2 Corinthians 3
1 Are we beginning to commend ourselves again? Or do we need, like some people, letters of recommendation to you or from you?
Am I beginning again to "recommend" myself? Or do I need, as some do, letters of commendation either to you or from you?
2 You yourselves are our letter, inscribed on our hearts, known and read by everyone.
You are my letter, written on my heart, known and read by all men.
3 It 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.
Since all can see that you are a letter of Christ transcribed by men, written not with ink, but with the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone, but on human hearts as tablets.
4 Such confidence before God is ours through Christ.
Such confidence I have through Christ before God.
5 Not that we are competent in ourselves to claim that anything comes from us, but our competence comes from God.
Not that I am sufficient in myself to reach any conclusion in my own wisdom; but my sufficiency is from God.
6 And 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.
It is he who has also made me sufficient as a minister of a new covenant; not of a letter but of a spirit; for the letter kills, but the spirit makes alive.
7 Now 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,
If, however, the administration of death, written with letters and engraved on stones, began in glory, so that the children of Israel could not gaze steadily on the face of Moses, because of the glory of his face - a glory even then fading -
8 will not the ministry of the Spirit be even more glorious?
how much more shall the ministry of the Spirit abide in glory?
9 For if the ministry of condemnation was glorious, how much more glorious is the ministry of righteousness!
For if the ministry of condemnation had glory, far more is the ministry of righteousness radiant in glory.
10 Indeed, what was once glorious has no glory now in comparison to the glory that surpasses it.
Indeed that which once was glorious has lost its glory, because of the glory which surpasses it.
11 For if what was fading away came with glory, how much greater is the glory of that which endures!
For if that which was fading came in glory, far more will that which ever abides be glorious.
12 Therefore, since we have such a hope, we are very bold.
Therefore, cherishing such a hope, I use great freedom of speech.
13 We 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.
I do not do as Moses did, who used to cover his face with a veil to keep the children of Israel from beholding the passing of a fading glory.
14 But 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.
Nay, their minds were made dull; for to this very day, at the public reading of the Old Testament, the same veil rests thereon, because it is not revealed to them that in Christ the veil is taken away.
15 And even to this day when Moses is read, a veil covers their hearts.
Yes, to this very day, whenever Moses is read, a veil lies on their hearts;
16 But whenever anyone turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away.
but when their heart turns to our Lord the veil is stripped away.
17 Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.
(The Lord means the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord abides there is freedom.)
18 And 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.
And we all, with unveiled faces, reflecting like a mirror the glory of the Lord, are ourselves continually being transformed into the same likeness, from glory to glory, as by the Lord, the Spirit.
