TRINITY XII

August 22, 2010

St. Augustine Anglican Parish

“For the letter killeth, but the spirit giveth life.”

The Rev. Gerald Parks +

          It is interesting to me how much the two sections of the Holy Bible, Old and New, depend on each other for clarity and perspective.  To be properly appreciated, they must be taken together; for the New Testament completes the Old, and the Old Testament is the foundation and preparation for the New.  To read the Old Testament as pure history is both instructive and fascinating, documenting the birth of a nation through the one man who found favor with God.  But, although it does tell the story of Abraham and Sarah, and their descendents, they are not the main reason for the story, nor are they the purpose for God’s action in choosing them.

          That reason can only be understood in the words of God spoken through His Chosen Holy Prophets, who foretold One who would come, “To give knowledge of salvation unto his people for the remission of their sins,” … “To give light to them that sit in darkness, and in the shadow of death, and to guide our feet into the way of peace.” (Benedictus – Luke 1: 68-71)  That One was Jesus of Nazareth, the Christ and Messiah, whose story is told in the New Testament through the writings of those who knew Him and were His witnesses.  He is the connection between Old and New, and He gives purpose and meaning to both.

          In today’s Epistle (2 Cor. 3: 4-11), St. Paul is writing about the two Covenants (Testaments) of God: the old one of the Law given through Moses (Exod. 34: 29-35), and the new one established in Jesus Christ, and spread throughout the world by His apostles.  The old Law was not without its glory, of course, reflecting the holy and righteous demands of God; but it had no power to bring about salvation.  Therefore, its effect was only to increase the consciousness of guilt in men without giving them hope of attaining righteousness.  But in the new Covenant, there is not only the possibility for forgiveness of sin, but the revelation of the inward working of the Holy Spirit, to give us the sufficient ability to answer our calling, and to respond to the righteous demands of God.

For us today who are able to pick up our Bible at any time we choose, and to open it to any section of any book we desire, it may be difficult to remember that the Holy Bible is not just one book, but many.  The events recorded in its pages didn’t happen all in one day, not even in one lifetime, but are the product of thousands of years of revelation by Almighty God of Himself to the Jewish people.  The Bible as we know it is a fairly recent compilation of the writings of those among God’s chosen people who wished to report what they saw and heard of God’s action among them, as they understood it, and to leave a permanent record – their witness that God is real, and active among men.

But as necessary as the Old and New Testaments are one to the other, they are definitely not the same in either content or purpose: for they represent two different things - the Law, and the Spirit.  The Old Covenant (Testament) given to Abraham, and to Isaac and Jacob, and culminating in Moses and the giving of the Law to him, was all about living in harmony with God, with one’s neighbor and with nature, through the strict observance of and adherence to the letter of God’s Law.  To the Jews’ way of thinking and belief, keeping the letter of the Law made one righteous in God’s sight, just as deviating from it was a blasphemous defiance of the Law and punishable – again, according to the Law.

          But St. Paul described such observance as “the ministration of death” (2 Cor. 3: 7), or as he said, “For the letter killeth.” (2 Cor. 3: 6)  The birth of Jesus Christ ushered in a new era of God’s revelation of Himself.  The Law didn’t suddenly become irrelevant or superfluous, but it could now be understood in the light of this further revelation: God was more than rules and regulations, He was approachable and forgiving.  Our Lord was the personification, not of the Law but of the Spirit of God, which was not about death, but life: “for the letter killeth, but the spirit giveth life.” (2 Cor 3: 6)

          The long history of the interaction of God with the race of men, as set forth in Holy Scripture, is complicated, to be sure, and challenging to the imagination and intellect, as well.  But the purpose and direction of God’s action, when considered with a humble and open heart, is unmistakable: for His own purpose, God chose to show to men the path they might take to find Him, and that purpose was the salvation of mankind.

          We are often reminded, as traditional Anglicans, that if we would only “lighten up” in our worship and accept modern language and music, we would reap the rewards of growth and prosperity so many others have received for becoming relevant to the times.  And, of course, that is probably true, but I have a question: was Jesus Christ “relevant” to His times?  Was he interested in becoming what people today would call a “rock star” – popular and secure?  The New Testament assures us that, indeed, He was not, so much so that He went to His death on the Cross of Calvary preaching a very unpopular and uncompromising message: that all the history of Israel – the Law and the Holy Prophets – pointed to the coming of a Messiah, a new lawgiver and King, a Savior, and He was that One.

          Faith shouldn’t be about popularity; nor should we worry that somehow the Almighty God who speaks to us from Holy Scripture has somehow lost some of His luster and become irrelevant to our times.  God is as God has always been, and there have always been those whose aim is to replace His rule with their own.  And they do succeed, at least for awhile, because there are, and always have been, people whose faith is weak and immature, easily and eagerly following any fad that happens to come along – the “what’s happening now” crowd.

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          We worship as we do, because we know it best fits our Lord’s command to remember Him in the breaking of the Bread and in the sharing of the Cup; and our language, while old, is also elegant and appropriate for addressing our King and Savior.  To adapt our worship to the common and vulgar antics so prevalent in the “worship” of many of those who criticize us would not only be inappropriate for us, but, in St. Paul’s words, would be “the ministration of death” to all we hold sacred.

          The history of the Bible teaches that the problem the Jews had was that they lived for the Law.  They knew nothing of living in the Spirit, because they had never heard of it; and when Christ came to tell them, they refused to hear.  Today, men have tried to replace God’s Law with their own, and live for that; and they still refuse the spirit-filled life offered to them in Christ Jesus.  But history also teaches us that God always overcomes those who cannot or will not hear Him, even those who think He is irrelevant.  The letter of the law being lived by many today is a long way from the Law of Moses, but the effect is the same: it silences the voice of Jesus in their lives, and makes His Gospel seem irrelevant.  He is not only not irrelevant; He is the only thing that is relevant, as time will prove: as St. Paul teaches us, “for the letter killeth, but the spirit giveth life.”