2 Corinthians 3
1 Are we beginning again to commend ourselves? Or do we need, as do some, letters of commendation to you or from you?
Are we beginning to commend ourselves again? Or are we like some who need letters of commendation to you, or from you?
2 You are our letter, written in our hearts, known and read by all men,
You yourselves are our letter — a letter written on our hearts, and one which everybody can read and understand.
3 being revealed that you are a letter of Christ, served by us, written not with ink, but with the Spirit of the living God; not in tablets of stone, but in tablets that are hearts of flesh.
All can see that you are a letter from Christ delivered by us, a letter written, not with ink, but with the Spirit of the Living God, not on ‘tablets of stone,’ but on ‘tablets of human hearts.’
4 Such confidence we have through Christ toward God,
This, then, is the confidence in regard to God that we have gained through the Christ.
5 not that we are sufficient of ourselves to account anything as from ourselves; but our sufficiency is from God,
I do not mean that we are fit to form any judgment by ourselves, as if on our own authority;
6 who also made us sufficient as servants of a new covenant, not of the letter but of the Spirit. For the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.
our fitness comes from God, who himself made us fit to be ministers of a New Covenant, of which the substance is, not a written Law, but a Spirit. For the written Law means Death, but the Spirit gives Life.
7 But if the service of death, written engraved on stones, came with glory, so that the children of Israel could not look steadfastly on the face of Moses for the glory of his face, which was passing away,
If the system of religion which involved Death, embodied in a written Law and engraved on stones, began amid such glory, that the Israelites were unable to gaze at the face of Moses on account of its glory, though it was but a passing glory,
8 will not service of the Spirit be with much more glory?
will not the religion that confers the Spirit have still greater glory?
9 For if the service of condemnation has glory, the service of righteousness exceeds much more in glory.
For, if there was a glory in the religion that involved condemnation, far greater is the glory of the religion that confers righteousness!
10 For most certainly that which has been made glorious has not been made glorious in this respect, by reason of the glory that surpasses.
Indeed, that which then had glory has lost its glory, because of the glory which surpasses it.
11 For if that which passes away was with glory, much more that which remains is in glory.
And, if that which was to pass away was attended with glory, far more will that which is to endure be surrounded with glory!
12 Having therefore such a hope, we use great boldness of speech,
With such a hope as this, we speak with all plainness;
13 and not as Moses, who put a veil on his face so that the children of Israel would not look steadfastly on the end of that which was passing away.
unlike Moses, who covered his face with a veil, to prevent the Israelites from gazing at the disappearance of what was passing away.
14 But their minds were hardened, for until this very day at the reading of the old covenant the same veil remains, because in Christ it passes away.
But their minds were slow to learn. Indeed, to this very day, at the public reading of the Old Covenant, the same veil remains unlifted; only for those who are in union with Christ does it pass away.
15 But to this day, when Moses is read, a veil lies on their heart.
But, even to this day, whenever Moses is read, a veil lies on their hearts.
16 But whenever someone turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away.
‘Yet, whenever a man turns to the Lord, the veil is removed.’
17 Now the Lord is the Spirit; and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty.
And the ‘Lord’ is the Spirit, and, where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.
18 But we all, with unveiled face seeing the glory of the Lord as in a mirror, are transformed into the same image from glory to glory, even as from the Lord, the Spirit.
And all of us, with faces from which the veil is lifted, seeing, as if reflected in a mirror, the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into his likeness, from glory to glory, as it is given by the Lord, the Spirit.
