The Weakness of the Letter

Reading

Romans 7 | 2 Co. 3

Recall

Last week we worked on unpacking the point that the law is not our means of righteousness with God, but rather, our means of righteousness is faith in Jesus.

The reason for us spending so much time on this point is that there is tremendous freedom on realizing the depth of this point.

How much time are you spending trying to “clean yourself up” for God when God promises to do that to you through Christ?

Still, I can anticipate that some might respond to this idea of being made righteous and being sanctified by Christ as a Christian platitude. Or, another way to say this, is to ask: “Jamie, when I give my life to Christ, how is it Him working in me to make me a doer of righteousness when it will be, very clearly, me doing the doing?”

This question drives at the heart of our last two points about the law and our relationship to it. What I will argue is two basic points that is found in 2 Co. 3:6

The letter kills

The Spirit gives life

The Letter Kills

As we made clear at the beginning of this series, one of the aspects of the law that was made into a “what the law is not” statement was that the law does not impute power to its hearers. This has been true forever. No person since the beginning of time has ever been empowered by law. For those of you who feel deep wells of affection for the OT rise up within you (as I do), this statement might seem like an affront to you, but I can assure you that this train of logic is something that Paul worked through carefully in his letters.

Let me try to make this as plain as I can by doing a couple of thing.

Statement | Analogy | Proof in Paul

Statement

What laws do is that make statements of value. They are attempts to insulate or protect a certain thing. Thus, there is a face of the law and an underlying spirit to the law. The face of the law is the letter and the spirit of the law is what drives or motivates the law. The spirit of the law is significant because it is emblematic of the heart of the law-maker or the law-giver.

Let me give a couple of examples which are rooted biblically:

The law says do not murder and it continues to say that the consequence for murder is that the blood of the perpetrator will be required of him. (Murderers will be put to death)

Ex. 20:13 | Gen. 9:5-6

VERSE 6 of Genesis 9 is critical for this because it explains that the reason for this command is that God values humans as image bearers. When you murder a person, you are destroying an image-bearer of God.

So, notice here with the “do not murder” law, you have the letter which says “NO.” Beneath that, you have a mind or heart which is the statement of value. These values display the heart of the law maker.

What we need to do when we encounter law is be led by the self-same Spirit which breathed the law into being.

Last week we made the point from 2 Co. 3 that encountering God through law is like getting married to a person, but never wanting the veil removed. As Paul related this to the Jewish people, what Paul was emphasizing was the point: “I can introduce you to the very heart and soul of the law in the person of Jesus who fulfilled the law,” to which the Jews response is: “no thanks, we’ll stick to rules and limited intimacy. We want the temple with the veil.”

Analogy

Some of you might operate better with analogy, so here is something historical which might be helpful to you.

In 1919 after years of effort by women, churches, and even businesses, the temperance movement was successful in getting the 18th amendment to the constitution ratified. The 18th amendment to the Constitution stated the production, sale, and distribution of alcohol was illegal within the United States.

So, the law in 1919 was: no alcohol.

Why pass this law?

There were a number of reasons:

The US had a high alcoholism rate with many men struggling to keep a job (financial)

Men who were struggling with alcoholism also tended to be abusive (home wellbeing)

The common state of drunkeness within the US accentuated a sort of American sinfulness which the churches desired to combat.

The Spirit of the 18th Amendment at its deepest level was the valuing of

Safe homes for families

Better work environments

Returning to a sober, Christian culture

NOW, there remained a question: Would the 18th amendment be obeyed?

For those of you who know your history, the answer was an emphatic NO. While prohibition law was a statement in letters that revealed the problem of the US and even conditioned punishment for law breakers, many within the US felt that drinking was something they still wanted to do, so great efforts were taken to continue the alcohol business and consumption through secret bars, etc.

HOW WOULD PAUL THINK ABOUT THIS?

Romans 7 is the next major text which we can turn to and you might hear resonances of what we are discussing here.

In Romans 7, Paul indicates that

The law (or commandment) is holy, righteous, and good (v. 12)

The law is spiritual (v. 14)

Yet, for the man who is living by his own flesh and his own righteousness, there is a battle which begins to occur. Namely, the law exposes sinful desires which have infested the human and shows the need for Spirit-given revival of the soul.

NOTE: It is no accident that Paul utilizes “coveting” in v. 7. Why does Paul choose “coveting” as his command when dealing with the problem of law?

The reason, I think, is because he is cutting past a major issue which is so common in our culture today. I can assume that this was the case in Paul’s day too because people are the same.

Some people believe that what makes something wrong is “harm” or “hurt.” This is to say that if something hurts another person, then it is bad and shouldn’t be done. But, if something doesn’t hurt another person, then it is okay.

Or, another metric which people use is “consent.” As long as everyone consents to something, then the thing is moral.

THIS LOGIC IS DESIGNED TO BYPASS GOD AND IS THE UNDERPINNING OF THE MASSIVE SEXUAL SINS WHICH CHARATERIZE OUR AGE

Note here that Paul does not orient his definitions on the basis of care/harm or consent but on the basis of God and obedience to God from the heart.

You don’t “hurt” anybody by coveting. You don’t need anyone’s consent to covet either. The issue at stake is whether or not you “amen” the things of God from your heart.

So, how is Paul’s dilemma in Romans 7 solved?

The way that the issue Paul is dealing with is solved is by handing oneself over and claiming Christ’s righteousness for yourself. Your prayer needs to be: “God, I cannot produce righteousness of myself, so I claim Christ and his sacrifice as my own. I also cannot produce in myself the power to be changed, so I lean on your provision to provide your Holy Spirit to make me alive to the things of you.

If the Law Does Not Impute Power, Why Rejoice In It?

This is a tremendous question which requires two steps:

We rejoice in the law because it reveals the issue of sin and our need for Christ.

We rejoice in the law because the letter is borne of the Spirit, and when we lean into the Spirit of the Law, we see the heart of God and can share in His perspective.

Conclusion

There are many topics which we have not explored in depth this morning. Next week, we will take one more sermon to more adequately cover the topic of the Spirit-empowered life. If you’re interested in talking more about Romans 7 which was mentioned today, I would love to do that over lunch.

Let’s pray.