Letters are on the way out and emails have taken over. This fact is causing Australia Post to lose millions of dollars each year. $1 to post a standard letter is starting to get a bit steep. Most of us receive multiple emails each day and from a huge variety of sources. A lot of them we can simply discard. In 2 Corinthians chapter 3 Paul speaks about the church receiving letters of commendation carried by his opponents to justify their credentials as apostles. Paul refuses to give much weight to such letters and pleads with the Corinthians not to be swayed by any lofty well worded letters. His line of argument to them is not to look at a person’s qualifications but rather the spiritual results that flow from their ministry.
Paul uses this argument as a springboard to compare the old covenant of law to the new covenant of the Spirit. His arguments are compelling and are a very timely reminder to each of us how easy it is to slip back into the “letter of the law” when it comes to our walk with God. The last 3 verses of the chapter are a wonderful testimony of the work of the Spirit in a person’s life. They speak to us of freedom, contemplation and transformation, surely a much more expansive way to live our Christian lives that by the “letter of the law.” The way of the Spirit is the way that God wants us to live. A spiritual life cannot be lived through a legalistic framework. So as we this week examine this chapter let us be open to what God wants to say to all of us
Pastor Warren Griffin