How Like Christ He Is!

I have been wanting to study 2 Corinthians for a while and I was excited to discover a commentary on kindle by R. Kent Hughes which has been just so good. There is so much I want to share on here but sadly my highlights which I copy and paste onto here from my kindle got wiped somehow. There are some things from previous chapters but today I want to post some incredible truths from chapter 3.

Chapter 3 is a commentary on Exodus 32-34. Paul compares his ministry to Moses' and says that the new covenant ministry is much more glorious. 3.7-11 compares the two ministries and then 3.12-18 focuses on the effects of these ministries:

1. Boldness

Therefore since we have such a hope, we are very bold. (3.12)

Paul knew that the new covenant ministry was not to be veiled. Do I try to veil the gospel in some way? Am I ever ashamed of it? Or do I boldly proclaim the incredible hope I have?

2. Unveiling

But whenever anyone turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away. (3.16)

When our hearts are unveiled the Scriptures come alive and Christ makes sense. This is a wonderful thing to pray for those whose hearts are still veiled- that as they read the Word, the Spirit will lift the veil and the Bible will come alive and Christ will make sense. This is what I long for for the ladies I read Scripture with.

3. Freedom

Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. (3.17)

Hughes:

This is authentic freedom. Through the work of the Holy Spirit there is liberation to do the right thing, to consider others first, to love others as we ought, to forgive the unforgivable, to return good for evil. And more, to "love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength" (Mark 12.30).

I find this description of authentic freedom so very helpful. Our culture's definition of freedom can be so self-centred. But the Spirit's freedom is others-centred and God-centred. I am free but free to love and serve others and God: this is true freedom!

4. Transformation

And we all, who with unveiled faces contemplate the Lord's glory, are being transformed into his image with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit. (3.18)

Moses was transformed physically and morally when the veil was removed and he spoke with God face to face. But, as Hughes says,

the new covenant ministry of Paul is even more transforming because our exposure is constant and continuous (there is no veil)...We express the image of God by living according to the commandments, which express his nature. The change is progressive, so that willing exposure to the sunlight of God's presence will burn his image even deeper into our character and will. And ultimately, at Christ's appearance, we will undergo a physical transformation in glory.

A Scottish  preacher challenged his hearers thus:

Do you believe your faith? Do you believe a day is coming, really coming, when you will stand before the throne of God, and the angels will whisper together and say, 'How like Christ he is'? That is not easy to believe. and yet not to believe is blasphemy. For that, not less than that, is what Christ promises.