2 Corinthians 2:14-3:6 — Who is Sufficient for Ministry?
Paul asks, who is sufficient (competent, qualified, or adequate) for the ministry of reconciliation?
This question begins a lengthy digression (if that is an appropriate description; 2 Corinthians 2:14-7:4) where Paul describes the significance, practice, and meaning of the ministry of reconciliation in which he is engaged for the sake of the Corinthians and others.
Perhaps it is not a digression at all. Rather, when Paul noted his opportunity to preach the gospel in Troas but chose to find Titus in Macedonia instead (2 Corinthians 2:12-13), it moved him to thanksgiving for the opportunities he has had to share the good news of Christ, including the planting of the church in Corinth. Paul gives thanks for how God works through through the ministry of reconciliation.
What begins as a thanksgiving becomes an exposition, which addresses—in one way or another—some of the significant misunderstandings Corinthians had about Paul and their misappropriations of the meaning of gospel ministry. This, then, is no digression in the normal sense of that word. Instead, it confronts a core problem: the Corinthians do not fully understand the cruciform gospel.
They do not understand how the gospel is deeply intertwined with suffering or how it is integral to the gospel of the crucified Jesus. This is why Paul suffers. It is not because Paul is an incompetent apostle but because he is a follower of the crucified Christ. This is the larger point of 2 Corinthians 2:14-7:4, and he articulates it in order to invite the Corinthians into the ministry of reconciliation, which involves both suffering and glory.
Ministry begins with gratitude: “Thanks be to God!” Thus, ministry recognizes that God is at work: God leads us and spreads the aroma of Christ through us. God is acting, and we are God’s instruments.
In Christ, God leads us in triumphal procession. While some read this as participation in a triumphal procession or parade where we are the victors who celebrate our triumph in Christ, it is probably better to read this against the backdrop of a Roman general or Emperor who returns to Rome and leads their captives, slaves, and prisoners into the city. God is triumphant, and we are God’s slaves, but slaves invited to participate in the triumphant ministry of Christ. This procession ultimately leads to death, to a cross that we share with the triumphant Christ.
Further, in Christ, God spreads the aroma of Christ through us in every place. We are the means by which God fills the air with the fragrance of Christ, which is the knowledge of God. We are the means by which others come to know God—they can smell it from our life, actions, and words. Unfortunately, the Christ many smell is odorous because of the lives, actions, and words of those who claim to be Christians but whose aroma gives off a stink rather than a sweet smelling perfume.
Who is sufficient to give off a fragrant aroma of Christ? The seeming answer is, Nobody! But if that were true, then no one would come to know God through us. God uses us—leads us in triumphant process and spreads the aroma of Christ through us! But how does this happen?
Unlike those who peddle God’s word for profit or their own glory, the one who is competent to spread the aroma of Christ speaks sincerely as one from God who stands in the presence of God. Sincerity rather than ambition must condition and shape the manner in which we spread the fragrance of Christ. We speak, but we speak in the presence of God rather than peddling our wares for the sake of our own interests.
So, is Paul a peddler or sincere? Does he seek his own glory or work for the joy of others? In other words, is Paul authentic? Is Paul trustworthy? Who can recommend Paul for the ministry of reconciliation?
It was common in the ancient world, as even in many circumstances today, to expect letters of recommendation. The best way to gain the trust of a new acquaintance or community was for a mutual friend or a recognized institution to introduce you through a letter of recommendation. Apparently, Paul had not come with any such letters, and perhaps there were other leading (competing?) persons who had letters of recommendations. Why, then, should we trust Paul? Where are his letters of recommendation?
Paul responds, “You Corinthians are our letter of recommendation.” Paul characterizes this in several ways.
- The Corinthian church, as the letter of Paul, Silas, and Timothy (“our letter”), is “known and read by all.” The Corinthians are a public witness to the gospel, which they embody. They are visible to all, and they ought to bear the fragrant aroma of Christ among those who know and read them.
- These letters are written in (or, on) “our” hearts—the hearts of the ministers who spread the fragrance of Christ among them. The hearts of the ministers are the papyrus upon which these letters were written. The Corinthians are seared into the hearts of their evangelists, those who planted the church (Paul, Timothy, and Silas).
- The Corinthians are a “letter of (or, from) Christ,” that is, Christ wrote this letter through the evangelists who planted the congregation. Paul prepared the letter as if he were an amanuensis, but it was Christ who created the letter. Paul is instrumental, but the authorship belongs to Christ.
- The letter from Christ is an act of God through the Holy Spirit, just as much as the ten commandments were written by the finger of God at Mount Sinai. In this case, the finger of God is the Holy Spirit who inscribes this letter upon the heart.
- This letter is written on human hearts (in this case, the hearts of the church planters—upon Paul’s heart, for example) rather than on tablets of stone. In other words, Paul’s letter of recommendation (the Corinthians) is written on his heart rather than the use of some external means—whether stone or paper.
In summary, by the Spirit of God, Christ wrote a letter of recommendation on Paul’s heart, which is the Corinthian congregation. Paul does not need any other letters of recommendation, whether from other congregations, from Jerusalem, or from any external authority. The existence of the Corinthian church is itself Paul’s letter of recommendation, which is present in his heart and authored by Jesus Christ by the Spirit of God.
There are a number of allusions to the Hebrew Scriptures that extend the application of Paul’s words. The references to the “tablets of stone” (Exodus 34:1, 4, 28, 29), a heart of flesh rather than stone (Ezekiel 11:19), a new heart and new spirit (Ezekiel 18:31; 36:26-27), and writing the law on the heart (Jeremiah 31:33) provide a context of hearing Paul’s language. He is saying more than simply the Corinthians are letters of recommendation but the nature of the thing recommended (Paul’s new covenant ministry) possesses a glory that surpasses that of the Mosaic covenant or even the tablets of stone. This language anticipates what Paul will explain in 2 Corinthians 3:7-18, which is the topic of the next blog.
At this moment, however, this language suggests—as Materna notes—that “even though the community is Paul’s letter of recommendation written on his heart, the community is also Christ’s letter written on their hearts by the Spirit of the Living God, whose temple they are (see 6:16)” (II Corinthians: A Commentary, p. 78). While the recommendation appears in Paul’s heart, that recommendation was accomplished by the Spirit of God who inscribed the law of God upon the hearts of the Corinthians rather than on stone tablets alone.
Paul’s confidence in ministry does not arise out of his ambitions, merchandizing of the gospel, or external letters of recommendation. Rather, his confidence comes from the fact that God does the letter-writing! Paul is competent—sufficient, qualified, and adequate—because God is at work in his ministry: “our competence is from God.”
This competence is expressed in their function as “ministers of a new covenant.” This language comes from Jeremiah who envisions a time when the law will not be written on tablets of stone alone but upon human hearts (31:33). The ministry of the new covenant is not one that ends with tablets of stone or external letters. Rather, it finds its fruit in the work of the Spirit who writes on human hearts or “hearts of flesh.” The ministry of the new covenant is a ministry of the Spirit of God. It is not only a matter of letters written in stone—which is a good thing because it is the law of God. And it is that law (written on stone) that is also written on the hearts of people by the Spirit.
The letter kills when it is only written in stone. To be effective—to give life—it must be written on the heart as well. Thus, the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life because the Spirit writes the law upon our hearts.
Who is sufficient? The Spirit of God who writes on human hearts gives the ministers of the new covenant sufficiency for their task of preaching the good news of Jesus the Messiah.
Thanks be to God who in Christ writes on our hearts by the Spirit of God so that we become letters of recommendation for the gospel itself and ministers of the new covenant.
In this way, we are sufficient, empowered, and competent for the missional task of sharing the gospel and spreading the aroma of Christ.