THE SPIRIT OF THE LAW or the LETTER OF THE LAW — Don’t Be Like Dennis
A while ago I was having a conversation with a Christian friend of mine. We had been friends for a number of years and he had me in weekly to do a corporate devotional for his employees. This was a very worthwhile and a blessed ministry. In the course of our conversation, he said something that both surprised and shocked me. My Bible studies had for over 35 years been based on an exposition of the Bible text; these were rich in word studies based on the original languages, culture and in the foundation of the Scriptures linguistically and grammatically in particular. I had always tried diligently to leave out any element of subjectivity. I was at my core and expository preacher, certainly not a devotional preacher. I did not believe that my personal take on any passage could rise to anywhere near the level of an expository, empirical rendering of the Scriptures. I abhorred the notion that a believer could of his own volition and understanding, however sincere, believer the final authority on God’s Word.
Every week I do an online, “Forensic Bible Study.” We are at 5,000 viewers a week, and many people are being taught, edified and blessed. I hear from them regularly. This is my style and lives deep in my heart. I study the Scriptures daily in their original languages. That is where I have found the truth. I am en unapologetic expository preacher.
My friend told me that he was not a fan of this approach to Scripture. He was not a “line upon line, precept upon precept” kind of Christian. I honestly did not think I had anyone like that in my circle of Christian friends. He told me that the Bible to him was “not about the letter of the law, but the spirit of the law.”
It is difficult for me to express how offensive and vexing this statement was from a Christian friend whom I had liked and admired for a number of years. What he was in fact saying to me was that, in the end, he himself was the arbiter of what the Bible said– not Vines Expository Dictionary of New Testament Words, not Thayer’s Greek Lexicon, not the Daker & Bauer Lexicon, not the Dictionary of New Testament Theology by Colin Brown, not the Bible Lexicon of Kohler & Baumgartner, not the brown-Driver-Briggs Hebrew-English Lexicon, nor the Theological Dictionary of the New Testament by Kittel & Fridreich. These mattered not at all to my friend. What matter was what he personally understood to be “the spirit of the law.” In other words, he was his own final authority on the Scriptures. I found this to be most appalling and perhaps even bordering on the blasphemous. I have prayed for him, as my pity will always be evoked by any Christian who is bound in spiritual growth by his own existential level of understanding beyond which he cannot rise. His name is Dennis. Don’t be like Dennis.
As Peter said in 2Pt 3:18 But grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. To him be glory both now and for ever. Amen.
As frustrating as it is, we should not be surprised that most are not being drawn to the Word in order to grow. Their satisfaction is in their own understanding and beliefs, not in Jesus the Christ who IS the Word. Are they saved? Have they been born of His Spirit? Where is the fruit?
The best response that Dennis was able to evoke was to call me a Pharisee. That method of response is, as always, quite telling.
It is indeed very telling. I was called a woman with the spirit of Jezebel by a pastor I had challenged with a question refuting something he had taught over the pulpit. Rather than using the Bible to support his response to me, he was offended by my question which revealed that I do indeed read and study the Word. I pray the Lord allows for me to hunger and have a teachable spirit as He changes my own beliefs and understandings through His Spirit and Word. Thinking we’ve all been indoctrinated by culture, tradition and family. Pride is ugly.