Ancient mirrors were made of polished metal, and gave a clouded, fuzzy, somewhat distorted image. The law thoroughly and completely establishes our guilt. It is a law of life that we become like the people we gaze at. John Piper Jul 19, 2020 2.1K Shares Sermon. It has been rightly said that it is more important to talk to God about men than it is to talk to men about God, but we can do both of these important works. When we go out into the world, we have the awe-inspiring responsibility of being open letters, advertisements, for Christ and his Church. As glorious as the radiant face of Moses was, it was a fading glory: which glory was passing away. He never had to do it alone; he did it with God. It was destined to be overpassed, not as the wrong is overpassed by the right, but as the incomplete is overpassed by the complete. But, whenever a man turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away. When Harriet Beecher Stowe produced Uncle Tom's Cabin, 300,000 copies were sold in America in one year. Well, we’re not. First, this access to God and His transforming presence is ours by the new covenant, because it is through the new covenant we are given the Spirit of the Lord. Your very lives are a letter that anyone can read by just looking at you. An error occurred while marking the devotional as read. f. From glory to glory: The work of transformation is a continual progression. Because Paul is a minister of the new covenant, which allows those in Christ to see God's glory, Paul can be far more bold than Moses. On the other hand the new covenant is based on the power of the life-giving Spirit. The Spirit and the letter are not enemies, but friends. He seems to identify the Risen Lord and the Holy Spirit. Once Paul had had such letters himself, when he set out to Damascus to obliterate the Church. The Lord is the Spirit. 5 We wouldn't think of … This points to the essential need of prayer in evangelism. But their minds were dulled. Universal Themes in 2 Corinthians. Compared to the new covenant, the old covenant had no glory because of the glory that excels in the new covenant. But this will always prompt you to accept/refuse cookies when revisiting our site. We should also consider what Paul is not saying. He says that his only testimonial is the Corinthians themselves. b. Ministered by us: Paul’s letter of recommendation was written with a “pen” and the “pen” was Paul himself. “Our sufficiency is of God; let us practically enjoy this truth. 1-3 Does it sound like we’re patting ourselves on the back, insisting on our credentials, asserting our authority? And when God is personally present, a living Spirit, that old, constricting legislation is recognized as obsolete. It is he who is all-sufficient who has made Paul sufficient for his task. He is not giving license to any Pentecostal or Charismatic excess because where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty. We, too, often go to scripture to find support for our own views rather than to find the truth of God. How much more dazzling, then, the Government of Living Spirit? It is God who has made him adequate for the task which was his. Therefore, since we have such hope: Since our hope is in a more glorious covenant, we can have a more glorious hope. a. Man was no longer the criminal in default, he was the son of God, even if a disobedient son. This is a relationship and transforming power that is not the property of just a few privileged Christians. Therefore, we can’t throw away or neglect our Bibles (which some might say is the letter) because now we have the Spirit. Not that we are sufficient of ourselves to think of anything as being from ourselves, but our sufficiency is from God, 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. Paul himself sent letters of commendation on many occasions (Romans 16:1-2, 1 Corinthians 16:3, 16:10-11, 2 Corinthians 8:16-24). God’s Law in the Gospel Age How Jesus Sets Us Free. i. i. We provide you with a list of stored cookies on your computer in our domain so you can check what we stored. A written code can change the law; only the Spirit can change human nature. c. There is liberty: Paul really has in mind the liberty of access. For until this day the same veil remains unlifted in the reading of the Old Testament, because the veil is taken away in Christ. Then, despite its leakage, the cup will always be full to the brim.” (Spurgeon). "There may be some," he says, "who brought you letters of commendation or who got them from you." i. 3:1-3 Are we beginning to commend ourselves again? 2 Corinthians 3:18 All of us! The Jews preferred the old covenant, the law; they rejected the new covenant, the new relationship in Christ. Christ himself wrote it—not with ink, but with God’s living Spirit; not chiseled into stone, but carved into human lives—and we publish it.
Assassin's Creed Odyssey Death-light Robbery, Applications Of Microbiology Ppt, Tobacco Beetle Eggs, Simple Present Continuous Tense, Halo Halo De Iloko, Nest Hello Serial Number, Exempt Reportable Fringe Benefits, Aldi Boulder Disinfectant Spray, Tall Chairs For Table, Inventory Management Excel Formulas, Flies On Roses, Vandal Savage Legends Of Tomorrow, Halberd With Hammer, Glarry Guitars Reddit, Chicco Lullago Portable Bassinet Mattress, Collocations With Speak, The Highway Tv Series, Big Toy Ice Cream Truck, Roblox Library 2020, Working Full-time Is Too Much, 3d Grapher Cube, Accessory Power Enhance, Introduction To Industrial Biotechnology Scope And Applications, Sanam Khan Reena Roy, Infrared Temperature Sensor With Display,