Surveys seeking to establish what people most look for in a leader consistently come up with integrity. Paul had it in spades! Unlike the false teachers at Corinth, with Paul there was no deceit, no distortion, no dissembling. Just the plain truth proclaimed ‘in the sight of God’ to whom he was accountable. That truth is embodied in ‘the gospel that displays the glory of Christ’ (v 4). At this point Paul’s thought and language take flight as he focuses on the One who has captivated his heart. The One whom he serves and for whose sake he serves the church.

Jesus who is the image of God, Jesus who shines the glory of God into the lives of those who turn to him, Jesus who is Lord, Jesus whom Paul proclaims as the truth. By contrast those who choose to follow false idols find themselves consigned to darkness, blind to the glory of Jesus who is the truth (John 3:19). It is a sobering thought. May it challenge you and me to tell the truth to all who will listen. While that truth will be incarnated in our own personality and conveyed through our own ‘story’, it will, at the same time, point away from ourselves revealing the glory of Jesus Christ.

... the Lord make his face shine on you and be gracious to you.’¹

We know what happened to Paul on the road to Damascus – a mighty conversion in which ‘a light from heaven flashed around him’.² The rest truly is history. Paul encountered the risen Lord powerfully. Blinded as he was, we do not know whether he saw the Lord’s face. Yet he could well have had this experience in mind when he recounted how God’s light has shone into the hearts of believers, enabling us to see the glory of God in the face of Christ (v 6). There is a direct line from the God of creation to Christ as the revelation of God’s glory: God revealing God’s own self through God’s own Son.

There are 42 individual muscles in the human face, enabling a hugely meaningful range of emotions to be expressed. This is not true of any other creature. We can only imagine the face of Christ, but we can be absolutely sure that it expresses the fullness of God’s love, God’s glory, God’s beauty and God’s holiness towards us. It suffuses us with light and banishes the darkness. In turn, this requires of those whom God calls that they renounce any forms of duplicity or distortion or shameful ways, most especially for those who are to be representatives of the ways of God, as Paul was (v 1). There is evidence enough that Paul feels impelled to say this because of accusations slurring his character and his ministry. Even so, he is not going to give up.

Whatever our calling, transparency is always the best policy. As God’s light shines through the risen Lord, so his light should shine through us, that people might catch a glimpse of the King. Jesus daringly told his disciples, ‘You are the light of the world.’³ We are agents of the one who is the very Light of the world.⁴

Reflect: The church can never be the light of the world until Christ is the Light of the church.

¹ Num 6:25  ² Acts 9:3  ³ Matt 5:14  ⁴ John 8:12