The big picture
Questions about trust lead to questions about proof. Paul, the messenger writing this letter, asks whether he needs a letter of support. The believers themselves show what his work has done. Christ, the Lord whose message Paul brings, has changed their lives through God’s Spirit. Paul then compares that work with the law once given on stone. He explains why his hope in this new bond with God lets him speak openly.
In this chapter
- Living Proof of the Work 2 Corinthians 3:1-3
Paul asks the church whether he needs to introduce his credentials again.
- God Makes the Workers Able 2 Corinthians 3:4-6
Confidence in this work comes through Christ, Paul says.
- Greater Glory That Lasts 2 Corinthians 3:7-11
The earlier gift of law was glorious, Paul argues, despite its sentence on guilt.
- A Covering Is Taken Away 2 Corinthians 3:12-18
With this hope, Paul says he can speak boldly.
Central truth
Paul says God’s Spirit gives life and changes people in a lasting way that the law on stone could not achieve.
Scripture beside the summary
2 Corinthians · King James Version · 182 Corinthians 3:1-3
Living Proof of the Work
Paul asks the church whether he needs to introduce his credentials again. Some people carry letters that commend them to others. He says these believers are his letter, held in his heart and visible to all. Christ has made them evidence of his work. The writing is not ink on a sheet or marks cut into stone. God’s living Spirit has worked within human hearts. Paul serves that work, but he does not present himself as the source of their changed lives.
In everyday life
An apprentice carpenter opens a folder at a skills review. The examiner closes it and points to the staircase the apprentice has built. Each firm joint gives evidence that a reference letter can only describe. The work is already there for others to inspect. Paul’s evidence consists of lives changed by God’s Spirit.
Notice
2 Corinthians 3:3 The believers are Christ’s letter, though Paul helped bring the message. That distinction gives God credit while still explaining why their lives support Paul’s work.
2 Corinthians 3:1-3
King James Version1Do we begin again to commend ourselves? or need we, as some others, epistles of commendation to you, or letters of commendation from you?
2Ye are our epistle written in our hearts, known and read of all men:
3Forasmuch 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.
2 Corinthians 3:4-6
God Makes the Workers Able
Confidence in this work comes through Christ, Paul says. It does not mean he and his companions possess enough skill on their own. God makes them able to serve the new covenant, the bond he forms with his people. Paul contrasts written law with the Spirit’s gift of life. The law exposes guilt and brings a sentence of death. God’s Spirit gives the life that such a sentence cannot supply. Paul’s confidence rests in that divine help, rather than in his personal strength.
In everyday life
One trainee lifeguard receives her badge after months of coached drills. She stands at the pool edge with confidence because she has been equipped for the work. The badge does not mean she taught herself or needs no help. Her ability has a source outside her own resolve. Paul credits God, not human training.
Notice
2 Corinthians 3:5 Paul does not deny that his work requires ability. He denies being its source, so his confidence and his dependence belong together.
2 Corinthians 3:4-6
King James Version4And such trust have we through Christ to God-ward:
5Not that we are sufficient of ourselves to think any thing as of ourselves; but our sufficiency is of God;
6Who 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.
2 Corinthians 3:7-11
Greater Glory That Lasts
The earlier gift of law was glorious, Paul argues, despite its sentence on guilt. Moses, the leader who brought God’s law, had a shining face. The children of Israel, the people he led, could not keep looking at it. Yet that brightness did not last. Paul reasons that the Spirit’s work must carry still greater glory. It brings people into a right bond with God instead of condemning them. What remains now outshines what was passing away, without denying that the earlier gift came with glory.
In everyday life
A lighting fitter switches on a strong ceiling lamp in the showroom. The small display light still burns beside it, though its beam is now hard to see. It had lit the counter well before the larger light came on. Greater light changes what stands out. Paul compares forms of God’s work, not rival products.
Notice
2 Corinthians 3:9 Paul calls the earlier work glorious even while saying it condemns. His contrast is between that real glory and a greater work that gives life.
2 Corinthians 3:7-11
King James Version7But 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:
8How shall not the ministration of the spirit be rather glorious?
9For if the ministration of condemnation be glory, much more doth the ministration of righteousness exceed in glory.
10For even that which was made glorious had no glory in this respect, by reason of the glory that excelleth.
11For if that which is done away was glorious, much more that which remaineth is glorious.
2 Corinthians 3:12-18
A Covering Is Taken Away
With this hope, Paul says he can speak boldly. Moses covered his face so the people could not watch its passing glory end. Paul uses that cloth to describe blocked understanding when the old covenant is read. Turning to Christ removes the covering. He connects the Lord with the Spirit and says the Spirit brings freedom. Believers gaze at the Lord’s glory as though looking in a mirror. Their faces are uncovered, and God’s Spirit changes them to become more like the Lord.
In everyday life
The glass restorer peels a cloudy film from a workshop window. Her assistant can now see the carved gate across the yard. He shifts the wooden piece on his bench and cuts its edge to match the gate’s curve. Clear sight changes his work. Paul’s change is worked within people by God’s Spirit.
Notice
2 Corinthians 3:18 The uncovered face leads to change, not only clearer sight. Paul describes believers becoming more like the Lord through the continuing work of God’s Spirit.
2 Corinthians 3:12-18
King James Version12Seeing then that we have such hope, we use great plainness of speech:
13And 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:
14But 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.
15But even unto this day, when Moses is read, the vail is upon their heart.
16Nevertheless when it shall turn to the Lord, the vail shall be taken away.
17Now the Lord is that Spirit: and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty.
18But 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.
Details worth noticing
The opening image
2 Corinthians 3:1 begins with “Do we begin again to commend ourselves? or need we, as some others, epistles of commendation to you, or letters of commendation from you?”
Where the chapter turns
2 Corinthians 3:8 forms a natural hinge: “How shall not the ministration of the spirit be rather glorious?”
The final note
2 Corinthians 3:18 leaves the reader with “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…”
A word trail through the chapter
The words glory, Spirit, glorious, Lord, vail, ministration help reveal the chapter’s repeated concerns.
KJV words made clear
- epistles of commendation
- Letters that recommend someone as trustworthy and worthy of welcome.
- vail
- A cloth covering, here used for both a face and blocked understanding.
Music and video connected to the passage
No exact media match is cataloged for this passage yet. New material can be connected when it becomes available.