Twelfth Sunday after Trinity AD 2025

What is law? One possible definition is this: “Law refers to a system of rules that regulate the conduct of a community and is often enforced by a controlling authority through penalties.” Law tells us what we are allowed to do and what we are not allowed to do – like in the Ten Commandments: “Thou shalt not kill. Thou shalt not commit adultery. Honour thy father and thy mother.”

It is interesting and even thought-provoking that the original Hebrew text of the Ten Commandments does not use the imperative form of speech, as the word "shall" is understood in legal parlance, but the simple past tense, expressing ongoing action: “You don’t kill. You don’t commit adultery. You honor your father and your mother.” This means that living by these rules should not be an external command, but a natural internal attitude of everyone. Here we come to a completely different meaning of law: it is not a set of rules that say what we may and may not do, but rather a description of how things are and work by their very nature – just like the laws of nature.

The letter of the law imposed from without kills because no one can live without sin, and the wages of sin is death. God doesn’t want us to die, but that we be saved and live. Therefore, He puts within us His Spirit, who gives us life and makes it part of our nature to live according to God’s will, His commandments, and His love – “for the letter killeth, but the spirit giveth life.”