LIVING LETTERS

“Do we begin again to commend ourselves? Or do we need, as some others, epistles of commendation to you or letters of commendation from you? You are our epistle written in our hearts, known and read by all men; clearly you are an epistle of Christ, ministered by us, written not with ink but by the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of flesh, that is, of the heart” (2 Corinthians 3:1-3, NKJV).

It was a common practice in the early church to give letters of introduction and recommendation to missionaries and traveling ministers. A false prophet or a false apostle could travel from city to city, receive support from the church, and spread false doctrine simply by saying, “I am a friend of Paul” or “Paul sent me.” To make it more difficult for this to happen, Paul and others in leadership began issuing letters of recommendation to those who were traveling.

Paul wrote this letter of Second Corinthians from Macedonia about five years after his first visit to Corinth. While in Macedonia, and apparently in response to a challenge to his leadership, Paul says to the Corinthians, “I don’t need a letter of recommendation written on paper; you are my letter of recommendation. Everyone can see what God has done; your lives are seen and known by all men. You are a living epistle of God’s love and grace.” Paul had a right to make this claim because he was the apostle/missionary who established this church in the midst of a very pagan and immoral city. 

What an incredible point Paul is making here—that for many people in the world, the Bible they first see is the life of a believer being lived out in front of them. And what a challenge this is to us as we come to grips with the reality that our lives are being looked at as a living testament of the work of God. I can honestly say that I rarely feel like I am a Bible, a living letter. Being very aware of who I am and what I am, most of the time I feel more like the tattered dust cover on the book than the book itself.

In verse three, Paul says, “Clearly you are an epistle of Christ.” I believe that what he was saying is, “You are what you are because of the work of Christ in your lives. I was simply an instrument that God used to bring you to Christ. The Holy Spirit was the pen and ink that God used to write this new life on the paper of your heart and cause you to become a Living Letter that openly witnesses to God’s great love and grace.” Based on the way Paul penned these words, I cannot help but wonder if he also realized that this was a work in progress. It was an epistle that was continuing to be written; the work was not yet done.

I am challenged by the magnificence of Paul’s metaphor as he likens the life of the believer to a living epistle. I am also challenged with the thought, “How do I live up to this ideal? How do I do this in a way that people actually see me as a living example of why Christ came and gave His life?”

Clearly this is a challenge; clearly it is something we are going to have to work at in order to achieve; clearly there is a lot of room for growth.

Jesus gives us one of the most important keys to our growth as a Living Letter when He says “By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another” (John 13:35).

There is an old Scottish saying that I used to hear my grandmother and my mom use, “The proof of the pudding is in the tasting.” This is not a bad idea to keep locked away in the back of your mind. If someone takes a look at my life, what is he going to see? Will he see a life that points him to Christ or some other direction? Will the life he sees be one that encourages him to want more? The best evangelists of all are not the men and women who stand on stages in front of big crowds but those who lean on the fence and talk to their neighbors.