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The Daily Word of Righteousness
The Flesh Becomes the Law, #4
You show that you are a letter from Christ, the result of our ministry, written not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of human hearts. (II Corinthians 3:2—NIV)
We Christians are to be living letters. We are to reveal the commandments of Christ in our thinking, speaking, and behavior.
The commandments no longer are engraved in granite or written on parchment. They are written in our mind and heart.
They are written with the Spirit of God.
He has made us competent as ministers of a new covenant—not of the letter but of the Spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life. (II Corinthians 3:6—NIV)
The ministry of the new covenant is not that of the written words of the New Testament but of the Spirit of God. Sometimes zealous Christians attempt to interpret and obey the letter of the New Testament apart from the Spirit of God. They proclaim a divorced person can never be remarried, or there can be only three messages in tongues in an assembling. They hold to these rigorously.
It is a good thing to seek to obey the Scriptures. But if we attempt to do so without prayer, without waiting on God to find out His thoughts, we develop a religious spirit that is not wholesome or edifying. We become hard to get along with because of our doctrinaire spirit. Have you ever known anyone like that?
We must hear from God! The Spirit of God tells us if and when a divorced person can remarry. The Spirit of God tells us if and when a woman can speak in the church. The Spirit of God tells us if and when there can be more than three messages in tongues in an assembly.
We are not ministers of the letter but of the Spirit of God.
Of course, the Spirit will never tell us to do anything that is actually contrary to the intent of the written Word. Never! Rather He reveals to us how to apply the Word so it is fruitful and brings peace and righteousness.
The Lord Jesus told us if someone sues us to give him what he asks for and add to it. We have to hear from the Lord when such a circumstance arises.
The Lord Jesus told us to turn the other cheek when someone strikes us. We have to hear from the Lord when such a circumstance arises.
We do not ignore what Christ or the Apostles commanded, rather we pray until we know how to apply the Word. Isn't this so?
There is a time to turn the other cheek. There is another time when we are not to turn the other cheek but to defend ourselves, but only as the Lord leads.
Now if the ministry that brought death, which was engraved in letters on stone, came with glory, so the Israelites could not look steadily at the face of Moses because of its glory, fading though it was, (II Corinthians 3:7—NIV)
The letter of the Word kills if it is not made alive by the Spirit of God. The Law given under the ministry of Moses brings death. It emphasizes sin but does not provide a means of deliverance from sin. Yet it was accompanied by stupendous Divine Glory when proclaimed from Sinai. How much more will the new covenant finally be accompanied by incomprehensible glory!
To be continued.