The Christian faith is a matter of God’s revealed, life-creating and life-changing truth. In matters eternal, research and scholarship can only offer added insight or information. For research and scholarship cannot give eternal life. It is God’s Spirit working through Word and Sacrament that give us such life.
The Apostle Paul and Pastor Timothy tell us in today’s epistle reading: “This is the confidence we have through Christ before God. We aren’t qualified to claim anything comes from us. No, our competence is from God, who has also qualified us to be servants of a New Covenant.”
Although this part of 2nd Corinthians refers specifically to Apostles and pastors, its truths are much broader than that. For if the Apostle Paul and Pastor Timothy said that they weren’t qualified to claim anything came from them, but God, how much more does this need to be true for us? We’re even further removed from Christ. We didn’t walk and talk with Jesus. We didn’t sit at the Apostles’ feet to learn the doctrines of Christ. So, if the Apostle Paul and Pastor Timothy weren’t even qualified to say that something came from them, what then is our condition?
That’s why we must approach God’s truths with even greater fear and trembling. We must not–and are not so authorized–to make up our own faith, theology, doctrine, or spirituality. For what we are to believe, speak, and live out is not our own; it all comes from God. But that belittles us, doesn’t it? For it makes the Christian faith, not about you or me, but, instead, about Jesus for us, in us, and through us!
We are not to believe our own, made-up doctrines. For true doctrine doesn’t come from us, but God. In the same way, we don’t have the power to make someone else believe the life-creating Gospel of God. For such power doesn’t come from us either, but God. God creates faith, not you or me. Everyone who has ever become a Christian did so because God converted him. As Scripture says, “No one can say, ‘Jesus is Lord,’ except by the Holy Spirit” (1 Corinthians 12:3).
No Christian should ever think that his evangelistic successes (if we should even use that term) come from his own natural gifts or abilities. But that also means that no Christian should ever think his evangelistic failures come from lacking something–as long as he is faithful! As the Apostle Paul also says, “It is expected that those who have been given a trust to be found faithful” (1 Corinthians 4:2).
That’s why Paul and Timothy said, “Our competence is from God, who has also qualified us to be servants of a New Covenant.” So in matters of faith, we can do nothing in and of ourselves–but God does do His work through us! We are even His coworkers in the vocations where we serve. As 1st Corinthians tells us, “We are God’s coworkers” (1 Corinthians 3:9). God gives success, because God works in us and through us; indeed, we are all God’s coworkers.
So, what is it about this New Covenant, which Paul and Timothy proclaimed? This New Covenant “is not written but spiritual, because what is written brings death, but the Spirit gives life.” What does that even mean?
First, the Bible is not pitting itself against the Holy Spirit–as if that were even possible! Instead, Paul is tearing down the legalistic use God’s Word. He explains this in Romans 7: “We have been released from the law, having died to that which held us captive. So then, we serve in the new way of the Spirit and not in the old letter of the law” (Romans 7:6).
In other words, if the law is the driving force in your spiritual life, you are living by the old letter of the law, which brings death. Paul knew this; he lived it firsthand. Paul tried to make himself right with God by the old letter of the law, which only damned him, which only brought him death. Paul explained, “All who rely on the works of the law are under a curse. It is written: ‘Cursed is everyone who does not continue doing everything written in the book of the law’” (Galatians 3:10).
No matter how hard you try, no matter how virtuous you are, no matter how many noble deeds you do, your own efforts and works will never save you. It’s sad that many churches today simply presume that you are saved by grace. And once you are “saved,” they throw you back under the law. They concentrate all their attention on doing something for God. That’s simply using the law to take away what the Gospel gives.
The Apostle Paul asked the churches in Galatia: “Did you receive the Spirit by works of the law or by hearing with faith? Are you that foolish? After beginning with the Spirit, are you now going to be made complete by your own human effort?” (Galatians 3:2-3) But that’s what churches do all the time.
The opposite of the old letter of the law is “the Spirit,” which “gives life.” The New Testament has passages all over the place proclaiming this truth. Romans 8:2: “The law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death.” Romans 8:16: “The Spirit Himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children.” Romans 1:16: “I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God that brings salvation to everyone who believes.” 1 Thessalonians 1:5: “Our gospel did not come to you in word only, but also with power and the Holy Spirit.” And 1 Peter 1:12, where the Apostle Peter writes about those who “preached the gospel to you by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven.”
So the New Covenant of Christ is all about the Gospel. It’s what the Holy Spirit does to bring you Jesus’ salvation to make you right with God the Father. Yes, the New Covenant has God’s Law, what God expects each person to think, say, and do. But God never meant for His Law to save us but, instead, to serve the Gospel. The Law’s purpose is to show that we need something outside ourselves to make us right with God.
To make sense of this all, we need to understand the difference between the Law and the Gospel. The Law commands, threatens, and reveals God’s wrath. God’s Law does make promises–but only on the condition that you flawlessly obey them. But the Gospel is different. It doesn’t command or threaten. Its promises are without condition, based fully on the work of Christ. The Gospel reveals the grace of God, His undeserved favor, and His mercy and compassion.
A mountain of difference exists between the Law and the Gospel, even though both are the truths of God. The Law drives you to your knees and kills; the Gospel lifts you up and gives life. That’s why we proclaim Christ and Him crucified, who is the end of the law, so there may be righteousness for everyone who believes (1 Corinthians 2:2, Romans 10:4). That’s why we proclaim that a person is made righteous by faith apart from the works of the law (Romans 3:28).
The Gospel’s glory is not condemnation, but righteousness. It is as our Epistle reading for today says:
The ministry that brought death was carved in letters on stone. If it came with such glory that the Israelites could not gaze on Moses’ face because of its glory, fading as it was, won’t the ministry of the Spirit have even more glory? If the ministry that brought condemnation had glory, the ministry that brings righteousness then abounds with even more glory!
Paul calls the Law the ministry of condemnation. It was carved in stone, rigid and unbending. The Law knows no exceptions or excuses. If you break it, you condemn yourself to eternal death. One infraction is enough to condemn you for all eternity. The Bible says, “For whoever keeps the entire law, yet fails in one point, is guilty of breaking it all” (James 2:10).
Yet, God is neither unfair nor without mercy. He created us, and so we owe Him perfect obedience. If you break His law, He has every right to punish you for insulting His divine majesty. Yet, with the same, unflinching justice, God has mercifully provided you a way of escape.
In His immense love for you, God has transferred all the guilt of your sin to Jesus and transferred all of Jesus’ righteousness to you. This transfer took place on the cross of Christ. But that’s not where it gets delivered. God the Holy Spirit delivers Christ’s righteousness to you through Word and Sacrament, where faith receives such gifts of God.
Because of Christ, God forgives your sins and does not charge them against you. He counts you–yes, you–as fully righteous and without sin. That’s why, because of Jesus Christ, God absolves you of every wrong you have ever done. He receives you and gives you His Holy Spirit. He counts you as His Son, His child, and an heir of everlasting life.
Is God without mercy? No, He abounds in mercy. He abounds in grace and love. And He wants to be your Father, abba, dad.
The Law is good, glorious, and holy. But the Gospel is better and more glorious than the Law. For although both are God’s divine truths, only the Gospel saves. What is the Gospel? It’s all that Jesus did and does to save you, which the Holy Spirit delivers to you through Word and Sacrament, received in God-given faith.
So let no one throw you back under the old letter of the Law, where your standing with God depends on what you do. Instead, live in the glorious freedom of the Gospel through faith in Christ Jesus. “For the law was given through Moses, but grace and truth came through Jesus Christ” (John 1:17). Amen.
