(Chap. 2:14-3:18)
Having mentioned his ministry in the gospel at Troas, Paul is led to digress from the subject of their receiving his first letter to continue laying out features of a true Christian minister and his ministry. This was particularly pressing on his soul because there were “many” who were labouring with insincere and ulterior motives (vs. 17). Later in the epistle he calls them “false apostles” and “deceitful workers” (2 Cor. 11:13).
Since these so-called teachers and ministers were affecting the Corinthians in a negative way, they needed a God-endorsed profile so that they could identify a true minister of Christ Jesus from those who were false. Therefore, beginning at chapter 2:14 and continuing to chapter 7:5, the Apostle makes a long digression wherein he gives further details as to his character and ministry. Then, in chapter 7:6 he returns to his remarks concerning their reception of his first letter. The digression has four parentheses in it (chap. 3:7-16; 5:7; 6:2; 6:13).
Continuing his theme, Paul went on to speak of another distinguishing feature of a true Christian minister—he has a ministry that impacts his hearers. In other words, there is power in his ministry. It is not enough for the servant of the Lord to have a heart full of compassion, a sterling character, and good motives; his ministry must also have power. Oral ministry is not just speaking a lot of words; it is speaking by the Spirit so that the heart and the conscience of the saints are affected. It is possible to speak, but not really say anything because there is a lack of substance in our ministry. This was evidently the case with many who were presenting themselves as ministers in that day. Therefore, Paul magnifies two great features of the ministry he carried. If the Corinthians could see this, it would set him apart from the “false apostles” and “deceitful workers” who were trafficking among them (2 Cor. 11:13).
1) It Is a Triumphant Ministry
Chap. 2:14-17—The first characteristic of true Christian ministry—of which the Apostle Paul was the chief minister—is that of triumph. He says, “Now thanks be unto God which always causeth us to triumph in Christ, and maketh manifest the savour of His knowledge by us in every place. We are unto God a sweet savour of Christ, in them that are saved, and in them that perish: to the one the savour of death unto death; and to the other the savour of life unto life.” Triumphant Christian ministry is not being popular and having a large following of people; it’s having a ministry that exalts Christ—whether all receive it or not! Christ-exalting ministry is a continual triumph.
Looking back at the whole incident regarding the coming of Titus with the good news of the Corinthians’ positive reception of his first letter, Paul realized that God had marvellously overruled in the matter to the glory of Christ, and this led him to burst out in a doxology of thanksgiving to God.
God is sovereign, and all who are appointed to salvation will be saved (Acts 13:48), whether it is through us who preach the message or through someone else. Knowing this gave Paul peace as to whether he stayed at Troas to preach, or whether he left and went over to Macedonia to find Titus. To illustrate this, Paul used a figure borrowed from a Roman custom of that day. A victorious Roman general would parade though the streets of the imperial city on his chariot, crowned with a laurel, with his captives in chains. The proud conqueror and his troops would ascend the Capitol Hill with clouds of incense filling the air with perfume. As they made their triumphant march through the city, the praise of the victor was shouted by the multitudes that lined the way. The captives were there to augment the triumph, and this was demonstrated by some captives being appointed to die, and some to live. Similarly, God is making a victorious march through this world, and Paul and all who are involved in spreading the gospel are part of His triumphant army. “The savour of His knowledge” in the gospel, like the sweet perfume that rose in the march of the Roman conquerors, was being spread abroad by them “in every place” they went (vs. 14).
Paul and those who served with him were the medium by which the perfume of the gospel was diffused. They—not just what they preached—were “a sweet savour of Christ” because they had been transformed into His image by the power of the Spirit (vs. 15). Hence, they not only preached Christ; they lived Christ before the world. As the captives of the Roman conquerors were paraded into the capitol city with some appointed to die and some to live, Paul viewed the victory of God in the gospel as such; some believed “unto life” and some rejected “unto death.” Hence, there are two classes of people among whom the fragrance of the gospel circulates—those who will be saved and those who will go into perdition (vs. 16). Such are the effects of the gospel; it works either life or death in those who hear it. This shows the solemnity of preaching Christ, for eternal issues hang on the reception and rejection of the message. The immensity of this caused the Apostle to cry, “Who is sufficient for these things?” It could only be those with whom God had wrought with His divine “sufficiency” (chap. 3:5). He only can make His servants able to carry the gospel effectively by the various exercises and disciplines they pass through in His school.
Vs. 17—However, there were “many” in the ministry in that day who were shams. God had not wrought with them to make them true ministers. Such did not have the moral and spiritual qualifications of a real minister of Christ, nor did they have any real substance or power in their ministry. They were using the Word of God to serve their own ends, and had taken up the service of the Lord as a mere profession—as “a trade!” The Corinthians needed to be wary of these men, and test their reality by the profile of a true minister of Christ that Paul was giving them in describing his service for the Lord.
What distinguished Paul and his fellow workers from these false apostles was that they, with “sincerity,” ministered “in the sight of God” as representing Christ. Their ministry was triumphant because it exalted Christ—even if some didn’t believe the message.
2) It Is a Transforming Ministry
Chap. 3:1-18—Another great feature that marks true Christian ministry (of which Paul was the chief minister) is that it is effectual—it has a transforming power. True Christian ministry not only exalts Christ, but it also produces results in the lives of those who receive it. The existence of the assembly in Corinth proved this. The Corinthians were a living proof of the power of Paul’s ministry in the gospel—they had been saved through it! They, of all people, could not deny that God was working through Paul.
Vss. 1-2—This being the case, Paul asks them why anyone among the Corinthians would think that he and those who laboured with him needed to “commend” themselves to them—the Corinthian assembly was their commendation! He says, “Ye are our letter.” In bringing up “letters of commendation” Paul was addressing another criticism of his detractors. They had been saying that he had not been approved by the apostles in Jerusalem, and therefore, had no authority to be going about as he was. They fastened on the fact that he didn’t have a letter of commendation. Scripture indicates that a person should have a letter of commendation if he is going to an area where he is not known (Acts 18:24-28; Rom. 16:1-2), but Paul didn’t need a letter in Corinth, having been with them for a year and a half (Acts 18:1-17). He did not need to commend himself “as some others,” alluding to his adversaries who had come to Corinth with letters commending themselves. He didn’t need such a certificate; all men could know the character of his apostolic work by becoming acquainted with his Corinthian converts. In spite of their faults, they were the fruit of a genuine work of God through Paul. This shows that the very best credentials a Christian minister can have are found in the lives of those to whom he ministers; such prove the quality of his work. A man may have an alphabet of degrees after his name, having graduated from some revered Christian seminary, but that in itself will not give power to his ministry.
Vss. 3-5—The Corinthians were an “epistle” in two ways:
They were a commendation of Paul’s ministry (vss. 1-2).
They were also a commendation of the Lord Himself to all men (vs. 3).
The latter is true of all Christians; we are Christ’s representatives in this world. Our lives should commend Christ to all men. In that sense, we are His letter to the world. Many Christians misquote verse 3, saying, “Epistles (plural) of Christ,” but Paul was speaking of the Corinthians collectively as being one “epistle of Christ.” This is an allusion to the fact that the world should see the Christian company moving together as a whole, expressing what they truly are—the one body of Christ.
Paul goes on to speak of how Christian ministry effects transformation in believers, thus making them representatives of Christ. They are made so through an inward work in the “fleshy tables of the heart.” “The Spirit of the living God” writes Christ on the believer’s heart, and it comes out in a manifestation of Christ-like characteristics in the believer’s walk and ways. Paul adds, “Not in tables of stone,” which is a reference to the Law. This fact points to the truth that such a work is not accomplished in souls by legal means.
Since what Paul said of himself might have sounded like self-praise, he reminded the Corinthians that he and his co-workers were not “competent” in themselves. They could take no credit for what the Lord had wrought in and through them for the blessing of the saints; the “sufficiency [competency]” was all “of God” (vs. 5).
Vs. 6—Paul proceeds to call himself and those that worked with him, “New covenant ministers.” He quickly adds, “Not of letter, but of spirit,” because the "letter" of the new covenant will be made with Israel, and not with the Church. The “letter” of the new covenant is the literal fulfillment of its conditions in a coming day when a remnant of Israel are saved and brought into the kingdom (Jer. 31:31-34; Rom. 11:26-27). To apply it in “letter” to the Church would be to see it as being fulfilled in the Church in some way, which is a mistake. This is the error of Reformed Theology which imagines that the promises to Israel in the Old Testament are being fulfilled today in the Church, in a spiritual sense; hence, they speak of the Church as "spiritual Israel." Paul did not do that with those Old Testament promises; he ministered the “spirit” of the new covenant, which is grace. He taught Christians of the spiritual blessings of the covenant that were theirs through grace, without them formally being connected with it. Hence, the gospel we preach in Christianity is not the new covenant, but it is of the new covenant order, which is grace.
The three great spiritual blessings of the new covenant are:
The possession of divine life (Heb. 8:10).
An intelligent relationship with the Lord (Heb. 8:11).
The knowledge of sins forgiven (Heb. 8:12).
These new covenant blessings are the lowest of the spiritual blessings Christians possess. But they are not exclusively Christian: redeemed Israel and converted Gentiles in the Millennium will have these blessings too. In Romans, Colossians and Ephesians, Paul unfolds the fullness of our Christian blessings—the scope of which are much higher in character and in substance, and are all said to be “in Christ” at the right hand of God. Such are distinctly Christian—only Christians have them. He then said, “For the letter kills.” If he (or we) applied the new covenant according to the letter, it would destroy the heavenly character of the Christian’s calling, and would destroy the distinction between Israel and the Church.
The first thing this great ministry produces in believers is life—“the Spirit giveth life.” As the Word is ministered, the Spirit of God works in souls to impart divine life, which has the spiritual capacity to know and enjoy divine things. Real and lasting change in souls will only result from their enjoyment of divine things. It is not what we know or what ascetic rituals we take up with that effects moral change in our lives. Men have tried all kinds of outward appliances to affect change in people, but they all fail. But God’s way is to start from the inside—with the hearts and souls of men—and work out from there.
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Vss. 7-16—Paul turns aside in a parenthesis to show that the power of this ministry to effect positive things in believers is not by legal means. To emphasize this, he contrasts the Law, which he calls “the ministration of death” and “the ministration of condemnation,” with the new covenant ministry of grace, which he refers to in the epistle under three names. Each views a different aspect of the power and working of this ministry:
“The ministry of righteousness” (chap. 3:9) tells of an accomplished work of redemption witnessed in the fact that there is a glorified Man in heaven and that the believer has a place of acceptance before God in Him. Thus, it emphasizes what Christ has done for believers.
“The ministry of the Spirit” (chap 3:8) refers to the inward moral effect of the ministry producing Christ-likeness in believers. This has to do with what the Spirit does in believers.
“The ministry of reconciliation” (chap. 5:18) is the announcement to the world of what grace has accomplished for the glory of God and the blessing of man. It has to do with what God does through believers.
Vss. 9-11—The two systems of law and grace are contrasted; one is a system of demand (the old covenant), the other is a system of supply (the new covenant). Paul focuses on one of the many contrasts between the two ministries, telling us that the ministration of death and condemnation (the giving of the Law) “began with glory” (vs. 7), whereas the ministration of the Spirit and of righteousness “subsists” in a “surpassing glory” (vss. 8, 10). It is not that the old covenant was glorious, but that the system (at Sinai) that introduced it was glorious. In fact, both systems are glorious; but one so eclipses the glory of the other that they can hardly be compared.
Vss. 12-13—The glorious character of the ministry, which the Apostle was entrusted with, was so great that it influenced the manner of its presentation. Hence, Paul says, “Seeing then that we have such a hope, we use great plainness [boldness] of speech.” When Moses came to the people to minister the contents and requirements of the old covenant, he could not use boldness. He put a veil on because the condemning glory of the Law that reflected on his face terrified the people. It signified that the Law was not a full revelation from God. Hence, the people under that old covenant could not look to the “end” of it—which is the fulfillment of it in Christ. But in contrast to Moses, Paul could minister the blessings of the new covenant with boldness because what he presented was based on an accomplished work (at the cross), and thus he had a fuller revelation of the truth in Christ glorified.
Vss. 14-16—To this day, the same veil is “unremoved” when the Jews gather to read the Old Testament Scriptures in their synagogues. Those under that old covenant still don’t see its end in Christ. But there is no reason for it now because the “veil” has been “done away [annulled] in Christ.” There is now a full revelation in the face of Jesus on high in the glory. If there is any difficulty on the part of Israel now, it is not because the veil is on Moses’ face (signifying a partial revelation), but because it is “upon their heart” in unbelief of the full revelation of truth that the gospel announces.
The practical lesson we are to gain from this parenthesis is that the formation of Christ’s character in believers is not by legal means and efforts. If we think that we can accomplish it by setting out a code of rules and regulations for ourselves to keep, we will not succeed. We will be no more successful than Israel was under the law.
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Vss. 17-18—Having contrasted the two systems (law and grace) in a parenthesis, Paul resumes his subject of how the Spirit of God makes believers the epistle of Christ. He says, “Now the Lord is the spirit, where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty” (W. Kelly Translation; J. N. Darby, “Collected Writings,” vol. 26, p. 322). The word “spirit” in the first part of this verse is not the Holy Spirit (as KJV renders it), but the spirit of the old covenant. All the forms and ceremonies connected with the old covenant prefigured Christ. He is the spirit, or the spiritual substance and essence of those things, for they all pointed to Him. This is what the Jews failed to see, and still fail to see. Similarly, Christ is “the spirit of prophecy” (Rev. 19:10). That is, all of the prophetic Scriptures in the Old Testament relate to Him, either directly or indirectly.
Paul’s point here is that the ministry not only imparts life to souls by the Spirit (vs. 6), but it also gives the believer liberty in the presence of God in prayer and worship (vs. 17). This is the second great thing that the ministry of righteousness does. It tells us of an accomplished work of redemption and of our place of acceptance before God in Christ, but also when received in faith, it gives the believer “liberty” to come by the Holy Spirit into the presence of God and look into the “unveiled face” of the Lord Jesus, the Mediator of the new covenant. The shining of Moses’ face (the mediator of the old covenant) was the reflection of the condemning power of the Law before which Israel could not stand. Therefore, he covered his face. But what a contrast of glory in the ministry of righteousness! The Israelites could not look on the fading glory of the Law, but we can behold the full radiancy of the surpassing glory in the unveiled face of Jesus!
When we take advantage of this privilege and spend time in the presence of God, beholding “the glory of the Lord,” a third thing results—we are “transformed into the same image, from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit.” This is called “the ministration[ ministry] of the Spirit” (vs. 8). When the Spirit of God is free to work, He occupies the believer with Christ in glory; at the same time, He does His silent work of writing Christ on the fleshy tables of the heart. When Christ is impressed upon the affections of the believer, Christ’s character comes out in the believer’s walk and ways. The Law regulated outward conduct through legal means, but the ministry of the Spirit effects an inward work, transforming the believer from within; it results in an outward change of character.
Paul says, “ ... into the same image.” Image, in Scripture, has the thought of representation, which is what God’s purpose in transformation is—to make us true representatives of Christ in this world. This process is “from glory to glory.” That is, it’s a gradual thing; the change takes place one degree of glory at a time. Also, it is not something that is produced by self-effort, but “by the Spirit.” Hence, the Lord is the Object of our faith and the Spirit is the power for our transformation.
Looking back over the chapter (excluding the parenthesis in verses 7-16) we see the effectual working and glorious power of the new covenant ministry. It accomplishes three great things in the saints by the power of the Spirit, whereby they are made suitable representatives for Christ in this world as His “epistle.” The Spirit of God works in the ministry to give:
“Life,” and thus, capacity to know and enjoy divine things (vs. 6).
“Liberty” in the presence of God (vs. 17). The ministry of righteousness, which Paul announced tells of a Man on high in the glory in the presence of God, and it gives us to know our acceptance in Him. Thus, we have liberty to come into the presence of God to behold the glory of the Lord.
“Transformation” of character (vs. 18). As we are occupied with the Lord in glory, the Spirit writes Christ on our hearts and we are thus transformed into His image.