2 Corinthians 3 (7)

Pray Psalm 71.14-16.
But I will hope continually,
And will praise You yet more and more.
My mouth shall tell of Your righteousness
And Your salvation all the day,
For I do not know their limits.
I will go in the strength of the Lord GOD;
I will make mention of Your righteousness, of Yours only.

Sing Psalm 71.14-16, 3.
(Solid Rock: My Hope Is Built on Nothing Less)
But as for me my voice I raise to sing in hope and constant praise!
With saving grace my voice will swell Your never-ending grace to tell.
Refrain v. 3
A Rock of habitation be; command Your Word to rescue me;
my Rock and Fortress ever be!

Review 2 Corinthians 3.1-18; meditate on verses 2, 3.

Preparation
1. What did Paul say about the Corinthians?

2. How had they come to be that way?

Meditation
What a difference! In 1 Corinthians 3, Paul addressed his readers as babes in Christ, schismatics who had lost sight of the fact that they were God’s temple, the work of His indwelling Spirit. Here, in 2 Corinthians 3, Paul saw something else. He addressed the Corinthians as an “epistle of Christ” whose hearts were unveiled before the glory of God in the face of Jesus so that they were being transformed from glory to glory into His image.

It’s impossible to underestimate the joy and gratification Paul knew after hearing Titus’ report. The Corinthians had heard Paul’s hard words, and they were amending their ways, putting things right, and rediscovering the Lord’s true purpose for them.

This is the work of the Spirit of God (vv. 3, 8, 17, 18). When the Spirit of God begins to move among His people, great and astonishing things can happen. People grow in the Lord. They put aside their differences and seek ways of agreeing together in Him. They begin to bear bold and believable witness in their community. And they boast about the Lord and the mercy and grace He provides for all their times of need.

We, too, can be different. Our churches can be different. We don’t have to remain stuck in stale patterns of growth, moods of indifference or resentment, or lives of spiritual indolence. We can change. Our churches can change and grow. And we can be witnesses for Jesus and ambassadors of His Kingdom in ways exceedingly and abundantly beyond all we’ve ever dared to ask or think.

Only the Spirit can do this. We must call on God to fill us with His Spirit daily, and then we must walk in the Spirit and not in the flesh in everything we do. And as we do, people will say of us, “What a difference!”

Treasures Old and New: Matthew 13.52; Psalm 119.162
“How my heart yearns within me” (Job 19.27) to be different.

To be more like Jesus every moment of every day.
To be filled with His Holy Spirit to become an overcomer.
To bring the glory and grace of God into everything that I think and do.
To live out God’s marvelous work in me:

“I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you;
I will take the heart of stone out of your flesh and give you a heart of flesh.
I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and
you will keep My judgments and do them” (Ezek. 36.26, 27).

“How my heart yearns within me” to comply.

The Corinthians did—and went from being a trash novel—to become a beautiful epistle of Christ. Written not with ink or on tablets of stone; but on the living tablet of their hearts, pumping the lifeblood of Jesus into every nook and cranny of their being and Kingdom work.

“Let not mercy and truth forsake you; bind them around your neck,
write them on the tablet of your heart, and so find favor and high esteem
in the sight of God and man” (Prov. 3.3, 4).

There is already a difference in us caused by God’s saving and healing and empowering hand upon us.
However, our response to His love, by keeping His Law, is the delineating factor in whether Paul would want to claim us as his epistle, known and read by all (2 Cor. 3.2).

Paul’s stamp of approval was gained by those whose difference was glaringly obvious by what they thought and said and did, those whose lives revealed them to be a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s own special people, who proclaimed the praises of Him who had called them out of darkness into His marvelous light; who once were not a people but were now the people of God, who had not obtained mercy but now had obtained mercy (1 Pet. 2.9, 10).

We, too, want Paul—but most of all God—to look at us and say,
“What a difference following Me has made in My children with a new heart!” 

“How my heart yearns within me!”

For reflection
1. What difference have you seen of late in your own walk with and work for the Lord?

2. Would you say that your heart yearns within you to grow in the Lord? In what ways?

3. Whom will you encourage today to press on in becoming more like Jesus?

Their hearts were humbled and softened to receive this impression, by the new-creating power of the Holy Spirit. He ascribes all the glory to God. And remember, as our whole dependence is upon the Lord, so the whole glory belongs to him alone. Matthew Henry (1662-1714), Commentary on 2 Corinthians 3.1-11

Pray Psalm 71.1, 2, 7, 8, 12-13.
Call on the Lord to make you an epistle of His grace and glory to everyone who “reads” you today.

Sing Psalm 71.1, 2, 7, 8, 12, 13.
(Solid Rock: My Hope Is Built on Nothing Less)
In You, O LORD, I refuge claim; O let me never be ashamed.
in righteousness deliver me; incline Your ear and hear my plea.
Refrain v. 3
A Rock of habitation be; command Your Word to rescue me;
my Rock and Fortress ever be!

While many see in me a sign, I shelter in Your strength will find.
LORD, fill my mouth with endless praise and with Your glory all my days.
Refrain

O God be not too far from me; my ever-present Helper be!
Consume and shame my enemies; let them reproached and humbled be.
Refrain

T. M. and Susie Moore 

The Church in Corinth was in need of revival. But there was much to be done before that would happen. The Church today is in need of revival, and the same is true for us. Our book, Revived!, can help us to discern our need for revival and lead us in getting there. Order your copy by clicking here.

Support for Scriptorium comes from our faithful and generous God, who moves our readers to share financially in our work. If this article was helpful, please give Him thanks and praise.

And please prayerfully consider supporting The Fellowship of Ailbe with your prayers and gifts. You can contribute online, via PayPal or Anedot, or by sending a gift to The Fellowship of Ailbe, 103 Reynolds Lane, West Grove, PA 19390.

Except as indicated, all Scriptures are taken from the New King James Version. © Copyright 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved. For sources of all quotations, see the weekly PDF of this study. All psalms for singing are from The Ailbe Psalter, available by clicking here.