We are gathering our thoughts around the fragment in the Second Letter to the Corinthians, Chapter 4:1:
“Seeing we have this ministry.”
For our present purpose, it is necessary to read a section from Chapter 3, at Verse 4.
Such confidence have we through Christ to God-ward:
not that we are sufficient of ourselves, to account anything as from ourselves;
but our sufficiency is from God;
Who also made us sufficient as ministers of a new covenant;
not of the letter, but of the spirit:
for the letter killeth, but the spirit giveth life.But if the ministration of death, written, and engraven on stones, came with glory,
so that the children of Israel could not look stedfastly upon the face of Moses for the glory of his face;
which glory was passing away:
how shall not rather the ministration of the spirit be with glory?For if the ministration of condemnation hath glory,
much rather doth the ministration of righteousness exceed in glory.
For verily that which hath been made glorious hath not been made glorious in this respect,
by reason of the glory that surpasseth.
For if that which passeth away was with glory,
much more that which remaineth is in glory.Having therefore such a hope, we use great boldness of speech,
and are not as Moses, who put a veil upon his face,
that the children of Israel should not look stedfastly on the end of that which was passing away:
but their minds were hardened.For until this very day at the reading of the old covenant the same veil remaineth unlifted,
which veil is done away in Christ.
But unto this day, whensoever Moses is read, a veil lieth upon their heart.
But whensoever it shall turn to the Lord, the veil is taken away.Now the Lord is the Spirit:
and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty.
But we all, with unveiled face beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord,
are transformed into the same image from glory to glory,
even as from the Lord the Spirit.
Therefore, seeing we have this ministry.
Thank you. Just turn to the Letter to the Romans, Chapter 2, Verse 27:
And shall not the uncircumcision which is by nature,
if it fulfil the law, judge thee,
who with the letter and circumcision art a transgressor of the law?
Verse 29:
But he is a Jew, who is one inwardly;
and circumcision is that of the heart, in the spirit, not in the letter.
Chapter 7, Verse 6:
But now we have been discharged from the law, having died to that wherein we were holden;
so that we serve in newness of the spirit,
and not in oldness of the letter.
And, to add a very familiar clause for the moment, Chapter 1 of the Letter to the Ephesians, Verse 17:
That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory,
may give unto you a spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him.
Coming back to our basic fragment, this ministry, you will have noticed that what the apostle means by this ministry is very largely, or partly, defined and explained in the immediate context. There is a follow-on from Chapter 3 with “therefore.”
Therefore, that links up with what he has been saying about Moses and the veil. It is, I think, focused in those words in Verse 6: “Who also made us sufficient as ministers of a new covenant; not of the letter, but of the spirit: for the letter killeth, but the spirit giveth life.”
That is a tremendous fragment indeed. It is the terminal point of two entirely different dispensations and economies. The phrase the letter represents a past dispensation—the Mosaic economy. The Spirit represents the present dispensation, and the economy of Christ personally.
This section is full of vivid contrast between those two dispensations and those two economies. Paul, as you see, distinguishes the difference between these two by, on the one side, the glory that faded; on the other side, the glory that surpasses and abides.
The glory that faded was connected with what Paul means by the letter. The glory that surpasses and abides is connected with what he calls the Spirit.
So that this ministry, about which he is writing and about which we are thinking as committed to us, is resolved into one word: spirituality. That word defines the nature of this present dispensation.
It covers a lot of ground. It includes a lot of things. Indeed, it includes everything in this dispensation, in the purpose of God.
First of all, it relates to the people of God. The people of God are different in this dispensation from what they were in the past—in the dispensation of the letter, the dispensation of the law, the economy of Moses.
It is the difference, and it is a very great difference, between the historical, sacerdotal, ritualistic relationship with God which obtained under Moses, and the new birth of this dispensation. All the difference between those two things.
That whole system under Moses, comprehensive as it was, and wonderful in many respects, containing all the vital principles of God’s mind for His people, nevertheless fell short in this one tremendous thing: it fell short of new birth. It never brought about regeneration.
That is the difference where the people of God are concerned. In that dispensation there was a people of God, but their economy was that, as I have said, of sacrament and ritual and all that kind of thing.
In this dispensation, God has a people, but the fundamental, basic characteristic of God’s people in this dispensation is that they are born from above. New birth has taken place, and that is a very great difference.
You can have all the other without this. If you have this, you comprehend all the other in spirit. The other is in letter and killeth; this is in spirit and maketh alive, in the first instance, by birth—by new birth.
This is the Spirit which giveth life. And we know—I trust we all know—that that is true in this initial respect: the Spirit giveth life in new birth. We are able to attest that with our seal and say, “Well, at any rate, that bit of the Bible I know to be true.”
The Spirit giveth life to a new entity, a new person, by new birth.
Paul here points out clearly that it is the difference between two covenants: the old covenant, which was of the letter and wholly outward; and the new covenant, which is of the Spirit and inward.
That is what he means in his references to circumcision, for instance, because that was the sign of the covenant with Abraham. The new covenant has now been instituted and, according to Jeremiah 31:31, the new covenant is:
“I will put My law in their inward parts, and in their heart will I write it.”
The new covenant is inward, whereas the old was outward. This people, Paul argues in his various writings, is the people of the Spirit in this respect: circumcision is a thing of the heart and not of the flesh. He is a Jew who is not one outwardly, but inwardly.
The difference between the dispensation of the letter and that of the Spirit is in these two covenants: that there has been something done in the heart which is the spiritual and inward counterpart of the sign of the covenant in the old dispensation.
Again, as we so well know from Paul, where the people of God are concerned, the difference of the dispensations is that of works and of grace. We need not spend time with that; we are so familiar with it.
All this is compassed by the very first aspect of this changeover in the dispensations. It begins in relation to the people of God.
But then it also, in the second place, relates to the Holy Spirit. There is all the difference between the Holy Spirit’s presence and work in the old dispensation and in this.
That in itself is a subject for more than an hour, because you will call to mind the lot of time and care the Lord Jesus took to make His disciples understand this great difference between the old dispensation and the new as to the Holy Spirit.
His emphasis and reiteration: “In that day, in that day, in that day.” And it was invariably, “When He, the Spirit, is come.” That is the day. Well, this is that day.
It is a tremendous changeover from the outward operation of the Holy Spirit, and periodic visitations and inworkings in men by the Holy Spirit and then departing, to the presence of the Holy Spirit within, abidingly.
That is the feature upon which the Lord put His emphasis:
“He shall abide with you for ever.”
“He shall be in you.”
Tremendous changeover. It is this that defines what Paul means by the Spirit over against the letter: the Spirit of life, as different from legalism.
Well, we could say that the law was given by God, if you like. We could say it was given by the agency of the Holy Spirit. Yes, but it was a legal system. Now, the Holy Spirit does not work legally in that way. The Holy Spirit is now the Spirit of life.
Legalism is only another phrase for the letter which killeth. But the Spirit that giveth life is the Spirit of life. There is a tremendous difference in economies and dispensations.
Then, in the next place, the Holy Spirit is the Spirit of truth and revelation. We have to put our quotation marks around that word truth, because it represents a particular and peculiar thing in the New Testament.
The Lord Jesus said:
“The hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and truth.”
He was making a statement about a peculiar characteristic of this dispensation: the Spirit of truth, and the Spirit of revelation, as differing from symbolism without understanding what it meant, and reality in the understanding of God’s mind.
Two different dispensations—that is tremendous. They had it all in type, figure, and symbol, but it is perfectly clear that they did not understand.
I think it is a tremendous thing that Moses said about this in the Book of Deuteronomy—a late statement by Moses:
“Even unto this day the Lord hath not given you a heart to know, and eyes to see, and ears to hear.”
After all, you are in the Book of Deuteronomy. You have got all the history; you have got all Exodus; you have got all Leviticus; you have got all Numbers. You have got it all, and even to this day the Lord hath not given you eyes to see and a heart to understand.
They had it all, but they simply saw it with natural eyes and observed it objectively. It was something like that, and they understood none of its meaning.
Now, truth in the New Testament sense is not just symbolism. That is not the truth; that is only representation. That is not the truth.
Jesus was indicating that when He said to the woman of Samaria that the hour cometh when neither in this mountain nor at Jerusalem shall men worship God. In the temple here in Samaria, nor in the great temple in Jerusalem—that is not the true thing. That is not the truth.
It may be simple representation, but it is only that; it is not the truth. We have come into the dispensation of the truth, which is that which is spiritual and not only in symbol and type.
The dispensation of the Spirit is the dispensation of the meaning of things—the meaning of all the symbols and all the types, the meaning of everything that God had foreshadowed in that objective way.
We now, by the Holy Spirit, have come into the meaning of things. When you come into the meaning of things, you can dispense with the childhood object lessons and pictures. You have got the reality and the meaning.
That is the characteristic of this dispensation: Spirit of truth and of revelation.
That is a very challenging thing, dear friends. It is a very challenging thing. It is a sweeping thing. It is almost a terrible thing.
One would be tremendously misunderstood, perhaps certainly very, very hotly taken up, if one were to apply that. If it is true that it is the spiritual and the meaning which is the true, and that is the characteristic of this dispensation, there is something terribly lacking when people cling to, or revert to, an Old Testament form of representation in outward things of ritual and sacerdotalism and all that.
You have to ask this major and fundamental question: have they seen, after all? Do they know the Holy Spirit?
Well, it is just there that there is this tremendous rise of indignation when you use the word revelation. Revelation! Well, here it is:
“That He would grant unto you a spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him.”
Paul is only saying, “He would grant to you to see the meaning of things, the meaning of things, and be saved from the mere outward representation of things.”
Well, that is the second thing about the changeover. You see, all this is included in this phrase, “We have this ministry.” We are defining this ministry, and this is it.
It is the ministry of an entirely different kind of person from those who were the people of God in the old dispensation. And it is the ministry of the Holy Spirit in an entirely different way, as within the life of such people, particularly and peculiarly as the Spirit of truth and of revelation.
In the third place, this connects with the kingdom. In the old dispensation, the ideas of the kingdom were those which were entirely temporal, earthly, and by force—by outward force, force of arms.
That is the old dispensation: literally fighting with flesh and blood to establish the kingdom; a temporal kingdom, a throne on this earth, and a political arrangement like the other nations, but a bit better—certainly above them and uplifting.
It is the Old Testament situation where the kingdom is concerned, and that whole mentality was the mentality of the people of God then. It carried over into the New Testament, and it was with that that the Lord Jesus probably had His greatest difficulties where His disciples and followers were concerned—this mentality.
But this is a part of the new dispensation, and the new people, and the new Spirit: that the conceptual mentality of the kingdom is entirely changed in this dispensation. It is not temporal; it is spiritual.
That, I am sure, needs no emphasis. The kingdom of God, the kingdom of heaven, is a spiritual thing in this dispensation.
And yet, in saying that, it sets right over against some of the greatest so-called Christian systems on this earth. That is the tremendous contrast between the true Church of Christ and that false one of Rome, and Rome’s sisters.
That is a temporal thing, a political thing, an earthly thing, and a thing which will be established by force of arms, if needs be—standing at nothing, persecution, crushing, to establish what it would call the kingdom.
But no, no. The kingdom is not like that. It is not like that. It is spiritual, not temporal; it is heavenly, not earthly; it is divine nature, not force.
Divine nature: righteousness, holiness, peace, purity, longsuffering, and patience—oh, Jesus! This kingdom is the kingdom of the divine nature.
And, oh, what a contrast it is with that other, which is so hateful in its moral—or immoral—life, using that word in its largest sense.
Once more, this changeover, this difference between the letter and the Spirit, relates in the fourth place to the church itself.
Here, very little need be said. All that is necessary is to underline one thing: the church in this dispensation is not an institution. It is not an earthly system. It is not something national. It is not sectarian. It is not denominational, interdenominational, or undenominational.
The church in this dispensation is a Person. It is Christ, and it is the extension of that Person. That is the church. It is not a hierarchy at all. It is certainly not a clergy. It is Christ.
And, I said, the extension of Christ, of the Person—that is, a people; a people in whom Christ dwells, in whom Christ is Lord, and over whom Christ is Head. That people, and no other, is the church.
Not a name. It is not a name. Far better to avoid all names. Immediately you put names on something that is the church, you bring it to earth and divide it from all others.
It is not a name, it is not a tradition, it is not a place, and it is not a form. It is a people whose basis of life and sum total of life is Christ Himself. The church is Christ.
This church is not something that you can see in its entirety. It is not apparent. There is no use going here and there looking for it, to find it.
You may find a greater or lesser approximation to it here or there, but you will not find this church in fullness anywhere on this earth.
But wherever you find Christ in men and women, there you have the church, at least in its foundation. And the measure of the church depends upon the measure of the Christ.
Well, you have heard that so often, but we are redefining this ministry. Of course, you have a very large context for all that I have just been saying.
You realize, do you not, that the Letter to the Romans is occupied with this? The Letter to the Galatians is Paul’s mighty—shall I say—sledgehammer upon this changing dispensation. And the Letter to the Hebrews is the classic in the New Testament of this difference in economies: from the Mosaic to that of Christ, from the past to the present.
Well now, we can come for a few minutes to this great illustration that the apostle takes up and uses: Moses and the veil which he put on his face.
This is not so easy to interpret as might be thought, because Paul changes his own position on this matter, as a close observer will recognize, and he has in so doing created a bit of a problem. However, we will tackle it. Let us analyze it.
There was a derived reflection of God’s glory on the face of Moses. Now, I put that very carefully: a derived reflection of God’s glory on the face of Moses.
It did not come from within Moses. It was not the glory of Moses. It was borrowed glory. It was derived glory, albeit it was the glory of God which he carried on his face from the divine presence, from the mountain.
The point is, to begin with, it did not come from within Moses; it came from without. But even so, being the divine glory upon his face, it was something that the natural eye of man could not endure.
That is the first argument. Paul changes it in a minute, but note that this derived, reflected glory, which was not inherent and intrinsic where Moses was concerned, but only mirrored glory, was something that the natural eye of man could not look upon.
A veil, therefore, was used. And in the first instance, that became the symbol of man’s visual disability as to God and His things. Do you get that?
It signified that man had not the ability, the capacity, to look upon the purpose of God. And that veil declared man’s inability, or disability, in the presence of that which was of God. The veil symbolized that.
But then, in the next place, that reflected glory faded. This is where Paul makes the transition which creates the difficulty. It has puzzled many; many interpretations have been given.
But as the glory was fading, and Moses subsequently read the law to the people, and the glory had gone, he put a veil on so that they should not see that the glory had gone. And that is a problem, a difficulty, stated here definitely.
If he put the veil on latterly so that they should not see that the glory had gone, then when the reflected glory faded, the veil took another significance. It became the means of hiding, not the presence of the glory, but the absence of it—the departure of it.
Now, what does it all mean? Well, the law was real. It was real. It was from God. It contained the mind of God. It was not something unreal.
Yes, it has in it the glory of God. The very law itself has in it the glory of God. But that mind and glory of God became hidden.
These were statements, yes, statements of the divine mind. But because of the state of the people—because of the state of the people—there was no apprehending. Indeed, there was no abiding presence of the glory of the divine mind.
There was no heart revelation. There was no capacity for receiving and understanding the mind of God. Therefore, the glory could not be present.
Now, in principle, you can see how true that is even now. If there is not the Spirit within as the Spirit of truth and revelation and life, there may be present a ministry of truth, of the Word, of the mind of God, but there is no glory. No glory.
If you, dear friends, were here tonight as a group of unsaved, unregenerate people, and I were talking to you like this—well, if I am speaking the truth, if this is all the truth—you would all be looking bewildered, and dark, and heavy, and wondering what it is all about, and longing for this moment to come when we could go home.
No glory. No response. If the Spirit is not there, there is a veil. The glory is not there, though the truth may be there, because of the state of the people.
“But whensoever it shall turn to the Lord, the veil is taken away. Now the Lord is the Spirit: and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty.”
There is release from this condition, and the glory comes in. I take it that, as we read this evening that whole section, you in your own mind and with your own eye were underlining that word: glory, glory.
The difference, you see. Paul argues that even today, when Moses is read, the veil remains simply because of the state of the people themselves.
But we have this ministry. God has shined into our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. We have this. It is a ministry resultant from the inshining—in other words, the revelation of Christ in our hearts.
It is there in the Word. The thoughts of God were in the words that Moses spoke. The mind of God was just as much there in the law as it is in the New Testament. The mind of God is the same mind of God; it emanates from the same God. It is no less truth and meaningful than anything subsequent.
But, you see, lacking a spiritual condition and capacity in the people, it went for nothing. The veil remained.
When it shall turn to the Lord, the Lord is the Spirit. God has shined into the heart. The veil has gone; it is removed. It is a ministry of inward revelation of Jesus Christ.
We have this ministry. This is release from the letter.
And when Paul speaks about the letter killing, he does not mean that it is not the Word of God, something less as to the Word of God. He does not mean that at all. He is not contrasting between what God said then and what God says now.
He is saying that then it was there, in this sense, but it could only be given objectively—read to the people from the outside. But now it is revealed in the heart and has become life. So it is Spirit now, plus the Word—or the Word plus the Spirit.
Then it was the letter: no indwelling Spirit. Now we are released into the glory of the unveiled face of Jesus.
We have this ministry. What does it mean? What does it mean to you and to me? It should mean this: that you and I have got the meaning of it. They only had the things; we have got the meaning of them.
That meaning is given to us by the Holy Spirit within—not all at once, but progressively. The mark of the Holy Spirit’s abiding and of our life in the Spirit is that we are progressing in the meaning of the things of God: life and glory.
But it is like that, is it not? Like that with all of us. No matter how many times we have read it, and thought we had got it and knew it, there comes a new meaning.
That old, old truth, that old statement, those old words, and yet it means to us new life, a new glory. We never saw that before. That is a mark of the life in the Spirit.
That is what we mean, and what Paul meant, by revelation—not extra to the Word, not apart from the Word, not our private revelations, but what the Spirit Himself is teaching and showing according to the promise of the Lord Himself.
Well now, you see, this is what Paul means when he says:
“Who also made us sufficient as ministers of a new covenant;
not of the letter, but of the spirit:
for the letter killeth, but the spirit giveth life.”
We have this ministry. And therefore, seeing we have this ministry, even as we have obtained mercy, we faint not.
We faint not.
Dear friends, I trust that although I have said nothing new to you, you are able to recognize, perhaps in a fresh way—not in a new way—what it is the Lord has called us to, what the nature of our life and ministry is.
May He open the eyes of our hearts and give us the spirit of wisdom and revelation.