Do you need a spiritual letter of recommendation?

Are we beginning to commend ourselves again? Or do we need, as some do, letters of recommendation to you, or from you? (2 Corinthians 3:1, ESV)

The Apostle Paul found himself being scrutinized by the Corinthians, who began questioning his authority as an Apostle of Christ. That was awkward for the Apostle. He asked them a series of insightful questions: “ are we beginning to commend ourselves again?” “do we need, as some do, letters of recommendation to you , or from you?”. Why did he not need a letter of recommendation? The next verse tells us:

“You yourselves are our letter of recommendation, written on our hearts, to be known and read by all” (2 Corinthians 3:2, ESV).

Paul told them he did not need anyone to write a letter of recommendation because the Corinthian Christians themselves are the best proof of his Apostleship. What a letter of recommendation! He preached to them the Gospel of Christ, the Church was established in the Spirit with many of them flowing in diverse gifts of the Spirit, etc. His works in Corinth were enough proof to them of his divine calling.

The believers in Corinth were a letter that people were reading to know what kind of Apostle Paul was. The believers you minister to are the best letter of recommendation to testify of your ministry. The people you impact tell a history about your ministry. Your personal life itself is a letter that tells a story about Jesus’s ministry! You are a recommendation letter that is attesting to the authenticity of Christ’s work! The people around you are also a letter of recommendation about your Christian life and ministry! You may not have requested a letter of recommendation, but one is already written, whether you know it or not!