Verse By Verse Devotional On 2 Corinthians By Pastor Jack #67

Contrasting Tablets

3:3 "...you are a letter of Christ, cared for by us, written not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of human hearts."

Paul here contrasts his letter of commendation (which was actually Christ’s letter) with the letters of his detractors. Their letter is written in ink; his letter is written by the Holy Spirit. Their religion is written merely on tablets of stone (representing their hearts of stone); Christ’s is written on human hearts.

In this verse Paul seems to be alluding to the prophecies of what God was going to do in the new covenant in Ezek.36:26-27:

"Moreover, I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; and I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you will be careful to observe My ordinances."

and in Jer.31:33:

"I will put My law within them and on their heart I will write it."

Paul’s detractors were Judaizers. Judaizers were a group in the early Christian church who taught that salvation only came to Jews, and that therefore a person much become a Jew in order to be a Christian. This involved not only circumcision but living in obedience to the whole Mosaic law. They were legalistic and still oriented entirely around the old covenant (including the Judaistic misunderstandings of it). For them (according to Paul) the law is still on tablets of stone that symbolize stony hearts. But the message he preaches, and which has taken hold in Corinth, is a message God is writing upon human hearts, in fulfillment of OT prophecy.

So many theological problems in the church today are a result of the Old Testament/New Testament problem. Some go too far in one direction and some too far in the other. It was the same in Paul’s day. But Paul is our key to understanding this relationship. In the verses ahead we will be enlightened by Paul as to the crucial distinctions we need to understand in order to escape dangers on both sides.

Thank You, Father, for how You have done such marvelous things in the sending of Your beloved Son. And thank You that You have given instructions in Your word to help us understand the significance of what He did. Please help Your church to grasp Your teaching on the relationship of the Old Testament and the New Testament, that we might avoid the pitfalls of error and also the mire of confusion.