Scripture Reading: 2 Cor. 3:8-9, 16-18; 4:6-7
Before we consider the matter of the ministers and the ministry becoming one, we need to consider the words of the Lord Jesus concerning righteousness. When He issued the decree of the constitution of the kingdom of the heavens (Matt. 5:1—7:29), He said some important things concerning righteousness. Again and again He emphasized righteousness. He declared, “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied” (Matt. 5:6). Then He went on to say, “Blessed are those who have been persecuted for the sake of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of the heavens” (Matt. 5:10). He also taught His disciples, “Unless your righteousness surpass that of the scribes and Pharisees, you shall by no means enter into the kingdom of the heavens” (Matt. 5:20). The Lord Jesus also emphasized righteousness when He said, “But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you” (Matt. 6:33). Instead of worrying about food and clothing, we need to seek the kingdom of God and His righteousness. But what is this righteousness emphasized by the Lord Jesus? This righteousness is Christ lived out from within us to be the expression of God and the kingdom of God. When we have this righteousness, we surely have God’s reign. We have God’s ruling, administration, and government. This means that we have the kingdom with peace and joy in our daily life, family life, and church life.
Again and again I would emphasize the fact that the new covenant ministry is a ministry of the Spirit and of righteousness. I never grow tired of repeating this. This new covenant ministry is the ministry in the Lord’s recovery. In the recovery we only minister Christ as the life-giving Spirit and as our living righteousness.
If we read 3:8, 9, and 16 through 18, we can see clearly that eventually all the ministers of the new covenant become one with their ministry. This means that the ministers are the ministry. Their ministry is what they are, not merely what they do or the work they accomplish. The very being of the new covenant ministers is their ministry. Therefore, we may speak of the ministers and the ministry becoming one.
Second Corinthians 3:8 and 9 say, “How shall not rather the ministry of the Spirit be in glory? For if the ministry of condemnation came in glory, much rather the ministry of righteousness abounds in glory.” Notice that verse 8 says that the ministry of the new covenant is in glory, and verse 9 says that this ministry abounds in glory. Here we see two stages of the new covenant ministry. The first stage is the ministry of the Spirit; the second stage is the ministry of righteousness. When the ministry is of the Spirit, it is in the first stage. This is the ministry in glory. When the ministry is of righteousness, it is in the second stage. In this stage the new covenant ministry not only is in glory — it abounds in glory. The reason it abounds in glory is that righteousness comes forth.
These two stages of the new covenant ministry can be applied to our family life. Suppose a brother, his wife, and child receive the ministry of the Spirit. With the ministry of the Spirit there is glory, but this ministry does not abound in glory, for there is not yet any righteousness. But perhaps after a period of time the husband, the wife, and the child all live out righteousness according to the Spirit of life within them. This is the ministry of righteousness abounding in glory. Anyone visiting that family would be able to realize what a glory there is with them.
In the initial stage, the stage of the ministry of the Spirit, the ministry of the new covenant is in glory. But when this ministry becomes the ministry of righteousness, the ministry abounds in glory. Whenever the ministry of the Spirit is lived out in us with the expression of righteousness, the ministry abounds in glory.
In 3:8 and 9 “in glory” and “abounds in glory” are both related to the ministry. But in verses 16 through 18 glory is related not to the ministry, but to the ministers. In verse 18 Paul says, “And we all with unveiled face, beholding and reflecting as a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, even as from the Lord Spirit.” In this verse the word “we” refers to the apostles, who, as examples and representatives of all believers, are the ministers of Christ. Thus, in verses 8 and 9 the glory is related to the ministry, but in verse 18 it is related to the ministers.
Although the glory in verses 8 and 9 is related to the ministry, and the glory in verse 18 is related to the ministers, there are not two kinds of glory. There is not one kind of glory attached to the ministry and another kind of glory related to the ministers. No, there is only one kind of glory. This proves that eventually all the ministers of the new covenant become one with their ministry. What they are in their being, their person, is their ministry.
The fact that the ministers and the ministry are one is fully proved in 2 Corinthians 4. In this chapter Paul gives us a strong indication that the ministry is just what the new covenant ministers are. Actually, the ministers in chapter four are not working; they are simply living. Hence, their living is their working. Apart from their living, there is no need for them to do any work, for their living is their work, their ministry. Their inner being is actually their ministry. What counts in the new covenant ministry is what the ministers of the new covenant are in their living and in their being.
The situation of the ministers of the new covenant is very different from that of many of today’s Christian preachers. It is common for Christian ministers and preachers to work in one way, but to live in a different way. This means that what they work is one thing, and what they are is another thing. They may teach others to be according to a certain high standard, but they themselves do not live according to this standard. Thus, there is a discrepancy between their work and their being. But the new covenant ministers are one with their ministry. What they do is what they are. The way they work is the way they live. Their living, their being, is their ministry. As a result, the glory of their ministry is their glory, and their glory is the glory of their ministry.
The glory of the new covenant ministers is not something visible or outward. This glory is inward and invisible; it is a matter of Christ realized by others in our living. For example, when you visit a brother’s home, you may see in his family life a condition, a state, of glory. This glory is not Christ seen by others; it is Christ realized by them when they observe the daily living of this family. Others have the sense that in the life of this family there is something glorious. This is the glory of the new covenant ministers and their ministry.
When Moses came down from the mountain, glory shone from his face in a visible way. But there was no such shining of glory on Paul’s face. With Moses, the glory was physical and visible. The shining of that glory, however, did not last very long. With Paul there was no visible, physical shining of glory. However, with him there was a spiritual, inward shining of glory. Anyone who stayed with Paul for a period of time would realize that with him there was an invisible shining. Although this shining could not be seen, it could be sensed, realized. This is the shining of the inward glory.
With Paul there was no outward shining. With him there was something glorious shining from within. I thank the Lord that today there are also ministers who shine not with an outward light, but with an inward light, with a light from within.
I have learned from experience that the new covenant ministers shine inwardly with an invisible glory. However, not wanting to put my trust in experience, I checked this matter according to the Bible. When I did so, I found that in 4:6 Paul says, “Because the God Who said, Out of darkness light shall shine, is the One Who shined in our hearts for the illumination of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ.” The very God who commanded light to shine out of darkness has shined in the hearts of the new covenant ministers. His shining in the universe produced the old creation. Now His shining in the hearts of the new covenant ministers makes them a new creation. Therefore, they are able to exalt Christ as the Lord in their preaching and conduct themselves as slaves to the believers in their service (v. 5). What they do for Christ and what they are to the believers both issue from God’s shining. God’s shining produces the new covenant ministers and their ministry.
In the old creation the shining of God was outward. But with us in the new creation, the shining of God is inward. God has shined into our hearts. Now the shining, the glory, the illumination, is within us.
God’s shining in our hearts results in the illumination of knowing the glory of God in the face of Christ, that is, in the enlightenment that causes us to know the glory of the gospel of Christ. The illumination, the enlightenment, that makes the glory of Christ’s gospel known to us issues from the shining of God in our hearts.
Many of us know from experience what it is to have the glory of the Lord shining in our hearts. One day, something of the Lord began to shine within us. Before we experienced this inward shining, we were in darkness. This was my situation in organized Christianity for many years. I heard the stories about Christ, and I was taught concerning the cross. But not until I was saved did I experience the inward shining.
Today some religious people have a superstitious concept of a material cross. Some put a wooden or concrete cross on the top of their places of worship. Others wear a gold cross on a chain around their necks. Still others practice making a so-called sign of the cross. Not long ago, a man came to me wearing a clerical collar and a large cross. That kind of cross does not save anyone. It has no power whatever. Nevertheless, some people actually believe that if they lay a material cross upon someone who is ill, that cross has the power to heal him. What superstition! This outward, material concept of the cross has nothing to do with the new covenant ministry.
The new covenant ministry is altogether in the Spirit. It has nothing to do with things visible or physical. The new covenant ministry is invisible, but it is nonetheless something we are able to lay hold of. It is something real that can be sensed, realized, experienced, and enjoyed. This is the glory, the shining, the reality, the power, and the strength of the new covenant ministry.
In 4:7 Paul goes on to say, “But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellence of the power may be of God and not of us.” God’s shining in our hearts 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. What a priceless treasure is contained in worthless vessels! This has made the vessels ministers of the new covenant with a priceless ministry. The excellence of the power is surely of God and not of ourselves. This treasure, the indwelling Christ, in us, the earthen vessels, is the divine source of the supply for the Christian life. It is by the excellent power of this treasure that the apostles as ministers of the new covenant are able to live a crucified life so that the resurrection life of Christ may be manifest.
The shining reality of Christ is the treasure in us, the earthen vessels. Outwardly we are earthen vessels, but inwardly we have a priceless treasure. This treasure is Christ as the embodiment of the processed Triune God to be in us the all-inclusive life-giving Spirit. This treasure has a power, and this power is excellent. Christ as the life-giving Spirit in us is the One who shines and works. This is the treasure we have in us.
The new covenant ministers with their ministry are earthen vessels containing a marvelous treasure. Their ministry is altogether something in the Spirit, something that is real and living. It is something we can sense, enjoy, realize, and experience. This is what the Lord desires in His recovery today. This is the New Testament testimony, and it is what God wants among us. We must be in the recovery of this ministry. We must live this kind of life and be in a church that has this ministry. Furthermore, we must minister this to others not mainly by what we do, but primarily by what we are and by the way we live. This is the ministers with their ministry of the new covenant. Truly the ministers and the ministry are one.
