2 Corinthians 3:1-6
“Perfectly Imperfect”
I. Intro.
Paul faced a dilemma in addressing the Corinthian believers who had verbally attacked him:
- Say nothing in his defense and most certainly allow the work in Corinth to be destroyed by default.
- Defend himself against their accusations and most certainly be accused of blowing his own horn.
One author put it this way: “Self-defense” is almost impossible without “self-commendation”! One wonders how Paul would rate today in the Mega Church, media-drenched Christian world. It is unlikely he would be considered a success when you look at these facts:
- He spent most of his ministry in jail.
- Never made enough salary to purchase a home.
- Never built a church building.
- Never spoke on television or radio.
- Had to get a job to support himself.
- Admitted that he was a poor speaker and had a very unimpressive appearance.
Perhaps it’s for this reason that he starts off this chapter with the phrase: “Do we begin again to commend ourselves? Or do we need, as some others, epistles of commendation to you or letters of commendation from you?” One of the areas unique to fallen mankind is the feeling of inadequacy. Watch the animal kingdom and you never see a dejected creature because their society has set standards upon a small percentage of them as being the “ideal” to which all others will be compared. If you have ever gone through the feeling of inadequacy, then this section is for you.
II. Vs. 1-3 Living Letters
Vs. 1-3 It is amazing that a man such as Paul, who had founded the fellowship in Corinth, written three letters, and visited another time, would be asked by these Christians—whom he led to Christ—if next time he came for a visit, he could bring along letters of recommendation from Peter, John, and James. Letters? Letters? We don’t need no stinking letters!! God had worked through the ministry of Paul:
- To write not on parchment but upon their hearts.
- Not in ink but in the precious blood of Jesus Christ.
- Not by Paul’s power but by the power of the Holy Spirit.
And now they were asking for proof? Paul says, “You all have it wrong—I’m not the author, I’m just the mailman!” Paul had only delivered that which the Author had given him, and the effects of this had already been described by Paul in 1 Corinthians 6:9-11 when he wrote: “Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived. Neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor homosexuals, nor sodomites, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners will inherit the kingdom of God. And such were some of you. But you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God.” They could look in the mirror of their own soul and see the “before and after photos” as their lives were the only authentication needed.
Paul says that they were “known and read of all men.” What would happen if we applied this test to our churches today? How many would have a recommendation in the eyes of the community? The visible change that Christ has made in us comes into contact with the people daily and says, “I’ve read your book, man, and if these actions and attitudes are what a Christian is, then I want it!”
III. Vs. 4-6 The Person in the Mirror
Vs. 4-6 This takes Paul back to the question he didn’t immediately answer in 2:16b—“Who is sufficient for these things?” Self-esteem is a very popular topic in educational arenas, but that is not what Paul is speaking of here, as his view is not about feeling good about ourselves but seeing ourselves as Christ sees us. Confidence, we are told by the world, has to come from within. You have to somehow find in yourself the power to achieve and to be a success. The funny thing is that people who lack self-confidence suffer from the same problem as those who are arrogant: having their confidence in themselves instead of in Christ! Paul offers a completely new view of confidence and security and tells us that it has nothing to do with me and everything to do with Jesus! Paul offers a different reality that says, “You don’t win the prize, you are the prize.” Our sense of well-being comes not from our accomplishments but rather through God’s by way of Jesus Christ. God hasn’t chosen me because He saw my potential; He didn’t pick me out to place me on His team because I was the best. NO, He chose me because He’s the best, and my “full potential” isn’t achieved—it’s a gift that is as wonderful and unique as every strand of my DNA! Oswald Chambers said, “God can achieve His purposes either through the absence of human power and resources, or the abandonment of reliance upon them.” He has chosen to use “nobodies” because of their unusual dependence on His power and grace. And He has chosen to use “somebodies” only after they have renounced all dependence on their natural abilities and resources. Consider Paul’s words in Philippians 3:3-9 where he writes:
“Though I also might have confidence in the flesh. If anyone else thinks he may have confidence in the flesh, I more so: circumcised the eighth day, of the stock of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of the Hebrews; concerning the law, a Pharisee; concerning zeal, persecuting the church; concerning the righteousness which is in the law, blameless. But what things were gain to me, these I have counted loss for Christ. Yet indeed I also count all things loss for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them as rubbish, that I may gain Christ and be found in Him, not having my own righteousness, which is from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which is from God by faith.”
There is little doubt that as a Christian, if I ask you what the basis of your salvation is—works or faith—you will say FAITH! But yet, when it comes to seeing ourselves in this Christian life, we often choose to base our sufficiency or lack thereof upon our works. That is the same problem the Christians in Galatia were having, so Paul had to point out to them in Galatians 3:3 saying, “Are you so foolish? Having begun in the Spirit, are you now being made perfect by the flesh?” Paul states two things here:
- The inefficiency of the Old Covenant compared to the sufficiency of the New Covenant.
- The inefficiency of the flesh compared to the sufficiency of the Holy Spirit.
1. The inefficiency of the Old Covenant compared to the sufficiency of the New Covenant: The trouble with the Old Covenant is that, though it is holy and good, it has no power for transformation, even though its information is correct. It doesn’t work for the same reason that posted speed limits don’t slow down cars: the truth posted doesn’t motivate the heart to always respond correctly. If the truth posted had an electronic chip tied directly to the car’s engine to regulate the speed correctly, then people would always do what the law says. Thus, the sufficiency of the New Covenant is aimed not at posting a sign to slow the car, but rather Love to change the motivation to obey the command. The problem is the heart of man, not the gas pedal of the car. Thus, the New Covenant was aimed at changing the heart of man, which is the problem. What all of mankind needs is a heart transplant! The first surgeon to ever do a heart transplant, Dr. Christian Barnard, after the surgery and some recovery, spoke to the patient, Dr. Philip Blaiberg, and asked him if he would like to see his old heart. After talking a bit about the procedure, Dr. Blaiberg just stared at the glass jar that contained his old heart, realizing that he was the first man in history to hold his own heart in his hands. After a few more moments, he took one last look at it and handed it back saying, “So this is my old heart that has caused me so much trouble!” He then turned away, never to set eyes upon it again. That’s what Christ has done for us!
2. The inefficiency of the flesh compared to the sufficiency of the Holy Spirit: The second problem with the law is that it relies on the fallen flesh that has no power to do the right thing. It is unfair to expect anyone to obtain perfection and then to maintain that perfection for the remainder of their life. In the words of Scotty, the fictional engineer of Star Trek’s USS Enterprise, when commanded by Captain Kirk to go to warp speed, “Captain, we’ve got no POWER!” There is nothing wrong with the command, it is needed, but with no way to perform it, our lives will remain stranded in hyperspace! Thus, we now take the New Covenant, which deals with our heart, and we turn not to our inability to do the right thing but to God’s power given to us in the Holy Spirit and ask Him to send us on our way. Hudson Taylor spoke of this truth saying, “God chose me because I was weak enough. God does not do His work by large committees. He trains somebody to be quiet enough and little enough, and then He uses them.”
Jeremiah in 31:31-34 described this in his prophecy hundreds of years earlier. The occasion of Jeremiah’s prophecy was the reign of Josiah in 600 BC when he had rediscovered the Law in the temple and national repentance broke across the nation, only for the nation to again rebel. The problem wasn’t the law; it was what it had to work with, humans! The problem with the law was that it was external (written on stone) and as such, it provided no power to live out the truth they proclaimed. He said there was going to come a time when God would write his laws in people’s hearts, not on tablets of stone like the 10 commandments. It was the same law, but written in the heart instead of on some external demand. God would live with them, they would be his people, and He would be their God. They could draw upon His wisdom, His energy, His power, and strength for any demand they had in their lives. He would forgive their sins from the very beginning, and they could rest upon that constant washing, cleansing, and forgiveness of God all through their lives. That is the new covenant as Jeremiah described it. That will change our motivation and outlook on life. God is not looking for gifted people or people who are self-sufficient. He is looking for inadequate people who will give their weakness to Him and open themselves to the ministry of the Holy Spirit and the transforming grace of the New Covenant.
2 Corinthians 3:7-11
“BC or AD?”
I. Intro.
Whenever we write a date, unconsciously, we are dividing history into two parts. Currently, we are in the part known by its abbreviation AD (Anno Domini) or the year that refers to Jesus’ birth. And BC or before Christ! Interesting that history’s division is not a reference to a numerical midpoint, a war, or a discovery but to a person—Jesus Christ! All of history and dating is calculated in relationship to His incarnation; things that happened before Him and things that have happened after Him. Come to think of it, all our lives are on one side of the dating or the other. I definitely began life and lived it for 22 years in BC land where I didn’t live in relationship with Jesus. Ah, but I have lived the last 31 years in AD after my Birth because of His birth! That is Paul’s point in looking at history as well as he examines the law and Moses in BC time and compares it to Jesus and His ministry.
II. Vs. 7-8 More Glorious
It is agreed by commentators that this section of scripture in Paul’s letter is a commentary on Exodus chapters 32 – 34, which is where we find the account of God’s response to Israel’s breaking its promise to keep the law. The word “covenant” is not a word we use today; the dictionary defines it as “an arrangement between two or more people through which they enter into a relationship.” In the biblical sense of the word, it is the agreement by which God enters into a relationship with people. The word “new” means “new not only in point of time but in quality as well.” Paul declares that the Old Covenant was deadly in that it produced a legal relationship saying, in effect, “If you wish to maintain your relationship with God, you must perform these laws.” It killed three things in people under it:
- It killed hope: As there was never any hope that one could consistently maintain it.
- It killed life: As people under it could expect to live under constant judgment for failing to maintain it.
- It killed strength: Because though it could tell people what to do, it offered no means by which what they were supposed to do could be done.
Vs. 7-8 Paul uses three comparisons in verses 7-11 that are the lesser to the greater in their view. Paul’s threefold logic is:
- That the ministry done through him by Christ is more glorious than Moses because of its unlimited exposure to God’s glory.
- That this ministry is superior to Moses because it is a ministry that is based upon God’s righteousness, not man’s.
- Finally, it is better than Moses’ ministry because Moses’ was temporary, whereas God’s work through Paul is permanent.
1. Vs. 7-8 The first example is a contrast between two types of glory—one that fades and the other one never does. They are characterized by two people, Moses and Jesus, and both are described as “glorious” although not equally. In fact, now that Jesus has come, Moses has no glory at all. From verse 3:7 through 4:17 Paul will contrast these two 16 times, no doubt to counter his critics in the Jews who wanted gentiles to convert and practice Judaism. The problem for many with regards to Christianity is its age, as some tend to think it is not relevant today. But the problem with Christianity at the time Paul wrote this personal letter to the Corinthians was that it was a novelty and the Jews believed that a person needed to stay in the past, in BC. These Jews insisted upon Moses’ covenant still being relevant for salvation, and Paul insisted, as did the author of Hebrews in 8:13 that “in a new covenant, He has made the first obsolete.” As God descended in a cloud, Moses hid in a cleft in the rock, which allowed Moses to see only the afterglow of God’s presence. The result of this is that Israel would only see the presence of God in the face of Moses, and they asked him to be veiled lest they be destroyed by God’s judgment. As such, Moses became the mediator of God’s presence and glory before the people. What was passing away was not God’s glory in Moses’ face, but rather God’s glory in His continual presence! The veil allowed both God’s glory to remain among the people and was a sign of judgment because of the hardness of their heart. Thus, the veil caused two things to happen simultaneously; it preserved Israel from being destroyed but also kept them from being transformed! It was attractive but it is temporary. Furthermore, it was dependent upon effort to maintain its splendor, hence the veil to hide the truth that I’m not doing enough to keep it shining. Last Christmas my wife got me a stocking stuffer flashlight that is solar-powered but also has a hand crank to recharge the batteries at night. If I crank for two minutes, I can stop and get 2 more minutes of light before I have to crank some more. That’s the example in the face of Moses that caused the fading; he needed to crank some more to bask in the glow of self-effort. The second example represents the New Covenant and its glory as seen in the face of Jesus, which never fades but only becomes more glorious (2 Cor. 3:11 and 4:6). Paul speaks of a new principle of God-dependence, where He will use the skills and abilities He gave us but will do so in His power. The benefits will be that it is not temporary, neither is it dependent upon you to keep cranking to keep the glow going!
III. Vs. 9 Exceeding Glory
2. Vs. 9 The next contrast is one that looks at what the two Covenants will produce. The Old Covenant was marked by death and condemnation, whereas the New Covenant was marked by the Spirit and righteousness. The reason for this is that we never know when enough is enough. We live under the tyranny of the “would-of’s, should-of’s, and could-of’s.” And what is on display more than the temporary glory of our self-effort is the lack of it, and for this reason, we feel condemned. The New Covenant doesn’t mean that we do less; what has changed is that we aren’t using our effort as the basis of how God views us. We don’t crank it up to get love and acceptance; we crank it up because we already have God’s love and acceptance. We received God’s rightness the moment we trusted in His work, and our sense of self-worth and standing before Him is based solely upon His work with nothing to do with ours. I love my grandchildren, but they aren’t doing anything for me to love them. In fact, at times, they can be a little messy, but I still choose to love them. The truth is our life always mattered to God, He always had a plan for our lives, and He has always longed for a relationship with us. The only thing that has changed is that we have realized this fact when we trusted in His work as seen in Jesus! Since my security is based upon God’s work and not my own, then I can’t be deemed unworthy of His love because His love was never based upon my worth.
IV. Vs. 10-11 Excelling Glory
Vs. 10-11 The final contrast has to do with looking at the nature of the two glories side by side. Paul says that when the glory of temporary self-effort is placed next to the glory that is God’s alone, it causes our self-effort to not even be visible. Not only in duration but also in splendor. In Ephesians 3:20 Paul speaks of this saying that God “is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us.” Paul says there was just no comparison between what he can do and what God can do in and through him. In fact, Paul declares that seeing himself based upon his performance has lost its splendor altogether. It was far more exciting to watch God work in his weakness than to do the work in his own strength and boast in its feeble results. The New Covenant is different in that it is based upon a relationship of love and came into being based upon that sacrificial love. It is not a legal arrangement; it is a relational one instituted by a loving Father for his children. It changes lives not by demanding people to do what they are not capable of doing in their own strength, but by changing their hearts, thus doing what they could not have done. Someone has well said that “The 2nd best is always the chief enemy of the best!” As people have always tended to cling to something old because it is familiar, even when something is being offered that is far better. We must fear more not what we will lose but what we may not gain!
The purpose of the law was to bring Israel to the knowledge of sin and to understand that they were helpless to stop it in their own efforts, hence the sacrificial system of atonement. As we read in Hebrews 9:22, “without shedding of blood there is no remission.” Something that Paul also writes in his letter to the Romans in 3:20 saying, “for by the law is the knowledge of sin.” Therefore, as Paul so eloquently states in Galatians 3:24, “the law was our tutor to bring us to Christ, that we might be justified by faith.” Our problem is that we still try to live by it, only to consistently fail.
2 Corinthians 3:12-18
“No More Lists”
I. Intro.
Some of you old enough may recall that there was a radio show version of “The Lone Ranger” where the question was always asked, “Who was that masked man anyway?” If Paul was asked that question, his answer might be a surprise to many, as he says that the unveiling of the masked man revealed that it was none other than Moses. Clearly, the veil is not a good thing and has been damaging to the cause of Christ. This truth caused Bible Scholar William Barclay to proclaim, “The greatest handicap the Church has is the unsatisfactory lives of professing Christians!” It reminds me of a story of two students from Duke University who were invited to a masquerade party and decided to go dressed in the school mascot of the “Blue Devils”. The problem arose when they had written down the wrong directions and ended up coming down the aisle of a packed church on a Sunday evening. Folks were running for the doors, screaming as they departed, all except one lady who got stuck in the pew. These two college boys didn’t realize that the commotion was about their costumes and went forward to help this poor lady. Seeing their quick advance upon her, she raised her hand, rolled her eyes, and said, “Stop! Don’t you come any further! I want you to know that I’ve been an upstanding member of this here church for 25 years,” she paused a moment, lowered her voice, and looked right at them as she continued, “But I’ve been on your side all the time!” I’m afraid unwittingly many in the church have been like this poor lady by their insistence on wearing their veils.
II. Vs. 12-13 Free to Be Me
Paul is still driving home the differences between Moses’ ministry and Jesus’, but here the focus of the comparison is on the effects of the two ministries. Paul lists four ways Jesus’ ministry of the New Covenant left a positive change in the lives it has touched.
Boldness Versus Hiding: Here the contrast is between the fact that Moses tried to hide what was passing away, whereas Paul could have boldness. Moses had enjoyed the presence of the Lord and had been altered by being near the Lord in the tent of meeting, but the veil hid the presence of the Lord as well as the reality that such presence was fading and becoming dim. Typically, you can count on two diverse responses from your flesh when confronted by what the Holy Law demands:
- Obedience: When Moses came down the mountain with his face aglow, this represents the attraction we can have in our desire to do what the law demands. We want the opportunity to show what we can do to be better than the rest, we want to rise to the occasion and stand atop the podium and claim that we did it. That veil on Moses says, “If he can do it, so can I!” Have someone tell us we can’t do something, that we aren’t good enough, and there is naturally something in us that wants to prove that we can. There is a glory on the face of Moses that has to do with us basking in what we can do to show we are worthy!
- Disobedience: But there is also another side to this, and that is we have an equal attraction to rebel against whatever the law is demanding and do the opposite.
Ah, but Paul said that we don’t need to veil the presence of the Lord in our lives because it is not fading and becoming dim; it is growing and becoming brighter. He says that he came to a place where neither one of these responses was controlling him any longer because he realized that seeing himself in what God had done and would continue to do was far more glorious. The list of rules was attractive until it became apparent that we would never be able to climb the mountain that they demanded, let alone stay there. Our sense of achievement is dashed on the rocks of failure that has only served to remind us that we aren’t “good enough.” So, we either rebel at this time or promise to work harder next time. The Old Covenant is veiled (hidden from view) because it is about mankind maintaining a relationship. The New Covenant is unveiled and bold because it is about the Lord maintaining the relationship. The Christian life was never meant for us to only experience the presence of the Lord based on our performance; that kind of life is empty, as it is dependent upon us to maintain the relationship.
III. Vs. 14-16 I Can See Clearly Now
The reading of the Torah on the Sabbath ought to have pointed the Jews to Jesus; instead, it caused them to put a veil over their eyes so as not to see Him. Their blindness was due to prejudice and presuppositions, not seeing what they didn’t want to see in Jesus and seeing what they wanted to see in their works as the basis of right standing before God. “There is no one as blind as those who will not see!” The greatest teacher that has ever been cannot persuade a person to learn anything if they have already made up their mind not to learn.
Unveiling Versus Blindness: Please note though that the blindness, though stated in verse 14 as being in their minds, is clarified in verse 15 as affecting their hearts. The Jews would hear the Word of God but never let it penetrate their hearts. The veil was not just intellectual; theirs was not just a problem of information; it was a problem of application! They heard the truth weekly but hardened their hearts to it to avoid being transformed by it. That veil is removed, Paul says in verse 16, the moment one turns to Christ. In Luke 24:13, after Jesus had appeared to those two disciples as they walked along the road to Emmaus, they saw a “veiled Jesus” questioning the events of what had happened until He broke bread with them, and their eyes were opened when He expounded the word to them in Luke 24:32: “Did not our heart burn within us while He talked with us on the road, and while He opened the Scriptures to us?” This self-righteousness veil isn’t limited to religious Jews but to religious Christians as well. A works-based relationship appeals to our old self, but you cannot glory in self-attainment and the work of Christ at the same time, any more than the Israelites could fashion a golden calf and worship it and God at the same time! There are some who continue to view the Bible as “directing our hearts and minds to righteous living.” But the problem is not the direction alone but the power to go in that direction! Once we become a Christian, we receive the gift of salvation by faith. We thank God we have that, and then immediately we begin to set up rules of conduct. We usually submit to somebody else’s for a while, and then we begin to set up our own. We determine what is wrong and what is right, and on that basis, believe that God’s love and acceptance are based upon our list. Everybody has a list, and most of us have some of the same things on the list: murder, adultery, etc. But then we get into areas where we have something that someone else doesn’t have on their list, and they have something that we don’t have on ours. People have made their lists and “checked them twice to determine who’s naughty and who’s nice.” Pleasing God becomes an exercise of keeping your list perfectly instead of having the Lord keep you perfectly! To the world, this makes the Church appear either “self-righteous” or “hypocritical,” and to be honest, if we are seeing our relationship with God based on our lists, then we are both at times.
IV. Vs. 17-18 Freedom and Transformation
There is one great area of hope, and you get this in the next two verses. Paul reminds the Corinthians that, though the veil is over their minds, the Lord is still in their hearts. Their hope of freedom comes from that great fact, for the one who is within them is God Himself. The Spirit-led life is one in which Jesus Christ is very visible, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. Freedom is being out in the open; it is having boldness, nothing to hide. The person who is free is one who does not have any reputation to defend, no image to hide behind, nothing to preserve about themselves.
Freedom Versus Bondage: Moses was unveiled before the Lord in the tent of meeting but veiled before the people. But as believers, we are truly free; unveiled before the Lord and people! We have the freedom to truly be who we are before the Lord and people. Someone once said, “I’m certainly not what I ought to be, and I’m definitely not what I want to be, but praise God I’m not what I used to be!” The trouble with veils before people is that they not only serve to keep people from viewing us, they keep us from ever changing. Soon the veils we have do more to keep us in than they do to keep others out. There are far more believers still living behind the bars of their own self-protection, even though “Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is FREEDOM!” Friends, love does what works could never do: surrender! You do not have to earn it at all, and your performance is not going to affect it. You already have it. When you start looking at Jesus, the One who is doing this in your life, all your veils are taken away, so you are not afraid to look at your own failures. We know we don’t deserve His love and acceptance, we aren’t trying to earn it, so now out of love, we do the things that we could never have done—not to please Him, but because we love Him.
Transformation Versus Stagnation: The final comparison is the most important, as Moses’ transformation was only physical and temporal, whereas the New Covenant transformation is internal and eternal. Moses was changed from the outside, and it faded; we are changed on the inside and become brighter as we are changed from glory to glory by the Spirit of the Lord. Based on verse 18, a wonderful thing happens when we do this without even knowing that we are doing it: we suddenly discover what others are noticing, that we are becoming a loving person. In Romans 13:10, Paul wrote that “love is the fulfillment of the law.” With our lists gone and our veils removed, we are suddenly free to love! We are fulfilling lists that we never made, and this is because we owe no man anything “except the continuing debt to love one another, for he who loves his fellow man has fulfilled the law.” (Rom. 13:8). When we speak, we are doing so in truth and love, as Paul said in Ephesians 4:15. Our lists have been replaced by a mirror in which we reflect the image of Jesus upon all we meet, and it leaves an impact! It’s a growth process, as Paul states, saying that “we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as by the Spirit of the Lord.” The way of pleasing Him is by accepting what He gives you. As long as you are trying hard, you never can lay hold of what He is ready to give. There are far too many of us with closed hands clinging to our lists for fear of losing our identity, but we can never lay hold of His gifts if we won’t let go of our lists!