Session 4:
The All Surrounding…All Encompassing…All Enduring Glory of God
2 Corinthians 3:4-11, “Such confidence we have through Christ before God.5Not that we are competent in ourselves to claim anything for ourselves, but our competence comes from God.6He 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. 7Now 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, transitory though it was,8will not the ministry of the Spirit be even more glorious?9If the ministry that brought condemnation was glorious, how much more glorious is the ministry that brings righteousness!10For what was glorious has no glory now in comparison with the surpassing glory.11And if what was transitory came with glory, how much greater is the glory of that which lasts!”
Anytime “I” comes out of the mouth of someone and it is part of a sentence that is positive, uplifting and progressive…it is difficult for the audience to think anything but “self praise” or “bragging;”
HOWEVER-----
When the writer or speaker gives credit to God for any blessing, any talents, any skills or abilities…then it becomes a different picture.
It becomes an honor to be a vessel used by God.
The 1st part of this passage can be thought of as just that….
If there is any glory for Paul’s work…his ministry….God must be the one to receive it all!
Paul loved to acknowledge that progress is being made in his ministry and gives detail as to why he believes it is progressing;
HOWEVER----
He acknowledged that his resources come from God. “It is not me, but Christ living through me.”
When Harriet Beecher Stowe wrote and published “Uncle Tom’s Cabin” over 300,000 copies sold in a very short time. Great men of that time made statements like, “the book did more for humanity than any other book of fiction” …. “It is one of the greatest achievements of the human mind”…“the book is the greatest and the author is simply marvelous.”
Her response to the accolades was, “I, the author of Uncle Tom’s Cabin? No, indeed, I could not control the story; it wrote itself. The Lord wrote it, and I was but the humblest instrument in his hand. It all came to me in visions, one after another, and I put them down in words. To Him alone be the praise!”
Paul and the other authors of the Word of God….would say similar things if we could speak to them today; that they did not ever imagine that their penmanship (in some cases, their thoughts put on papyrus by someone else) would be part of the greatest story ever told.
DO YOU UNDERSTAND THAT YOU ARE PART OF THE GREATEST STORY THAT WAS EVER TOLD?
The 2nd part of the message in this passage deals with the contrast between the old and the new covenant.
Definition: Covenant—an arrangement made between two people through which they enter into a certain relationship.
Biblically speaking, it is not an ordinary agreement…ordinary agreement (the contracting parties enter into an ordinary agreement on equal terms).
Biblically….it is God who is the prime mover and approaches man to offer him a relationship upon conditions which man could neither initiate or alter, but only accept or reject.
The word Paul uses for “new” when he speaks of the new covenant is the same as Jesus used and it is very significant.
Two words for “new” in the Greek…
“Neos”—means new in point of time and that alone.
“A baby is “neos” because he is a newcomer into the world.
“Kainos”—means new in point of time and in quality.
If it is “kainos” it has brought a fresh element into the situation.
Kainos is used here (when Paul speaks) and when Jesus speaks of a new covenant
The significance of using “kainos” is that the new covenant is not only new in point of time, but it is different from the old covenant.
It produces between man and God a relationship of a totally different kind.
WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN THE OLD AND NEW COVENANT?
The old covenant was based on a written document.
We see the story of its initiation in Exodus 24:1-8.
Moses took the book of the covenant and read it to the people and they agreed to it.
The new covenant is based on the power of the life-giving Spirit.
It is written on the heart.
A written covenant is external…while the Spirit changes a man’s very heart.
A written code can change the law; only the Spirit can change human nature. When man accepts the new covenant, God accepts him….and man changes to a new (kainos) man…a person that is changed at a specific time….and there is a new quality about him.
The old covenant was insufficient……in that it was based on the fact that “if you wish to maintain your relationship with God, you must keep these laws.”
God specifically told the Israelites to “write the words on your heart….that you might not sin against God.”
Without a change in man’s heart, the word could not penetrate….because man has a sinful nature.
Sin overtakes unless we change for Jesus sake!
The glory of God is seen in both covenants….the old and the new.
Jesus said that He did not come to break the first covenant….but to fulfill it.
Now….in lieu of “new” for a time it was “new” for all time…and in the quality of the agreement. It is forever…it is not temporary….it is an everlasting covenant. A promise fulfilled in a Savior that was both man and divinity.
Man and God….He was flesh and blood, spirit and truth. No sin…therefore “Christ was sacrificed once to take away the sins of many people; and He will appear a 2nd time, not to bear sin, but to bring salvation to those who are waiting for Him.” Hebrews 9:28
“Day after day, every priest stands and performs his religious duties; again and again he offers the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins. But, when this priest (Jesus) had offered for all time one sacrifice for sins, He sat down at the right hand of God.
Since that time He waits for His enemies to be made His footstool, because by one sacrifice He has made perfect forever those who are being made holy.” Hebrews 10:11-14
READ Hebrews 10:19-23.
It was by faith “the ancients were commended for”….Hebrews 11:2
READ Hebrews 12:1-3.
“Through Jesus, therefore, let us continually offer to God a sacrifice of praise—the fruit of lips that confess His name. And do not forget to do good and to share with others, for with such sacrifices God is pleased.” Hebrews 13:15-16.
2 Corinthians 3:12-18, “Therefore, since we have such a hope, we are very bold.13We are not like Moses, who would put a veil over his face to prevent the Israelites from seeing the end of what was passing away.14But their minds were made dull, for to this day the same veil remains when the old covenant is read. It has not been removed, because only in Christ is it taken away.15Even to this day when Moses is read, a veil covers their hearts.16But whenever anyone turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away.17Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.18And we all, who with unveiled faces contemplate[a] the Lord’s glory, are being transformed into his image with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.”
What glory…what glory we have by knowing the Lord!
(1)Paul’s thinking turns to Exodus 34:33.. “When Moses finished speaking to them (Israelites), he put a veil over his face.”
Moses did that until he entered the Lord’s presence to speak with Him…..
The people noticed a radiance of God’s glory when Moses came out from speaking with the Lord God.
But….the glory would fade.
Paul stated that the relationship between God and men was essentially a fading one.
It was destined to be overpassed, not as the wrong is overpassed by the right (important), but as the incomplete is overpassed by the complete.
The revelation that came by Moses was true and great, but it was only partial; the revelation that came in Jesus Christ is full and final.
Augustine….wisely stated:
“We do wrong to the Old Covenant if we deny that it comes from the same just and good God as the New. On the other hand we do wrong to the New Covenant, if we put the Old on a level with it.”
The one is a step to glory; the other is the summit of the glory.
(2)The idea of the veil now takes hold of Paul’s mind; he uses it in different ways.
When the Jews listen to the reading of the Old Testament, as they do every Sabbath day in the synagogue, a veil upon their eyes keeps them from seeing the real meaning of it.
It ought to point them to Jesus Christ, but the veil keeps them from seeing that.
Veiled Faces…Question: Do we fail to see the real meaning of scripture because our eyes are veiled?
Our eyes:
May be veiled by prejudice.
We, too, often go to scripture to find support for our own views rather than to find the truth of God.
We must be open to the truth….not our prejudicial thoughts of how we want the scriptures to prove a point…but be humble enough to let the scripture convict us, correct us, and then challenge us to a better living example for others today….and not wait for tomorrow.
May be veiled by wishful thinking.
Too often we find what we want to find, and neglect what we do not want to see.
Example: We may delight in all the references to the love and the mercy of God, but pass over all the references to His wrath and judgment.
Hell is real….and Heaven is real! Both are promises that are going to be fulfilled. Just as life is eternal….it can be spent in hell or heaven. Hard words….but the truth.
May be veiled by fragmentary thinking.
We should always regard the Bible as a whole. It is easy to take individual texts and criticize them. It is easy to find support for private theories by choosing certain texts and passages and putting others aside (a cafeteria style of studying the Word of God)—picking and choosing the texts and the message that you will prove your point.
We must seek the whole message…and ask the Holy Spirit to reveal the truth to us!
May be veiled by a veil of disobedience.
Very often it is the moral and not intellectual blindness which keeps us from seeing God.
If we persist in disobeying Him we become less and less capable of seeing Him.
The vision of God is to the pure in heart.
May be veiled by a veil of an unteachable spirit.
The best teacher on earth cannot teach the man who knows it all already and does not wish to learn.
“God gave His free will, and, if we insist upon our own way, we cannot learn His.”
May see the glory of God with no veil upon our faces…..and because of that, we are changed from glory to glory.
Hopefully….Paul was saying that “if we gaze at Christ, we in the end, will reflect Him. His image appears in our lives.
People “hero-worship” someone and begin to reflect his ways.
If we contemplate Jesus Christ, in the end we come to reflect Him.
“Where the Spirit is there is liberty”
Paul could mean that so long as man’s obedience to God is conditioned by obedience to a code of laws he is in the position of an unwilling slave. But….when it comes from the operation of the Spirit in his heart, the very center of his being has no other desire than to serve God, for then it is not law but love which bind him.
“In God’s service we find our perfect freedom.”