From Moses to Christ
2 Corinthians 3
In this chapter we have a contrast between the old and new covenants. What seems to be happening is this: some false teachers who are attempting to undermine his credibility and authority in the church here are accusing Paul. He saves his biggest assaults against them till the end of the letter where he lets loose his fury. It is there that we find out that these teachers are Jewish and are preaching another Jesus, a different spirit, and another gospel.
Look at chapter 11: 3 But I am afraid, lest as the serpent deceived Eve by his craftiness, your minds should be led astray from the simplicity and purity of devotion to Christ.
4 For if one comes and preaches another Jesus whom we have not preached, or you receive a different spirit which you have not received, or a different gospel which you have not accepted, you bear this beautifully.
5 For I consider myself not in the least inferior to the most eminent apostles.
6 But even if I am unskilled in speech, yet I am not so in knowledge; in fact, in every way we have made this evident to you in all things.
see also verses 16-23a.
16 Again I say, let no one think me foolish; but if you do, receive me even as a fool, that I also may boast a little.
17 That which I am speaking, I am not speaking as the Lord would, but as in foolishness, in this confidence of boasting.
18 Since many boast according to the flesh, I will boast also.
19 For you, being so wise, bear with the foolish gladly.
20 For you bear with anyone if he enslaves you, if he devours you, if he takes advantage of you, if he exalts himself, if he hits you in the face.
21 To my shame I must say that we have been weak by comparison. But in whatever respect anyone else is bold (I speak in foolishness), I am just as bold myself.
22 Are they Hebrews? So am I. Are they Israelites? So am I. Are they descendants of Abraham? So am I.
23 Are they servants of Christ? (I speak as if insane) I more so;
Here in chapter 3 in the early part of this letter Paul lays the groundwork. He will later launch a full counter attack. What is especially helpful to us at this point is how this reveals Paul’s understanding of the relationship between the Old and New Covenants. We see that our Covenant relationship to God in Christ is abundantly superior to the Old Covenant.
It is technical and somewhat obscure unless you are familiar with Moses and giving of the law that is recorded in Exodus. I’m going to ask you to work hard with me this morning as we dig through this and uncover the gold of glory in Christ that is buried here.
Are you ready? Let’s go…
3:1 Do we begin again to commend ourselves? Or do we need, as some others, epistles of commendation to you or letters of commendation from you?
2 You are our epistle written in our hearts, known and read by all men;
3 clearly you are an epistle of Christ, ministered by us, written not with ink but by the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of flesh, that is, of the heart.
4 And we have such trust through Christ toward God.
5 Not that we are sufficient of ourselves to think of anything as being from ourselves, but our sufficiency is from God,
6 who also made us sufficient as ministers of the new covenant, not of the letter but of the Spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.
7 But if the ministry of death, written and engraved on stones, was glorious, so that the children of Israel could not look steadily at the face of Moses because of the glory of his countenance, which glory was passing away,
8 how will the ministry of the Spirit not be more glorious?
9 For if the ministry of condemnation had glory, the ministry of righteousness exceeds much more in glory.
10 For even what was made glorious had no glory in this respect, because of the glory that excels.
11 For if what is passing away was glorious, what remains is much more glorious.
12 Therefore, since we have such hope, we use great boldness of speech;
13 unlike Moses, who put a veil over his face so that the children of Israel could not look steadily at the end of what was passing away.
14 But their minds were blinded. For until this day the same veil remains unlifted in the reading of the Old Testament, because the veil is taken away in Christ.
15 But even to this day, when Moses is read, a veil lies on their heart.
16 Nevertheless when one turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away.
17 Now the Lord is the Spirit; and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty.
18 But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as by the Spirit of the Lord.
Let me first talk to you about letters of recommendation. Does your mother or father need a letter of recommendation to you or from you in order to speak to you with authority?
That’s basically what Paul is saying, “Do I really need to prove myself to you with letters?” The only time we ever read of Paul using letters for authority is when he went on a trip to Damascus to punish or kill followers of Jesus. Paul says, “Let me tell you about letters.” First of all, you are the letter of proof of our authority.” Your existence as a church is the result of Christ working though us by the Spirit, and he wrote our letter on your hearts. Not with ink, but with the Spirit of the living God! Not on stone tablets, but on human hearts!
Is Paul being overconfident here? No! He’s telling it like it is! He is reminding them of who gave them birth in Christ but also he keeps repeating this idea about “letters and the Spirit.” He says an amazing thing in verse 6. See it there? “…for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.” This is the basis for the rest of the chapter here as he contrasts the glory, the benefits, the permanence, and the process of the Old and New Covenants.
Let’s go back to the book of Exodus and see what Paul is talking about here in this chapter: Exodus 34:27 Then the LORD said to Moses, "Write these words, for in accordance with these words I have made a covenant with you and with Israel."
28 So he was there with the LORD forty days and forty nights; he neither ate bread nor drank water. And He wrote on the tablets the words of the covenant, the Ten Commandments.
29 Now it was so, when Moses came down from Mount Sinai (and the two tablets of the Testimony were in Moses’ hand when he came down from the mountain), that Moses did not know that the skin of his face shone while he talked with Him.
30 So when Aaron and all the children of Israel saw Moses, behold, the skin of his face shone, and they were afraid to come near him.
31 Then Moses called to them, and Aaron and all the rulers of the congregation returned to him; and Moses talked with them.
32 Afterward all the children of Israel came near, and he gave them as commandments all that the LORD had spoken with him on Mount Sinai.
33 And when Moses had finished speaking with them, he put a veil on his face.
34 But whenever Moses went in before the LORD to speak with Him, he would take the veil off until he came out; and he would come out and speak to the children of Israel whatever he had been commanded.
35 And whenever the children of Israel saw the face of Moses, that the skin of Moses’ face shone, then Moses would put the veil on his face again, until he went in to speak with Him.
As Paul explains the nature of the New Covenant, he looks at this scripture and uses it to compare the covenant here given through Moses with the covenant given through Jesus Christ. Moses received the words of the covenant, the Ten Commandments, from God. When he came down to meet with the children of Israel, his face was shining and it scared the people. But Moses called them and spoke to them anyway. Then he covered his face with a veil until he went to speak with God again. Whenever he went to speak with God he took off the veil. Then he would go speak to the people with a shining face and when he was finished he covered his face with the veil again.
So what’s the point? Paul detects several things here.
What was the old covenant written on? Stone. What was that covenant? 10 commandments.
What was the new covenant written on? (careful here!) Hearts. What is this new covenant? Look at verse 6 carefully… Paul says we are ministers of a new covenant – not of the letter, but of the Spirit. Now look at verse 17-18 and tell me what the Spirit is.
Our New Covenant is not a new section of the Bible starting with Matthew and ending with Revelation. Our New Covenant is Jesus Christ himself! Not tablets of stone, but a heart of flesh! It is his body and blood! Luke 22: 20 And in the same way He took the cup after they had eaten, saying, "This cup which is poured out for you is the new covenant in My blood. 1 Corinthians 11: 23 For I received from the Lord that which I also delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus in the night in which He was betrayed took bread;
24 and when He had given thanks, He broke it, and said, "This is My body, which is for you; do this in remembrance of Me."
25 In the same way He took the cup also, after supper, saying, "This cup is the new covenant in My blood; do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of Me."
26 For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until He comes. That’s why we take the bread and cup at every Lord’s day assembly! We are sharing in the New Covenant! That’s why when someone is baptized they go through a likeness of Jesus death, burial and resurrection. It is a New Covenant expression!
The New Testament part of your Bible is not the New Covenant. It is God’s Word as a record that tells you and me about the New Covenant in Christ! Just as every covenant has stipulations, so the New Covenant in Jesus Christ has stipulations. They are the commandments of Jesus. But don’t confuse these two! If you make the commandments of Jesus or the words of the New Testament portion of your Bible into the New Covenant, you turn it into letters in ink that kill! Our Covenant in Christ can never be reduced to letters in ink! Our Covenant in Christ is written from the cross in flesh and blood! It is remembered in the cup as we commune in the Lord’s supper. The words of scripture tell us about this glorious Covenant and God writes it on the heart of the believer who turns to Jesus Christ in faith and obedience. What is written on our hearts? Is it the words of the New Testament scripture? Do you have the entire New Testament written on your heart? Is that what the New Covenant is? These Corinthians didn’t have that. Most of the New Testament was not even written at the time! What WAS written on their hearts? Was it not their faith in Jesus as the Son of God, the blood washed cleansing of Jesus as the Savior from their sins, and the righteousness of Jesus Christ as a credit to their souls before God?
Just look at what 2 Corinthians 3 says about the Old Covenant:
It is dead letters on stone
The ministry of death
The ministry of condemnation
It’s glory fades away
It’s glory was limited to begin with
The minds of the listeners are blinded
A veil covers their hearts as they read the Old Covenant
Contrasted with the New Covenant:
It is living letters on hearts of flesh
The ministry of life
The ministry of righteousness
It’s glory is eternal
It’s glory is unlimited
When one turns to the Lord the veil is removed
Those who gaze on this glory are changed into his likeness and reflect the glory
The Spirit of the Lord gives freedom here
(There are some interesting Greek parallels in this passage: A pneumatic ministry surpasses the grammatic ministry.
The grammatic ministry kills, the pneumatic ministry brings life.
Also consider these thoughts from Romans:
Romans 2:29 But he is a Jew who is one inwardly; and circumcision is that which is of the heart, by the Spirit, not by the letter; and his praise is not from men, but from God.
7: 6 But now we have been released from the Law, having died to that by which we were bound, so that we serve in newness of the Spirit and not in oldness of the letter.)
Let me quickly give us an application and the lesson is yours:
1. Is your life a living letter from Christ?
2. Has God written the New Covenant in your heart?
3. Do you see the glory of Jesus shining in your life? Is the glory growing brighter?
4. Are you being transformed into the likeness of Jesus Christ?
God wants you to have heaven’s best. He means business. The New Covenant in Jesus Christ is the treasure of heaven offered to you by the nail-scarred hands of the crucified covenant maker. It is received by faith and submission to his will. Repentance from sin and confession of Jesus as the Lord, the Son of God, and baptism in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of your sins are the steps you take to receive entrance into Christ where you are washed in the blood of the Lamb, sealed by the Holy Spirit, given a new name, and adopted into God’s family.
What are you waiting for?
