2 Corinthians 3:1-6
1: Are we beginning to commend ourselves again? Or do we need, as some, letters of commendation to you or from you?
2: You are our letter, written in our hearts, known and read by all men;
3: being manifested that you are a letter of Christ, cared for 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.
4: Such confidence we have through Christ toward God.
5: Not that we are adequate in ourselves to consider anything as coming from ourselves, but our adequacy is from God,
6: who also made us adequate as servants of a new covenant, not of the letter but of the Spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.
It was becoming a practice that preachers who were traveling, and unknown to a congregation, would carry letters of recommendation from other churches. These letters of commendation would be taken as verification that the person was worthy to preach in their church. Paul asked the question here, “Are we beginning to commend ourselves again?” Do we need letters of commendation to you or from you? He asked this because there were false apostles and teachers at Corinth who were enemies of Paul and challenged his authority as an apostle, as we saw in 1 Corinthians chapters 1-4, 9.
Paul answered his own question by saying that they, the Corinthians, were his letter of commendation. They were written in his heart, known and read by all. In other words, the people Paul & Co. had preached to, their salvation, and the mighty works done among them, were his commendation—they spoke for themselves. The Corinthian believers were a letter of Christ, not written with ink, but with the Spirit of God. Not written on stone, but on the tablets of the heart. The effect of the Spirit of God on the human heart, of which Paul was an instrument through which it happened, was the only letter of commendation needed.
Paul clarified that he didn’t think anything he did in this regard came from himself, but from God, who was the one who enabled them to minister to others as servants of the New Covenant. This gospel, the New Covenant which they preached, was not of the letter. Meaning it was not of the letter of the law, like the Law of Moses was, for the letter kills as we saw in Romans 7:4-13, but the Spirit gives life.
2: You are our letter, written in our hearts, known and read by all men;
3: being manifested that you are a letter of Christ, cared for 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.
4: Such confidence we have through Christ toward God.
5: Not that we are adequate in ourselves to consider anything as coming from ourselves, but our adequacy is from God,
6: who also made us adequate as servants of a new covenant, not of the letter but of the Spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.
***
It was becoming a practice that preachers who were traveling, and unknown to a congregation, would carry letters of recommendation from other churches. These letters of commendation would be taken as verification that the person was worthy to preach in their church. Paul asked the question here, “Are we beginning to commend ourselves again?” Do we need letters of commendation to you or from you? He asked this because there were false apostles and teachers at Corinth who were enemies of Paul and challenged his authority as an apostle, as we saw in 1 Corinthians chapters 1-4, 9.
Paul answered his own question by saying that they, the Corinthians, were his letter of commendation. They were written in his heart, known and read by all. In other words, the people Paul & Co. had preached to, their salvation, and the mighty works done among them, were his commendation—they spoke for themselves. The Corinthian believers were a letter of Christ, not written with ink, but with the Spirit of God. Not written on stone, but on the tablets of the heart. The effect of the Spirit of God on the human heart, of which Paul was an instrument through which it happened, was the only letter of commendation needed.
Paul clarified that he didn’t think anything he did in this regard came from himself, but from God, who was the one who enabled them to minister to others as servants of the New Covenant. This gospel, the New Covenant which they preached, was not of the letter. Meaning it was not of the letter of the law, like the Law of Moses was, for the letter kills as we saw in Romans 7:4-13, but the Spirit gives life.
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