Was Paul Not Actually a Minister of the New Covenant?
Due almost entirely to some dispensationalists viewing Jeremiah 31:31-34 (and Hebrews 8:8-12) as the crux interpretum of the New covenant (Part 2), we have the awkward scenario of those who exalt the grammatical-historical hermeneutic failing to use it when Paul applies the New covenant to the Church. The passage below seems on the face of it to be as clear as day. But those who claim that the Church bears no relation to the New covenant must read this passage in such a way that the apostle is not saying his ministry is that of the New covenant, but is like what a New covenant ministry is going to be when it finally shows up!
But the language here is as coherent as anything Paul has written: Paul asserts that he and his co-workers are “ministers of the New covenant,” and that the gift of the Holy Spirit to Christian believers comes about through that New covenant ministry:
clearly you are an epistle of Christ, ministered by us, written not with ink but by the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of flesh, that is, of the heart. And we have such trust through Christ toward God. Not that we are sufficient of ourselves to think of anything as being from ourselves, but our sufficiency is from God, who also made us sufficient as ministers of the new covenant, not of the letter but of the Spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life. – 2 Corinthians 3:3-6
A short exposition on this great passage will include the Spirit’s work in the Corinthians (cf. 2 Cor. 1:22), who used Paul and company as servants to minister the truth of Christ to them. Hence, the effectiveness of the work depended on the Spirit. And the Spirit, who gives life (see 2 Cor. 4:12; 5:4) equipped them to minister the New covenant, which was the message they bore to the Corinthians, and which, upon their faith, the Spirit sealed to them. There is a correspondence between the “writing” of the Spirit in verse 3 and the “writing” of the Spirit in verse 6. The Spirit of God did something to their hearts. What this “something” was is the change of heart denoted in New covenants texts like Ezekiel 36:26-27, which reads,
I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; I will take the heart of stone out of 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 keep My judgments and do them.
Now, I am not saying that the apostle is citing this text. What I am saying is that he could not have overlooked the similarities. So, when he utilized the phrase “ministers of the New covenant” he saw and understood the strong allusion to Ezekiel 36. Yet he proceeded, even though he was addressing Gentiles.
But another OT text has to be brought up here:
But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the LORD: I will put My law in their minds, and write it on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people. – Jeremiah 31:33 (my emphasis).
Although Jeremiah does not mention the Spirit, he does speak of God “writing” on the heart. The connection with 2 Corinthians 3:3 is there for all to see. And all do see it save for some dispensationalists whose theology of the New covenant has been predetermined by an interpretation of Jeremiah 31 that pushes out any progressive revelation. But as I have shown previously (see esp. Part 6), the OT does possess New covenant passages that include the Gentiles, and the NT picks up on this.
These allusions by Paul to Jeremiah 31 and Ezekiel 36 are seen by nearly everyone. They are evident to all who take the time to compare the passages. The straightforward statement of 2 Corinthians 3:3-6 added to the claim in 1 Corinthians 11:25 that Christians celebrate “the new covenant in [Jesus’] blood” give precious little room for the odd idea that Paul was incoherently inserting “what we’re doing is kind of like what New covenant ministry will be like but is not” into an otherwise coherent sentence.
The Repetition of the Word “Ministry” in 2 Corinthians 3, 4 and 5
Paul uses the term “ministry” (diakonia) and its cognates more times in 2 Corinthians than any other NT book. Starting with 2 Corinthians 3:3, where he says the believers were “ministered” or “served” by him and his co-workers, we come across the term nine more times in the epistle. The key text for our study is 2 Corinthians 3:6, where Paul says God has “made us sufficient as ministers (diakonoi) of the new covenant, not of the letter but of the Spirit.”
I have a question. But first consider these Pauline statements carefully:
you are an epistle of Christ, ministered by us, written not with ink but by the Spirit of the living God – 2 Cor. 3:3.
God, who also made us sufficient as ministers of the new covenant, not of the letter but of the Spirit – 2 Cor. 3:6.
how will the ministry of the Spirit not be more glorious? For if the ministry of condemnation had glory, the ministry of righteousness exceeds much more in glory. – 2 Cor. 3:8-9.
Therefore, since we have this ministry, as we have received mercy, we do not lose heart. – 2 Cor. 4:1.
Now all things are of God, who has reconciled us to Himself through Jesus Christ, and has given us the ministry of reconciliation, that is, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not imputing their trespasses to them, and has committed to us the word of reconciliation. Now then, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were pleading through us: we implore you on Christ’s behalf, be reconciled to God. For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him. – 2 Cor. 5:18-21.
Here is the question: Taking the scriptures above into account, in 2 Cor. 3:3 Paul says “you”, the Corinthians, were the object of their ministry by the Spirit using the imagery of “writing” as in Jer. 31:33. In 2 Cor. 3:8-9 he refers to this as “the ministry of righteousness,” which is “the ministry of the Spirit”; which ministry he is still talking about in 2 Cor. 4:1. In 2 Cor. 5:18-21 he employs the related term “ministry of reconciliation” which leads to having God’s righteousness imputed to us. In light of all this, plus what we have said above, does anyone really think that in 2 Cor. 3:6 Paul is referring to his ministry obtusely as “a New covenant-like ministry?” Does not the vaunted plain-sense hermeneutics of Dispensationalism demand us to interpret Paul straightforwardly as saying he saw himself ministering the New covenant to the Corinthians?
Although I will interact with objections to my position later, I think that those good men (and they are good men) who claim the Church has no relation to the New covenant are using a form of plain-sense hermeneutics in selective passages in the OT and then are employing theological interpretation whenever they encounter the New covenant in the NT.
