Scripture Reading: 2 Cor. 3:1-6
Ⅰ
The function of the ministry of the new covenant is not to do a work but to write living letters of Christ:
A
Paul's word about the inscribing of letters implies that God's way is the way of life—2 Cor. 3:3, 6.
B
We should carry out the central revelation of God not in the way of work, but in the way of life:
１
The important thing regarding our work is not its quantity but its quality—1 Cor. 3:12-15.
２
The real work is the outflow of life—Matt. 13:3; John 12:24.
３
God's way is the way of life, not the way of mass production—1 Cor. 16:19; Rom. 16:5.
C
The apostles were filled with Christ so that their ministry spontaneously ministered Christ to those whom they contacted, inscribing Christ in their hearts and making them living letters conveying Christ:
１
The essence of the new covenant ministry is the Spirit as the heavenly ink, and the composition is Christ—2 Cor. 3:17; 4:5:
ａ
A letter of Christ is one composed of Christ as the content (the words, phrases, sentences, and paragraphs) to convey Christ and express Him—Rev. 22:13; John 1:1.
ｂ
All of Christ's believers should be such a living letter of Christ, that others may read and know Christ in their beings—2 Cor. 3:2.
２
The writer is one who has been constituted with the Triune God by being continually inscribed with the Spirit of the living God in a real, active, and practical way:
ａ
In order to be such a writer, we need the Triune God constituted into our being; then the very God who has been constituted into us will be the real writer—2 Cor. 3:5.
ｂ
The writer is God, the writing substance, or element, is God, and the issue, the result, is also God—Eph. 2:10; 1 Cor. 15:28c.
D
We are ministers not of the killing letter in legality, not of death and of condemnation, but of the vivifying Spirit as the compound ink, the compound transforming Spirit, the pneumatic Christ, the processed and consummated Triune God—2 Cor. 3:6-9, 17-18.
E
In verse 2 Paul speaks of the letter inscribed in the apostles' hearts, whereas in verse 3 he speaks of the letter inscribed in the hearts of the believers:
１
While we are ministering Christ to others, Christ is simultaneously written in the ones to whom we are ministering and also in us:
ａ
The same writing produces two original copies of the one letter; one copy is in our heart and the other copy is in the heart of the ones to whom we are ministering.
ｂ
They become a letter of Christ and this letter is also in us, the writers.
ｃ
This writing involves two hearts becoming one.
ｄ
We can never forget the ones to whom we have ministered Christ and the ones who have ministered Christ to us.
２
The Corinthian believers as the apostles' living letter of commendation were inscribed in the apostles' hearts; thus, they were carried by the apostles and could not possibly be severed from them—2 Cor. 7:3.
Ⅱ
Our heart, as the composition of our conscience (the leading part of our spirit), mind, emotion, and will, is the tablet upon which the living letters of Christ are written with the Spirit of the living God:
A
Christ making His home in our heart equals the writing of Christ throughout our inner being so that we may express Christ in whatever we say and do—Eph. 3:17.
B
In order for our heart to be the best writing tablet, we must allow the Lord to keep it in a condition of being soft, pure, loving, and at peace—2 Cor. 3:16; Ezek. 36:26; Matt. 5:8; 2 Cor. 5:14; Acts 24:16.
Ⅲ
Anyone who is being inscribed with the Spirit of the living God will have an expression of righteousness in His daily living—2 Cor. 3:8-9:
A
The inner aspect is the living Spirit, and the outer aspect is righteousness as our expression.
B
This is the central vision of the Bible related to the image of God expressed by the life of God; the life within is the Spirit and the image outwardly for expression is righteousness—Gen. 1:26; 2:9.