2 Corinthians 3

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Welcome back and Happy New Year! This scripture is the perfect passage to start off our new year. It offers us a challenge by giving us a resolution to keep.

Paul has been asked by the Corinthian church to provide to them a letter of commendation.

¹Are we beginning to commend ourselves again? Or do we need, like some people, letters of recommendation to you or from you? ²You yourselves are our letter, written on our hearts, known and read by everyone.

When applying for a job, the application usually includes a section to give names of people who can give the company a reference about the applicant. Even a church looking for a new pastor, minister, preacher, or other such leader of the church, will want some type of recommendation. Any church would be foolish not to require certain credentials from a possible leader.

Paul understands this concept because he has given letters or recommendation before. In Romans 16:1, we read: “I commend to you our sister Phoebe, a deacon of the church in Cenchreae.”

Note: The word deacon refers here to a Christian designated to serve with the overseers/elders of the church in a variety of ways.

Paul is giving a letter of recommendation for Phoebe so the church in Rome will know she is a true servant of the Lord and not a false prophetess.

In 1 Corinthians 16:3 Paul wrote: “Then, when I arrive, I will give letters of introduction to the men you approve and send them with your gift to Jerusalem.”

Here Paul promises letters of introduction to those who are approved by the Church so there will be no mistaking them for false teachers.

But now the Church in Corinth is asking Paul for his credentials. They are a church and Paul is a preacher, so why is this a problem?

Because these people KNOW Paul. In fact, he is the founding pastor of their church! They would be the ones who would normally give others a recommendation for him. So this was an insult to Paul for them to question him in this way. They were Christians because of him; he preached the gospel to them and taught them about Christ.

But after Paul left Corinth, impostors came into the church claiming to be teachers of God’s truth. They brought with them forged letters of recommendation to authenticate their authority.

Paul was very aware that everything he wrote or said was liable to be twisted and used against him by the false teachers in Corinth.

Paul explains to them that they, the members of the Church, are his recommendation because of the power of the gospel that was demonstrated by their transformed lives. Paul had no written letters of commendation, but explains his letters are in the form of the people themselves—they are saints because of him.

In the King James translation, verse 2 reads “Ye are our epistle.” Christ was the Writer; Paul was the instrument or pen; the Holy Spirit was the ink; and the heart of the believer was the paper.

Even today, we are living letters of Christ. Think of yourself as a letter of recommendation for Christ. Is that what people see in you? Would they feel good about placing Christ into their lives on your recommendation?

A letter of recommendation must be legible if it is to be read. It should be consistent and logical, or it will be meaningless to the reader. Above all, a letter should express the writer’s thoughts and personality.

YOU are Christ’s letter, a letter which is “known and read of all men.” We, as Christians, don’t have a choice as to whether we wish to be epistles of Christ. We are—so how do people read you?

“We are the only Bible the careless world will read,

We are the sinner’s gospel, We are the scoffer’s creed,

We are the Lord’s last message, Given in deed and word,

What if the type is crooked? What if the print is blurred?”

... By Annie Johnson Flint

³You show that you are a letter from Christ, the result of our ministry, written not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of human hearts.

Paul says they are better than mere ink on paper or tablets of stone (referring to the old law delivered to Moses on stone tablets). Their stamp of approval is in their hearts in the form of the Spirit, which is more permanent.

Proverbs 3:3 “Let love and faithfulness never leave you; bind them around your neck,
write them on the tablet of your heart.”

Jeremiah 31:33: “’This is the covenant I will make with the people of Israel after that time,’declares the Lord.‘I will put my law in their minds and write it on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people.’”

Ink fades and may easily be deleted or blocked out since it is no more than an inanimate fluid. But the Spirit of the Living God is Himself life and therefore life-giving, and the life He gives is eternal and without defect.

⁴Such confidence we have through Christ before God. ⁵Not that we are competent in ourselves to claim anything for ourselves, but our competence comes from God.

Back in 2 Corinthians 2:16, Paul asks the question “who is equal to such a task?” Here is where he answers his own question. Our confidence comes from God through Christ. Then he goes on to give God all the credit for his accomplishments. The false teachers boasted of their own power and prestige.

John 15:5 “I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.”

Paul recognized this fact. He expressed his humility before God. No one can carry out the responsibilities of God’s calling in his or her own strength. Without the Holy Spirit, our natural talent can carry us only so far. We need the character and special strength only God can give as we witness for Christ.

⁶He has made us competent as ministers of a new covenant—not of the letter but of the Spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.

“Ministers” here refers to anyone serving Christ.

1 Timothy 4:6 “If you point these things out to the brothers and sisters, you will be a good minister of Christ Jesus, nourished on the truths of the faith and of the good teaching that you have followed.”

“New covenant” refers to the new covenant given to His followers by Christ.

Luke 22:20 “In the same way, after the supper he took the cup, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood, which is poured out for you…”

Romans 7:6 “But now, by dying to what once bound us, we have been released from the law so that we serve in the new way of the Spirit, and not in the old way of the written code.”

What does he mean when he says “the letter kills”? The old law, which was written, only condemns us to death. It had no power to save us. It was impossible for man to obey all the laws and therefore all men were condemned. But, through Christ’s sacrifice, the Spirit gives us eternal life.

John 6:63 “The Spirit gives life; the flesh counts for nothing. The words I have spoken to you—they are full of the Spirit and life.”

The law was given to help man realize their sinfulness, but it did not give life. The moral law, including the Ten Commandments, still points out sin and show us how to obey God, but forgiveness comes only through the grace and mercy of Christ.

The Spirit gives life.

⁷Now if the ministry that brought death, which was engraved in letters on stone, came with glory, so that the Israelites could not look steadily at the face of Moses because of its glory, transitory though it was, ⁸will not the ministry of the Spirit be even more glorious? ⁹If the ministry that brought condemnation was glorious, how much more glorious is the ministry that brings righteousness! ¹⁰For what was glorious has no glory now in comparison with the surpassing glory. ¹¹And if what was transitory came with glory, how much greater is the glory of that which lasts!

What Paul is saying in his roundabout way is this. If the Law of Moses was so glorious the Israelites couldn’t look upon his face, and that glory faded with time, imagine how much more glorious is this new ministry of the Spirit, which brings righteousness and will last forever.

Paul makes it clear the old covenant of the Law of Moses was NOT evil or bad, but was glorious in its own way because it came from God.

Romans 7:12, 22 “So then, the law is holy, and the commandment is holy, righteous and good…For in my inner being I delight in God’s law”

Evil exists in the hearts and deeds of people who bring upon themselves the condemnation of the law and the penalty of death by breaking the laws God gave. By having the laws written on stone tablets, there was still no way for those tablets to purge away that evil from man.

The Law was not permanent. God never intended it to be.

Galatians 3:19, 24-25 “Why, then, was the law given at all? It was added because of transgressions until the Seed to whom the promise referred had come. The law was given through angels and entrusted to a mediator… So the law was our guardian until Christ came that we might be justified by faith.²⁵Now that this faith has come, we are no longer under a guardian.”

“Transitory”means “brief” or “fleeting.” Paul is saying the “glory” that shone in the face of Moses when he descended Mt. Sinai, the brilliant light that surrounded him, eventually faded. This is also paralleled by the fact that the Law also eventually faded. It was given as a ‘temporary’ fix—until the Lord, our Savior, could come. So the old covenant was superseded by the permanent and much more glorious radiance of the new covenant.

Let’s look at it this way: When you get up at 5:00 in the morning, you must turn on a light to see. But as the sun rises, the light bulb is no longer needed. In fact, the sun shines so bright the light bulb looks dim. There is no electric light in the world that can outshine the sun. In the same way, the glory of the gospel of grace outshines the glory associated with Moses’ face.

¹²Therefore, since we have such a hope, we are very bold. ¹³We are not like Moses, who would put a veil over his face to prevent the Israelites from seeing the end of what was passing away.

Exodus 34:33-35 “When Moses finished speaking to them, he put a veil over his face. ³⁴But whenever he entered the Lord’s presence to speak with him, he removed the veil until he came out. And when he came out and told the Israelites what he had been commanded, ³⁵they saw that his face was radiant. Then Moses would put the veil back over his face until he went in to speak with the Lord.”

Paul reveals to us why Moses veiled his face. Moses didn’t want the Israelites to witness the fading of the glory. Whenever he entered the Lord’s presence, the radiance became strong again, but diminished with time until he visited the Lord again. So he covered his face to keep them from seeing it fade.

¹⁴But their minds were made dull, for to this day the same veil remains when the old covenant is read. It has not been removed, because only in Christ is it taken away. ¹⁵Even to this day when Moses is read, a veil covers their hearts. ¹⁶But whenever anyone turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away.

What Paul is saying here is that those who continue to live by the old law are blinded to God’s Word.

The word used here for “blinded” literally means “to harden, to make like stone.”

Their minds are not open to the new covenant; therefore it’s as if the veil is still there hiding the Light of Truth. Only through Christ can the veil be stripped away so they will understand. Whenever someone turns to the Lord, the veil is lifted and their minds are opened so they can understand God’s Word. Without the veil, we can be like mirrors reflecting God’s glory.

¹⁷Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.

Back in verse 6, it says “the Spirit gives life.” Now Paul says “the Lord is the Spirit”—if we link these together we now have “the Lord is the Spirit and the Spirit gives life”. Only by turning to the Lord can the condemnation and the sentence of death pronounced by the old law be annulled and replaced by the life-giving grace of the new covenant.

The law caused people to get tied up in rules and ceremonies. Being free from the law through our trust in Christ frees us from that burden. We are loved, accepted, forgiven, and freed to live for Him.

Romans 8:1 “Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus”

¹⁸And we all, who with unveiled faces contemplate the Lord’s glory, are being transformed into his image with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.

Contemplate means “to reflect.” We, as Christians, should be an unveiled light, reflecting God’s glory. As we draw closer to God through His Word and through our relationship with Him, we grow increasingly like Him by living more pure and spiritual lives rather than earthly, sinful lives. His glory will shine from us. Becoming Christ-like is a progressive experience and should be our goal in life.

The Greek word used here, which was translated as “transformed,” is the basis of our English word “metamorphosis”. The Greek word’s opposite is “conformed”. “Transformed”means a change from within. “Conformed” means a change due to external pressures. External forces will not change a caterpillar into a butterfly. Only innate characteristics will cause the change. In the same way, we are not to allow the worldly pressures to cause us to “act like” Christians because it’s what we think we should do, but we are to be transformed from within ourselves.

Hebrews 1:3 “The Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of his being, sustaining all things by his powerful word. After he had provided purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty in heaven.”

As Christians, we are being gradually transformed into the likeness of Christ as we grow in the knowledge and glory of The Word. By meeting with Him on a daily basis, the glow of His glory should stay with us. It is only as we read His Word that we can see Him; and the more we see Him, the more we become like Him.

Many of us have made New Year resolutions, but it’s never too late to make one more. What about Christ do you want people to ‘read’ in you? Let’s all make a resolution to be a glowing recommendation for Christ, in the way we live and the way others see us and Christ within us.