“Are we beginning to commend ourselves again? Or do we need, as some do, letters of recommendation to you, or from you? You yourselves are our letter of recommendation, written on our hearts, to be known and read by all. And you show that you are a letter from Christ delivered by us, written not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of human hearts.”
2 Corinthians 3:1–3 ESV
Paul had been accused by his detractors of being both proud and ill-fit for his office. As always, sin shows itself in that critics bring charges against God’s people that aren’t sin. Watch for this. It’s a crafty scheme of the enemy. If they accused Paul of, say, adultery or theft, it would be easily refuted. That’s why we’re taught:
“Do not listen to an accusation against an elder unless it is confirmed by two or three witnesses.”
1 Timothy 5:19 NLT
This doesn’t make an elder or pastor beyond accountability. On the contrary, it protects the Lord’s workers from frivolous charges that are contrary to Matthew 18:15-20. The Devil’s workers are experts at sowing dissent and doubt through petty fault-finding and baseless accusations. The enemy’s workers are laser focused on the flaws (real or imagined) of God’s men, for he himself, Satan, is the Accuser. But God’s men and women are obsessed with the greatness of Jesus Christ and the enormity of His grace in their lives. False converts preach the peccadilloes of their neighbors; believers preach the righteousness of God through faith alone.
Also, sin shows itself in its irrationality. Which is it? Is Paul proud, a money-lover, or weak leader? Is he a tyrant? How exactly, for example, does one achieve the contradictory aspects of being both a weak leader and a proud tyrant? If he’s such a weak leader, how is he materialistic? Isn’t that something you’d accuse a mega-church pastor of being? Anyway, such is the silly pettiness of ungodly accusers. They throw accusations because words are their weapons – to harm, to humiliate, to sow discord.
“What are worthless and wicked people like? They are constant liars, signaling their deceit with a wink of the eye, a nudge of the foot, or the wiggle of fingers. Their perverted hearts plot evil, and they constantly stir up trouble. But they will be destroyed suddenly, broken in an instant beyond all hope of healing. There are six things the Lord hates— no, seven things he detests: haughty eyes, a lying tongue, hands that kill the innocent, a heart that plots evil, feet that race to do wrong, a false witness who pours out lies, a person who sows discord in a family.”
Proverbs 6:12–19 NLT
Paul responds by saying his letter of recommendation is the church itself, full of people whose hearts are aflame for Christ. Compare that to false teachers who ride in on worldly achievements and acclaim.
“While Paul and Barnabas were at Antioch of Syria, some men from Judea arrived and began to teach the believers: “Unless you are circumcised as required by the law of Moses, you cannot be saved.” But then some of the believers who belonged to the sect of the Pharisees stood up and insisted, “The Gentile converts must be circumcised and required to follow the law of Moses.””
Acts of the Apostles 15:1, 5 NLT
False teachers brought bondage to legalism. They masked themselves in the appearance of moral might contrary to the clear teaching of the gospel. Paul countered with the great message of the law of God written on the hearts of men and women – and bondage, therefore, to the living Word, led by love, not law.
“Then Moses turned and went down the mountain. He held in his hands the two stone tablets inscribed with the terms of the covenant. They were inscribed on both sides, front and back. These tablets were God’s work; the words on them were written by God himself.”
Exodus 32:15–16 NLT
Moses and the law they had, but it wasn’t enough. The great miracles done in Egypt weren’t enough! Sometimes it’s easy to think that if God would only do this or that for us that we’d ascend to a high level of faith…that we’d soar whereas now we live in-between. But the Spirit is here now.
Not that these Pharisees actually obeyed the law. For it’s written:
“Do not twist justice in legal matters by favoring the poor or being partial to the rich and powerful. Always judge people fairly. “Do not spread slanderous gossip among your people. “Do not stand idly by when your neighbor’s life is threatened. I am the Lord. “Do not nurse hatred in your heart for any of your relatives. Confront people directly so you will not be held guilty for their sin.”
Leviticus 19:15–17 NLT
“Behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah, not like the covenant that I made with their fathers on the day when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, my covenant that they broke, though I was their husband, declares the Lord. For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the Lord: I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts. And I will be their God, and they shall be my people.”
Jeremiah 31:31–33 ESV
A great illustration of this is found in wonderful story as related by James Boice:
“A remarkable illustration comes from the life of Dr. Harry A. Ironside. Early in his ministry, the great evangelist and Bible teacher was living in the San Francisco Bay area working with a group of believers called the Brethren. One Sunday, as he was walking through the city, he came upon a group of Salvation Army workers holding a meeting on the corner of Market and Grant Avenues. There were probably sixty of them. When they recognized Ironside, they immediately asked him if he would give his testimony. So he did, giving a word about how God had saved him through faith in the bodily death and literal resurrection of Jesus. As he was speaking, Ironside noticed that on the edge of the crowd a well-dressed man had taken a card from his pocket and had written something on it. As Ironside finished his talk, this man came forward, lifted his hat, and very politely handed him the card. On one side was his name, which Ironside immediately recognized. The man was one of the early socialists who had made a name for himself lecturing not only for socialism but also against Christianity. As Ironside turned the card over, he read, “Sir, I challenge you to debate with me the question ‘Agnosticism versus Christianity’ in the Academy of Science Hall next Sunday afternoon at four o’clock. I will pay all expenses.” Ironside reread the card aloud and then replied somewhat like this. I am very much interested in this challenge. . . . Therefore I will be glad to agree to this debate on the following conditions: namely, that in order to prove that Mr.—————has something worth fighting for and worth debating about, he will promise to bring with him to the Hall next Sunday two people, whose qualifications I will give in a moment, as proof that agnosticism is of real value in changing human lives and building true character. First, he must promise to bring with him one man who was for years what we commonly call a “down-and-outer.” I am not particular as to the exact nature of the sins that had wrecked his life and made him an outcast from society—whether a drunkard, or a criminal of some kind, or a victim of his sensual appetite—but a man who for years was under the power of evil habits from which he could not deliver himself, but who on some occasion entered one of Mr.—————’s meetings and heard his glorification of agnosticism and his denunciations of the Bible and Christianity, and whose heart and mind as he listened to such an address were so deeply stirred that he went away from that meeting saying, “Henceforth, I too am an agnostic!” and as a result of imbibing that particular philosophy found that a new power had come into his life. The sins he once loved he now hates, and righteousness and goodness are now the ideals of his life. He is now an entirely new man, a credit to himself and an asset to society—all because he is an agnostic. Secondly, I would like Mr.—————to promise to bring with him one woman—and I think he may have more difficulty in finding the woman than the man—who was once a poor, wrecked, characterless outcast, the slave of evil passions, and the victim of man’s corrupt living . . . perhaps one who had lived for years in some evil resort, . . . utterly lost, ruined and wretched because of her life of sin. But this woman also entered a hall where Mr.—————was loudly proclaiming his agnosticism and ridiculing the message of the Holy Scriptures. As she listened, hope was born in her heart, and she said, “This is just what I need to deliver me from the slavery of sin!” She followed the teaching and became an intelligent agnostic or infidel. As a result, her whole being revolted against the degradation of the life she had been living. She fled from the den of iniquity where she had been held captive so long; and today, rehabilitated, she has won her way back to an honored position in society and is living a clean, virtuous, happy life—all because she is an agnostic. “Now,” he said, addressing the man who had presented him with his card and the challenge, if you will promise to bring these two people with you as examples of what agnosticism can do, I will promise to meet you at the Hall of Science at four o’clock next Sunday, and I will bring with me at the very least 100 men and women who for years lived in just such sinful degradation as I have tried to depict, but who have been gloriously saved through believing the gospel which you ridicule. I will have these men and women with me on the platform as witnesses to the miraculous saving power of Jesus Christ and as present-day proof of the truth of the Bible.
Dr. Ironside then turned to the Salvation Army captain and said, “Captain, have you any who could go with me to such a meeting?” She exclaimed with enthusiasm, “We can give you forty at least just from this one corps, and we will give you a brass band to lead the procession!” “Fine,” Dr. Ironside answered. Now, Mr.—————, I will have no difficulty in picking up sixty others from the various missions, gospel halls, and evangelical churches of the city; and if you will promise faithfully to bring two such exhibits as I have described, I will come marching in at the head of such a procession, with the band playing “Onward, Christian Soldiers,” and I will be ready for the debate. Apparently the man who had made the challenge must have had some sense of humor, for he smiled wryly and waved his hand in a deprecating kind of way as if to say, “Nothing doing!” and then edged out of the crowd while the bystanders clapped for Ironside and the others.8 The power of the living Christ operating by means of the Holy Spirit through the written Word changes lives. This has been true throughout history. It is a powerful proof that the Bible is indeed the Word of God.”
Our very lives are living sacrifices to the great God of our salvation. As the truth of salvation through faith alone, not by works lest any of us should boast, seeps all the way in, saturating heart and mind, our lives are transformed. Totally and completely, from one phase to the next. We’re led by the Spirit who leads us to His holy and life giving Word. This salvation isn’t merely an objective fact that happened in our past but is also a living faith. Christ is our law because He’s the end of the law for righteousness (Romans 10:1-4). Thus, the law of Christ is written on our hearts.
What law has been written on our hearts? The law of faith. It’s not a purely subjective (personal) law; it’s the law of the Spirit who illuminates the Word of God to us so that we might know and follow Christ.
“For by works of the law no human being will be justified in his sight, since through the law comes knowledge of sin. But now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law, although the Law and the Prophets bear witness to it— the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe. For there is no distinction: for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith. This was to show God’s righteousness, because in his divine forbearance he had passed over former sins. It was to show his righteousness at the present time, so that he might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus. Then what becomes of our boasting? It is excluded. By what kind of law? By a law of works? No, but by the law of faith. For we hold that one is justified by faith apart from works of the law. Or is God the God of Jews only? Is he not the God of Gentiles also? Yes, of Gentiles also, since God is one—who will justify the circumcised by faith and the uncircumcised through faith. Do we then overthrow the law by this faith? By no means! On the contrary, we uphold the law.”
Romans 3:20–31 ESV
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