The Victory is Ours

Before you start todays devotional, ask the Lord to use it to grow you up in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

The greatest privilege in the world is to give out the Word of God. Do you know why? Because Jesus Christ always wins, and we win with Him. He is the power behind every effective ministry.

In a dramatic picture, Paul describes this ministry of the gospel like leading a military parade. In first century culture, after a military campaign got a victory on some distant battleground, the Roman armies returned to Rome in a big, triumphal entry into the city. At the front of the procession would be the people who would be released to become Roman citizens, and in the back walked the captives who would be executed.

These Roman triumphal entries always included clouds of smoke from burning incense to their gods to whom they gave credit for the victory.

With this as a background, Paul said, It’s God who leads us in triumph in Christ (2:14). When the gospel is preached and the multitudes accept Christ, we are a “fragrance of life” to those who are saved. But to the crowd who rejects Christ, we smell like death. Someday every knee will bow to Him—either as their Savior or their judge.

We are living letters, God continues, communicating His message. God’s truth is written on our hearts, and people read our lives. God wants His Word preached; we can be confident of His approval. He energizes us to share His Word. Our strength is from Him.

Where do we get the strength to be “ministers of the new covenant?” We’re no longer teaching the Old Testament, but we have a new message from God. It’s “not of the letter but of the Spirit” (3:6). In the Old Testament, the letter of the Law condemns us, saying we are guilty sinners. Those letters written on the tablets of stone (the Ten Commandments) condemn us. But now God’s Spirit gives us life.

The Law was glorious in that it gave man a way of salvation that pleased God, but no one could meet its demands. The Law was death to us because we are lost. But God wants to save man—it makes Him happy. (See Micah 7:18 and Ezekiel 33:11). Even the weakest saint who trusts Jesus has absolute assurance that God accepts him in Christ. When we willingly turn from our sin and receive the Lord Jesus as our Savior, “the veil is taken away” (3:16). Then, with an “unveiled face,” we behold the glory of the Lord until we are transformed. Then we can reflect His image with a little more glory all the time, and our lives gradually become brighter and more beautiful as we become like Him.

That is why you need to stay in the Word of God and keep looking at the Lord Jesus. As you behold Him, you are transformed. The Word of God does more than regenerate you—in the Word of God we see how wonderful Jesus really is, the unveiled Christ.

Do you want to be more Christ-like? Then spend time looking at Him in God’s Word.

1. If you think of your life as a living letter from God, what is your letter saying?

2. The Law in the Old Testament condemned us as sinners, but the Holy Spirit empowers us to live a life for God. What are you doing right now to live that life to the fullest in the power of the Spirit?

3. It is easy to become tolerant of sin in our own lives. What can other people in the body of Christ do to help you unveil those sins?

Additional Resources

Listen to Dr. J. Vernon McGee’s complete teachings on 2 Corinthians 2:14—3:14 and 2 Corinthians 3:11-18.