Letter and Spirit, by Randall Smith

By Randall Smith, The Catholic Thing, June 24, 2025

Randall B. Smith is a Professor of Theology at the University of St. Thomas in Houston, Texas. His latest book is From Here to Eternity: Reflections on Death, Immortality, and the Resurrection of the Body.

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I’ve never really understood this idea that you can follow the “spirit” but not the “letter” of a Biblical commandment or Church teaching.

Yes, St. Paul says in 2 Corinthians 3:6 that “the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.” But he says this in the context of a comparison between the written law of the Old Covenant, “carved in letters on stone,” and the work of the Holy Spirit, “written not in ink but by the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets that are hearts of flesh.” It’s not the spirit rather than the letter of the law that gives life; it’s the Holy Spirit that gives life – by spreading charity abroad in our hearts. The law is good, but when it is “written” only on our minds and not on our hearts, it only condemns. It does not transform.

But what some people seem to think when they claim they are following “not the letter, but the spirit” is that following the “spirit” of the law somehow justifies violating the letter of the law – and is even somehow superior because less “legalistic.” This is what I don’t get. …

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Letter and Spirit, by Randall Smith

DAILY CALLER: ‘Bloodthirsty’: Radical Texas Imam Tells Muslims To Side With Iran During 35-Minute Anti-American, Israeli Sermon, by Nicole Silverio

Has Conservatism Outlived Its Usefulness? by Frank DeVito

By Randall Smith, The Catholic Thing, June 24, 2025

I’ve never really understood this idea that you can follow the “spirit” but not the “letter” of a Biblical commandment or Church teaching.

But what some people seem to think when they claim they are following “not the letter, but the spirit” is that following the “spirit” of the law somehow justifies violating the letter of the law – and is even somehow superior because less “legalistic.” This is what I don’t get. …

Letter and Spirit, by Randall Smith

DAILY CALLER: ‘Bloodthirsty’: Radical Texas Imam Tells Muslims To Side With Iran During 35-Minute Anti-American, Israeli Sermon, by Nicole Silverio

Has Conservatism Outlived Its Usefulness? by Frank DeVito

By Randall Smith, The Catholic Thing, June 24, 2025

I’ve never really understood this idea that you can follow the “spirit” but not the “letter” of a Biblical commandment or Church teaching.

But what some people seem to think when they claim they are following “not the letter, but the spirit” is that following the “spirit” of the law somehow justifies violating the letter of the law – and is even somehow superior because less “legalistic.” This is what I don’t get. …

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