2 Corinthians 3
1 Are we beginning to praise ourselves again? We do not need letters of recommendation to you or from you, like some people, do we?
Do we begin again to commend ourselves? Or do we need (as some do) epistles of commendation to you, or from you?
2 You yourselves are our letter of recommendation, written on our hearts, known and read by all people.
You are our epistle, written in our hearts, which is known and read by all men:
3 You show that you are a letter from Christ, delivered by us. It was written not with ink but by the Spirit of the living God. It was not written on tablets of stone, but on tablets of human hearts.
Being manifested, that you are the epistle of Christ, ministered by us, and written not with ink, but with the Spirit of the living God; not in tables of stone, but in the fleshly tables of the heart.
4 And this is the confidence that we have through Christ before God.
And such confidence we have, through Christ, towards God.
5 We are not competent in ourselves to claim anything as coming from us. Instead, our competence is from God.
Not that we are sufficient to think any thing of ourselves, as of ourselves: but our sufficiency is from God.
6 It is God who made us able to be servants of a new covenant. This is a covenant not of the letter but of the Spirit. For the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.
Who also hath made us fit ministers of the new testament, not in the letter, but in the spirit. For the letter killeth, but the spirit quickeneth.
7 Now the service that produced death—engraved in letters on stones—came in such glory that the people of Israel could not look directly at Moses' face. This is because of the glory of his face, a glory that was fading.
Now if the ministration of death, engraven with letters upon stones, was glorious; so that the children of Israel could not steadfastly behold the face of Moses, for the glory of his countenance, which is made void:
8 How much more glorious will be the service that the Spirit does?
How shall not the ministration of the spirit be rather in glory?
9 For if the service of condemnation had glory, how much more does the service of righteousness abound in glory!
For if the ministration of condemnation be glory, much more the ministration of justice aboundeth in glory.
10 For indeed, that which was once made glorious is no longer glorious in this respect, because of the glory that exceeds it.
For even that which was glorious in this part was not glorified, by reason of the glory that excelleth.
11 For if that which was passing away had glory, how much more will what is permanent have glory!
For if that which is done away was glorious, much more that which remaineth is in glory.
12 Since we have such a hope, we are very bold.
Having therefore such hope, we use much confidence:
13 We are not like Moses, who put a veil over his face, so that the people of Israel were not able to look directly at the ending of a glory that was passing away.
And not as Moses put a veil upon his face, that the children of Israel might not steadfastly look on the face of that which is made void.
14 But their minds were closed. For to this day, when they read the old covenant, that same veil remains. It has not been removed, because only in Christ is it taken away.
But their senses were made dull. For, until this present day, the selfsame veil, in the reading of the old testament, remaineth not taken away (because in Christ it is made void).
15 But even today, whenever Moses is read, a veil covers their hearts.
But even until this day, when Moses is read, the veil is upon their heart.
16 But when a person turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away.
But when they shall be converted to the Lord, the veil shall be taken away.
17 Now the Lord is the Spirit. Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.
Now the Lord is a Spirit. And where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty.
18 Now all of us, with unveiled faces, see the glory of the Lord. We are being transformed into the same glorious likeness from one degree of glory into another, just as from the Lord, who is the Spirit.
But we all beholding the glory of the Lord with open face, are transformed into the same image from glory to glory, as by the Spirit of the Lord.
