Editorial October 29, 1984 Issue

Letter and spirit: a healing partnership

CAROLYN B. SWAN

A dictionary defines "letter" as "the literal meaning of something: the letter of the law," and "spirit" as "the real sense or significance of something: the spirit of the law." When it comes to religion, does the letter conflict with or hinder the spirit? Not when both are truly derived from divine Spirit, God, and when an individual's life bears balanced witness to both.

Individuals who maintain in their lives a balance of letter and spirit find a happy blending of stability and adaptability. But when Christ Jesus came, people had become so overbalanced with dogma and traditions that many had lost sight of the actual letter and spirit of God's law. Cruel rigidity prevailed. For instance, the commandment "Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy"^{Ex. 20:8} had become so hedged about with literal regulations that the Pharisees condemned Jesus' healing work on the Sabbath as unlawful.^{See John 5:16 .}

The spirit of the inspired law that our Master revived certainly did not render the letter of the law passé. He who taught and demonstrated Christ, the very spirit of God, divine Principle, said: "Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil. For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled."^{Matt. 5:17, 18.}

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