Nothing can duplicate the effect of the life of God in the believer.
In considering the ministry of the Spirit as mentioned in 2 Corinthians 3:6-8, we would like to consider the following four areas concerning the ministry of God’s Holy Spirit in the New Testament era: replacement, liberty, role, and life.
Replacement
“Who hath made us able ministers of the new testament; not of the letter [the Law], but of the Spirit” (2 Cor. 3:6).
In 2 Corinthians 3:11, we see the ministration of the Spirit to the church has replaced the ministration of the Law given to Israel. We are not under the Law. Instead, we are possessors of His Spirit. Israel had a code of conduct written on tables of cold stone. The church has the righteousness of the Law written on the tables of their living hearts via the Spirit. The Law in stone was something to conform to—if you could. The Spirit programmed (written) in our hearts, transforms us into the glorious image of the Lord Jesus Himself (Heb. 10:16, 17; Rom. 7:1-6; Gal. 4; 2 Cor. 3).
Liberty
“Where the Spirit of the Lord is there is liberty” (2 Cor. 3:17).
The Law promised a curse if it was not kept (Deut. 28:15-66). That’s why it is called “the ministration of death” (2 Cor. 3:7). It governed by demand and penalty, and led to condemnation and death. The gospel promises only blessings to the believer (Eph. 1:3; Gal. 3:13,14)—never curses like the Law. This is because “the Spirit giveth life.”
When one can lose something by a poor performance, the prescribed rules can be used to control one. These make you a slave to that system if you want to retain the blessings. The Spirit is a gift that is given immediately upon trusting the gospel of the Lord Jesus (Acts 2:38; Eph. 1:13). Therefore, the Christian is not subject to the bondage of prescribed rules in order to keep the blessings—he already has them. Thus, our behavior unto the Lord comes out of the desire of love not the demand of fear. This is true liberty. I do because I want to, not because I have to. It turns the service of drudgery into the liberty of joy. It turns legalism into love.
Liberty is not the western concept of the right to choose. The world believes liberty is the freedom to choose one’s leader, lifestyle, body decisions, sexual preferences, etc.
Biblical liberty is having the ability to serve God according to His choices and His will. When there are restrictions, one does not have the ability to do something. For example, Israel could not serve God in the wilderness since Pharaoh restricted them with force (Ex. 5:1-6). Once the Lord freed them from Egypt, they were free from the restrictions that hindered their service. For the first time, they were free, not to do what they chose, but what God chose.
In the gospel, the believer has been freed from the Law, which stirs up the passions of sin and rebellion against God. By being given the Spirit, which produces love, we, for the first time, have the ability to serve the Lord. “We are delivered [restriction removed] from the Law…that we should serve in newness of Spirit” (Rom. 7:6).
Role
“How shall not the ministration of the Spirit be even more glorious?” (2 Cor. 3:8).
The ministry role of the Spirit on earth today is two-fold. Firstly, to the unbeliever, “He will reprove the world of sin” (Jn. 16:8). He is not reforming politics or changing the world into a Christian kingdom. He is convicting the world of sin, righteousness, and judgment. This can lead a sinner to the Saviour and into God’s family (Jn. 16:11).
Secondly, to the believer, the Holy Spirit is revealing the things of Christ. “He shall glorify Me: for He shall receive of Mine, and shall show it unto you” (Jn. 16:14). This edifies the Christian in Christ-like growth (Eph. 3:16-21). The Spirit never speaks on His own authority. He conveys only what He has heard from the risen Son. Thus, the Spirit will never tell someone something that doesn’t first come from the Lord, as revealed in His Word. The Spirit’s ministry is to glorify the absent Son, not Himself. You find Christians that are spirit-filled, and you will find that the person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ are their main focus (Jn. 16:13-15).
We have a picture of the Spirit’s ministry in Genesis 24 in the story of Isaac and his bride, Rebecca. Here, Abraham the father sends his eldest servant into a distant land, not to change it, but to obtain a wife out of it for his beloved son. This was his son, Isaac, who was offered in sacrifice and received in resurrection as a figure (Heb. 11:19). The servant (who depicts the Spirit) is entrusted with all the riches of the son given to him by the father. The servant then reveals the son’s inheritance in order to woo the bride out of Mesopotamia to be united to the unseen son in marriage.
Life
“For the letter [the Law] killeth, but the Spirit giveth life” (2 Cor. 3:6).
God the Son has replaced Himself on earth with God the Spirit. While the Lord was with His own at select times in select places for over three years, He is now in His own. This means that His living presence is everywhere, all the time, and forever (Jn. 14:16-20).
To live in the Spirit is to have available His dynamic ministry in growth, holiness, and service. What are some of the works a believer may now expect the Lord to do in him by His Spirit?
• He puts the love of God in our hearts, which will assure us of His love by the death of Christ for us ungodly sinners. “The love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us” (Rom. 5:5-8).
• He gives power to put to death the sinful deeds of the body (not its desires but its deeds). By walking in the Spirit, one won’t fulfill the lust of the flesh (Gal. 5:16). The desires won’t become deeds; the fantasies won’t become fruit; and the attitudes won’t become actions. “If ye through the Spirit do mortify [put to death] the deeds of the body, ye shall live” (Rom. 8:13).
• He bears witness to us that we are the children of God, giving us personal assurance. “The Spirit itself bears witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God” (Rom. 8:16).
• He intercedes for us in prayer so that our requests reach God, according to His will. “He [the Spirit] maketh intercession for the saints according to the will of God” (Rom. 8:26, 27).
• He reveals the things of God to our hearts for now we have the wisdom and the mind of Christ through His Spirit. “But God hath revealed them unto us by His Spirit” (1 Cor. 2:9-16).
• He gives the ability to know how to serve effectively in the body of Christ because of His gifts. “The manifestation of the Spirit is given to every man to profit withal” (1 Cor. 12:7).
• He gives power to have a positive character change. “But the fruit of the spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance [self control]” (Gal. 5:22, 23).
This is true life which the world with its programs, drug therapy, training centers, marketing strategies, and psychologies cannot duplicate. While true Christians get passionately concerned about the work of the Son being added to and replaced by man for justification, we also need to be passionately concerned when the work of His Spirit is replaced by man’s ways in the church for sanctification.