In the Apostle's day we see the commencement of two great evils in the Christian profession. First, there were those of whom he speaks as "false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves into the Apostles of Christ" (ch. 11:13). Secondly, as the result, the word of God was being corrupted (ch. 2:17). Corrupt ministers led to the corruption of the ministry. That of which we see the commencement in the Apostle's day has been fully developed in our day. To meet these two evils the Apostle sets before us in chapter 3 the true ministry and its results, and in chapters 4 and 5 the true minister and his marks. Having thus God's standard, we are able to judge of the solemn departure in the Christian profession, while at the same time examining ourselves as to how far we answer to God's thoughts.
First, then, his great aim in chapter 3 is to show that the Christian company is the epistle of Christ, how it becomes such through the ministry of the gospel, and how the writing is maintained in legibility so that all men should be able to read Christ in His people.
(Vs. 1). Before speaking on this great theme, Paul is careful to show that he does not do so from any selfish motive. False teachers had challenged his apostleship; false teaching had obscured the ministry. This compelled him to defend true ministry and true ministers; but, if he does so, it is not to commend himself, or as seeking the commendation of the Corinthians, or as needing to be commended to them.
(Vs. 2). To dispel such a thought, in the most delicate way, he turns to the Corinthians and says, as it were, "If we wanted to commend ourselves, we should not talk about our ministry or ourselves, we should talk about you". "Ye", he says, "are our epistle". They had such a real place in his affections that if anyone challenged his apostleship he was ever ready to point all men to the Corinthian assembly as those who commended both himself and his ministry.
(Vs. 3). But how was it that the Corinthian assembly commended Paul? Was it not in so far as they were the living expression of the character of Christ whom Paul had preached? They were in their practical lives a letter in favor of the Apostle, because they were a letter that commended Christ to all men.
Paul preached Christ to the Corinthians. The Spirit of God used the ministry to make Christ precious to these Corinthian believers — He wrote Christ on their hearts. The Christ written on their hearts became livingly expressed in their lives. Christ being expressed in their lives, they became witnesses to Christ — a letter, as it were, known and read of all men. Commending Christ, they became a letter to commend Paul, the chosen vessel through whom they had heard of Christ.
Here, then, we have a beautiful description of the true Christian company, composed of individual believers upon whose hearts Christ has been written, not with ink, but with the Spirit of the living God; not on tables of stone, but on the fleshy tables of the heart. As men of old could read the ten commandments on tables of stone, so now they are to read Christ in believers. The law, however, written on unresponsive tables of stone, forms a witness of what men ought to be, but leaves the heart untouched. By the ministry of the gospel, the Spirit of the living God writes Christ upon the hearts of living men as a witness to all that Christ is.
It is sometimes said by Christians, "We ought to be epistles of Christ". The Apostle, however, says, not "Ye ought to be", but "Ye are... the epistle of Christ". Then, he can add, seeing the Corinthian assembly had been restored to a right condition, "Ye are manifestly declared to be the epistle of Christ". The Apostle thus distinguishes between being the epistle of Christ and being manifested as such, known and read of all men. Entertaining the wrong thought that we ought to be the epistle of Christ, we shall set to work in the endeavor to become such by our own efforts. This would not only lead us into legal occupation with ourselves, but would also shut out the work of the Spirit of the living God.
The fact is that we become the epistle of Christ, not by our own efforts, but by the Spirit of God writing Christ upon our hearts. If we are not epistles of Christ, we are not Christians at all. A Christian is one to whom Christ has become precious by a work of the Spirit of God in the heart. It is not simply a knowledge of Christ in the head, which an unconverted man may have, that constitutes a man a Christian, but Christ written on the heart. As sinners we discover our need of Christ, and are burdened with our sins. We find relief by discovering that Christ by His propitiatory work has died for our sins, and that God has accepted the work and seated Christ in the glory. Our affections are drawn out to the One through whom we have been blessed: He becomes precious to us. Thus Christ is written on our hearts.
Our responsibility is not to seek to walk well in order to become an epistle, but, seeing we are the epistle of Christ, to walk well in order that it may be read of all men. It is obvious that if any one writes a letter it is with the express purpose that it be read. If the letter is a letter of commendation, it is to commend the person named in the letter. So when the Spirit of God writes Christ on the hearts of believers, it is in order that they may together become an epistle of commendation, to commend Christ to the world around; that by their holy and separate walk, their mutual love to one another, their lowliness and meekness, their gentleness and grace, they may set forth the lovely character of Christ.
Let us notice that the Apostle does not say that they are "epistles" of Christ, but that they are the "epistle" of Christ. He views the whole company of the saints as setting forth the character of Christ. We may rightly be very exercised as to our individual walk, and yet be careless or indifferent to the condition of an assembly.
Thus it was with the Corinthian saints. They had, indeed, been walking in a disorderly way; but, as the result of the Apostle's first letter, they had cleared themselves from evil, so that he can not only say that as an assembly they were an epistle of Christ, but that they were an epistle "known and read of all men".
Alas! the writing may become indistinct, but it does not cease to be a letter because it is blotted and blurred. Christians are often like the writing on some ancient tombstone. There are faint indications of some inscription; a capital letter here and there would indicate that some name was once written on the stone; but it is so weather-worn and dirt-begrimed that it is hardly possible to decipher the writing. So, alas, may it be with ourselves. When first the Spirit writes Christ upon the heart, the affections are warm and the life speaks plainly of Christ. The writing being fresh and clear is known and read of all men; but, as time passes, the world is apt to slip into the heart and Christ fades out of the life. The writing begins to grow indistinct until at last men see so much of the world and the flesh that they see little, if indeed anything, of Christ in the life.
Nevertheless, in spite of all our failures, Christians are the epistle of Christ, and it ever remains God's great intention that men should learn the character of Christ in the lives of His people. Just as in the tables of stone of old, men could read what the righteousness of God demands from men under law; so now, in the lives of God's people, the world should read what the love of God brings to man under grace.
(Vs. 4). The effect of his preaching, so happily set forth in the changed lives of the Corinthians, effected by the Spirit, leads the Apostle to speak of his confidence as to his ministry. He was confident that, by the grace of God given to him through Christ, his ministry was the truth that the Spirit could use to give life.
(Vss. 5-6). At the same time he is careful to disclaim any intrinsic competency in himself. He was entirely dependent upon God for the grace that enabled him to proclaim the truth. His competency was of God, who had made the Apostles competent ministers of the new covenant.
The new covenant is brought before us by the prophet Jeremiah (Jer. 31:31-3431Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel, and with the house of Judah: 32Not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt; which my covenant they brake, although I was an husband unto them, saith the Lord: 33But this shall be the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel; After those days, saith the Lord, I will put my law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts; and will be their God, and they shall be my people. 34And they shall teach no more every man his neighbor, and every man his brother, saying, Know the Lord: for they shall all know me, from the least of them unto the greatest of them, saith the Lord: for I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more. (Jeremiah 31:31‑34)). The two great blessings of the new covenant are forgiveness of sins and the knowledge of God. These blessings, as with all others, come to man on the ground of the blood of Christ; so the Lord can say, when instituting the Supper, "This cup is the new covenant in my blood".
The truth that the saints are an epistle written on the heart, in contrast with the writing of the law on tables of stone, naturally leads the Apostle to refer to the new covenant, for in the new covenant the writing is also on the heart, as we read, "I will put my laws into their mind, and write them in their hearts". But though he speaks of himself as a minister of the new covenant, he is careful to add, "not of the letter, but of the spirit". He is writing to Gentiles, and for such the letter of the new covenant would only "kill" or, in other words, exclude them from all blessing; for actually, as far as the letter is concerned, the new covenant applies only to the house of Israel and Judah. The spirit of the new covenant, or the blessing that is in the mind of God of which the covenant speaks, is for all men, according to the Lord's commission to His disciples that "repentance and remission of sins should be preached in His name among all nations" (Luke 24:4747And that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in his name among all nations, beginning at Jerusalem. (Luke 24:47)).
Then, changing from the spirit of the new covenant to the Holy Spirit, the Apostle says, "The Spirit giveth life". The Holy Spirit gives life by a work in souls, whereby they are brought to a knowledge of the Lord and the remission of their sins (Heb. 8:10-1210For 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: 11And they shall not teach every man his neighbor, and every man his brother, saying, Know the Lord: for all shall know me, from the least to the greatest. 12For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and their iniquities will I remember no more. (Hebrews 8:10‑12)).
(Vss. 7-11). From this point in the chapter the Apostle, in a long parenthesis (vss. 7-16) draws a contrast between the old covenant and the new. This was very necessary because, as we have seen from the closing verse of the preceding chapter, there were false teachers who were corrupting the Word of God, with the result that the saints were in danger of being led off the ground of grace into a mixture of law and grace. The Apostle will show in the end of the chapter that we can only be kept in our souls consciously on the ground of grace by having our eye fixed on Christ in the glory, the One through whom all the grace of God flows to us.
First, however, he speaks of the character of the old covenant, and its effect upon those who come under it. First, the law is a ministry of condemnation and of death. We must remember that the law is "holy and just and good". It was a divinely given rule for men's conduct upon the earth, and not a means to point the way to heaven. But it applied to a man that is a sinner, with the result that it proved that he was committing sins by forbidding the very things he was doing. Moreover, it proved the existence of an evil nature that desires to do the very thing that is forbidden. While nine of the commandments refer to outward conduct, the remaining one applies to the inward disposition, for it says, "Thou shalt not lust". A man may be outwardly blameless in conduct, but the application of this law to his inward thoughts will prove that he has lusted and therefore broken the law.
The law, then, convicts of actual sins, and proves the existence of an evil nature. It thus becomes a ministration of condemnation, and the condemnation is death. The holy law of God applied to a man that is already a sinner must become to him a ministry of condemnation and death.
Secondly, the law was written and engraven on stones. The law wrote nothing on the hearts of men. It did not directly tell men what they were, but rather what they ought to be, both in their hearts and their outward conduct; it did not touch their hearts. It told men what their lives should be, but did not give them life or strength or a new nature. The writing on stones is a perfect witness to what I ought to be as a child of Adam, both in my relations to God and to my neighbor. If, however, it is a witness to me, it is also a witness against me, for it proves that I am not what I ought to be. The writing on stones says, "Do this and live". But I know that I have not kept the law; therefore the law engraven on stones becomes to me a ministry of death.
Thirdly, the law passes away. The Apostle speaks of the law as that which is "to be done away". It has to give place to that which abides. It came in by the way until the Seed should come. It proved the complete ruin of man and thus paved the way for God to manifest His grace. Man being fully exposed, the law has done its work and gives place to the grace and truth that came by Jesus Christ.
Fourthly, the law is introduced with glory. To understand the statement that the old covenant "began with glory", we must remember that glory is the display of God. The glory of God declares who God is. Also we have to bear in mind that the law was given on two occasions, and that the Apostle refers to the second giving of the law. On the first occasion Moses came down from the mount with the tables of stone in his hand, but no glory in his face (Ex. 32:1515And Moses turned, and went down from the mount, and the two tables of the testimony were in his hand: the tables were written on both their sides; on the one side and on the other were they written. (Exodus 32:15)). It was pure law that made demands upon man, unaccompanied by any revelation of the glory of God in mercy on behalf of man. As Moses draws nigh to the camp, he finds the people fallen into idolatry and thus have broken the first commandment. To bring pure law into the midst of such a company would have overwhelmed them with instant judgment. Moses, therefore, "cast the tables out of his hands, and brake them". He goes into their midst without the two tables. Pure law never came into the camp at all.
Thereupon, Moses goes up into the mount a second time and pleads with God on behalf of the people. To this plea God answers in grace, and gives a partial revelation of Himself in His goodness and grace and mercy. This is a glimpse of His glory: not the law demanding what man should be, but the glory revealing what God is. So "the LORD passed by before him, and proclaimed, The LORD, The LORD God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abundant in goodness and truth, keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, and that will by no means clear the guilty; visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children, and upon the children's children, unto the third and to the fourth generation" (Ex. 34:6-76And the Lord passed by before him, and proclaimed, The Lord, The Lord God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abundant in goodness and truth, 7Keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, and that will by no means clear the guilty; visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children, and upon the children's children, unto the third and to the fourth generation. (Exodus 34:6‑7)). Evidently this is not pure law; neither is it pure grace —the sovereign grace of God revealed in Christ. It is rather the goodness of God in government, under which it is said that God will by no means clear the guilty, whereas, under grace, God can justify the ungodly.
The effect of this partial display of glory was that when Moses came down from the mount the second time his face shone (Ex. 34:29-3529And it came to pass, when Moses came down from mount Sinai with the two tables of testimony in Moses' hand, when he came down from the mount, that Moses wist not that the skin of his face shone while he talked with him. 30And when Aaron and all the children of Israel saw Moses, behold, the skin of his face shone; and they were afraid to come nigh him. 31And Moses called unto them; and Aaron and all the rulers of the congregation returned unto him: and Moses talked with them. 32And afterward all the children of Israel came nigh: and he gave them in commandment all that the Lord had spoken with him in mount Sinai. 33And till Moses had done speaking with them, he put a vail on his face. 34But when Moses went in before the Lord to speak with him, he took the vail off, until he came out. And he came out, and spake unto the children of Israel that which he was commanded. 35And the children of Israel saw the face of Moses, that the skin of Moses' face shone: and Moses put the vail upon his face again, until he went in to speak with him. (Exodus 34:29‑35)). Even so, the people could not endure the reflection of this partial display of the glory of God in the face of Moses. They could not steadfastly behold the face of Moses for the glory of his countenance. No man can stand a revelation of God, however partial, if accompanied with the law. Under such circumstances, as it has been said, "You will either seek to hide from God, as Adam did in the garden of Eden, or you will seek to hide God from you, as Israel did when they entreated that Moses should put a veil upon his face" —John Darby.
It is thus proved that we cannot stand the slightest testimony to the glory of God in His holiness, grace, and goodness, if accompanied with a demand that we must, by our own efforts, answer to the glory. Nay, the more the glory of God is revealed, when accompanied with the demand that we must answer to it, the more impossible it is for us to endure the glory.
Having shown the character and effect of the law, the Apostle presents in contrast the ministry of grace. He speaks of this ministry as "the ministry of the spirit", "the ministry of righteousness", the ministry that remains, and lastly as the ministry that not only exceeds in glory but that subsists in glory (verses 8-11, JND).
The ministry of the Spirit. The law was "the writing of God graven upon the tables" of stone (Ex. 32.16); the gospel is a ministry of the Spirit of God, by which Christ is written on the heart. Moreover, the existence, commencement, and continuance of this ministry of the Spirit, depends upon the glory of Christ. The glory in which Christ is seated is the witness of God's infinite satisfaction in Christ and His work. So fully is God satisfied that there is now a Man in the glory — One wholly suited to the full revelation of God. The coming of the Spirit is the answer to His glory. As Christ is in the glory, the Holy Spirit can come and work in the hearts of sinners, revealing to them all that God is as declared in the face of Jesus.
The ministry of righteousness. Further, we learn that the gospel of the glory of Christ is "the ministry of righteousness". The law was a ministry of condemnation because it demanded righteousness from the sinner, and condemned him for his unrighteousness. The gospel, instead of demanding righteousness from the sinner, proclaims the righteousness of God to the sinner. It tells us that Christ has died as the propitiation for our sins, and that God has shown His complete satisfaction with what Christ has done by righteously seating Him in the glory; and that now, through Christ, God is righteously proclaiming the forgiveness of sins to a world of sinners and, further, can righteously pronounce the sinner that believes in Jesus justified from all things (Rom. 3:24, 2624Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus: (Romans 3:24)
26To declare, I say, at this time his righteousness: that he might be just, and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus. (Romans 3:26)). Thus the gospel of the glory of Christ not only tells us of the love and grace of God, but declares the righteousness of God.
The ministry that remains. In contrast with the law, the ministry of grace is that which abides. The law came in by the way to expose man; it was only to prepare the way for the coming of Christ. Christ having come, we have One who can never pass away, nor His glory grow dim, nor His work lose its efficacy. Therefore all the blessings of the gospel of the glory that depend upon the glory of Christ must be as lasting as Christ Himself.
The ministry that subsists in glory. The law that is done away was introduced with a glimpse of glory: that which abides not only exceeds in glory but subsists in glory; it depends for its existence upon the full revelation of the glory of God in Christ. Now that the glory of God has been fully met by Christ and His work, the glory of God can be fully revealed in the gospel of the glory.
(Vss. 12-13). Seeing, then, the blessedness of the ministry of the gospel that gives us an abiding place in glory, we can use great plainness of speech. We have not, like Moses, to put a veil over the glory. The glory of God in His holiness and love can be fully declared, seeing it is displayed in the face of Jesus, the One who died to put away all that is contrary to the glory. The glory in the face of Moses was veiled, with the result that Israel could neither see the measure of glory displayed in the law, nor Christ "the end" to which the law pointed.
(Vss. 14-16). Israel's thoughts have been darkened; and remain so to this day. When they read the law, they cannot see the One to whom the law points because of the unbelief in their hearts. The veil that was upon the face of Moses is now upon the hearts of Israel. When at last Israel turns to the Lord, the veil will be taken away. So with ourselves; only as we turn to the Lord shall we find the blindness and darkness of our hearts pass away.
(Vss. I 7-18). The parenthesis of verses 7 to 16 being closed, the Apostle continues the subject of verse 6. There he had been speaking of the spirit of the new covenant, which is for all, in contrast with the letter which limits the new covenant to Israel.
Continuing this theme, the Apostle now says, "The Lord is the Spirit". Probably, as scholars have pointed out, the word Spirit in this clause should have a small letter instead of a capital. The capital makes the word refer to the Holy Spirit, and this hardly seems to be intelligible. (See W. Kelly on Corinthians.) The meaning would appear to be that the Lord Jesus is the spirit, or essence, of the old covenant. All its forms, sacrifices and ceremonies prefigured Christ in different ways. The law had a shadow of good things to come, but Christ is the substance (Heb. 10:11For the law having a shadow of good things to come, and not the very image of the things, can never with those sacrifices which they offered year by year continually make the comers thereunto perfect. (Hebrews 10:1); Col. 2:1717Which are a shadow of things to come; but the body is of Christ. (Colossians 2:17)). Unbelief fails to see Christ in all the Scriptures, but faith apprehends the Lord in every part of the Word, and never more plainly than in the tabernacle, its sacrifices and services.
The Apostle then passes from speaking of the Lord as being the spirit, as giving "true inner bearing of what was communicated", to speak of the Spirit of the Lord. Here, without question, the capital is rightly used, for all will agree that this is the Holy Spirit. The Apostle states that "where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty". Those referred to in 2:17 would bring the saints into bondage by occupation with themselves: the Spirit brings into liberty by turning the soul to Christ in the glory. Such are not afraid of the glory of the Lord. They can view the glory seen in the face of Jesus without a veil, for the One in whose face the glory shines has met the claims of glory.
Moreover, there is a transforming power in beholding the Lord in glory, and this transforming power is available for all believers — the youngest as well as the oldest. "We all" — not simply "we apostles" —"beholding... the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image." This change is not effected by our own efforts, nor by wearying ourselves in the endeavor to be like the Lord. Nor is it by seeking to imitate some devoted saint: it is by beholding the glory of the Lord. There is no veil on His face, and as we behold Him, not only every veil of darkness will pass from our hearts, but morally we shall become increasingly like Him, changing from glory to glory.
Thus the Holy Spirit not only writes Christ on the heart so that we become epistles of Christ, but, by engaging our hearts with Christ in glory, He transforms us into His image and so keeps the writing clear. We are thus not only epistles of Christ, but we become epistles that are known and read of all men.
Furthermore, the Holy Spirit does not occupy us with our own shining for Christ. Moses had a glimpse of the glory of God and immediately his face shone; but we read, "Moses wist not that the skin of his face shone" (Ex. 34:2929And it came to pass, when Moses came down from mount Sinai with the two tables of testimony in Moses' hand, when he came down from the mount, that Moses wist not that the skin of his face shone while he talked with him. (Exodus 34:29)). He was not occupied with his shining face, but with the glory of God. The glory is in Christ, and only as we are occupied with Him shall we reflect a little of His glory.