NEW COVENANT MINISTRY
My desire, beloved friends, in connection with the scripture we have just read is to bring before you a few thoughts in connection with the new covenant ministry.
I have often thought what a great joy it must have been to the apostle to write this second letter to the Corinthian saints. We are not left to our imagination as to this, because the apostle states in this second epistle that he had written the first epistle to them in grief and anguish of spirit, and with many tears; but that epistle had not only reached them, but it had pleased the Lord to use it, so that they had taken a very sober account of themselves before the Lord; indeed, there had been wrought in those beloved saints at Corinth real repentance, so that with respect to all that concerning which the apostle had to write them in his first letter, and really to reprove and correct them, they had now thoroughly cleared themselves. I am sure one cannot read the two letters without perceiving the marked difference; the apostle is able, not merely to unfold his own heart and affection for them in this second letter, as he was not able to in his first letter, but what is of greater importance than this, he is really free, in the hand of the Holy Spirit, and under the control and direction of the Lord, to set before them that which is (when we consider it spiritually) unmistakably in advance of what we find in the first letter, and in saying this there is not the least thought in one’s mind of underrating the importance of what comes out in the first letter. So far as God’s side of things is concerned (and there is God’s side even in the first letter), there is no imperfection: the ministry which is found in the two epistles is absolutely perfect, and will ever abide in all its perfection.
To speak simply, you find in the two letters a threefold ministry. There is the ministry of the gospel in the first epistle; that is, the death, the burial, and the resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ. I do not dwell upon it, but one can scarcely pass it by without saying how wonderful is even the most elementary ministry of the gospel! How wonderfully is the truth of the death of Christ, with all that it means, brought out in the first epistle! It means, beloved, not simply as we are told in chapter 15, that Christ died for our sins—it not only means an eternal ending of all our sins in the death of Christ, but it means as we are told in the early chapters of the epistle, that Christ has been crucified for us, and not only have our sins all gone in the death of the Lord Jesus, but we ourselves as men according to flesh are gone too, all passed away from under the eye of God in the judgment of God as expressed in the cross. And then the Spirit, too, stands connected with the gospel ministry, as making good in the souls of the believers the divinely-intended effect of the death, burial and resurrection of Christ, though, so far as the resurrection side of the gospel is concerned, the first epistle puts our resurrection in actuality, and therefore in the future.
But I want to call your attention to the ministry of the new covenant, which is—I think one may say—in advance of the gospel ministry, especially as it is unfolded in the closing part of the first epistle; and I think in this way the Spirit of God would intimate to us that these beloved Corinthians, having cleared themselves with regard to that which was connected with the flesh—with man according to the flesh, and hence, of course, with this world, are ready to be led on, and there is more than the intimation of this, there is the recognition of it, and that recognition takes shape in the ministry which the apostle proceeds to unfold in his second epistle, in the portion of it that I have read.
I desire to speak simply; I am sure the more simply we can take account of the truth the more we shall be edified and helped by it. Theological terms operate like clouds to hide the clear, bright shining of the complete revelation of God in the Person of our Lord Jesus Christ. The new covenant ministry, beloved friends, is a ministry of Christ; but it is not Christ dying for our sins, it is not exactly Christ crucified, as expressing the judgment of God upon man according to flesh, and of course the end of the world under the judgment of God; but it is Christ now as the expression of the heart of God, the love of God; that is what I understand by the new covenant ministry: it is the ministry of Christ as the One in whom there has come out a full disclosure of all that God is in His love toward us. But further—even that does not answer fully to the new covenant ministry; it is, objectively, the unclouded light of the disclosure—the revelation of God, the presentation to us of the heart of God, of all that God is in His love toward us. But the new covenant ministry is still more than that, because you cannot limit real ministry to that which is objective, to that which is on the part of God a matter of revelation, and which is consequently presented to us as light. Ministry has also its subjective side, and whilst in a certain sense we may distinguish the two sides, I should seriously object to any separation of them: there is the ministry of that which we may speak of as objective—outside ourselves, but that same ministry is in the power of the Spirit of God; hence, it has its subjective effect. I know, speaking commonly, that there is largely the thought that public speaking, preaching, or whatever it may be, is ministry; but if we paid attention to this chapter, we should see that it speaks about the ministry of the Spirit and of its subjective effect.
I want to convey to you the full thought of the new covenant ministry. It comes as light from the revelation of God; there is that which is objective—God’s love toward us—and I need not tell you God’s love toward us does not in any wise depend upon what may be true in us; it is true in itself, and it finds its perfect expression in the Lord Jesus Christ; but, as I have said, there is the other side of it, there is the Spirit, and His divine operation in ministering that which is revealed; that which is presented objectively in the Lord Jesus Christ—the Spirit ministers to us, so that we may have the threefold effect of it.
The first effect of new covenant ministry is that you are quickened, you are made alive; and we are made alive in our affections; to put it in the language of Romans 5: 5, “the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which has been given to us”. Now I may think of God’s love in connection with Himself, as that which is really the expression of the heart of God toward us as His children, but in Romans 5 it is the love of God shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost given unto us. That is new covenant ministry, and it is in this way that it operates to quicken us, to make us live; and it is a wonderful point, because it is life subjectively; and the effect is, there is response to the love of God; you love Him. It is a simple thing to state, but still it is worth stating: our attention has often been called to the fact that in Romans 5 it is the love of God shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost given unto us, but chapter 8 is the answer to it—we love God; we do not read much about God’s love to us in chapter 8, that is in chapter 5, but what comes out in chapter 8 is that as the consequence of the Holy Ghost shedding abroad that love in our hearts there is a response to it; we love God. I know we speak of these things frequently, but, beloved brethren, who could overstate the importance of this? The fear is that we should come short in our hearts of answering to that wonderful love of God.
The apostle says He has made us new covenant ministers, not of letter—if you think of the new covenant in letter you are poorly off; of course we are not in a public way under the operation of the new covenant; the day is coming when God will make that new covenant with His earthly people here; and when He does it will be subjective in their case also, and it will have a marvellous effect upon them, there will be an answer in the hearts of Israel in a coming day to the love that is in the heart of God, they will love the Lord their God with all their heart, with all their soul, with all their strength and understanding; but if we only think of the new covenant ministry in letter, the apostle says, “For the letter kills, but the Spirit quickens”. There is nobody so badly killed as the people who take up the mere language of these things and in a doctrinal or dogmatical way talk about them. The apostle says, “who has also made us competent, as ministers of the new covenant; not of letter, but of spirit. For the letter kills, but the Spirit quickens”. Then follows the parenthesis, and when he takes up the thread again he says, “Now the Lord is the Spirit”. That wonderful Person, that blessed Person—the Lord, He is the quickening, life-giving Spirit of the new covenant. Well, that is the first effect.
Then further down you get liberty, “but where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty”. There is not only life, but there is liberty. If I might attempt such an illustration, it is like Lazarus when he walked out of the grave, he had got life, but he had not liberty; the grave clothes had to be taken off so that this living man might enjoy in liberty the life he had received; so, “where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty”. It is not called the Holy Ghost, or the Spirit of God, in this chapter, it is “the Spirit of the Lord”.
Then there is a still more wonderful effect, and that is the transforming effect of the ministry of the new covenant. “But we all, looking on the glory of the Lord with unveiled face, are transformed according to the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Lord the Spirit”. How it stands out in blessed contrast to Moses! When Moses came down the second time the skin of his face shone with glory, and the children of Israel could not bear to look upon that glory-shining face, and so, when in the presence of the children of Israel, his face was veiled. But not so with the Lord Jesus, there is no veil on His face. Christ is the image of God, as we read in the next chapter, where, speaking about the glad tidings, the apostle says, “But if also our gospel is veiled, it is veiled in those that are lost; in whom the god of this world has blinded the thoughts of the unbelieving, so that the radiancy of the glad tidings of the glory of the Christ, who is the image of God, should not shine forth for them”, v 4. He is the image of God, and looking on the Lord’s glory with unveiled face we are changed into the same image, we become like Christ here, and that takes place now, because 2 Corinthians 3 is not dealing with the future, it is dealing with the saints in the present time, and it is unfolding in a wonderful way the effect of the new covenant ministry, the effect of the ministry of Christ as the One in whom all that God is in His love toward us has been perfectly expressed, and we are now the subjects of that ministry in the power of the Spirit—the Spirit of God. The apostle begins the chapter about the question of letters of commendation; he says, “Do we begin again to commend ourselves? or do we need, as some, commendatory letters to you, or … from you? Ye are our letter”. The saints were Paul’s letter of commendation; and where was that letter written? In Paul’s heart, “Ye” (and the “ye” is emphatic) “are our letter, written in our hearts, known and read of all men, being manifested to be Christ’s epistle ministered by us”. The saints were Christ’s epistle. What a wonderful thought that is! I am not so much concerned about preaching as I am concerned before the Lord that you and I should be in the good of these things in our souls by the power of God. “Ministered by us”—he has ministered “written, not with ink”—it is not a question of an outside kind of mark, what might be legible in the eyes of man, but “the Spirit of the living God; not on stone tables” (how hard were those stone tables!) “but on fleshy” (not fleshly) “tables of the heart”. The writing on stone never effected anything; you know when Moses came down with those stone tables what a state of things there was at the foot of the mount amongst the very people to whom the stone tables were brought; those stone tables never produced one bit of response to God in their hearts.
“And such confidence have we through the Christ towards God: not that we are competent of ourselves to think anything as of ourselves, but our competency is of God; who has also made us competent, as ministers of the new covenant; not of letter, but of spirit. For the letter kills, but the Spirit quickens”. Now let me tarry a moment here again with regard to the ministry of the new covenant, which is Christ as the One in whom all that God is toward us has been expressed. It is to be deplored how largely Christianity so-called has become a matter of what is external—of what is outward; or if not altogether what is outward, it has become a matter of mere doctrine. Let me say, the all-important thing is the effect in the heart, and so the ministry of the Christ, who is the expression of all that God is toward us, is taken up, and that love is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost given unto us, and what is the effect of it? It quickens, it makes alive. We must not confuse things that differ. I do not wish to speak too critically, but the question of man’s sins—of man’s guilt, and the question of righteousness is one question; but, beloved friends, the question of life subjectively (not objectively, as is eternal life), but the question of life subjectively—spiritual life—that is, an answer in man’s affections to the love of God, and to what there is in God’s heart towards us—well, the importance of this could not be overstated. A great many difficulties are encountered by souls simply because they have never been under the power of the new covenant ministry, and that is why, oftentimes, things are taken up in the way in which they are, in a kind of outward, hard and fast, doctrinal sort of way; but we need to have our hearts brought under the power of the love of God, so that there should be an answer in your affections and in mine to what is in the heart of God and what has found its expression in the death of the Lord Jesus Christ. Many of us break bread and take the cup every first day of the week, but I do not know whether we are impressed with what we ought to be spiritually familiar with—“This cup [the Lord’s own language] is the new covenant in my blood”, Luke 22: 20. And what constitutes it the new covenant in His blood? Why, it is the expression of the death, the blood-shedding of the Lord Jesus Christ; it is not the expression of His death as accomplishing atonement; it is not the expression of His death in that character; it is the expression of His death as the full disclosure of the love that there is in the heart of God. “God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us”, Rom 5: 8. That is the quickening power of the new covenant ministry, producing an answer to this love in your heart. If there is an answer to it in your heart or in mine, if we really love God, it is the result of the Holy Ghost having shed the love of God abroad in our hearts. What a wonderful thing it is when we enter upon life! I mean subjectively! I do not mean in the full sense of eternal life—that has its own sphere—but what a wonderful thing when we really begin to live! It has been said we begin to live as we begin to love, and we begin to love as the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost given unto us. You might say that under the law God commanded love; He claimed the affections of man’s heart, but He never secured it under the law. “For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God, having sent his own Son, in likeness of flesh of sin, and for sin [that was as a sacrifice for sin], has condemned sin in the flesh, in order that the righteous requirement of the law”, &c., Rom 8: 3. And what is the righteous requirement of the law? It could be summed up in one word—love—“that the righteous requirement of the law should be fulfilled in us, who do not walk according to flesh but according to Spirit”, v 4.
I would, beloved, that we were all clear about the new covenant ministry and the first effect of it, as really securing our affections for God. I could not express what the effect of it would be. How it would deliver many a believer from legality, to say nothing about doubts and fears and questionings—how all that would disperse from the soul! What a change it would make to have the love of God shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost and in that way to have an answer to His love in our affections. What wonderful things are predicated of love! Love delights in its object; it delights in the will of its object; it delights in the pleasure and glory of its object. How we should learn in our souls the contrast of what Peter spoke of, referring to the law, when he said that it was a yoke that neither they nor their fathers could bear; we should learn in contrast to that that the yoke of Christ is easy, and His burden is light.
Now I would like to speak for a moment of the other two effects of the new covenant ministry. There is the second effect, and that is liberty. “Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty”. I would like to be able to speak forcibly of the importance of spiritual liberty. How many believers are not free! Why? Because there is not in them the full effect of the new covenant ministry—the ministry of Christ as the One who not only gives full expression to that love, but who, as Man, is the perfect exponent of the liberty that belongs to that love. How freely He moved! What a perfect delight the will of God was to Him! I speak of Him as a Man down here. He could say: “I do always the things that are pleasing to him”, John 8: 29. He was Himself, on God’s side, the expression of all that God is in His love towards us; but He was also the expression, as a Man, of the perfect answer to it. He was the exponent of that liberty that the apostle speaks of.
I would speak a little further as to the third effect, that is, the effect brought out in the end of this chapter. When the apostle resumes in verse 17, and says: “Now the Lord is the Spirit, but where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty”,—then he goes on: “But we all, looking on the glory of the Lord with unveiled face”, &c. In the next chapter we have the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ ... there is quite a difference between the glory of the Lord and the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. The glory of the Lord is that which distinguishes Him; and He is looked at, not as down here in the days of His flesh, but as the risen, exalted, and glorified Man, and His glory is, that even as the exalted Man, the glorified Man, He is the perfect expression of all that God is in love toward us; and indeed it is very interesting and instructive to notice how in the New Testament the connection, the indissoluble connection, is maintained in the language of the Spirit of God between the love of God and the Lord Jesus Christ: nothing “shall be able to separate us (we are told) from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord”, Rom 8: 39. And, looking on the glory of the Lord, we are transformed into the same image. We become marked by that love of God; we become (I almost hesitate to say it) the exponents, in our measure, of that love of God. We are transformed according to the same image. It is the beginning now of that wonderful statement in connection with the purpose of God “whom he has foreknown, he has also predestinated to be conformed to the image of his Son”, Rom 8: 29. That wonderful work of transformation does not wait for the future, it begins now, it begins here: it is not, I need scarcely say, a question of the body now, the evidence abounds on every hand that our bodies are still mortal and very weak, but there is the inward effect of it, there is the inward transformation we “are transformed according to the same image ... even as by the Lord the Spirit”. It is not exactly the Spirit of God, it is by the Lord, because it is the power, not, so to speak, of the transforming agent, it is the power of the transforming object, and we all, looking on the glory of the Lord, are transformed according to the same image.
“He that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God, and God in him”, 1 John 4: 16. How profitable all our intercourse with one another would be if we were under this wonderful ministry of the new covenant.
I have spoken of it very feebly, but I have spoken of it with this encouragement, that the Lord might be pleased to encourage us with it, and to bring our hearts under it, and into all the blessed effect of the knowledge of Christ as the perfect expression of all that God is in His love toward us, and the subjective power of it, not knowing it simply as a doctrine, but knowing it, beloved, as a divine reality in connection with the ministry of the Spirit of God in shedding that love abroad in our hearts, producing in our hearts, Godward and saintward, all the wonderful effects of this ministry.