Reflections on 2 Corinthians 3

2 Corinthians 03 (Contemporary English Version)


1. Are we once again bragging about ourselves? Do we need letters to you or from you to tell others about us? Some people do need letters that tell about them.
2. But you are our letter, and you are in our hearts for everyone to read and understand.
3. You are like a letter written by Christ and delivered by us. But you are not written with pen and ink or on tablets made of stone. You are written in our hearts by the Spirit of the living God.
4. We are sure about all this. Christ makes us sure in the very presence of God.
5. We don't have the right to claim that we have done anything on our own. God gives us what it takes to do all that we do.
6. He makes us worthy to be the servants of his new agreement that comes from the Holy Spirit and not from a written Law. After all, the Law brings death, but the Spirit brings life.
7. The Law of Moses brought only the promise of death, even though it was carved on stones and given in a wonderful way. Still the Law made Moses' face shine so brightly that the people of Israel could not look at it, even though it was a fading glory.
8. So won't the agreement that the Spirit brings to us be even more wonderful?
9. If something that brings the death sentence is glorious, won't something that makes us acceptable to God be even more glorious?
10. In fact, the new agreement is so wonderful that the Law is no longer glorious at all.
11. The Law was given with a glory that faded away. But the glory of the new agreement is much greater, because it will never fade away.
12. This wonderful hope makes us feel like speaking freely.
13. We are not like Moses. His face was shining, but he covered it to keep the people of Israel from seeing the brightness fade away.
14. The people were stubborn, and something still keeps them from seeing the truth when the Law is read. Only Christ can take away the covering that keeps them from seeing.
15. When the Law of Moses is read, they have their minds covered over
16. with a covering that is removed only for those who turn to the Lord.
17. The Lord and the Spirit are one and the same, and the Lord's Spirit sets us free.
18. So our faces are not covered. They show the bright glory of the Lord, as the Lord's Spirit makes us more and more like our glorious Lord.
    
    

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    Paul, in this chapter, moves from defending himself to a defense of the gospel. We assume the charges against Paul by the defense he gives of himself, and from 3:1 we gather that he was accused of commending himself rather than being commended by letters of recommendation. It was common practice to carry letters of recommendation that would commend a person to a group of people, thus affirming their character, etc. But letters could be false as were the teachers who were accusing Paul. However, Paul's letter of recommendation was the Corinthians themselves. That the Corinthians were Christians was apparent, and since it was Paul's preaching that led them to Christ, they were the evidence of his ministry. As Paul stated it, "you are Christ's letter, produced by us, not written with ink but with the Spirit of the living God." (3:3)
    
    The remainder of the chapter is directed toward the gospel that Paul preached. Again, drawing from Paul's defense, we assume what he was countering. Paul was defending the new covenant he preached which suggests that his accusers were teaching the old covenant, which also suggests they were likely Judaisers. The new covenant, he says, is of the Spirit while the old covenant if of the letter. Furthermore, he says the letter kills while the Spirit produces life. If the Corinthians thought the differences between the old and new covenants were only in nuance, that is, in subtle distinctions, Paul made it plain that the differences were huge, as huge as life and death.
    
    Another distinction Paul made between the old and new covenants was that the old was a ministry of condemnation while the new was a ministry of righteousness. Paul used the glory of Moses' face as an illustration of the distinctions between the two covenants. When Moses delivered the law, his face shown with the glory of God from being in His presence. As the glory of Moses' face faded, so did the glory of the old covenant. It was never intended to be permanent. The Judaisers were trying to hold onto something that was temporary while the gospel of Jesus Christ offered something that was permanent, the glory of which far surpasses that of the temporary old covenant.
    
    Paul took this illustration a step further. Whereas Moses "put a veil over his face so that the sons of Israel could not look at the end of what was fading away," even to Paul's day (and today) "at the reading of the old covenant, the same veil remains; it is not lifted, because it is set aside only in Christ." (3:13-14) Those who hold to the old covenant have a veil over their eyes that hides their view of the glory of God as seen through Christ Jesus, who is the only way.