Monday, January 23, 2006 · no responses · comments closed

Reading Utmost this morning led to me 2 Corinthians 3, in which Paul compares the fading glory of the old covenant with the lasting, greater glory of the new. I read the chapter several times in different translations — I felt like there was something there just beyond my grasp. Parts of this chapter are very familiar, and sometimes we have to get past what we think we already know to see what a passage really has to say.

Chambers was focused on the end of chapter 3 and the idea that we reflect the glory of God and are being transformed by it. The first several times I read, that’s all I could see. But then, as I changed translations again and again, something different stood out to me.

Paul uses the word glory eight times in this chapter and glorious four, all in verses 7 — 18. What finally stood out to me is that the gospel is glorious.

In a sense, this seems like one of those “doh” moments: well of course the gospel is glorious. But consider what that really means. Pau says that if the old covenant, which brought only judgement and death, caused Moses’ face to shine with its glory, how much greater is the new covenant, which brings life? The glory of the new covenant will never fade; Paul says it is a “surpassing glory.”

Here’s what struck me: I don’t often think of the gospel as glorious. It’s old hat.

Coming home from church yesterday, I asked Isaac, who’s seven, what they did in Children’s Church. He said “we did that John one.” It took me a minute to figure out that he meant John 3:16, which he is memorizing for Upward Basketball. So, Zack, the thirteen year old, asked me, “Why do they pound that verse so much?” He said that back when he was in Awanas, they talked about that verse every week (or at least it seemed that way). I told him that it’s because John 3:16 encapsulates the gospel: God loves us so much that He gave His son to make sure we have eternal life.

Obviously, we want our children to know the gospel message from an early age. We want this knowledge of God’s love to become more than second nature (is there a “first nature”?) to them. But how do we make the gospel common without making it commonplace?

I’m not sure I know the answer to that. But I do know that I want to see the glory of the gospel — a glory so great that it transforms us into the likeness of Christ, a glory so incredible that it brings the freedom of the Holy Spirit.