(1) Do we begin again to commend ourselves? or need we, as some others, epistles of commendation to you, or letters of commendation from you? (2) Ye are our epistle written in our hearts, known and read of all men: (3) Forasmuch as ye are manifestly declared to be the epistle of Christ ministered by us, written not with ink, but with the Spirit of the living God; not in tables of stone, but in fleshy tables of the heart. (4) And such trust have we through Christ to God-ward: (5) Not that we are sufficient of ourselves to think anything as of ourselves; but our sufficiency is of God; (6) Who also hath made us able ministers of the new testament; not of the letter, but of the spirit: for the letter killeth, but the spirit giveth life.
What a very high proof of the truth of Christ's Gospel must that be, which makes an immediate appeal to the hearts and consciences of men? And what can a Church or People desire more, than when their servants (for the highest Apostles are no more) bring those credentials with them, that they are sent of God? Reader! pause over the Apostles' statement, for it holds good, as much now, as in the days of the Apostles. Where God the Holy Ghost hath a people, the Lord will send servants to minister to that people in divine things. See, in confirmation, that promise, Jeremiah 3:15. And where the Lord sends his servants, the same Lord will give testimony to the word of his grace, Isaiah 52:6-9. And do observe, the beautiful figure Paul makes use of, to prove his Apostleship by. Ye are our Epistle (said he) written in our hearts; known and read of all men. Yes! For when the Lord the Spirit, who sent the Apostle and his fellow servants to the Corinthians, and gave them a door of utterance to the truths of God, gave also a door of entrance into his people's hearts; and by his regenerating grace, awakened them to the knowledge of sin, to the cordial reception of, and belief in, the Lord Jesus Christ: these precious things proved, that the Gospel they preached, was not a yea and nay doctrine, but that all the promises of God, in Christ Jesus, were Yea, and Amen, unto the glory of God by his servants' ministry. This was a demonstration of the word, and power. This manifested both the people's interest in Christ, and the servants' being sent by Christ; and mutually tended to comfort and rejoice the heart, both of the minister and people, giving such decided testimony to the truth as it is in Jesus; when the Gospel came, not in word only, but in power, and in the Holy Ghost, and in much assurance. 1 Thessalonians 1:4-10
Reader! I beseech you, do not dismiss the subject, to which this statement of the Apostle leads, without first framing from it a rule, to estimate every Church of Christ upon earth. Depend upon it, as the Church of God is the same in all ages of the world, the same standard for decision, concerning the truths of God, will be found a faithful, and unerring rule, to form just, and infallible conclusions. Where Christ hath a people to gather from among the carnal world, and where he sends his Gospel to be instrumental to gather them; those blessed effects will follow. What Jesus said upon another occasion, in relation to the judgment of men at large, holds equally good, in ascertaining the characters of his sent servants. Ye shall know them by their fruits, Matthew 7:16
The servant of the Lord, and of the highest order in that service, and endued with the greatest gifts, considers himself but as the servant of the Lord's people. So commanded Jesus: and so all faithful ministers know. Whosoever will be great among you, (said that humble Lord), let him be your minister; and whoever will be chief among you, let him be your servant. And then, as if to endear the charge still more, Jesus added: Even as the Son of Man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give his life a ransom for many, Matthew 20:26-28. We are stewards, said Paul, not Lord s, over God's heritage. Servants, not masters. One is your Master, even Christ, 1 Corinthians 4:1; Matthew 23:8
And as in character, so in office. They who are Epistles in the hearts of the Lord's people, are they that feed the flock, not fleece it. They that preach Christ Jesus the Lord, not themselves, 2 Corinthians 4:5; 1 Peter 5:2. Regenerated in their own souls, before they go forth as instruments in the Lord's hand, to the service of others, whom the Lord will regenerate; they hold forth the word of life. And, ordained by the Holy Ghost to the immediate work of the ministry, before they labor in the word and doctrine; they watch for men's souls as they that must give account, Acts 13:1-4; Hebrews 13:17. So that if the Reader be earnest, as that he need be earnest, (for nothing this side the grave can be equally earnest), to ask of Jesus, as the Church did: Tell me, 0 thou whom any soul loveth, where thou feedest, where thou makest thy, flock to rest at noon? Song of Solomon 1:7. These are the Shepherds' tents, to which the Lord directs. The people are the ministers' epistles; known and read of all men. Both minister and people are taught of God: and great will be the peace of the people, Isaiah 54:13. They know the joyful sound, in the everlasting love of God the Father; the grace, blood-shedding, righteousness, and finished salvation of the Lord Jesus Christ with all the blissful gifts, and manifestations of God the Holy Ghost. These form indeed, a joyful sound, and they are blessed in knowing it; for they walk in the light of God's countenance, Psalms 89:15. Paul might well call the people so taught, his Epistle. We are, said he to them, your rejoicing, as ye also are our's, in the day of the Lord Jesus, 1 Corinthians 1:14
Reader! while I recommend the subject, in the most affectionate manner, to your most serious consideration, I entreat you not to overlook what the Apostle so frequently in his Epistles dwells upon; his own weakness, and the sense he had of his own insufficiency, in ministering in the service of the Lord. This view of Paul indeed, will only strengthen yet more what went before. For if so highly taught, a servant of Christ refers all the success of his labors, into His sovereign power, who alone could make him an able minister, of the New Testament; how needful must it be, in all inferior servants of the Lord, to see that all their sufficiency is of God?