2 Corinthians 3
1 Do we begin again to commend ourselves? or need we, as some [others], epistles of commendation to you, or [letters] of commendation from you?
Are we beginning to praise ourselves again? We do not need letters of recommendation to you or from you, like some people, do we?
2 Ye are our epistle written in our hearts, known and read of all men:
You yourselves are our letter of recommendation, written on our hearts, known and read by all people.
3 [Forasmuch as ye are] manifestly declared to be the epistle of Christ ministered by us, written not with ink, but with the Spirit of the living God; not in tables of stone, but in fleshy tables of the heart.
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.
4 And such trust have we through Christ to God-ward:
And this is the confidence that we have through Christ before God.
5 Not that we are sufficient of ourselves to think any thing as of ourselves; but our sufficiency [is] of God;
We are not competent in ourselves to claim anything as coming from us. Instead, our competence is from God.
6 Who also hath made us able ministers of the new testament; not of the letter, but of the spirit: for the letter killeth, but the spirit giveth life.
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.
7 But if the ministration of death, written [and] engraven in stones, was glorious, so that the children of Israel could not stedfastly behold the face of Moses for the glory of his countenance; which [glory] was to be done away:
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.
8 How shall not the ministration of the spirit be rather glorious?
How much more glorious will be the service that the Spirit does?
9 For if the ministration of condemnation [be] glory, much more doth the ministration of righteousness exceed in glory.
For if the service of condemnation had glory, how much more does the service of righteousness abound in glory!
10 For even that which was made glorious had no glory in this respect, by reason of the glory that excelleth.
For indeed, that which was once made glorious is no longer glorious in this respect, because of the glory that exceeds it.
11 For if that which is done away [was] glorious, much more that which remaineth [is] glorious.
For if that which was passing away had glory, how much more will what is permanent have glory!
12 Seeing then that we have such hope, we use great plainness of speech:
Since we have such a hope, we are very bold.
13 And not as Moses, [which] put a vail over his face, that the children of Israel could not stedfastly look to the end of that which is abolished:
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.
14 But their minds were blinded: for until this day remaineth the same vail untaken away in the reading of the old testament; which [vail] is done away in Christ.
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.
15 But even unto this day, when Moses is read, the vail is upon their heart.
But even today, whenever Moses is read, a veil covers their hearts.
16 Nevertheless when it shall turn to the Lord, the vail shall be taken away.
But when a person turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away.
17 Now the Lord is that Spirit: and where the Spirit of the Lord [is], there [is] liberty.
Now the Lord is the Spirit. Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.
18 But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, [even] as by the Spirit of the Lord.
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.
