PAUL AND THE CORINTHIA NS We speak before

PAUL AND THE CORINTHIA NS

“We speak before God with sincerity, like men sent from God” -2 Corinthians 2: 17

Paul and the Corinthians Part III I. Letter (vv. 1 -3) II. Competence (vv. 4 -6) III. Glory (vv. 7 -11) IV. Veil (vv. 12 -18)

“Are we beginning to commend ourselves again? ” -2 Corinthians 3: 1

“You yourselves are our letter” 2 Corinthians 3: 2 • “Written on our hearts” • “Known and read by everybody”

1 Corinthians 4: 15 -16 “Even though you have ten thousand guardians in Christ, you do not have many fathers, for in Christ Jesus I became your father through the gospel. Therefore I urge you to imitate me. ”

“You yourselves are our letter” 2 Corinthians 3: 2 • “Written on our hearts” • “Known and read by everybody”

“You show that you are a letter FROM CHRIST” -2 Corinthians 3: 3

Ezekiel 36: 26 “I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. ”

Paul and the Corinthians Part III I. Letter (vv. 1 -3) II. Competence (vv. 4 -6) III. Glory (vv. 7 -11) IV. Veil (vv. 12 -18)

2 Corinthians 3: 4 “Such confidence as this is ours through Christ before God. ”

2 Corinthians 3: 5 “Not that we are competent in ourselves to claim anything for ourselves. ” “Not that we are sufficient in ourselves to claim anything as coming from us. ”

“Our competence comes from God” -2 Corinthians 3: 5

“God chose me because I was weak enough. God does not do His work by large committees. He trains somebody to be quiet enough, and little enough, and then use him. ” Hudson Taylor

“God can achieve his purpose either through the absence of human power and resources, or the abandonment of reliance on them. All through history God has chosen and used nobodies… Oswald Chambers

…because their unusual dependence on Him made possible a unique display of His power and grace. He chose and used somebodies only when they renounced dependence on their natural abilities and resources. ” Oswald Chambers

“The Lord had the strength and I had the weakness so we teamed up! It is an unbeatable combination. ” Vance Havner

A New Covenant 2 Corinthians 3: 6 • “Not of the letter” • “But of the Spirit” • “For the letter kills” • “But the Spirit gives life”

Paul and the Corinthians Part III I. Letter (vv. 1 -3) II. Competence (vv. 4 -6) III. Glory (vv. 7 -11) IV. Veil (vv. 12 -18)

Exodus 34: 29 -35

2 Corinthians 3: 7 “Now if the ministry that brought death, which was engraved in letters on stone, came with glory, so that the Israelites could not look steadily at the face of Moses because of its glory, fading though it was. ”

“Even more glorious” -2 Corinthians 3: 9

2 Corinthians 3: 10 “For what was glorious has no glory now in comparison with the surpassing glory. ”

The world has a false idea about God’s message The world has a false idea about Paul’s ministry

“The apostle Paul, who embraced weakness and death as the ground for power in his ministry (2: 14 -17) has the temerity to place himself above Moses as to the surpassing glory of his ministry. What a sobering declaration to Paul’s detractors of any age. Think twice (Three times!) when you hear the urbane jibes tossed Paul’s way by popular culture. It is a puzzle to me when I hear Christians being dismissive of Paul who was THE competent minister of the new covenant. ” -Kent Hughes

2 Corinthians 3: 10 “For what was glorious has no glory now in comparison with the surpassing glory. ”

2 Corinthians 3: 11 “And if what was fading away came with glory, how much greater is the glory of that which lasts!”

Paul and the Corinthians Part III I. Letter (vv. 1 -3) II. Competence (vv. 4 -6) III. Glory (vv. 7 -11) IV. Veil (vv. 12 -18)

Hebrews 8: 8 -10 “But God found fault with the people and said ‘The time is coming, declares the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah. It will not be like the covenant I made with their forefathers when I took them by the hand to lead them out of Egypt, because they did not remain faithful to my covenant, and I turned away from them, declares the Lord…

Hebrews 8: 8 -10 …This is the covenant I will make with the house of Israel after that time, declares the Lord. I will put my laws in their minds and write them on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people. ’”