2 Corinthians 3:2-3  - “You yourselves are our letter, written on our hearts, known and read by everyone.You show that you are a letter from Christ, the result of our ministry, written not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of human hearts.”

Letters of recommendation were common in the early church. When Paul first arrived in Corinth, he did not come with letters of recommendation because at the time there were no Christians there yet. But within a few years, the Corinthians began to wonder whether he was a self-appointed apostle.

Paul argued that if they wanted to know whether he was a true apostle, they needed to look no further than at their own lives. His recommendation was their transformed lives, which were evident to anyone as they had turned away from paganism, immorality, secularism, and idolatry by the power of the gospel and the Holy Spirit.

They were not perfect and Paul knew they had experienced many problems as listed in his first letter to church there. But how did their failings not discredit him? The answer is that their salvation was not in the law. The law could not save them; it could only kill them. The Spirit, however, had brought them from the ministry of condemnation to the ministry of righteousness in Christ; the veil over their hearts was lifted and removed. Thus although they were not perfect, they were free. As Paul told them, “Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. And we all with unveiled faces, beholding the glory of the Lord are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit (vv. 17-18).
(Adapted from the ESV Women’s Devotional Bible.)

Today let’s continue to give thanks and worship God as we consider the transformations, healings, and rescues that he has lovingly done in our lives. Let’s humbly ask God for more letters from Christ in our churches.

-AP