Day By Day - 2 Corinthians 3
By Jacob Muthsam
Personal Thoughts:
In reading Chapter 3, it seems to me that the people are wrestling with stepping into the reality of their new world when they have a natural pull back to the old.
It’s relevant to our current situation because, still, today we wrestle with Work v Grace. Additionally, I strongly believe the COVID-19 restrictions and situations we find ourselves in, is another wrestle; one of moving from an old way of thinking in a church context to a new way of thinking.
For the Corinthians, the wrestle was - Old Covenant v New Covenant. For us, it can be similar - Works (old) v Grace ( new).
For the people of Corinth it was all that they, their parents and the generations before them had ever known. We, on the other hand, have never lived in a period where Grace wasn’t the available covenant for salvation.
1. The need for Commendation
Paul speaks of Epistles of Commendation. Epistles of commendation were common in and around the early church. A false prophet might travel to a city and easily say, “Paul sent me, so you should support me.” To help against this issue, letters of recommendation were often sent with Christians as they travelled.
It’s not bad to have a letter of commendation written on paper, but what is better is to have a living letter of commendation! The Christians at Corinth, along with groups of Christians wherever Paul had worked, were Paul’s “living letter” to validate his ministry.
The best comparison in today’s world might be a Certificate of Ordination, or credentials that a Pastor acquires to do ministry. Many people think and expect that a Certificate of Ordination means that you have the credentials of ministry.
While we can understand there is an important purpose in a public ordination to ministry, a piece of paper is never a proper credential. True “credentials” of the ministry are transformed lives.
I’d almost lean towards saying, keep your paper to yourself, and show me the changed lives from your ministry. The passage opens with the first paragraph:
“Are we beginning to commend ourselves again? Or do we need, like some people, letters of recommendation to you or from you? You yourselves are our letter, written on our hearts, known and read by everyone.”
2. New ink, Old Ink
Verse 3, ”You 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 talks about two types of ink. Ink written by humans and then he says, “...but with the Spirit.” There is a wrestle at play with all of us as to what is written in the story of our lives… Is it written by a man or by the Spirit?
3. Freedom in the New Covenant:
Verse 17, “Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.”
The Lord is the Spirit, mirroring Exodus 34:34. Paul says ‘’the Lord is the Spirit." Here he is stating, 'the Holy Spirit is God', just as Jesus and the Father are God.
There is Freedom. Paul’s idea is this: Moses went into God’s presence and he had the freedom to take off the veil; the presence of the Lord gave him this freedom.
We have the Holy Spirit, living inside of us, who is the Lord. We live in the Spirit’s presence because He is given to us under the new covenant.
Therefore, as Moses had unveiled freedom to God in His presence, so we have freedom in the presence of the Holy Spirit.
That’s worth wrestling with until we fully grasp it because freedom in His Spirit under the new covenant is a fantastic way to have the story of our lives ‘inked’.
Personal Thoughts:
In reading Chapter 3, it seems to me that the people are wrestling with stepping into the reality of their new world when they have a natural pull back to the old.
It’s relevant to our current situation because, still, today we wrestle with Work v Grace. Additionally, I strongly believe the COVID-19 restrictions and situations we find ourselves in, is another wrestle; one of moving from an old way of thinking in a church context to a new way of thinking.
For the Corinthians, the wrestle was - Old Covenant v New Covenant. For us, it can be similar - Works (old) v Grace ( new).
For the people of Corinth it was all that they, their parents and the generations before them had ever known. We, on the other hand, have never lived in a period where Grace wasn’t the available covenant for salvation.
1. The need for Commendation
Paul speaks of Epistles of Commendation. Epistles of commendation were common in and around the early church. A false prophet might travel to a city and easily say, “Paul sent me, so you should support me.” To help against this issue, letters of recommendation were often sent with Christians as they travelled.
It’s not bad to have a letter of commendation written on paper, but what is better is to have a living letter of commendation! The Christians at Corinth, along with groups of Christians wherever Paul had worked, were Paul’s “living letter” to validate his ministry.
The best comparison in today’s world might be a Certificate of Ordination, or credentials that a Pastor acquires to do ministry. Many people think and expect that a Certificate of Ordination means that you have the credentials of ministry.
While we can understand there is an important purpose in a public ordination to ministry, a piece of paper is never a proper credential. True “credentials” of the ministry are transformed lives.
I’d almost lean towards saying, keep your paper to yourself, and show me the changed lives from your ministry. The passage opens with the first paragraph:
“Are we beginning to commend ourselves again? Or do we need, like some people, letters of recommendation to you or from you? You yourselves are our letter, written on our hearts, known and read by everyone.”
2. New ink, Old Ink
Verse 3, ”You 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 talks about two types of ink. Ink written by humans and then he says, “...but with the Spirit.” There is a wrestle at play with all of us as to what is written in the story of our lives… Is it written by a man or by the Spirit?
3. Freedom in the New Covenant:
Verse 17, “Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.”
The Lord is the Spirit, mirroring Exodus 34:34. Paul says ‘’the Lord is the Spirit." Here he is stating, 'the Holy Spirit is God', just as Jesus and the Father are God.
There is Freedom. Paul’s idea is this: Moses went into God’s presence and he had the freedom to take off the veil; the presence of the Lord gave him this freedom.
We have the Holy Spirit, living inside of us, who is the Lord. We live in the Spirit’s presence because He is given to us under the new covenant.
Therefore, as Moses had unveiled freedom to God in His presence, so we have freedom in the presence of the Holy Spirit.
That’s worth wrestling with until we fully grasp it because freedom in His Spirit under the new covenant is a fantastic way to have the story of our lives ‘inked’.
Posted in 2 Corinthians