Trinity 12
2
Cor 3:4-11
8/22/21
Recently
my dad, sons, nephews, and I were out in Altoona, PA watching trains. While there, we always go to eat at a
restaurant that has blast from the past.
As soon as you walk in the front door, on the right side you see an
operating payphone.
Now the
boys all find this to be greatly amusing. Here you have a telephone attached to
the wall, into which you have to place money in order to make a call. In a
world of cell phones with which you can call from basically anywhere, while
using the same device to use the internet, watch videos and play games – the
whole idea of a pay phone seems rather absurd. And certainly, as a technology,
the cell phone blows away the pay phone in every possible way.
Yet we
should not lose sight of what a glorious thing the telephone was for those who
first experienced it. Alexander Graham Bell was awarded the U.S. patent for the
first telephone in 1876. Prior to that
the telegraph was the fastest means of communication. Yet now, you could actually talk directly to
the other person and hear their voice.
And in the pay phone, you had locations where you could do that, even if
you weren’t in your own home. There were
many times when I was glad to have a payphone available so that I could call
for a ride home.
The pay
phone, in itself, was a great thing. But
the reality is that the cell phone is an even greater thing that surpasses it,
and makes it pale in comparison. In our
epistle lesson this morning, the apostle Paul describes the same kind of
relationship between the first covenant that God made with Israel, and the new
covenant that we now experience in Jesus Christ. The first covenant had
glory. But in the new covenant something
even more glorious has come as it gives salvation to all people.
The
background for our text is provided by the previous three verses of chapter
three. Other Christian teachers had come
to Corinth. Apparently, they brought
with them letters of commendation which claimed they were authoritative
teachers in the Church. Letters of
commendation were a common practice in the ancient world. Someone, who was
known to the receiver of the letter, would vouch for the individual carrying
the letter of commendation.
The early Church used this practice too,
and in this case these teachers had shown up in Corinth with letters of
commendation, as they then set about in the work of opposing the apostle
Paul. Now we don’t know anything about
the legitimacy of the letters of commendation they brought. And Paul’s point is
that it doesn’t matter, because he had something even better.
Paul writes, “Are we beginning to
commend ourselves again? Or do we need, as some do, letters of
recommendation to you, or from you? You yourselves are our letter of
recommendation, written on our hearts, to be known and read by
all. And you show that you are a letter from Christ delivered by us,
written not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God, not
on tablets of stone but on tablets of human hearts.”
The apostle says that he and Timothy don’t need a letter of
commendation, because the Corinthians themselves are their letter of commendation.
Paul and his companions’ work of ministry and their love for the Corinthians
was known by all. It was as if the Corinthians were written on their hearts,
ready to be seen by all.
And beyond that the Corinthians themselves were the letter from
Christ that had been written through the ministry of Paul. He was the first to share the Gospel with the
Corinhians. It was through his
proclamation and teaching that the Corinthians had come to faith in
Christ. And so Paul can say, “you are a
letter from Christ delivered by us, written not with ink but with the Spirit
of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets
of human hearts.”
Paul’s opponents often argued that Gentile Christians had to
show some kind of adherence to the Torah – the Law that God gave to Moses at Mt
Sinai – if they wanted to be part of God’s people. That seems to be the case here as well
because Paul’s reference to tablets of stone leads in our text to a comparison
between the first covenant made with Israel, and the new covenant that has been
established in Christ. Paul says, “Such
is the confidence that we have through Christ toward God. Not that we are
sufficient in ourselves to claim anything as coming from us, but our
sufficiency is from God, who 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.”
Paul declares that their sufficiency comes from God who had made
them ministers of the new covenant – a covenant of the Spirit of God and not
the letter of the law. And this made all
the difference in the world because while the letter kills, the Spirit gives
life.
The letter – the letter of the law kills. The law is about what we must do. The letter of the law kills because it brings
judgment upon all who fail to do it. Fundamental to Paul’s assessment of the
law is the reality of what sin has done to us.
He told the Romans that “all, both Jews and Greeks, are under sin.” Since the Fall of Adam and Eve, all people
have been conceived and born as those who are corrupted in every way by
sin. We simply do not have the spiritual
ability to live according to God’s will.
The law sets forth God’s will. It describes how God has ordered his
creation. But it also declares judgment
against all who break God’s will. And since because of our fallen nature we can
never do God’s law perfectly, the letter of the law can only bring us
death. Paul told the Galatians, “For all who rely on works of the law
are under a curse; for it is written, "Cursed be everyone who
does not abide by all things written in the Book of the Law, and do them.”
We know this is true of us. There is no end to the things that we place
before God. The reception of God’s Word
takes second place during the week because there are so many other things
we would rather do. We disobey our
parents. We do not show love, care, and
self-sacrifice for our spouse. We enjoy sharing gossip that hurts the
reputation of others.
Yet in our text Paul declares that God had made him and
his co-workers “ministers of a new covenant, not of the letter but of
the Spirit. For the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.” God had made
his covenant with Israel. But this
covenant was not his last word. Instead,
it was part of his plan to bring salvation to all people. In the fulfillment of the first covenant, God
had now established a new covenant.
In our text, the apostle contrasts this new covenant with
the first one. He points out that the
first covenant certainly had glory. He illustrates this with the way that when
Moses had been in Yahweh’s presence his face shown with a glory so that the
Israelites couldn’t look at it. In fact
he had to place veil over his face. If
this ministry of the law that in itself could only bring death had such glory,
Paul asks, “will not the ministry of the Spirit have even more glory?”
Then the apostle adds, “For if there was glory in the ministry of
condemnation, the ministry of righteousness must far exceed it in glory.” Paul describes the new covenant as a ministry
of righteousness. Where the law could only bring condemnation, God has acted in
the new covenant to put us right with him. And in chapter five the apostle
describes exactly how he has done this.
There Paul writes that, “in Christ God was reconciling the
world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and
entrusting to us the message of reconciliation.” God has acted in Jesus Christ to reconcile us
to himself. He hasn’t counted our
trespasses against us. But the just and
holy God didn’t just pretend like our sin doesn’t exist. Instead, in the incarnation he sent his Son
into the world to die on the cross for our sin. He sent him to receive the
punishment against our sin. The apostle says, “For our sake he made him to be
sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness
of God.”
Jesus Christ died for our sins in order to make us righteous
before God – to make us holy in his eyes.
But remember, Paul has said in our text that God, “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.”
The Spirit does give life. The
Spirit gave life when he raised Jesus from the dead on the third day. This is the source of the life that we now
experience. It is the Spirit who raised
Jesus from the dead – the Spirit of Christ – who has now given us spiritual
life. He has made us a new creation in
Christ.
You know
that you have received the Spirit because you have been baptized. Paul says in the first chapter of his letter,
“And it is God who
establishes us with you in Christ, and has anointed us, and who has
also put his seal on us and given us his Spirit in our hearts as a
guarantee.” The presence of the life
giving Spirit within us is the guarantee that we are God’s. The Spirit is the seal that shows we belong
to him.
Until we die or our Lord returns, we continue to face the
struggle against sin. We are a new creation in Christ, but in ourselves the
sinful nature continues to hang on. And
so we confess our sin. We confess it, and at the same time we embrace in faith
the ministry of righteousness that God has given us in Christ. We believe and
trust in our Lord Jesus who died on the cross for our sins, and then rose from
the dead. Because of him we are forgiven
before God. We have salvation and eternal life.
We have the confidence that he will raise us up on the Last Day as we
share in his resurrection.
And at the same time we know that the Spirit gives life. The Spirit who gave us new spiritual life
through the water and Word of Holy Baptism, continues to nourish and strengthen
that life through the Means of Grace. He
is at work in us – leading and enabling us to live in ways that fulfill God’s
will. As Paul says in chapter five, “For the love of Christ controls us,
because we have concluded this: that one has died for all, therefore all
have died; and he died for all, that those who live might no longer
live for themselves but for him who for their sake died and was raised.”
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