Letter and spirit of the law by God. Not all Pharisees, nor all Jews of that time, were legalistic. Though modern language has used the word Pharisee in the pejorative to describe someone who is legalistic and rigid, it is not an accurate description of all Pharisees. The argument over the "Spirit of the Law" vs. the "Letter of the Law" was part of early Jewish dialogue as well The Parable of the Good Samaritan (Luke 10:25-37) is one of the New Testament texts to address this theme. The passage concerns a dialogue between Jesus and an "expert in the law" or "lawyer". As described in
Parable of the Hidden Treasure unique to the Gospel of Thomas, and reflect a different theme from the New Testament parable. There have been several depictions of the New Testament parable in art, including works by Rembrandt, Jan Luyken, James Tissot, and John Everett Millais. Parable of the Hidden Treasure The Parable of the Hidden Treasure is a well known parable of Jesus, which appears in Matthew 13:44, and illustrates the great value of the Kingdom of Heaven. It immediately precedes the parable of the Pearl, which has a similar theme. The parable has been depicted by artists such as Rembrandt. The brief parable of