Scripture: "Ye are an epistle of Christ, ministered by us, written with the Spirit of the living God, in fleshly tables of the heart."—2 COR. iii. 3.
The Corinthians' Church was a "letter of recommendation" for Paul, showing how much he had done for them. Although he claimed nothing for himself, God had enabled him as a "minister of the Spirit," to write in their hearts "with the Spirit of the living God." He himself declared: "Not that we are sufficient of ourselves to think anything as of ourselves: but our sufficiency is from God; who also made us sufficient as ministers of a new covenant."
What a wonderful presentation of the work of a minister for his people! A preacher prepared to be a minister of the Spirit, with power to write in the hearts of his people the name and the love of Christ. No wonder that when (vers. 7-11), speaking of the glory that was upon the face of Moses when he communed with God, Paul says, "The ministration of the Spirit is more glo¬rious by reason of the glory that excelleth." He then (ver. 18) speaks of how "we all, with open face reflecting as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are transformed into the same image from glory to glory, even as from the Lord, the Spirit."
Oh, that God would restore the ministry of the Gospel to its original power! Oh, that all ministers and church-members would unite in the prayer that God, by the mighty working of His Spirit, would give the ministry of the Spirit its right place, and teach the people to believe that when Christ is preached to them, they are beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, and may be changed into the same image by the Spirit of the Lord!
What a call that is for us to persevere in the prayer that the Holy Spirit may again have His rightful place in the ministry of the Word, so that the exceeding and abundant glory of this min¬istry may be manifested.
