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YOU Are a Letter From Christ
It seems that Paul, Saint Paul, had been challenged about his credentials.
2 Corinthians 3:1-3
It seems that Paul, Saint Paul, had been challenged about his credentials. There must have been some who were coming into especially the Corinthian congregation. And we’re saying, who is this guy, Paul? Why are you listening to him? Does he have letters of recommendation? What are his credentials? Now, Saint Paul, of course, had a lot of credentials.
He could have brought up how Jesus appeared to him as he was a persecutor of the church on the road to Damascus, converting him. And he had this miraculous experience of seeing and speaking with Christ. He could have brought up how in the times when God was training him to become an apostle, how he even had this vision of heaven, where he heard like things that he couldn’t even describe or put into words. Saint Paul could have brought up the times where he performed amazing miracles and saw incredible things happen in his midst, how God was at work through him and in supernatural ways. But what does Paul point to about the credentials to the Corinthians, especially when he’s under attack from these false teachers who are trying to get other people to not listen to Paul, but to listen to them?
Paul points out in Second Corinthians chapter three. He says, you are our credentials. You are evidence of God’s power among us. He says this in Second Corinthians three, beginning in verse one,
Do we need, like some people, letters of recommendation to you or from you? You yourselves are our letter, written on our hearts, known and read by everyone. It is clear that you are a letter from Christ, delivered by us, written not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God, not on stone tablets but on tablets that are hearts of flesh. (2 Corinthians 3:1-3)
You are a letter from Christ. It’s interesting, I had a friend who was in an online debate with a hardened atheist who was arguing that organized religion and Christianity especially has done nothing to help the world. And my friend pointed out, well, why are all these hospitals? Why are all these charitable organizations named after saints or after Christian themes? Salvation Army, things like that? It’s because these were places that were begun and started by Christians who had a desire to share love with people. We see evidence all around us of the Christian faith at work, and we see that even within ourselves.
As a pastor, I’m constantly amazed when I see people in my congregation being willing to forgive, being willing to show kindness to those who have hurt them. I see miraculous things taking place in the hearts of people all the time. And why is this? Because we value what God has told us in His Word. We value the fact that he loves us. We value the fact that he is for us. We value the fact that he has forgiven us, that he has shown us grace and charity, and we want to reflect that. And in that way, we see that people, our people, Christian people are in fact a living letter proclaiming Christ. That’s where our credentials lie.
We see the power of God active in our hearts. Think of Saint Paul, before he became a Christian, hewas an avowed hater of the church. He was persecuting the church. He wanted to put Christians in jail and to death. And look at what a change was made in his heart when he knew the love and forgiveness of Jesus. That happens continually still today. The love of Christ is shared with us, and it’s why we come to church to hear this message about my sins, my guilt being forgiven. God assures me of the fact that I am, I am washed clean in baptism. I get to receive the body and blood of Christ and the Lord’s Supper for the forgiveness of sins. And that moves us as Christians, that moves us to go out and and to rejoice.
And in this way, what Paul says here to the Corinthians, it continues on still to this day, you in the way that you lead your life as a Christian, you are continuing to be a letter from Christ, delivered, not written with ink, but with the spirit of the living God. That is the credential. That is the power of God’s Word, how it changes our hearts and minds. And we pray.
Oh Lord, we thank you for sharing your gospel with us. Help us to have changed hearts that reflect this wonderful message of our forgiveness and salvation. Amen.
God’s peace be with you.
