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The Letter of the Law and the Spirit of the Law

The Letter of the Law and the Spirit of the Law

Last updated on: May 5, 2025 at 12:02 pm by Rick Rice

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The Letter of the Law and the Spirit of the Law 2025-05-05T12:02:24-04:00 Rick Rice

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We need to know what Scripture says – the letter of the law. But we also need to know what it means – the spirit of the Law – and the Holy Spirit helps us to do that!

Scripture:

2 Samuel, chapter 10; 1 Chronicles, chapter 20; Psalm 20; Matthew, chapter 22

Matthew 22:23-33 (NASB):

On that day some Sadducees (who say there is no resurrection) came to Jesus and questioned Him, saying, “Teacher, Moses said, ‘If a man dies having no children, his brother as next of kin shall marry his wife, and raise up children for his brother.’ Now there were seven brothers among us; and the first married and died, and having no children, he left his wife to his brother. It was the same also with the second brother, and the third, down to the seventh. Last of all, the woman died. In the resurrection, therefore, whose wife of the seven will she be? For they all had her in marriage.”

But Jesus answered and said to them, “You are mistaken, since you do not understand the Scriptures nor the power of God. For in the resurrection they neither marry nor are given in marriage, but are like angels in heaven. But regarding the resurrection of the dead, have you not read what was spoken to you by God: ‘I AM THE GOD OF ABRAHAM, THE GOD OF ISAAC, AND THE GOD OF JACOB’? He is not the God of the dead, but of the living.” When the crowds heard this, they were astonished at His teaching.

Observations: The Letter of the Law

In this passage the Sadducees reference “the law of Moses” in Deuteronomy 25. Specifically: “When brothers live together, and one of them dies and has no son, the wife of the deceased shall not be married outside the family to a strange man. Her husband’s brother shall have relations with her and take her to himself as his wife, and perform the duty of a husband’s brother to her. It shall them be that the firstborn to whom she gives birth shall assume the name of his father’s deceased brother, so that his name will not be wiped out from Israel” (Deuteronomy 25:5-6).

This principle was not new in Moses’ day. In Genesis 38, one of Judah’s sons – Er – married Tamar. “But Er, Judah’s firstborn, was evil in the sight of the Lord, so the Lord took his life. Then Judah said to Onan [his second son], ‘Have relations with your brother’s wife and perform your duty as a brother-in-law to her, and raise up a child for your brother’” (Genesis 38:7-8). Onan refused to do so, “so [the Lord] took his life also” (Genesis 38:10). Onan disobeyed this command well before the Law was given. Clearly culture as well as a religion formed this “law.”

The Letter of the Law and The Spirit of the Law

At the beginning of the passage we read that the Sadducees “say there is no resurrection.” The Sadducees only accepted the Torah – the first five books of Scripture – as authoritative. They believed that since the Torah does not mention the “resurrection,” it wasn’t real. They grounded their question to Jesus in their understanding of Scripture. However, their motive was to try to discredit Jesus – who taught about the resurrection. So they crafted a hypothetical question to point out what they thought was a “problem” with belief in the resurrection.

Jesus’ answer cuts right to the heart of the matter: “You are mistaken, since you do not understand the Scriptures nor the power of God.” The Sadducees knew what the Scriptures said, but Jesus said they didn’t understand those Scriptures. They focused on the “letter of the law,” but Jesus stressed the power of God – the Holy Spirit who inspires and illuminates Scripture.

He then explains what He means. They had referenced Moses, the human author of the Torah. Jesus quoted from Exodus, when God appeared to Moses: “I AM THE GOD OF ABRAHAM, THE GOD OF ISAAC, AND THE GOD OF JACOB.” He explained: “He is not the God of the dead, but of the living.” Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob were all physically dead by the time God appeared to Moses, but God called identified Himself as their God. “God is not the God of the dead, but of the living” clearly implies that Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob were not dead, but living – in the eternal life of God’s Kingdom.

Application: The Spirit of the Law

I’ve heard sermons and read interpretations of this passage that focus on Jesus’ comment in verse 30: For in the resurrection they neither marry nor are given in marriage, but are like angels in heaven. I think that’s “burying the lead.” Jesus is not teaching specifics about eternal life in God’s kingdom. Instead, He’s demonstrating that the Sadducees were missing the broad message of Scripture by focusing on individual parts of it. They sought to distinguish themselves from other groups within Judaism by “proof-texting” – taking individual verses to prove a point. Jesus tries to bring them (and us) back to the overall message of Scripture.

What is that message? That God created us to be in relationship with Him. God loves us. He reconciles a us to Himself by forgiving our sins. Too many times, we forget that message. We allow disagreements with other believers over secondary matters to separate us. I believe God wants us to remember that all believers are His children. We don’t decide who is “in”; He does.

The “Spirit of the Law” is the “Spirit of the Church” – the Holy Spirit, who makes believers one. Jesus prayed in John 17 “that they would all be one; just as You, Father, are in Me and I in You, that they also may be in Us, so that the world may believe that You sent Me” (John 17:21). He came to reconcile us to God, and He promised the Holy Spirit to lead us in His way. We need to understand Scripture, but we also need to allow the Spirit to enlighten us and make us one. When we join together to do His work, we tell the world that Jesus is who He said He is!

Prayer:

Father, thank You for the gift of the Spirit. He leads us in the truth, and unifies and empowers us to do Your will. Help us to recognize the Spirit’s presence in all of Your children. Paul says in Romans 8:16 that “the Spirit Himself testifies with our spirit that we are children of God.” The Spirit also testifies with our spirits that He is in others as well as us. Guide us in both the letter of the law and the spirit of the law, that we may bring glory to You. Amen.

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