QT 5/14/2025 2 Cor 3:1-6, Truly born again

2 Corinthians 3:1–6 (ESV) —

1 Are we beginning to commend ourselves again? Or do we need, as some do, letters of recommendation to you, or from you? 2 You yourselves are our letter of recommendation, written on our hearts, to be known and read by all. 3 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.

4 Such is the confidence that we have through Christ toward God. 5 Not that we are sufficient in ourselves to claim anything as coming from us, but our sufficiency is from God, 6 who has made us sufficient to be ministers of a new covenant, not of the letter but of the Spirit. For the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.

 

NOTE: It was a common practice for a Rabbi to carry a letter of recommendation when they visited synagogues in the dispersion. Possibly, the church continued this practice. But Paul's point is that we don't need a title or a letter or a card to authenticate us, our lives should authenticate us.

 

Too many people who attend church look no different than the world in their love for others or their behavior. It is no wonder that Satan has used these 'possibly fake' believers to cause people outside the church to call us hypocrites. And the accusation is true. There are fake believers who sit in the pews and go through the motions. Jesus addressed religious people when at the end of the ages, he will say, "depart from me, I never knew you."

 

The spirit gives life and transforms life but only to the born again. If we are not in the word of God daily, why not? The Holy Spirit, if it is in us, will be compelling us to seek him daily. When we have a true relationship with the Son, our lives can't help but be changed from the inside out.

 

The letter kills. Religion and rule-based living does not transform a life. Only the Holy Spirit can give true life and true change.

 

PONDER:

1. Am I any different that when I confessed my belief in Christ?
2. Examine yourself, are you truly in the faith? It is not doing things that makes you a believer, it is being changed from the inside out that confirms you are a believer. You become a Christian when you engage your heart, mind, and will. Your heart is engage when you repent of your sin. Your mind is engaged when you believe that Jesus died in your place for your sin. Your will is engaged when you go forward and ask him into your life.

 

PRAYER: Father, I thank you that the Spirit continues to confirm in my heart and life that I was born again many years ago. Life has not always been easy, but I have seen you bring good through all the hard times. I thank you that I know you and I hear you speak.