THE SECOND PART: A BIRD’S-EYE VIEW OF THE NEW TESTAMENT
The Second Epistle of Paul to the Corinthians
Message Two
The Constitution of the New Covenant Ministers
Scripture Reading: 2 Cor. 3:12-18; 1:21; Phil. 1:19; Rom. 10:12-13; 1 Cor. 15:45b; 2 Cor. 1:22; Eph. 1:13; 2 Cor. 3:3, 17; 4:5; Gal. 2:4; 5:1
I. The ministers of the new covenant are constituted by and with the Lord as the life-giving and transforming Spirit—2 Cor. 3:12-18:
A. The new covenant ministers are persons whose hearts have turned to the Lord, whose faces are unveiled, who are enjoying the Lord as the Spirit, freeing them from the bondage of the law, and who are being transformed into the image of the Lord by beholding and reflecting Him—vv. 16-18.
B. Through such a process of transformation they are constituted ministers of Christ by the Spirit with the elements of Christ’s person and work—vv. 16-18:
1. What we are by nature means nothing; only what the Spirit constitutes within our being counts—vv. 16-18.
2. We are transformed into precious stones through the heat and pressure in our environment and through the flowing and dispensing of the Spirit within us—v. 18; 4:16-18; Rom. 12:2a; 1 Cor. 3:12a.
3. Hence, our person is constituted of and with Christ, and our ministry is to minister Christ to others, infusing them with the all-inclusive Christ as the indwelling, life-giving Spirit—2 Cor. 3:5-6.
II. In order to be constituted as the ministers of the new covenant for the building up of the Body of Christ, we need to experience all the aspects of the all-inclusive Spirit in 2 Corinthians—1:21; Phil. 1:19; 2 Cor. 1:22; 3:8:
A. The anointing Spirit is the indwelling, compound Spirit moving and working within us to impart all of God’s divine ingredients and constituents into us—1:21; Phil. 1:19; Rom. 10:12-13; cf. Exo. 30:23-25:
1. The reaching of the anointing accomplishes the central purpose of God’s salvation to anoint the compounded God into us that we may be united, mingled, and incorporated with Him—1 Cor. 15:45b; 1 John 2:20, 27.
2. The teaching of the anointing is the inward feeling generated by the moving of the Spirit within us, enabling us to know God’s mind and to live in Him, teaching us the things concerning the Triune God and His activities—v. 27; Acts 16:6-7.
B. The sealing Spirit forms the divine elements into an impression to express God’s image—2 Cor. 1:22; Eph. 1:13:
1. The sealing Spirit saturates the believers continuously unto the redemption of their body—4:30.
2. The sealing Spirit transforms the believers into a treasure to God as His inheritance—1:11.
3. The more we are sealed, the more we bear the image of God to be constituted into the masterpiece of God—2 Cor. 3:18b; Eph. 2:10.
C. The pledging Spirit gives us a foretaste as a sample and guarantee of the full taste of God—2 Cor. 1:22; 5:5.
D. The inscribing Spirit writes Christ into us to make us the living letters of Christ—2 Cor. 3:3:
1. Christ is being inscribed into us with the spiritual ink, the Spirit of the living God; if we are under the Spirit’s inscribing, we have the deep sensation of being living within—v. 3.
2. The Spirit is the ink, and the content of the ink is Christ with His person, work, and attainments; the compound Spirit as the compound ink adds the substance of Christ into us and saturates us with the essence of Christ—v. 3.
E. The life-giving Spirit, the vivifying Spirit, imparts the divine life into our being to make us men of life with the ministry of life—vv. 6, 17; John 7:38:
1. When we study and read the Bible prayerfully with the exercise of our spirit, we are vivified—2 Cor. 3:6; John 6:63.
2. To be one who can give life to others, we must abide in the divine life and walk, live, and have our being in the divine life—1 John 5:16a.
F. The ministering Spirit imparts all that Christ is into us and makes all that Christ is and has real to us—2 Cor. 3:8; John 16:13-15:
1. We can receive the supply of the ministering Spirit by exercising our spirit to pray and call on the Lord—Gal. 3:5a; Col. 4:2; Rom. 10:12-13.
2. The ministering Spirit ministers Christ into us and ministers Christ to others through us—2 Cor. 3:6; cf. Phil. 1:25.
G. The freeing Spirit frees us from the bondage of the letter of the law; the Spirit of the Lord is the Lord Himself, with whom is freedom—2 Cor. 3:17; 4:5; Gal. 2:4; 5:1:
1. This freeing includes full satisfaction, with a rich, supporting supply and the full enjoyment of Christ— John 4:14.
2. This freeing includes the enjoyment of true rest, without being under the heavy burden to keep the law—Matt. 11:28-30.
H. The transforming Spirit dispenses the divine life, nature, essence, element—even the divine being—into us so that we may be metabolically changed in our inner being— 2 Cor. 3:18:
1. When we turn our hearts to the Lord to behold and reflect the glory of the Lord with an unveiled face, He infuses us with the elements of what He is and what He has done—vv. 17-18.
2. Thus, we are being transformed metabolically from one degree of glory to another degree of glory to have His life shape by His life power with His life essence.
I. The transmitting Spirit transmits all that Christ is with all the riches of God into us for our participation—13:14:
1. God is love, and this love is being transmitted as grace into us by the Spirit, who is the Transmitter—v. 14.
2. The Spirit is the fellowship, the communication, the circulation, the transmission, of the grace of Christ with the love of the Father, transmitting the divine riches into our being for our enjoyment.
Ministry Excerpts:
BEING TRANSFORMED INTO THE IMAGE OF THE LORD
Beholding and Reflecting the Glory of the Lord with Unveiled Face
When we with unveiled face are beholding and reflecting the glory of the Lord, He infuses us with the elements of what He is and what He has done. Thus, we are being transformed metabolically to have His life shape by His life power with His life essence, transfigured, mainly by the renewing of our mind (Rom. 12:2), into His image. Being transformed indicates that we are in the process of transformation.
The constitution of life involves the life essence, the life power, and the life shape. Every kind of life has these three things—the essence, the power, and the shape. For example, a carnation flower has an essence and a power. Therefore, it is formed into a certain shape. As it grows with the life essence and by the life power, it is shaped into a particular form. It is the same with the divine life. This life has its essence, power, and shape. The shape of the divine life is the image of Christ. Thus, in verse 18 we have the thought of being transformed into the same image. This means that we shall be shaped into the image of Christ. Based upon this fact and upon Paul’s use of the word transformed, we speak of being metabolically constituted. This term is based upon the concept of transformation into the image of Christ.
Being Open to the Divine Life with Its Power, Essence, and Shape
According to 2 Corinthians 4, we are vessels. As vessels we need to have an unveiled face; that is, we need to be open to the divine life with its power, essence, and shape. As we open to the Lord, He as the life-giving Spirit enters into our being to infuse His life essence into us, to operate within us by His life power, and to shape us into His image. This is the constitution of life to make us ministers of the new covenant.
The image in verse 18 is the image of the resurrected and glorified Christ. The “same image” means we are being conformed to the resurrected and glorified Christ, being made the same as He is (Rom. 8:29).
To be transformed into the same image from glory to glory means from one degree of glory to another degree. This indicates a continuing process in life in resurrection. This is “from the Lord Spirit.” “From” indicates that the transformation is proceeding from the Spirit rather than caused by Him.
The Lord Spirit may be considered a compound title like the Father God and the Lord Christ. This expression again strongly proves and confirms that the Lord Christ is the Spirit, and the Spirit is the Lord Christ. In this chapter, this Spirit is revealed as the inscribing Spirit (v. 3), the life-giving Spirit (v. 6), the ministering Spirit (v. 8), the freeing Spirit (v. 17), and the transforming Spirit (v. 18). Such an all-inclusive Spirit is crucial to the ministers of Christ and to their ministry for God’s new covenant economy.
Being Constituted to Be Ministers of Christ by the Spirit
with the Elements of Christ’s Person and Work
After speaking about the ministry of the new covenant, the apostle continues to speak about the ministers of the new covenant. From verse 12 through 18 he first depicts the new covenant ministers as persons whose hearts have turned to the Lord, whose faces are unveiled, who are enjoying the Lord as the Spirit, freeing them from the bondage of the law, and who are being transformed into the image of the Lord by beholding and reflecting Him. Through such a process of transformation they are constituted to be ministers of Christ by the Spirit with the elements of Christ’s Person and work. Hence, their person is a constitution of Christ and with Christ, and their ministry is to minister Christ to others, infusing them with the all-inclusive Christ as the indwelling, life-giving Spirit. All believers should imitate them to be the same kind of person and to accomplish the same kind of ministry. (Life-Study of 2 Corinthians, msg. 8)
EXPERIENCING THE ASPECTS OF THE SPIRIT
In 1 Corinthians there is mostly the doctrine concerning Christ, but in the second Epistle there is the experience and enjoyment of Christ. In the previous chapter we began to speak about the aspects of the Spirit in 2 Corinthians. Whatever is spoken there concerning the Spirit is not in the way of doctrine but in the way of experience. It tells us something richer and finer than 1 Corinthians does.
The Anointing Spirit
But after the seeing in 1 Corinthians, we must come to the anointing in 2 Corinthians. The Spirit in 2 Corinthians is not the teaching Spirit but the anointing Spirit. The Holy Spirit anoints us with the divine essence, just like a painter paints a house with the essence of paint. The Spirit anoints us with the essence of God’s nature, with the substance of what God is. The more He anoints us, the more of God we have.
The Sealing Spirit
We have also seen that the Spirit is the sealing Spirit (1:22). The anointing brings in the essence, and the sealing shapes what the anointing brings in into a definite form and image. When you mark a piece of paper with a seal, there is a definite form, an image, on that paper. The anointing Spirit brings in the riches of God’s fullness. Then the sealing Spirit shapes them into a form which gives people an impression. When you are sealed by the Spirit, you have the image of God, the impression of God, and the likeness of God. The anointing Spirit brings in all the riches of the Godhead so that we have something substantial. Then the sealing Spirit follows to make this substance into a form so that we have the image, impression, and likeness of God.
The Spirit Becoming the Pledge and the Foretaste for Us to Taste
Following this, the Spirit becomes the pledge, the foretaste, the earnest, the down payment, the first installment, the sample, for us to taste (v. 22). In the kitchen the sisters who cook have the foretaste of the things they cook. But when the food is put on the table, they have the full taste. Today the Holy Spirit who anoints us and seals us is for us to taste. This is more subjective. Still, what we are enjoying today is the small taste in the kitchen, not the full taste at the dining table. The dining table will come someday, and we all will be there tasting the Spirit in His fullness. But praise Him, today we have the foretaste! We need to taste the Spirit continually.
The Writing Spirit
He is also the writing Spirit. We are the living letters of Christ composed with Christ as the content, and the Spirit is the writing ink (3:3). The Spirit is writing Christ into us. This is not an outward teaching or an objective revealing but an inward, subjective writing of Christ into our being.
The Life-giving Spirit
Second Corinthians also says that the Spirit gives life. He is the Life-giver (3:6). God has made us the sufficient ministers of the new covenant, not of the letter but of the Spirit. People think that if they are going to be a minister, they have to go to seminary to be taught. But Paul said that he was a minister “not of the letter but of the Spirit.” What a difference in concept! The letter here refers to the written code or regulations. We can be outwardly regulated but with no life.
The Pharisees, the scribes, and the Jewish leaders at Jesus’ time knew all the right doctrines in the Old Testament. Herod called for the chief priests and scribes and asked them where the Christ was to be born. Right away they gave him the right doctrine by telling him that the place would be Bethlehem (Matt. 2:4-6). They had this doctrinal knowledge, but they would not go to Christ. The magi, however, went to contact Christ, not just according to the right teaching but according to the living star (v. 9). The Lord Jesus told the Jewish religionists that they researched the Bible, but they would not come to Him for life (John 5:39-40). The written code kills and deadens, but the Spirit gives life.
Life Being the Triune God Flowing Himself Out
Life is the Triune God flowing Himself out. It is the living flow of the Triune God. The picture of this is in Revelation 22, where we see the throne of God and of the Lamb, and out of the throne flows the river of water of life (v. 1). In this river grows the tree of life (v. 2). Life is divine, eternal, flowing, and living. People may be bothered at the noise in our meetings, but the Bible tells us to make a joyful noise to the Lord (Psa. 100:1). The quietest place is the cemetery, the place full of dead people. The Christian life and the church life are not a matter of what is right or wrong but a matter of what is dead or living. The written code kills, but the living and flowing Spirit gives life. Today it is not a matter of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, right and wrong. Today is the day of life, the day of the tree of life.
In John 5:21 the Lord said, “Just as the Father raises the dead and gives them life, so also the Son gives life to whom He wills.” Thus, we see that the Father gives life, the Son gives life, and the Spirit gives life. Even the word spoken by the Lord gives life. He said that the words that He spoke were spirit and life (6:63). The word here is the living, instant, and present word, not the constant Word. The living, present word of the Lord is spirit and life.
Studying and Reading the Bible Prayerfully with the Exercise of Our Spirit
Many times when you try to study the Bible, you are deadened because you get a lot of doctrinal knowledge without life. We need to study and read the Bible prayerfully with the exercise of our spirit. The mental reading kills, but the prayerful reading gives life. The more you read the Bible prayerfully, the more you have the deep sense that something within you is flowing, quickening, reviving, enlightening, and strengthening. The Concordant Literal New Testament translation of 2 Corinthians 3:6 says that the Spirit is “vivifying.” The more you read the Word prayerfully, the more you are vivified. When you read the Word mentally, you are mortified, but when you read the Word prayerfully, you are vivified. Whether you will be vivified or mortified depends upon the way you take to read the Bible.
Even the Bible can be a dead, written code to us if we do not come to Christ Himself to receive life. We need more life, not more knowledge. We need to be more and more vivified. We can be vivified by pray-reading the Lord’s Word. Life is what we need. The Spirit is not the Spirit of doctrine but the Spirit of reality, who is Christ Himself as life. The more we contact the Spirit, the more we are vivified.
The life-giving Spirit, the vivifying Spirit, is Christ Himself. Verse 6 of 2 Corinthians 3 says that the Spirit gives life. Darby puts verses 7 through 16 in parentheses, indicating that verse 17 directly continues verse 6. Verse 17 says that the Lord is the Spirit. Thus, the Spirit who gives life is Christ the Lord. Christ as the last Adam became the life-giving Spirit (1 Cor. 15:45b).
I would like to point out what Henry Alford said concerning 2 Corinthians 3:16-17:
The Lord of v. 16, is the Spirit…which giveth life, v. 6: meaning, “the Lord,” as here spoken of, “Christ,” “is the Spirit,” is identical with the Holy Spirit… Christ, here, is the Spirit of Christ.
Let us also read what M. R. Vincent had to say about this passage of Scripture:
The Lord Christ of v. 16 is the Spirit who pervades and animates the new covenant of which we are ministers (v. 6)…
We may wonder how Christ, as Henry Alford pointed out, could be the Spirit of Christ. We may not be able to understand this, but we simply need to say Amen to what the Bible says. Hebrews 1:8 refers to Christ the Son as God, and then verse 9 says that God is His God. This is the mystery of the Divine Trinity. We cannot fully comprehend such a mystery, but we can accept it. The Bible says that Christ as the last Adam became a life-giving Spirit, that the Lord is the Spirit who gives life, and that he who is joined to the Lord is one spirit (1 Cor. 6:17). This is not my teaching but my quotation of the Bible. This is not my invention but my discovery.
Now that we have seen the anointing Spirit, the sealing Spirit, the pledging Spirit, the writing Spirit, and the life-giving Spirit, let us go on to see the remaining aspects of the Spirit in 2 Corinthians.
The Ministering Spirit
The life-giving Spirit is also the ministering Spirit. Second Corinthians 3:8 speaks of the ministry of the Spirit. In this second Epistle, the gifts of the Spirit are replaced with the ministry of the Spirit. Balaam’s donkey received the gift of speaking in a human language, of speaking in tongues, but that was not a ministry. The donkey received such a gift suddenly, but a ministry takes time to be built up. A ministry is produced in a person because Christ has been wrought into him for many years, not just overnight. The ministry is produced through years of the Lord’s working, dealing, and building up bit by bit.
Sometimes when a saint speaks, you can realize that he is exercising his gift. But when another saint speaks, you realize that he has a real ministry because something has been built and wrought into his being through many sufferings over a period of time. Once something of Christ has been wrought into you, nothing can take it away. When you experience Christ through sufferings, the ministry of Christ with you is enriched, strengthened, and uplifted. Then what you speak comes out of your constitution, your very being. This is not a gift but a ministry.
When the apostle Paul ministered, he was not merely exercising his gift. Paul ministered Christ so richly because something of Christ had been wrought into him and built into him to become one with him. Actually, Paul was the ministry. Not only his word but also his person was the ministry. The ministry does not minister knowledge, doctrine, or the exposition of the Bible. It ministers the riches of Christ. The ministry of the Spirit imparts all that Christ is into us. If you listen to certain speakers, you may feel that you only receive knowledge without anything watering or feeding you. But you may listen to someone who is not so eloquent, yet you have the deep feeling that you are nourished, watered, and vivified. This is the ministry of the Spirit. This is the Spirit of life ministering Christ into you.
The Spirit is the reality of what Christ is. Christ is life. If you do not have the Spirit, you do not have the reality of life. Christ is light. If you do not have the Spirit, you do not have the reality of light. Christ is love. If you do not have the Spirit, you do not have the reality of love. Christ is everything. If you do not have the Spirit, you do not have anything. Instead, you have mere biblical terminology without reality. The reality of every item of Christ’s riches is the Spirit. The Lord said that all that the Father is and has was given to Him, and whatever He received was passed on to the Spirit of reality. Then the Spirit of reality passes on what He has to us (John 16:13-15). This means that He leads us into all the reality of what Christ is. He ministers Christ as everything into us.
The Liberating Spirit
Second Corinthians 3:17 says, “The Lord is the Spirit; and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.” The freedom mentioned here is the freedom, the liberty, from the letter of the law under the veil (Gal. 2:4; 5:1). The Spirit liberates us from the written code, the written regulations. The Judaizers knew the teachings and doctrines of the Old Testament, but these became layers of veils to them. They knew a lot, but they did not see anything.
We need an unveiled face to see the glorious Christ. What we need today is not more knowing but more seeing. We need to be liberated from the bondage of the deadening, blinding written code. Some of us have been overloaded with biblical knowledge. We need to be unloaded and emptied so that we can freshly receive Christ Himself in the newness of His living presence. When we have an unveiled face, we are liberated from religion, old doctrines, and traditions to behold and reflect the living Christ.
The Transforming Spirit
As we behold Christ face to face, we mirror Him, and we are being transformed into His image from one degree of glory to another degree. This is altogether from the Lord Spirit (2 Cor. 3:18). Thus, we have the liberation and the transformation.
First Corinthians tells us that Christ became a life-giving Spirit, but it does not tell us how He gives life. The details are in 2 Corinthians. The life-giving is the anointing, the sealing, the pledging, the writing, the ministering of Christ, the liberating from the bondage of religion and legal doctrines, and the transforming into the Lord’s image. Transformation is not an outward change but an inward, metabolic change by the discharge of our old element and the infusion of the Lord’s new element. (CWWL, 1969, vol. 1, “The Experience of Christ as Life for the Building Up of the Church”, ch. 9)
A Metabolic Process
The word transformed is a good word; however, it does not convey the full meaning of the Greek word. Instead of transformed, some versions of the Bible use the word “changed.” This word is very inadequate; it is a poor equivalent of the Greek word. The King James Version renders this Greek word transformed in Romans 12:2, but translates it as changed in 2 Corinthians 3:18. We need to know the difference between change and transformation. Transformation involves the process of metabolism. However, something may change without being affected metabolically. Many things may change in an outward way without any inward metabolic transformation.
In the process of metabolism a new element is supplied to an organism. This new element replaces the old element and causes it to be discharged. Therefore, as the process of metabolism takes place within a living organism, something new is created within it to replace the old element, which is carried away. Metabolism, therefore, includes three matters: first, the supplying of a new element; second, the replacing of the old element with this new element; and third, the discharge or the removal of the old element so that something new may be produced.
The digestion and assimilation of the food we eat involves metabolism. First we take the food into our stomach. Then the food is digested metabolically to supply our being so that new elements may be added to replace the old and that new cells may be brought into being. Through this process of metabolism we grow and are strengthened. Also through proper metabolism we may be healed of certain illnesses. Constantly a healing is taking place in our physical bodies through the process of metabolism. This healing is not caused by medicine given by a physician; it is the healing that is caused by the proper functioning of the body itself. Daily by the process of metabolism we can experience healing.
I wish to emphasize the fact that transformation is a metabolic process, a metabolic change. We may define transformation as spiritual metabolism. Concerning this, I appreciate Paul’s care in choosing words. Paul, a marvelous writer, is always precise in his choice of words. In 3:18 he deliberately chose a Greek word which is best translated by the English word transformed.
The Word “Transformed” Implying the Unsearchably Rich Supply of Christ
We have pointed out that transformation involves metabolism and that metabolism includes the supplying of new elements to replace what is old. Now we must ask what in Paul’s concept is the new element supplied to us as we undergo transformation. According to Paul’s understanding, this new element is the glory of the Lord. The glory of the Lord is actually the resurrected Christ. We have seen that the glory of the Lord in 3:18 is the glory of the Lord Jesus as the resurrected and ascended One, the One who is both God and man and who has passed through incarnation, human living, crucifixion, and resurrection to become the all-inclusive life-giving Spirit dwelling in our spirit. How rich is this resurrected Christ! The resurrected Christ with all His riches is the new element added to us for our transformation. This element, the resurrected Christ with His riches, is the glory of the Lord. This is not simply the meat of the Word; it is a choice portion of the meat.
The word transformed implies the unsearchably rich supply of Christ. As we receive this supply, it replaces the old element within us and causes it to be discharged and carried away. The result is that something new will be brought forth in us, just as new cells and tissues are produced in our body through the process of metabolism. This is Paul’s concept of transformation in 3:18. Otherwise, Paul would not have said that we are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, even as from the Lord Spirit. We are being transformed from glory to glory, that is, from one degree of glory to another.
From Glory to Glory, From the Lord Spirit to the Lord Spirit
For many years I have been trying to understand the phrase “from glory to glory” used in 3:18. I consulted a number of books, but I failed to find a satisfactory explanation. We should not take this matter for granted or assume that we understand it. What is the glory here, and what is the meaning of “from glory to glory”? From glory to glory means from the Lord Spirit to the Lord Spirit. The Lord Spirit is upon the Lord Spirit. This means that the Lord Spirit as the rich supply is continually added into our being.
We may use an illustration from our eating to understand the continual addition of the Lord Spirit into us. Suppose you are invited to stay with a family that eats a great deal of chicken. Day after day they serve you a meal containing chicken. In your eating you go from chicken to chicken. Eventually, by eating so much chicken, you will become constituted of the element of chicken. This element will permeate your tissues and cells. In a sense, your physical body will be transformed inwardly into chicken. Day by day and hour by hour Christ, the heavenly chicken, is being added to us, and we are being transformed into His image. This transformation is from glory to glory, from the Lord Spirit to the Lord Spirit. (Life-Study of 2 Corinthians, msg. 23)
The Transmitting Spirit
Second Corinthians concludes with Paul saying, “The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all” (13:14). This is not a benediction but a transmission. Love is the source, the fountain; grace is the course, the spring; and the fellowship is the river, the flow, to transmit all that Christ is with all the fullness of God into us. God is love, and this love is being transmitted as grace to us by the Spirit who is the Transmitter. All that God is as love is in Christ. Love is embodied in grace. Love is something in the heart, but grace is the expression of love. Grace comes out of love, and this grace is being transmitted into us by the Spirit. Love, grace, and fellowship are not three separate entities, but one thing in three stages. God is in Christ, and Christ is the Spirit. Christ is God’s embodiment, and the Spirit is Christ’s reality. The Spirit is the transmission of Christ, who is the embodiment of God. Second Corinthians concludes with the transmitting, communicating, and flowing Spirit.
May the Lord have mercy upon us. We need the experience of the Spirit which Paul spoke of in 2 Corinthians. We need the anointing Spirit, the sealing Spirit, the pledging Spirit, the writing Spirit, the life-giving Spirit, the ministering Spirit, the liberating Spirit, the transforming Spirit, and the transmitting, flowing Spirit. (CWWL, 1969, vol. 1, “The Experience of Christ as Life for the Building Up of the Church”, ch. 9)