NOVEMBER 14, 2021
A FAITHFUL MINISTER OF THE NEW COVENANT
INTRODUCTION:
1. The Apostle had in the preceding chapter declared that he was made a minister of the New Testament, or Covenant. This office he magnified because of the excellent glory of the New Covenant (the Gospel) over the Old Covenant (the Law.)
2. In this chapter he resumes the theme of Ch. 3:12:”Seeing then we have such hope.” Verse 1 of Chapter 4 opens with words which are essentially the same: “Therefore seeing we have this ministry.” Having digressed briefly in order to discuss the wondrous liberty and the glorious change experienced by those who are turned to Christ by the Gospel, (Vrs. 13-18) he now comes back on point.
3. In this passage Paul first declares his faithfulness as a minister of the New Covenant, which in the sight of God and before the conscience of men, he was above reproach. (Verses 1, 2) We see, secondly, what under so faithful a ministry accounts for those who remain in their unbelief. (Verses 3, 4) Thirdly, we are shown in what the true Gospel message consists, and how it is made effectual. (Verses 5, 6) Fourthly, we see why this priceless treasure is entrusted to human ministers.
I. IN PAUL WE HAVE AN EXAMPLE OF A FAITHFUL MINISTER OF THE NEW COVENANT. (VERSES 1, 2)
A. FIRST, THE MINISTRY OF THE GOSPEL IS A SACRED TRUST. (VERSE 1a) “Therefore, seeing we have this ministry.”
1. The Gospel ministry is a gift and a calling. (Rom. 11:29; Ch. 3:3-6; I Tim. 1:11, 12; II Tim. 1:10, 11)
a) The Gospel ministry is a most sacred trust.
b) It is a bestowment of God’s mercy. “As we have received mercy.” Paul so many times referred to his calling as a signal manifestation of the mercy and grace of God. (Rom. 15:15, 16; I Cor. 15:9, 10; Eph. 3:8)
2. “Therefore seeing we have this ministry,” i.e. “because we have it,” that is, as seen in the previous chapter, a ministry that is exceedingly glorious, because it convey righteousness and life, rather than condemnation and death. (Ch. 3:7-9)
3. So glorious a Gospel requires that those stewards into whose hands it is placed, be found faithful. (I Cor. 4:1, 2)
B. SECOND, THE POSSESSION OF SUCH AN OFFICE CALLS FOR PERSEVERANCE. (VERSE 1b) “As we received mercy, we faint not.”
1. “We faint not,” that is; we do not fail in the constant discharge of our duty through weariness or cowardice.
2. “As we received mercy.” This phrase most likely, as before noted, should be connected to the former clause, “seeing we have this ministry.” However, it is also God’s mercy that keeps us from fainting. (Lam. 3:22, 23)
3. Yet, the point here is that having been entrusted with so glorious a Gospel, we must not allow any adversary to cause us to faint, or literally, to turn out bad, that is, fail in our duty.
C. THIRD, MINISTERS OF THE GOSPEL MUST NOT DISGRACE IT WITH SHAMEFUL PRACTICES. (VSE. 2a)
1. “Having denounced the hidden works of dishonesty,” i.e. anything shameful, disgraceful, or scandalous; any course of conduct which men would conceal for fear of being disgraces. This seem to be the primary meaning of the phrase, but also in the preceding context, he had spoken of his openness, and plainness of speech, as opposed to the secretiveness of false teachers.
2. “Not walking in craftiness.” This is an amplification of what precedes. Craftiness (panourgeia) comes from a work which means a doer of deeds that are clever, cunning, or deceitful. (See Luke 20:23)
a) The Gospel is to be ministered plainly and forthrightly by honest men of integrity and character.
b) The Gospel needs not to be assisted by trickery and gimmickry.
c) Many ministers are masters of deceit. Not only do they conceal inconvenient truth but they use improper motivations.
3. “Nor handling the word of God deceitfully.” i.e. not falsifying the Word of God. Handling deceitfully (dolountes) to corrupt with error. (See Ch. 2:17)
a) The Gospel which we preach is the Word of God. It is of divine authority.
b) We dare not corrupt the pure Word with error. (Prov. 30:5)
D. FOURTH, THE COMMENDATION OF ANY TRUE MINISTER MUST BE THE CLEAR PREACHING OF THE TRUTH. (VERSE 2b)
1. Paul’s opponents tried to recommend themselves and secure the confidence of men by cunning, and by corrupting the Gospel, but he relied simply on the manifestation of the truth. He knew that even where it is rejected; it still commends itself to the conscience as true. Faithful ministers will, by the truth, secure the testimony of the conscience of even wicked men in their favor.
2. It was “in the sight of God” that Paul ministered. It is before God, in Whose eyes nothing unholy or selfish can stand, that we minister. Surely this fact alone ought to make us strive to be faithful stewards of His Gospel.
II. WE SEE WHAT ACCOUNTS FOR THOSE WHO REMAIN UNBELIEVING UNDER SO FAITHFUL A MINISTRY. (VERSES 3, 4)
A. THOUGH THE GOSPEL IS GLORIOUS AND THOUGH IT IS CLEARLY PROCLAIMED, YET TO SOME IT WILL REMAIN HID. (VERSE 3)
1. Its excellence as the revelation of God is not apprehended or recognized. The cause of this fact is not found in the nature of the Gospel or in the mode of its exhibition, but in the state of those who reject it. If the blazing sun shining at noonday is hid from a blind man, it is not because the sun lacks brightness but because the man in blind.
(See I Cor. 1:18)
2. If a man does not receive the Gospel when it is clearly presented, he is lost. The lost are in a state of perdition, and if they continue to reject the Gospel, they will perish forever.
B. THE REASON WHY THOSE WHO ARE LOST DO NOT SEE IS HERE ASSIGNED. (VERSE 4)
1. “In whom.” The Gospel is hid to them that are lost, because in them, “the god of this world” (Satan) has blinded their minds. These need not even be aware that the devil is working in them for it to be so. ( II Tim. 2:26) Satan exerts such an influence over the lost as prevents their apprehending the glory of the Gospel. “…hath blinded the minds of them which believe not.”
a) The unbelieving and the lost are identical.
b) To believe the Gospel is to be made to see.
c) Man’s faith is not a matter of indifference.
2. “Lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ should shine unto them.” Satan’s intent is to prevent those under his sway from seeing the glory of Christ in the Gospel.
3. “Who is the image of God.” He, who being God, represents God. (John 14:9; 12:45) He is the brightness of the glory of the Father. (Heb. 1:3) In Him dwells the fullness of the Godhead. (Col. 2:9) It is this glory that Satan would keep hid, which glory is manifest in the Gospel to every believing soul. A mere intellectual faith will not do. The unsaved can see everything in the Gospel that the saved can see, except for the glory.
III. WE ARE SHOWN IN WHAT THE GOSPEL CONSISTS AND HOW IT IS MADE EFFECTUAL BY DIVINE ILLUMINATION. (VERSES 5, 6)
A. THE GLORIOUS GOSPEL IS ALL ABOUT CHRIST JESUS THE LORD. (VERSE 50)
1. The Gospel, “our gospel” says Paul, is the Gospel of the glory of Christ, so therefore, he preached not himself but Christ.
2. Paul’s object in preaching was to bring men to see Christ.
a) To see that Jesus, the Son of Mary was also the Son of God, and that He was the Christ of God, the Messiah.
b) To see the person and work of Christ in his fulfillment of the Scriptures and His finishing the word of redemption.
c) To see in Him the glory that exceeds all other glories.
3. To this end Paul was the servant of those to whom he ministered. And what better service could he have been to them? There is no higher form of service to be rendered than to bring men to see Christ.
4. To this end Paul became all things to all men that by all means he might save some. He is no self-promoter, as some accused; he preached not himself but Christ Jesus the Lord.
B. IT IS BY THE PREACHING OF CHRIST THAT GOD CAUSES MEN TO SEE HIS GLORY. (VS. 6) In other words, it is by the preaching of the Gospel that God opens and illuminates souls. It is by the manifestation of His own glory in the face of Jesus Christ that sinners are transferred from darkness to light.
1. The main idea of the context is that Paul preached Christ, and here he gives the reason for so doing.
2. There is here an obvious reference to the work of creation as recorded in Genesis, for the work of regeneration (new creation), is analogous to that work. Darkness brooded over chaos until God said, “Let there be light.” So also, spiritual darkness broods over the minds of men until God shines into their hearts. The word rendered “shined” means to be illuminated, or to cause light, which is what God did in the beginning of the creation.
3. God illuminates our minds so that we apprehend that light which flows from the knowledge of the glory of God, which is seen in the face of Jesus Christ. It is the glory of God as revealed in Jesus Christ that men are by the illumination of the Holy Spirit enabled to see.
4. Two important truths are here involved.
a) First, that God becomes in Christ the object of knowledge. The clearest revelation of the fact that God is, and what He is, is made in the person of Jesus Christ. Those who refuse to see God in Christ lose all true knowledge of Him. (John 1:18; Matt. 11:27; I John 2:23; II John 9; John 15:23)
b) Second, that this knowledge of God in Christ is not a matter of mere intellectual apprehension which one person may communicate to another. It is a spiritual discernment, to be gotten only from the Spirit of God. God must shine in our hearts to give us this knowledge. (Matt. 16:17; Gal. 1:16; I Cor. 2:10, 14) As the glory of God is spiritual, it must be spiritually discerned.
5. It is easy therefore, to see why the Scriptures make true religion to consist in the knowledge of Christ. It is also plain to see why denial of Christ, or want of faith in Him as God of very God, is a soul-destroying sin. To know Him is to know God, and to deny Him is to deny God. (I John 2:22, 23)
IV. WE SEE, LASTLY, WHY THE PRICELESS TREASURE OF THE GOSPEL IS ENTRUSTED TO HUMAN MINISTERS. (VERSE 7)
A. THE TREASURE HERE SPOKEN OF IS THE MINISTRY OF THE GOSPEL WHICH PAUL HAD RECEIVED. “But we have this treasure…”+
B. THE EARTHEN VESSELS ARE THE MINISTERS OF THE GOSPEL. “…in earthen vessels.”
C. THE REASON FOR THIS ARRANGEMENT IS PLAINLY STATED. “That the excellency of the power may be of God and not of us.”
1. “The excellency of the power,” i.e. the exceeding great power, as described in Verse 6.
2. “May be of God,” i.e. may be seen and acknowledged to be of God.
3. Although the Apostle had magnified his office to the highest degree, he himself was a poor, weak, despised, persecuted man. This in itself made the success of his ministry more conspicuously by God’s power.
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