Why the New Covenant Changes Everything
Paul says every Christian carries a fragrance. Some smell life. Others smell death. What does that mean, and how does the Spirit remove the veil so we can truly see Christ?
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14 But thanks be to God, who in Christ always leads us in triumphal procession, and through us spreads the fragrance of the knowledge of him everywhere. 15 For we are the aroma of Christ to God among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing, 16 to one a fragrance from death to death, to the other a fragrance from life to life. Who is sufficient for these things? 17 For we are not, like so many, peddlers of God's word, but as men of sincerity, as commissioned by God, in the sight of God we speak in Christ.
3 Are we beginning to commend ourselves again? Or do we need, as some do, letters of recommendation to you, or from you? 2 You yourselves are our letter of recommendation, written on our[a] hearts, to be known and read by all. 3 And you show that you are a letter from Christ delivered by us, written not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of human hearts.[b]
4 Such is the confidence that we have through Christ toward God. 5 Not that we are sufficient in ourselves to claim anything as coming from us, but our sufficiency is from God, 6 who has made us sufficient to be ministers of a new covenant, not of the letter but of the Spirit. For the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.
7 Now if the ministry of death, carved in letters on stone, came with such glory that the Israelites could not gaze at Moses' face because of its glory, which was being brought to an end, 8 will not the ministry of the Spirit have even more glory? 9 For if there was glory in the ministry of condemnation, the ministry of righteousness must far exceed it in glory. 10 Indeed, in this case, what once had glory has come to have no glory at all, because of the glory that surpasses it. 11 For if what was being brought to an end came with glory, much more will what is permanent have glory.
12 Since we have such a hope, we are very bold, 13 not like Moses, who would put a veil over his face so that the Israelites might not gaze at the outcome of what was being brought to an end. 14 But their minds were hardened. For to this day, when they read the old covenant, that same veil remains unlifted, because only through Christ is it taken away. 15 Yes, to this day whenever Moses is read a veil lies over their hearts. 16 But when one[c] turns to the Lord, the veil is removed. 17 Now the Lord[d] is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. 18 And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord,[e] are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another.[f] For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit.
Beholding the Glory: How We Are Transformed from One Degree to Another
The Apostle Paul wrote to the Corinthian church from a place of deep pastoral concern. They had gotten out of shape spiritually because Paul had been delayed in visiting them. The enemy had interfered with his travel schedule, and the Corinthians had let this disruption affect their faith. Paul essentially asked them: Does it really matter, particularly in light of what God in Christ has done in your life and continues to do, that I have run a little bit late? Has the fact that I have been delayed negated what God has done in your lives through Jesus Christ?
In 2 Corinthians 2:14 through 3:18, Paul used three primary images to reason with the Corinthians and help them remember what God had accomplished. Two of these metaphors were designed to help them remember. The third metaphor taught them a pathway for their own transformation. That pathway remains highly relevant for us today.
Metaphors for Remembering
The Triumphal Procession
Paul began with an image most of us are unfamiliar with: a triumphal procession. In Rome, when a general conquered a land and met specific criteria (having slain at least 5,000 enemy soldiers), a triumphal procession would be held. The parade was led by senators and magistrates, followed by trumpeters who would play music and proclaim the glories of the battles won. There was a grand display of the spoils of war: gold, silver, paintings, precious metals, emeralds, and more.
Part of the procession included offerings of sacrifices. Incense would burn, and rose petals would be scattered along the pathway, creating a sweet aroma as the parade passed. Then came the captives and prisoners of war in chains, followed by the bodyguards of the general, and finally the general himself.
If you have been to Rome, you may have seen the Arch of Titus in the old city. This arch commemorates a triumphal entry in Rome after Titus attacked Jerusalem in 70 AD. Inside the arch, you can see an inscription showing participants holding the candlestick from the holy place of the temple in Jerusalem, parading it as part of the spoils of war.
Paul used this metaphor as a picture of the second coming of Christ. One day, when Christ returns, believers will be led in a triumphal entry (not a literal one, but a symbolic one) where Christ is the general, the King of Kings, and Lord of Lords. He will redeem His people, and as He redeems us, we will be led in victory as Christ crushes every foe under His feet (Revelation).
Paul also spoke of an aroma in this passage. This aroma symbolically represents what Christians bring to the culture. You are the aroma of Christ. But not everybody smells the aroma in the same way.
“For we are the aroma of Christ to God among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing. To one a fragrance from death to death, to the other a fragrance from life to life.” 2 Corinthians 2:15-16
To those who are being saved, the gospel is a fragrance from life to life. For those who reject it, who are perishing, it is from death to death.
I remember two guys at the University of Alabama who had a real influence on my life before I became a Christian. I found what God had done in their lives appealing and attractive. I was not a Christian yet. But I also remember other guys at the frat house who would mock them. This represents what Paul was talking about. To some people, being around a Christ follower is a pleasing aroma, a beautiful thing. For others who reject the reality of God in Christ and His redemption, it is not a pleasing aroma.
What I want you to catch is this reality: we sometimes say, “I sense something different about that person.” Your sense of smell is one of the five senses, and Paul used this as a metaphor to help us understand that your walk with Christ should be so effective that it stirs what other people sense about you. “I sense his life is different. He doesn’t get entangled in menial things. He demonstrates a different character than the other people at my office. I sense something different about them.”
Paul then asked the question: “Who is sufficient for these things?” (2 Corinthians 2:16). He acknowledged that there were people then (and there are people today) who preach the gospel with wrong motives, who do it for personal gain. He shared that he and his team were “men of sincerity, as commissioned by God,” and he spoke these things “in the sight of God” as he lifted up Christ (2 Corinthians 2:17).
The Written Letter
The second metaphor Paul used was that of letters. Why? Because there had been three letters between Paul and the Corinthians, and one of those letters had been very hard. It had been difficult for some of them.
“Are we beginning to commend ourselves again? Or do we need, as some do, letters of recommendation to you or from you? You yourselves are our letter of recommendation, written on our hearts, to be known and read by all. And you show that you are a letter from Christ delivered by us, written not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of human hearts.” 2 Corinthians 3:1-3
Paul was lifting up the reality that God had done a work in their hearts. This was proof of God working among them. The greater letter is not what I have written to you. The greater letter does not come in your mailbox. The greater letter comes when you look in the mirror, and you reflect on what you were before you came to know Jesus and what you are now.
Paul reasoned with them that there was a greater letter that had been written, not with a hand, but with the ink of the Holy Spirit.
When You Are: The New Covenant
As Paul laid this groundwork of reminding them of the triumphal entry and the letter written on their hearts, he then kicked it into high gear. He began reasoning with them about something very important they were overlooking as believers, something historically significant, impactfully significant, life-changing significant.
Here is the principle he shared: It is not just a matter of what you are, but when you are. It is not just a matter of whose you are (we want to make much of that), but also of when you are.
Paul began contrasting people who were alive during the Old Covenant with the Corinthian church and all of us who are now alive under the New Covenant. He asked this question in verse 8 of chapter 3: “Will not the ministry of the Spirit have even more glory?” (2 Corinthians 3:8).
“You are alive, Corinthian church, at a limited time in history. Same thing, Christ Church Memphis, you are alive in a period of history that is a window of time. This window of time we are in is referred to as the New Covenant.”
The New Covenant is described as a time when God will put His law in our hearts. We will no longer be transformed by some type of outward conformity, but by the work of the Holy Spirit in us. God, in this age, will give His people a new heart and a new spirit within us. It is no longer the law coming at us from the outside to conform us. It is God dwelling in us.
God declared in this specific age that He would remove a heart of stone and give us a heart of flesh, a heart that is pliable, moldable, shapeable, and transformable because of the presence of Christ in our lives and the means of grace working in our lives. This was prophesied in Ezekiel 11 and 36. This was prophesied in Jeremiah 31. Paul was referring to it in these verses in 2 Corinthians, declaring to the Corinthians: be mindful, do not take for granted that you are living in an age where God is doing this new thing.
The relevancy of this passage is this: we, too, need to be reminded that we are living in an age that is limited in time. This age we are in will not last forever. It is a window of time in which God’s grace and the presence of the Spirit and what Christ has done through the cross are available to us. This is why we would say it is not just a matter of what you are or whose you are, but when you are.
God is no longer merely commanding people from the outside as He did in the Old Testament. God is transforming people from the inside. This is why (you may have noticed this), Paul never describes his ministry as “Jesus and me, we came along to minister to you.” What Paul says is “Christ in me.” This is why I say to you from time to time: there can be a difference between your life in church and your life in Christ. For a Christian, you are designed to have Christ dwell in you. This is New Covenant ministry.
“Now if the ministry of death, carved in letters on stone, came with such glory that the Israelites could not gaze at Moses’ face because of its glory, which was being brought to an end, will not the ministry of the Spirit have even more glory?” 2 Corinthians 3:7-8
You may remember that Moses came down off the mountain after being in the presence of God with the Ten Commandments. His face shone with radiance because he had been in the presence of the glory of God. He had been affected. Here is the principle: To be in the presence of God is to be transformed. That is where Paul is taking us.
The Israelites could not gaze at Moses’ face because of its glory, “which was being brought to an end.” The Old Covenant was being brought to an end. “Will not the ministry of the Spirit, which is in the New Covenant, the age we are living in, have much, much more glory?”
The old age with the Ten Commandments, the law, had glory. It did for a time, but it is nothing compared to the glory of the age we live in, the New Covenant that is now available to every man and woman.
Why Call It a Ministry of Death?
Why does Paul call the Old Covenant “a ministry of death” (2 Corinthians 3:7)? Why does he call the Old Covenant “a ministry of condemnation” (2 Corinthians 3:9)? Those are strong words to describe the Old Testament.
The reason he describes it this way is that the age of the New Covenant surpasses the glory of the Old Covenant so profoundly. The Old Covenant could not renew you. The New Covenant, what God does in Christ through the power of the Holy Spirit, has the power to renew you from the inside out. It not only reconciles you to God but also renews and transforms you.
When a person is in Christ and has experienced the infilling of the Holy Spirit, the escalation is so decisive and so life-changing that the former glory of the Old Covenant has no glory at all in comparison. The glory of the New Covenant far surpasses it.
Paul used the illustration of the radiance of Moses’ face as he descended from Mount Sinai with the Ten Commandments, because when Moses was beholding the Lord in this way, he was transformed. When Moses took the veil off to meet with God, it was transformative.
Removing the Veil
“Since we have such a hope, we are very bold, not like Moses, who would put a veil over his face so that the Israelites might not gaze at the outcome of what was being brought to an end.” 2 Corinthians 3:12-13
The Apostle Paul was teaching that Moses was veiled so that when people looked at his face, they would not think “this is it,” because Moses was modeling something that was to come: the capacity of God to transform your very life as you behold the Lord.
The Old Covenant has been brought to an end. The New Covenant now opens the door for your life to be in Christ. Moses’ face, his transformation, is a foretaste of what is to come.
This veil is a metaphor. It is not physical. It is spiritual. It is in our hearts. It is a veil that every human being has the opportunity to bring down. It is a veil that hindered the Corinthian church from perceiving the Lord and being transformed by the Lord.
In 1 Corinthians, the problem at Corinth was that they were operating out of the flesh, not out of the Spirit. Because they were operating out of the flesh, it hindered their beholding of Christ. Through this hindering of beholding Christ and communing with Christ, all kinds of problems and fleshy issues were raising their heads in the Corinthian church.
Moses would lift the veil when he met face to face with God, when he sought the Lord. This picture shows us that we metaphorically must lift the veil as well.
The question is: how do we do that?
You lift the veil with Jesus when you come to Him, and you are not pretentious. You lift the veil with Jesus when you come to Him in a spirit of humility, confession, repentance, and turning to Him as your source. As the veil is lifted, communion is created.
This is not merely about pursuing more knowledge. Many have had extensive knowledge of Scripture, but not necessarily a revelation of Jesus. You begin to say something is missing. The veil has not been lowered so that the person experiences union with Christ.
Through Jesus, the veil is lifted. Paul addressed something about this when he wrote:
“But their minds were hardened. For to this day, when they read the old covenant, the same veil remains unlifted, because only through Christ is it taken away. Yes, to this day, whenever Moses is read, a veil lies over their hearts.” 2 Corinthians 3:14-15
That is not said to attack anyone. We are just being faithful to the text, and we are going to love people. But the picture Paul is painting is like a group of millionaires in line for food stamps when the economy is booming. Jesus is right here, but the heart is veiled. Only Jesus can take the veil away to draw you to Himself, to draw you to the Father.
This is why Paul says a verse that sometimes gets quoted in churches, but we do not always know the context: “Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom” (2 Corinthians 3:17). That gets quoted and applied in so many ways. But his context is that we are not under the Old Covenant anymore; we are under a New Covenant through Jesus Christ that actually liberates and transforms you.
How You Are Transformed
Paul now moves to the place where he shares with us how we are transformed. Everything I have just covered is informational. But here is where Paul says: you have heard that Jesus changes lives, but let me tell you how.
That happens in one verse:
“And we all, with unveiled face, 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.” 2 Corinthians 3:18
When Paul says we are transformed from one glory to another (some Bibles say “glory to glory”), what he is saying is this: as you behold the Lord throughout your life, you behold Him in:
Prayer
Confession of sin
Scripture
Holy Communion
Communion with Jesus in fellowship with other believers
As you behold Him, what is happening is a transformation from one degree to another. Jesus is developing you. Jesus is changing you.
We begin to see God face-to-face. What does it mean to remove the veil? We become like what we behold.
Whatever we behold affects us. If all you behold is sports, you are going to think a lot about sports. (And do not get me wrong, I enjoy that too.) But if that is all you behold, if all you behold is a hobby, your heart is going to be there. I am not saying there is anything wrong with healthy hobbies. But if it is on the pinnacle of your heart, you are beholding it, and you can become a captive to it. You are not going to be transformed by that.
But if you behold the Lord, if He is on the pinnacle of your heart, you behold Him, you are going to be transformed by Him.
All Grace Abounds
The Bible teaches that the grace of God is available to every believer. In fact, the Bible teaches something too good to be true, too true to ignore: God is able to make all grace abound toward you (2 Corinthians 9:8).
Picture yourself at the beach. Wave after wave after wave keeps coming in. That is what God is saying. “I am able to make wave after wave after wave of empowering grace come into your life, flood into your life.”
I define grace this way (the Rev. Al Henson developed this): all of God for all my needs. All of God for all my needs. He is good like that. He is your source.
He is able, more than able, to transform your heart and your life. He is able to take circumstances that look impossible and bring possibility to them. The grace of God, all of God for all your need, can come at you wave after wave after wave as you behold Him.
Understand this: it is not just a matter of what you are, but when you are. You are in a window of time where this is possible.
Remember what Paul said in Philippians 3? He talked about the Old Covenant and described it as skubala. That is animal dung. He shared that the Old Covenant, the old pattern of being religious, was dung to him. In fact, he said all that was dung so that he “might know Christ,” that he might have an intimate relationship with Jesus Christ (Philippians 3:8-10).
What happened was that Paul removed the veil.
In Isaiah 6, when Isaiah was before the Lord and bowed down, he was in the Lord’s presence. He said, “Woe is me! For I am lost; for I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts!” (Isaiah 6:5).
The reason Isaiah was transformed, the reason he was able to say with a full heart, “God, whatever you want, send me,” is that not only was God revealing His holiness, but Isaiah removed the veil through his confession, through his repentance. He was in communion with God.
Our Distorted Capacity for Beholding
We have a distorted capacity for beholding. We often behold security, the things we think will make us secure: worry, anxiety, titles, power, wealth, portfolios, and on and on. We put things on the pinnacle of our hearts that prevent us from beholding.
I get concerned sometimes when we worship as a church family. I get concerned in the Western church when we worship and wonder whether our worship is soulish. Why would that be a concern? Did not Jesus say, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind” and “love your neighbor as yourself” (Matthew 22:37-39)? Heart, soul. Does that matter? Yes, but let me explain what I mean.
Jesus taught that “true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth” (John 4:23). That is a little “s,” not a capital “S.” What He is referring to is your spirit. When you came to Jesus, when you came to know Him, before you knew Him, the Bible says in Ephesians 2, your spirit was dead. But when you came to know Jesus, your spirit was made alive. Your spirit that is now alive is designed to commune with the Holy Spirit.
There is a place where I can worship, where only my emotions are moved by the Bible, prayer, or worship in song. Sometimes in the modern church, we even think that worship is only what we do through song, and that is just not biblical. It is what we are doing right now. It is when we take communion. Romans 12:1-2 says all of life is worship.
When we worship in spirit, that is, when my spirit communes with the Spirit of God in worship through prayer, reading the Word, Holy Communion, and fellowship with other believers, that will transform my soul. That kind of communion is beholding the Lord. He is Spirit. Those who worship Him, worship Him in spirit and truth. My spirit communes with Him. Then the byproduct of that is transformation. My soul gets transformed. My life gets transformed.
Some of you may be reasoning, “I don’t know if that’s possible for me.” But the only impossible journey is the journey you never begin.
The Holy Spirit did not come to your life to be a silent spectator. He came into your life to govern and to rule and to bless. The Holy Spirit is not your backup plan. He is your battle plan. He did not come just to give you head knowledge. He came to fill your heart.
I am often concerned that many Christians have a lot of head knowledge about Christ, but they have not encountered Christ in their hearts.
How to Drop the Veil
God is drawn to you when you drop the veil. He is drawn to you when you drop the veil through repentance. He is drawn to you when you drop the veil through confession in pursuit of Him, hungering and thirsting for Him, for living water.
He is drawn to you when the veil comes down through surrender. He is drawn to you when you let go of pride. He is drawn to you when you let go of your ego. He is drawn to you when you let go of fear. Perfect love casts out fear (1 John 4:18). He is drawn to you when you let go of control.
He does not need your logic; He wants your loyalty. He does not need your opinion; He wants your obedience.
For some of us reading this, your struggle is with relationships and people who have hurt you. You do not need revenge. You need revival. You need the Lord. You do not need more hype from the world. You do not need more hype from the flesh. You need holiness. You need the holiness of God.
He is the Spirit of power. He is the Spirit of victory. What God is after is not your strength. Your strength is not in your power. Your strength is in His presence.
This is why Paul wrote these words that are prescriptive for your transformation:
“And we all, with unveiled face, 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.” 2 Corinthians 3:18
Unveil Your Face
God, we do not pretend before You. God, we need You. God, here is our weakness. Here is our pride. We need You, God. We unveil our faces. We behold You, and the glory of the Lord. In beholding You, as You draw near to us, as we draw near to You, there is a transformation from one glory to another glory. The exposure to God Himself from one degree to another comes from the Lord, who is the Holy Spirit.
What is your struggle today? What veil needs to come down?
One of the symptoms of pride is prayerlessness, because what you have been saying to God is “I’ve got this.” Prayerlessness is a declaration of independence from God. As you unveil your heart before the Lord, you may need to confess and repent of your pride.
For some of you, fear. There are just so many fears that rule your life, and anxiety. The Lord loves you, and He has watched that rule in your life for years. Why not unveil your life today? Confess that to the Lord. Renounce it. Ask Him to free you. Put Jesus back on the pinnacle. Let Him rule. Ask the Holy Spirit to fill you.
For some of you, it is unforgiveness. Someone has hurt you, and Jesus is compassionate about it. Unveil your heart. Say to Jesus, “I am choosing to forgive her. I am choosing to forgive him.”
For some of you, you have lost your first love. There was a day when your heart burned bright for the Lord, and you look back and remember that person, and you realize something has been lost. Unveil your heart. God loves you. He has never stopped loving you. He is merciful. Confess it to Him. Unveil your heart and behold Him. Draw near to Him.
As we unveil our hearts individually and together, may we behold You, God. In beholding You, Lord, transform us from glory to glory.
In Jesus’ name, amen.
TL;DR
In Christ, believers are part of His triumphal procession, sharing in the victory of Jesus.
Our lives carry the “fragrance of Christ”, which draws some toward life and others away from it.
The New Covenant surpasses the old because God now transforms hearts from the inside through the Spirit.
As the veil is removed through Christ, believers behold His glory and are transformed from one degree of glory to another.
