2 Corinthians 3

Ministers of a New Covenant

1 Are we beginning to 1commend ourselves again? Or do we need, as some, 2letters of commendation to you or from you?
2 3You are our letter, written in our hearts, known and read by all men;
3 being manifested that you are a letter of Christ, 4cared for by us, written not with ink but with the Spirit of 5the living God, not on 6tablets of stone but on 7tablets of 8human hearts.
4 Such 9confidence we have through Christ toward God.
5 Not that we are adequate in ourselves to consider anything as coming from ourselves, but 10our adequacy is from God,
6 who also made us adequate as 11servants of a 12new covenant, not of 13the letter but of the Spirit; for the letter kills, but 14the Spirit gives life.
7 But if the 15ministry of death, 16in letters engraved on stones, came with glory, 17so that the sons of Israel could not look intently at the face of Moses because of the glory of his face, fading as it was,
8 how will the ministry of the Spirit fail to be even more with glory?
9 For if 18the ministry of condemnation has glory, much more does the 19ministry of righteousness abound in glory.
10 For indeed what had glory, in this case has no glory because of the glory that surpasses it.
11 For if that which fades away was with glory, much more that which remains is in glory.
12 20Therefore having such a hope, 21we use great boldness in our speech,
13 and are not like Moses, 22who used to put a veil over his face so that the sons of Israel would not look intently at the end of what was fading away.
14 But their minds were 23hardened; for until this very day at the 24reading of 25the old covenant the same veil remains unlifted, because it is removed in Christ.
15 But to this day whenever * Moses is read, a veil lies over their heart;
16 26but whenever * a person turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away.
17 Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where 27the Spirit of the Lord is, 28there is liberty.
18 But we all, with unveiled face, 29beholding as in a mirror the 30glory of the Lord, are being 31transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as from 32the Lord, the Spirit.

Images for 2 Corinthians 3

Cross References 32

  • 1. 2 Corinthians 5:12; 2 Corinthians 10:12, 18; 2 Corinthians 12:11
  • 2. Acts 18:27; 1 Corinthians 16:3
  • 3. 1 Corinthians 9:2
  • 4. 2 Corinthians 3:6
  • 5. Matthew 16:16
  • 6. Exodus 24:12; Exodus 31:18; Exodus 32:15; 2 Corinthians 3:7
  • 7. Proverbs 3:3; Proverbs 7:3; Jeremiah 17:1
  • 8. Jeremiah 31:33; Ezekiel 11:19; Ezekiel 36:26
  • 9. Ephesians 3:12
  • 10. 1 Corinthians 15:10
  • 11. 1 Corinthians 3:5
  • 12. Jeremiah 31:31; Luke 22:20
  • 13. Romans 2:29
  • 14. John 6:63; Romans 7:6
  • 15. Romans 4:15; Romans 5:20; Romans 7:5; 2 Corinthians 3:9; Galatians 3:10, 21
  • 16. Exodus 24:12; Exodus 31:18; Exodus 32:15; 2 Corinthians 3:3
  • 17. Exodus 34:29-35; 2 Corinthians 3:13
  • 18. Deuteronomy 27:26; 2 Corinthians 3:7; Hebrews 12:18-21
  • 19. Romans 1:17; Romans 3:21
  • 20. 2 Corinthians 7:4
  • 21. Acts 4:13, 29; 2 Corinthians 7:4; Ephesians 6:19; 1 Thessalonians 2:2
  • 22. Exodus 34:33-35; 2 Corinthians 3:7
  • 23. Romans 11:7; 2 Corinthians 4:4
  • 24. Acts 13:15
  • 25. 2 Corinthians 3:6
  • 26. Exodus 34:34; Romans 11:23
  • 27. Isaiah 61:1; Galatians 4:6
  • 28. John 8:32; Galatians 5:1, 13
  • 29. 1 Corinthians 13:12
  • 30. John 17:22, 24; 2 Corinthians 4:4, 6
  • 31. Romans 8:29
  • 32. 2 Corinthians 3:17

Footnotes 5

  • [a]. Lit "served"
  • [b]. Lit "hearts of flesh"
  • [c]. Or "in glory"
  • [d]. Lit "through"
  • [e]. Or "remains, it not being revealed that it is done away in Christ"

2 Corinthians 3 Commentaries

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