“5Not that we are sufficient in ourselves to claim anything as coming from us, but our sufficiency is from God, 6who has made us competent to be ministers of a new covenant, not of the letter but of the Spirit. For the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.” – 2 Corinthians 3:5-6 (ESV)
Where does our life come from? Here we see reference to the letter which is speaking of the “letter of the law”. You see, just following the law gets us nowhere in relation to God and our eternal life. In the Old Testament, man followed the law of God, but the Old Testament is long past.
Now we have the New Covenant, salvation through the death and resurrection of Christ. Now we are given eternal life by the Spirit. We still uphold the law of man, but only through our upholding the marks of a true Christian as outlined in Romans 12.
In the Old Testament, following God relied heavily on following the laws and ceremonial customs of the time. When the veil was torn at the death of Christ, we were given direct access to Him and that direct access afforded us eternal life with our belief and devotion to him. We no longer need the “letter of the law” to guide us, we have the Spirit of the Lord in our hearts to give us the direction we need.
When you look at your approach, are you looking solely at how well you follow the law? Are you looking to the Spirit for your guidance? Have you received eternal life by accepting the salvation provided by Christ’s death and resurrection, and the Spirit of the Lord written on your Heart?
Trevor's Thoughts 