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You Are a Letter from Christ
2 Corinthians 3
Introduction: 2:16b–3:5 “Who is sufficient for these things? For we are not, like so many, peddlers of God’s word, but as men of sincerity, as commissioned by God, in the sight of God we speak in Christ.”
To be an aroma of Christ among those who are saved and among those who are perishing – an aroma of death to one and an aroma of life to another – is an incredible position to be in. Paul is saying that he and those with him who bring the knowledge of Christ are holding in their hands either eternal death or eternal life for those to whom the aroma came. That is an amazing position for a flesh and blood human to be in. Who could be sufficient for such a task? Later in 3:4-6, Paul will claim that they are not sufficient of themselves, but God has made them sufficient. As 2:17 states, they are men of sincerity “commissioned by God.”
In contrast to this, the Corinthian preachers were “peddlers of the word.” They preached a message that had the intention of drawing people to themselves in order to exalt themselves. Since the Corinthians were fairly new Christians and still worldly in their perceptions, the soft, entertaining worldly wisdom of their preachers was comfortable and pleasing. Therefore, the work of Paul and his companions would have been confusing. Why are they suffering? Why does Paul seem to always be talking about sacrifice?
Because of their carnal approach and the fact that their preachers saw themselves in competition with Paul, they had apparently been convinced that Paul needed to prove his authenticity as a teacher of the word by providing “letters of recommendation.” Their preachers had letters, why didn’t Paul have letters?
Therefore, Paul uses their questions and confusion to present a second picture to show what their ministry was about, and by extension, God’s purpose in the preaching of the gospel. Their preachers gave entertaining sermons, but by contrast, Paul and his companions were bringing a message that would transform them into the likeness of the glory of God.
You Are a Letter from Christ, Known and Read by All
First notice Paul’s heart. The Corinthians are a letter written on Paul’s heart. Do you have people written on your heart? Then you know what that means. You cannot get them off your mind. Their welfare is ever before you because of your great concern for their spiritual wellbeing. Paul began his first letter with, “Be imitators of me.” Here is a key way we need to be like Paul. Those that we teach, those that we desire to have the gospel, and those who have been taught, should be on our hearts as a letter you hold dear. That is how involved we are to be with the souls of those around us.
Therefore, the very existence of the Corinthian Christians was Paul’s letter of recommendation. They would not have existed as people of God if not for Paul working among them. But what a letter! They were a “letter from Christ!” The one who penned the letter was the Holy Spirit himself. The place on which the letter was written was the hearts of these Corinthians. And the administrator or deliverer of the letter was Paul.
Now why did Jesus send a letter written on the hearts of humans? What was the point? There are two purposes:
- First, Paul says that they are a letter “known and read by all men.” Remember in 2:14, as captives for Christ we “spread the fragrance of the knowledge of him everywhere.” Now Paul presents a different picture, but for the same purpose. We are an actual letter from Christ. Who did Jesus send the letter to? He sent it so that it could be known and read by all men.
- That brings us to the second purpose, which is based in the obvious question: If the letter is read by all men, what does the letter say? That is explained by verse 3, which reads, “You show that you are a letter from Christ…” Well, how do you show it? You show it by where the letter is written (on your heart), and how the letter was written (by the Spirit). As Jeremiah foretold, “God will write his laws on our heart.”
Notice that Paul uses two contrasts. First, the letter is not written by ink, but with the Spirit of the living God. Second, it is not written on tablets of stone but on tablets of human hearts. What is the meaning of this?
- First, both ink and stone are temporary and lifeless. But the Spirit of the living God is life giving and the tablets of human hearts when written on by Spirit of the living God are changed. As Ezekiel 36:26 states, these hearts are changed from hearts of stone to hearts of flesh. These are hearts no longer filled with sin and a desire to be rebellious. These are hearts that are humble and pliable, allowing the Spirit to change them.
- Therefore, it is striking to put this together with the former picture. In 2:14-16, we were captives in Christ’s triumphal procession, spreading the fragrance of Christ everywhere. Now we learn that it is not our bodies taken captive, our hearts of been take captive as well. We are thrilled to be captives giving up our lives for our King. In fact, we are not resistant captives; our hearts have been changed to actually reflect the King who captured us. He now sends us out as changed people, letters written to the world of how glorious this King really is.
Considering what the Corinthian preachers were doing (peddlers of the word), Paul has just shown something so much more wonderful than just listening to a nice speech, even a nice religious speech. This marks for us the intent of preaching and teaching! It is for hearts and lives to be changed so that it is evident we have been rewritten, not as carnal, lifeless people, but as letters from Christ known and read by all men.
The Glory of the New Covenant
Verses 7-11 At first thought we might think that Paul gives this comparison between the Law/10 Commandments and the new covenant because the false preachers at Corinth we reverting to the Law. But more likely Paul is showing how superior the ministry of the Spirit that he is administering. It is so glorious that it even supersedes the glory of a law written by the finger of God on tablets of stone.
Verses 12-18
In order to understand Paul’s argument in these verses, we need to be reminded of the original context in which Moses’s face was shining. Moses entered the tent of meeting in order to receive the words of God and then tell the people those words. When he came out of the tent, his face was shining. When the people saw his face they were afraid and moved away from him. Therefore, every time Moses came out of the tent, he would tell the people God’s words while unveiled, but would then veil himself afterwards until he entered the tent again.
So our first question is: why did God cause Moses face to shine when he came out of the tent and delivered God’s words? The straightforward answer is that God’s words had the purpose of revealing the glory of God.
Why the veiling? Paul explains that Moses veiled his face because the people’s hearts were hardened (2 Cor. 3:14), indicated by the fact that they moved away from Moses and did not see the purpose of why his face was shining, that is, Moses’ face was only a reflection of a greater glory.
Verse 14, their minds were hardened… Meaning they did not want to see the full glory. They were only fixated on Moses’ face. The veiling of Moses’ face symbolized their refusal to see that in Moses’ shining they were not seeing the full glory and that the glory of the first covenant would come to an end in favor of a more glorious covenant that would never end. Thus, Moses veiled his face so they would not keep gazing at what was ending. “But, their minds were hardened” and they kept gazing at what was coming to an end.
To use an analogy, what if we were all “moon people,” the only light we ever saw was the moon. Oh how wonderful we would think the moon was, because without it we would be in the dark. But suppose someone came and told us that if we would quit darkening our whole house and going to sleep when the moon quit shining, we could see a much more glorious light that would make the moon not look that impressive at all. We could live in true light instead of reflective light. But no, we refuse because we think the moon is so cool that we just can’t quit gazing at it.
Therefore, Israel in Paul’s day had not changed. Their hearts were still veiled as they read the old covenant and refused to see that the Old was temporary and that there was a much greater glory. Only if they turned to Christ would they be able to have the veil lifted.
Verses 17-18 point us toward God’s ultimate purpose: transformation into the image of God, from one degree of glory to another. How is that accomplished? By gazing into the glory of God with unveiled faces. Sound simple? It’s not. 4:4 – the god of this world wants to keep us blinded; he wants to keep the veil on. How does that happen?
- You can read the Bible and remained veiled! Israel did (John 5:39). There are many ways in which we have done the same thing. Some are content with just having a “Sunday School” knowledge of the Bible. They know the stories and the basic doctrines, and they are content. They are also veiled. They are content to “look at the moon.” What could be greater? They have no idea and are unwilling to gaze deeply so the veiled can be removed.
- Others seem to be amazing students of the scriptures, just like the scribes and Pharisees. But they also are veiled because they are enamored with spending all their time on dealing with false doctrines and the details of the moral issues of the law. Just as Israel, they study but do not see God. They “tithe herbs” but miss the weightier matters. Listen to their questions. Listen to the questions of the Pharisees. Should we pay taxes to Caesar? Can we divorce for any cause? When are we really doing work on the Sabbath? If they (and us) would grow in the words of the Spirit and see the glory of God so that transformation was taking place, they questions would be easy! What reflects God’s glory?
- Still others, think of salvation primarily in terms of having their sins forgiven. These ask questions like, “Do you think a person would be lost if he… How much service to God is enough?” Again they miss transformation.
- John 12:36-41, Isaiah’s whole prophecy was to show Israel the glory of the Jesus that he had seen in his vision.
Do you see the beauty of the Lord, that is, a beauty that is so far beyond every other beauty that everything else has no glory at all in comparison? The idolatry of the OT worshiped the sun, moon, stars, the form of women, animals, and everything else that had a semblance of beauty. Why did they do that? They were veiled and did not see the beauty of God. If they had seen his beauty, all else would have had no beauty in comparison.
Conclusion: God is inviting us into the tent. Why is he inviting us in? So he can write on our hearts a letter from him, known and read by all men! Will you go in? Will you walk into the tent so you can gaze at the glory of God unveiled and be transformed from one degree of glory to another.