You yourselves are our letter, written on our hearts, known and read by everyone. You show that you are a letter from Christ, the result of our ministry, written not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of human hearts.
(2 Corinthians 3:3-3 NIV)
At some point in time, many of us have needed or written a letter of recommendation. Applications to jobs, schools, and various positions sometimes require more than a resume. We all can make ourselves look good on paper. We can highlight our attributes on a resume and list our greatest qualities on an application. But at times, the employer, president, or whoever is in charge wants a witness. They want someone to vouch for you—they want someone other than you to back up every good word you’ve said about yourself.
Written support to validate someone’s work ethic and characteristics has existed for quite some time. The Apostle Paul begins 2 Corinthians 3 by asking a rhetorical question. He asked, “Are we beginning to commend ourselves again? Or do we need, like some people, letters of recommendation to you or from you?” (2 Corinthians 3:1 NIV). Paul laid this question on the floor to the believers at Corinth in regards to his ministry. He asked them if they needed letters of recommendation from elsewhere to vouch for his ministry. Paul even asked if they believed he needed a letter from them—a letter of recommendation written by them to vouch for his ministry to others.
Yet, usually, whenever Paul asked a question, he wasn’t asking for an answer. He was asking to make a point. In verses two and three, Paul states that the Corinthians were his letters. He states that they are letters from Christ written not with ink but with the Holy Spirit. He professed them to be letters read by everyone and written on the hearts of man.
Paul did not need the Corinthians to write letters of recommendation for his ministry, nor did the Corinthians need a letter from anyone else to support his ministry in Corinth. The evidence of his great work was in them. They were confessed, baptized believers. They were a people, a church, established by their faith in Christ. Their very existence and belief proved that Paul’s ministry was effective. The existence of the Corinthian Church was enough evidence to both them and anyone else that God was working and saving souls through the work of Paul. Letters of recommendation were not needed. They were the letters … as are we.
We are living letters of recommendation. We vouch for Christ through our way of life and faith in him. The Holy Spirit within us writes on the hearts of others, and God does the work of converting nonbelievers into kingdom citizens through our ministry. No one has to write letters of recommendation for Christ or our ministry work. We ourselves can vouch for how great God is by living according to his standard, and souls being saved and edified by our work in the kingdom is proof of our quality of work.
Being God’s letters means we shine God’s glory on the earth, and that light is evidence of God to others. Paul continues 2 Corinthians 3 by mentioning the glory that shone on Moses's face after descending from Mount Sinai. Moses ascended the mountain to retrieve the covenant between God and the Israelites. He spent 40 days on the mountain in God's presence, and when he came down, his face shined so brightly before the people that it scared them. Moses ended up wearing a veil to reduce their fear.
Yet, Paul states that the glory that shone on Moses’s face was the glory from a less-than-great covenant. 2 Corinthians 3:7-8 reads, “Now if the ministry that brought death, which was engraved in letters on stone, came with glory, so that the Israelites could not look steadily at the face of Moses because of its glory, transitory though it was, will not the ministry of the Spirit be even more glorious?”
Without a doubt, the glory that shined on Moses’s face was glorious. Moses’s retrieval of the Old Covenant was wonderous. The Old Law was a promise from God. It promised prosperity to the Israelites so long as they upheld the law. But as Paul stated, that covenant brought them to death. Although it was a perfect law to keep them in the right standing with God, they could not keep its laws. Therefore, that glory that was on Moses’s face was a fading glory.
But the glory that should shine through believers of God through Christ is a promise of everlasting glory. The covenant under Christ is one that will not fade away. Because of his death, we are no longer under a covenant that leads to death. We are now under a promise that leads to life. Therefore, Paul declares that this new covenant is more glorious than the first one.
The veil over Moses's face prevented the Israelites from beholding a lesser glory. That veil still remains on the faces of those who are not free in Christ. But to those who are free, we can behold glory with no veil—for we ourselves are continuously being transformed into glory by Christ.: "And we all, who with unveiled faces contemplate the Lord’s glory, are being transformed into his image with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.” (2 Corinthians 3:18 NIV).
Like Moses, children of God under the new covenant emit glory. Some see Christ’s glory in us and are able to behold it. Others see his glory in us and may wish to place a veil over it. Yet, as Jesus said in Matthew 5, a light is not meant to be hidden. We are the light of the world, created to shine God’s glory to the nations. We are meant to be God’s light, and we are meant to be his letters.
So, go forth knowing that you are a representation of glory. You are God’s, you are his light, and you are his letter. As an employer requests letters of recommendation to back up every good word someone says about themselves for worldly advancement, may we back up every good word God says for kingdom advancement. May we vouch for him and be evidence of his outstanding work by our example and our faith. By the power and aid of God, may we be living letters of recommendation.
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