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Scripture Reading: 2 Cor. 3:3, 6, 8-9, 17-18
In 2 Corinthians 3:3 Paul says, “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 a letter of Christ does not mean a letter written by Christ; rather, this letter is a composition that uses Christ as the alphabet. A letter of Christ is one composed of Christ as the content to convey Christ and express Him. All believers of Christ should be such living letters of Christ so that others may read and know Christ in their being.
A letter of Christ is composed using Christ as the words, phrases, sentences, and paragraphs. From first to last, Christ is every part of such a letter. Therefore, a letter of Christ speaks Christ, for every part of the letter expresses Him. We all should be letters of Christ expressing Him.
According to 3:3, the letter of Christ was written by the ministry of the apostles. The apostles were filled with Christ so that their ministry spontaneously ministered Christ to those whom they contacted, inscribing Christ in their hearts and making them living letters conveying Christ.
In verse 3 Paul says that a letter of Christ is inscribed not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God. The Spirit of the living God, who is the living God Himself, is not an instrument, like a pen for writing, but is the very element, like the ink in writing, with which the apostles minister Christ as the content for the writing of living letters that convey Christ.
A living letter of Christ is written not in tablets of stone but in tablets of hearts of flesh. Our heart, as the composition of our conscience (the leading part of our spirit), mind, emotion, and will, is the tablet upon which the living letters of Christ are written with the living Spirit of God. This implies that Christ is written into every part of our inner being with the Spirit of the living God to make us His living letters so that He may be expressed through us and read by others in us.
Some of the saints may think that because they are not apostles, they cannot participate in writing a living letter of Christ. We should not hold this concept. Through our daily preaching of the gospel, we can write Christ on others. Do you know what it is to preach the gospel? To preach the gospel is to write a living letter. Gospel preaching is a matter of letter writing.
We have seen that in chapter 2 Paul uses the metaphors of captives in Christ’s triumphal procession and incense-bearers scattering incense. As you contact people at work, you should be a captive of Christ bearing Him and spreading Him as incense. On the one hand, preaching the gospel is a matter of writing Christ on others; on the other hand, it is a matter of scattering Christ as incense. In either case, this kind of gospel preaching is related to our own experience of the gospel.
If we do not have the experience of the gospel, our preaching of the gospel will not be effective. We may only be able to speak to others in a doctrinal way concerning God, Christ, and salvation.
Suppose a brother who has little experience of the gospel tries to convince a fellow worker that there is only one God. This brother’s fellow worker may say, “I don’t agree with you! You say there is only one God, but I believe that there are many gods. Don’t try to tell me there is only one God!” The brother is defeated by this unbeliever because his preaching of the gospel is a preaching without the experience of the gospel.
Let us also suppose that this same brother tries to tell another colleague at work that Jesus Christ is the Savior. However, once again he is defeated by the other party who says, “I don’t believe that Jesus Christ is the Savior. I believe that I can be saved without Jesus.” Although the brother attempted to preach the gospel, his preaching was not effective.
The proper preaching of the gospel depends on our measure of life and on our experience of God and Christ. Suppose a brother with a considerable amount of experience of God and Christ speaks to a fellow worker concerning God. This brother will not preach to his fellow worker, trying to convince him that there is one God. Instead, he may give him a testimony of his experience and of how he came to believe in God and receive Christ as his Savior. He will testify of something living and real that came into him and changed him. Surely, this brother’s fellow worker will enjoy hearing this kind of testimony.
Furthermore, such a testimony infuses others, convinces them, and subdues them. There is no need for you to preach to your fellow workers by saying, “Everyone is a sinner, and you are not an exception. You are a sinner, and you need to be saved.” Instead of preaching in this way, you should infuse him day by day with your testimony. This is the experiential way to preach the gospel. This way is a matter of infusing into others what we have enjoyed of God and Christ. Even though your fellow worker may not mentally accept what you tell him, through your experiential preaching of the gospel, the element of God and of Christ will be infused into him.
Our preaching of the gospel depends on how much we have experienced the Lord and how much we have enjoyed Him. If we have experienced and enjoyed the Lord to a considerable degree, we will surely have a sufficient measure of life. Then what we say to others concerning God, Christ, and salvation will not merely be a doctrine or theory. On the contrary, through our speaking we will infuse others with the elements of God, Christ, and salvation.
To infuse others with the elements of God, Christ, and salvation is to write Christ into their being with the divine Spirit as the spiritual ink. Day by day we may write Christ upon the hearts of those with whom we come in contact. Their being is a soft “tablet” that absorbs the “ink” of the Spirit.
I believe that if we have an adequate measure of life and experience of Christ, after a period of time some of our co-workers will be saved. To be sure, if we write on them continuously, day by day, for several months or even a year, much of the element of Christ and His salvation will be written on them. As a result, eventually they will believe and be saved. This is the proper gospel preaching.
In Acts 1:8 the Lord said that we shall be His witnesses. He did not say in this verse that we shall be preachers. The experiential preaching of the gospel based on our enjoyment of the Lord is actually the testimony of a witness. Through experiencing the Lord Jesus, we become His living witnesses. Therefore, our gospel preaching is not merely preaching; it is a testifying.
Day by day we may testify to our fellow workers. We testify to them not by presenting ideas, concepts, theories, and doctrines; instead, we testify by letting them know how real and precious the Lord is to us and how much we enjoy Him. Then what we speak to others concerning the Lord will be our testimony. Such preaching definitely depends on our life experience.
The apostle Paul preached the gospel in this experiential way. For this reason, in chapter 2 of 2 Corinthians he portrays himself as a captive in Christ’s triumphal procession. As one in the ministry, Paul was a captive of Christ. Simultaneously, as a captive in Christ’s train, Paul was an incense-bearer scattering the fragrance of Christ.
In 2 Corinthians 3 Paul changes the metaphor from that of captives and incense-bearers to that of a letter writer. In addition to being a captive and a bearer of incense, Paul was also one who wrote upon those who received his ministry. As a result, they became letters written by him.
What did Paul write on those who received his ministry? He wrote Christ on them. Christ was every word, phrase, and sentence written upon their hearts through his ministry. The “ink” used by Paul was the Spirit of the living God.
Preaching the gospel without the adequate measure of life and experience may be compared to trying to write with a pen that has no ink. But if we speak to others according to our experience and enjoyment of the Lord, we will write upon them with the Spirit, for the Spirit is actually the element of our experience. Our experience of Christ is constituted mainly of the Spirit. Therefore, when we speak to others of our experience, the ink of the Spirit will flow. However, if we only study the Bible in a doctrinal way or learn theology but do not have experience, we will not have the ink of the Spirit with which to write Christ upon others.
If we try to speak for the Lord without experiencing Him, our speaking will be dry, lacking the divine ink. But if we speak something that is according to our experience, we will realize that while we are speaking, the ink of the Spirit is flowing. Furthermore, through our speaking, the ink will be applied to those who are listening.
As those who would compose letters of Christ, we do not use mere theological knowledge or philosophy as the elements of our composition. Rather, we compose with Christ and His redemption, and we write with the ink of the living Spirit. Then as we minister, others are impressed with Christ.
Paul wrote upon others in this way, and we should do the same thing today. In the meetings, as we give a testimony or offer a prayer, we may write Christ upon others with the ink of the Spirit.
The writing of living letters of Christ is a matter of both dispensing and constituting. With respect to the one doing the writing, it is a matter of dispensing. But with respect to the one being written upon, it is a matter of constituting, a constituting that takes place through the divine dispensing.
For example, suppose you speak to a fellow worker day by day concerning the Lord in an experiential way. As we have seen, this experiential preaching is your writing of Christ into that person with the Spirit as the ink. On your side, your testifying is a matter of dispensing. On the side of the other party, it is a matter of being constituted through this dispensing. After a period of time, a particular constitution will be built up in that person, and then he will be ready to be saved. This is the way to preach the gospel in the recovery.
We should dispense Christ into others. This dispensing will then become a constitution within them. Eventually, they will be able to say, “Praise the Lord, I’m saved!”
We need to preach the gospel in the way of writing Christ into others with the life-giving Spirit as the ink. This spiritual letter-writing involves the dispensing of the Divine Trinity. The more we dispense Christ into others in this way, the more they will be constituted of Him.
The speaking in the Lord’s ministry should always be a writing of Christ upon the saints. On the side of the one speaking, this writing is a dispensing. But on the side of those receiving the ministry, it is a matter of constituting.
I believe that those who have been constituted of Christ through the ministry cannot lose this constitution even if they leave the church life. Someone may leave the Lord’s recovery, but he will still retain what has been constituted into him. He may not want to take the way of the Lord’s recovery any longer, but he cannot deny the fact that, at least to some extent, he has been constituted of Christ.
If we minister to others according to what we have experienced of God, Christ, and salvation, our ministering to them will be the writing of Christ into them. This kind of writing is a dispensing. Eventually, this dispensing results in constituting. Those who are constituted of Christ in this way cannot be the same as they used to be, for something has been dispensed into them and has been constituted into their being. The result of this dispensing and constituting is that we become letters of Christ.
