Call to Commitment

 

Roman baths in Corinth

  1.     Therefore, since we have this ministry, as we have received mercy, we do not lose heart.   

  2.     But we have renounced the hidden things of shame, not walking in craftiness nor handling the word of God deceitfully, but by manifestation of the truth commending ourselves to every man's conscience in the sight of God. 

  3.     But even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing, 

4.     whose minds the god of this age has blinded, who do not believe, lest the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine on them. 

5.     For we do not preach ourselves, but Christ Jesus the Lord, and ourselves your bondservants for Jesus' sake. 

6.     For it is the God who commanded light to shine out of darkness, who has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. 

 Ministry means service and it is performed by a servant. Let me amplify the meaning of the Greek words, diakonia and diakonos from the Strong’s Greek dictionary. Diakonia means attendance (as a servant); aid, service; diakonos means to run on errands, an attendant, a waiter (at table or in other menial duties); specifically, a Christian teacher and pastor, deacon, minister, servant.

 “God…who also made us sufficient as ministers of the new covenant, not of the letter but of the Spirit” (2 Cor. 3:6). Paul emphasizes the biblical definition of a minister in Ephesians 3:7, 8: “I became a minister… who am less than the least of all the saints, this grace was given, that I may preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ.” A minister must be a humble servant, who serves, by preaching to the Gentiles, riches that cannot be counted or valued by any human measurement. By the Spirit of the Lord, he is involved in reflecting the glory of God in the unveiled face of Jesus Christ. Only God can make a human sufficient for such a task.

Over the Corinthian Canal. Finished in 1893.

 Ministers of the New Covenant

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. 

 Because the gospel is something that is lived from the inside out, external measures are eliminated. Letters of commendation are not necessary among real Christians and those who demand such measures are not real Christians. Under Paul´s apostleship, so that someone could be recognized as a true Christian, or a leader should be recognized as a true leader, writing letters commending them was not needed. Christianity is heart religion and does not rely on external, carnal practices (v. 1).

 Therefore in verse 2, the commendation is from the heart and Christians know one another to be legitimate believers, because of the testimony that comes from their hearts. The testimony of their veracity is seen by their lives and not by outward indications or visible signs. We learn that under the new covenant, this is the principle that is operating among the Corinthians and should operate among all true Christians. 

  

Modern visitors to Corinth

1.     But I determined this within myself, that I would not come again to you in sorrow. 

       2.     For if I make you sorrowful, then who is he who makes me glad but the one who is made sorrowful by me?  

       3.     And I wrote this very thing to you, lest, when I came, I should have sorrow over those from whom I ought to have joy, having confidence in you all that my joy is the joy of you all. 

       4.     For out of much affliction and anguish of heart I wrote to you, with many tears, not that you should be grieved, but that you might know the love which I  have so abundantly for you. 

 Paul continues his defense for not coming to them on an earlier trip. Although the things of God are very sure, yes and amen, his heart, in tune with the Holy Spirit, decides it was not the best time to visit them. Because of the Corinthians´ spiritual condition at the time, it would be severe and sorrowful (v. 1).

 It is all related to the matter that Paul dealt with in 1 Corinthian 5, concerning the man who adulterated with his father´s wife, his step-mother. The tolerant attitude of the general church in Corinth was wrong, in relation to the sin. Paul´s instruction to them caused sadness, but a change had taken place; there had been repentance on the part of the offender. He who had caused Paul so much pain in his sin, has now given him reason for joy (v. 2).

 This entire situation gives us a lesson in the importance of true Christian fellowship in the joy of the Holy Spirit. Because of its importance, a trip and the principal of the Lord´s sure guidance is cancelled, because of the overriding importance of fellowship. Christian fellowship should be a reason for joy and because the Corinthian church had corrected their attitude, joy had been the result, both in them and in Paul, because God had done a work and the sinner had repented (v. 3).  

 It was not easy for Paul to write to correct the grievous sin that had occurred in Corinth. See the depth of pain, in which he had written: “Much affliction and anguish of heart I wrote to you, with many tears.” He writes that phrase, not to grieve them, but to show the love, which he has for them. These four verses are a mighty lesson in the love that existed in the early church (v. 4)