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Okay we left off last week by wrapping up chapter 2 of 2nd Corinthians where Paul spoke of how God had given him Triumph and found him, Paul, to be a sweet smelling savor in terms of his apostolic offering.
Paul had said in Chapter 2:14 that he had always occasion to triumph in the success which, he had, and that God always blessed his labors.
So let’s continue to read our text in chapter 3 and see what happens next. And at this point 2nd Corinthians starts to get better in my opinion. So Paul says:
2nd Corinthians 3.1-11
Meat
September 23rd 2018
2nd Corinthians 3:1 Do we begin again to commend ourselves? or need we, as some others, epistles of commendation to you, or letters of commendation from you?
2 Ye are our epistle written in our hearts, known and read of all men:
3 Forasmuch as ye are manifestly declared to be the epistle of Christ ministered by us, written not with ink, but with the Spirit of the living God; not in tables of stone, but in fleshy tables of the heart.
4 And such trust have we through Christ to God-ward:
5 Not that we are sufficient of ourselves to think any thing as of ourselves; but our sufficiency is of God;
6 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.
7 But if the ministration of death, written and engraven in stones, was glorious, so that the children of Israel could not stedfastly behold the face of Moses for the glory of his countenance; which glory was to be done away:
8 How shall not the ministration of the spirit be rather glorious?
9 For if the ministration of condemnation be glory, much more doth the ministration of righteousness exceed in glory.
10 For even that which was made glorious had no glory in this respect, by reason of the glory that excelleth.
11 For if that which is done away was glorious, much more that which remaineth is glorious.
So, to verse 1
1 Do we begin again to commend ourselves? or need we, as some others, epistles of commendation to you, or letters of commendation from you?
Apparently, Paul seemed to feel the need to address some sort of real or perceived objection.
In chapter two, he had been speaking of his “triumph in the ministry,” and of his sincerity and honesty (the sweet smelling savor he had with God). This was in his stated opposed (in verse 17 of that chapter) with the conduct of “many” (he said) “who corrupted the word of God.”
Perhaps the criticism was that Paul was known on occasion to be boastful of himself, or that he was known to be self-commending.
I could see how he could be seen that way because sometimes he says things that sound arrogant.
So here he appears to speak to this charge and begins with.
1 Do we begin again to commend ourselves? or need we, as some others, epistles of commendation to you, or letters of commendation from you?
“Are we beginning to commend ourselves again? Or are we like some who need letters of commendation to you or from you?”
It seems that some had brought letters of recommendation to them from Judea and they could have been false teachers who produced letters of recommendation from others from abroad that allowed them to get their foot in the door of the church there.
Such letters of introduction were common among the Greeks, the Romans, and the Jews in that age and when we think about it, they still are, aren’t they? As people in business and job seekers and colleges all use letter of recommendation.
These letters were really important anciently because they granted access to hospitality, fellowship and all sorts of other associations.
Here Paul seems to infer that he was not one, as a Christian apostle to seek out such letters; that he travelled without them; and that he depended on his zeal, and self-denial, and success in the livesd of others to make him known and to give him the opportunities to work with others – something he believed was a superior form of operating that an actual letter from another human being.
This being said, letters of recommendation were part of the early church and we can read about them in places like Acts 18:27.
Instead of letters of recommendation the apostles appear to have relied on their abilities to perform miracles to give them license, which would prove that they came in Jesus name by power and might, and not through letters written by man.
I sort of like this because letters are so corporate and institutional – especially when the proof of a person is in their person, not in perceptions of their person.
Its like when Jesus walked the earth the Jews wanted to know where he got His authority to tell a man that his “sins were forgiven him.”
Luke tells us that Jesus perceived their thoughts and asked them:
What’s easier to say, thy sins are forgiven you or rise up and walk? And then He proved that He was God with us by actually healing the man so he could rise up and walk?
This seems to be Pauls stance too. Letters in ink? Whatever. Let me prove to you whom I am, the way Jesus proved who He was – by the power of the Spirit in Him.
In harmony with this thinking, that your not getting letters about us nor are you getting letters from us, Paul turns the conversation to something really beautiful, saying (verse 2)
2 Your are our epistle written in our hearts, known and read of all men:
The sense seems to be that the conversion of the Corinthians, under the faithful labors of the apostle and those with him was a better testimonial of his character and fidelity than any letters could possibly be.
And this is really saying a whole lot.
We look at it like we would look at a biography of some religious leader where all the words and sayings are glowing and tender and faith promoting.
To read it you would nearly think the man or woman walked on water as the book describes him as a wonderful honest statesman, a fantastic businessman in younger years, a true leader in the faith, a tremendous father and husband, and on and on – right – you get the picture.
But then if you go and examine what his business dealings really amounted to, what his employees say about him, what his children are like as people and what his wife has to say, etc. if we discover a discrepancy the likelihood that there is a false report is in the biography not in the lives of those who actually knew and or were the offspring of wife to the man.
This is what Paul seems to be saying. Letters smetters. YOU – the believers in Corinth, you are the real epistle of my life – you show whether I am what I claim to be – or not.
I think there is something transferrable here to the faith today as well.
Someone could be a woman or a man of letters – educated, knowledgeable in the things of God, a scholar, a very educated individual.
But if he fails in love, if he fails in the areas of the faith that Paul hinges EVERYTHING on – love, then what do the letters mean? What does the faith to move mountains, the knowledge of all scripture, the giving of all a person has to the poor IF they do not have love for God and others.
Paul is willing to tell these believers at Corinth that they are the proof of His apostleship, of his integrity for God – and it makes some good sense.
Remember . . .
Corinth was an exceedingly corrupt at one time and a large number of its citizens had converted – so much so that a church was organized. Being the believers of that church, and being that people in the city would be looking on them as the proof of Paul’s teachings, he was able to say, I think, that the kind of believers that they were testified to the kind of Apostle that he was.
The King James of this passage is a bit of a mouthful too:
“Your are our epistle written in our hearts, known and read of all men . . .”
First of all, all the Bibles from the Authorized version (King James and his sisters) read, “our hearts,” but the Revised versions (NIV, etc) say, “your hearts.”
Makes a difference, but what difference I don’t have the mind to say.
Once Bible commentator named, Dodderidge says, “your hearts;” and interprets it to mean that
“the change produced not only in their external conduct, but in their inward temper, was so great, that all must see that it was an unanswerable attestation to Paul’s.”
But we can’t really say which translation is best or correct, can we?
To say that our epistle was written on Paul’s heart seems to mean that their walk was evidence in his heart that his labors were true.
To say that you are our epistle (that is ) written on your (or their) own hearts is to say that they have taken Pauls teachings internally – and this can be seen by all who look upon them.
To me, Paul’s idea seems to have been that he is speaking of the testimonial which he had from God and that that witness included the conversion of the Corinthians.
This he says was written on his heart. It was not a cold letter of introduction, but it was such as, while it left him no room to doubt that God had sent him, it greatly affected his feelings – so much so that it was engraved on his soul.
This was far more valuable to him than some letter of commendation or of introduction could were so popular.
In other words, what Paul had on his heart was a direct testimonial from God that his labors, and therefore him as an apostle, was acceptable.
There are a LOT of opinions on this passage, all of them without ease of interpretation, but what we can say is Paul was claiming that what was written on SOMEONES heart – whether his or theirs – was known and read of all men.
All men would hear of their reformations, all would know that Paul got them rolling in their faith in God and Christ, and this was a subsequent witness of his labors and their walk.
Having established this, Paul now sort or repeats his point, but in a more expanded way, saying:
(verse 3)
3 Forasmuch as ye are manifestly declared to be the epistle of Christ ministered by us, written not with ink, but with the Spirit of the living God; not in tables of stone, but in fleshy tables of the heart.
For it is plain, it is obvious, that “YOU (believers of Corinth and recipients of this letter) “are manifestly declared to be the epistle of Christ administered by us (the apostles).
You are obviously a follower of Christ, you are, in fact., “the epistle of Christ.”
Greek = EPIST-O-LAY – you are a “written message of Christ.”
You, living breathing souls, are Christ’s written message to all who see you. He has given this written letter of recommendation when you were converted and started walking with Him.
“This is the BEST evidence not only that I have done my job,” Paul says, “but that you are doing yours as His follower.”
I have ministered Him to you, and you now serve as living witnesses to the world that He has written His laws on your minds and hearts.
Again, we can drive around in cars with Jesus fish, we can wear the t-shirts that claim that we work for him, the carpenter, we can study the written words in this book ad nauseum, but are WE – as individuals – without all the external identifiers, His epistle – and are people openly reading this in our love.
I am not asking if people know that you are a Christian because of how you are identified outwardly on facebook or in society as such.
I am asking if people know we are Christians by our faith in Him and by our love for them.
This is the question. And I think it leans toward what Paul is saying to the believers at Corinth.
I had a guy ask me the other day (who was apparently familiar with the show) who treated me worse – the Mormons or the Christians.
Without question my response was, the Evangelicals – and the more Calvinistic they were the more hateful, mean, accusatory and backhanded they became.
That is the epistle written on their hearts – the epistle of Jean Calvin. We see in the actions and attitudes of many people whose epistle is written on them – because we do, in fact, replicate whomever is our master.
Anyone who truly has Jesus as their Lord and Master through conversion will evidence this as much as a billboard evidences who rented it for the month.
Paul seems to be saying that Christ had employed him in helping to accomplishing this epistle but that they were Christ’s letter.
And then he makes it clear that this letter (Listen) that both HE delivered and that THEY evidence in their lives (READY) was “NOT written with ink.”
Here Paul continues to rearrange and vary the images revolving around the term “epistle” apparently to make the example emphatic.
He makes plain, therefore, that the epistle that they were was not written as letters of introduction are written, with ink.
I suggest that this is a way of saying that they are not lifeless figures scrawled out on pages will fade and tear, that can become unintelligible and that can be disputed as to their meaning.
No, no. Paul compliments them here by saying (albeit indirectly) that they are epistles of far greater value.
What kind of value? He tells us when he compares “letters written with ink” to epistles written “with the Spirit of the living God.”
I think that Paul is comparing letters of recommendation here with their example as Christians with the Word of God written on their minds and hearts, and therefore on their observable lives.
I do not think that he is making a direct comparison between his epistles that were written to the churches. That being said, however, I personally do find a comparison existing in these too.
In other words, what has the most supreme power and value on a human being – words of God written on the minds and hearts by the Holy Spirit or words written in ink, on paper?
Paul answers this for us. Now, just so we don’t get all pissy – inspired words written on stone or paper are of great value and have been for four thousand years.
I’m not demeaning their import. But I would suggest that these words are absolutely INFERIOR – that’s right, I said it – they are INFERIOR to words written by the Holy Spirit on the hearts and minds of living epistles.
I can say this because I think Paul is saying this.
I can also say this because this is the end goal even God speaks to in the Words He has had men write on paper.
You remember – I cite these prophetic words frequently, where God in both the Old (Jeremiah 31) and in the New Testaments said:
Hebrews 8:10 “For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, saith the Lord; I will put my laws into their mind, and write them in their hearts: and I will be to them a God, and they shall be to me a people.”
Again, repeated in chapter 10
“This is the covenant that I will make with them after those days, saith the Lord, I will put my laws into their hearts, and in their minds will I write them;”
We must note that in these places God Himself said that THIS IS THE COVENANT THAT I WILL MAKE . . .
What is it? That He would WRITE on both the minds and hearts of those who are His His Laws . . .
Laws written on stone and paper are impersonal to a certain extent – they require interpretation and deep analysis on the part of all readers with consensus coming only by the Holy Spirit.
But when God writes and puts His laws directly in the hearts and minds – WRITES them – on the hearts and minds of His children, we are talking about a whole new level of understanding and knowing Him.
I realize this breaks from the conventions most Christians hold true – and that I would not even be able to make the argument if I wasn’t reading it IN ink written on paper! Right!?
So don’t get me wrong. The written word has tremendous value – but it is not the ultimate value in the world today. That is found in those whom God has written and who then become living epistles to the world around them.
. . . written not with ink, but with the Spirit of the living God; not in tables of stone, but in fleshy tables of the heart.
It seems pretty apparent that Paul is referring to Moses who had the law engraved by God on tablets of stone.
It could be that Paul is making reference to some Judaisers there in Corinth who were in all probability teaching that the Law, written in stone, was still in place.
Because the law had been engraved on stone by the hand of God himself, it was to many Jews then and now, a super strong proof of both longevity and of Divine origin.
Many Jews, and even some Messianic Jews, continue to appeal to such thinking. If we are to be biblical literalists and Christians legalists, this thinking would seem natural, thus making the faith today completely objective.
See, that is the result of Laws written on stone and paper – objective religion. Why?
The laws and code are on the books, dammit! “It’s says it, I believe it, that’s all there is too it?” Right?
Folks, this is where we pretty much stand, and have stood, since the Protestant Reformation. All because we have made the Laws written with ink, and on stone, what is supposed to reign over believers.
Not so. Not according to the words Paul shares here. Right here he is saying as clear as day that the most precious source of God’s laws is when He writes them NOT in stone or with ink but “in the fleshy tables of our hearts.”
To me it’s the difference between Pinocchio the wooden boy and Pinocchio the boy of flesh and blood.
See, laws written in ink fade and laws written on stone break. THEY HAVE NO LIFE IN THEM!
In essence, they are completely DEAD WORDS unless they have been quickened by the Holy Spirit.
But when God inscribes His law, which are summarized completely in the first two great commandments of Love for God and Love for Neighbor, we have got something good going on.
How?
First, no hand but the hand of God can reach the heart, and inscribe these truths there.
Second, when written thereon, His words become living, animated in and through the lives of those who are His.
Third, when written by God in the heart and mind of a soul, they are permanent.
Where are the two tablets that were engraven by the finger of God? Where are the original manuscripts of the New Testament, and which source is most reliable, the manuscripts for the received text or for the Revised?
Again, not to besmirch the wonderful gift this Word is in our lives – but by comparison, there are ample reasons why in this age of fulfillment God would write on hearts and minds of individuals instead of with ink and perishable surfaces.
At verse four Paul returns to speaking about himself as an apostle, and says
4 And such trust have we through Christ to God-ward:
In other words we have such confidence that we were appointed by God, and that he accepts our work through Christ.
Then he adds at verse 5
5 Not that we are sufficient of ourselves to think any thing as of ourselves; but our sufficiency is of God;
Through these words Paul is not only able to protect himself against a charge of being a braggart or boaster, but he rightly places any and all of his successes as an apostle squarely on God – where it belongs.
In chapter two he wrote of triumphal entries and sweet savors to the nostrils of God, but here he makes it clear that it all is the result of God in Him.
Now we know that Paul, in verses four through five has returned to speaking of himself as an apostle (and those who worked with him in this capacity) because of what he says next in verse 6 – which is just amazing and profound:
6 Who (speaking of God) also hath made us (speaking of himself and those with him in ministry – NOW LISTEN TO WHAT HE SAYS HERE) Who, speaking of God, also has 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.
Paul has made it clear that it is God who has made him able in ministry, so let’s get that out of the way right off.
But the important phrase of this passage is where he says, after admitting that, God has made them able ministers of WHAT?
Paul says:
Able ministers of the NEW TESTAMENT.
And then Paul adds:
not of the letter, but of the spirit: for . . . the . . . letter . . . killeth, but the spirit giveth life.
Let me step back and preach it – because I believe what I am about to say is so vital and important to the faith.
When Paul was writing his epistles, he was lead of the Spirit to compose them to specific targets – the Saints at Rome, the Saints at Ephesus; John wrote to the Seven Churches in Asia Minor.
They were writing Christian directives for that day and age, and in those directives cited Christian principles that are eternal.
Because Paul was writing to believers in that day and age he would reference the scripture of Old Covenant to illustrate origin and prophecy of what Jesus came and did.
But the principles of that Covenant and age were wrapping up – and this includes God writing laws on stone or with ink because He promised He would after that age write His laws upon our minds and hearts.
So, I submit to you that the letters Paul wrote to them in that fading AGE were NEVER intended to become new laws written with ink for believers.
NEVER.
Yes, there were epistles written to the believers of that age. Yes, they were inspired by the Holy Spirit, and yes, they bear vital living insights to being a Christian today.
But they were never to take precedence over the laws written on the minds and hearts of God’s children and here is how you can know what I am saying is true:
When we take letters written with ink and try and use them as our guide IN PLACE of what God has written on our hearts, we discover that the results are the same results that the Law written in stone produced in the COI –
Anger
Hatred
Division
Judgments
Condemnation
Paul tells us why here in this wonderful letter he wrote to the believers at Corinth –
BECAUSE THE LETTER KILLETH!
BECAUSE THE LETTER KILLETH!
The “letters” will always kill the Spirit of God which . . . bears the fruit of love.
Which always. Bears. The Fruit. Of Love – with love being defined by the scripture, NOT by mans interpretation of what love is.
I want you to think about the Laws that God has written in your mind and heart for a minute. When they are really and truly at work in you.
Imagine that you are sitting with someone, anyone, everyone and they are not in a good place.
They have hurt you, stole from you, maligned your good name, insulted you somehow – done something really wrong – and you are looking at them in the eyes.
Now, imagine that you are armed with the words of the New Testament apostles to the church in that day and age – the hard stuff – the stuff on hell and holiness and excommunication.
Imagine your words and approach to the person.
Now imagine that you are filled with the Spirit of Love written on your heart and mind by God.
What would be the result then? How would you feel or think in having responded to the offender with this love?
This is why the Spirit is superior to the letter, and how and why the letter killeth but the Spirit giveth life!
How far astray we have wandered through the tutelage of Men. They have taken liberties that actually work AGAINST some central principles God established and his apostles conveyed through their letters anciently!
But instead of reading words of wisdom found IN the directions the apostles gave to the believers in that transitionary period, things like
The fact that the letter killeth but the spirit giveth life,
Things like, God will shake everything in heaven and in earth once more so the only thing that will remain will be unshakable.
Things like Jesus has had the victory over all sin and spiritual death, that Satan is over and hell a past event . . .
Things like the Church-Bride was taken and what remains is His Spiritual body thriving in His Spiritual Kingdom . . .
Man has ignored all of this, and have instead implemented and focused on the exact opposite things.
Killing instead of giving life.
Building upon shakable things.
And thinking that Jesus has yet to be victorious.
So again, Paul says:
“Who,” speaking of God, also has 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.
In other words, Paul (and those with him) were appointed to go forth and make the provisions of that new covenant known to a dying world of laws written in ink and stone.
This is the true distinction between the Old Testament or Covenant and the New.
The Old was written with ink and first in stone.
The new is written by the Spirit on the fleshy living tables of the human heart and mind.
Paul touches on this a principle related to this in Romans 2, saying at verses 28-29
28 For he is not a Jew, which is one outwardly; neither is that circumcision, which is outward in the flesh:
29 But he is a Jew, which is one inwardly; and circumcision is that of the heart, (the SAME place where God now writes His laws, and Paul adds) in the spirit, and not in the letter; whose praise is not of men, but of God.
Clearly speaking of the Old Covenant and how it operated, Paul said in Romans 7:6
6 But now we are delivered from the law, that being dead wherein we were held; that we should serve in newness of spirit, and not in the oldness of the letter.
It is VITAL, folks, to really apply these words to ourselves, realizing that the New Testament, as PAUL says, is of the Spirit and NOT of the Letter, FOR the letter killeth BUT the SPIRIT giveth life.
(beat)
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McKenna Denson
