In 2 Corinthians Chapter 3, Paul defends his ministry by explaining that he needs no letters of recommendation, since the transformed lives of the Corinthians themselves serve as evidence of his authentic apostleship. He describes the believers as a letter written by Christ, not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God, engraved not on stone but on human hearts. This introduces Paul’s broader theme of contrasting the old covenant, associated with the law written on stone tablets, with the new covenant, which brings life through the Spirit.
Paul then develops a detailed comparison between the ministry of Moses under the old covenant and the ministry of the Spirit under the new covenant. He recalls how Moses’ face shone with glory after receiving the law, so much that he had to wear a veil, yet that glory was temporary and eventually faded. Paul contrasts this fading glory with the greater, permanent glory found in the gospel of Christ. He explains that when people turn to the Lord, the veil is removed, allowing them to see clearly and be transformed. The chapter concludes with the powerful truth that believers, beholding the glory of the Lord with unveiled faces, are progressively transformed into His likeness by the Spirit.
Chapter 3 (BBE)
1 Do we seem to be again attempting to put ourselves in the right? or have we need, as some have, of letters of approval to you or from you?
2 You yourselves are our letter, whose writing is in our heart, open for every man’s reading and knowledge;
3 For you are clearly a letter of Christ, the fruit of our work, recorded not with ink, but with the Spirit of the living God; not in stone, but in hearts of flesh.
4 And this is the certain faith which we have in God through Christ:
5 Not as if we were able by ourselves to do anything for which we might take the credit; but our power comes from God;
6 Who has made us able to be servants of a new agreement; not of the letter, but of the Spirit: for the letter gives death, but the Spirit gives life.
7 For if the operation of the law, giving death, recorded in letters on stone, came with glory, so that the eyes of the children of Israel had to be turned away from the face of Moses because of its glory, a glory which was only for a time:
8 Will not the operation of the Spirit have a much greater glory?
9 For if the operation of the law, producing punishment, had its glory, how much greater will be the operation of the Spirit causing righteousness?
10 For the glory of the first no longer seems to be glory, because of the greater glory of that which comes after.
11 For if the order which was for a time had its glory, much more will the eternal order have its glory.
13 And are not like Moses, who put a veil on his face, so that the children of Israel might not see clearly to the end of the present order of things:
14 But their minds were made hard: for to this very day at the reading of the old agreement the same veil is still unlifted; though it is taken away in Christ.
15 But to this day, at the reading of the law of Moses, a veil is over their heart.
16 But when it is turned to the Lord, the veil will be taken away.
17 Now the Lord is the Spirit: and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there the heart is free.
18 But we all, with unveiled face giving back as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as from the Lord who is the Spirit.
Important Verses
Verse 3 Paul describes the Corinthians as a letter from Christ, written by the Spirit on human hearts rather than on stone.
Verse 6 He explains that the new covenant is not based on the letter of the law but on the life giving Spirit.
Verse 14 Paul notes that a veil remains over the minds of those who read the old covenant without turning to Christ.
Verse 17 He affirms that where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.
Verse 18 Paul teaches that believers, reflecting the Lord’s glory with unveiled faces, are transformed into His likeness by the Spirit.
