The establishment of a new creation by raising the Lord Jesus from the dead is the powerful demonstration of the justice of God. As Paul sees it, the Gospel is not primarily concerned with Jesus, his life, his activities, his teachings. The Gospel is, rather, the demonstration of the power and justice of God. Proclamation or announcement by itself is not quite Gospel. What makes the proclamation Gospel is what God accomplishes in people. The Gospel is the power of the Spirit at work in the resurrection of Christ and in the giving of life to those who believe in the God who raised Christ, thus making it possible for them to live “in the Spirit,” that is, by the power of the Spirit that raised Christ from the dead.
Paul refers to the Gospel he preaches as “God’s gospel” (2 Co. 11:7) and as “the gospel of Christ” (2 Cor. 2:12), or the “gospel of his [God’s] Son” (Rom. 1:9). He also characterizes it as “my gospel” (Rom. 2:16; 16:25), or, since he is very aware of his co-workers, as “our gospel” (2 Cor. 4:3; 1 Th. 1:5). As an apostle sent to preach the Gospel Paul often found himself defending his mission from various charges (2 Cor. 3:1; 7:2; 11:5 – 7; Gal. 1:10). Doing so at times he wonders whether he is inappropriately boasting, making too high a claim for himself. On these occasions he always makes the point that the high claims are for the Gospel, not for himself as a minister of the Gospel. Probably the most extensive of these asides is found in chapters 3 and 4 of To the Corinthians II.
His argument gets a bit confusing at times, but as a whole it is quite effective. Recognizing that his understanding of the Gospel is not that of most other preachers of Christ, he refers to other gospels (Gal. 1:6, 9, 11; 2 Cor. 11:4) which he considers not to be gospels at all. To highlight his Gospel, he contrasts his function as an agent of the Gospel with that of Moses as the agent of the law given at Sinai. He begins his de minoris ad maiorem argument recognizing that the ministry, or service (diakonía) of Moses was accompanied with a glory that reflected itself with splendor in his face. Then he characterizes the content of Moses’ ministry. His was a “dispensation of death.” Paul consistently points out that the function of the law is to express the wrath of God that brings about condemnation and issues in death (Rom. 4:15). Having established this foundation, he brings about the logical conclusion: ”if the dispensation of death. . . came with such splendor . . . will not the dispensation of the Spirit be attended with greater splendor?” The question is purely rhetorical. Paul then affirms the obvious: “For if there was splendor in the dispensation of condemnation, the dispensation of righteousness must far exceed it in splendor.”
Having established the superior splendor of the dispensation of righteousness, Paul elaborates on the fact that the splendor in the face of Moses slowly faded away after he came down from Mt. Sinai. Since the splendor in Moses’ face went away already during his lifetime, it follows that “what once had splendor has come to have no splendor at all, because of the splendor that surpasses it.” That is to say, the splendor of the resurrection of Christ totally outshines whatever splendor was exhibited at Sinai. This gives rise to another observation: what once had splendor and now has no splendor at all was temporary. The splendor that now surpasses it is permanent. In other words, while the dispensation of death introduced by Moses’ giving of the law was temporary, the dispensation of righteousness introduced by the Spirit that raised Christ from the dead is permanent.
Paul is now ready to make a point about another one of the elements in the story of the giving of the law at Mt. Sinai. He does it by elaborating creatively on the report that the splendor in Moses’ face faded away. According to the story in Exodus 34:29 – 35, Moses put a veil on his face because the splendor in his face put fear in the hearts of the people. Eventually, once the splendor had faded away, the veil was no longer needed. Paul, however, says that Moses put a veil on his face in order to hide the fact that the splendor of his face was fading away. Then, he gives the story a surprising contemporary application. The veil in Moses’ face, placed in order to hide its fading splendor, is now in the face of Paul’s contemporaries who read “the old covenant” with hardened minds. Their veils prevent them “from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the likeness of God.” In this way Paul explains why the gospel of the power of the Spirit that gives life to those who believe is not at work in those who preach a gospel based on the law.
Having pointed out its superior splendor and permanence, Paul establishes the authenticity of the Gospel of “the dispensation of the Spirit” of which he is a minister. It is the Gospel of “a new covenant” which brings about “righteousness.” In other words, it establishes the righteousness of God since it manifests the purpose of creation. The law may have served to condemn and to bring about death. The righteousness of God is about life. The dispensation of the Spirit that gives life is then given its ultimate definition: “The Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being changed into his likeness from one degree of glory to another; for this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit.” The contrasts have reached their intended goal. The glory in the face of Moses was transitory. The veil in the face of Moses is now in the face of the people who read the Old Testament with hardened minds. The veil, however, can be taken away by Christ. In the dispensation of the Spirit the glory of the Risen Christ is permanent, and is seen by those whose faces have been unveiled. His glory is being reflected in the faces of those who have the freedom to see it. Those from whose faces Christ has taken away the veil and read the “old covenant” correctly not only can behold the glory in Christ’s face. They are being changed by participating in Christ’s glory into ever higher degrees of glory until they finally receive their spiritual, glorious bodies at the resurrection of the dead (1 Cor. 15:44).
Ultimately, the truth of the Gospel, according to Paul, is its power to bring about the unveiling of the mind and the freedom to see the Gospel of the glory of the Risen Christ and be changed from one degree of glory to another. Paul concludes his argument with the clarification. “We have this treasure [the Gospel] in earthen vessels, to show that the transcendent power belongs to God and not to us.” Thus, even though he has audaciously compared his role as an apostle of the Gospel of the Risen Christ with the role of Moses as the agent of the law at Sinai, Paul ends up clarifying that what is at stake is not his ministry. It is the righteousness of God. The transcendent power that brought the crucified and buried Jesus to a new glorious life by the Spirit is at the center of his Gospel. “The word of the cross” which most consider nonsense, Paul confesses that to the believers “who are being saved it is the power of God” (1 Cor. 1:18). Paul then encapsulates his view in an epigram: the Gospel of “the kingdom of God does not consist in talk but in power” (1 Cor. 4:20). The same is true of the Gospel.
As said above, Paul understands the significance of the Gospel within an apocalyptic framework. It serves to reveal that, after all, retributive justice works. People will receive what they deserve. On that account, Paul points out that “our gospel is veiled . . . to those who are perishing.” In their case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ. The preaching of the Gospel may bring about “the freedom to see” to those who with unveiled faces see the glory of the Risen Lord, but it may also bring about “perishing” to those who, on account of the blindness of their minds, with veiled faces fail to experience the transcendent power of the Gospel.
As an apocalyptic thinker Paul does not elaborate the power of God in cosmic battles with the forces of the god of this world. He does not give descriptions of the stages in the war between good and evil popular in apocalyptic writings. The power of God that reveals His righteousness has already been demonstrated at the resurrection of Christ. Now in his spirit body the glory of Christ is permanent, and the power that brought about that glorious resurrection is actively bringing about changes from glory to glory in those who with unveiled faces have the freedom to behold the glory of the Lord. To those who thought that Paul, as a well-trained Pharisee, should be ashamed of preaching a gospel that viewed the revelation of God at Sinai as one which, even though resplendent with glory at the time, was temporary and had now been