The division of the books of the Bible into chapters and verses, as is well known, is of human origin; and though it is a great convenience in referring to passages, it is faulty, sometimes in the division into verses, much more frequently in the arrangement by chapters. It is plain, for instance, that the third chapter’s beginning is a continuation of the subject which was before the inspired writer at the close of the second chapter; and they should be read together.
The low spiritual state of the Corinthian saints called for the language the apostle uses. That is why he speaks in his own behalf, of the character of his service for God, in the last verse of chapter 2, and continues (verses 1-3): Do we begin again to commend ourselves? or do we need, as some, commendatory letters to you, or from you? Ye are our letter, written in our hearts, known and read (or well known) of all men, ye being manifested that ye are Christ’s epistle, ministered by us; written, not with ink, but the Spirit of the living God; not on stone tables, but on fleshy tables of the heart.
Letters of commendation are much needed when saints go where they are not personally known, but so very much was the assembly at Corinth the result of Paul’s labor for Christ in that place, that he could say to them, Ye are our epistle, our letter of commendation. “Written in our hearts,” tells of his affection for them. And if Paul’s, they were Christ’s epistle, ministered by the apostle, but written by the Spirit of the living God on fleshy tables of the heart.
This every gathering of God’s saints is, and every individual saint- every believer in the Lord Jesus Christ — Christ’s letter of commendation to an unbelieving world. The world of that day took knowledge of the Assembly of God at Corinth; they saw something of the result of the gospel of God’s grace in human hearts, something of Christ in those Corinthians. So, to the unbelieving world of today, having no regard for God or His Christ, and ignorant of His truth, you, dear young Christian, are in the position of recommending the Savior. May they see nothing in you but what recommends Him!
The reference to tables of stone in the third verse directs our thoughts to the tables or tablets of the law given to Moses (Exodus 24:12; 31:18; 32:19; 34:1, 4, 28; 40:20). And what a contrast this suggests! The law was a series of demands upon man which he could not meet; instead of it, we have Christ engraved on every believer’s heart by the Holy Spirit.
Verses 4, 5: “And such trust (or confidence) have we through Christ towards God; not that we are sufficient (competent) of ourselves to think anything as of ourselves, but our sufficiency (competency) is of God.” The apostle refers to his work, his ministry; but in principle it is true of all the children of God, of every one who trusts in Jesus. We have confidence through Him toward God, because of the place of acceptance and of divine favor into which we have been brought.
Guarding against any thought of self-confidence or self-sufficiency, the apostle adds, “not that we are competent of ourselves to think anything as of ourselves, but our competency is of God.”
Happy is that Christian, who is enabled by divine grace to find his all in God; in Him and His Word he rests, drawing from that high and inexhaustible source for every need.
In another place (Phil. 3:3), after warning those to whom he wrote against dangers in the believer’s associations, the apostle adds, summarizing in a few words what a Christian is,
“For we are the circumcision, which worship God by the Spirit, and rejoice in Christ Jesus, and have no confidence in the flesh.”
May this characterization of the new man be true of you, dear young Christian, in the daily practice of your life!
Verse 6. Paul was made by God an able or competent minister of the new testament; he was fitted to serve, having learned the lesson of verse 5. The new covenant, for it is really that here, not “testament,” as the translators have generally made it, is referred to several times in the New Testament (See Heb. 7:22; 8 and 9; 10:16; 12:24 and 13:20, Matt. 26:28; Mark 14:24; Luke 22:20; Rom. 11:27; 1 Cor. 11:25). The same Greek word serves for both covenant and testament or will, and in Heb. 9:16 and 17 it is used in the latter sense. The new covenant is promised to Israel in Jer. 31:31-33, and Ezek. 16:60-62, and it will be theirs in the millennium.
The blood of the new covenant is, of course, the shed blood of Christ; His death is the basis of all God’s dealings in grace with man. We who now believe, are getting the blessings of the future covenant with Israel, without its being made with us.
How could Paul be a minister of the new covenant before it is made? The reason is plain; the foundation on which it will stand has been laid, and the grace it provides was offered to the Jews at the beginning of the Church’s history, but they would not have it, so we have the ministry of it now. We are under no covenant, but Israel was under that given at Mount Sinai, in the observance of which they failed completely.
Under the new covenant, the remnant of Israel brought through the judgments foretold in the prophetic Scriptures, will have the knowledge of God, and of the forgiveness of their sins; they will have His laws in their hearts and in their minds. What a change that promises from the unbelieving Israel of today!
Paul’s ministry was “not of the letter but of the Spirit, for the letter killeth, but the Spirit giveth life.” The letter is as far as the natural man sees- a law given, whose requirements he must keep or suffer the penalty; the mind of God- the purpose of God-is made known to faith by the quickening Spirit through the written Word.
Verses 7 to 16 form a parenthesis, the seventeenth verse joining on to what is said in the sixth; in this parenthesis the law given by Moses is contrasted with the gospel. The law was the “ministry of death” (verse 7), and the “ministry of condemnation” (verse 9); a ministry of death, because they who were under it were promised life only as they kept the law in all its requirements; but having a sinful nature, with its own desires and a will contrary to God, the law held out only death to all; it was a ministry of condemnation, because the law condemned every soul that continued not in all things written in it (Gal. 3:10; Deut. 27:26).
The law began with glory, so that the children of Israel could not fix their eyes on the face of Moses on account of the glory of his face, a glory which is annulled. The reference is to Ex. 34:29-35 when Moses the second time came down from the mountain of the law with tablets of stone containing the ten commandments. There is no mention of Moses’ face shining with reflected glory when he came down the first time from the presence of God (Ex. 32:15-30). Then he had the law alone, but the second time Moses was able to communicate to the people along with the law that God is “merciful and gracious... keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, and that law mingled with grace, and it was this that was introduced with glory, God having given Moses a glimpse of His glory in connection with His promise of mercy for sinning Israel.
The children of Israel, however, could not bear to look on Moses’ face when he came down from Sinai, reflecting as it did some of the glory of God, nor were they able to understand the divine purpose in the giving of the law, or to apprehend the spiritual meaning of the system which Moses was directed to establish among them whereby relationship with God might be maintained. The letter of the law condemned those to whom it was given; further than that they understood very little, except as individual faith grasped the purpose of God to bless for His name’s sake.