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
Servants of the New Covenant
1Does this sound as if we were again boasting about ourselves? Could it be that, like some other people, we need letters of recommendation to you or from you? 2You yourselves are the letter we have, written on our hearts for everyone to know and read. 3#Ex 24.12; Jer 31.33; Ezek 11.19; 36.26It is clear that Christ himself wrote this letter and sent it by us. It is written, not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God, and not on stone tablets but on human hearts.
4We say this because we have confidence in God through Christ. 5There is nothing in us that allows us to claim that we are capable of doing this work. The capacity we have comes from God; 6#Jer 31.31it is he who made us capable of serving the new covenant, which consists not of a written law but of the Spirit. The written law brings death, but the Spirit gives life.
7 #
Ex 34.29
The Law was carved in letters on stone tablets, and God's glory appeared when it was given. Even though the brightness on Moses' face was fading, it was so strong that the people of Israel could not keep their eyes fixed on him. If the Law, which brings death when it is in force, came with such glory, 8how much greater is the glory that belongs to the activity of the Spirit! 9The system which brings condemnation was glorious; how much more glorious is the activity which brings salvation! 10We may say that because of the far brighter glory now the glory that was so bright in the past is gone. 11For if there was glory in that which lasted for a while, how much more glory is there in that which lasts for ever!
12Because we have this hope, we are very bold. 13#Ex 34.33We are not like Moses, who had to put a veil over his face so that the people of Israel would not see the brightness fade and disappear. 14Their minds, indeed, were closed; and to this very day their minds are covered with the same veil as they read the books of the old covenant. The veil is removed only when a person is joined to Christ. 15Even today, whenever they read the Law of Moses, the veil still covers their minds. 16#Ex 34.34But it can be removed, as the scripture says about Moses: “His veil was removed when he turned to the Lord.”#3.16 Verse 16 may be translated: But the veil is removed whenever someone turns to the Lord. 17Now, “the Lord” in this passage is the Spirit; and where the Spirit of the Lord is present, there is freedom. 18All of us, then, reflect the glory of the Lord with uncovered faces; and that same glory, coming from the Lord, who is the Spirit, transforms us into his likeness in an ever greater degree of glory.
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Good News Bible. Scripture taken from the Good News Bible (r) (Today's English Version Second Edition, UK/British Edition). Copyright © 1992 British & Foreign Bible Society. Used by permission.