2Corinthians 4:8-18 comments: eternal things

4:8 ¶  We are troubled on every side, yet not distressed; we are perplexed, but not in despair; 9  Persecuted, but not forsaken; cast down, but not destroyed; 10  Always bearing about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our body. 11  For we which live are alway delivered unto death for Jesus’ sake, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our mortal flesh. 12  So then death worketh in us, but life in you. 13  We having the same spirit of faith, according as it is written, I believed, and therefore have I spoken; we also believe, and therefore speak; 14 Knowing that he which raised up the Lord Jesus shall raise up us also by Jesus, and shall present us with you. 15  For all things are for your sakes, that the abundant grace might through the thanksgiving of many redound to the glory of God. 16  For which cause we faint not; but though our outward man perish, yet the inward man is renewed day by day. 17  For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory; 18  While we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen: for the things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal.

Notice a comparison in the style of writing here with chapter 4, verses 10 to 13 of the first letter to the Corinthians. Also, in keeping the Gnostic heresies belief that a man could not also be God at the same time, even that Jesus’ body was not real but an illusion, modern versions remove Lord from verse 10 that the Traditional Text contains. This lines them up with modern New Age philosophy that denies that Jesus was fully man and fully God but simply a great teacher.

A more subtle approach to watering down doctrine, or corrupting it, as Paul mentioned earlier, is verse 14 where from the Traditional Text stating we are going to be raised up, called out, by Jesus the modern Gnostic heresies of modern versions often say with Jesus, suggesting He is still in the tomb awaiting a resurrection. (special thanks to Dr. Ken Matto for his excellent research and insight which can be found at http://www.scionofzion.com/kjcomparisons.html)

Paul stresses here the tribulations he faces in doing God’s work. But, in spite of this trouble he is not distressed or in despair. It is a very poetic passage and we can view it in terms of the suffering of faithful Christians every where in our world even today. This is not about you being told to take a scripture sign from off your office cubicle. This is real persecution, a life and death struggle.  

Paul is confident in the resurrection. Are you?

Written nearly 4,000 years ago;

Job 19:25  For I know that my redeemer liveth, and that he shall stand at the latter day upon the earth: 26  And though after my skin worms destroy this body, yet in my flesh shall I see God:27  Whom I shall see for myself, and mine eyes shall behold, and not another; though my reins be consumed within me.

Written in the century that the city of Rome was founded about eight centuries before Christ;

Isaiah 26:19  Thy dead men shall live, together with my dead body shall they arise. Awake and sing, ye that dwell in dust: for thy dew is as the dew of herbs, and the earth shall cast out the dead.

Written in the time of the last reign of the Babylonian emperors and the first reigns of the Medes-Persians roughly five to six centuries before Christ;

Daniel 12:2  And many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt.

Then, Christ Himself said;

John 3:16  For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.

Even as he is growing old and dying every day in the flesh his inward man, that part of him which is born again, is renewed. Our resurrection glorifies God and reveals His sovereignty over all creation, life and death. The things we can see, the finite things are temporal and temporary but the things we cannot see are eternal and the spiritual world is not bound by the decay of the temporal. Spiritual beings never die, so their joy or their agony can proceed forever without end. We have been promised everlasting life with God.

John 3:36  He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life: and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him.

To paraphrase and take out of context something a pagan philosopher named Plato wrote, and yes, I’m using his idea for my own purpose here on a completely unrelated subject to what he was talking about, we are like people who are bound in a room where we can only see shadows on a wall in front of us with the light behind us. There is much going on but we only have a hint of it and without the Bible we would be totally confused. The reality that we can’t see, that is going on just out of our sight is the world of the spirit and eternity. We only see a shadow now, but when we die physically we will be unbound and will turn and face the truth, our Lord Jesus Christ.

2Corinthians 4:1-7 comments: the god of this world

4:1 ¶  Therefore seeing we have this ministry, as we have received mercy, we faint not; 2  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. 3  But if our gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost: 4  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. 5  For we preach not ourselves, but Christ Jesus the Lord; and ourselves your servants for Jesus’ sake. 6  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. 7  But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellency of the power may be of God, and not of us.

Paul wants to reemphasize that he is not practicing Sophistry with clever manipulation and skilled arguments. He is not handling God’s word in a lying, deceitful manner. The truthful presentation of the gospel without Sophistry or manipulation, careful not to misrepresent God, is important to Paul. And if the gospel cannot be understood by those who are lost it is because of the god of this world, who is clearly Satan, the great Adversary, also called Lucifer, who works in opposition to the work of the Holy Spirit in our lives.

Paul is not preaching a cult mentality of following him but of Jesus Christ, of whom Paul is a servant. God has called the light of understanding to shine in our hearts in the knowledge of Jesus Christ even while we reside in frail earthen vessels. It is the majesty of God that shines through us and not we ourselves.

Look at the very first day of Creation.

  Genesis 1:1 ¶  In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. 2  And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters.

    3 ¶  And God said, Let there be light: and there was light. 4  And God saw the light, that it was good: and God divided the light from the darkness. 5  And God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And the evening and the morning were the first day.

Look at the first chapter of the gospel of John.

John 1:1 ¶  In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2  The same was in the beginning with God. 3  All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made. 4  In him was life; and the life was the light of men.

    5 ¶  And the light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not. [The darkness cannot understand the light, which carries spiritual significance showing more is being said here than we see at first glance. Comprehend also means to contain or lay hold of so the darkness cannot defeat the light]  6  There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. 7  The same came for a witness, to bear witness of the Light, that all men through him might believe. 8  He was not that Light, but was sent to bear witness of that Light. 9  That was the true Light, which lighteth every man that cometh into the world. 10  He was in the world, and the world was made by him, and the world knew him not. 11  He came unto his own, and his own received him not. 12  But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name: 13  Which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God. 14  And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.

    15 ¶  John bare witness of him, and cried, saying, This was he of whom I spake, He that cometh after me is preferred before me: for he was before me. 16  And of his fulness have all we received, and grace for grace. 17  For the law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ. 18  No man hath seen God at any time; the only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared him.

   

 God called forth physical light on the first day of Creation. Regarding light, scientists presume the existence of the basic particle of light, a photon. The universe is bathed in that light. For every estimated proton orbiting around the nucleus of an atom they say there are a billion photons.(5) Of course, photons might not even exist except as theoretical entities to explain things that can be seen by mathematical constructs.

Christ is the light of men and without Him there is no spiritual light in them. This rules out Buddhism, Islam, Hinduism, and all other religious beliefs including secular religions like scientism, the belief that science can know all of the answers to the big questions of life and if it doesn’t know the answer the question itself is invalid.

Isaiah 50:10  Who is among you that feareth the LORD, that obeyeth the voice of his servant, that walketh in darkness, and hath no light? let him trust in the name of the LORD, and stay upon his God.

1John 1:5  This then is the message which we have heard of him, and declare unto you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all.

The key to wrapping your mind around this light from Christ is found in the Scriptures themselves.

Ps 119:105  NUN. Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path.

Ps 119:130  The entrance of thy words giveth light; it giveth understanding unto the simple.

Isaiah 8:20  To the law and to the testimony: if they speak not according to this word, it is because there is no light in them.

2Peter 1:19 ¶  We have also a more sure word of prophecy; whereunto ye do well that ye take heed, as unto a light that shineth in a dark place, until the day dawn, and the day star arise in your hearts: 20  Knowing this first, that no prophecy of the scripture is of any private interpretation. 21  For the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man: but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost.

Christ is the very image of God. An image is a likeness, similitude or appearance.

Genesis 1:26  And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness:…

Deuteronomy 5:8  Thou shalt not make thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the waters beneath the earth:

John 14:9  Jesus saith unto him, Have I been so long time with you, and yet hast thou not known me, Philip? he that hath seen me hath seen the Father; and how sayest thou then, Shew us the Father?

Colossians 1:15  Who is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature:

Hebrews 1:3  Who being the brightness of his glory, and the express image of his person, and upholding all things by the word of his power, when he had by himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high;

Here in this passage in 2Corinthians we find a key as to why God has revealed His plan for redemption to mortal beings living in vehicles of dirt, frail and helpless. It is so that we understand that the power and majesty resides only in God. Look at the disaster of a spiritual being like Lucifer, the god of this world, who in his pride elevated himself above God’s host.

Isaiah 14:12  How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! how art thou

cut down to the ground, which didst weaken the nations! 13  For thou hast said in thine heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God: I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north: 14  I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the most High. 15  Yet thou shalt be brought down to hell, to the sides of the pit.

We know we are weak and only the most deluded of men and women imagine themselves as gods. God works through our weakness and reveals His glory, His light.

2Corinthians 12:9  And he said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me.

Our weakness is a conduit through which the light, the majesty, and the sovereignty of God shines in the world.

(5) Lee Smolin, The Trouble with Physics: The Rise of String Theory, and Fall of a Science, and What Comes Next (New York: Houghton Mifflin Co., 2006), 75.

2Corinthians 3:12-18 comments: when the veil is taken away

3:12 ¶  Seeing then that we have such hope, we use great plainness of speech: 13  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: 14  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. 15  But even unto this day, when Moses is read, the vail is upon their heart. 16  Nevertheless when it shall turn to the Lord, the vail shall be taken away. 17  Now the Lord is that Spirit: and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty. 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.

Paul here likens the vail Moses put on his face as exemplifying the Jews inability to see beyond the Law and to see Christ in their experience.

Exodus 34:28 ¶  And he was there with the LORD forty days and forty nights; he did neither eat bread, nor drink water. And he wrote upon the tables the words of the covenant, the ten commandments. 29  And it came to pass, when Moses came down from mount Sinai with the two tables of testimony in Moses’ hand, when he came down from the mount, that Moses wist not that the skin of his face shone while he talked with him. 30  And when Aaron and all the children of Israel saw Moses, behold, the skin of his face shone; and they were afraid to come nigh him. 31  And Moses called unto them; and Aaron and all the rulers of the congregation returned unto him: and Moses talked with them. 32  And afterward all the children of Israel came nigh: and he gave them in commandment all that the LORD had spoken with him in mount Sinai. 33  And till Moses had done speaking with them, he put a vail on his face. 34  But when Moses went in before the LORD to speak with him, he took the vail off, until he came out. And he came out, and spake unto the children of Israel that which he was commanded. 35  And the children of Israel saw the face of Moses, that the skin of Moses’ face shone: and Moses put the vail upon

his face again, until he went in to speak with him.

The Old Testament is filled with prophecies of Christ. Jesus Himself made this clear.

Luke 24:25  Then he said unto them, O fools, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken: 26  Ought not Christ to have suffered these things, and to enter into his glory? 27  And beginning at Moses and all the prophets, he expounded unto them in all the scriptures the things concerning himself… [then at a later gathering of the Apostles] 45  Then opened he their understanding, that they might understand the scriptures,

John 5:39  Search the scriptures; for in them ye think ye have eternal life: and they are they which testify of me. 

Here are some brief examples from Moses’ writings fourteen centuries before Christ;

Genesis 22:8  And Abraham said, My son, God will provide himself a lamb for a burnt offering: so they went both of them together.

Exodus 12:3  Speak ye unto all the congregation of Israel, saying, In the tenth day of this month they shall take to them every man a lamb, according to the house of their fathers, a lamb for an house: 4  And if the household be too little for the lamb, let him and his neighbour next unto his house take it according to the number of the souls; every man according to his eating shall make your count for the lamb. 5  Your lamb shall be without blemish, a male of the first year: ye shall take it out from the sheep, or from the goats:

Christ is a savior, the only savior, and your savior. Here in Isaiah in the eighth century before Christ.

Isaiah 53:1 ¶  Who hath believed our report? and to whom is the arm of the LORD revealed? 2  For he shall grow up before him as a tender plant, and as a root out of a dry ground: he hath no form nor comeliness; and when we shall see him, there is no beauty that we should desire him. 3  He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief: and we hid as it were our faces from him; he was despised, and we esteemed him not.

    4 ¶  Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted. 5  But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed. 6  All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the LORD hath laid on him the iniquity of us all. 7  He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth: he is brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so he openeth not his mouth. 8  He was taken from prison and from judgment: and who shall declare his generation? for he was cut off out of the land of the living: for the transgression of my people was he stricken. 9  And he made his grave with the wicked, and with the rich in his death; because he had done no violence, neither was any deceit in his mouth.

    10 ¶  Yet it pleased the LORD to bruise him; he hath put him to grief: when thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin, he shall see his seed, he shall prolong his days, and the pleasure of the LORD shall prosper in his hand. 11  He shall see of the travail of his soul, and shall be satisfied: by his knowledge shall my righteous servant justify many; for he shall bear their iniquities. 12  Therefore will I divide him a portion with the great, and he shall divide the

spoil with the strong; because he hath poured out his soul unto death: and he was numbered with the transgressors; and he bare the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors.

 

Here is the Psalm Christ directed us to from the Cross itself which is filled with prophecies of Him. It is a Psalm of David written a thousand years before Christ.

Psalm 22:1 ¶  « To the chief Musician upon Aijeleth Shahar, A Psalm of David. » My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? why art thou so far from helping me, and from the words of my roaring? 2  O my God, I cry in the daytime, but thou hearest not; and in the night season, and am not silent. 3  But thou art holy, O thou that inhabitest the praises of Israel. 4  Our fathers trusted in thee: they trusted, and thou didst deliver them. 5  They cried unto thee, and were delivered: they trusted in thee, and were not confounded. 6  But I am a worm, and no man; a reproach of men, and despised of the people. 7  All they that see me laugh me to scorn: they shoot out the lip, they shake the head, saying, 8  He trusted on the LORD that he would deliver him: let him deliver him, seeing he delighted in him. 9  But thou art he that took me out of the womb: thou didst make me hope when I was upon my mother’s breasts. 10  I was cast upon thee from the womb: thou art my God from my mother’s belly.

    11 ¶  Be not far from me; for trouble is near; for there is none to help. 12  Many bulls have compassed me: strong bulls of Bashan have beset me round. 13  They gaped upon me with their mouths, as a ravening and a roaring lion. 14  I am poured out like water, and all my bones are out of joint: my heart is like wax; it is melted in the midst of my bowels. 15  My strength is dried up like a potsherd; and my tongue cleaveth to my jaws; and thou hast brought me into

the dust of death. 16  For dogs have compassed me: the assembly of the wicked have inclosed me: they pierced my hands and my feet. 17  I may tell all my bones: they look and stare upon me. 18  They part my garments among them, and cast lots upon my vesture. 19  But be not thou far from me, O LORD: O my strength, haste thee to help me. 20  Deliver my soul from the sword; my darling from the power of the dog. 21  Save me from the lion’s mouth: for thou hast heard me from the horns of the unicorns.

    22 ¶  I will declare thy name unto my brethren: in the midst of the congregation will I praise thee. 23  Ye that fear the LORD, praise him; all ye the seed of Jacob, glorify him; and fear him, all ye the seed of Israel. 24  For he hath not despised nor abhorred the affliction of the afflicted; neither hath he hid his face from him; but when he cried unto him, he heard. 25  My praise shall be of thee in the great congregation: I will pay my vows before them that fear him. 26  The meek shall eat and be satisfied: they shall praise the LORD that seek him: your heart shall live for ever. 27  All the ends of the world shall remember and turn unto the LORD: and all the kindreds of the nations shall worship before thee. 28  For the kingdom is the LORD’S: and he is the

governor among the nations. 29  All they that be fat upon earth shall eat and worship: all they that go down to the dust shall bow before him: and none can keep alive his own soul. 30  A seed shall serve him; it shall be accounted to the Lord for a generation. 31  They shall come, and shall declare his righteousness unto a people that shall be born, that he hath done this.

 

Hopefully you are reading your Bible from cover to cover regularly. The next time you read it please look for Christ in every passage and you will be amazed.

When one turns to Christ the vail that keeps His face from being seen in the Old Testament is removed. Christ will reveal Himself to the Jews as a nation again at the end of human-centered history. Read Revelation, chapter 12, in its entirety.

Verse 17 refers to the liberty to know Christ as He knows us. The vail is taken away for us, Jew and Gentile who make up the church.

We really don’t understand God’s sovereignty or the deeper doctrines of the Bible like the resurrection of the dead. Paul admitted that and that he hoped to know and understand Jesus as Jesus knew and understood him. Keep in mind in the next verses that, “attain unto,” is to wrap your mind around, to comprehend, defined in Psalm 139:6 and Proverbs 1:5, and although apprehend is only used in the next verses one of the early meanings of that word was, to understand or to know, which you can confirm by Dr. Samuel Johnson’s dictionary or the Early Modern English Database. “To attain unto,” and to, “apprehend,” then have similar or synonymous meanings as evidenced by how they are used in contrast to each other in the following with, “know,” as the foundation for interpreting the passage;

Philippians 3:9 ¶  And be found in him, not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith: 10  That I may know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, being made conformable unto his death; 11  If by any means I might attain unto the resurrection of the dead. 12  Not as though I had already attained, either were already perfect: but I follow after, if that I may apprehend that for which also I am apprehended of Christ Jesus. 13  Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before, 14  I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.

John wrote;

1John 3:1 ¶  Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God: therefore the world knoweth us not, because it knew him not. 2  Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is.

Paul wrote earlier in 1Corinthians 13;

12  For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known.

2Corinthians 3:1-11 comments: the letter of the law versus the spirit of it

3:1 ¶  Do we begin again to commend ourselves? or need we, as some others, epistles of commendation to you, or letters of commendation from you? 2  Ye are our epistle written in our hearts, known and read of all men: 3  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. 4  And such trust have we through Christ to God-ward: 5  Not that we are sufficient of ourselves to think any thing as of ourselves; but our sufficiency is of God;

Here is an example of the wonderful way in which the Bible defines its own words. Epistles are letters. The translators knew that a word had to be provided that was missing from the Greek text before of commendation but was obvious and that was epistles or letters, so they used letters to contrast over against epistles providing the definition of  a word not often used.

Paul says that the Corinthians are a letter themselves in a metaphor that he expands on saying Christ wrote that letter through the Spirit on the heart. This is a wonderful figure of speech, where Paul writes letters with ink and paper, Christ writes letters on the Christian’s heart.

While Paul says that the Corinthians are proof of his sincerity and devotion to God he is not bragging because he knows that his efforts were only successful because of God.

    3:6 ¶  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. 7  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: 8  How shall not the ministration of the spirit be rather glorious? 9  For if the ministration of condemnation be glory, much more doth the ministration of righteousness exceed in glory. 10  For even that which was made glorious had no glory in this respect, by reason of the glory that excelleth. 11  For if that which is done away was glorious, much more that which remaineth is glorious.

Paul makes such an important point here about how the letter of the law kills but the spirit of the law, grace, gives life. Slavish devotion to the regulations and rules without understanding their intent destroys spiritually those possessed by such an attitude. For instance, in Matthew 22 Jesus declares the intent, the spirit, of the Law and the Prophets.

Matthew 22:34 ¶  But when the Pharisees had heard that he had put the Sadducees to silence, they were gathered together. 35  Then one of them, which was a lawyer, asked him a question, tempting him, and saying, 36  Master, which is the great commandment in the law? 37  Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. 38  This is the first and great commandment. 39  And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. 40  On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.

He was referring to these statements under the Law.

Deuteronomy 6:5  And thou shalt love the LORD thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might.

Matthew 19:19  Honour thy father and thy mother: and, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.

Leviticus 19:18  Thou shalt not avenge, nor bear any grudge against the children of thy people, but thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself: I am the LORD.

Of course, in Luke 10 Jesus explains that whomever you happen to encounter is your neighbor.

Jesus defines Old Testament law and explains its spirit and intention in other places.

Thou shalt not kill of Exodus 20:13 means to do no murder as per Matthew 19:18.

He also explained in Matthew 19 that a husband finding some uncleanness in his wife and using that as a justification for divorce in Deuteronomy 24:1 was limited to her sin of fornication before betrothal and that even allowed only as an acknowledgement of man’s unforgiving heart. (Deuteronomy 22:24 says she could be stoned if she committed adultery after betrothal.)

God’s Law is an amazing thing brought down and given to man but the intention of that Law, when understood, is even more amazing and wondrous.

In other passages Paul contrasts the difference between the Law and Faith.

Galatians 3:19 ¶  Wherefore then serveth the law? It was added because of transgressions, till the seed should come to whom the promise was made; and it was ordained by angels in the hand of a mediator. 20  Now a mediator is not a mediator of one, but God is one. 21  Is the law then against the promises of God? God forbid: for if there had been a law given which could have given life, verily righteousness should have been by the law. 22  But the scripture hath

concluded all under sin, that the promise by faith of Jesus Christ might be given to them that believe. 23  But before faith came, we were kept under the law, shut up unto the faith which should afterwards be revealed. 24  Wherefore the law was our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ, that we might be justified by faith. 25  But after that faith is come, we are no longer under a schoolmaster. 26  For ye are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus.

And again;

Galatians 4:21 ¶  Tell me, ye that desire to be under the law, do ye not hear the law? 22  For it is written, that Abraham had two sons, the one by a bondmaid, the other by a freewoman. 23  But he who was of the bondwoman was born after the flesh; but he of the freewoman was by promise. 24  Which things are an allegory: for these are the two covenants; the one from the mount Sinai, which gendereth to bondage, which is Agar. 25  For this Agar is mount Sinai in Arabia, and answereth to Jerusalem which now is, and is in bondage with her children. 26  But Jerusalem which is above is free, which is the mother of us all. 27  For it is written, Rejoice, thou barren that bearest not; break forth and cry, thou that travailest not: for the desolate hath many more children than she which hath an husband. 28  Now we, brethren, as Isaac was, are the children of promise. 29  But as then he that was born after the flesh persecuted him that was born after the Spirit, even so it is now. 30  Nevertheless what saith the scripture? Cast out the bondwoman and her son: for the son of the bondwoman shall not be heir with the son of the freewoman. 31  So then, brethren, we are not children of the bondwoman, but of the free.

   5:1 ¶  Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage.

So, the Old Testament represents the letter of the Law while the New Covenant represents the spirit of it, what was intended, justification not by following rules and regulations but by being justified by Christ’s resurrection and our faith and trust in His righteousness and not our own.

2Corinthians 2:12-17 comments: corrupting the word of God

2:12 ¶  Furthermore, when I came to Troas to preach Christ’s gospel, and a door was opened unto me of the Lord, 13  I had no rest in my spirit, because I found not Titus my brother: but taking my leave of them, I went from thence into Macedonia. 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. 15  For we are unto God a sweet savour of

Christ, in them that are saved, and in them that perish: 16  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? 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.

   

Troas would have been located in today’s Northwestern Turkey, a projection into the Aegean Sea. Paul’s excitement about the opportunities presented here are tempered by his concern about those who have corrupted God’s word. I’m not a Greek-o-phile but the word corrupt in verse 17 is translated from is pronounced kap-ale-yoo’-o and it refers specifically to a wine vendor who waters down his product to cheat his buyers. Unfortunately, modern versions like The New King James (NKJV) and The New International Version (NIV) have chosen to use the word peddle rather than corrupt obscuring the meaning of the verse and condemning all Christian bookstore operators, an absurd rendering of the word. Already in Paul’s day he is contending against people who are misusing and perverting God’s word, which he would have been referring to the Old Testament. Gnostic heresies were early on denying that Jesus had a human body and mingling in pagan occultism and philosophy with Christian doctrine.

Peter warned about people misunderstanding and misusing Paul’s letters also.

2Peter 3:15  And account that the longsuffering of our Lord is salvation; even as our beloved brother Paul also according to the wisdom given unto him hath written unto you; 16  As also in all his epistles, speaking in them of these things; in which are some things hard to be understood, which they that are unlearned and unstable wrest, as they do also the other scriptures, unto their own destruction.

Verse 16 is very interesting in the concept of the unsaved person going from death to death and the saved person going from life to life and who can understand such things? He uses the word savour like the aroma of a sacrifice rising to God.