THE METAMORPHOSIS OF A CHRISTIAN
Jesse M. Hendley
II Corinthians 3:12
The Scripture we are considering today, friends, is
in Second Corinthians 3, beginning with verse 12. We
have here a passage that presents to us the
Metamorphosis of the believer in the Lord Jesus
Christ, the change from one state to another, from
being a lost sinner to becoming just like the Lord
Himself! Oh, what a glorious truth we have in this
passage today.
Background
The Apostle Paul begins this passage by saying,
"Seeing then we have SUCH HOPE, we use great
plainness of speech." When Paul said, "such hope,"
what was he talking about? We must look into this
background first of all.
The Old Covenant
He is talking about the preceding verses, 6 through
11, in which he contrasts the Old Covenant and the
New. He points out the differences. The Old Covenant
was the Law. It came through Moses. It was never
intended to save anyone. It is now old. It has been
abolished, Paul tells us plainly in verse 13. He
says the Old Covenant, with its death sentence for
disobedience, killed people because they could not
keep it. No one was ever saved through keeping the
Law of Moses. God required men to keep it, but they
could not keep it, yet not to keep it meant death.
So, you see, it was not for salvation but to reveal
to men their inability to keep it. Nobody but the
Lord Jesus Christ ever kept the law perfectly. Think
of it! Disobedience to that Law meant death. To
break just one of the commandments demanded the
death penalty. So the law killed, Paul says. The
Law, the Dispensation of Moses, was a ministration
of death. It ministered death. Thank God, it has
been done away!
Verse 11, "That which was done away was glorious."
It was indeed glorious. The Law was holy. It was
God-given. It was glorious because God was in it!
God was the One Who instituted it. But He did not
institute it to be permanent or to be the means ...
Jesse M. Hendley
II Corinthians 3:12
The Scripture we are considering today, friends, is
in Second Corinthians 3, beginning with verse 12. We
have here a passage that presents to us the
Metamorphosis of the believer in the Lord Jesus
Christ, the change from one state to another, from
being a lost sinner to becoming just like the Lord
Himself! Oh, what a glorious truth we have in this
passage today.
Background
The Apostle Paul begins this passage by saying,
"Seeing then we have SUCH HOPE, we use great
plainness of speech." When Paul said, "such hope,"
what was he talking about? We must look into this
background first of all.
The Old Covenant
He is talking about the preceding verses, 6 through
11, in which he contrasts the Old Covenant and the
New. He points out the differences. The Old Covenant
was the Law. It came through Moses. It was never
intended to save anyone. It is now old. It has been
abolished, Paul tells us plainly in verse 13. He
says the Old Covenant, with its death sentence for
disobedience, killed people because they could not
keep it. No one was ever saved through keeping the
Law of Moses. God required men to keep it, but they
could not keep it, yet not to keep it meant death.
So, you see, it was not for salvation but to reveal
to men their inability to keep it. Nobody but the
Lord Jesus Christ ever kept the law perfectly. Think
of it! Disobedience to that Law meant death. To
break just one of the commandments demanded the
death penalty. So the law killed, Paul says. The
Law, the Dispensation of Moses, was a ministration
of death. It ministered death. Thank God, it has
been done away!
Verse 11, "That which was done away was glorious."
It was indeed glorious. The Law was holy. It was
God-given. It was glorious because God was in it!
God was the One Who instituted it. But He did not
institute it to be permanent or to be the means ...
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