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The Letter

Concise Bible Dictionary:

This expression occurs in Romans 2:29²⁹But he is a Jew, which is one inwardly; and circumcision is that of the heart, in the spirit, and not in the letter; whose praise is not of men, but of God. (Romans 2:29); Romans 7:6⁶But now we are delivered from the law, that being dead wherein we were held; that we should serve in newness of spirit, and not in the oldness of the letter. (Romans 7:6) and 2 Corinthians 3:6⁶Who also hath made us able ministers of the new testament; not of the letter, but of the spirit: for the letter killeth, but the spirit giveth life. (2 Corinthians 3:6), where the apostle contrasts it with “the spirit”; “the letter killeth, but the spirit giveth life.” Whether of the law or of the gospel, the mere intellectual reception of the words only leads to formality and death; it is only what is “of the Spirit” that can result in life. The Lord is the spirit of all that is written in letters in scripture.