The Spirit of the Law

At crosswalk.com, Clarence Haynes wrote What Christians Need to Understand About the Spirit of the Law vs. the Letter of the Law. In the light of the recent conversation here and on Banned by HWA, I thought it might be helpful to my readers to excerpt some of his comments. Indeed, I think he was able to articulate my own thinking on the subject even better than I was. He said:

"To follow the spirit of the law is to simply not put the strict adherence of the law above the person to whom the law is meant to serve. Jesus gave the ultimate summary of the spirit of the law when he said this.

Jesus replied: 'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.' (Matthew 22:37-40)

There really is no greater verse in my opinion that sums up the spirit of the law vs the letter of the law than these verses. It boils down to loving God and loving people. Every one of the 613 commandments has these two commands as the foundation, heart, or the spirit behind it."