With Elder Elico Manenji
✝️As some teachers brought letters of recommendation from.their churches to Corinth, the Apostle.however urges the Corinthians that their faith and salvation was sufficient testimony to commend him and his team of workers. The Corinthians believers were letters not written on paper but in the hearts that approved them of the Divine mission of Christ amongst them. He extols the Christian ministry as being more excellent than the ministry of the law of Moses. As Moses veiled his face after his encounter with God because of the glory that shone on his face, a glory that was fading away so the ministry of the gospel is not of a fading away but of permanence in Christ Jesus who glory does not fade away. As people come to Christ
which is the new dispensation of the gospel, they are spiritually led to view heavenly things, and those who receive it by faith are changed into the glorious likeness of God by the agency of the Holy Spirit. Their image will be in the likeness of Christ as they change from glory to glory.
*1️⃣2 Corinthians 3:1-6: Those in Christ are living letters of recommendation.*
⏹️ True Christian service is a commendation needed to affirm and guarantee the truth of people’s ministries in the Lord. True and not false and deceptive ministry is the work of the Spirit of God and is far more a greater recommendation to God than a mere letter. The gospel of Christ produces much more fruit that no set of laws can produce. The Apostle says *"You yourselves are our letter, inscribed on our hearts, known and read by everyone. It is clear that you are a letter from Christ, the result of our ministry, written not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of human hearts"( 2 Corinthians 3:2-3).*
⏹️Even the old covenant (the law of Moses) which God gave to him on Mount Sinai, this set of written laws brought death because the people were unable to keep it to the letter. This old covenant of laws became a savour of death to those who could not keep it. The prophet Jeremiah says, *"But this is the covenant I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the LORD. I will put My law in their minds and inscribe it on their hearts. And I will be their God, and they will be My people"(Jeremiah 31:33).*
The prophet Ezekiel.said, *"And I will give them singleness of heart and put a new spirit within them; I will remove their heart of stone and give them a heart of flesh"(Ezekiel 11:19).*
⏭️But the gospel of Christ in which the Apostle was appointed to preach as a servant of this new covenant as given and empowered by the Spirit of God gives believers new life within. This gospel is a savour of life unto life in all who believe in Christ. The Apostle says , "But God found fault with the people and said: *“Behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah"(Hebrews 8:8).*
*"All this is from God, who reconciled us to Himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation"(2 Corinthians 5:18).*
*2️⃣2 Corinthians 3:7-18: Ministry of Christ is greater than that of Moses.*
⏹️ As Christ is Superior to Moses, the Apostle says, the law as given to Moses is the ministration of condemnation, it is the the law as the ministration of death to those who did not obey it, its glory is a fading glory.
⏭️But the gospel of Christ is the ministration of righteousness, it is the ministration of the Spirit of God who glory is everlasting. The Apostle Paul says, *"It is because of Him that you are in Christ Jesus, who has become for us wisdom from God: our righteousness, holiness, and redemption"(1 Corinthians 1:30).*
*"In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of His grace"(Ephesians 1:7).*
⏹️ For this reason, we have hope of eternal life as the gospel is a ministry of the Spirit showing us the way of justification, sanctification and glorification. Its glory is never to be done away with but to abide forever in Christ our Lord. The Apostle says, *"For we are saved by hope: but hope that is seen is not hope: for what a man sees, why does he yet hope for?"(Romans 8:24).*
⏭️In Christ we no longer need to be veiled for He is our veil as he veiled divinity into His human flesh so we can grow from glory to glory in Him. The prophet Isaiah says, *"And the glory of the LORD shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together: for the mouth of the LORD has spoken it"(Isaiah 40:5).*
The Apostle says, *"By whom also we have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God"(Romans 5:2).*
*🅰️Appeal*
Those who believe the gospel enjoy happiness and.have the liberty in the Spirit of Christ. For where the Spirit of the Lord is and where He works the power of the law of guilty and.shame is overcome. In Christ, we have the power of liberation from the law of condemnation and servitude. But in the Spirit we have liberty and access to God through Christ and freedom of speech as we prayer to God through Him as we are transformed into His image. The Apostle says, *"Who shall change our vile body, that it may be fashioned like to his glorious body, according to the working whereby he is able even to subdue all things to himself"(Philippians 3:21).*
Elico Manenji
(+263712952704)
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