In this beautiful lesson on Spirit, this passage stood out to me in II Corinthians 3, 5-6: “Not that we are sufficient of ourselves to think any thing as of ourselves, but our sufficiency is of God; Who also hath made us able ministers of the new testament, not of the letter, but of the spirit: for the letter killeth, but the spirit giveth life.”
In the 1828 dictionary some of the definitions of “minister” are:
1. Properly, a chief servant;
3. A magistrate; an executive officer. For he is the minister of God to thee for good. Rom.13.
4. A delegate; an embassador;
5. One who serves at the altar; … the pastor of a church,
6. Christ is called a minister of the sanctuary. Heb.8.
7. An angel; a messenger of God.
The meaning of “minister” was enlarged as I read through the definition. We are servants of God, executive officers working for God, delegated by God to be ambassadors for Christ, the spirit of the new testament! Isn’t this an exciting job description? I spent years in office jobs feeling dissatisfied with my work, but now, through this church, I have an entirely new job, that of truly working for God as an “able minister of the new testament”! If Mrs. Eddy after the first day of class would tell her students to ‘now go out and heal someone’ (paraphrase), then certainly I am “able” after years of wonderful teachings in this church. I must be an active member, an active Scientist, and not passive! As I “step up to the plate” and share the Bible and Christian Science with others (as I had never done before coming here), I have seen how this has positively affected others’ lives by their discovery of the Christ, Truth in Christian Science (aka the Laws of the Universe). All I can say is “Alleluia” and thank you to Plainfield Church for getting me out of the shadows and into the light!