Repeated words often reveal the point of a passage.
2 Corinthians 2:15-17
For we are the aroma of Christ to God among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing, 16 to one a fragrance from death to death, to the other a fragrance from life to life. Who is sufficient for these things? 17 For we are not, like so many, peddlers of God's word, but as men of sincerity, as commissioned by God, in the sight of God we speak in Christ.
2 Corinthians 3:4-6
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.
When we preach the Gospel, we are condemning the unrepentant and commending the faithful. Those who harden hear death and those who soften hear life -- "the same sun that melts the ice, hardens the clay."
The Gospel smells. Whether it stinks or whether it welcomes depends on how it is heard. It is either rotten fish or fresh bread.
Q: Who is sufficient to carry a message with that kind of impact? Who in their right mind would count themselves competent to dispense a message when so much is at stake?
A: Only those who say what God has said. Those who edit God's Word to make it sound less deadly and those who add to God's Word to help it sound more lively assume a sufficiency from somewhere other than God.
We are commanded to follow the recipe and serve the supper. How it smells or how it's received by those we serve is up to God.
No comments:
Post a Comment