Paul here is using the story of Moses on Mount Sinai to go after false teachers, peddling the word of God for money, and seeking to undermine Paul’s ministry. One thing these false teachers were doing was to claim that Paul’s ministry there was illegitimate because he never presented a letter of recommendation.
This is a bit silly because a) he did, in fact had a letter from the Council of Jerusalem, and b) he founded the church to begin with! His letter was the hearts of the congregation there in Corinth. He then pivots to an even more important contrast between words written physically and words written on hearts.
The Law of the Old Covenant was a glorious thing that made Moses’ face shine, but Paul’s ministry is greater because it is written with the ink of the Spirit on the hearts of believers. The Law was transitory, but the Gospel is permanent. There are three things we can take from this. There is a difference between the dead letter of the Law and the living Spirit. It is easy to throw Bible verses at people, whether in an argument or an attempt to teach or comfort, but if we are not doing this in a way that gives life to the listener and the speaker, it will end up being a dead letter and quite possibly thing more harm than good. Second, the way we live our lives matters as a testimony of the work of Christ. That does not mean our moral uprightness, which the World as a whole does really care about. Rather, our freedom in Christ and the joy in that freedom should stand out boldly against the backdrop of the world. Third, we are being transformed. The veil is off, and when we turn to the Lord we both behold and reflect God’s glory. This is not actually natural. We prefer to have clear rules and then do penance when we fail, to “sit in the sin” and feel its weight. Paul, though, says that the penance has already been done. There is no more veil, no more separation between us and God’s presence. “Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.” So, all we need to do is turn to the Lord. There is no more condemnation – we are free. -Sermon Notes, Seth MacGillivray, Seed Church, Lynnwood, WA, February 11, 2017
2 Corinthians 3:1-18
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