The all-inclusive, consummated Spirit is the element, the divine essence, for the apostles to be the sufficient ministers of the new covenant (2 Cor. 3:6). This means that the apostles became ministers of the new covenant not by human knowledge or natural effort but by the Spirit as the constituting element. All the apostles were constituted of the all-inclusive Spirit as their element so that they could be spiritual ministers of the spiritual new covenant. Instead of studying theology in a school, the apostles were constituted of the all-inclusive Spirit. Therefore, there was a real spiritual constitution within them, and this constitution was of the Spirit and with the Spirit as the element of the new covenant. As a result, the apostles became servants of the new covenant to minister this covenant not by knowledge but by the constitution of the all-inclusive Spirit.
In 2 Corinthians 3:4 and 5 Paul says, “Such confidence we have through Christ toward God. Not that we are sufficient of ourselves to account anything as of ourselves, but our sufficiency is of God.” Here we see that the living God Himself is the sufficiency, competency, and qualification of the apostles’ ministry for God’s New Testament economy to dispense Christ into God’s chosen people for the building up of Christ’s Body. We ourselves are of no account, and what we can do is likewise of no account. Only the Triune God as the all-inclusive Spirit constituted into us is sufficient to carry on the ministry of the new covenant.
In 2 Corinthians 3:6 Paul, speaking of God, goes on to say, “Who also made us sufficient as ministers of a new covenant, not of letter, but of the Spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.” The Greek word rendered “made” also means enabled, qualified, made competent. The phrase “not of letter” modifies ministers; it does not modify covenant. By “letter” here Paul means the written code of the law. The Spirit is the Spirit of the living God, with whom the apostle ministers Christ into the believers. The apostolic ministry for the New Testament is not of dead letters like the Mosaic ministry for the Old Testament, but of the living Spirit, who gives life.
In verse 6 Paul tells us that the letter kills but the Spirit gives life. The letter which kills is the letter of the law, which only requires of man but is unable to supply man with life (Gal. 3:21). Due to man’s inability to fulfill its requirements, it kills man (Rom. 7:9-11). The Spirit, who is the ultimate expression of the processed Triune God, imparts the divine life, even God Himself, into the apostles and all other believers, making them ministers of a new covenant, the covenant of life. Hence, their ministry is one constituted of the Triune God of life by His life-giving Spirit.
The Spirit who works in the believers is the Spirit of the new covenant ministry that gives life. Within life there are many elements. The Spirit not only transforms us but also constitutes the New Testament ministry. Hence, the New Testament ministry is one with the transforming Spirit, and this ministry is a transforming ministry. Paul’s ministry was constituted of and with the transforming Spirit. When Paul was ministering, the transforming Spirit was working in the saints. Today, when we listen to a person whose speaking is the New Testament ministry, the Spirit works in us to transform us as the divine element is being dispensed into our being by the Spirit. This is the Spirit as the element that makes us sufficient ministers of the new covenant.
We should not think that only the apostles are sufficient as ministers of the new covenant. We all are ministering ones, and God has made us competent to minister. God has made us competent ministers not of a covenant of letters but of a covenant of the Spirit. Therefore, whatever we preach or teach should be a word constituted of the Spirit.
We all need to have, and we all can have, a share in the New Testament ministry. Even the youngest among us may have such a ministry. In order to have this ministry, we need to have the experience of being constituted of the living Spirit. Then we shall be ministers not of letter, doctrine, or theology; instead, we shall be ministers of the living Spirit. This is a matter of the divine dispensing of the divine Trinity.
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