Meditation on 2 Corinthians 3:1-4

On Friday evening, some of my friends from work and I decided to get together after work and have a nice visit.   Sometime during the evening, I mentioned that I thought it would be fun to have a Bible Study together.   They all thought that was a great idea and then they all turned on me and said: "Linda, it was your idea, why don't you lead the first Bible study and we'll all take turns after that."   I said "Okay!".    I have until Feb 21, to plan my little presentation, but after some thought and prayer, this is what I have so far.   I may stay with this, or end up with something completely different.  However, I thought I would like to post it on my blog and share it with anyone who may like to read it.

2 Corinthians 3:1-4

Do we begin again to commend ourselves?   Or do we need, as so others do, epistles of commendation to you or letters of commendation from you?
You are our epistles, written in our hearts, known and read by all men.  Clearly, you are an epistle of Christ, ministered by us, written not with ink but by the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of flesh, that is of the heart.

I think this verse is so exciting.  This quote is from the little Gideon Bible I keep in my car.  I like it  best for this scripture.  Other translations use the word "letters" instead of "epistles" in this passage.  While that's accurate because the word "epistle" really does mean "letter", I like this translation because the word "epistle" makes me think of the books of the Bible, which is the written word of God. 

Because of my association of the word "epistle" with Bible, it really makes me see how incredible this scripture really is.  Basically, St Paul is telling us that because God has written His word in our hearts then we, too, become the written word of God that can be "read" by all people.   It just kind of blows my mind.  In a very real way, each of us is the word of God!

Dovetailing with this passage is the passage in the gospel of John chapter 1, verse 1:  "In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God."  This tells us that Christ is the Word...the Logos.  If we do indeed try live in imitation of Christ, and allow Him to live in us, then we can become the "word" (small w) thru Christ who is the Word. 

Imagine how much we would all accomplish if we just started living in the reality of these scriptures!