Summary so far: among all his problems, Paul doesn’t lose heart; and this is because he knows the Word he shares is genuinely working something amazing, as we saw last time (4:1, 3:4). The Spirit is actually, literally, being ministered, through him and through us (3:6); and as this happens, both we and (if they wish) friends we share with are being invisibly transformed into amazing glory; into the very likeness of Jesus! (3:16-18).
But — there’s a very big `BUT`. Some of us may feel: that’s all very nice, but in my life it’s just not happening. And Paul picks this up in these verses: as we seek to share the Word and the Spirit, we so often run into an immovable blockage, a solid spiritual barrier. This is the `veil` 3:15 speaks of; it can take many other forms too.
Dafydd was a Welsh nationalist. One day we talked at length about the historical evidence that Jesus really was raised from the dead. The evidence is powerful (for a summary try https://petelowmanresources.com/foundations-2-5-reasons-for-faith-2-the-resurrection-these-are-the-facts/ ), and in that room, at that moment, I think he felt its truth. Logically, then, he went on to worship the risen Christ? Not at all. A daft remark followed, and he switched the conversation. We’re called to give a `reason for the hope we have’ (1 Peter 3:15); but in the end we can’t simply argue people into the kingdom; there is a problem, a solid barrier, that goes far deeper than that.
The biggest problem when we share our faith is supernatural. There’s actually a demonic blinding of the ego that prevents anyone who’s not yet a believer from `seeing the glory of Christ’, says Paul very clearly in 4:4. There has to be a supernatural revelation from God that breaks through this. (That is why it can be very valuable if a friend who is not yet a believer will take just a minute to pray the “agnostic’s prayer”: Jesus, I don’t know if you’re there, indeed I think you’re probably not; but, if you are, and if you show yourself to me, I will take you as my Lord, and will follow wherever you lead.) (If they won’t, of course, it’s well worth talking about why.) So against this supernatural, even demonic blockage, only supernatural weapons will do. As Paul will say later: `The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God'(10:3-5).
What then are these weapons? Our minds can turn back to Paul’s classic account in Ephesians 6 (see https://petelowmanresources.com/latest-ephesians11-wont-survive-without-these-610-22/ ). There we find two twin weapons for attack: the `sword of the Spirit which is the Word of God’, but also prayer. These are vital as we face those barriers, because evangelism is never just an intellectual wrestling-match. Unless the supernatural blindness is broken by persistent prayer, and until God indeed `makes his light to shine in our hearts’, nothing can be achieved.
We’ve seen this many times in student evangelism. Over and over, the crucial work for university events weeks is (and needs to be) done in prayer meetings beforehand. `I never cease to be amazed how these prayers are answered’, wrote Roger Mitchell in the IFES magazine; `the people we’ve listed for specific prayer make up many of those who become Christians.’ It’s no accident that African countries with huge evangelical student groups – sometimes a thousand believers in a single university – have also been marked by weekly nights of prayer attended by hundreds. It underlines the importance of Hallesby’s memorable exhortation: `Pray every day for your non-Christian friends. Surround them with your prayer.’ (Please help me do it, Lord!) `Each time you pray, you plunge a holy explosive into their soul; and one day it will scatter the ice from around their hearts!’
And then the other weapon by which our `ministry of the Spirit’ `scatters the ice’ is indeed our biblically-shaped gospel: the `sword of the Spirit which is the Word of God’. As we saw last time, the simple, unvarnished Word that we share (confidently or not!) is actually no less than the channel for the `glory of Christ’; it’s our remarkable privilege that, through our faltering words, the Spirit is ministered. (For another angle on how our very ordinary sharing brings about supernatural results, see 1 Peter 1:23-25.)
But this gospel, says Paul, is not merely about abstract ideas. We are called to share the `knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ’ (2 Cor 4:6). (Lord, help me so that what I say may give others a sense of that glory…) Relevant apologetics, and careful explanation of the gospel, are indispensable. But equally important is that we learn to share something of what we’re perceiving, day by day, of the glory of God in the face of Christ (`how wonderful Jesus is`, as my old colleague Patrick McElligott used to say); since Christ is, as Hebrews 1 says, the clearest of revelations, the ultimate `radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of his being’.
That’s why the freshness of our own times with God, absorbing `the Lord’s glory’ (3:18), links directly to our effectiveness in witness: they give us something living to say. It’s why it’s always worth carrying a gospel (Jesus’ `biography`) to give away; the Word has its own life and power, and even if people don’t start by believing it’s true, they will nonetheless see Jesus as they read it. And it’s also why, all over the world, so many people meet Christ through group studies that look together at Christ’s self-revelation in the gospels. (`Evangelistic Bible studies`; see https://petelowmanresources.com/latest-foundations-23-sharing-jesus-evangelistic-bible-study-reading-jesus-biography-with-friends-who-arent-yet-christians/.)
The goal of all our evangelism is to promote an informed, worshipping answer to the question, Who is Jesus, and how should I respond to him? The gospels, par excellence, are the place to tackle that question; channels through which he `shines in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of the glory in the face of Christ.` Specific prayer and the Word, then, are the means by which the `ministry of the Spirit’ bursts through the `veil’, the barrier, over the hearts of people we share with. (Thankyou, Lord! Please help me use them both…)
(Paul will go on next to take us a step further: there are certain situations through which this power of God is specially released: our pressures, our stresses, and our sufferings…. That’s 2 Cor 4:7-11; but we’ll save it for next week…)
