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Scripture Reading: 2 Cor. 2:14-16; 3:3, 18; 4:6-7
Many readers of the Bible pay close attention to the book of 1 Corinthians but not nearly as much attention to the book of 2 Corinthians. In 1 Corinthians Paul speaks concerning Christ as our wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption. Readers of the Bible may consider these matters in a superficial way. Furthermore, in 1 Corinthians at least ten problems in the church life are covered. Also, in 1 Corinthians 12 Paul speaks about spiritual gifts, including healing, miracles, and tongue-speaking. It is easy for readers of the New Testament to be curious about such things.
It is not nearly as easy for readers of the Bible to become interested in 2 Corinthians as in 1 Corinthians. The reason is that 2 Corinthians is a much deeper book.
In 2 Corinthians Paul uses a number of metaphors to describe the Christian life and ministry. The first of these metaphors is that of captives in the train of Christ’s victorious procession: “Thanks be to God, who always leads us in triumph in the Christ and manifests the savor of the knowledge of Him through us in every place” (2:14). Paul was a captive of Christ, one captured, subdued, and fully gained by Christ and then put into His train of victorious procession.
Many readers of the New Testament have no knowledge of the metaphor used in 2:14. But we may have the knowledge of this metaphor and yet not have much inner realization concerning its application. We may not have the realization, the sense, that we have been captured, subdued, possessed, and fully gained by Christ, the Victor, and that now we are captives in the train of His victorious procession. If we have an inward realization concerning this matter, it will make us a different kind of person. We will always be conscious of the fact that we have been captured by Christ, subdued by Him, and gained by Him. In relation to ourselves, therefore, we are nothing. A captive is one who is now absolutely for the one who has conquered him. He knows that now he is one of those marching in the train of the victorious procession of the one who has captured him. This was Paul’s thought in 2:14.
Often after a Roman general had won a victory in battle, he would return to the capital leading a train of captives. The triumphal procession of the captives celebrated the general’s victory. All the captives in the procession were for the celebration of the victory of the triumphant general. How many Christians today are like this in relation to Christ? How many of us have the consciousness of being a captive in the train of Christ’s triumphal procession? I do not believe that many of us have this realization. If we were conscious of this fact, we would not be able to exchange words with our husband or wife. How could a captive in Christ’s triumphal procession exchange words? A captive has nothing to say. We all need to realize in a practical way that we are captives in Christ’s procession. Such a realization will certainly change us.
In 2:14-16 we see that those who are captives in Christ’s triumphal procession are also incense-bearers manifesting the savor of the knowledge of Him in every place. In 2:15-16a Paul says, “We are a fragrance of Christ to God in those who are being saved and in those who are perishing: to some a savor out of death unto death, and to the others a savor out of life unto life.” In these verses we have two metaphors: captives and incense-bearers. Because we are captives in Christ’s triumphal procession, we are also incense-bearers, those who scatter incense wherever we go. Because we have been captured, subdued, possessed, and gained by Christ, He has the liberty to saturate us with His fragrance. As a result, we become a savor spreading His sweet fragrance. The metaphor of the incense-bearer illustrates this. As captives of Christ, we are being saturated with His fragrance. In this way the captives in His procession become incense-bearers.
In 3:2 and 3 Paul uses the metaphor of a letter: “You are our letter, inscribed in our hearts, known and read by all men, since you are being manifested that you are a letter of Christ ministered by us, inscribed not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God; not in tablets of stone but in tablets of hearts of flesh.” Here we see that those under the ministry of the apostles are letters composed by the apostles. These letters are composed with the Spirit of the living God, with the life-imparting and life-dispensing Spirit. The God whom Paul served is the living God, and He is now the dispensing Spirit.
We should not regard the Spirit as being separate from God. In 3:17 Paul goes on to say, “The Lord is the Spirit.” In the same verse Paul also speaks of the Spirit of the Lord. The Spirit is the Lord, and the Lord is the Spirit. In like manner, the Spirit of the living God is actually the living God Himself. When Paul says that the apostles inscribed a letter with the Spirit of the living God, this does not mean that the Spirit of the living God is only the Spirit and not God Himself. No, the Spirit of the living God is God. The living God is the Triune God, the One who has passed through the process of incarnation, crucifixion, and resurrection and has now been consummated in the life-giving, life-imparting, and life-dispensing Spirit. With this Spirit the apostles inscribed upon the saints to make them a letter of Christ written by them.
In 3:18 Paul goes on to indicate that we are mirrors: “We all with unveiled face, beholding and reflecting like a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, even as from the Lord Spirit.” The words beholding and reflecting like a mirror are the translation of a single word in Greek. Here we have the beholding, the reflecting, and a mirror. Beholding is to see the Lord for ourselves; reflecting is for others to see Him through us. A mirror reflects what it beholds. As a mirror beholds, it reflects what it beholds. We are mirrors beholding and reflecting the glory of the Lord.
In order to behold and reflect the glory of the Lord, we need to be unveiled. Our face should be fully unveiled so that we may see clearly and reflect properly. Formerly, we were veiled. But now, through the ministry of the apostles, the veil has been taken away. As those with an unveiled face, we can behold Christ and reflect Him. While we are beholding and reflecting, we are being transformed by the divine dispensing of the divine element into our inner being. We are being transformed from glory to glory, even as from the Lord Spirit.
In 4:7 Paul says, “We have this treasure in earthen vessels that the excellency of the power may be of God and not out of us.” Here we have another metaphor — vessels. God’s shining, which is God’s dispensing, in our hearts (v. 6) brings into us a treasure, the Christ of glory, who is the embodiment of God to be our life and our everything. But we who contain this treasure are earthen vessels, worthless and fragile. A priceless treasure is contained in these worthless vessels. This has made the worthless vessels ministers of the new covenant with a priceless ministry. This is by the divine power in resurrection. The excellence of this power is surely of God and not out of us.
We have seen that in the apostles’ speaking concerning their ministry for God’s new covenant, five very significant and expressive metaphors are used to illustrate how they, as the ministers of the new covenant, and their ministry are constituted, how they behave and live, and how their ministry is carried out. The first metaphor is that of captives in a triumphant procession for the celebration of Christ’s victory (2:14a), then incense-bearers to scatter the fragrance of Christ (vv. 14b-16), letters written with Christ as the content (3:1-3), mirrors beholding and reflecting the glory of Christ in order to be transformed into His glorious image (v. 18), and finally earthen vessels to contain the Christ of glory as the excellent treasure (4:7). These vessels may be compared to a camera, into which the image of Christ enters through the illumination of God’s shining (vv. 4, 6).
The reason Paul uses metaphors in 2 Corinthians is that the things he is ministering to us are very rich, deep, and experiential. Ordinary words are not adequate to speak of them; it is necessary to use metaphors.
We need to be impressed with the significance of these metaphors. First, we need to have the consciousness that we are captives of Christ and also His incense-bearers, those bearing Him as incense. We should not simply work for Him but should spread abroad the sweet fragrance of Christ. We also need to realize that we are letters written with the divine ink of the Triune God. Moreover, we are mirrors beholding and reflecting Christ and vessels containing Him. How marvelous! We need to consider these metaphors again and again, for they illustrate things that are deep, profound, and experiential. We need to experience all the matters indicated by these five metaphors.
We have briefly considered five metaphors used by Paul in 2 Corinthians. Now we need to consider what is the issue, the result, of the experience pictured by these metaphors. The issue is constitution in life.
We have received the divine life, and God’s intention is to work this life into our entire being. When we were regenerated, God wrought this life into our spirit. Now God is seeking to spread His life from our spirit, the center of our being, into our soul and even into our body. We may compare our spirit to the hub of a wheel, and our body to the rim. God has wrought His life into our spirit as the “hub,” and now He is spreading this life through the “spokes” of our soul to the “rim” of our body. Then the entire “wheel” will be saturated and permeated with the divine life. This is what it means to say that we are constituted of life. Chapters 2, 3, and 4 of 2 Corinthians speak of such a constitution of life. Throughout the centuries the majority of believers have failed to see the matter of constitution of life.
This constitution of life is also the constitution of the ministry. We should not think that we only need the constitution of life and do not need the constitution of the ministry. Every believer needs both the constitution of life and the constitution of the ministry. Every believer has life, and every believer should share in the ministry. This is the reason we encourage all the saints to function in the meetings. To function is to carry out our ministry.
Ministry is equal to service. Therefore, to minister is to serve. We may carry out our ministry by giving a testimony or by praying. As we testify and pray, we minister to those in the meeting. Sometimes a prayer renders more service than a testimony does. Do not think that you have no ministry. Speaking, testifying, and praying are all aspects of the ministry.
Ministry requires constitution. Just as our spiritual life needs a constitution, so our ministry also needs a constitution. Actually, we cannot separate ministry, or function, from life. Life always functions. There is no such thing as a kind of life that does not function. We may use a fruit tree as an illustration. As a fruit tree grows, it will blossom and bear fruit. However, if a fruit tree does not grow, it will not function. If it does not grow, it will not blossom or bear fruit. We may say that the blossoming and fruit-bearing of a fruit tree is its function, its ministry. Do you know what fruit trees are doing as they are growing? They are functioning, ministering. But apart from growth, fruit trees cannot minister.
Growth indicates life, and life needs to reach maturity. The more we mature, the greater will be our measure of life. The greater our measure of life is, the more we will be able to function.
Suppose a certain brother learns the Bible only in a doctrinal way without growing in life. What kind of function will he have? His only function will be to teach the Bible in a theological way. He will not be able to function as a captive in Christ’s procession or as His incense-bearer. Furthermore, he will not be able to function by writing letters of Christ. Since he does not have the growth in life, he does not have the function that depends on life. This illustrates the crucial point that we cannot separate ministry from life.
You should not say, “I am not an apostle or an elder. Since I am neither an apostle or an elder, my only need is life; I do not need to have a ministry.” On the contrary, you need to have both life and ministry, and in these three chapters both life and ministry are covered.
In these chapters of 2 Corinthians, we see not only the matter of constitution but also the matter of transformation. In 3:18 Paul clearly speaks of our being transformed into the same image from glory to glory.
Constitution is a matter of having a certain element transfused into us. We may use as an illustration the petrification of wood. How can wood be petrified? Wood is petrified through a process of constitution. In this process certain mineral elements are deposited into the wood through the flowing of water. This transfusing, this infusing, of mineral elements into the wood is constitution. Moreover, in the petrification of wood, the water carries away the old element and replaces it with a new element.
The petrification of wood illustrates the process of being constituted of the divine life. As the current of living water flows within us, it deposits the divine element into us. Furthermore, as the water flows through us and out of us, it carries away our “wooden” element. Through the flowing of the water, the element of the divine “minerals” replaces the element of wood. The result is a metabolic constitution. By metabolic we mean a process in which an old element is replaced by a new element. When we speak of constitution, we speak of the process of spiritual metabolism that affects us intrinsically by a divine life-replacement.
What, then, is transformation? Transformation denotes a change. When wood is petrified, it undergoes a change as the old element is carried away and is replaced by a new element. This change affects the wood inwardly, and it also affects its form outwardly. Hence, it is a matter of transformation.
The word transform includes the word form. For something to be transformed means that it changes from one form into another form. Therefore, transformation implies a new kind of formation. Transformation is not only a matter of constitution; it is also a matter of building up a particular form. In 3:18 this form is Christ’s image. In this verse Paul tells us that we are being transformed into the Lord’s image.
As Paul was writing these three chapters of 2 Corinthians, he had within him the thoughts of constitution and transformation. If not, he would not have written these chapters in the way he did.
We cannot understand chapters 2, 3, and 4 of 2 Corinthians simply by reading them. We can understand these chapters only after we have had a certain amount of spiritual experience. The degree of our understanding depends on the extent of our experience. Our experience of these matters is not yet adequate. This is why it is difficult for us to speak concerning them. We must have experience in order to understand experiential things. Only then will we be able to present these things to others.
Both constitution and transformation take place through the divine dispensing. From the time we were regenerated, the divine dispensing has been going on within us. The rate of this dispensing, whether fast or slow, depends on our response. In other words, it depends on our cooperation. If we cooperate with the divine dispensing, it will go on swiftly and will work effectively. But, sorry to say, after being regenerated, we have not responded fully to the divine dispensing. Nevertheless, we have responded to it to some extent, and we have cooperated with it at least a little.
In these three chapters of 2 Corinthians Paul is seeking to portray the dispensing of the divine element into our tripartite being. This dispensing is to produce constitution and transformation so that we may have maturity in life and also a measure of ministry.
