2nd Corinthians Lesson 11

2 Corinthians 2:17-

Wednesday, September 16, 2015

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Lesson Transcript

Opening and Review of Chapter 2:17

Good evening. Please open your Bibles, 2 Corinthians. We’re right at the end of chapter 2. We should be moving into chapter 3 tonight.

We’re at verse 17 of chapter 2, 2 Corinthians: “For we are not as many, which corrupt the word of God, but as of sincerity, but as of God, in the sight of God, speak we in Christ.”

We started talking about this verse at the end of class last week. Paul here, as we said, is referring to peddlers. Some translations have that word, and it’s a good translation. Who sell the word of God as a peddler might sell his wares in the market.

Paul vs. the False Apostles

Paul, of course, does not treat his ministry in that way as a trade. He’s not just out to make a buck, as these false apostles were. That’s how they made their living. They could take any side of an argument and then teach and say that and try to get some money out of it. That was not Paul. We know that.

But we also know that the whole issue of material gain was kind of a sore spot with the Corinthians. Paul had refused to accept support from them, he had accepted support from others. And that seemed to have kind of rubbed the Corinthians the wrong way. And we’ve seen that already, and we’re going to see it later in this letter, particularly when we get to chapter 11.

But Paul was not simply in the business of preaching. He didn’t just market the gospel with an eye for the bottom line. That’s not at all how Paul operated.

How Peddlers Operate

You know, for a peddler to survive in the marketplace, what does he have to do? It’s as true then as it is now. He’s got to adapt. He’s got to sell what people want to buy. And if they don’t want to buy it, then somehow he’s got to convince them that’s what they want, or he has to change the product.

He’s got to be out there trying to market things. People’s taste will change, and as it changes, he’s got to change what he’s selling. And of course, that’s not at all how Paul proclaimed the gospel.

Paul’s Adaptability vs. Message Consistency

Now we might want to note, though, back in 1 Corinthians 9, verses 20 through 23, Paul did say, “Unto the Jews I became as a Jew, that I might gain the Jews. Under the law, I became as one under the law, that I might gain them that are under the law. To the weak, I became one as weak, so I might gain the weak. I became all things to all men, that I might by all means save some.”

You know, that kind of sounds a little bit like some changing is going on, and yes, it was, but it’s not changing the message. That was Paul adapting how he was proclaiming the message. The message never changed. Message never changed.

And we know that because we see Paul doing all of these things. And each time he was proclaiming the same gospel, the same message. It wasn’t the message of Paul that changed, it was the approach of Paul. But with these false apostles, the message changed any time it needed to to fit the audience. They were just out there peddling it, trying to make a buck.

We can see Paul changing his approach, for example, on Mars Hill. It’s a great example of that in Acts chapter 17. Paul had a different kind of audience, and he started off in a different way and led, but at the end of that, he’s proclaiming the same gospel he proclaimed to everybody.

The Meaning of “Peddling”

Now, the verb translated to peddle, it does mean to engage in retail business. But it’s kind of also associated with deceptiveness or greed. There’s a negative connotation with that Greek word. It’s often used to describe sellers, for example, who would dilute their wine with water and then sell adulterated product.

And you can see Paul here, I think, using that word to say, look, these false apostles are out there to fleece you. They’re fleecing their audience. They’re out there charging too much. They’re misrepresenting what they’re doing. They’re tampering with the product. They’re changing the message. That’s why Paul chose that word.

In chapter 4, Paul will say that he had renounced disgraceful, underhanded ways. Not that he ever practiced them, but he’s saying that’s not how I operate. Which I think is a very clear message that the false apostles were operating that way.

Paul’s Bold Speech

Paul was preaching the gospel, the unvarnished truth of the gospel, and he didn’t change the message. Now, we’re going to see, particularly in chapter 3, we’re going to see Paul defending his bold speech to the Corinthians. That’s a big focus of chapter 3, defending his bold speech.

Well, think about it. If Paul is bold, if Paul is honest and blunt and forthright, doesn’t that tell us he’s not a peddler? I mean, peddlers are going to change and soft pedal and they don’t want to offend anybody and they want to make sure the audience stays. That’s not Paul.

He’s going to proclaim the gospel, the whole gospel, the whole counsel of God, no matter what. If Paul were the only one standing there when he was through, he’s going to proclaim it all. And that’s the way the Apostle Paul was.

Context of Corinthian Concerns

Now, the many in verse 17 could refer to some particular group of the Corinthians, but I think more likely it’s just referring to the great mob of teachers and false apostles out there who were peddling. It could certainly apply to both Christians and also to pagan teachers and peddlers. Or perhaps the word Christian there is used broadly, but someone that came from within the church and was peddling, as opposed to someone coming from outside.

You know, another kind of underlying issue here is just the general concern for money that I think was a big focus at Corinth. I mean, we know Corinth had a very elite portion of the church. They also had some that from the very lowest class of society, but they had some very rich people there too. And I think they were probably trying to kind of cultivate those with money. And may have become too preoccupied with success. I think we’ve seen that elsewhere in these letters, and that may also be behind Paul’s use of the word peddler here.

Paul, by contrast, is sincere. He tells us that throughout here, and they certainly knew that. They knew Paul very well. And he did not practice as these peddlers did. And Paul, of course, was very bold in his open proclamation of the pure, unvarnished truth of the gospel. And Paul is going to have a lot more to say about boldness in chapter 3.

Any questions or comments about chapter two?

Beginning Chapter 3

All right, chapter three. This will be the final chapter that I cover in the second letter, and we’ll finish this up by the end of this month. Chapter 3 includes within it a verse that I think is one of the top two most twisted verses in the New Testament, twisted by those who delight in twisting the Word of God. For those who like to read ahead, it’s verse 6. For those who are wondering what the other one is, I’ll tell you when we get there.

Verse 1: The Question of Commendation

Let’s start with verse 1. “Do we begin again to commend ourselves? Or need we, as some others, epistles of commendation to you, or letters of commendation from you?”

Now, anyone who preaches or teaches for very long is going to face criticism. It’s absolutely unavoidable. The question is, what do you do when criticism comes? How do you react to it?

Well, the way to react to criticism is with a measuring rod of some sort. The critics are trying to impose their own measuring rod on you, and you may be tempted to counter with your own measuring rod, but neither your measuring rod nor their measuring rod is a measuring rod. They’re just rods. The only measuring rod is the Word of God, and that has to be what you look at if you’re responding to criticism.

The question is how does what you’re saying and how you’re saying it compare to what’s in the Word of God? Does it measure up? Is it lacking in some respect? Does it miss the mark? Does it fall short? Does it go too far? That’s the comparison that needs to be made.

Paul’s Response to Criticism

And that’s exactly what we see Paul doing here in chapter 3. He’s responding to criticism by turning back to the Word of God, going, in fact, all the way back to Moses, we’re going to see here in chapter 3. How does Paul fit into God’s plan? What is God’s plan? Is that what Paul’s been proclaiming? Has Paul been proclaiming it in the right manner? How can Paul explain his boldness in proclaiming it? Is that according to God’s will? Those are all things that Paul’s dealing with here in chapter 3, responding to criticism and looking to the Word of God. It’s a good example for how we too can respond to criticism.

Understanding “Commendation”

Now, in verse 1, Paul brings up the topic of commendation, and that’s a topic that reappears throughout this letter. Now, at first glance, the phrase commending oneself might seem to point to some type of self-boasting. And some commentaries say that’s what’s under consideration here. The word again in that context might then mean that someone in Corinth had previously accused Paul of being too boastful, and he’s now protesting that he’s not being too boastful now, and he wasn’t being too boastful before.

But I think there’s a problem with that view, because the Greek word here translated commend really doesn’t mean to boast or to exalt. It really means something different. We need to understand it in context. Both the context of the letter and also the context it was used in the first century. What did this word mean in the first century?

Here’s what one commentary said: “Self-commendation was an accepted and common convention that differs little from written commendation by third parties. Praise or complimentary phraseology is a traditional, though not essential, element of both third party and self-commendation and was acceptable if done inoffensively. Even extravagant praise by a recommender was acceptable, especially if the recommended party proved to be worthy of it.”

That, this commentary said, was what this word meant in the first century. Self-commendation was not boasting. It was really introduction. That’s how you introduced yourself to someone.

The Revised English Bible Translation

I think the Revised English Bible comes the closest to this that I found. It translates this by saying, “Are we beginning all over again to produce our credentials, our credentials, all over again? Are we going to have to show you our credentials?”

In short, the practice of commendation was not really a moral issue, as in boasting might be. But was more a social issue, as in how do I introduce myself to you.

Now, in that situation, the again in verse 1 I think it would refer to Paul’s initial visit to Corinth, Acts chapter 18. That’s where Paul would have first made this self-commendation, told them who he was. And given this commendation to them, this introduction.

And I think in that situation, Paul is really saying, Look, I did this. Do I need to do this again? Do I need to introduce myself to you all over again? Have you forgotten who I am? I think that’s kind of the message that’s coming through here in the first verse.

The Strained Relationship

You know, we know there had been a strained relationship between Paul and the Corinthians. And we know that some in Corinth seem to have blamed Paul for that. And if Paul were to commend himself to them again, then it would be in a way Paul would be saying, Okay, I realize I kind of messed up, so let me start over with you again. And Paul’s not going to do that, because Paul is not the one at fault here.

And rather than having Paul having to reestablish his ties of friendship with them, and by commending himself to them again, the Corinthians should have commended Paul to themselves. They knew Paul. They knew what he was like. They knew he loved them. They knew what he had done for them. His life, his work, had been an open book with them. They knew he acted with godly sincerity and love toward them.

God’s Commendation

But later in chapters 5 and 10, Paul is going to make the point that it’s God who ultimately knows best, and God who commends apostles. Human endorsements don’t make apostles. Which, of course, is a point directed at the false apostles. They’d come about by human endorsements. Paul is only going to seek God’s commendation. He’s going to say that in chapter 10. And his apostleship is going to be evaluated by the measure that God assigns to it. He’s going to say that in chapter 10, verse 13.

Now, Paul is not here disdaining letters of commendation. That’s just the way things worked. It was an essential part of establishing relationships. In the first century, in the ancient world, letters were the usual means by which Christians were introduced when they were traveling. We’ve seen that in our Sunday morning class in 3 John, we saw an example of that.

What Paul is really saying here is this: Has our relationship, speaking to the Corinthians, has our relationship sunk to such a low level? That I have to now call upon outside parties to vouch for me? You don’t, you know me. I now have to go outside to get someone to vouch for me. I think that’s what he’s saying. You can almost see Paul’s getting a little frustrated with them here.

Verses 2-3: The Living Letter

Verses 2 and 3: “Ye are our epistle, written in our hearts, known and read of all men, forasmuch as ye 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 tablets of stone, but in fleshly tables of the heart.”

Wow. Really, really beautiful stuff here. I mean, you just had to stop, and it’s amazing how beautiful some of this language is.

Paul’s Living Letters of Commendation

Verse 2, Paul says he needs no letters with them. Why? Because they are his letters. They are his letters of commendation. The imagery is just striking. Just grabs you. The Corinthians are Paul’s letters to the world. They’ve been engraved on his heart. They’ve been known and read by everybody.

Paul’s credentials are not on paper. Paul’s credentials are on people, and they’re on the people Paul is talking to. They’re engraved on Paul’s heart about the people he’s talking to.

In fact, it may seem unusual for Paul here to say that they’re written on our heart. We know that Paul’s really, I think, really talking about himself. We’ve talked about the plural versus singular. I think he’s saying they’re written on his heart, on his heart. But the one who was recommended frequently carried the letters around himself. So they would be written on Paul’s heart. His letter of recommendation would be written on himself. And Paul carries that around in his heart.

Paul’s Emotional Investment

I think that language shows something else about Paul. Paul was never the kind to rush in, get a quick convert, and leave and never think about him again. I mean, Paul was so emotionally invested in everybody he converted, and it stayed. He was constantly worrying about them and helping them, and wanting to further them in the gospel. Paul did not go in, exit, and then never think of them again. That was not Paul at all. He carried them engraved on his heart.

Four Characteristics of the Letter

Now in verse 3, Paul gives four characteristics of this letter that’s engraved on his heart.

First, it’s a letter from Christ, the epistle of Christ. Others may have letters, but Paul’s letter is different from those letters because Paul’s letter was written by Christ himself. Now later, Paul is going to compare his apostleship to that of the false apostles. And of course, those false apostles didn’t have a letter from Christ. And they had not had the personal encounter with Christ that Paul had had. So there’s going to be some big, big differences.

Second, this letter is related to Paul’s ministry. Verse 3 says that it was ministered by us. Now, the word ministered here I think refers to Paul’s work under the new covenant, which he’s going to talk about in chapter 3. Proclaiming the gospel of Christ. That was Paul’s ministry. Proclaiming the gospel under the new covenant. We’re going to see that all throughout chapter 3. This is kind of where it first is introduced here. And I think it refers to the founding of that congregation we read about in Acts 18. And it refers to that great task that was entrusted to him, and then it refers to his proclamation of the gospel there in Corinth. That’s this ministry, I think, that’s being referenced here.

Third, Paul says this letter was inscribed by the Spirit of the living God. Again, this is not a letter written by men, it’s a letter inscribed by the Spirit of God. It’s an epistle of Christ and written down by the Spirit of the Living God. These false apostles, these peddlers, they were focused on the things of the flesh. Paul focused on the things of the Spirit. Their letters were written by men. Paul’s letters were written by the Spirit of the living God, an epistle of Christ. Contrast is stark. Keep that in mind between flesh and the spirit, because we’re going to see that later again in chapter 3.

The Contrast: Ink vs. Spirit, Stone vs. Heart

Fourth, Paul draws a contrast between what is written with ink and what is written by the Spirit, written on the heart. When ink is written on paper, the paper receives the ink, it receives the image, but the paper makes no response. Just soaks in, and there it is. The letters remain only lifeless squiggles on that paper unless someone is able to make sense of them and respond to them.

But with the heart. With the heart. A response comes from the heart when the word is sown, takes root, produces fruit. That’s the heart responding to the words on the paper.

Paul goes on to draw a contrast between fleshy hearts and stone tablets. Now, if we just kind of stopped on this verse, we might think that’s a little strange. Because generally, if you’re carrying around a letter of recommendation in the first century, you’re not going to be carrying it around on a stone tablet. You’re going to be carrying it around on a piece of parchment or papyrus. It’s not going to be etched in stone.

Why did Paul say a stone tablet? Because Paul is about to move into a comparison between his ministry and the gospel and the ministry of Moses and the Old Covenant. So this is foreshadowing where Paul is headed here in chapter 3.

Old Testament Background

Now in composing verse 3, Paul seems to have drawn on several Old Testament texts.

Exodus 31:18, “He gave unto Moses when he had made an end of communing with him upon Mount Sinai two tables of testimony, tables of stone, written with the finger of God.”

Ezekiel 36:26, “A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit I will put within you, and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh. I will give you a heart of flesh.”

Jeremiah 31:33, “But this shall be the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel, after those days I will put my law in their inward parts, write it in their hearts.”

That Jeremiah reference is particularly important because two verses earlier in Jeremiah 31, back in verse 31, we have the only mention, explicit mention in the Old Testament of the new covenant. That’s it. An explicit mention there in Jeremiah. And that’s very clearly referenced here. In this verse in chapter 3, and Paul is about to embark on a comparison between the new covenant and the old covenant in chapter 3.

The New Covenant Writing

Well, what prompted this imagery? Why do we have this here? Well, Jeremiah explains it. Under the new covenant, the law would not be on tablets of stone. It would rather be written on hearts and on the inward parts. Yes, God would still be doing the writing, but He’d be writing on human hearts.

Well, what does that mean? Well, certainly it does not mean that the Word of God was initially written on human hearts. How do we know that? Because Paul is at this very moment, as he was writing this, writing the words of God down on paper. That’s what Paul was doing as he was writing this. He says that later. I’m writing the words of God on paper. So we know it was still written on paper.

The thing is, it did not stay only on paper. Christians under the new covenant would read it, would understand it, would digest it, would love it, would live it, it would be written on their hearts.

Supporting Scripture

Hebrews 4, verse 12. “For the word of God is quick, it’s powerful, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even the soul and spirit of the joints and marrow, discerner of thoughts and what? Intents of the heart.”

Colossians 3:16, “let the word of Christ dwell in you, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord.”

Romans 10:8, “but what saith it, The word is nigh thee, even in thy mouth and in thy heart,” Paul writes.

Luke 8:15, “but that on the good ground is that which is in an honest and good heart.” That’s where the seed takes root.

The Prophetic Fulfillment

The prophets had all pointed to a day, and it’s so clear in Jeremiah, but Jeremiah was not the only prophet that said this. The prophets had pointed to the day when the people of God under this new covenant that was coming would all know the Word of God, would all live by it. And of course, that was so unlike what was happening at that time when the covenant people of God had cast the Word of God behind their back.

Jeremiah was saying that’s not the way it’s always going to be. Someday there’s going to be a new covenant, and everybody under that new covenant, everyone in that new covenant with God, is going to know the word of God. It’s going to be written on their hearts. So different from the state of Israel when Jeremiah wrote that.

And Paul is here declaring that the prophecies, those prophecies about God writing on our hearts, they had come to pass through his ministry there in Corinth and through the other proclamation of the gospel. It had happened. That’s what Paul is saying there. He’s looking back to Jeremiah and saying, This has happened. This has happened. In the verses that follow in chapter 3, we’re going to see the significance of that declaration.

Verses 4-5: Strength Through Weakness

Verse 4. “And such trust have we through Christ to Godward. Not that we are sufficient of ourselves to think anything as of ourselves, but our sufficiency is of God.”

Verses 4 and 5 there are a clear restatement of this letter’s theme: strength through weakness. We are weak, but God is strong. And Paul’s confidence is not based on his own abilities. His own strengths. It’s not based on the praise of others. Paul’s confidence comes from Christ. His sufficiency is of God.

God had demolished Paul’s former confidence in himself as a Hebrew of Hebrews and zealous Pharisee who was blameless when he came to righteousness under the law. That had been demolished by God. And Paul’s confidence was now in God. His sufficiency was in God.

The Example of Moses

When the topic is strength from weakness, there’s a particular person from the Old Testament that should come to mind, and that’s Moses. And Paul’s going to turn to him very shortly. We typically think of Moses as only a great tower of strength leading God’s people through the wilderness, but of course, we know Moses didn’t start out that way.

One commentary said, “When the God of all things used Moses as his minister, why did he choose for himself a man of stammering speech and slow of tongue? because this displayed all the more his divine power. For just as he chose fishermen and tax gatherers to be preachers of truth and teachers of piety, it is by means of a weak voice and a slow tongue that he put to shame the wise men of Egypt.”

We need to recognize that the theme of this letter, strength from weakness, has to be our theme as well. We have to find our strength in weakness. “My grace is sufficient for thee,” Jesus said in 12:9 of this letter, “for my strength is made perfect in weakness.” It’s true of Paul, it’s true with us as well.

Verse 6: The Most Misused Verse

Verse 6. “Who also hath made us able ministers of the New Testament, not of the letter, but of the Spirit. For the letter killeth, but the Spirit giveth life.”

Well with verse 6 we’ve arrived at one of the most misused verses in the entire Bible. It should be placed right up there beside my other candidate for the top two, which is Matthew 7 verse 1, “Judge not, that ye be not judged.” Because for many people, those are the only two verses they know, and they’ve misused them both badly.

The Bible says that what you’re doing is a sin. Answer, “judge not, that you be not judged. And the letter killeth, but the spirit giveth life.”

A Personal Encounter

That verse has been quoted to me a number of times, but one incident really stands out in particular. And it happened back in 1996 as I was walking across the campus there at UT in Austin. And I was approached by two men who were handing out tracts. And they handed me a tract, and I stopped, and I was kind of flipping through it, and they were talking to me.

And as I generally do with tracts, I went right to the back of the tract, right to the end, see what it said there at the end. And here’s what it said. I still have it. It said, “To be regenerated, simply come to the Lord with an open and honest heart and say to Him, Lord Jesus, I am a sinner. I need you. Thank you for dying for me. Lord Jesus, forgive me. Cleanse me from all my sins. I believe you rose from the dead. I receive you right now as my Savior in life. Come into me. Fill me with your life. Lord Jesus, I give myself to you for your purpose.”

Well, you know, I of course immediately asked them about baptism. I asked them why their tract, which I had flipped through, omitted baptism. And I proceeded to give them a few verses in the Bible about baptism. And what do you think their response to me was? If you’re thinking verse 6, not yet.

Their response to me after I gave them those verses was: “Are you a member of the Church of Christ?” I said, well, yes, I am. And they said, “we used to be too.” And the younger one said, “I went to Abilene Christian University.” And the older one said, “I went to David Lipscomb University.”

So I said, okay, you know, so, but I talked with them a while longer and gave them a few more verses from the Bible. And they listened politely. And then as they walked away, what do you think was the one verse they quoted to me? “Don’t forget, the letter killeth, but the Spirit giveth life,” they said.

When faced with verses they didn’t much like, they did what most false teachers do, and they went to verse 6 here, like a safe harbor. They retreated to it. “Well, I know that’s written down there, but don’t forget, the letter killeth, it’s the spirit that giveth life. We’ve got the spirit.”

Zeal Without Knowledge

Now, those two on the UT campus, they definitely had a zeal for God. I mean, after all, I wasn’t walking around handing out tracts. They were. But their zeal was not according to knowledge, was it? Paul at one time also had a zeal without knowledge. And that zeal had likewise, as with these two, led Paul to do great damage to the church.

You know, Romans 10, verse 2, which we’re quoting there, says, “They have a zeal of God, but not according to knowledge.” That verse tells us there are four types of people. Four types of people. Anybody can be put into one of these four buckets. Either they have zeal but no knowledge. Or they have knowledge and no zeal, or maybe they don’t have any zeal or knowledge, or they’ve got both knowledge and zeal. Everybody on the planet can go in one of those four buckets. And of course, that last group is the only one pleasing to God, zeal with knowledge.

What Does Verse 6 Really Mean?

So, what does verse 6 really mean? Well, let’s proceed carefully, paying close attention to the context and see if we can figure it out.

In verse 6, Paul is concluding this section by giving an answer to a question he asked in chapter 2. Which we mentioned when we were there, verse 16. I think we ended the class with it last week. “And who is sufficient for these things?” Was the question. The answer is, we are. Paul is saying, I am. Paul is. Paul is sufficient. Paul is a minister of the new covenant. Through the power of God. And Paul is saying, I am sufficient for this.

But then Paul writes, “Not of the letter, but of the Spirit, for the letter killeth, but the Spirit giveth life.” And what does that mean? How does that fit in with what Paul is saying here?

Various Interpretations

As we’ve mentioned, that phrase “the letter kills” has passed into everyday speech. And we know it’s invoked by people against everything from reading Scripture, don’t read the Bible, it kills, to any kind of moral constraint.

Well, what’s meant by the letter there? That’s where we need to start. I think we know what killeth means. What is meant by the letter? Well, there are many views on that.

Some say the letter refers to the old law, it’s just the old law. Yet, I have some problem with that because in Romans 7:14, Paul says, “For we know that the law is spiritual.” Which would seem to cast a little doubt on the view that this is the old law. And in Romans 7, verse 12, Paul says, “the law is holy, the commandment holy, and just and good.” Well, you know, clearly the letter here in verse 6 is connected in some way to the old law, but I’m not sure it equals the old law. And it’s the same as the old law.

Now, Origen argued that the letter here referred to the literal external sense of the old law, and the spirit referred to the spiritual internal sense of the old law. And in fact, that’s then what led him to all the allegories he did, and that’s how people studied the Bible for centuries after him, because that’s kind of where he got it, all these allegories. I just don’t think that’s going on here either.

Well, some argue the letter here is just the legalistic interpretation of the old law. You know, a warped view of the old law, which we certainly saw a lot in the Old Testament. The Pharisees, you know, we know how they reacted to the old law. This interpretation relates the letter to the veil that hardens the minds of those who hear the reading of the old covenant. Later in verse 14, we’ll see, “but their minds were blinded. For until this day remaineth the same veil, untaken away in the reading of the Old Testament,” and that’s done away with in Christ.

Under that view, what the legalist is left with is what this letter is. That after the legalist has twisted the old law, what he’s left with is the letter. That’s what this view is saying. And we know that many in Paul’s day had turned the old covenant into some type of rigid death-dealing code, a set of rules that confirmed their own righteousness. That was the way the Pharisees looked at it.

But I think there’s some problems with that view also, because misunderstanding or misapplying the old law is not really the context here in verse 6. That’s not really the issue that Paul’s dealing with here. And second, that seems to ignore the contrast we just saw in verse 3 between writing on the stone tablet and writing on the heart. The old law was written on stone tablets. I mean, that’s not a disparaging comment, that’s a true comment.

And third, some interpret the letter to mean, you know, that some interpret it to mean this warped view, this view that it’s warped, it doesn’t really fit in well with the other ways in which the other context in which the same comparison is made. Paul makes a very similar comparison in Romans 2:29. He makes a very similar comparison in Romans 7, verse 6. It just doesn’t fit in well with that.

The Better View

I think a better view is that the letter here in verse 6 is not referring to a deficiency in the old law, or to a warped view of the old law, but is rather referring to a deficiency in those who received the old law, their inability to keep it.

Galatians 3, verses 10 through 14. You should write that in the margin here, because that’s an important parallel passage to what’s going on here in 2 Corinthians 3, verse 6.

Galatians 3, verses 10 through 14: “For as many as are of the works of the law are under the curse. For it is written, Cursed is everyone that continueth not in all the things which are written in the book of the law, to do them.” They can’t do them.

Verse 11, “but that no man is justified by the law in the sight of God, it is evident, for the just shall live by faith. And the law is not of faith, but the man that doeth them shall live in them. Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us. For it is written, Cursed is everyone that hangeth on a tree.”

Verse 14, “that the blessing of Abraham might come on the Gentiles through Jesus Christ. That we might receive what? The promise of the Spirit through faith.”

That section from Galatians has all the elements we’re looking at here. The law, the Spirit, those that are receiving the law and being condemned. Why? Not because of the law, but because they’re unable to keep the law. That’s why the letter killeth.

Also, Galatians 3:21 I think is an important parallel passage. “Is the law then against the promises of God? God forbid. For if there had been a law given which could have given life, verily righteousness should have been by the law.”

Note the phrase there in Galatians 3:21, “if there had been a law given which could have given life.” Doesn’t that sound a whole lot like verse 6 here? “The letter killeth?” The law can’t give life. The letter killeth. And it’s not a deficiency in the law. The law is spiritual. It’s holy. That’s what Paul has said. It’s a deficiency in those who received it, their inability to keep it. That’s why it killed. That’s why it killeth.

Conclusion

Well, I think, I don’t know if I’ve heard the bell, but I think we’ve reached our end here. Next week, we’ll continue on here in verse 6. Believe it or not, I’ve got a little more to say about verse 6. And then we’ll continue on into verses 7 through 18, which I will tell you is a very difficult section to unravel. It’s difficult to understand, true, but it’s also difficult to understand why it is here. Why is Paul saying all this? And once we figure that out, I think it helps us understand what it’s all about. So we’ll do that next week, Lord willing.

Let’s have our closing prayer.