Patrick: 00:13

Thank you for listening to 1st day. Let's continue on with our deep dive into 2 Corinthians with 2 Corinthians 3. Paul writes, Are we beginning to commend ourselves again or do we need like some letters of recommendation to you or from you? You yourselves are our letter written on our hearts known and read by everyone. You show that you are Christ's letter delivered by us, not written with ink but with the spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of human hearts.

Patrick: 00:54

In Macedonia, Paul has learned that the Corinthian church has repented and is seeking to fully embrace their life in Christ. Paul has sent Titus with this letter back to them and here Paul asks if he needs credentials to prove that he truly represents the gospel of Christ. Perhaps there were some on his painful visit that questioned him in this regard. Perhaps those people are still around. In verse 2, Paul tells the Corinthians that they are the only proof for his apostolic calling that they need.

Patrick: 01:37

Likewise, they are the only proof that Paul needs to have confidence in his call. But these are not the only two ways that the Corinthians serve as proof. He says here, You show that you are God's letter delivered by us that is me, Paul not written with ink but with the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of human hearts. Paul says that the church is also Christ's credential that is read not through some statement of creed or written declaration but it is read through their actions and through the intentions of their hearts. How we allow the Spirit to operate in our lives acts as a witness for God.

Patrick: 02:28

In verse 4 he says, Such is the confidence we have through Christ before God. It is not only that we are competent in ourselves to claim anything as coming from ourselves but our adequacy is from God. So without the presence of the spirit nothing that we could do would be sufficient, effective, or lasting. If Paul or the Corinthians or us today, if they preach the gospel through our own power and our own purposes, it wouldn't measure up. The work we do is only adequate when it arises deep from within the heart of God that we share because of the presence of the Holy Spirit.

Patrick: 03:16

What Paul says in verse number 6 is something that should cause pause in the church as it certainly was intended to do when Paul wrote this to Corinth. Verse 6 says, he has made us competent to be ministers of a new covenant, not of the letter but of the spirit for the letter kills but the spirit gives life. Do as I say and those who do not do as I say, they are right out. This here is this list of do's and don'ts. Behave, file the letter and you will be okay.

Patrick: 03:57

This is the ministry of the letter or at least one way of taking Paul's meaning here and applying it to today. Following the letter of the law or a code is not competent ministry and cannot make a new covenant effective. The letter cannot bring life, only death. Only the new covenant, the spirit, brings life because it is written not with letters but in our par and not on not in letters, not on our papers, but but it is written upon our hearts. And what the Spirit writes upon our hearts is the very life of God.

Patrick: 04:36

Another way to apply this to our church today is to understand that no amount of programming, no belief statement, no change in worship form, no change in church governments will bring life. If what we do is for the sake of numbers, for the balance sheet, it will not bring to our church anything that actually lasts because it's coming out of ourselves and not out of the Spirit. Only when the church submits to the Spirit, when it commits to being what God has called it to be in Christ, only when it chooses to begin being Christ's credential to the community will it find life. So this goes back to what Paul has already said here in 2 Corinthians, that we exist as a church and as the people of God in order to prove to those that are outside of God's family that God is real and that Christ is real and that Christ is love. What we do is advertise.

Patrick: 05:54

What we do is prove that God is real. Verse number 7. Now if the ministry that brought death chiseled in letters on stone came with glory so that the Israelites were not able to gaze steadily at Moses' face because of its glory which was set aside, how will the ministry of the Spirit not be more glorious? For if the ministry that brought condemnation had glory, the ministry that brings righteousness overflows with even more glory. In fact, what had been glorious is not glorious now by comparison because of the glory that has surpassed it.

Patrick: 06:43

For if what was set aside was glorious, what endures will be even more glorious. Here Paul is referring to Exodus 34, verses 29 through 35. As Moses descended from Sinai with 2 tablets and the testimony in his hands, he didn't realize that the skin of his face had was shining as a result of his speaking with the Lord. And so it threw everybody off. It made it made everybody scared.

Patrick: 07:18

And so when Moses had finished speaking with the people and sharing what God had asked him to share, he put the veil back over his face. Verse, let's see, 3434, Exodus 3434, But whenever Moses went before the Lord to speak with him, he would remove the veil until he came out. After he came out, he would tell the Israelites what he had been commanded and the Israelites would see Moses' face was radiant and then Moses would put the veil over his face again until he went to speak with the Lord. This glory was externally applied like a glowing paint that the letter of the law had coated Moses with. But it is not so with the glory that has been implanted into the human heart by the ministry of the Spirit.

Patrick: 08:16

It doesn't fade like that which was applied to Moses, but it radiates out of the law of God that has been written upon our hearts to the Spirit of Christ. In the movie Casino Royale, James Bond and Vesper are dressing in their finery for the big poker game, which 7 is about to participate in. And Bond picks up the jacket that Vesper has laid out for him to wear and he has this most puzzled look on his face. And he says, but I have a dinner jacket. And she responds, well, there are dinner jackets and there are dinner jackets.

Patrick: 08:55

This is the latter. There is glory and there is glory. This is the latter. Since then, we have such a hope, Paul says in verse 12, we act with great boldness. We are not like Moses who used to put a veil over his face to prevent the Israelites from gazing steadily until the end of the glory of what was being set aside.

Patrick: 09:23

But their minds were hardened. For to this day at the reading of the old covenant, the same veil remains. It is not lifted because it is set aside only in Christ. Since we have such a hope, we act with great boldness. What is this hope if it's not the life in the spirit, a glory of Christ that endures in us?

Patrick: 09:51

The Corinthians can live their faith boldly because the glory of God remains with them coming out from inside of them, not imposed upon them like it was with Moses. The veil prevents the Israelites from not only witnessing the fading glory, but it is also a constant reminder of Israel's shame, a constant reminder of their failure. They couldn't understand that the law had not come to save them but to bring the penalty of death. The veil remained reminded them of this death. Only through the presence of Christ and his work can the veil that separates us from God be lifted.

Patrick: 10:44

Only with his presence can we live freely and without shame. Verse number 15, Yet still today whenever Moses is red, a veil lies over their hearts but whenever a person turns to the Lord, the veil is removed. Now, the Lord is the Spirit and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. We all with unveiled faces are looking as in a mirror at the glory of the Lord and are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory. This is from the Lord who is the Spirit.

Patrick: 11:24

The veil prevents us from seeing God as he is. Now I see dimly as in a mirror, Paul wrote to the Corinthians earlier. But one day we will see him as he really is which is how we really have become. Instead of being the aroma of Christ in chapter 2, here we are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory. This transformation, this realization of the new covenant cannot be achieved without the Spirit.

Patrick: 12:04

And on that I invite you to share and, this podcast with others if you find it beneficial to your to your faith and to your your knowledge of Christianity and to your discipleship. I am Patrick Cooley and you have been listening to the FirstDay podcast. Visit us at www. Firstday.us where you can connect with me at connectfirstday.us if you have any questions or comments or would like a deeper dive into anything that I've talked about today. So until next time, thank you for listening.

Patrick: 12:46

Blessings and goodbye for now.