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Epiphany Season · Eighth Sunday in Ordinary Time · Year B

2 Corinthians 3:1b-6

Ministers of the New Covenant

Woman Writing a Letter, with her Maid, Johannes Vermeer
Woman Writing a Letter, with her Maid, Johannes Vermeer, c. 1670-1671National Gallery of Ireland, Dublin · public domain

Overview & Insights

“You are a letter from Christ... written not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God.” (2 Corinthians 3:3)

For Paul, Satan is a conquered, yet still dangerous, foe. Although “the God of peace will soon crush Satan under your feet” (Rom. 16:20), Satan is still “the god of this age,” who blinds the minds of unbelievers from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ (2 Cor. 4:4), and he is “the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient” (Eph. 2:2). There can be no fellowship between the realm of Belial and unbelievers, on the one hand, and the realm of Christ and believers, on the other; for they are as mutually exclusive as darkness and light (2 Cor. 6:14–16). Nevertheless, Satan tries to thwart believers at every point, either by leading them astray to “another gospel” (11:3–4) or by tempting them (1 Thess. 3:5; 1 Cor. 7:5). Likewise, Satan tries to thwart the apostle, whether by afflicting him (2 Cor.

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What makes a minister of the new covenant?

Paul's credential is the Corinthians themselves, a letter of Christ written on human hearts; his competence is from God, who makes servants of a covenant not of the letter but of the Spirit.

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