As you will recall from earlier studies in our series about the books of First and Second Corinthians, Paul has had extensive dealings with the church at Corinth. He established the church around 52 A.D. when he first went to Corinth, and he lived in Corinth for a year and a half to help the church in its initial months of existence. Subsequently, however, the church strayed from sound doctrine after Paul had left Corinth, and many problems developed within the church and in its witness to the community. Paul wrote several times to the Corinthians seeking to motivate them to make substantive changes. One of those letters we know as the book of 1 Corinthians, in which we read of difficulties in the church involving factions, disorganization, legalism, and failure to deal effectively with sinning members. The church sought to be acceptable in its philosophical, hedonistic culture. Leaders of the disruptive factions thought themselves and portrayed themselves as spiritually superior, but Paul showed them they were arrogant and spiritually immature.
After sending that letter, Paul made a short visit to Corinth which he calls his painful visit (see 2 Corinthians 2:1). Apparently he left the city after confronting the church and giving them an ultimatum to return to sound doctrine and practice. He is thought to have given them a letter of rebuke at this time also, and they were to send Paul their response with Titus, who planned to meet Paul in Troas. When Titus did not show up at Troas, Paul traveled to Macedonia and found him there. Titus brought good news from Corinth—the church had mended its ways and had heeded Paul’s instructions. While we do not know the details, the disruptive leaders either repented or left the church, and the church implemented Paul’s instructions as to doctrine, conduct of worship, and interaction with the culture around it. After learning of these positive developments that had taken place in Corinth, Paul immediately wrote another letter to the church commending them and praising them for the changes they had made. We know this letter as the book of 2 Corinthians. Just prior to the passage we will discuss today, Paul commended the Corinthians for yielding to his instructions and returning to sound doctrine (in chapters 1 and 2). In chapter 3, he briefly discusses legalism versus the indwelling and leading of the Holy Spirit in the life of the Christian, and in doing so recognizes the Corinthians for the spiritual maturity of the path they have now chosen.
Paul’s comments to his readers in this passage teach that (1) the Spirit changes the way we live, (2) the Christian’s competence comes from the Spirit and not external control of the law, and (3) we experience the glory of God through the indwelling Spirit.
1. The Spirit changes the way we live (vv. 1-3)
Are we beginning to commend ourselves again? Or do we need, like some people, letters of recommendation to you or from you? You yourselves are our letter, written on our hearts, known and read by everybody. You show that you are a letter from Christ, the result of our ministry, written not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of human hearts.
Notice that Paul did not say I told you so or gloat or see himself as victor in rebuking the Corinthian church. I don’t know about you, but that always seems to be a temptation when I have had a difference of opinion with someone and prove to have been right. While I don’t often give into that temptation, it’s still there nonetheless! As with many aspects of Paul’s life, he lived his Christian beliefs, and he responded to the Corinthians’ change of heart not with gloating, but with forgiveness and thanksgiving.
Paul was careful in his response for a number of reasons. Remember from our previous studies that he had been criticized by some people in the church for his bold teaching. Some of them had accused him of being proud and even accused him of lying to them when he changed his travel plans and did not arrive at Corinth for a visit when he had said he would. He did not want to commend himself or take any credit away from the Corinthians for the decision they had made. He wanted them to know that the victory was theirs for returning to sound doctrine and practice in their faith.
Paul also recognized that they had reaffirmed his authenticity and authority as an apostle. This may even have been stated in the response Titus delivered to Paul from the Corinthians. He asks a rhetorical question (Do I need a letter of recommendation) which in a way recognizes them or thanks them for the fact they no longer are influenced by those who had accused him of being a false teacher. In the first century, there were many itinerant philosophers and evangelists, many of whom were false teachers of Christian principles and doctrines. One way to know an itinerant teacher was bona fide was for an established church to give him a letter of introduction and recommendation to carry with him to the next place he visited. Paul’s question to his Corinthians readers may even have intended to be a somewhat humorous way to acknowledge his gratitude that no one in Corinth continued to question his apostleship. He also turns the issue into a compliment of the Corinthian Christians, employing the issue to convey to them he does not need a letter of recommendation because the Spirit of God now working through them is proof of the truth he had taught them.
Paul is not overstating the role of the Holy Spirit here, either. The Holy Spirit transforms people if they will let Him. The church at Corinth is a great example of His effect on the human heart. If we merely had the book of 1 Corinthians from which to learn about the church there, no doubt we might conclude that the problems in Corinth were just too bad, that the situation probably could not be solved. But what we see described in the book of 2 Corinthians is a different people, a Spirit-indwelt people, a group of Christians who turned a hundred eighty degrees. They were a different people now that they walked by the Spirit. Before, nothing could have been worse for them. Now, nothing could have been better. It was the work of the Holy Spirit.
A huge transformation must have taken place and had been reported to Paul by Titus! It illustrates how much the reality of the Holy Spirit can spring forth in our own lives if we only listen to Him and act accordingly. The reality of our relationship does not consist merely in knowing doctrine, but also in the lives we lead in the Spirit. That is spiritual maturity.
2. Our competence as Christians comes from the inner strength of the Spirit, not external control of the law (vv. 3-6)
Such confidence as this is ours through Christ before God. Not that we are competent in ourselves to claim anything for ourselves, but our competence (that is, our spiritual maturity and ability do righteousness and minister as He wills) comes from God. He has made us competent as ministers of a new covenant—not of the letter but of the Spirit, for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.
I find this to be one of the most encouraging passages in the Bible. A big part of the difficulties in Corinth had been what we might call a rules-only faith . . . a legalistic approach to God. The people argued about what was right and what was wrong to do, and people seemed to judge each other’s spiritual health based on what rules they followed and what rules they did not. They argued and judged each other on inconsequential issues, such as whether meat that had come from animals sacrificed in pagan religious ceremonies was sinful for the Christian to eat. (Much of this meat found its way to the merchant’s stalls in the marketplace.) Yet while arguing such minor issues, major issues such as a church member living in open sexual sin did not seem to bother the church.
Rather, it seems too often that a Christian’s position on the minor issues defined the church’s evaluation of his or her level of spiritual maturity. But Titus reported to Paul that all that had changed. The Corinthians had turned away from their legalistic thinking and instead listened to the living Spirit of God. They were under the unconditional love of God that had resulted in their salvation, and now they had applied this attribute of God to their own lives and had turned away from legalism, bickering, and sin.
Is legalism still a problem? You bet. When you stop and think about it, a legalistic approach to God carries with it a certain feeling of security—if I get all the rules right & follow them, then God is pleased with me and I have earned His grace. God loves you and wants you to love Him and live according to His will. But when you falter, He doesn’t disown you and withdraw the salvation He gave you. He may discipline us, but He doesn’t disown and abandon us.
I remember last year I was surfing the net looking at various church and ministry sites when I encountered the web site of a Christian camp. Along with the statement of doctrine and procedures for applying, there was a dress code. Now that’s all right. Christian young people sometimes need help from spiritually mature parents and adults in evaluating what is modest dress and what is not. But this dress code was very specific . . . no blue jeans for the boys, but black or khaki jeans are permitted). No slacks for the girls, no shorts for boys or girls, no shirts of any kind without a collar . . . you get the picture. It was a long list of no’s. But there was one code rule that stood out to me from all the others: if the length of a boy’s hair was in question, someone from the staff would measure it when he arrived, and if the hair touched his collar, he would be ejected from the camp! I kind of formed a picture in my mind of a Christian police dressed in fatigues roaming the grounds with rulers and handcuffs deciding who is a Christian and who is not by measuring their hair!
Paul’s marvelous point here is that the Spirit of God is inside each of us, available to guide us and help us. We don’t need books of rules and regulations defining what is righteousness and what is unrighteousness. We have the Holy Spirit. Where God desires us to know specifics, He has given them to us in Scripture. We do His will because He has placed in us the need and desire to strive for holiness and to please Him. In our example of the camp, God’s standard is modesty and decency, not black jeans versus blue jeans. We have been saved already! God has given us the gifts of salvation and the Holy Spirit! How we live, how we treat others, what we say, and the decisions we make daily are all evidences of His presence, not the means to get His approval and favor. Sometimes, especially with young people with less mature faith and understanding, guidelines are needed. But when the rules themselves define our faith and define whether or not we can have a relationship with God, that is legalism.
It is important to realize the Law of Moses was never mean to become the legalistic definition of who was and who was not a child of God. The Israelites already had been chosen. Probably the best way to describe the Law of Moses is that God intended the 10 Commandments and the rest of the Law to be regarded as standards of behavior of His children, not the means to become His children. But the Israelites quickly began regarding the Law not merely as God’s will for their lives and their worship, but as the means by which they became and remained God’s children. For 1,500 or so years the Israelites had tried to be God’s people by their legalistic behavior. A “spiritual” Israelite was one who best met the Law’s standards. The result is that by the time of Christ, the Pharisees, whom Jesus recognized as arrogant and sinful, were regarded by the Jews as the most spiritually mature. What they missed is that the Spirit is not the law on tablets of stone, but the living Spirit that indwells each of God’s children—the Spirit gives us an accurate inner sense of power and righteousness. He also gives us the awesome realization of the extent of God’s grace toward us, and the ability to extend grace ourselves in forgiving others. The example that comes first to mind is that of the adulterer. Under the law, the adulterer was to be stoned to death, even if there was sorrow and repentence. Under the new covenant, the repentent adulterer is to be offered forgiveness and restoration.
The Corinthians had formerly dwelled on becoming competent in obeying the right rules, when our relationship and spiritual maturity actually comes from our love of and desire for righteousness—a love and a desire continually residing in us by the Spirit of God. The letter consists of external standards we cannot meet. The new covenant consists of the indwelling Spirit existing in those whom the Lord has saved. Awareness of God’s standards is the result . . . the evidence of our relationship . . . and not the end in itself.
3. We experience the glory of God through the indwelling Spirit (vv. 7-11)
Now if the ministry that brought death, which was engraved in letters on stone, came with glory, so that the Israelites could not look steadily at the face of Moses because of its glory, fading though it was, will not the ministry of the Spirit be even more glorious? If the ministry that condemns men is glorious, how much more glorious is the ministry that brings righteousness! For what was glorious has no glory now in comparison with the surpassing glory. And if what was fading away came with glory, how much greater is the glory of that which lasts!
Paul emphasizes in this passage that the grace of God and the relationship He offers us is far superior to the Law of Moses. The Israelites always knew when Moses, who was the communicator of the Law and the representative who spoke with God on Israel’s behalf, had been speaking with God. His face was radiant, so bright and radiant no one could look at it for very long. Moses actually wore a veil over his face after being in God’s presence, and his face remained veiled until the radiance faded.
The radiance of the Law was great, but the ministry of the Spirit is immeasurably greater. It does not fade. It is a greater glory. We do not meet God and continue in communion with Him through getting all the rules right. The fact we live righteous lives . . . the fact we forgive others . . . the fact we know God forgives us when we sin . . . all these demonstrate and give evidence to the greater glory—the perfection—of His new covenant and the ministry of the Holy Spirit.
As we go to our homes today and back to our daily routines at home and at work tomorrow, remember how we are changed and why we can live righteously . . .
It is the Spirit who changes the way we to live,
not a legalistic approach to God.
Our competence—that is, our spiritual maturity and ability do righteousness and minister as He wills—comes from the indwelling Spirit; it does not come from external legalistic rules and regulations.
And finally, we experience the glory of God
through the indwelling Holy Spirit—
a glory that dwells in us permanently and which never fades.
