The Spirit of the Law Versus the Letter

Which side of the Torah do YOU lean toward? License or legalism? The letter or the spirit? Mercy and grace or judgmentalism? Is our obedience to Torah based on love or self-righteous legalism? Where is the heart of Elohim in this issue? What should be our approach—especially toward others? All too often we want leniency and grace, but are reluctant to show mercy toward others when it comes to Torah-obedience. Is Elohim a harsh judge or a loving Father? What does he want from us? Read on as we explore this issue in an effort to find the heart of Elohim on this matter.


2 Corinthians 3:2–15, Overview of the Letter Vs. the Spirit of the Torah

In this passage, Paul is not teaching against the validity or replacement of the Torah with something else. No! There is nothing wrong with YHVH’s Torah-law. How could there be? It is the Word, mind, will and heart of Elohim. Torah shows us how to love Elohim and our neighbor. It shows us how to be blessed, defines sin, shows us how to walk in the paths of righteousness, leads us to Messiah and the shows us our need for him because of our sin and inability to live up to its high standards of holiness and righteousness. 

These are just a few of the wonderful benefits of  YHVH’S Torah-Word, which I have discussed at length many times elsewhere. The problem with Torah, if you will, is not with Torah itself, but with what sinful and misguided people do with it. The Torah, like money alcohol or guns, is neutral. It is the misuse of these things by sinful people that is evil. For example, money is not evil; however, the love of it is as Scripture clearly states.

The problem with many people in our day who are returning to a more Hebraic and Torah-centric orientation in their spiritual walk is balance or the lack thereof. Too many people go hog-wild over Torah because the mainstream church system which they have exited had deprived them of it, and when they learn about the Torah, they run to it like a flock of starving and half-crazed sheep stampeding from a desert into verdant, lush pasture of grass. They gorge themselves and then get the runs and get all messy. (I know because I grew up on a sheep farm!) Too many people forget about Yeshua and the fact that they cannot even do Torah without him and his Spirit working in them. Sadly, people forget that we’re “under/subject to the law toward Messiah” as Paul was (1 Cor 9:21). Without Messiah, the Torah is the simply a legalistic set of rules, and those who follow it as such are simply a bunch of people trying to earn their own righteousness through their own will power. This cannot be done. The Israelites tried this and failed miserably. Most perished in the wilderness. Why do we think we can do any better? 

Please keep this mind that in 2 Corinthians 3 Paul is largely talking about covenants—both the old and new, which he refers to in verses 6 and in 7 as “the ministration of death,” and which is passing away (v. 11). The Torah itself which remains is still glorious (v. 11). The Torah was merely the terms of the “Old Covenant”, not the covenant itself. Never forget that the “Old Covenant” never promised a person eternal life or ultimate salvation from sin; the New Covenant does. Moreover, there is nothing wrong with the Torah itself, for with it comes many benefits and blessings (if obeyed) and many curses including guilt, shame, condemnation and death because of sin (if disobeyed). 

The problem when one lives a totally Torah-centric live is that it overlooks the necessary power of the Spirit of Elohim to work in a person’s life through a relationship with Yeshua. The problem is the rebelliousness of human nature and hard human heart which refuses to be subject to the laws of Elohim (Heb 8:7–8; Rom 8:7; Jer 17:9). We need help from above to overcome our human natures that are opposed to Elohim’s laws. That is where Yeshua comes into the picture

Moreover, the problem has never been with the Torah, or even the letter of Torah-law per se. How could it be? Torah is the instructions in righteousness from Elohim himself and are a reflection of his very mind, will and heart. There can be nothing wrong with this, since this is pure light and Truth! Now I said “the letter of the law per se.” What did I mean by this? Simply this. If one lives only by the letter of the law, and judges others by the letter, and doesn’t bring in the spirit of law, then how are we all to stand? What if YHVH only judged us by the letter and not the spirit? We would all become instant grease spots yesterday!!! No! Thankfully, his mercy triumphs over his judgment against our violation of his Torah or else we are all gonners! There for his grace go each of us. 

Morevover, if we get perpetually hung up all the time on every jot and tittle of every point of the law, we will become so focused on legalism and judgmentalism that our focus will be on that instead on the love of brethren and the love of Yeshua. We will be so focused on a punctilious letter of the law obedience and judging everyone else who is not living up to our standards that we will fail to be doing the great commission and winning the lost and loving one another. That is the problems with the many people today who are leaving the mainstream Christian church and returning to a more Hebraic, Torah-centered spiritual orientation. Too many Hebraic-minded folks have become so proud of their Torah-obedience that YHVH can no longer use us to advance his kingdom. He hates this kind of self-righteous, Pharisaical pride!

The problems with Torah is humans, which is not a problem with Torah at all. Rather it is deceitful, deceived humans who twist the Torah for their own purposes or who misunderstand its full purpose. Remember what Hebrews 8:8 says? The problem was with them—the Israelites—and their lack of faith and hard hearts, and NOT with the Torah. That’s one reason that YHVH needed to make a new covenant and why the old one is passing away (Heb 8:13). So what is the remedy for the problem of human hard heartedness? As Jeremiah prophesied, YHVH this time will pour out his Spirit and change the hard and disobedient heart of faithlessness and unbelief (Heb 4:1–7) of man and give him a new heart (Heb 8:7–13; Jer 31:31–33). 

Again, this can only happen as Yeshua lives out his righteousness in a person as the Spirit of Elohim changes the human heart. 

Never forget what Paul said elsewhere: we are subject to the Torah through Messiah (1 Cor 9:21). This is the miracle of a transformed heart that not only wants to but is empowered to comply with the Torah. It truly is a miracle that we cannot fully understand or explain. But the fruits of it are evident in a person’s life. These are called the fruit of the Spirit. All the fruit of the Spirit listed in Galatians 5 are the fruits or manifestation of Torah obedience out of a heart of love and faith. At the same time, the works of the flesh are the manifestation of Torahlessness which is sin (1 John 3:4), and is the opposite of righteousness, which Torah defines (Ps 119:172). 

So what is the spiritual blindness that Paul refers to in 1 Corinthians 3:14? It is the blindness of a hard and disbelieving heart. It is the blindness of human pride in one’s ability to live up to Torah by one’s own strength. It is pride in thinking that we’re better than the next guy who’s not living up to our Torah standard, whatever that may be. It is blindness based on a letter of the law approach to Torah instead of both a letter AND a spirit of the law approach. And yes, there can be blindness due to the guilt and shame of failing to live up to the high moral and spiritual standards. When we obey Torah out of fear of Elohim instead of love for him, this too is blindness and bondage.

So when returning to a more Torah-centric belief system and lifestyle, let us clearly walk the straight and narrow path not veering too far to the left (or license, grace, of the spirit of the law) or too far to the right (legalism, judgmentalism, self-righteousness or the letter of the law). The heart of our Father in heaven is somewhere in the middle between the two as Yeshua stated:

But the hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth; for the Father is seeking such to worship Him. Elohim is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth.” (John 4:23–24)

 

2 thoughts on “The Spirit of the Law Versus the Letter

  1. ‘God is Love’! As a loving Father He will not spare the rod of correction when necessary.
    Blessings, John

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