So You’re a Priest: Are You a Bible Worth Reading?

This is part 6 of a sermon series through 2 Corinthians. Last week, Paul alluded briefly to "peddlers"— itinerant preachers and philosophers who peddled the word of God for profit (2 Cor. 2:17). They would come to town with a long list of accolades, excite the locals into coming to hear them speak, give a rousing speech, take a collection, get more accolades, and leave. Today, Paul contrasts his ministry with that of the "peddlers"—compared to the peddlers’ flash and hype, what gives Paul’s ministry substance?

2 Corinthians 3:1-6

Commentary

v1 some people. i.e., the peddlers. Paul asks two rhetorical questions about his own ministry, each of which presumes a negative answer: no, Paul should not have to sell himself to his own church; and, no, Paul’s ministry is not about wowing congregations with long lists of accolades.

v2 You yourselves are our letter. The only worthwhile commendation is the one evident to everybody in changed lives.

v3 you are a letter from Christ. The glory does not accrue to Paul, but to the Spirit of Jesus; it is through the Spirit of Christ that the ministry happens.

tablets of stone ... tablets of human hearts. Paul draws upon Ezekiel 36:26-27:

I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit in you and move you to follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws.

In changing the words of Ezekiel from heart to tablet, Paul does two things: (a) he gives an interpretation of Ezekiel, i.e. a new heart implies a new way, a new law, of life; and (b) he sets up a metaphor for talking about God’s new law, his new covenant, over and against the old law, given to Moses and symbolized by the stone tablets of the Ten Commandments in the verses that follow (2 Cor. 3:7-18).

v6 ministers of a new covenant. Paul is the first NT writer to mention the new covenant. Chronologically, the new covenant is probably first mentioned in 1 Cor. 11:23-26 and then is mentioned here. What Paul has in mind is a fulfillment of Jeremiah 31:31-37:

The time is coming," declares the Lord, "when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah..."

"This is the covenant I will make with the house of Israel after that time," declares the Lord. "I will put my law in their minds and write it on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people..."

letter. A minor translation difficulty: prior to this verse, "letter" refers to an epistle, a piece of correspondence; however, here "letter" refers to the written word. Just as ink—the written word—is contrasted with Spirit in v3, here the written word is also contrasted with Spirit. In both cases, the power of the Spirit is desired to the power of a written word.

Points to Ponder

If you asked Paul what the most important letter he wrote was, would he say, Romans, or Galatians, etc., or would it be the letter written in people’s hearts?

What written on your heart? More to the point, who is commended / glorified by what’s written on your heart?

I wonder ... could it be that the most important letter of the Bible is written in your heart? Could it be that we err by trying to make others read the Bible when it is a more effective witness for them to read us?

God has empowered you to live according to the new law written in your heart. As you live according to that law, you are a minister, an agent, of that new way of living.