# Need Help Quick! New Testament Quote! **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [October 12, 2010, 3:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/need-help-quick-new-testament-quote/556890 "2010-10-12T15:43:53Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 19\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Bpelta](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/eb8c5e/32.png) [@Bpelta](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bpelta)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2010, 3:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/need-help-quick-new-testament-quote/556890/1 "2010-10-12T15:43:53Z")
I have an essay due soon and I need a quote from the New Testament critiquing people putting an excessive emphasis on texts as opposed to just being good people through their human spirit. I’m blanking out…I would be much obliged! (I could just reference the parable of the good samaritan and that’s what I’ll do if I don’t get anything before class, but I’d prefer a straight-up verse or two) ---
**Author:** ![Huerta88](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/82dd89/32.png) [@Huerta88](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Huerta88)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2010, 3:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/need-help-quick-new-testament-quote/556890/2 "2010-10-12T15:45:33Z")
“Not that we are sufficient of ourselves to think any thing as of ourselves; but our sufficiency is of God; 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.” (2 Cor. 3:5-6) ---
**Author:** ![Skammer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skammer/32/143_2.png) [@Skammer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skammer)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2010, 4:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/need-help-quick-new-testament-quote/556890/3 "2010-10-12T16:56:09Z")
What makes you think the New Testament says anything like people can “just [be] good people through their human spirit.”? ---
**Author:** ![Skammer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skammer/32/143_2.png) [@Skammer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skammer)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2010, 4:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/need-help-quick-new-testament-quote/556890/4 "2010-10-12T16:59:43Z")
Even the Parable of the Good Samaritan is used as an illustration of how to obey the Law of Moses; not a repudiation of the religious texts in favor of the human spirit. Here is the introduction to the parable: > [@](#): > > On one occasion an expert in the law stood up to test Jesus. “Teacher,” he asked, “what must I do to inherit eternal life?” > > “What is written in the Law?” he replied. “How do you read it?” > > He answered: " ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind’; and, ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’" > > “You have answered correctly,” Jesus replied. “Do this and you will live.” > > But he wanted to justify himself, so he asked Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?” ---
**Author:** ![robardin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/43a26b/32.png) [@robardin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robardin)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2010, 5:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/need-help-quick-new-testament-quote/556890/5 "2010-10-12T17:08:59Z")
Maybe this is as close to a clear critique of “religious text versus action” as you’ll find in the NT: [QUOTE=Mark 12:28-34] 28 And one of the scribes came, and having heard them reasoning together, and perceiving that he had answered them well, asked him, Which is the first commandment of all? 29 And Jesus answered him, The first of all the commandments is, Hear, O Israel; The Lord our God is one Lord: 30 And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength: this is the first commandment. 31 And the second is like, namely this, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. There is none other commandment greater than these. 32 And the scribe said unto him, Well, Master, thou hast said the truth: for **there is one God; and there is none other but he:** 33 **And to love him with all the heart, and with all the understanding, and with all the soul, and with all the strength, and to love his neighbour as himself, is more than all whole burnt offerings and sacrifices.** 34 And when Jesus saw that he answered discreetly, he said unto him, Thou art not far from the kingdom of God. And no man after that durst ask him any question. [/quote] Of course what acts are justified by such “love” has been open to many interpretations in history. Smiting the unbelievers, for example, is well documented as something God loves to see in the Old Testament… ---
**Author:** ![Skammer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skammer/32/143_2.png) [@Skammer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skammer)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2010, 5:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/need-help-quick-new-testament-quote/556890/6 "2010-10-12T17:09:53Z")
Wait, okay, how about [Romans 3:20-22](http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Romans+3&version=NIV): > [@](#): > > Therefore no one will be declared righteous in [God’s] sight by observing the law; rather, through the law we become conscious of sin. But now a righteousness from God, apart from law, has been made known, to which the Law and the Prophets testify. This righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. That last sentence is important. Paul, especially, does not have a particularly favorable view of “the human spirit.” ---
**Author:** ![Bpelta](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/eb8c5e/32.png) [@Bpelta](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bpelta)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2010, 5:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/need-help-quick-new-testament-quote/556890/7 "2010-10-12T17:55:30Z")
Skammer, I wrote hastily (wanted to get this essay done), maybe I didn’t phrase my question just right – but I just meant excessive emphasis on textualism. But I think I disagree with your reading of the Parable. Why a samaritan as opposed to a levi or a cohen? Where did the samaritan get his love from? Surely not the law? I thought that was the point. ---
**Author:** ![SeldomSeen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/7ba0ec/32.png) [@SeldomSeen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SeldomSeen)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2010, 6:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/need-help-quick-new-testament-quote/556890/8 "2010-10-12T18:12:26Z")
Galations 5:14 KJV \* For all the law is fulfilled in one word, [even] in this; Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.\* Galations 5:18 KJV \*But if ye be led of the Spirit, ye are not under the law. \* ---
**Author:** ![trupa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/aeb1de/32.png) [@trupa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/trupa)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2010, 6:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/need-help-quick-new-testament-quote/556890/9 "2010-10-12T18:28:48Z")
The references to “the law” must be understood in context. There was controversy in the early church as to whether gentiles who had converted to Christianity had to adhere to the Jewish Torah. What Paul states in Romans is that, while it is not necessary for converted Gentiles to follow the Torah, neither is is necessary for converted Jews to abandon it either. In fact, Paul states that if converted Jews believe it to be a sin to violate the jewish law, then for them is still a sin, even if it isn’t for others. Christ’s admonishments of the Pharisees had to do with the fact that they followed the outward commandments of the Torah scrupulously, but did not otherwise act with kindness and compassion, and were quite proud of how devout they appeared. Jesus’s beef with them was not with how they kept the law, but with their character and other behaviour. I suspect you will be hard pressed to find a part of scripture that says that it’s ok not to pay too much attention to scripture, as long as you mean well. ---
**Author:** ![Skammer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skammer/32/143_2.png) [@Skammer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skammer)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2010, 6:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/need-help-quick-new-testament-quote/556890/10 "2010-10-12T18:32:16Z")
> [@Bpelta](#): > > Skammer, I wrote hastily (wanted to get this essay done), maybe I didn’t phrase my question just right – but I just meant excessive emphasis on textualism. > > But I think I disagree with your reading of the Parable. Why a samaritan as opposed to a levi or a cohen? Where did the samaritan get his love from? Surely not the law? I thought that was the point. The point is that the Samaritan, of all people, was the one who followed the Law to “love your neighbor as yourself.” Jesus was not dismissing the Law; he was upholding and expanding upon it by broadening the difinition of “neighbor.” I searched through the Gospels (quickly of course) and could not find anywhere where Jesus dismisses the Law of Moses. He almost always rebukes people for reading it too narrowly or not following it at all, or replacing it with other traditions. ---
**Author:** ![Huerta88](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/82dd89/32.png) [@Huerta88](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Huerta88)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2010, 6:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/need-help-quick-new-testament-quote/556890/11 "2010-10-12T18:32:41Z")
> [@Skammer](#): > > Even the Parable of the Good Samaritan is used as an illustration of how to obey the Law of Moses; not a repudiation of the religious texts in favor of the human spirit. Correct you are. I should have clarified, if it wasn’t clear from the reference to “testament,” that the “spirit” referred to in the passage from 2 Cor. was **not** the individual’s happy fun unicorn spirit, but the “spirit of the law” as opposed to the “letter of the law,” which Jesus repeatedly butted heads with the disciples as well as the Jewish priests over when he saw overly literal or counter-productive focus on the trappings rather than the spirit of the religious laws. None of which meant he questioned those laws in the least or wanted a loosey goosey feel-good application of them: Matt. 5:17-18 – “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.” ---
**Author:** ![puddleglum](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puddleglum/32/137_2.png) [@puddleglum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puddleglum)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2010, 6:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/need-help-quick-new-testament-quote/556890/12 "2010-10-12T18:37:20Z")
> [@](#): > > Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you tithe mint and dill and cummin, and have neglected the weightier provisions of the law: justice and mercy and faithfulness; but these are the things you should have done without neglecting the others. 24“You blind guides, who strain out a gnat and swallow a camel! Matthew 23:23,24 It says nothing about the human spirit, but it is in the spirit of what you want. ---
**Author:** ![Skammer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skammer/32/143_2.png) [@Skammer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skammer)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2010, 6:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/need-help-quick-new-testament-quote/556890/13 "2010-10-12T18:44:09Z")
That’s a good one, puddleglum (love your username btw). Jesus is warning against legalism, or following the Law for the sake of the Law, while ignoring what he elsewhere called the “greatest commandments” – love God with all your mind, heart, strength, and soul, and love your neighbor as yourself. ---
**Author:** ![SeldomSeen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/7ba0ec/32.png) [@SeldomSeen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SeldomSeen)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2010, 6:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/need-help-quick-new-testament-quote/556890/14 "2010-10-12T18:56:50Z")
**A few more quotes from Galatians, which may be pertinent…** 3:11 \*But that no man is justified by the law in the sight of God, it is evident: for, The just shall live by faith. \* 3:23-26 \*But before faith came, we were kept under the law, shut up unto the faith which should afterwards be revealed. \* \*Wherefore the law was our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ, that we might be justified by faith. \* \*But after that faith is come, we are no longer under a schoolmaster. \* _For ye are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus._ I realize that I’m equating “faith” with “spirit” here which may seem a theological streatch to some. But there is a principle in christian doctrine which states that people of faith are imbued with the “spirit of Christ”, which renders them capable of making moral judgements without reference to the letter of the law. Actually, the entire 3rd chapter of Galatians addresses this. SS ---
**Author:** ![dracoi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/90db22/32.png) [@dracoi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dracoi)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2010, 7:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/need-help-quick-new-testament-quote/556890/15 "2010-10-12T19:18:29Z")
Bpelta, when you say “textualism” do you mean “legalism”? The New Testament is frequently critical of people who are legalistic. The Good Samaritan is an example - Jesus is explaining that a narrow, legalistic definition of “neighbor” is totally missing the point of the law. And the fact that Jesus honors a Samaritan is another way of criticizing legalism. One of the major disputes between Samaritans and Jews was over where one could worship and offer sacrifices. But your use of the phrase “human spirit” makes me think you’re also missing a key point in the New Testament - it is absolutely NOT a human spirit that makes people good in any way. It is the Holy Spirit which is able to do good through people as long as the people don’t get in the way. ---
**Author:** ![StusBlues](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/dc4da7/32.png) [@StusBlues](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/StusBlues)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2010, 7:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/need-help-quick-new-testament-quote/556890/16 "2010-10-12T19:22:50Z")
Not New Testament, but perhaps Jeremiah 31:33-34 may be of some help: “But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the Lord: I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. No longer shall they teach one another, or say to each other, ‘Know the Lord’, for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest, says the Lord; for I will forgive their iniquity, and remember their sin no more.” ---
**Author:** ![ftg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ftg/32/2801_2.png) [@ftg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ftg)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2010, 8:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/need-help-quick-new-testament-quote/556890/17 "2010-10-12T20:27:03Z")
Maybe Wikipedia’s article on [Antinomianism](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antinomianism#Antinomianism_in_the_New_Testament) might be of interest. ---
**Author:** ![code\_grey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f4b2a3/32.png) [@code\_grey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/code_grey)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2010, 10:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/need-help-quick-new-testament-quote/556890/18 "2010-10-12T22:05:55Z")
> [@Bpelta](#): > > But I think I disagree with your reading of the Parable. Why a samaritan as opposed to a levi or a cohen? Where did the samaritan get his love from? Surely not the law? I thought that was the point. The Samaritan may have gotten the love from following the law of [Samaritan Pentateuch - Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samaritan_Torah) :-). This parable is not about the law being invalid, it is about people who verbally acknowledge the law but don’t follow it. ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2010, 11:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/need-help-quick-new-testament-quote/556890/19 "2010-10-12T23:55:19Z")
I always assumed the point of the parable was yet another creed about how being high in the religious order does not necessarily mean you are a righteous person. I do know that the two people who refuse to help are valuing their own uncleanliness (which can be resolved fairly easily) over helping their neighbor. It’s not that they are too stuck up to help, as some people assume. It’s the opposite of what Paul said in Romans 9-2-4a (NIV): "I have great sorrow and unceasing anguish in my heart./For I could wish that I myself were cursed and cut off from Christ for the sake of my brothers, those of my own race,/the people of Israel. "