For The Letter Kills, But The Spirit Gives Life: An Exposition On Paul's Words In 2 Corinthians 3:6

LESSON 7

FOR THE LETTER KILLS, BUT THE SPIRIT GIVES LIFE: AN EXPOSITION ON PAUL'S WORDS IN 2 CORINTHIANS 3:6

You are welcome to another edition of Insights from God's Word, a Bible study programme that is committed to sharing God's Word by allowing the Bible to speak for itself.

In this edition, we continue with our series on The Law of God. The topic for this study is: "...for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life": an exposition on Paul's words in 2 Corinthians 3:6. The complete message in this text reads: "who also made us sufficient as ministers of the new covenant, not of the letter but of the Spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life" (2 Corinthians 3:6).

This text is one of the widely misinterpreted texts in Scripture. Many in Christendom today utilise this text to further their negative teaching against the Moral Law of God. In fact, through the passage of 2 Corinthians 3, many of God's people have been led to consider in a lighter manner the requirements of God's Holy Law. But was this the goal of the apostle Paul when he wrote down this epistle to the Church at Corinth? In this study, I want us to critically consider the content of the text in 2 Corinthians 3:6, and ascertain for ourselves the intended message that the apostle Paul wanted to convey to the believers at Corinth.

Beloved, for us to obtain a clear understanding of difficult verses in Scripture (such as the one in 2 Corinthians 3:6), we need to consider among other things the entire passage in which the difficult text is positioned. And so in this segment of our study, we are going to consider the entire passage of 2 Corinthians 3:1-18. I believe an analysis of the various verses in this passage will help us to come away with an understanding of our key text in 2 Corinthians 3:6. To reach this desired goal, we will be analysing the entire passage in three sub-sections:

A) THE BACKGROUND OF THE PASSAGE

"3:1 Do we begin again to commend ourselves? Or do we need, as some others, epistles of commendation to you or letters of commendation from you?

3:2 You are our epistle written in our hearts, known and read by all men;

3:3 clearly you are an epistle of Christ, ministered by us, written not with ink but by the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of flesh, that is, of the heart.

3:4 And we have such trust through Christ toward God.

3:5 Not that we are sufficient of ourselves to think of anything as being from ourselves, but our sufficiency is from God,"

(2 Corinthians 3:1-5) Key Explanation: The first 5 verses in 2 Corinthians 3 present the background of the entire passage. In these verses, Paul defends his apostleship and work on behalf of the Corinthian believers. The apostle seems to declare through these early versus of the passage, that unlike some other teachers, he does not need letters of commendation from anyone to tell them of his worth as a true apostle and worker of Jesus Christ. As far as the apostle was concerned, the believers in Corinth were his epistles known and read by all. In other words, the work that he has done for the church was manifest in the lifestyle of the members for all to see. The apostle Paul was quick to add that the work that he was able to do among the Corinthian believers was not through his own power but through the enabling power of the Spirit of God.

B) AN EXAMINATION OF THE TEXT OF CONTENTION

"who also made us sufficient as ministers of the new covenant, not of the letter but of the Spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life."

(2 Corinthians 3:6)

Key Explanation: In this key text, Paul continued to show how he was able to make a positive impact on the believers at Corinth. For us to obtain a clear understanding of this text, I want us to consider the key phrases in the text as follows:

i) MADE US SUFFICIENT

First, Paul makes it clear that the success of his ministry was not through his own power but through the enabling power of God.

ii) A MINISTER OF THE NEW COVENANT

Second, Paul showed that the work that was cut out for him by God in respect to the Corinthians was based on the New Covenant, which was not of the letter but of the Spirit. But what did the apostle Paul mean by New Covenant? Friends, the answer to this question is evident in the prophecy of the Old Testament prophet Jeremiah. From Jeremiah 31:31-34, we read the following: "31:31 Behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that I will make A NEW COVENANT with the house of Israel, and with the house of Judah:

31:32 Not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt; which my covenant they brake, although I was an husband unto them, saith the LORD:

31:33 But this shall be the COVENANT that I will make with the house of Israel; After those days, saith the LORD, I WILL PUT MY LAW IN THEIR INWARD PARTS, AND WRITE IT IN THEIR HEARTS; and will be their God, and they shall be my people.

31:34 And they shall teach no more every man his neighbour, and every man his brother, saying, Know the LORD: for they shall all know me, from the least of them unto the greatest of them, saith the LORD: for I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more."

(Jeremiah 31:31-34; Capital Emphasis Added) In his letter to the Hebrews, the apostle Paul again quotes from Jeremiah 31:33 as follows:

"This is the COVENANT that I will make with them after those days, saith the Lord, I WILL PUT MY LAWS INTO THEIR HEARTS, AND IN THEIR MINDS WILL I WRITE THEM" (Hebrews 10:16; Capital Emphasis Added).

Friends, it is clear that in the usage of the phrase New Covenant in 2 Corinthians 3:6, Paul was expressing a lifestyle that went beyond a literal obedience to the law. His expression; "not of the letter but of the Spirit", which immediately follows his mention of the New Covenant makes this point come out clearly.

You see beloved, the apostle Paul was focussed on bringing up the Corinthian believers to possess a lifestyle where the letter of the law wouldn't be their central focus but rather a joyful obedience to the God of the law will be their concern. As far as Paul was concerned, this object could be achieved only through the New Covenant, where the law is put in the heart and also written on the mind by the Spirit of God.

iii) THE LETTER KILLS

The word 'letter' as used by the apostle Paul in 2 Corinthians 3:6 basically refers to the Old Covenant. This is evident in the sense that in the same text, Paul wanted the New Covenant experience for the believers at Corinth. The Old Covenant comprised of the entire Hebrew Torah of which the Ten Commandments was a part. The work of the law is to give knowledge of sin (Romans 3:20; Romans 7:7), and nothing more. And so by the phrase the letter kills, the apostle Paul wanted to convey the point that even though the law was "holy, and just, and good" (Romans 7:12), it was powerless in giving the strength that was needed to obey its various precepts. Thus, the law left the sinner under the condemnation of death after revealing unto him his poor sinful condition (see Romans 6:23).

iv) THE SPIRIT GIVES LIFE

After the law has killed us (that is to say, revealed unto us our true miserable condition), we become uncomfortable and begin to desire something better than our current spiritual condition. In this state of helplessness, the Holy Spirit begins to woo us to seek after God. It is the Holy Spirit that leads men from the slavery of sin to behold the light of God that shinneth upon this world (John 1:4-5, 9). If the Spirit of God does not draw one, he or she cannot come to Christ (John 6:44). In His tender yet effective working on the human heart, the Holy Spirit leads people to accept the Lordship of Jesus Christ in their hearts. When we heed the promptings of the Holy Spirit and come to Christ as we are, He gives us the power to overcome sin. The apostle Paul portrays this beautiful truth in the last verse of 2 Corinthians 3 as follows; "But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord" (2 Corinthians 3:18).

Friends, it is interesting to note that the rest of the chapter (from verse 7 to 18) highlights the various points we have gone through in a beautiful comparison between the Old Covenant and the New Covenant. In this comparison, Paul makes it clear that the glory of the New Covenant far outweighs the glory of the Old Covenant. The reason he gives for this position is that the Old Covenant (the law) brought condemnation upon God's people who placed their confidence in the letter of the law, whilst the New Covenant leads one into the perfect righteousness of God in Christ Jesus because it is inspired by the Spirit of God working in the heart.

C) Friends, it is clear from the scriptural passages we have reviewed so far that our key text in 2 Corinthians 3:6 does not teach that the Moral Law of God is unnecessary within the New Covenant dispensation. Rather, we learn that within the New Covenant, the law is now placed in our hearts, and also inscribed on our minds through the power of the Holy Spirit. When this becomes our experience, we are no longer condemned by the law as the Spirit makes our assurance of salvation certain through our belief in the only begotten Son of God.

Exhortation: "1 There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. 2 For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death. 3 For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh: 4 That the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit" (Romans 8:1-4).

In our next study, which happens to be the last in our series on The Law of God, we will consider the topic: "For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to every one that believeth": an exposition on Paul's words in Romans 10:4. The Bible Study references for this study are Romans 10:4, 1 Timothy 1:5, 2 Corinthians 3:18 and Isaiah 8:20. Please do well to go through these passages before the next study is released.

Stay blessed and keep shining for King Jesus.

Maranatha!

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