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?
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 are our letter, written on our hearts, known and read by all.
You are my letter, written on my heart, known and read by 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.
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 is the confidence that we have in God through Christ.
Such confidence I have through Christ before God.
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 I am sufficient in myself to reach any conclusion in my own wisdom; but my sufficiency is from 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.
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 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),
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, the ministry of righteousness abounds in glory even more.
For if the ministry of condemnation had glory, far more is the ministry of righteousness radiant in glory.
10 For what was once glorious now has no glory in comparison with the glory that surpasses it.
Indeed that which once was glorious has lost its glory, because of the glory which surpasses it.
11 And if what was fading away came with glory, what remains will be even more glorious.
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 act with great boldness.
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 so that the sons of Israel would not gaze 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 hardened, for to this day the same veil remains unlifted when the old covenant is read. Only in Christ is this veil taken away.
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 But to this day, when Moses is read, a veil lies over their hearts.
Yes, to this very day, whenever Moses is read, a veil lies on their hearts;
16 But whenever someone 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 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.
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.
