Some infer the absurd idea, that the word is a dead letter, from II. Cor. 3, 6, where the Apostle says, " the letter killeth." But this proves the very reverse ; for how could the letter kill if it was dead ? Can a dead thing kill ? There must certainly be a very great virtue in the letter, otherwise it could not kill. The Apostle, in this chapter, contrasts the ministry of the law with that of the gospel. " Who [God] 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," ver. 6. What is the letter that kills ? The answer is in the next verse : " But if the ministration of death, written and engraven in stones," &c. The law was engraven on two tables of stone ; whereas the ministration of the spirit is the gospel, by which life and immortality are brought to light. II. Tim. 1, 10.

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