05 Why Paul’s Ministry Outshines Moses (2 Corinthians 3:7-18)

Paul takes the dramatic story of Moses’ shining face and uses it to explain what God is doing in every believer today. In this episode, Krisan walks through 2 Corinthians 3:7–18, tracing Paul’s comparison between the old covenant under Moses and the new covenant in Christ. We see how the law came with real glory, yet could only condemn, while the gospel comes with an even greater glory that brings forgiveness, transformation, and boldness before God.

In this week’s episode, we explore:

• How Exodus 34 and Moses’ veiled, radiant face set the background for Paul’s argument in 2 Corinthians 3
• Why Paul calls the law a “ministry of death” and “condemnation,” even though it came from God and carried glory
• What Paul means when he says the new covenant “far exceeds” the old in glory and is permanent rather than passing
• The significance of the veil—first on Moses’ face, then over Israel’s heart and how it pictures both separation and spiritual blindness
• How the Holy Spirit “removes the veil” so that believers have direct, free access to God’s glory
• What it looks like, in practical terms, to be “transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another”
• How Paul holds together two truths: we are weak “jars of clay,” yet entrusted with a glorious message that is worth proclaiming with courage
• The tension between speaking the gospel clearly without watering it down and caring wisely about how our words land on others

After listening, you’ll come away with a clearer sense of what it means to live as someone whose face is “unveiled” before God. You’ll be encouraged to honor the courage of Paul’s ministry, to take your own opportunities to speak about Christ seriously, and to cling to the glory of the gospel even when it is misunderstood, resisted, or costly to share.

Series: 2 Corinthians: When Church Hurts

Start Strong: A New Believer’s Guide to Christianity is available now wherever books are sold.

Transcript

Krisan Marotta 0:02

Welcome back to the Wednesday in the Word podcast. I'm Chris On Marata, and this is my podcast about what the Bible means and how we know. This is the fifth talk in my series on 2 Corinthians. When Moses returned from meeting with God, his face was so bright it frightened the people. In 2 Corinthians 3, Paul reflects on that moment and suggests that a less visible but better brightness is at work in every believer today. In today's episode, we'll study 2 Corinthians 3, verses 7 through 18, and we will learn why Paul says the gospel outshot the law of Moses, how the Holy Spirit lifts the veil that keeps us from seeing God's glory, and how ordinary people are gradually reshaped from, as Paul says, one degree of glory to another. Thank you for making Wednesday and the Word part of your day. I'm glad to have you along. We'll be picking up our study in chapter 3 of 2 Corinthians verse 7. Let me review how we got here. Paul has a troubled relationship with the Corinthian Church, and he's writing this letter to help resolve that trouble. Some in the church respect him and trust him, but others in the church have rejected him altogether, refusing to believe that he was a true apostle. In chapter one, Paul began defending his ministry and we are still in that defense. When Paul changed his travel plans and failed to visit Corinth as he said he would, some in Corinth accused him of being unreliable. He said he would visit and then he didn't, and they think that means he can't be trusted. Paul explains why he changed his plans. After a painful visit that strained their relationship, he chose not to return right away. He suspected another visit so soon would only add to their grief, so he decided to spare them, and he explains his delay wasn't careless, it was compassionate. Paul assures them that his conscience is clear and he acted with integrity, sincerity, and genuine concern for their well being. And this is the unifying theme that runs through this section. Paul is urging the Corinthians to think about himself and his ministry in a certain way. And I want to start today by looking at that unifying theme and sort of tracing it through the sections we've looked at. This will involve a little bit of repetition of what we saw in previous podcasts, but don't worry, we're going to cover some new ideas as well. This theme of how they should view Paul and his ministry emerges in three ideas that Paul repeats through this section. The first idea is this Paul is not adequate to produce the results that his ministry has been producing. He says, Yes, the gospel is beyond me, I'm just a man, I'm not capable of coming up with a powerful and wise thing like the gospel. For example, in 215 and 16, after he uses this analogy of his gospel is like the sweet smell of success to those who are being saved and the smell of death to those who are perishing, he says, who is adequate for these things? And the clear implication is well, I, Paul, am not. I am not adequate to produce that kind of result. In 3-2, Paul says that the Corinthians themselves are his letter of recommendation, but then he qualifies that by making it clear that he, Paul, is not the one that wrote the letter in the metaphor he's using. Yes, there are a letter of recommendation for Paul, but he didn't write it. Christ wrote the letter. Paul is just a servant of Christ proclaiming the gospel, but Christ is the one doing this profound work. Then in the section we looked at in the last podcast, in three, four through six, Paul says, Such is the confidence that we have through Christ toward God. Not that we are sufficient in ourselves to claim anything is coming from us, but our sufficiency is from God, who has made us sufficient to be ministers of a new covenant, not of the letter, but of the spirit, for the letter kills, but the spirit gives life. Once again, very clearly Paul's talking about himself here. He uses the first person plural, but he means himself, and he says, I am not the source of all this wisdom and the power of the gospel. God is the one who prepared Paul for this task. He's been taught by God and given a profoundly deep understanding of the gospel so that he can go out and minister to others, but he sees himself as not being sufficient, as being inadequate for the task on his own, he couldn't have accomplished this. And he's going to make that point again in chapter four, where he says, this is four, five through seven, for what we proclaim is not ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord with ourselves as your servants for Jesus' sake. For God who said, Let light shine out of darkness, has shone in our hearts to give the light of knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that the surpassing power belongs to God and not to us. Again, all of this language is talking about how Paul is not the one who is powerful to bring this result about. Paul is the one to whom God has shown the light of the gospel so that he may take it to others. Paul is the one who has this treasure in an earthen vessel. It's in an earthen vessel so that it may be clear that the power of the gospel is not from him but from God. Throughout this whole section, we see this idea that Paul is not the source of the amazing power of the gospel. The Corinthians view Paul as a man with many flaws and weaknesses, and Paul agrees with them. He says, I am a man with many flaws and weaknesses, but that is no reason to dismiss my ministry because the truth and power of the gospel is not due to me, Paul, it is due to God. The second theme that runs through this section is that Paul speaks with openness and integrity. We saw this back in 217 when he said, For we are not like so many peddlers of God's word, but as men of sincerity, as commissioned by God, in the sight of God we speak in Christ. Paul argues, I am not a salesman. My goal is not to manipulate you into buying the gospel. Instead, Paul sincerely speaks the simple truth as if he were standing in the presence of God himself. We're going to see in the section we're looking at today in three twelve and thirteen, he says, Since we have such a hope, we are very bold, not like Moses who had put a veil over his face so that the Israelites might not gaze at the outcome of what was being brought to an end. Now we'll talk about what that means in a bit, but once again Paul sees himself as being open and transparent and straightforward in the bold way he teaches. But perhaps the clearest statement of his own integrity is coming up in chapter four, one and two. He says, Therefore, having this ministry by the mercy of God, we do not lose heart, but we have renounced disgraceful, underhanded ways. We refuse to practice cutting or to tamper with God's word, but by an open statement of the truth, we would commend ourselves to everyone's conscience in the sight of God. Paul expands on what he meant when he said he didn't peddle the word of God back in chapter two. He says the gospel he proclaims is true and life-changing. He's not ashamed of it. He has nothing to hide. He just lays it all out there. He doesn't need to be crafty, he doesn't need to water it down to make it more acceptable to people. He speaks the truth and then he leaves it to others to decide what they're going to do with it. So we've seen these two ideas so far. I'm running through this section that begin in chapter one and goes all the way into chapter four. Paul himself is not the source of the gospel, it comes from the wisdom and power of God, and the results are due to the power of God. And second, Paul proclaims this gospel faithfully, openly, and sincerely, and this is how the Corinthians should think of him. Yes, he is a weak man, but he faithfully proclaims the gospel that comes from a powerful God. Now we're going to spend most of our time today talking about this third idea that runs through this section as Paul is talking about his ministry. And I think for us today this is probably the most significant one. The third theme is this idea that the gospel is about God working a spiritual transformation in his people. The ministry that Paul and the other apostles have is a ministry of spiritual transformation that is unlike the old covenant. That means, in a very audacious way, Paul says his ministry is greater than the ministry of Moses. So we see this, yes, I am a weak man. Yes, the power of the gospel is from God, not from me. I am speaking the gospel with sincerity, and my ministry is greater than the ministry of Moses, with a very clear implication. So you'd better pay attention. You don't have the option of saying, Paul, we think you're kind of unimpressive, which is a charge he's going to deal with later in the letter. Here he's acknowledging that. He's saying, look, I may not be an impressive guy, but I have a more important ministry than Moses, and this is something you really need to think seriously about. And this idea is significant for us today because Paul's ministry extends to us in reading his letters and believing the gospel. His ministry of spiritual transformation is a transformation that applies to us as well as the Corinthians and all believers throughout time. Now we saw this theme in the last podcast at the beginning of chapter three. Paul said he didn't need a letter of recommendation to the Corinthians. He didn't need to reintroduce himself to them again. He knows them, they know him, and the impact of the gospel on their lives is his letter of recommendation. They know he's taught them the true, actual gospel because they can see that God is doing something among them. And that ministry can be seen. That's all the recommendation he needs. The language he uses is that Christ has been writing this letter in their hearts. He draws that language from the new covenant that is described in places like Jeremiah. We talked about that in the last podcast. Jeremiah compared the law, the covenant that God made with Israel, to the new covenant that he was predicting, and he said the law was not able to bring about life for them. It was external. It could tell them how to live, it could tell them how to follow God, but because they had hard hearts, they were stubborn people, they wouldn't and couldn't keep the law. Although the law pointed out the way toward life, it did not lead to life because they were not the kind of people who could take God up on that offer. Jeremiah predicted a new covenant which would be an internal covenant. God would write the law in their hearts such that they would actually want to follow God and therefore find eternal life. As you look through Paul's other letters, this idea that God is doing something new is one of his major themes. God has forgiven us in Christ so that he can work in our hearts through the Spirit, so that we might persevere in faith and therefore find eternal life. This change starts now with our lives in this age and culminates in our complete moral transformation when Jesus returns. This is how Paul thinks. This is what his gospel is about. It's not just about Jesus dying for our sins, it is about that, but it is also about Jesus rescuing us from the hardness of our hearts. So it's not at all surprising that Paul would fall into this language as he's talking about his ministry and talking about what evidence validates it. One major piece of evidence is that everyone can see that the Spirit of God is working in the believers among you. And this theme informs the contrast that we're going to see in our section today. This letter that Christ is writing is written not with ink but with the Spirit of God, not on tablets of stone like the law, but on human hearts. And that brings us to the passage we want to pick up with today. This is where we left off last time talking about this distinction between the letter and the spirit. Paul made the bold claim that the letter kills, but the spirit gives life. In other words, the letter is the law, the external commandments written on stone. The spirit is the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of God working internally, writing the law on our hearts. The letter, or the law, kills us because it does nothing to change who we are. It can't remove our inherent rebellious and sinful natures. Only the Spirit of God transforming our hearts can make us the sort of people who turn to God and find life. The law kills because it did not produce in us what is required to find life, but the Spirit of God working inside us does produce that. Now remember, Paul is saying all of this because he's defending his own ministry and work as an apostle. As an apostle, he is appointed by God to teach this new covenant. Who was the minister of the old covenant? Moses. God gave Moses the job of proclaiming the law to the people of Israel. God has given Paul and the other apostles the task of proclaiming the gospel. Now Paul boldly compares his ministry, the apostolic ministry, with the ministry of Moses, and as we'll see, Moses loses. Now in order to understand what Paul does here, we have to look at Exodus. Paul's language is based on Exodus thirty-four. You may remember the first time Moses came down the mountain with the Ten Commandments that God had given him, he found the people worshiping the golden calf, and things went really badly. After dealing with that situation, Moses went back up the mountain and God gave him another set of the Ten Commandments. Exodus thirty four records the second time that Moses came down the mountain. I'm going to read you twenty seven through thirty five. And the Lord said to Moses, Write these words for in accordance with these words I have made a covenant with you and with Israel. So he was there with the Lord forty days and forty nights. He neither ate bread nor drank water, and he wrote on the tablets the words of the covenant, the Ten Commandments. When Moses came down from Sinai with the two tablets of the testimony in his hand as he came down from the mountain, Moses did not know that the skin of his face shone because he had been talking with God. Aaron and all the people of Israel saw Moses, and behold the skin of his face shone, and they were afraid to come near him. But Moses called to them, and Aaron and all the leaders of the congregation returned to him, and Moses talked with them. Afterward all the people of Israel came near, and he commanded them all that the Lord had spoken with him in Mount Sinai. And when Moses had finished speaking with them, he put a veil over his face. Whenever Moses went in before the Lord to speak with him, he would remove the veil until he came out. And when he came out and told the people of Israel what he was commanded, the people of Israel would see the face of Moses that the skin of Moses' face was shining, and Moses would put the veil over his face again until he went in to speak with him. So this is our story. Whenever Moses stood before God, his face was uncovered. He would then come down from the mountain and tell Israel what God had commanded, and they would see Moses' face shining from having been in the presence of God. Apparently God presented himself with this bright shining light, and when Moses left God's presence the light was still shining on his face. And that frightened the people. While Moses told the people what God had said, he kept his face unveiled so they could see the light from having been with God, and that acted as a kind of testimony to the fact that what he was saying was true. And then when he was done speaking, he would put a veil over his face to cover it up. Now the text doesn't tell us why he put a veil on his face, we have to deduce it from the situation, and here is what Paul says about that in Second Corinthians three verses seven and eight. Now if the ministry of death, carved in letters on stone, came with such glory that the Israelites could not gaze at Moses' face because of its glory, which was being brought to an end, will not the ministry of the Spirit have even more glory? Now remember he says this ministry of death because he just finished talking about how the letter kills but the spirit gives life. He refers to the shine on Moses' face as glory, and we want to understand what he means by that. This word glory is used basically two different ways in the New Testament, and it's important to understand them, and I think understand both of them for this passage. First, glory can refer to a literal, bright, shining light. For example, in one place Paul talks about how the sun has its own glory and the moon has its own glory. I think that's in 1 Corinthians 15. There's this brightness associated with them. Another example is in Luke when he tells us the Christmas story and he says the glory of the Lord shone around the angels, that is literally a bright shining light. But second, the word glory can have a more metaphorical meaning, and this is probably the more common meaning. The word in Greek is sometimes used in the sense of reputation. Something that has glory is attractive, it is wonderful and worthy of admiration, it has a great reputation. A person's glory is the good reputation that they have. It's the thing that makes them admirable, the thing that makes you want to be like them. Now in the story of Moses, God shows himself as a bright light. That light is transferred to Moses' face, but it seems fairly obvious that the light is a kind of visual, tangible metaphor. Moses was not seeing the real body of God. God chose to represent himself as a light, and I think he did that for a reason. He shows himself as a light because there is a kind of glory associated with light. There's a brightness, and God himself is holy and good and attractive and worthy of our praise, so God is glorious. His manifestation is literally glorious before Moses. He shows himself as bright, shining, awe inspiring, glorious because he is glorious. That is his essence. Everything about him is attractive and worthy of praise and admiration because he is holy and good. When the light is transferred to Moses' face, then it gives Moses and his ministry a certain kind of glory as well. When Moses returns with the law, he says, Here's what God told me, these are the commands I have gotten from God. The people see the light on his face, and that light testifies to the fact that Moses has been with God. His face is glowing with the glory of God. It's a sign that Moses is speaking the truth. His shining face testifies that he has been with God and is a messenger from God. Now Paul says, see, Moses' ministry came with glory. That physical, bright, shining light of his face represents the glorious holiness of God, which makes the ministry of Moses glorious and praiseworthy. But Paul is looking back on this from a later point in history. He says, Let's look back at Moses' story and see where it went compared with where we are now. Now in the last podcast we looked at the passage in Deuteronomy where Moses speaks to them as they are about to go into the promised land. He explains there will be a blessing and a curse, and then he says, Essentially, let me tell you what's going to happen. You are going to get the curse. You are not going to follow God. You are going to end up scattered to the nations, and it's going to be bad until God gathers you together again and circumcises your hearts to love him. When he does that, when God does that transforming work in you, then you will find Life, but it's not going to happen until then. So Moses understands there's a fundamental problem in his ministry. He's laying out the law to them. He knows that there's a remnant that will believe and find life, but that the majority of people he's leading and their descendants are not going to find the life that the law promises, they will continually rebel and be exiled. We can even see that implied in the story of the glory on Moses' face, especially from Paul's perspective as he looks backward. When Moses came down with the shine on his face, the glory of God on his face, the people were afraid, so the veil on his face is an accommodation to the fact that the glory of God is too much for them to handle. They don't really know what to do with it, and they don't want to see it. Remember, when Jesus died on the cross, the New Testament tells us that the veil in the temple that separated the Holy of Holies from the other spaces was torn in two. And I think in a way the veil of Moses' face is a little bit like that veil that separated the Holy of Holies from the rest of the people. The glory of God was behind that veil, and that place was not for sinners like us. So if Moses' ministry, which did not lead to life, was still a ministry that was filled with the glory of God, it was right there on his face, then how much more is the gospel ministry? Because Paul's ministry is a ministry of the Spirit. His ministry will bring in the fullness of life. It will bring in the fullness of glory. If Moses' ministry, which in a sense was a failure, was still filled with the glory of God, then how much more glory is there in the ministry of the gospel? That's the question Paul is posing. Now we want to ask, in what sense does Paul mean that his ministry came with glory? Well, I think at least he means this. His ministry is even more wonderful and glorious and worthy of admiration. The proclamation of the forgiveness that comes through the cross of Christ and the spiritual transformation that follows is a profound and important ministry. But there's another sense of glory that he's talking about. Ultimately, he's going to talk about how God is imparting his glory to us, his people. Not only is Paul's ministry glorious in the sense that it is a wonderful, worthy of praise ministry, but it is a ministry that is accompanied with the glory of God, just like Moses' ministry was accompanied with the glory of God. But this time God is imparting his glory to us his people, and that's what Paul's going to go on to talk about. I think his basic point here is clear enough. If the law which cannot save us from death came with glory, then the gospel which promises life giving transformation through the Spirit must come with even more glory. And now he goes on in nine through eleven. For if there was glory in the ministry of condemnation, the ministry of righteousness must far exceed it in glory. Indeed, in this case, what once had glory has come to have no glory at all because of the glory that surpasses it. For if what was being brought to an end came with glory, much more will what is permanent have glory. So Paul contrasts the glory of his ministry with the glory of the ministry of Moses. He says Moses' ministry was ultimately a ministry of condemnation. It called for people to be faithful to the law, but because their hearts were hard they couldn't do it, so in the end it did not give them life, it condemned them. On the other hand, Paul's ministry is a ministry of righteousness, and I think in this context he's using that word to mean justification. The law leaves us condemned before God, but the gospel shows us the way to be made right with God, to be justified and reconciled to him. In fact, Paul's ministry of the gospel has so much more glory than the ministry of Moses that it's as if the law had no glory at all. Moses' ministry was not permanent, it had an important place in God's plans, but ultimately it didn't last and it was never meant to last. But Paul's ministry, the ministry of the gospel, is meant to last. It's meant to be permanent, and looking back we can see that God ultimately intended to bless the world through the cross and not through the law. He continues in three hundred eleven through thirteen, for if what was being brought to an end came with glory, much more will what is permanent have glory? Since we have such a hope, we are very bold, not like Moses, who would put a veil over his face so that the Israelites might not gaze at the outcome of what was being brought to an end. Now there's a lot of debate over what is Paul saying about Moses. I was taught that Moses knew that the glory on his face was fading, and the issue was that he would go before God, he would get the glory on his face as he came out, and then the glory would fade over time. So he put the veil on afterwards because he didn't want the people to see the glory fading and think he no longer spoke for God. That makes sense in a way, but I find it hard to read Exodus as saying that. Now you could read Paul as saying that about Exodus, and that would be one way to interpret what Paul's saying here, but it's difficult for me to imagine that Paul would read Exodus that way. There is no hint that Moses put the veil on because the glory was fading. He put the veil on because the glory was there and the people were afraid of it, and the veil put a barrier between the glory and the people. That part seems pretty clear to me from Exodus, but I don't think Exodus suggests that the glory faded away. I think Paul's language here refers to the fact that the ministry of the law was not intended to last. What was fading away was essentially the law, not the glory. Moses put the veil on not so that they wouldn't see the light fading off his face, he put it on to hide it from them, to protect them from the glory in that sense. Now Paul comments that the glory Moses was protecting them from was a glory that was not intended to last. And I think he's making a legitimate comparison between himself and Moses. The veil on Moses' face implied a separation between Moses and the people. Moses went before God, Moses had the glory, but the people were separated from that glory. They were afraid of that glory and they were afraid of God. But Paul's ministry is different. God is holy and unapproachable if you're sinners like us, but we have now been forgiven because of the cross. He has promised to make us like him and impart his glory to us. And Paul can openly proclaim that good news. He can boldly bring people right before the face of God without fear, because the gospel is such good news, Paul can openly and boldly proclaim it. He doesn't have to accommodate the weakness of the people he's preaching to. The gospel is all about rescuing people from that weakness, and that's why he can openly and boldly proclaim it. Let's go on to fourteen through eighteen. But their minds were hardened, for to this day when they read the old covenant, that same veil remains unlifted, because only through Christ is it taken away. Yes, to this day whenever Moses is read, a veil lies over their hearts, but when one turns to the Lord, the veil is removed. Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom, and we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another, for this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit. Paul goes on then to say, Look, it's as if the veil was never removed. The people of Israel still have a metaphorical veil that separates them from the glory of God. To this day, whenever Moses has read the Old Testament, a veil lies over their hearts. But anyone who like Moses would turn to the Lord, that person takes off the veil, just as Moses turned to the Lord and took off the veil. Now in verse 17, Paul explains his analogy to Moses. Moses went before the Lord, the Holy Spirit who is at work in our hearts, is from that same Lord, the same Lord Moses was going before, so the Lord is the Spirit. In a sense, we believers are like Moses with direct access to God because the Spirit is at work in us. Because of the cross we have been forgiven and justified, and then through the Spirit we have the freedom to directly access God. We can come before God unveiled directly before his glory. And Paul explicitly says that look at three hundred eighteen. And we all with unveiled face beholding the glory of the Lord are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another, for this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit. Paul's saying metaphorically speaking, we're in the same situation that Moses was. Moses went directly before God in his presence, with no separation, no veil on his face, Moses went in directly before the glory of God, and that glory came off on him. Well that's our situation. Because the Spirit of God is at work in us, we are coming into direct access with God, and God is imparting his glory to us. No veil, no mediator needed, that glory is being imparted to us. So our sin, our weaknesses no longer separate us from God because of the cross. Thanks to Jesus, God has come to us as if we are standing directly before Him, and He is imparting His glory to us just the way He did to Moses. Only now we're not talking about a bright light coming off of our faces, we are talking about the glorious character of God, which that light symbolized. Just as was physically true with Moses, in the most real sense it is true for the people of God today that the glory of God is becoming ours. To this day, Israel still has a veil on, God has not removed it, their hearts are still hard, and the promises of the new covenant have not been applied to them. And the veil, I think, is a metaphor for two different sorts of things. First, those who don't believe are still cut off from the glory of God, that spiritual transformation is not happening to them. And second, there's this blindness. While the veil is there, you can't see the glory of God, you can't understand it, you can't see it as what it really is, as the thing you ought to be pursuing. Now, coming up, he's going to talk about that veil as a symbol of blindness, and he's going to say that you don't see the glory of God because the veil is on, so that veil separates us from the transforming glory of God, and it hides the value of that glory so that we don't understand it. So Paul is saying this my ministry is a ministry of the Spirit. Through the work of the Spirit, we are like Moses in a metaphorical sense. It's as if we are face to face with God and his glory is rubbing off on us. But sadly for Israel, the veil is still on. When they hear the gospel, it's as if they are still separated from the glory of God and can't see or understand that the glory could be theirs. Now to wrap this up, let's think about this idea that Paul is not adequate for his ministry as an apostle, but God is doing an amazing work through him. As a Bible teacher, this topic hits me very close to home. There's a sense in which in a very small way I understand what Paul is saying. On the one hand, I recognize I am no one from nowhere, and there is no reason any of you should be listening to this podcast. On the other hand, the message God has given me is worth listening to, and there's a sense in which I think everyone should listen to this podcast, not because I'm great, but because the message is great, at least to the extent that I properly understood it. And I'm sure there are a lot of other Bible teachers out there who feel that same tension. But you don't have to be a Bible teacher to face that struggle. Every one of us has opportunities to explain the gospel to someone. Everyone faces criticism for following Jesus and being different that way. So how should we apply what Paul says here to ourselves today? When someone responds negatively to you sharing the gospel or to you living differently, how should you respond? How much of it is, say, your fault and how much of it is the fact that people have a veil over their face and they hate the gospel? Or to put the question more generally, when we proclaim the gospel, how much should we take into consideration how others might react to it? In other letters, Paul urges us not to put any stumbling blocks between people and the gospel. In first Corinthians, he said when he speaks to Jews, he behaves as a Jew so as not to put any stumbling blocks in their path. When he speaks to Gentiles, he behaves as a Gentile, and he says he becomes all things to all men so that he can save some. He sees it as his responsibility to avoid needlessly offending his listeners. He urges us likewise to conduct ourselves in a way that we don't hinder others from hearing the gospel. But on the other hand, Paul says, Look, this isn't about me. Many people will reject the gospel no matter how you say it. So I, Paul, just need to speak simply and truthfully and leave the results to God. We've seen that in our sections in Second Corinthians. Just because people reject the gospel doesn't mean the way I'm saying it is wrong. Suppose you responded to this podcast by telling me everyone out here was deeply offended by what I said. And suppose I responded, so what? My job is to proclaim the truth and let the chips fall where they may. Well you could think, yeah, that's one possibility. There's another possibility you could be prideful and arrogant about it. And those are both true. There is no guarantee that just because you're talking about the gospel that you're speaking about it in a wise and loving way. As teachers and as people who preach the gospel or tell it to our friends and neighbors, we should be prepared for criticism. We may need to be told, hey, you may have something good to say, but you're not saying it in the best way. And I think there's a sense in which that is very valuable feedback that we should all take to heart. On the other hand, the gospel always offends somebody. It is always going to meet rejection in the world. And you could always charge me with being a bad teacher because look at how many people are rejecting the gospel I teach. And there comes a point where we have to say with Paul, there's nothing I can do about that. There isn't anything I could have done that would have kept people from being offended by the gospel. They're not offended by something I did. The message of the gospel is offensive, no matter how you talk about it. And both those things are true. I've been thinking about this a lot because I'm in a position where I publicly proclaim the gospel through this podcast, and I often find myself walking Paul's tightrope. On the one hand, I know you have no reason to be listening to this podcast. Paul could at least claim, listen to me because I'm an apostle. I can't make that claim. You have absolutely no reason to listen to me. Yet on the other hand, I believe the message I'm proclaiming is true, and there's a sense in which I wish everyone would listen because it is a message that leads to eternal life. It is a message that has the power to change your destiny. And I realize I'm a broken jar of clay, but the treasure inside is glorious. When I say thanks for listening, I mean it. I recognize you have no reason to listen, but for some reason, probably the grace of God, you do, and I pray that God teaches you through something I say. But you don't have to be a teacher to try to navigate this tightrope. All of us tell others what we believe, sometimes in some form or another. And like Paul, we don't want to accommodate everybody at the risk of watering down the gospel, but neither, like Paul, do we want to be rude or offensive in our presentation. I think Paul would urge us to keep both those truths in mind. Think carefully about how we say what we say, but do not change the message. We should listen to feedback that says, hey, you missed a piece or you could explain it better, but if the feedback says change the gospel so more people respond to it, don't cross that line. I am floored and amazed by the great courage that Paul showed in his ministry. He paid a huge price for his courage and straightforwardness. He suffered by being rejected by the people, he suffered by being beat up and nearly stoned to death several times, and ultimately it cost him his life. And my prayer is that we would all have that courage that Paul had, that we would not lose sight of the glory of the gospel. And I pray that we would honor Paul for the suffering he endured so that we could hear the gospel. What I want for myself, what I want for you, is to have a faith that is so strong that we would be willing to stand up for it in this world no matter what the cost. The podcast that explains not only what a passage means, but also shows you how to figure it out. The blog version of this podcast is on Wednesdayintheword.com slash 2 Corinthians 5. You can hear all previous episodes in this series on my website, Wednesdayintheword.com. There is no charge, no spam, and no ads. Just free where you're sources to help you grow in your understanding of scripture and learn how to study it for yourself. If you've been blessed by this podcast, please follow, rate, and review it on your favorite podcast platform. But most importantly, tell a friend what you learned, and maybe where you learned it. Our theme music is graciously provided by Reggie Coates. You can hear more of Reggie's music on heartfeltmusic.org. Thank you for joining me today. I'm Krissan Morata, and I'll see you next week at Wednesday in the Word.