Verse By Verse Devotional On 2 Corinthians By Pastor Jack #69

Servants of a New Covenant

3:6 "...God, who also made us adequate as servants of a new covenant."

In verse 3 Paul introduced the subject of the contrast between the new covenant and the old covenant. Now, picking up on that theme, he explains this contrast more fully in verses 6-18.

By “new covenant” Paul means the covenant of Christ, which our Lord spoke of at the last supper:

"This cup which is poured out for you is the new covenant in My blood." (Luke 22:20)

This new covenant is the one spoken of by the prophet Jeremiah:

"Behold, days are coming," declares the Lord, "when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah, not like the covenant which I made with their fathers in the day I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, My covenant which they broke, although I was a husband to them," declares the Lord. "But this is the covenant which I will make with the house of Israel after those days," declares the Lord, "I will put My law within them and on their heart I will write it; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people. They will not teach again, each man his neighbor and each man his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ for they will all know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them,” declares the Lord, "for I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin I will remember no more." (Jer.31:31-34)

This "new covenant" Paul contrasts here with the "old covenant" (2Cor.3:14). It is clear from v.3, 7, and 13-15 that by "old covenant" Paul means the Mosaic covenant: God’s covenant established with Israel through Moses at Mt. Sinai.

Why is Paul suddenly discussing the relationship between the new covenant and the old covenant? I don’t think it is because he has changed the subject. It is because he is trying to refute the false apostles who have undermined his ministry in Corinth. They are Judaizers who taught that one must become a Jew (including being circumcised and obeying the ceremonial law) in order to be a Christian. They were adherents of Judaism who were trying to Judaize Christianity. Claiming to preach Christ, they preached a message in which there was no contrast between the old covenant of Moses and the new covenant of Christ. So, Paul, it seems, highlights the contrast in order to expose their falseness.

Certainly the contrast between the Old Testament and the New Testament can be and has been over-emphasized (sometimes to a heretical degree). But we must recognize that there are some significant differences between the OT set-up and the NT set-up. There are passages that emphasize the continuity between old and new (e.g. Matt.5:17-19; 1Cor.10:1-9; Heb.4:1-2). But passages that speak of the discontinuity -- like 2Cor.3:6-18 as well as Gal.4:21-31; Heb.8:6-13; Heb.12:18-24; Rom.10:4-6; etc. -- cannot be ignored.

The point is that there is continuity and discontinuity between old and new. And we must carefully work to develop an understanding of what continues and what does not. This is not an easy issue. Some think it is the hardest issue in theology. We must be open, humble, and prayerful in our quest.

O Father, thank You for the rich blessings of the new covenant. Thank You that through the Spirit You are writing Your law upon the hearts of men. Please write Your law upon my heart. Even more than understanding it all, I want to love Your word, to have a hunger and thirst for it, to count it as more valuable than gold, and to wield it wisely as the sword of the Spirit.