{"id":17329,"date":"2021-09-09T22:00:36","date_gmt":"2021-09-10T05:00:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/2corinthians-3_1-6-copy\/"},"modified":"2021-09-03T22:46:44","modified_gmt":"2021-09-04T05:46:44","slug":"2corinthians-3_7-18","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/2corinthians-3_7-18\/","title":{"rendered":"Why You Can Be Bold and Hopeful"},"content":{"rendered":"

2 Corinthians 3:7-18\u00a0 \u00a0Click here for Bible Verses<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Hi GAMErs,<\/p>\n

Today\u2019s passage is 2 Corinthians 3:7-18.\u00a0\u00a0Let\u2019s go!<\/p>\n

2 Corinthians 3:7-12 (NIV)<\/em><\/strong>
\n7\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0Now if the ministry that brought death, which was engraved in letters on stone, came with glory, so that the Israelites could not look steadily at the face of Moses because of its glory, fading though it was,
\n8\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0will not the ministry of the Spirit be even more glorious?
\n9\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0If the ministry that condemns men is glorious, how much more glorious is the ministry that brings righteousness!
\n10\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0For what was glorious has no glory now in comparison with the surpassing glory.
\n11\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0And if what was fading away came with glory, how much greater is the glory of that which lasts!
\n12\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0Therefore, since we have such a hope, we are very bold.<\/em><\/p>\n

On verses\u00a07-12: \u00a0What is Paul talking about in verse\u00a07?\u00a0 Paul is alluding to an incident from Exodus 34:29-35 where Moses carried two stone tablets containing God’s law (in particular, the Ten Commandments) to the people.\u00a0\u00a0As Moses came down the mountain carrying God\u2019s law, Moses’ face radiated with God’s glory so much so that the people were afraid and asked him to cover his face with a veil.<\/p>\n

Paul recalls this incident as a way to say that the old covenant, represented by Moses and the Ten Commandments, was glorious even though it was temporary (v7, 11), performance-based, and brought death (v7) and condemnation (v9) to people.<\/p>\n

Now why does Paul refer to the old covenant, represented by God\u2019s law, as \u201cthe ministry that brought death\u201d (v7)?\u00a0\u00a0It\u2019s because through God\u2019s law the people became all the more aware of their sins and how far they fell short of God\u2019s standards.\u00a0\u00a0In this way, God\u2019s law had the effect of bringing condemnation (\u201cthe ministry that condemns men\u201d \u2013 v9).<\/p>\n

Even so, Paul says that this old covenant was glorious.\u00a0\u00a0Why?\u00a0\u00a0It showed us how holy God is, how high God’s standards are, how sinful we are, and it prepared the way for the new covenant that Jesus would later establish.\u00a0 But if this imperfect, performance-based old covenant was glorious, how much more glorious is the life-giving, Holy Spirit-bestowing, love-based new covenant that Jesus established.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Paul calls this new covenant \u201cthe ministry of the Spirit\u201d,\u00a0a ministry that enabled sinners like us to be righteous before God not because of the things we have done but because of what Jesus has done for us.\u00a0\u00a0In this way, this new covenant \u201cministry of the Spirit\u201d brings righteousness and is far more glorious than the old covenant law.\u00a0\u00a0Because of this new covenant that God has introduced through Jesus Christ, we can now live our lives with bold hope (v12).<\/p>\n

2 Corinthians 3:13-18 (NIV)<\/em><\/strong>
\n13\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0We are not like Moses, who would put a veil over his face to keep the Israelites from gazing at it while the radiance was fading away.
\n14\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0But their minds were made dull, for to this day the same veil remains when the old covenant is read. It has not been removed, because only in Christ is it taken away.
\n15\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0Even to this day when Moses is read, a veil covers their hearts.
\n16\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0But whenever anyone turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away.
\n17\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.
\n18\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0And we, who with unveiled faces all reflect the Lord’s glory, are being transformed into his likeness with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.<\/em><\/p>\n

On verses 13-18: \u00a0The old covenant was all about “If\u00a0<\/em>we obey God fully,\u00a0then<\/em>\u00a0God will bless us fully”. \u00a0 But since none of us has obeyed God fully, God’s presence and full blessing are always out of our reach.\u00a0 In this way, the old covenant “brought death” (v7) and condemnation (v9) because it showed us how far away we are from God.<\/p>\n

To this day, many people — both religious and non-religious — continue to live and think in an old covenant way.\u00a0 It’s when we think that we can earn our way to heaven.\u00a0 People who think in old covenant ways have yet to understand that we cannot reach God on our own.\u00a0 That’s why Paul says, “But their minds were made dull, for to this day the same veil remains when the old covenant is read. It has not been removed, because only in Christ is it taken away.” (v14)<\/p>\n

The only antidote to old covenant thinking is faith in Jesus Christ.\u00a0 It’s realizing that Jesus Christ has done on our behalf what we could never do on our own.\u00a0 Praise God for sending Jesus Christ, who obeyed God fully on our behalf, and who on the cross for our sins.\u00a0 Through Jesus and his death on the cross, God established a new covenant with us, one where we could have full access to God’s presence and His blessings, not because of our performance, but because of God’s mercy and grace toward us. \u00a0\u00a0When we realize this, the veil of old covenant thinking (where it\u2019s all about our performance) is taken away (v16) and we are set free by the Spirit to relate to God in a new way (v17) and to be transformed more and more to reflect God\u2019s glory (v18).<\/p>\n

Thank You, God, for establishing a new covenant with us, one where we don’t need to try to earn your love, acceptance and forgiveness; instead we can receive these as gifts which Your Son Jesus won on the cross for us.\u00a0 May we never get caught in old covenant thinking.\u00a0\u00a0Rather, may we live and see You with unveiled faces, reflecting Your glory more and more to the world around us.\u00a0\u00a0In Jesus\u2019 name, AMEN!<\/em>\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div><\/section><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Hi GAMErs,<\/p>\n

Today\u2019s passage is 2 Corinthians 3:7-18.\u00a0\u00a0Let\u2019s go!<\/p>\n

2 Corinthians 3:7-12 (NIV)
\n7\u00a0\u00a0Now if the ministry that brought death, which was engraved in letters on stone, came with glory, so that the Israelites could not look steadily at the face of Moses because of its glory, fading though it was,
\n8\u00a0\u00a0will not the ministry of the Spirit be even more glorious?
\n9\u00a0\u00a0If the ministry that condemns men is glorious, how much more glorious is the ministry that brings righteousness!
\n10\u00a0\u00a0For what was glorious has no glory now in comparison with the surpassing glory.
\n11\u00a0\u00a0And if what was fading away came with glory, how much greater is the glory of that which lasts!
\n12\u00a0\u00a0Therefore, since we have such a hope, we are very bold.<\/p>\n

On verses\u00a07-12: \u00a0What is Paul talking about in verse\u00a07?\u00a0 Paul is alluding to an incident from Exodus 34:29-35 where Moses carried two stone tablets containing God’s law (in particular, the Ten Commandments) to the people.\u00a0\u00a0As Moses came down the mountain carrying God\u2019s law, Moses’ face radiated with God’s glory so much so that the people were afraid and asked him to cover his face with a veil. \u00a0<\/p>\n

Paul recalls this incident as a way to say that the old covenant, represented by Moses and the Ten Commandments, was glorious even though it was temporary (v7, 11), performance-based, and brought death (v7) and condemnation (v9) to people.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":17331,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-17329","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-gametime-sharing"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17329","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=17329"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17329\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":17330,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17329\/revisions\/17330"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/17331"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17329"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17329"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17329"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}