Today’s Message is from 1 Corinthians 2:5-3:18. The Holman Christian Standard Bible divides this passage up into a half-a-dozen sections and gives titles to each of them. The last section of the passage, chapter 3 verses 7 through 18, is titled New Covenant Ministry and that pretty much summarizes the passage—New Covenant Ministry.

Remember as always as we read the passage that we are reading the word of God. God made us and he provided an instruction manual for us. It tells how we are to relate to him and to each other and to all of his creation. I’ll give you a summary: We are to love the Lord our God with all our hearts and minds and strength and lives, love out neighbor as ourselves and love our enemies. We are to subdue and rule over the earth. We are its caretakers. Today’s passage is a more detailed excerpt from God’s instruction manual.

Also, as always, I encourage you to study God’s instruction manual every day. You need the word of God every day. In the world, to use C. S. Lewis’s figure, the air is thick. The word of God may seem perfectly clear to you when you read it, but the world will cloud your mind and confuse you. So you need to refresh the word of God in your mind day by day.

Up until the last couple of weeks we have read and talked about 1 Corinthians. Now we’ve gone on to 2 Corinthians. In 1 Corinthians, the apostle Paul mostly rebuked and corrected the Corinthian believers. He started out with encouragement and ended with encouragement, but most of 1 Corinthians was instruction and correction to self-centered baby Christians. In 2 Corinthians, in last weeks passage, Paul said that he had written to the Corinthians out of an extremely troubled and anxious heart, with many tears—and not that they should be hurt, but that they should know the abundant love he had for them. (2 Cor. 2:4) He also said that he did not come to them because he wanted to avoid another painful visit. (Apparently he had come and rebuked them at some point in addition to writing to them.) He was waiting for them to obey his instructions (which were really God’s instructions) before he would come. His goal for them was their joy (“...but we are workers with you for your joy, because you stand by faith –1:24).

⁵If anyone has caused pain, he has not caused pain to me, but in some degree—not to exaggerate—to all of you. ⁶The punishment by the majority is sufficient for such a person, ⁷so now you should forgive and comfort him instead; otherwise, this one may be overwhelmed by excessive grief. (2 Corinthians 2:5-7)

The man who was being punished was probably the one who was living with his father’s wife in 1 Corinthians chapter 5. It doesn’t say that, but I’m going to assume that it’s true. What we can learn applies in any case.

Paul had told the Corinthians that this man was living in a kind of sexual immorality that was not even condoned among the Gentiles. From what I’ve read, the Gentiles, especially in Corinth, condoned every imaginable kind of sexual immorality including adultery, but apparently not this kind. And this sexual immorality was not something that was being done in secret. It was something that was widely known (“It is widely reported that there is sexual immorality among you...” – 1 Cor. 5:1). And although this was something that was not condoned even among the Gentiles, the Corinthian Christians had been filled with pride, apparently about their tolerance for it. Are we, the church of this day and age, ever proud of our tolerance for sin? The apostle Paul told the Corinthian church that they ought to be filled with grief.

Paul’s instructions to them were to put the man out of the church—to have nothing to do with him—to turn him over to Satan. In fact, he instructed them to have nothing to do with anyone who was sexually immoral or greedy or a swindler or an idolater—to not even eat with such a person. The purpose was for this man’s spirit to be saved in the Day of the Lord. It was for him to repent. Evidently the man repented. Verse 2:8 in today’s passage says, “Therefore I urge you to confirm your love to him.”

You know, by putting this man out of the church, they were loving him. We are continually taught tolerance these days. But it is not love to tolerate sin. It’s hate! (“The one who will not use the rod hates his son, but the one who loves him disciplines him diligently.” –Prov.~13:24 This applies to church discipline, too.) We think that if we use this discipline we will drive the person who is sinning from God—we will be regarded as self-righteous and judgmental—maybe this person will just go to a bigger church where his sin won’t be noticed. Maybe, but this is what God says we are to do. It’s up to the Holy Spirit to convict the person of sin.

By the way, Paul also told the Corinthians back in 1 Corinthians 5, “Your boasting is not good. Don’t you know that a little yeast permeates the whole batch of dough?” (1 Cor. 5:6) Sin spreads. Paul said, “Clean out the old yeast so that you may be a new batch...” (1 Cor. 5:7)

⁹It was for this purpose I wrote: so I may know your proven character, if you are obedient in everything. ¹⁰Now to whom you forgive anything, I do too. For what I have forgiven, if I have forgiven anything, it is for you in the presence of Christ, ¹¹so that we may not be taken advantage of by Satan; for we are not ignorant of his intentions. (2 Corinthians 2:9-11)

Paul gave the Corinthians an opportunity to show their “proven character”. They were obedient. Paul talked about forgiveness. Forgiveness is absolutely essential. Satan, the devil, loves unforgiveness. “Don’t let the sun go down on your anger and give the Devil an opportunity.” (Eph. 4:27b, 28) And “If you don’t forgive those who sin against you, your heavenly Father won’t forgive you either.” (Jesus said it. I’m just repeating it.) “And be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving one another, just as God also forgave you in Christ.” (Eph. 4:32) 2 Corinthians 5:10 says, “For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each may be repaid for what he has done in the body, whether good or bad.” Suppose Jesus said to you, “I was tortured and suffered and died for you so that you could be forgiven, but you have not forgiven those who have sinned against you. What do you think I should do with you? How could you answer him? Don’t let the Devil own your soul!

¹²When I came to Troas for the gospel of Christ, a door was opened to me by the Lord. ¹³I had no rest in my spirit because I did not find my brother Titus, but I said good-bye to them and left for Macedonia. (2 Corinthians 2:12, 13)

When Tom and I looked at these verses we wondered whether Paul had disobeyed God. He acknowledged that the Lord had opened a door for him to preach the gospel in Troas. But when he didn’t find Titus, he left them and went to Macedonia to look for him.

Evidently Paul had sent Titus to Corinth to see how the Corinthians were doing. Paul met Titus in Macedonia and got a glowing report from Titus. He was very much encouraged. Now I don’t know whether Paul had been worried about Titus or whether he was worrying about the Corinthians—about the report he had been expecting to receive from Titus on how they were doing, or about both. And I don’t know whether God sent Paul to Macedonia so that he could receive the report or whether he went on his own. But in verse 14 Paul said, “But thanks be to God, who always puts us on display in Christ, and spreads through us in every place the scent of knowing Him.” God used Paul wherever he went. Let’s look at verses 2:14 through 16:

¹⁴But thanks be to God, who always puts us on display in Christ, and spreads through us in every place the scent of knowing Him. ¹⁵For to God we are the fragrance of Christ among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing. ¹⁶To some we are a scent of death leading to death, but to others, a scent of life leading to life. And who is competent for this? (2 Corinthians 2:14-16)

Paul said, “Who is competent for this?” The answer is, “No one. No one is competent to represent Christ.” But I believe that God has a way of putting the scent of knowing Christ around those who really want to serve him. We may do many things wrong and feel completely incompetent, but God can still make us look like Christ to others. (Sometimes only our wives know better.)

The fragrance of Christ has a different effect on different people. There are those who are being saved and those who are perishing. Among those who are being saved, the fragrance of Christ is the fragrance of love and peace and mercy. To those who are perishing it is the fragrance of hate and judgment. (And I have to say at this point that I am not a believer in predestination. Those who are perishing will not necessarily keep on perishing. You can cross over from death to life. Jesus says so.) For those who are perishing, the scent of knowing Jesus is the scent of death. They are afraid and run from it. They run from the source of life. Or maybe they attack it, instead.

I was listening to someone who was supposed to be an expert on the persecution of Christians. He was talking about some of the recent persecutions in Muslim countries. He said that the cause of persecution was fear. They were persecuting the Christians because they saw more and more people accepting life and were afraid. To some the Christians are the scent of death. But to others, the scent of the knowledge of Christ is the scent of life and they run to it and embrace it and live.

In today’s passage Paul talked about the scent of life and the scent of death.. Later in 2 Corinthians he is going to tell us that there are two kinds of grief, godly grief and worldly grief. Godly grief leads to repentance and salvation, but worldly grief leads to death. Judas was grieved that he had betrayed Jesus. He had betrayed an innocent man. But instead of repenting and asking for forgiveness he went out and hung himself. Worldly grief leads to death. (The Corinthians, by the way, when Paul rebuked them, had godly grief. They repented and did what Paul had told them to do.)

I don’t know what those who preached the word of God for profit in Paul’s day actually preached. But, these days some preach the word of God for profit, too. They may preach that Christ died for our sins, but they generally emphasize material and physical benefits for this life. (And they generally neglect to mention that one of the “benefits” for this life is persecution.) Beware of their preaching. Paul was preaching with sincere motive. He wanted the Corinthians to have eternal life.

^3:1Are we beginning to commend ourselves again? Or like some, do we need letters of recommendation to you or from you? ²You yourselves are our letter, written on our hearts, recognized and read by everyone, ³since it is plain that you are Christ’s letter, produced by us, not written with ink but with the Spirit of the living God; not on stone tablets but on tablets that are hearts of flesh. (2 Corinthians 3:1-3)

The proof of the legitimacy of Paul’s ministry was that the Corinthians had listened to (and read) the word of God and had repented—that they had accepted the gospel and were obedient, that they had listened to Paul’s rebukes and that they were putting away selfishness. These things confirmed that Paul’s ministry was the real thing. (And don’t think this was just about disciplining one man. I think their whole attitude had changed. That’s the work of the Holy Spirit.)

⁴We have this kind of confidence toward God through Christ: ⁵not that we are competent in ourselves to consider anything as coming from ourselves, but our competence is from God. ⁶He has made us competent to be ministers of a new covenant, not of the letter, but of the Spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit produces life.

Paul’s confidence is not in his own competence to say anything right, but in the fact that God can work through him. In verse 6 he says that God made him competent to be a minister of a new covenant. There is an old covenant and a new covenant. The old covenant is the covenant of the law, which Paul calls “the letter”. It’s what’s in the Old Testament. Here’s what it says (this is what the Lord told Moses to tell the Israelites): “You are to practice My ordinances and you are to keep My statutes by following them; I am the Lord your God. Keep My statutes and ordinances; a person will live if he does them. I am the Lord.” (Lev.~18:4, 5) “A person will live if he does them.” If he doesn’t, he won’t.

A while back I turned on the radio and there was a preacher giving a sermon. He told a story. I don’t know what he was illustrating by it because I just tuned in as he was starting the story, but it fits this passage, so I’m going to repeat it. Here it is:

A man who had a rare and fatal disease was going for an appointment with the doctor with his wife. When they arrived, the nurse told the man to wait in the waiting room. The doctor wanted to talk to his wife alone. When the wife went in to see the doctor, he told her, “Your husband can be completely cured if you will make a completely stress-free environment for him for six to nine months. Don’t talk about anything stressful. Don’t talk about bills or complain about anything. Fix his favorite gourmet meals. Put on your prettiest clothes and greet him with love when he walks in the door from work. Just do these things and your husband will be completely healed.

No one has kept God’s law. “All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” (Rom. 3:23) The purpose of the law was so that we could know that we were not meeting God righteous requirements—so that we could know that we were sinners headed for hell. The purpose of the law was to lead us to Christ. “For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (Rom.~6:23) Salvation is only through Christ.

⁷Now if the ministry of death, chiseled in letters on stones, came with glory, so that the sons of Israel were not able to look directly at Moses’ face because of the glory from his face—a fading glory— ⁸how will the ministry of the Spirit not be more glorious? ⁹For if the ministry of condemnation had glory, the ministry of righteousness overflows with even more glory. ¹⁰In fact, what had been glorious is not glorious in this case because of the glory that surpasses it. ¹¹For if what was fading away was glorious, what endures will be even more glorious.

¹²Therefore having such a hope, we use great boldness— ¹³not like Moses, who used to put a veil over his face so that the sons of Israel could not look at the end of what was fading away. ¹⁴But their minds were closed. For to this day, at the reading of the old covenant, the same veil remains; it is not lifted, because it is set aside only in Christ. ¹⁵However, to this day, whenever Moses is read, a veil lies over their hearts, ¹⁶but whenever a person turns to the Lord, the veil is removed. ¹⁷Now the Lord is the Spirit; and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. ¹⁸We all, with unveiled faces, are reflecting the glory of the Lord and are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory; this is from the Lord who is the Spirit. (2 Corinthians 3:7-18)

The ministry of the law, even though it was glorious, was a ministry of condemnation (verse 9). The psalmists wrote how wonderful and glorious the law was—and it is. But, still, what it said is, “You’re going to die.”