2 Corinthians 3
3
Living Letters
1Are we beginning to commend ourselves again? Or do we need, like some, letters of recommendation to you or from you? 2You yourselves are our letter, written on our hearts, recognized and read by everyone. # 1Co 9:2 3It is clear that you are Christ’s letter, # Phm 13 produced # Lit ministered to by us, not written with ink but with the Spirit of the living God # Dt 5:26 — not on stone tablets # Ex 24:12 but on tablets that are hearts of flesh. # Pr 3:3; 7:3; Jr 17:1; 31:33; Ezk 11:19; 36:26; Heb 8:10
Paul’s Competence
4We have this kind of confidence toward God through Christ. 5It is not that we are competent in # Lit from ourselves to consider anything as coming from ourselves, but our competence is from God. # 1Co 15:10 6He has made us competent to be ministers of a new covenant, # Lk 22:20; Heb 7:22 not of the letter, # Rm 7:6 but of the Spirit. For the letter kills, but the Spirit produces life.
New Covenant Ministry
7Now if the ministry of death, chiseled in letters on stones, came with glory, # Ex 34:29-35; Mk 10:37; Lk 9:32; Jn 17:24; 2Co 3:18; 2Pt 3:18 so that the Israelites were not able to look directly at Moses’ face because of the glory from his face — a fading glory — 8how will the ministry of the Spirit not be more glorious? 9For if the ministry of condemnation had glory, the ministry of righteousness overflows with even more glory. 10In fact, what had been glorious is not glorious now by comparison because of the glory that surpasses it. 11For if what was fading away # Heb 2:14 was glorious, what endures will be even more glorious.
12Therefore, having such a hope, # 1Th 1:3 we use great boldness. 13We are not like Moses, who used to put a veil over his face # Ex 34:33 so that the Israelites could not stare at the end of what was fading away, 14but their minds were closed. # Lit their thoughts were hardened # Mk 8:17; Heb 3:13 For to this day, at the reading of the old covenant, # Ac 13:15; 15:21; Heb 7:22 the same veil remains; it is not lifted, because it is set aside only in Christ. # Rm 16:7; 1Pt 5:14 15Even to this day, whenever Moses is read, a veil lies over their hearts, 16but whenever a person turns # 1Pt 2:25 to the Lord, the veil is removed. # Ex 34:34 17Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. 18We all, with unveiled faces, are looking as in a mirror at # Or are reflecting # 1Co 13:12 the glory of the Lord # Jn 17:24; 2Co 1:20; 4:4-6; 1Tm 1:11,17 and are being transformed # Mk 9:2 into the same image # Gn 1:27; 1Jn 3:2 from glory to glory; # Progressive glorification or sanctification this is from the Lord who is the Spirit. # Or from the Spirit of the Lord, or from the Lord, the Spirit
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© 1999, 2000, 2002, 2003, 2009 by Holman Bible Publishers, Nashville, Tennessee. All rights reserved.
2 Corinthians 3
3
Guided by the love of Christ
God's new agreement
1Are we once again boasting about ourselves? Do we need letters to you or from you to tell others about us? Some people do need letters that tell about them. 2But you are our letter, and you are in our#3.2 our: Some manuscripts have “your”. hearts for everyone to read and understand. 3You are like a letter written by Christ and delivered by us. But you are not written with pen and ink or on tablets made of stone. You are written in our hearts by the Spirit of the living God.#Ex 24.12; Jr 31.33; Ez 11.19; 36.26.
4We are sure about all this. Christ makes us sure in the very presence of God. 5We don't have the right to claim that we have done anything on our own. God gives us what it takes to do all that we do. 6He makes us worthy to be the servants of his new agreement that comes from the Holy Spirit and not from a written Law. After all, the Law brings death, but the Spirit brings life.#Jr 31.31.
7The Law of Moses brought only the promise of death, even though it was carved on stones and given in a wonderful way. Still the Law made Moses' face shine so brightly that the people of Israel could not look at it, even though it was a fading glory.#Ex 34.29. 8So won't the agreement that the Spirit brings to us be even more wonderful? 9If something that brings the death sentence is glorious, won't something that makes us acceptable to God be even more glorious? 10In fact, the new agreement is so wonderful that the Law is no longer glorious at all. 11The Law was given with a glory that faded away. But the glory of the new agreement is much greater, because it will never fade away.
12This wonderful hope makes us feel like speaking freely. 13We are not like Moses. His face was shining, but he covered it to keep the people of Israel from seeing the brightness fade away.#Ex 34.33. 14The people were stubborn, and something still keeps them from seeing the truth when the Law is read. Only Christ can take away the covering that keeps them from seeing.
15When the Law of Moses is read, they have their minds covered over 16with a covering that is removed only for those who turn to the Lord.#Ex 34.34. 17The Lord and the Spirit are one and the same, and the Lord's Spirit sets us free. 18So our faces are not covered. They show the bright glory of the Lord, as the Lord's Spirit makes us more and more like our glorious Lord.
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