2 Corinthians 2:14
Now thanks be unto God,
which always causeth us to triumph in Christ, and maketh manifest the savour
of his knowledge by us in every place.
We
are thankful for God's grace toward us which ALWAYS causes us to triumph
in Christ. The "triumph" was, in Roman Empire times, a victorious
procession led through the streets of Rome by a conquering hero.
When it comes to having the ability to speak God's Word and be victorious
in this world, God ALWAYS makes us the winner in Christ. It is not
our own ability or talent that allows us to triumph. God makes us
the winners in Christ.
When we speak His Word,
it brings into evidence (manifests) the sweet fragrance (savour) of God's
knowledge to every place we go. The key is that we must do the speaking.
God is responsible for the results. God will ALWAYS make us the winner
when we speak. God's power within us gives us the ability.
But we still must speak. We have to hold it forth. We have
to share it. We have to live it. We have to make it known.
2 Corinthians 2:15
For we are unto God a sweet savour
of Christ, in them that are saved, and in them that perish:
To the one we are
the savour of death unto death; and to the other the savour of life unto
life. And who is sufficient for these
things?
To
those people who hear the words we speak (Romans
10:9-10) regarding salvation and get saved,
we are a sweet fragrance. We bring the sweet smell of eternal life!
To those who reject the words we speak; to those who do not want to hear;
we are an odor of death. God needs us to speak His powerful Word
and manifest that which He has placed within us. The power is of
God.
So "who is sufficient to bring
eternal life to others?" WE ARE! God has made us sufficient.
It is not our oratory skills. It is not our great education.
It is not our natural talent. It is God in us as we make known His
Word that makes us sufficient for such a great task. We speak and
God gives the increase. God needs us to do our part. He has
promised that HE will bring His Word to pass. But He relies upon
us to make it known.
2 Corinthians 2:17
For we are not as many, which
corrupt the word of God: but as of sincerity, but as of God, in the sight
of God speak we in Christ.
The word "corrupt" in this verse is to "adulterate or water-down" the Word. Just as an inn-keeper would water-down or dilute wine to sell more, some people dilute God's Word with tradition and religion thinking that they can "sell more" if it is not too strong. We are called to speak in the sight of God that which God has proclaimed in His Word. We do not water down the words we speak. We tell it like it is. We read what is written and we speak it accurately. We must never settle for just "part of the Word of God." Don't add impurities. We simply speak what God said and what God did. We hold it forth "as it is written!"
2 Corinthians 3:1-2
Do we begin again to commend
ourselves? or need we, as some others, epistles of commendation
to you, or letters of commendation from you?
Ye
are our epistle written in our hearts, known and read of all men:
When a person is born again of God's Spirit, and he or she holds forth God's accurate Word, that person is a living epistle! The people around you read you like a book. Let them see the Christ in you! Speak God's Word! They will "read you" long before they every open a Bible. It is our action on God's Word that is "known and read of all men." Those that hear you and believe and walk on the Word of God become your epistles to others as well. This is how the Word of God spread throughout the whole world in the days of the early church. One believer spoke God's Word accurately to another who spoke that same word to another. And so on, and so on, and on. We are the epistles of God. What we speak and what we do makes known who we are in Christ. We have a responsibility to speak the Word. God's spirit in us makes us sufficient. God makes us triumphant. But we must act. We must speak.
2 Corinthians 3:3-6
Forasmuch as ye are manifestly
declared to be the epistle of Christ ministered by us, written not with
ink, but with the Spirit of the living God; not in tables of stone, but
in fleshy tables of the heart.
And such trust have we through
Christ to God-ward:
Not that we are sufficient of
ourselves to think any thing as of ourselves; but our
sufficiency is of God;
Who
also hath made us able ministers of the new
testament; not of the letter, but of the spirit: for the letter killeth,
but the spirit giveth life.
It is the spirit of God in us that makes us able. Our sufficiency to be able ministers of His Word comes from that which He has placed within us. It is not that we are so great. God is great. And He has placed holy spirit in the fleshy tables of our heart! What a God!
2 Corinthians 3:7-8
But if the ministration of death,
written and engraven in stones, was glorious, so that the children
of Israel could not stedfastly behold the face of Moses for the glory of
his countenance; which glory was to be done away:
How shall not the ministration
of the spirit be rather glorious?
Serving the Word of God written in tables of stone (the ten commandments, the law, etc.) was glorious. Moses shown so brightly that the children of Israel could not look at his face. Well, if words written on stone were such a light to the world, what about a spiritual connection with God living in the heart of a man? We have been given the opportunity to share with the world a knowledge of salvation: the administration of the mystery: eternal life: holy spirit: the nature of God given to man and available to all - NOW. How bright is that!!!
2 Corinthians 3:9-15
For if the ministration of condemnation
be glory, much more doth the ministration of righteousness exceed
in glory.
For even that which was made
glorious had no glory in this respect, by reason of the glory that excelleth.
For if that which is done away
was glorious, much more that which remaineth is glorious.
Seeing then that we have such
hope, we use great plainness of speech:
And not as Moses, which
put a vail over his face, that the children of Israel could not stedfastly
look to the end of that which is abolished:
But their minds were blinded:
for until this day remaineth the same vail untaken away in the reading
of the old testament; which vail is done away in Christ.
But even unto this day, when
Moses is read, the vail is upon their heart.
There are those who continue to try to see God's Word to the church through the old testament law. You cannot see the Age of Grace through the law! You must see it through the accomplished work of Christ and holy spirit.
2 Corinthians 3:16-17
Nevertheless when it shall turn
to the Lord, the vail shall be taken away.
Now the Lord is that Spirit:
and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty.
The church epistles, written to us in this day and time, make known the glorious freedom we have and the power of the gift of holy spirit given to man. When we turn our hearts to the accomplished work of Christ revealed in those epistles, the vail is taken away. We see with unobstructed vision the glorious liberty of that which has been given to us in Christ. "Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty!"
2 Corinthians 3:18
But we all, with open face beholding
as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from
glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord.
You become what you look at. In the Bible lands
and times mirrors were made from polished golden metals. When a person
looked at their face in such a mirror a golden glow surrounded them and
their face looked brilliant! When we focus on the Christ in us, we
reflect the brightness of a believer with holy spirit. Our sufficiency
in this glorious ministry is of God.
Look at the law and you will become legalistic.
Look at the Gospels and you will miss Christ's substitution for us and
our identification with the risen Christ seated at the right hand of God.
Look at the negatives of the world around you and you will become negative.
Look at the glorious spirit of God in Christ in you and you will be changed
into the same image growing brighter and brighter each day. The choice
is yours.
2 Corinthians 4:1-5
Therefore seeing we
have this ministry, as we have received mercy,
we faint not;
But have renounced the hidden
things of dishonesty, not walking in craftiness, nor handling the word
of God deceitfully; but by manifestation of the truth commending ourselves
to every man's conscience in the sight of God.
But if our gospel be hid, it
is hid to them that are lost:
In whom the god of this world
hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the
glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them.
For we
preach not ourselves, but Christ Jesus the Lord; and ourselves your servants
for Jesus' sake.
We have been given the ministry of reconciling men to
God. We hold forth the truth of God's Word. We do not preach
ourselves or an organization; we preach God's Word. We do not walk
in craftiness or handle the Word of God deceitfully. We walk honestly
in the sight of God.
To God we are sons; but to the world we are servants
of God holding forth His Word. We are a family. We work together
to walk on the wonderful Word of God. We serve the Word and let those
who are young in the family of God rely upon us until they can walk on
their own. When a baby stumbles you don't yell at him do you?
No, you help him up and encourage him. You never learn to walk if
you are afraid to make mistakes. Remember, it is God in Christ in
you that makes you sufficient to hold forth His Word. If you act,
God will cause you to triumph as His Word promises.
2 Corinthians 4:6-7
For God, who commanded the light
to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the
light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.
But we have this treasure in
earthen vessels, that the excellency of the power may be of God, and not
of us.
The same God that spoke in Genesis and at His Word light shone out of darkness, has spoken in our day and time. When we confess with our mouth the lord Jesus, and believe in our heart that God has raised him from the dead, God shines in our heart with the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. We receive holy spirit! We receive eternal life! We become sons of God. And we become servants to our fellow man. We are given this great treasure in "earthen vessels" that the excellency of the power may be of God and not of us. On our own we are nothing. But with God in Christ in us we are sufficient to bring a knowledge of God and His Word to our day and time.