II Corinthians 3:1-6

 II Corinthians 3:1-6 (NRSV)

 Are we beginning to commend ourselves again? Surely we do not need, as some do, letters of recommendation to you or from you, do we? ² You yourselves are our letter, written on our hearts, to be known and read by all; ³ and you show that you are a letter of Christ, prepared by us, written not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of human hearts.

⁴ Such is the confidence that we have through Christ toward God. ⁵ Not that we are competent of ourselves to claim anything as coming from us; our competence is from God, ⁶ who has made us competent to be ministers of a new covenant, not of letter but of spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.

 

           In II Corinthians 3:1-6, part of the introduction to an extended defense of the apostolic service (2:14-3:6), we see Paul transforming a dispute about his authority into a moment to proclaim the great confidence God has placed in ordinary people. 

As we move to 3:1-6, we see Paul transforming a dispute about his authority into a moment to proclaim the great confidence God has placed in ordinary people. The people of God are the "letter" through which the living Christ is making an appeal to the world. Paul is saying something like that here. Thus, Paul asks his readers, ¹are we beginning to commend ourselves again? Some of his readers seem to have criticized Paul for recommending himself in appropriate ways. Surely, we do not need, as some do, letters of recommendation to you or from you, do we? Paul is contrasting the other traveling preachers with himself, who founded the church. ² You yourselves are our letter, written on our hearts, which all people can know and read. Emerson once wrote that what you are speaks so loudly, I cannot hear what you say you are. Paul is saying something like that here. Further, ³ you show that you are a letter of Christ, which identifies their true foundation, as Christians are the evidence to others of the nature of Jesus, prepared by us, written not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of human hearts. Paul will now assert that true apostles meet the challenging questions with confidence before God. Note the dialectic of inadequacy and adequacy, unworthiness and worthiness. ⁴ Such is the confidence that we have through Christ toward God. ⁵ Not that we are competent of ourselves to claim anything as coming from us; our competence is from God, ⁶ who has made us (Paul claiming claims for himself and his team as) competent to be ministers of a new covenant. The concept of “new covenant” was part of the tradition Paul received. This new covenant is not of letter (without disqualifying the Old Testament, the books are simply writings, holy and necessary) but of spirit; for the letter kills, (not disqualifying the Old Testament, but recognizing that the law increased sin and gave effect to its link to death as its consequence[1]) but the Spirit gives life. The contrast of letter and spirit is part of the Pauline contrast between what enslaves and what frees, what is visible and what is invisible. The point is not a literal verses spiritual interpretation of Scripture. What we find written kills because it enslaves one to the presumption that we find righteousness in doing the law.

If we think of the gospel, beginning in verse 6 and continuing through the next segment, Paul here distinguishes the gospel from the Old Testament ministry of the law.[2] Paul is offering his way for Christians to read the Old Testament. It witnesses to the revelation of Jesus Christ.[3] We need to understand the law from the perspective of Paul and his view of salvation history. The only master concept under which Paul could contrast and relate the law and the new reality of faith, grace, and Spirit that abrogates it is the covenant, his antithesis being that of the old covenant and the new. As Paul sees it, the law is not the timelessly valid form of the divine will or of the demand of God on us. Rather, the law is a positive historical entity, namely, Old Testament law, or in general, the whole Old Testament viewed as law.[4] If only the letter of the Jewish Law has the function of condemning, does such condemnation have a broader sphere of validity in accord with the inner link between sin and death?[5] If we think in terms of the notion of the people of God and the official church, the fellowship of the new covenant is spiritual, as indicated here, because membership in the church rests on baptism as a sign of fellowship with Christ and of membership in the body of Christ.[6] If we think of the new person from above, Irenaeus, who followed the lead of Paul here, integrated the covenant history of God with Israel into his picture of human history as a whole.[7]

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[1] Pannenberg, Systematic Theology Volume 3, 67. 

[2] Pannenberg, Systematic Theology Volume 2, 459.

[3] Barth, Church Dogmatics I.2, 19.2, 514.

[4] Pannenberg, Systematic Theology Volume 3, 61, where he commends an essay by Gerhard Ebeling.

[5] Pannenberg, Systematic Theology Volume 3, 69-70.

[6] Pannenberg, Systematic Theology Volume 3, 478.

[7] Pannenberg, Systematic Theology Volume 2, 298.