2 Corinthians 3
Berean Standard Bible · Compare translations · AD 55 – AD 56 · The early church · Tap a verse to copy, share or highlight ·
18 verses · 372 words · ~2 min read · ~2 min listen
Ministers of a New Covenant
1Are we beginning to commend ourselves again? Or do we need, like some people, letters of recommendation to you or from you? 2You yourselves are our letter, inscribed on our hearts, known and read by everyone. 3It is clear that you are a letter from Christ, the result of our ministry, written not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of human hearts.
4Such confidence before God is ours through Christ. 5Not that we are competent in ourselves to claim that anything comes from us, but our competence comes from God. 6And He has qualified us as ministers of a new covenant, not of the letter but of the Spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.
The Glory of the New Covenant
7Now if the ministry of death, which was engraved in letters on stone, came with such glory that the Israelites could not gaze at the face of Moses because of its fleeting glory, 8will not the ministry of the Spirit be even more glorious? 9For if the ministry of condemnation was glorious, how much more glorious is the ministry of righteousness! 10Indeed, what was once glorious has no glory now in comparison to the glory that surpasses it. 11For if what was fading away came with glory, how much greater is the glory of that which endures!
12Therefore, since we have such a hope, we are very bold. 13We are not like Moses, who would put a veil over his face to keep the Israelites from gazing at the end of what was fading away.
14But their minds were closed. For to this day the same veil remains at the reading of the old covenant. It has not been lifted, because only in Christ can it be removed. 15And even to this day when Moses is read, a veil covers their hearts. 16But whenever anyone turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away.
17Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. 18And we, who with unveiled faces all reflect the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into His image with intensifying glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.
Study notes on this chapter · 1
Moses' veil and the new covenant
Moses' face shone after meeting God and he covered it with a veil. Paul uses the scene to contrast the old covenant's fading glory with the lasting glory of the Spirit, and says a veil still lies over hearts when Moses is read until one turns to the Lord.
When: Sinai (traditionally c. 1446 or c. 1250 BC); 2 Corinthians, c. AD 55–56.
Ways people read this (2)
- Paul contrasts two ministries: the old one, which condemned and was passing away, and the new one, which gives life.
- Some see the contrast as one of degree (surpassing glory), not a rejection of the Law, which Paul calls holy in Romans 7:12.
Editorial note by BibleWay. Interpretations vary; dates are approximate scholarly estimates.