6-Transformation

In what is, I am afraid, a sadly-neglected passage – sadly neglected by believers, I mean – Paul made a statement of enormous importance, telling us what God's purpose was for him, how God was using him. And what he said, shines a floodlight on the new-covenant ministry (using the words in their fullest sense; namely, the priesthood of all believers in action) (2 Cor. 3:4 – 4:18). This Romans passage should not be neglected; rather, it should be blazoned in neon. Although Paul knew that the old covenant had been a temporary covenant for Israel, for Israel only, and had been superseded by Christ in the new covenant (Matt. 5:17-20; 2 Cor. 3:4-11; Heb. 7:12,18-19,22; 8:1-13), nevertheless he also knew that the experiences of Israel under that old covenant, and the principles of that covenant, all properly nuanced, still serve as a vital background to the new covenant (1 Cor. 10:1-11). In this Romans passage, the apostle, as he so often did, called on the old covenant to illustrate his (and, therefore, every believer's) new-covenant ministry, privilege and responsibility. Listen to him doing this very thing when he spoke of:

...the grace given me by God to be a minister of Christ Jesus to the Gentiles in the priestly service of the gospel of God, so that the offering of the Gentiles may be acceptable, sanctified by the Holy Spirit (Rom. 15:15-16).