Serving in the Spiritual Domain: III. Living Christ unto the ministry

𝑅𝑒𝑎𝑑 𝑝𝑎𝑟𝑡 1 ℎ𝑒𝑟𝑒. 𝑅𝑒𝑎𝑑 𝑝𝑎𝑟𝑡 2 ℎ𝑒𝑟𝑒.

Those who are faithful, loyal, sensitive serving ones in the church life not only serve the church in a physical way, but also serve through a deeper, spiritual sense. Such servants of the Lord are ones with an extra sense, who are able to carry that entrance to the heavenly realm. Such ones are able to serve beyond the outward and physical problems, chaos, and complications.

Our church life requires more than physical senses. This deeper seeing, however, requires training and discipline for us to be brought into the essence of the serving—the perfection. Paul gave us a perfect example: he himself was disciplined and well trained, but he also had a strong, tangible humanity. Because of this, amidst very severe dealing with the church in Corinth, Paul could be an entrance to the very person—even into the index—of Christ. Second Corinthians chapter two depicts Paul carrying his serving in this way. This is a perfect instance of serving for whosoever desires to serve the reality of the church within the spiritual domain.

2 𝐶𝑜𝑟. 2:8 𝑇ℎ𝑒𝑟𝑒𝑓𝑜𝑟𝑒 𝐼 𝑒𝑥ℎ𝑜𝑟𝑡 𝑦𝑜𝑢 𝑡𝑜 𝑐𝑜𝑛𝑓𝑖𝑟𝑚 𝑦𝑜𝑢𝑟 𝑙𝑜𝑣𝑒 𝑡𝑜𝑤𝑎𝑟𝑑 ℎ𝑖𝑚. 2:9 𝐹𝑜𝑟 𝑡𝑜 𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑠 𝑒𝑛𝑑 𝑎𝑙𝑠𝑜 𝐼 𝑤𝑟𝑜𝑡𝑒, 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝐼 𝑚𝑖𝑔ℎ𝑡 𝑘𝑛𝑜𝑤 𝑦𝑜𝑢𝑟 𝑎𝑝𝑝𝑟𝑜𝑣𝑒𝑑𝑛𝑒𝑠𝑠, 𝑤ℎ𝑒𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑟 𝑦𝑜𝑢 𝑎𝑟𝑒 𝑜𝑏𝑒𝑑𝑖𝑒𝑛𝑡 𝑖𝑛 𝑎𝑙𝑙 𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑛𝑔𝑠. 2:10 𝐵𝑢𝑡 𝑤ℎ𝑜𝑚 𝑦𝑜𝑢 𝑓𝑜𝑟𝑔𝑖𝑣𝑒 𝑎𝑛𝑦𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑛𝑔, 𝐼 𝑎𝑙𝑠𝑜 𝑓𝑜𝑟𝑔𝑖𝑣𝑒; 𝑓𝑜𝑟 𝑎𝑙𝑠𝑜 𝑤ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝐼 ℎ𝑎𝑣𝑒 𝑓𝑜𝑟𝑔𝑖𝑣𝑒𝑛, 𝑖𝑓 𝐼 ℎ𝑎𝑣𝑒 𝑓𝑜𝑟𝑔𝑖𝑣𝑒𝑛 𝑎𝑛𝑦𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑛𝑔, 𝑖𝑡 𝑖𝑠 𝑓𝑜𝑟 𝑦𝑜𝑢𝑟 𝑠𝑎𝑘𝑒 𝑖𝑛 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑝𝑒𝑟𝑠𝑜𝑛 𝑜𝑓 𝐶ℎ𝑟𝑖𝑠𝑡…

Here, after rebuking the Corinthian believers in the first epistle, Paul talks with the tenderness of a parent, but his training is still there. The thought and the language is clear and sharp. Paul uses a specific word in this section of chapter two—the 𝑝𝑒𝑟𝑠𝑜𝑛 of Christ. This Greek word, 𝒑𝒓𝒐𝒔𝒐́𝒑𝒐𝒏, literally means “face”; it is “[t]he part around the eyes; the look as the index of the inward thoughts and feelings, which shows forth and manifests the whole person. This indicates that the apostle was one who lived and acted in the presence of Christ, according to the index of His whole person, expressed in His eyes…” (2 Cor. 2:10, ft. 3 “person”).*

What a specific, beautiful, and carefully chosen word for the condition of the Corinthians. Paul, having gone through training in literature and law, was able to use that language to express something beyond the physical—something subjective and intimate. We know this because the Greek word 𝒑𝒓𝒐𝒔𝒐́𝒑𝒐𝒏 is very descriptive and very specific. The “person” here is not a general reference to an individual; the Greek refers to 𝐡𝐨𝐰 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐜𝐚𝐧 𝐞𝐱𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐞 𝐨𝐫 𝐟𝐞𝐞𝐥 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐩𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐚 𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐨𝐧, 𝐬𝐩𝐞𝐜𝐢𝐟𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐲 𝐭𝐡𝐫𝐨𝐮𝐠𝐡 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐢𝐫 𝐟𝐚𝐜𝐞. And this word is so true to our experience: what is a person without a face? Yet there’s more we can see from the Greek. Although there are many parts of a human face, here the word refers to the part surrounding the eyes: “the look as the index of the inward thoughts and feelings, which shows forth and manifests the whole person.”

In one word, Paul is able to express such an experiential and specific Christ; this choice of word indicates that the apostle was one who lived and carried very tangible, very inward feelings and experiences before God. Although many people might find “living in the index of Christ” too theoretical or impractical amidst a chaotic situation, to Paul this was not a religious or abstract teaching. In the middle of writing this epistle to the disorderly saints in Corinth, Paul was one who served according to the index of the whole person of Christ. He was able to tame an uncontrollable situation because he was living out a very tangible, very powerful inward sense of life.

Paul didn’t discipline the Corinthian believers randomly, but rather with a lot of experience and care—while sitting before the person of Christ, before the face of Christ, before the index of Christ. What is inside of Christ has been experienced by Paul as he’s dealing with the believers. Those experiences become the serving ones’ being, content, and power. Because of this, Paul could serve not in his own thoughts and feelings, but in Christ’s. He could usher the saints into the enjoyment and index of Christ. His serving was not random or light. Rather, Paul—and any serving one—has been terminated to release, think about, nurture, and act only in the person of Christ.

This was the way our brother was able to serve such an immature and worldly group of saints in Corinth. From his enjoyment and his encouragement to the way he debated for his harsh rebuking and exposing of the believers in Corinth, to how he was comforted and encouraged, he used a very personal, tender and affectionate way to calm a turbulent churchlife. How could he have done this if he were not in the person of Christ? How could he uplift the saints from the physical and immoral failures in the church without the “closest and most intimate contact” with the Lord? The same footnote shows us that Paul was “a person who lived Christ.” This is why this epistle is considered Paul’s own autobiography of how he lived. 𝐇𝐞 𝐥𝐢𝐯𝐞𝐝 𝐂𝐡𝐫𝐢𝐬𝐭 𝐚𝐜𝐜𝐨𝐫𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐨 𝐰𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐡𝐞 𝐰𝐫𝐨𝐭𝐞 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐜𝐞𝐫𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐂𝐡𝐫𝐢𝐬𝐭; 𝐢𝐭 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐥𝐢𝐭𝐲. That’s the example he set before the church in Corinth in the midst of their failure-filled situation. For those ones in the most intimate contact with Him, living in Christ’s index, His very person becomes the saturating solution in serving all the outward problems.

What do we mean by the “saturating solution”? This utterance is very important. This saturating happens within the ministry. This saturating is for the constitution of the minister in the 𝑝𝑟𝑜𝑠𝑜́𝑝𝑜𝑛 of Christ. Included in this saturating is His humanity, His divinity, His death, and the experience of the powerful resurrection life from the cross. Regarding the cross, Brother Lee points out in a critical footnote that Paul was “saturated with Christ; a person who was broken and even terminated in his natural life.” 𝐇𝐞𝐫𝐞, 𝐁𝐫𝐨𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐋𝐞𝐞 𝐡𝐞𝐥𝐩𝐬 𝐮𝐬 𝐭𝐨 𝐮𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐰𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞 “𝐜𝐫𝐨𝐬𝐬” 𝐭𝐫𝐮𝐥𝐲 𝐦𝐞𝐚𝐧𝐬. Paul’s serving shows us that the experience of cross is not just to solve problems, but to saturate us with Christ—to empower the minister’s life. We all need this. No one can force you; it has to be a fruit of something that you love, are consecrated to, are enjoying, are being built up by in the index and face of the Lord.

How can you terminate your natural flesh, your natural life, to be soft and flexible in His will? At the same time, how can you not lose your soul either, and stay affectionate yet restricted? Actually, we can be perfectly balanced in between the soul and the spirit; this is Paul. On one hand, Paul is seemingly very emotional in this letter, but on the other hand, he is in control. There is a total spiritual balance. Paul was both “considerate and sober in his mind.” He was also “pure and genuine in his spirit toward the believers for their benefit,” which refers to Paul’s serving with a very willful, very powerful, tenacious and disciplined heart of a parent. Paul is an open demonstration of his body, soul, and spirit, including his emotion, his mind, and his will. He was not afraid to let you see his personality as an apostle. The church life is also full of personalities. You see all the fathers, the mothers, the parents and the servants of the Lord. They have a personality, will, and view. They may be very powerful and present, yet they may also be very affectionate and intimate. Why? Because they are wholly saturated with Christ. Paul was someone completely terminated and consecrated in Christ, so he can say, “For to me, to live is Christ.” (Phil. 1:21). This is what makes him—and any true servant of the Lord—rich and full in both soul and spirit.

This condition is why Paul can use such specific and meaningful language when addressing the Corinthians; Paul chose to use this profound Greek word, 𝑝𝑟𝑜𝑠𝑜́𝑝𝑜𝑛. Like Paul to the Corinthians, we don’t just go to the Lord in a general way; we don’t live before His face only. When two lovers communicate through their eyes, there’s more than just the physical gaze; there are also the thoughts and inward feelings—a transfusing very specific to the index of our eyes that goes beyond language. We can live inside of Christ, inside the index of Christ. And what’s more, this transfusing changes us. It constitutes us. It conforms us. It regulates us. It makes us sensitive, it makes us ministers. Isn’t this book wonderful? Second Corinthians has become such a romantic book to us.

This same Greek word 𝑝𝑟𝑜𝑠𝑜́𝑝𝑜𝑛 is used again in chapter four, verse six, translated into the English word “face”:

4:6 𝐵𝑒𝑐𝑎𝑢𝑠𝑒 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝐺𝑜𝑑 𝑤ℎ𝑜 𝑠𝑎𝑖𝑑, 𝑜𝑢𝑡 𝑜𝑓 𝑑𝑎𝑟𝑘𝑛𝑒𝑠𝑠 𝑙𝑖𝑔ℎ𝑡 𝑠ℎ𝑎𝑙𝑙 𝑠ℎ𝑖𝑛𝑒, 𝑖𝑠 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑂𝑛𝑒 𝑤ℎ𝑜 𝑠ℎ𝑖𝑛𝑒𝑑 𝑖𝑛 𝑜𝑢𝑟 ℎ𝑒𝑎𝑟𝑡𝑠 𝑡𝑜 𝑖𝑙𝑙𝑢𝑚𝑖𝑛𝑎𝑡𝑒 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑘𝑛𝑜𝑤𝑙𝑒𝑑𝑔𝑒 𝑜𝑓 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑔𝑙𝑜𝑟𝑦 𝑜𝑓 𝐺𝑜𝑑 𝑖𝑛 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑓𝑎𝑐𝑒 𝑜𝑓 𝐽𝑒𝑠𝑢𝑠 𝐶ℎ𝑟𝑖𝑠𝑡.

Here, Paul has developed more from chapter two. When you come to this chapter, prosópon expresses more of an inward sense—that is, knowing God’s inward being in our inward being. This verse gives us more understanding on how the light, the glory, and the constitution of the New Testament ministry are from this very index—God’s inward being; all the attributes of God are shining through those eyes. The only way we can be rescued from all the distractions, especially from the corruption and destruction of the world, is by engaging that inward sense of life. This generation has blindfolded us and darkened the glory of the gospel, even taking away the image of God himself. Because of all the confusion and distractions, Paul vindicated for himself that he did not preach anything but this very Christ who will call you “out of darkness” into the shekinah glory. This is a very deep understanding of the faith. The footnote for “but” in 4:7** gives us more understanding about the end result of this shining: Brother Lee gives five meaningful metaphors relating to how a minister is constituted by the ministry, which comes out of the engagement with and shining from His inward being. These five perspectives are crucial to the characteristics, life and action of God’s ministers: being the captives of Christ, incense bearers spreading the fragrance of Christ, letters written with Christ as content, mirrors beholding and reflecting the glory of Christ, and earthen vessels containing Christ the treasure. We are a part of the New Testament ministry, and the inward index of Christ is what constitutes, trains and regulates the minister to carry out the ministry in spirit and reality.

Second Corinthians is timely for the church life today. Today, we are receiving the apostle’s words in the person of Christ. We know we want to have a new breakthrough. We also know there is a need to overcome our limitations, failures and sinful life. But even more, every one of us has come to a stage to be uplifted and to be constituted as ministers of Christ—to build up the Body in reality with a view of God’s eternal purpose. Because of this, Paul’s words become so timely to us. Second Corinthians gives us a very romantic look at our dear brother’s life. He was wide open; there was no hiding. He was so genuine and straightforward that we can touch his being, even today. Although Paul lived 2,000 years ago, he is not that far away from us; it’s only 15 to 20 generations away from today that Paul happened in our lives. Generation after generation, we feel these saints are not far from us at all. They are very close to us.

Living in the index of Christ, Paul becomes our perfect role model and example for how to live and to serve the church. It’s absolutely not by improving or having some skill or talent; Paul’s secret is to live in the 𝑝𝑟𝑜𝑠𝑜́𝑝𝑜𝑛 of Christ. This part around the eyes, the index—or inward being—of Christ, is very powerful to whosoever is serving the church according to something inward, close, and intimate; they live in the inward feeling and the inward sense of that index. In this kind of living and sensitivity, Paul could be nurturing, precise, and firm in his care for the saints. He wasn’t distracted or discouraged; rather, he was even more flexible, more gracious, and more enlarged in his serving. 𝐈𝐧 𝐚 𝐜𝐡𝐮𝐫𝐜𝐡 𝐥𝐢𝐟𝐞 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐚𝐥𝐥 𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐝𝐬 𝐨𝐟 𝐡𝐮𝐦𝐚𝐧 𝐟𝐚𝐢𝐥𝐮𝐫𝐞𝐬 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐬𝐢𝐧𝐬, 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐞𝐫𝐯𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐬 𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐟𝐫𝐨𝐦 𝐦𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝒑𝒓𝒐𝒔𝒐́𝒑𝒐𝒏 𝐨𝐟 𝐂𝐡𝐫𝐢𝐬𝐭. 𝐓𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐢𝐧𝐰𝐚𝐫𝐝 𝐛𝐞𝐢𝐧𝐠, 𝐦𝐨𝐫𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐧 𝐣𝐮𝐬𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐨𝐥𝐮𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐭𝐨 𝐚𝐥𝐥 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐛𝐥𝐞𝐦𝐬, 𝐢𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐰𝐚𝐲 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐬𝐞 𝐰𝐡𝐨 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐦𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐥𝐲 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐋𝐨𝐫𝐝 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐬𝐞𝐫𝐯𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐇𝐢𝐦 𝐭𝐨 𝐛𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐫𝐨𝐮𝐠𝐡𝐥𝐲 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐭𝐮𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐧𝐬𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐦𝐞𝐝.

*Read the full footnote for 2:10 “person” (3) here: https://bibleread.online/…/the-second-epistle-of…/2/…**Read the full footnotes for chapter 4 here: https://bibleread.online/…/the-second-epistle-of…/4/

(𝐴𝑏𝑜𝑣𝑒 𝑖𝑠 𝑝𝑎𝑟𝑡 3 𝑜𝑓 𝑎 𝑠𝑒𝑟𝑖𝑒𝑠 𝑐𝑜𝑚𝑝𝑖𝑙𝑒𝑑 𝑓𝑟𝑜𝑚 𝑛𝑜𝑡𝑒𝑠 𝑜𝑓 𝑓𝑒𝑙𝑙𝑜𝑤𝑠ℎ𝑖𝑝 𝑡𝑎𝑘𝑒𝑛 𝑓𝑟𝑜𝑚 𝑎 𝑔𝑎𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑟𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑜𝑛 06/14/2020, 𝑛𝑜𝑡 𝑟𝑒𝑣𝑖𝑒𝑤𝑒𝑑 𝑏𝑦 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑠𝑝𝑒𝑎𝑘𝑒𝑟.)