The New Testament ministry is very different from that of the Old Testament. We see this in the case of Saul of Tarsus, who was opposed to Christ. His intention was to damage the believers and churches. But while he was on the way to Damascus, he was “caught” by the Lord Jesus. At that time, God firmly attached Saul of Tarsus to Christ, the anointed One, the One full of anointing.
In a sense, we may compare this anointing to paint. As Paul became attached to Christ, the anointed One, the “painted” One, we may say that he also became “painted” with the divine ointment.
Furthermore, Saul was sealed with the Spirit, and he experienced the pledge of the Spirit in his heart as a guarantee and foretaste. As a result, this man became Paul, and no longer was Saul; he was no longer the same as he had been. As Paul, he was one attached to Christ, anointed with Christ, and sealed with the Spirit.
As an illustration of what it means to be sealed with the Spirit, we may use the example of applying ink to a sheet of paper. As the ink is applied, it permeates and saturates the paper until the paper is soaked with ink. In a similar way, as one sealed with the Spirit, Paul was saturated with Christ. He was attached to Christ, he was anointed with Christ, and he was thoroughly sealed with Christ. Moreover, into his heart God put His Spirit as a pledge.
As a person anointed with Christ and saturated with Him, Paul could impart Christ to others. What does it mean to impart Christ to others? To impart Christ is to dispense Him. Many of those who came into contact with Paul received the divine dispensing through him. Christ was dispensed into them from God and yet through Paul. This is the proper preaching of the gospel, and this is altogether different from the Old Testament ministry.
While Moses was with the Lord on the mountain receiving the law, he also received some amount of the divine dispensing. The skin of Moses’ face was saturated by God’s element. Therefore, when Moses came down from the mountain, the skin on his face was shining. But, as Paul points out in 2 Corinthians 3 and 4, with Moses the shining was only on his skin, but with us the shining is in our heart. Moses experienced an outward shining, but we experience an inward shining.
The glory of the ministry of the law was a temporary glory shining on Moses’ face. In this respect it was being done away, on account of the surpassing glory (3:10). Because of the glory of the new covenant ministry (which is the glory of God, even God Himself, manifested in the face of Christ forever, surpassing the temporary glory of the old covenant ministry shining on Moses’ face), the temporary glory of the ministry of the law disappeared and no longer existed.
In 3:13 Paul goes on to say, “And are not as Moses, who put a veil upon his face, that the sons of Israel should not gaze unto the end of that which was being done away.” While Moses spoke the word of God to the sons of Israel, he kept his glorified face unveiled. After speaking, he veiled his face (Exo. 34:29-33) lest they should see the end of his ministry, which was passing away. He did not want them to behold the termination of the fading glory of his ministry of the law.
In 4:6 Paul speaks of the shining in our hearts: “Because the God who said, Out of darkness light shall shine, is the One who shined in our hearts for the illumination of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ.” Here in “our hearts” is much deeper than on “the skin” of Moses’ face (3:7; Exo. 34:29-30). This presents a comparison between the glory of the apostolic ministry of the gospel and that of the Mosaic ministry of the law. In the heart is related to the inner life, whereas on the skin of the face has nothing to do with the inner life. The glory of the old covenant is on the surface, but the glory of the new covenant is full of depth.
The face of Christ in this verse is in contrast to the face of Moses. The glory of the gospel in the face of Christ is much superior to the glory of the law on the face of Moses. The former shines in the face of One through whom grace and reality came, issuing in righteousness and life (3:8-9); the latter shone on the face of one through whom the law was given, resulting in condemnation and death (3:7, 9). The shining of God in our hearts is to illumine us not that we may know the glory on Moses’ face, but that we may know the glory in Christ’s face. The shining of God in our hearts is to enlighten us not that we may know the law of Moses of the old covenant, but that we may know the gospel of Christ of the new covenant.
God’s shining results in the illumination of knowing the glory of God in the face of Christ; that is, in the enlightenment that causes us to know the glory of the gospel of Christ. The illumination that makes the glory of Christ’s gospel known to us issues from the shining of God in our heart.