THE LETTER AND THE SPIRIT.
The “letter” of a command, law, or covenant is, according to the Standard Dictionary, “the literal or exact meaning or requirement of the words used; as, according to the letter of the law.” The letter of God’s law, and of every precept of that law, is, according to this recognized authority, “the literal or exact meaning or requirement of the words used.” The Spirit Behind the Letter.
It was the Spirit of God which inspired the words of God. 2 Peter 1:21. The words of God, therefore, express the mind of God toward His children. As the Spirit gave the letter, the letter is not, nor can it be, antagonistic to the Spirit. We may look upon the letter as the mere outward form, nevertheless, it is the form of truth. The Jews in the days of Christ made much of the outward form of the law. For this they were not rebuked. Rather it is expressly said by the apostle that they had “the form of knowledge and of the truth in the law.” Rom. 2:20. God’s Word More than Form.
It is evident, then, that the letter of the law expresses “the literal or exact meaning” of God’s7requirement. Of course, there is more in God’s law than the mere form. “The words that I speak unto you,” says Christ, “they are spirit, and they are life.” It is the Spirit of God which gives knowledge; the Spirit of God is “the Spirit of truth,” and therefore not only is the spirit of the words knowledge and truth, but the letter of the words is “the form of knowledge and of the truth.” The one is essential to the other. The man who cries out for the letter alone is “alienated from the life of God.” And the man who cries out for the spirit alone and who says of the letter or form of the truth, Away with it, is moved by another spirit than that which inspired the Word. The Spirit of God in giving the Word chose its own instrument, and breathed through that instrument its own words. It chose its own form for the expression of the will of God. To say that the form is nothing is an insult to the Majesty of the universe, who chose it. It is despising His wisdom. When God would make man, He gave him a certain form, and placed within it life. The whole became a living soul. The form alone did not make the living soul,—the living, thinking man. The life alone did not make him. The two combined told the whole truth. But God did not put the soul and mind of beast or bird in the form of the man. There was the exact adaptation of form to life and intelligence. All this man and sin and Satan have perverted, but God’s plan was perfect. If we were told that the horse was a man, we would declare it false, because God has not written man in that form. He has not written the maple in the form of the larch, nor the larch in the form of the oak. Again and again in His Holy Word has the Lord shown us that He was particular in regard to the letter of the Word. “Ye shall not add unto the word which I command you, neither shall ye diminish aught from it, that ye may keep the commandments of the Lord your God.” Deut. 4:2. See also Deut. 12:32; Prov. 30:6; Rev. 22:18, 19. The above words clearly show that the instruction must be heeded if Israel were to keep God’s commandments. And note also that it was not obedience to the mere letter of the law which God required, but it was the fullest obedience of its spirit; for thus we read: “Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God is one Lord; and thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might. And these words, which I command thee this day, shall be in thine heart.” Deut. 6:4–6. But it was necessary, in order that this might be done, that there should be such regard for God’s words that naught should be added to them or taken from them. Love would not dwell in the heart of the person who would knowingly change the form of the truth. In all the building of the tabernacle and temple the instruction was explicit that they should be built like the pattern. Illustrations of Disobedience.
One of the first examples we have of disregard of God’s word is the case of Nadab and Abihu. The fire used to burn incense before the Lord must be the sacred fire from the altar, where it was constantly kept burning. But these men reasoned that the letter was nothing; there was no difference between that fire and any other, and so they reasoned that they would comply with the “spirit” of the law, and use “strange fire before the Lord, which He commanded them not.” The result of their rash disregard of the letter of God’s instruction is given in Lev. 10:1, 2. Another instance is recorded in 2 Sam. 6:6, 7. God had commanded the priests to bear the ark upon their shoulders, but it was evidently thought by them at that time: Now the principal thing is the carrying of the ark. Of course God has commanded us to carry it on our shoulders, but the letter killeth; we will therefore comply with the spirit of the law, and take it to its resting place in a better way. We will do better than the old way; we will make a new cart. They did so, and the displeasure of the Lord was again manifested, because they did not do His commandment “after the due order.” 1 Chron. 15:13. The “letter” is important. But are there not exceptions? Has not God sometimes blessed those who did not follow the law, but kept its spirit?—Yes, He has; but it was when “the form of knowledge and of the truth” was not known. The Philistines placed the ark of God upon a cart and sent it home, and the Lord’s judgments were lifted from the land. But they knew no other way to do; nor did they have the priests to carry the sacred chest. They acted on the best light they had. For centuries the church of God has been observing the first day of the week as the Sabbath of the Lord. They had, to a greater or less extent, the true spirit of obedience, but they did not know “the form of knowledge and of the truth in the law,” and therefore God did not punish them for their ignorance. But now He is everywhere enlightening men in regard to the claims of His holy law. Everywhere is the question agitated, and everywhere is read the words of God: “Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy” “the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God.” To the man who simply regards the outward letter of that law, God promises no blessing. He alone can keep the day holy who loves God with all his soul and has the commandment written in his heart. To those teachers before whom has come the plain command of God, and who have rejected God’s word as the letter that killeth, the Lord thus speaks: “Her priests have violated My law, and have profaned [made common] Mine holy things; they have put no difference between the holy and profane, neither have they showed difference between the unclean and the clean, and have hid their eyes from My Sabbaths, and I am profaned [made common, polluted], among them.” Eze. 22:26. The only safe path, the only blessed path, is to do in the spirit of the Perfect Pattern just as God says.