| Christian Life and Doctrine | August 1957 |
The Ministry of Life
“Who also hath made us able ministers of the new testament [covenant]; not of the letter, but of the Spirit: for the letter killeth, but the Spirit giveth life.” —II Corinthians 3:6
THE full meaning of any Scripture can, as a rule, be understood only in the light of the context in which it appears. This is certainly true with respect to our text, and especially that statement in the text, “The Spirit giveth life.” In this instance the context is a most revealing one. Its subject matter begins with verse 3 of this chapter and continues until near the close of chapter 6.
The principal subject matter, or main theme, of these chapters is presented upon a background of God’s dealing with Israel when he entered into covenant relationship with his chosen people, with Moses serving as mediator of that covenant. Thus we have the Apostle Paul presenting one of the important types of the Old Testament, and making his inspired application of its meaning in antitype in connection with the outworking of God’s great plan of reconciliation on behalf of the whole world of mankind.
In verse 3, where this beautiful theme begins, Paul says that we are “manifestly declared to be the epistle of Christ, ministered by us, written not with ink, but with the Spirit of the living God; not in tables of stone, but in fleshy tables of the heart.” Here Paul takes us back to the time when God wrote his Law on tables of stone. He indicates that the antitype of these tables of stone is what he describes as the “epistle of Christ,” written by the Holy Spirit in “fleshy tables of the heart.”
Paul senses that by this application of the type he is putting himself and all the true followers of Jesus in a tremendously important place in God’s arrangements pertaining to the New Covenant—that the body members of Christ are to occupy the same relationship to the New Covenant as the tables of stone did toward the typical Law Covenant. It is this realization, apparently, that causes him to observe, “And such trust have we through Christ to God-ward: not that we are sufficient of ourselves to think anything as to ourselves; but our sufficiency is of God.”—vss. 4,5
And then, in the next verse, Paul says that we have been made “able ministers of the new testament,” or covenant. In verse 7 he refers to the ministration of the typical Law Covenant as being unto death, and as “written and engraven on stones.” This second reference to the tables of stone leaves no doubt as to the comparison Paul is making between the methods by which the two covenants are mediated.
The Law Covenant was not designed to be a “ministration of death,” but the reverse. In Romans 7:10 Paul says that the Law was “ordained to life,” that is, it was designed to give life, and would have given life but for the fact that the people could not live up to its requirements. Because of this, Paul and every other sincere Israelite who tried to keep the Law, found it to be “unto death.” And it was this ministration of death that was engraved on tables of stone.
By contrast with this, Paul explains that the “Spirit giveth life.” Here he is saying in effect that the writing of God’s law in the “fleshy tables” of our hearts by the power of the Holy Spirit is for the purpose of giving life. If the Law Covenant had given life it would have been by virtue of the full obedience of the people to the commandments engraved on the typical tables of stone. So, by writing his Law in the fleshy tables of our hearts, God will through The Christ, Head and body, give life to all who accept and obey the terms of the New Covenant. It is thus that “the Spirit giveth life.”
The Hope of Glory
Paul continues to draw lessons from the mediating of the typical Law Covenant. He refers to the shining countenance of Moses as he came down the mount bearing the tables of the Law. In contrasting the Law Covenant with the New Covenant, he explains that the “ministration of death … was glorious, so that the children of Israel could not steadfastly behold the face of Moses for the glory of his countenance; which glory was to be done away.”—vs. 7
Explaining the antitype of this, Paul continues, “How shall not the ministration of the Spirit be rather glorious? For if the ministration of condemnation be glory, much more doth the ministration of righteousness exceed in glory. For even that which was made glorious had no glory in this respect, by reason of the glory that excelleth. For if that which is done away was glorious, much more that which remaineth is glorious. Seeing then that we have such hope, we use great plainness of speech.” (vss. 8-12) The “glory that remaineth,” Paul declares to be but a “hope.” It is not yet a reality. In Romans 8:24 he writes, “Hope that is seen is not hope: for what a man seeth, why doth he yet hope for?”
This glory for which we hope is a “glory that excelleth.” This is the glory referred to in the next chapter, where Paul wrote, “Our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory; while we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen: for the things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal.”—II Cor. 4:17,18
Now in Preparation
After making an application as to the significance of Moses’ veiled face insofar as Israel was concerned, Paul comes back to the glory theme as reflected by the unveiled face of Moses. This is in II Cor. 3:18, which reads, “We all, with open face [Greek, ‘unveiled’ face] beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord.”
Here Paul is explaining that the work of the Holy Spirit in our hearts in writing therein the “epistle of Christ” is also transforming us into the Lord’s image, progressively, from “glory to glory.” In order to grasp the richness of thought Paul is presenting, we need to go back to the type from which he draws the lesson; that type being the experience of Moses in connection with the writing of God’s Law on the tables of stone, and presenting those tables to the people.
Actually there were two sets of the tables of the Law, the first ones being broken by Moses when he came down from the mount and found the people worshiping a golden calf. However, the circumstances in connection with the writing of these two sets of tables were quite similar. In connection with the first tables we read, “The Lord said unto Moses, Come up to me into the mount, and be there; and I will give thee tables of stone, and a Law, and commandments which I have written; that thou mayest teach them.” “And the glory of the Lord abode upon Mount Sinai, and the cloud covered it six days: and the seventh day he called unto Moses out of the midst of the cloud. And the sight of the glory of the Lord was like devouring fire on the top of the mount in the eyes of the children of Israel.”—Exod. 24:12,16,17
Concerning the time when Moses was on the mount the second time, we read, “The Lord descended in the cloud, and stood with him there, and proclaimed the name of the Lord. And the Lord passed by before him, and proclaimed, The Lord, The Lord God, merciful and gracious, long-suffering, and abundant in goodness and truth. Keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, and that will by no means clear the guilty; visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children, and upon the children’s children, unto the third and to the fourth generation.”—Exod. 34:5-7
During his first visit on the mount, Moses was given a demonstration of God’s glory, revealed typically by a dazzling brightness. On the second occasion, the glory of God’s character was displayed by the message of truth which he heard the Lord proclaim, a message which revealed Jehovah to be a God of mercy, and love, and justice. And the very circumstances of the occasion must have again impressed Moses with divine power.
It was when Moses came down from the mount on the second occasion that “the skin of his face shone.” (Exod. 34:35) It was then that he put the veil on his face as he presented the Law to the people. Concerning this we read, “And till Moses had done speaking with them, he put a veil on his face. But when Moses went before the Lord to speak with him, he took the veil off, until he came out.” (Exod. 34:30-35) Here is an important fact in connection with type and anti-type as Paul outlines the lesson for us, for he expressly states that it is with our faces unveiled that the glory of the Lord is being mirrored to us, with the result that we are being changed into that same image “from glory to glory.”
“First, let us realize that this explanation by Paul places us, as the followers of Jesus, not in the camp of Israel, but with Moses when he went into the presence of the Lord, for it was then that his face was unveiled. The glory of the Lord as reflected on the face of Moses was hidden from the Israelites; but is seen by us, and because it is, like the tables of stone on which the Law was written during this display of God’s glory, we, too, and by the Spirit or power of God, are having his Law written in our hearts.
It is by virtue of this that we are being changed. True, we are not to the same degree in the literal presence of God as was Moses. But note how Paul covers this point. He says that we behold the glory of the Lord as in a glass, or mirror. God’s glory, made up of the combined attributes of his character, is reflected to us through his written Word, and under this influence, yielding whole-heartedly to it, we are being changed “into the same image.”
In many respects the world today is like Israel of old. Paul continues, “If our Gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost: in whom the god of this world bath blinded the minds of them that believe not, lest the light of the glorious Gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them.” (II Cor. 4:3,4) Concerning the effect of the Gospel in the hearts of those who do believe and obey its precepts Paul writes, “For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.”—ch. 4, vs. 6
This is simply a more comprehensive explanation of the manner in which the Holy Spirit is writing God’s Law in the fleshy tables of our hearts, for the Holy Spirit operates through the truth. Indeed, Jesus referred to it as the “Spirit of truth.” (John 14:16,17; 16:13) And notice what takes place as a result of this effulgence of light which God causes to shine into our hearts—it gives the “light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.”
The Gospel of Christ which has shined into our hearts is but an enlargement upon the message proclaimed to Moses. As in the type the message reflected the glory of the Lord, so now it gives “the light of the knowledge of the glory of God.” As then the glory of the Lord was reflected on the unveiled face of Moses, so now we see the unveiled face of Jesus Christ, the living Word, and the glory of the Heavenly Father which is reflected therein.
Earthen Vessels
Paul continues, “We have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellency of the power may be of God, and not of us.” (vs. 7) What does he mean? Obviously the earthen vessels are descriptive of our human bodies, and the “treasure” they contain the “light of the knowledge of the glory of God,” which has in reality given us a new mind, even the mind of Christ, the mind of the new creature. But why the expression, “earthen vessels”? Here again Paul is taking us back to the type.
In Exodus 24:1-8 we are given a brief summary of Moses receiving the law from God, and of the inauguration of the Law Covenant. This condensed record includes the information that Moses built an altar under the hill and erected twelve pillars representing the twelve tribes of Israel. He also “sent young men of the children of Israel, which offered burnt offerings, and sacrificed peace offerings of oxen unto the Lord.”
We are informed that Moses took half the blood from these sacrificed oxen and put it into basins, and with the ether half he sprinkled the altar which he had built.
The blood in the basins he used to sprinkle the people. The comment on this in Hebrews 9:18-22 gives the further detail that Moses sprinkled the “book” of the Law. Later, of course, the tabernacle and all the vessels of the ministry were also sprinkled with blood.
Paul explains that without the shedding of blood there is no remission of sins. Because of this, it was necessary that the pattern of things in the heavens should be purified with the blood of those typical sacrifices, “but the heavenly things themselves with better sacrifices than these.”—Heb. 9:22,23
As we have seen half the blood which Moses referred to as the “blood of the covenant” was first collected in basins. These, undoubtedly, were earthen basins, and are what Paul had in mind when he said “We have this treasure in earthen vessels. It is a further explanation by Paul of the manner in which the new Covenant, the antitypical Law Covenant is to become operative. It is a picture which Paul, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, blends with the one he has drawn with respect to the tables of the Law.
The question arises as to how we could be as “earthen vessels” to receive the blood of the New Covenant. Paul says that it is simply the “light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ” that enters our hearts. Since Jesus is involved in this question, let us turn to him for the answer.
Jesus said to his disciples, “Except ye eat the flesh of the Son of Man, and drink his blood, ye have no life in you.” Those who followed the Master for the loaves and the fishes were offended by this statement. His disciples “murmured at it,” and Jesus explained to them, “It is the Spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing: the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life.”—John 6:53,61,63
This is plain enough. Jesus wanted the disciples to understand that when they received and obeyed his teachings it was the equivalent of eating his flesh and drinking his blood. Jesus’ “words” constitute the Gospel, the “light of the knowledge of the glory of God” revealed to us by his unveiled face. Part of that Gospel is our need of his redeeming grace, and our acceptance of the merit of his sacrificed life. Our full acceptance of his “words,” therefore, demonstrated by our complete dedication to the divine will, means the receiving of life, or that which was symbolized by his blood.
Thus we see that the Spirit of truth is not only writing the Law of God in the fleshy tables of our hearts, but is also conveying to us, as the antitypical “earthen vessels,” or basins, the life-giving power of the blood of Christ, the blood of the New Covenant. As it was the blood which Moses collected in the typical basins that was used to sprinkle the people when the Law Covenant was inaugurated, so the body members of Christ, as “ministers of reconciliation” will have the privilege and honor of participating with Jesus in making the New Covenant with the “house of Israel and the house of Judah,” and eventually, of course, with all mankind.
A Sacrificial Ministry
After explaining that we have this treasure in “earthen vessels,” Paul continues, “We are troubled on every side, yet not distressed; we are perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; cast down, but not destroyed; always bearing about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our body. For we which live are alway delivered unto death for Jesus’ sake, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our mortal flesh.”—II Cor. 4:8-11
Notice how Paul repeats the assertion that the life of Jesus is manifest in our mortal flesh, our earthen vessels. But there is another aspect of this, which is that we are also “being delivered unto death for Jesus’ sake” and are “bearing about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus.” This is simply Paul’s way of expressing that basic truth of the divine plan stated by Jesus that if we expect to get life from him, we must first die with him—“whosoever will lose his life for my sake shall find it.”—Matt. 16:25
Yes, every true follower of the Master is “planted together in the likeness of his death.” (Rom. 6:5) They all must die with him in order to live with him. They must suffer with him if they would reign with him. They must present their bodies a “living sacrifice,” and symbolically speaking, there must be an “altar” on which that sacrifice can be offered. It was undoubtedly this that the Lord foreshadowed by the altar which Moses built and on which he sprinkled half the blood of the typical covenant.
We are assured that in presenting our bodies a living sacrifice, the offering will be “holy and acceptable.” This can only be through the merit of the blood of Christ, the blood of the New Covenant. It is this wood that purifies the anti-typical altar on which we offer our sacrifice, and thus makes us acceptable as joint-sacrificers with Jesus.
Just as the slaying of the oxen in the type and the use of the blood on the altar were related to the making of the Law Covenant, so also there is a sacrificial ministry of the New Covenant, a ministry involving suffering and death which must and does precede the ministry of glory. Peter affirms this by telling us that through the prophets the Holy Spirit testified concerning the “sufferings of Christ, and the glory that should follow,” and he makes it abundantly clear that the body members of Christ participate in this foretold suffering and glory. (I Pet. 1:11; 4:12,1) Through faithfulness in this ministry of suffering we prove our worthiness of appearing with the antitypical Moses in glory.
Paul, writing further on the matter, said, “So then death worketh in us, but life in you.” (II Cor. 4: 12) Thus far in this lesson Paul has said only that the work of writing the “epistle of Christ” in the “fleshy tables” of our hearts is being accomplished by the Holy Spirit, in that God has “shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glary of God.” Now he is indicating that this is being done through our ministry to one another.
This brings into focus another category of Scripture texts which reveal ‘he great privilege we have of laying down our lives for the brethren, of building one another up in our most holy faith, thus participating in the work described in Revelation 19:7 as the “wife” making herself ready. This preparatory work is, in fact, indicated also to be a ministry of reconciliation—not the future ministry of reconciliation when the world in general will be reconciled to God under the terms of the New Covenant, but the preparatory reconciliation of those who will prove worthy to participate with Jesus in that future work.
And what a reasonable arrangement this is! Not only are we, through submission to the molding influences of the Holy Spirit through the truth, being transformed into the character-likeness of our Lord, being changed into that aspect of his glory; but we are also being prepared to participate in the official glory of Christ, a glory that is suggested by his titles of King, Judge, Mediator, etc.
In God’s sight no one is worthy to be a ruler unless he submits to being ruled. How could we be future judges of the world unless we now learn to apply the laws of God in our own lives, and in our dealings with one another? And what better way could there be of proving worthy to serve with Jesus in the future work of reconciliation, than by now being willing to lay down our lives in the smaller work of reconciling those who will be members of his body, and helping to disseminate the truth so that they may be transformed by it into the image of the Lord?
Marvelous Grace
After calling these precious truths to our attention and assuring us of our privilege of being able ministers of the New Covenant through the sufficiency that is provided by God, Paul exhorts: “We then, as workers together with him, beseech you also that ye receive not the grace of God in vain.” (ch. 6:1) Wondrous grace it is that has come to us through Christ, a grace that makes us acceptable to offer sacrifice now, and, if faithful, to be glorified with Christ when he appears in glory to serve as Mediator of the New Covenant!
To emphasize how much we would lose should we receive this grace of God in vain, Paul quotes from an Old Testament prophecy which outlines some of the privileges involved. We quote, “I have heard thee in a time accepted, and in the day of salvation have I succored thee: behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation.”—ch. 6:2
The prophecy from which Paul quotes is Isaiah 49:8,9. The portion quoted by Paul is an assurance of the Lord’s help in this time when the sacrificial ministry of the New Covenant is being carried out as represented in the “better sacrifices” of the present age. But this quotation does more than assure us of divine help and that our sufficiency is of God, for by it Paul applies the prophecy from which he quotes to the body members of Christ, those whom he describes as “new creatures” in Christ. Let us quote the full prophecy:
“Thus saith the Lord, In an acceptable time have I heard thee, and in a day of salvation have I helped thee: and I will preserve thee, and give thee for a covenant of the people, to establish the earth, to cause to inherit the desolate heritages; that thou mayest say to the prisoners, Go forth; to them that are in darkness, Show yourselves. They shall feed in the ways, and their pastures shall be in all high places.”
When Paul quoted from this prophecy he was merely continuing his theme concerning those whom he describes as “able ministers of the New Covenant.” He has shown that as ministers they are like the typical tables of stone on which Moses presented the Law Covenant to the people. In carrying out this thought to its full application, he cites the Lords promise that those who are co-workers with Christ now, and are faithful in the present ministry of sacrifice, will, when the kingdom is established, be given as a covenant for the people, as the typical tables of stone were given to the people by Moses.
And more than that, when these “able ministers” are given as a covenant for the people, they will “establish the earth,” and will cause the people to inherit the “desolate heritages.” Moreover, they will say to the prisoners of death, “Go forth: to them that are in darkness, Show yourselves.” Here is described a life-giving work of restoring the dead world to life, even raising the dead, and giving all an opportunity to inherit “the desolate heritages.”
This coincides with Jesus’ Parable of the Sheep and the Goats. He opens that parable with the statement, “When the Son of Man shall come in his glory, and all the holy angels with him, then shall he sit upon the throne of his glory.” These “angels” are his body members those who will be co-judges with him, and “able ministers of the New Covenant.” When this comes true their hope of glory will have merged into reality for the “glory that excelleth will then be theirs in reality.
Then will begin the work of blessing for all nations—here presented under the trial, or probation aspect of the work of the next age. The point we wish particularly to notice here is that those who then prove worthy will have their lost earthly inheritance restored to them; and will receive life. (Matt. 25:31,34,46) Yes, those who are given as a “covenant for the people” will have it in their power, together with Christ, to give life to all who prove worthy of it. Christ, through the sacrifice of his perfect humanity, provided this life. The merit of his shed blood made our sacrifice acceptable so that we might be exalted to glory with him. That life, received through obedience to his “words,” will then be used symbolically to “sprinkle all the people,” that they may also receive life by accepting it as a gift from God through Christ, and obeying the laws of the kingdom.
Surely the ministry of the Spirit will thus prove to be a glorious ministry of life. Through the provision of Christ’s blood it will do for the people what the Law Covenant failed to do, because there was no life-giving efficacy in the blood of the oxen with which the people were sprinkled. Realizing the glorious part we have in this ministry of the Spirit which will give life to the people under the New Covenant arrangements, let us by God’s grace, through faithfulness unto death, prove worthy to appear with him in glory and share that blessed future work of reconciling the world to God which Jesus made possible by his own death as man’s Redeemer!