2 Corinthians 3
18 verses
The question of letters of recommendation leads to the revolutionary claim that the Corinthians themselves are Paul's letter, 'written on human hearts, known and read by all' and authored 'by the Spirit of the living God' rather than ink and stone—inverting the credentials game by making the community itself the evidence of apostolic legitimacy. The new covenant contrast between letter (gramma) and Spirit structures the chapter's central theological move: the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life, positioning Paul's ministry within the prophetic vision of Jeremiah's new covenant (Jer 31:33). The veil imagery drawn from Exodus 34—the fading glory on Moses' face and the veil over the hearts of those reading the old covenant—signals the obsolescence of the old order, yet with profound ambiguity about Israel's spiritual condition. The turning point—'when anyone turns to the Lord the veil is removed'—opens the possibility of covenant renewal and suggests that the veil reflects not divine action but human refusal. The identification of 'the Lord' with 'the Spirit' ('now the Lord is the Spirit') represents a remarkable Christological claim: where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom, freedom from the letter's condemnation and from the veil's obscuring power. The final movement—'all of us beholding the glory of the Lord are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another by the Lord, the Spirit'—presents Christian existence as transformation into Christ-likeness, the mirror in which the Spirit's metamorphosis occurs continuously (katoptrizō). This chapter defends the validity of Paul's non-letter based ministry while establishing the Spirit as the agent of new covenant transformation.
VERSES IN THIS CHAPTER
1
Do we begin again to commend ourselves? or need we, as some others, epistles of commendation to you, or letters of commendation from you?
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2
Ye are our epistle written in our hearts, known and read of all men:
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3
Forasmuch as ye are manifestly declared to be the epistle of Christ ministered by us, written not with ink, but with the Spirit of the living God; not in tables of stone, but in fleshy tables of the heart.
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4
And such trust have we through Christ to God-ward:
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5
Not that we are sufficient of ourselves to think any thing as of ourselves; but our sufficiency is of God;
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6
Who also hath made us able ministers of the new testament; not of the letter, but of the spirit: for the letter killeth, but the spirit giveth life.
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7
But if the ministration of death, written and engraven in stones, was glorious, so that the children of Israel could not stedfastly behold the face of Moses for the glory of his countenance; which glory was to be done away:
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8
How shall not the ministration of the spirit be rather glorious?
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9
For if the ministration of condemnation be glory, much more doth the ministration of righteousness exceed in glory.
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10
For even that which was made glorious had no glory in this respect, by reason of the glory that excelleth.
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11
For if that which is done away was glorious, much more that which remaineth is glorious.
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The promise here is not conditional on our strength but on His character.. God is faithful in every circumstance.. God i...
12
Seeing then that we have such hope, we use great plainness of speech:
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13
And not as Moses, which put a vail over his face, that the children of Israel could not stedfastly look to the end of that which is abolished:
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14
But their minds were blinded: for until this day remaineth the same vail untaken away in the reading of the old testament; which vail is done away in Christ.
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15
But even unto this day, when Moses is read, the vail is upon their heart.
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16
Nevertheless when it shall turn to the Lord, the vail shall be taken away.
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17
Now the Lord is that Spirit: and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty.
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18
But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord.
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