2 Corinthians 3

The New Covenant Ministry of the Spirit/Righteousness

1 Are we once again trying to recommend ourselves to you? Or do we require, as some do, letters of endorsement addressed to you or written on our behalf by you?

2 You yourselves are our letter, engraved upon our hearts, publicly recognized and read by all people,

3 clearly demonstrating that you are a letter belonging to Christ, produced through our ministry, written not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets that are human hearts.

4 Such confidence we possess through Christ as we stand before God.

5 It is not that we are adequate in ourselves to claim anything as originating from our own ability, but our adequacy comes from God,

6 who has made us fully capable to serve as ministers of a new covenant, not characterized by written code but by the Spirit. For the written code brings death, but the Spirit imparts life.

7 Now if the ministry that brought death, carved in letters on stone, came with glory, so that the sons of Israel could not fix their eyes on the face of Moses because of the radiance of his face—a radiance that was fading away—

8 how much greater will the glory be of the ministry that belongs to the Spirit?

9 For if the ministry that resulted in condemnation possessed glory, far more does the ministry that brings righteousness overflow with glory.

10 Indeed, what once had glory has come to have no glory by comparison, because of the surpassing glory that now eclipses it.

11 For if what was temporary came with glory, how much more does what is permanent remain in glory?

12 Therefore, since we have such a hope, we speak with great boldness,

13 and not as Moses did, who placed a veil over his face so that the sons of Israel would not gaze intently at the outcome of what was passing away.

14 But their minds were hardened. For to this very day, the same veil remains unlifted when the old covenant is read, because it is only in Christ that it is removed.

15 Indeed, to this day, whenever Moses is read, a veil lies over their heart;

16 but whenever a person turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away.

17 Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is present, there is freedom.

18 And we all, with faces uncovered, reflecting the glory of the Lord as in a mirror, are continually being transformed into the same image, moving from one degree of glory to another, just as this transformation comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.

Currently Selected:

2 Corinthians 3: AFINTEXP

Highlight

Copy

Compare