2 Corinthians 2:12-4:7

What’s Happening?

The church Paul planted in Corinth has been infiltrated by false teachers. Seeking to overthrow Paul’s authority, they boast in their own physical and spiritual credentials.  They argue that Paul’s suffering and hardships prove his ministry is illegitimate. In contrast, these teachers boast in their glowing letters of recommendation, endorsing them as legitimate teachers to Corinth. Concerningly, they are peddling a version of following God that excludes suffering and excludes Jesus. Paul goes on the offensive against these teachers to show that his ministry is from God and his humble authority is legitimate. 

First, Paul interprets his suffering through his missionary journeys according to the death and resurrection of Jesus. Jesus’ journey to the cross did not ultimately lead to death, but to resurrection life. In the same way, Jesus is leading Paul on a journey that looks like death, but is spreading life everywhere he goes (2 Corinthians 2:12-16). Paul is showing that if the false teachers, or the Corinthians themselves, do not see how his suffering leads to life they have missed the point of Jesus’ suffering. Like Jesus, Paul is journeying to death for the Corinthians. Ministers sent by God suffer like Jesus. Ministers not sent by God are peddling a different ministry (2 Corinthians 2:17). 

Paul continues his offensive by contrasting his ministry with the false teachers’. Their letters of recommendation commend their ministries based on their impressive speaking skills and pedigree (2 Corinthians 3:1). The false teachers boast in letters written on paper by men. But Paul boasts in letters written on the hearts by the Holy Spirit (2 Corinthians 3:2-3). The false teachers’ impressive ministry has not transformed the Corinthians. But the Holy Spirit, through Paul’s ministry, has (2 Corinthians 3:4-5). The Corinthians themselves are embodied proof that Paul’s ministry comes from God. 

Paul, then, pulls from a story in Exodus where written letters were unable to transform people (2 Corinthians 3:8-11). At Sinai, God’s glory appeared and gave Moses the letter of the law. But it was God’s glory, not the letter, that transformed Moses. This was evidenced in the shining face of Moses who beheld God and the unchanged hearts of the people who received the letters (2 Corinthians 3:7). The people went so far as to cover Moses’ shining face with a veil, making their transformation impossible (2 Corinthians 3:13). Eventually, the glory that transformed Moses’ face faded and Israel died with their untransformed hearts. Because the veil between God’s glory and human hearts remained, Moses’ glorious ministry ultimately resulted in death (2 Corinthians 3:14). Paul says Jesus is using his ministry to take the veil away (2 Corinthians 3:16). The Spirit has freed the Corinthians from the veil so that they can behold Jesus like Moses beheld God (2 Corinthians 3:17-18). Transformation does not come through letters, but through an encounter with God in Christ. Paul’s point is this—only follow a ministry that puts nothing between you and Jesus. 

Where is the Gospel?

Those who boast in themselves instead of Jesus prove they still have hard and untransformed hearts (2 Corinthians 4:3-4). Teachers who peddle a version of following God that excludes suffering and Jesus are veiling the true gospel that transforms people. They draw attention away from God’s glory onto the “glory” of their letters of recommendation. But in the end, this veil is put there by our enemy, the Satan. Paul names him as the one who blinds our minds and hardens our hearts against the truth of the life found only in Jesus (2 Corinthians 4:4). 

Teachers who get in the way of people seeing God in Jesus are teaching a false gospel. Paul’s ministry is the opposite. He draws attention away from himself and onto Jesus (2 Corinthians 4:1-2,5). He doesn’t boast in an outward letter of recommendation to qualify his ministry. Instead, he carries the ministry of Jesus in his own suffering body, like a hoard of gold lying in a clay pot (2 Corinthians 4:7). 

Only Jesus’ glory, not the glory of any leader, can change us. Just as Moses was transformed when he beheld God’s glory, we now behold the face of God in Jesus. When we turn to Jesus through the Holy Spirit, we are freed from the veil that prevented our hard hearts from beholding him and being changed. 

We often look to the letters of the Bible to transform our hearts. While it is glorious and transformative, a veil lies over it. But when the Holy Spirit removes the veil and shows us the face of Jesus in all of Scripture, we are transformed. It is not the vessel that changes us, but the treasure it holds. So ask the Holy Spirit to use the letters of Scripture to reveal the glory of Jesus to you. And as you behold him, you will be transformed from one degree of his glory to another. 

See for Yourself

I pray that the Holy Spirit will open your eyes to see the God who transforms us through his presence. And may you see Jesus as the one who reveals God’s glory to us so we can be transformed.