The Spirit Gives Life
THE SPIRIT GIVES LIFE
2 CORINTHIANS 3:4-6
Paul’s claim to be a minister of a new covenant is startling.
To follow the rest of the chapter some introduction is needed, and we must come to grips with a startling phrase “ministers of a new covenant” (3:6), claimed by Paul, and no doubt giving a shock to Jewish Christians who would interpret this as a bold claim on the apostle’s part to supersede Moses, the founder of Old Testament covenant religion. Indeed, that was precisely the claim that Paul made in this phrase.
If Paul were called upon to justify his vocation, he would first disclaim all personal worthiness (3:5), while secondly at the same time refuse to undervalue the high office and great qualifications that God had given to him and his fellow missionaries to the Gentiles (3:6).
The “new covenant” stands in direct contrast to “the old covenant” (3:14), the religion of Moses as interpreted by the Jewish rabbis. As Hebrews 8:13 declares, the mention of a new covenant renders obsolete what it replaces, and this means that a new dispensation has been inaugurated by the coming of Christ, in fulfillment of Jeremiah 31:31ff.
Three features marked out this promised new covenant from the old:
Of this new covenant, symbolized and signified in the cup at the Last Supper (Matthew 26:27-28) and ratified in the blood of Calvary (Hebrews 13:20), Paul was made a minister (3:6). The old covenant as a way of salvation is branded as out-of-date on account of its “weakness and uselessness” (Hebrews 7:18): features which by their inadequacies helped prepare the way for a new order which offers us what we need most of all—life in the Spirit.
Thought “The life of God in human souls”: does this sum up the faith of the New Testament gospel?