I.　The uniqueness of the ministry of the new covenant—2 Cor. 4:1:

A.　The ministry of the new covenant being the unique ministry of the New Testament—Acts 1:17.

B.　All the apostles having one ministry, the unique ministry of the new covenant for the accomplishment of God's New Testament economy.

C.　The work of the apostles being to carry out the unique ministry, the ministering of Christ for the building up of the Body.

II.　The focus of the ministry of the new covenant:

A.　The ministry of the Spirit—the living Spirit, who gives life—2 Cor. 3:8, 6.

B.　The ministry of righteousness—the living out and genuine expression of Christ, who as the Spirit is our life—3:9.

III.　The formation of the ministry of the new covenant:

A.　The apostles gaining the riches of Christ through sufferings and consuming pressures—1:8; 4:8-12.

B.　The apostles undergoing the killing work of the cross, which issue in the experience and the enjoyment of the God of resurrection—4:10; 1:9.

C.　The apostles experiencing the Spirit's anointing, sealing and pledging—1:21-22.

IV.　The commission of the ministry of the new covenant:

A.　To represent Christ to accomplish God's purpose—5:20.

B.　To fulfill the ministry of reconciliation in two steps—5:18-20:

1.　The first step—to reconcile sinners to God from sin.

2.　The second step—to reconcile the believers living in the natural life to God from the flesh.

C.　For the believers as the new creation in Christ to become the righteousness of God in Him—5:17, 21:

1.　The believers becoming a new creation in Christ according to the new nature of the divine life through God's shining in their hearts (4:6) and by having the life and nature of God wrought into them.

2.　The believers being one with Christ in His resurrection to be made the righteousness of God in Him.

V.　The function of the ministry of the new covenant—4:1:

A.　To impart life to others—4:12.

B.　To supply grace to the saints—1:15; 4:15; 6:1.

C.　To dispense the processed and consummated Triune God into the believers—13:14.

D.　To write living letters of Christ with the life-giving Spirit as the essence—3:1-6:

1.　The letters being composed of Christ as the content to convey and express Christ.

2.　The apostles inscribing Christ as the life-giving Spirit in the hearts of the saints to make them letters of Christ.

VI.　The goal of the ministry of the new covenant:

A.　To make the believers the same as God in life, nature and expression—3:3, 6; 5:21; 3:18.

B.　To build up the Body of Christ to consummate the New Jerusalem.

C.　To incorporate the believers into Christ for the consummation of the universal divine-human incorporation:

1.　The believers being firmly attached unto Christ to experience the Spirit's anointing, sealing, and pledging—1:21-22.

2.　The believers being fully reconciled to God to become the New Jerusalem, the enlarged and consummate Holy of Holies—5:20; Rev. 21:16.