Letters - 2 Corinthians 3:1-5

Man, Paul is just so hard to understand so much of the time. It’s really frustrating. I’ve been especially tired and busy at work the last couple of weeks, so my time and attention has been limited. There are just so many topics covered and it seems like there is a disconnect, plus when I’m tired, nothing makes sense. Still addressing those critical of him, Paul asks “do we begin again to commend ourselves?” The IM summarizes his statement, “Do I really need letters of commendation proving that I am a legitimate Apostle?” The article written about this chapter on gospeldoctrine.com quotes Bruce R. McConkie as noting that anciently, church members traveling to visit each other would carry with them “epistles of commendation or letters of commendation. That is, the saints were commended, introduced, or recommended to various local churches by these written certifications. These would correspond to ‘recommends’ in modern times.”

 

There are a couple of factors in play here, first is that they’ve known Paul for a long time. He’s done extensive work in their community, founded the branch of the gospel there when he came through in his first mission. He’s written to them, counselled them, and visited them a lot. So for them to require some sort of authentication from him to prove that he still is an Apostle in the church is not so much a process of vetting as much as it is apostacy. The second factor here is what Paul points out next, saying, “ye are our epistle written in our hearts, known and read of all men.” He’s saying that he doesn’t need a letter from someone else affirming that he’s an apostle because the proof is in the lives of the saints that have been changed through the gospel. It’s like “from their fruits you shall know them.” If someone comes into your community and improves the lives of the people there through their message, then it is a good message. And that’s what Paul’s saying, the gospel changes the lives of people for the better, and would that be possible if Paul was an apostate?

 

This metaphorical letter that Paul is talking about, the one that testifies that he is an apostle, is “written not with ink, but with the Spirit of the living God; not in tables of stone, but in the fleshy tables of the heart.” The article comments that, “Paul is speaking about a process of internalization, whereby discipleship is defined not by our ability to follow a set of rules, but by our ability to internalize all the principles of righteousness.” This is where we stop living the commandments because he are supposed to, but live them because we want to. It doesn’t make sense to someone who isn’t at that point yet, children are a great example of this, but when the laws of God stop being restrictive and start being cherished, we are on our way to having our testimony written “in the fleshy tables of the heart.” Stone is not a part of us, we don’t need it to live, but our hearts are what enables us to live, and having the commandments be a part of our very living and breathing it when we are changed. The IM points out “this process of internalizing gospel doctrines occurs through the power of the Holy Ghost.”