beatitudes, Letter of THE LAW vs the Spirit of the Law

Matthew 5:17 talks about "fulfilling the Law, not abolishing it."

The Beatitudes include a series of statements about "you have heard it said" [insert Old Testament/Ten Commandments list]. In each case the point is that what is stated pertains to external, observable actions against The Law. However, in each case we hear that this is only the visible "tip of the iceberg" and that the spirit of the law is what matters. In other words, by making your heart/outlook/intentionality Righteous, then the external behaviors will naturally follow [cf. Book of James in which there is the statement about black hearts are indicated by black words: what is on the inside comes out].

 

During our Tuesday Bible Study discussion the experience of leading worship and study in prison yielded this insight: because the church experience there is not institutionalized (no building or hierarchy), there is more latitude for the Christian Experience to focus on the spirit of the teachings, not its trappings. The structured society of prison gives enough institutional inertia, so that church matters can be dispensed with. An analogy could be to the Bible itself: during the time of Jesus there was no bound version with red lettering or gilt edges. So the Word was not objectified or institutionalized. Instead the emphasis was on the spirit or content of the Word. Paradoxically the published and bound volume can be a compact gateway (not endpoint or final destination) and yet for the false sense of finiteness this leads to a false belief that it holds power or sanctity as an object alone. Therefore, while it can be an entry to God's Word, it can also be a stumbling block.