Living Ink, Divine Commendation Text: 2 Corinthians 3:1-3
Introduction: The Resume Wars
We live in an age of insecurity, and nowhere is this more apparent than in the Christian world's obsession with credentials. We have become resume-sniffers. We want to know where a man went to seminary, what degrees he has, how many books he has sold, and how big his conference is. We have our evangelical celebrities, our approved lists of speakers, and our denominational gatekeepers. Ministry, in many quarters, has become a bureaucratic enterprise, a career path that requires the right paperwork, the right connections, and the right endorsements. If you want to be taken seriously, you need letters of commendation.
The Corinthian church was a mess for many reasons, but one of them was that they had been dazzled by a group of hucksters Paul sarcastically calls the "super-apostles." These men came to town with slick presentations, impressive resumes, and likely a whole sheaf of letters from important people in Jerusalem. They were polished, they were professional, and they made the apostle Paul, with his calloused hands and straightforward speech, look terribly unimpressive. They were peddlers of God's word, and they wanted the Corinthians to check their references. In response, Paul is forced to defend his apostolic authority, but his defense is a masterstroke of divine logic. He doesn't pull out his own resume. He doesn't list his credentials, though he could have. Instead, he points to the Corinthians themselves.
This is a profound and necessary corrective for us. The ultimate test of a ministry's legitimacy is not found on paper, but in the people. The proof of the gospel's power is not a diploma on the wall, but a redeemed life walking down the street. Paul is about to teach us that true ministerial authority is not written with ink, but with the Spirit; it is not carried in a briefcase, but in the heart; and it is not validated by men, but by God Himself.
The Text
Are we beginning to commend ourselves again? Or do we need, as some, letters of commendation to you or from you? You are our letter, having been written in our hearts, known and read by all men, being manifested that you are a letter of Christ, ministered to by us, having been written not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of hearts of flesh.
(2 Corinthians 3:1-3 LSB)
The Absurdity of Paper Proof (v. 1)
Paul begins with a rhetorical question dripping with irony.
"Are we beginning to commend ourselves again? Or do we need, as some, letters of commendation to you or from you?" (2 Corinthians 3:1)
You can almost hear the exasperation in his voice. "Really? Are we doing this again?" The super-apostles had made self-promotion the name of the game, and Paul had been forced to engage in what he called "foolish" boasting earlier just to get a hearing for the gospel. Now he asks, is this the standard? Do I need to re-apply for the job of being your spiritual father? Do I need to show you my paperwork?
The very idea is ludicrous. Paul founded this church. He led them to Christ. He poured his life into them. Asking him for a letter of commendation would be like asking a mother for a birth certificate to prove that the child she is holding is hers. The relationship is the proof. The fruit is the validation.
This cuts right through our modern church politics. We have committees and presbyteries and boards that spend countless hours examining a man's papers. And while there is a place for due diligence, we have inverted the biblical priority. We trust the ink and ignore the fruit. Paul is confronting a mindset that values external, institutional approval over internal, spiritual reality. He is setting up a contrast between the religion of men, which is all about credentials, and the religion of the Spirit, which is all about conversion.
The Walking, Talking Resume (v. 2)
Having dismissed the need for paper letters, Paul presents his actual letter of recommendation.
"You are our letter, having been written in our hearts, known and read by all men," (2 Corinthians 3:2 LSB)
This is the central point. Paul's resume is not a document; it is a people. His proof of apostleship is the existence of the Corinthian church itself. You want to know if my ministry is legit? Look at these people. They were pagans, idolaters, adulterers, and drunkards. And now they are saints. They have been washed, sanctified, and justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. Their transformed lives are the only letter of reference he needs.
Notice two things about this letter. First, it is "written in our hearts." This is not a cold, detached transaction for Paul. His ministry is driven by deep, paternal affection. These people are not just notches on his evangelistic belt; they are engraved on his heart. True ministry is always incarnational and affectionate. A pastor who does not love his people has no ministry, no matter what his diploma says.
Second, this letter is "known and read by all men." This is crucial. The church is a public document. It is God's open letter to the world. The health of a congregation, the stability of its families, the honesty of its business dealings, the joy of its worship, this is all a public testimony. The world is reading us. When they look at our church, what do they read? Do they read a compelling story of redemption, grace, and order? Or do they read a story of hypocrisy, infighting, and worldliness? The greatest apologetic for the Christian faith is a faithful Christian church. Your life is an open book, and someone is always reading it.
The Divine Penmanship (v. 3)
In verse 3, Paul clarifies the details of this living letter. He is not the author, and the materials are not of this world.
"being manifested that you are a letter of Christ, ministered to by us, having been written not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of hearts of flesh." (2 Corinthians 3:3 LSB)
Here Paul lays out three glorious truths about this new covenant reality. First, the author is Christ. "You are a letter of Christ." Paul is simply the delivery boy. The word "ministered" here means delivered, like a postman. This is a profound statement of ministerial humility. The pastor is not the source of the change. He doesn't write the letter; he just carries it. All the glory for a transformed life goes to Jesus Christ, the author and finisher of our faith. Any ministry that draws attention to the minister instead of the master is a fraudulent ministry.
Second, the ink is the Spirit. "Written not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God." Ink is a human invention. It is external, it can fade, it can be erased. The Spirit of the living God is the third person of the Trinity. His work is internal, permanent, and powerful. Man's religion is about writing rules on the outside. God's salvation is about writing a new nature on the inside. This is the new birth. The Spirit regenerates the dead heart, making it alive to God.
Third, the parchment is the heart. "Not on tablets of stone but on tablets of hearts of flesh." This is a direct and explosive contrast between the Old Covenant and the New Covenant. The defining feature of the Old Covenant, given at Sinai, was the law written by the finger of God on tablets of stone. That law was holy, just, and good. But it was external. It stood over and against the sinner, demanding a righteousness that the sinner could not produce. It could command, condemn, and kill. It was a ministry of death, because all it could do was show us our sin and pronounce the curse.
But the promise of the new covenant, found in Jeremiah 31 and Ezekiel 36, was that God would do something radically new. He would take out our hard, rebellious, stony hearts and give us soft, living, responsive hearts of flesh. And He would write His law not on external stones, but on the internal tablet of that new heart. The standard does not change. God's law is still holy, just, and good. What changes is our location relative to it. It is no longer an external accuser, but an internal desire. The Spirit writes a love for God's law on the heart, so that we obey not out of slavish fear, but out of filial love. This is true Christian freedom. It is not the freedom to do what we want, but the freedom to finally do what we ought, and to want to do it.
Conclusion: Are You Legible?
So, the legitimacy of a ministry is the changed lives of the people. They are Christ's letter, delivered by the pastor, written by the Spirit, on the tablet of the heart. This is the glory of the new covenant.
This reality has two sharp edges for us. For those in ministry, it is a call to humility and focus. Your job is not to build a brand or polish your resume. Your job is to deliver the mail. Preach the word. Love the people. And trust the Spirit of God to do the writing. The fruit of your labor is your only true letter of commendation.
For every Christian, the question is simple. What does the letter say? Your life is a letter from Christ, being read by your family, your neighbors, and your coworkers. Is the penmanship of the Holy Spirit clear and legible in your life? Do they read a story of grace, forgiveness, and transformation? Do they see a love for God's law written on your heart, expressing itself in joyful obedience? Or is the page smudged and illegible, blurred by compromise and worldliness?
We are not called to be perfect letters. We are all works in progress. But we are called to be clear letters. Let us therefore live in such a way that when the world reads our lives, they are not reading about us. Let them read the glorious gospel of the Lord Jesus, written on our hearts by the Spirit of the living God, for His eternal glory.