Sorry that family health issues short-circuited finishing this series last week. Onward now. Let’s summarize the meaning of II Corinthians 3:12-18.
First, verses 12-13. Christian hope, gained from Christ’s greater and approachable beauty, gives us BOLD COURAGE in our witness. Where Moses hid his face because his glory faded—he hid what he couldn’t retain—we reveal our faith because Christ’s permanent Grace suffuses us. Second, verses 14-15. By itself, and true to itself, the Mosaic Law became more a blinding than an illuminating presence; a restricting, not a liberating factor. It lacked inspiration to personalize its teaching. Third, verse 16. Conversion to Christ removes the veil of ignorance under which the unsaved live. Important point: conversion removes their veil; removing the veil doesn’t expedite conversion. Conversion is the key to changing perspectives in life—from evolution to creation; from materialism to Biblical truth; from carnal to Christ-like behavior, etc. Dr. Henry Morris, founder of the Institute for Christian Research, had been an evolutionary hydrologist. Then he accepted Christ and evolution fell from his mind like scales from the eyes. Thus, we don’t just debate origins with evolutionists, or war with pacifists, or poverty with socialists, or false prophets with cultists. Satan uses these stalking horses to help the lost justify themselves before God. We instead, with Paul before Governor Felix, discuss sin, accountability, judgment, forgiveness and restoration to God Acts 24:24-27. The confrontation between the living Christ and lost sinners forces them to see themselves as they are in God’s sight and emphasizes their need to change. That confrontation preaches the glory that removes their veil; it doesn’t mask the glory to preserve their veil. Fourth, verses 17-18. God reveals his Son in us so we can reveal him to the unsaved—a message increasingly convincing as we mature spiritually; a message progressively compelling as they hear it presented. End Part III
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