What is the literal sense of “letter”? Paul is not
referring to Scripture, for gramma is not the same as graphe (the
usual New Testament word for the scriptural writings). Nor is Paul contrasting
the Torah itself, the Jewish law, with the Spirit of Christ, for elsewhere he
says “the law is spiritual” (Rom 7:14). One possibility that is “letter” stands
for the law as a defining element of the old covenant, whereas “Spirit” stands
for the life-giving aspect of the new covenant. The soteriological view
of the letter/spirit distinction focuses on law and Spirit as contrasting
principles of covenant administration, with special emphasis on the relative
importance of the old covenant to ensure obedience in contrast to the vivifying
power of the new. The focus of this soteriological interpretation is on the
progressive outworking of this contrast in the history of redemption. (Kevin J.
Vanhoozer, Mere Christian Hermeneutics: Transfiguring What it Means to Read
the Bible Theologically [Grand Rapids, Mich.: Zondervan Academic, 2024], )
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