You have certainly heard the expression "the spirit of the law and the letter of the law" or something to that effect. Today I read in Paul's second letter to the Corinthians the possible source of that expression. If it is indeed the source, it's an interesting commentary on how words and phrases morph in their meanings in general and in how they do so in particular when they travel from Scripture to the broader culture. I suspect the phrase "spirit of the law" is actually a complete confusion of Paul's intent. Here's the phrase as I read it in my beloved King James version:
"Who 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." (II Corinthians: 6)
Now the antecedent is God Himself ("Who also hath made..."). Paul seems to be saying that it is God's doing, the person of the Holy Spirit. The preceding verse makes this clear: "Not that we are sufficient of ourselves to think any thing as of ourselves; but our sufficiency is of God." This means more - actually something different - than somehow the "spirit" of a law going beyond what is written in a law; and that if we ourselves go beyond we are really achieving the better of the two (letter or spirit). This doesn't mean we should just "try harder". The great apostle is telling us that the Holy Spirit breathes life into us that is a life of justification through this same person of the Holy Spirit; that without this Spirit we are left with only the dead letters on a page, left to our own devices to work things out.
I don't know if I've got this exactly right, but it sure looks as if this is a situation wherein the words of Scripture are used in a seemingly benign or even benevolent cultural context, but result in missing the point so entirely as to turn the original meaning upside down.
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