Our competence comes from 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. (2 Corinthians 3:5–6, NIV 1984).
My Musings – The letter of the law and the spirit of the law. Ideally, they should be the same, but often they are not. As Jesus said, “Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You give a tenth of your spices—mint, dill and cummin. But you have neglected the more important matters of the law—justice, mercy and faithfulness. You should have practiced the latter, without neglecting the former. You blind guides! You strain out a gnat but swallow a camel.” (Matthew 23:23–24, NIV 1984).
So, why then, does the letter kill? Because no mere mortal has ever been (and never will be) able to obey the whole letter of the law. The old covenant. And faithful justice requires judgment. But God was able harmonize “justice, mercy and faithfulness” in the person of His Son and His atoning sacrifice on the cross. The “new covenant.” Allowing those who accept Him the ability to cross over from God’s faithful justice to God’s faithful mercy. From death (“the letter kills“) to life (“the Spirit gives life”).
My Advice –“And what does the Lord require of [us]? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with [our] God.” (Micah 6:8, NIV 1984). But we cannot “walk humbly with [our] God” unless we know the Son. We must cross over. To be specific, “I [Jesus] tell you the truth, whoever hears My word and believes Him who sent Me has eternal life and will not be condemned; he has crossed over from death to life.” John 5:24, NIV 1984).
The Brew Is A Musing 