2 Corinthians 3
1 Are we beginning to commend ourselves again? Do we need, as some do, letters of recommendation to you or letters of recommendation from you?
DO we begin again to commend ourselves? or need we, as some others, epistles of commendation to you, or letters of commendation from you?
2 You are our letter, written on our hearts, known and read by all.
Ye are our epistle written in our hearts, known and read of all men:
3 You show that you are a letter from Christ, delivered by us, written not with ink, but with the Spirit of the living God, not on stone tablets, but on tablets of human hearts.
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.
4 Such is the confidence that we have in God through Christ.
And such trust have we through Christ to God-ward:
5 Not that we are competent in and of ourselves to claim that anything comes from us, but our competence comes from God.
Not that we are sufficient of ourselves to think any thing as of ourselves; but our sufficiency is of God;
6 He has made us competent to be ministers of a new covenant, not of the letter, but of the Spirit. For the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.
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.
7 Now if the ministry of death, which was engraved in letters on stone, came with glory, so that the sons of Israel could not gaze at the face of Moses because of its glory (a glory that was fading away),
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:
8 will not the ministry of the Spirit be even more glorious?
How shall not the ministration of the spirit be rather glorious?
9 For if the ministry of condemnation was glorious, the ministry of righteousness abounds in glory even more.
For if the ministration of condemnation be glory, much more doth the ministration of righteousness exceed in glory.
10 For what was once glorious now has no glory in comparison with the glory that surpasses it.
For even that which was made glorious had no glory in this respect, by reason of the glory that excelleth.
11 And if what was fading away came with glory, what remains will be even more glorious.
For if that which is done away was glorious, much more that which remaineth is glorious.
12 Therefore, since we have such a hope, we act with great boldness.
Seeing then that we have such hope, we use great plainness of speech:
13 We are not like Moses, who would put a veil over his face so that the sons of Israel would not gaze at the end of what was fading away.
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:
14 But their minds were hardened, for to this day the same veil remains unlifted when the old covenant is read. Only in Christ is this veil taken away.
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.
15 But to this day, when Moses is read, a veil lies over their hearts.
But even unto this day, when Moses is read, the vail is upon their heart.
16 But whenever someone turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away.
Nevertheless when it shall turn to the Lord, the vail shall be taken away.
17 Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.
Now the Lord is that Spirit: and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty.
18 And we all, with unveiled faces reflecting the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another; this comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.
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.
