which is open and waiting to receive them. Here, as elsewhere, he opened his mouth and taught them. He was the great Teacher sent from God. And this is the characterizing idea of the whole New Testament; it is above all things else a book of religious and spiritual instruction. Its lessons may be exhibited in mandatory and prohibitory forms among others, but still for the true Christian they are simply lessons. He is not under law; his life is not to be regulated by rule and measure. The kingdom of Heaven, which is within him, is not a matter of prescriptions; it is righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit.

When the apostle presents, as he does in his masterly way, the contrast between the two covenants or “testaments,” what he says is worthy of careful notice. Let me quote his language from the Revised Version: “But our sufficiency is from God; who also made us sufficient as ministers of a new covenant; not of the letter, but of the spirit; for the letter killeth, but the spirit giveth life. But if the ministration of death, written and engraved on stones, came with glory, so that the children of Israel could not look steadfastly upon the face of Moses for the glory of his face; which glory was passing away: how shall not rather the ministration of the spirit be with glory?” (2 Corinthians 3:6-8).

Now it should be observed that the apostle does not limit the application of the term “letter” to the ten commandments engraven on stones, though he illustrates his meaning by such references: for in truth the whole of Moses law and ritual was letter. Nor should we understand that the covenant of spirit is confined to New Testament commandments. On the contrary, it embraces every line and word in the whole Book. It is all of the spirit—every commandment, precept, prohibition, injunction is to be kept in its principle and spirit, and not necessarily in its letter. Very often, to be sure, the letter and the spirit will coincide, but not always. For example, the spirit of the commandment addressed by the Saviour to the rich young man is deeply instructive and most important; its letter, regarded as a general precept, would be unwise and really impracticable. We can hardly conceive of a proceeding more injurious to highest interests of the Church and of society than for all Christians to sell what they have and give it to the poor. But how prone we are to rest in mere words! Many persons read the passage lately quoted, “not of the letter, but of the spirit;” make a careless application of it to the ten commandments; declare, of course, that the new covenant is not of letter, because the apostle says so, and immediately proceed to convert it all into letter, and to put themselves, and try to put everybody else, under it as letter! But in truth the same apostles teaches us that “we should serve in newness of spirit, and not in the oldness of the letter” (Romans 7:6). There is no limitation nor exception here. The whole round of duties, the entire range of obligation, whatever is embraced in our Christian service—all of it is to be, positively, in newness of spirit, and negatively, not in the oldness of the letter. We read that the Jews were “under tutors and governors” until the fullness of time, and were in bondage under the elements of the world till Christ redeemed them, that they might receive the adoption of sons. But the apostle does not speak of his tutorship and governorship and this bondage as something to be desired, but as something from which it was a mercy to be rescued. Still, for those of my readers who may be as yet only “babes in Christ,” a little kindly “tutoring” and “governing” may be very helpful. The restraining and guiding influence of experience and wise pastors and of other able and discreet Christians, is needful for the young and immature and should be yielded to with cheerfulness and gratitude. But surely those who are of full age, and whose senses have been exercised to discern both good and evil; those who have been brought into loving sympathy with God, and into cordial devotion to his will, should be able to “serve” him “in newness of spirit.” Such can but feel that the rules and regulations, the demands and prescriptions of legalizers and literalists—assuming to control and direct the details of their conduct—are an impertinence and a hindrance; that they fetter the freedom of the soul, and interfere with its normal expansion and religious comfort. There is no joy and no good in constrained service.

I trust it will not be overlooked that I am writing for those who are Christians; not for hypocrites, nor formalists, nor cold, carnal, worldly “professors”—nor yet for mere moralists who expect to get to Heaven by observances, and who have not taken heed to “beware of the leaven of the Pharisees”; who think, perchance, that the absence of a gold chain will commend them to God, and that sin lieth at the door of costly apparel. Some of these characters may need a medicine which it is not my purpose to administer. My single aim and object is to aid those who are seeking to develop their true religious life; those who love God and his people and his word, and who are really and heartily seeking and trying to be right and to do right. Such persons may be safely turned loose with God. He is enthroned in their hearts, and his law is armed and cherished in their inward parts. They do not need rules; they are principled against wrong, and in favor of the right; and principles make their own rules. But we do need—we all need—instruction in divine things; more of heavenly light, more of experimental knowledge, a deeper insight into God’s character, and a deeper consecration to his service.