2 Corinthians 3

2 Corinthians 3 is a wildly freeing passage. I was struck, as I read through this passage, at Paul's comments bout the Law of Moses. He calls the Law of Moses a "ministry of death." I questioned that translation, went back to the Greek to look at it for myself, and sure enough, that is the exact wording. He goes on to call it the ministry of condemnation, which I think clarifies it a little bit. It was not the Law itself that was death or condemnation, but what it came to be among the people of God was death and condemnation because they abused it. They made it burdensome. Nonetheless, Paul is clear that the life in the Spirit we currently have is much more glorious than life by the Law.

Our hope in the glory that will come gives us a boldness. This is something that can be seen in many of Paul's letters and even in Peter's epistles as well. It is an idea that our view of what will happen in the end serves to motivate our way of life. Two words are thrown around when it comes to this idea: eschatology and ethics. You cannot separate the two. Eschatology is so much more than the study of end times and when the rapture will happen or Jesus will return. Eschatology is realizing our place in the here and now based upon what has taken place in the past and what will happen in the end. This, obviously, affects our ethics, the way we order our lives and develop our moral construct. If you studying about Jesus' return doesn't affect the way you live, it is pointless.

So how should we live? we'll look more at that tomorrow, but suffice it to say that we should live differently from the rest of the world, holy. If you look at what Christ did on the cross, and then look forward to the glory of Christ's return and eternal Kingdom, it should influence your behavior right here and right now. So how will you live?

I love the verse: "where the Spirit of the lord is, there is freedom." The whole chapter is about being sealed with the Spirit into a life that is free and is evidence of our King. In other words, you are one of God's people. As such, He has marked you with a seal, like they would do in the ancient world. When a noble person would send a letter to someone, he would put a wax seal on it and stamp his signet ring into the wax to show that it was from him. That's what God does, he saves us and puts his wax seal on us with his signet stamped into the wax. We are God's, and that means we live as God's.

It's a bold step to live for Christ and put away the ways of the world. It means losing friends and alienating those who have been in sin with you. But that's what we are called to. What's different about your life? How is it different from the way it used to be? How is it different from the self-indulgent world around us?