2 Corinthians 3–4

3Are we beginning again to commend ourselves? or need we, as do some, epistles of commendation to you or from you? ²Ye are our epistle, written in our hearts, known and read of all men; ³being made manifest that ye are an 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 tables that are hearts of flesh. ⁴And such confidence have we through Christ to God-ward: ⁵not that we are sufficient of ourselves, to account anything as from ourselves; but our sufficiency is from God; ⁶who also made us sufficient as ministers of a new covenant; not of the letter, but of the spirit: for the letter killeth, but the spirit giveth life. ⁷But if the ministration of death, written, and engraven on stones, came with glory, so that the children of Israel could not look stedfastly upon the face of Moses for the glory of his face; which glory was passing away: ⁸how shall not rather the ministration of the spirit be with glory? ⁹For if the ministration of condemnation hath glory, much rather doth the ministration of righteousness exceed in glory. ¹⁰For verily that which hath been made glorious hath not been made glorious in this respect, by reason of the glory that surpasseth. ¹¹For if that which passeth away was with glory, much more that which remaineth is in glory.

¹²Having therefore such a hope, we use great boldness of speech, ¹³and are not as Moses, who put a veil upon his face, that the children of Israel should not look stedfastly on the end of that which was passing away: ¹⁴but their minds were hardened: for until this very day at the reading of the old covenant the same veil remaineth, it not being revealed to them that it is done away in Christ. ¹⁵But unto this day, whensoever Moses is read, a veil lieth upon their heart. ¹⁶But whensoever it shall turn to the Lord, the veil is taken away. ¹⁷Now the Lord is the Spirit: and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty. ¹⁸But we all, with unveiled face beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are transformed into the same image from glory to glory, even as from the Lord the Spirit.

4Therefore seeing we have this ministry, even as we obtained mercy, we faint not: ²but we have renounced the hidden things of shame, not walking in craftiness, nor handling the word of God deceitfully; but by the manifestation of the truth commending ourselves to every man’s conscience in the sight of God. ³And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled in them that perish: ⁴in whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of the unbelieving, that the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God, should not dawn upon them. ⁵For we preach not ourselves, but Christ Jesus as Lord, and ourselves as your servants for Jesus’ sake. ⁶Seeing it is God, that said, Light shall shine out of darkness, who shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.

⁷But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the exceeding greatness of the power may be of God, and not from ourselves; ⁸we are pressed on every side, yet not straitened; perplexed, yet not unto despair; ⁹pursued, yet not forsaken; smitten down, yet not destroyed; ¹⁰always bearing about in the body the dying of Jesus, that the life also of Jesus may be manifested in our body. ¹¹For we who live are always delivered unto death for Jesus’ sake, that the life also of Jesus may be manifested in our mortal flesh. ¹²So then death worketh in us, but life in you. ¹³But having the same spirit of faith, according to that which is written, I believed, and therefore did I speak; we also believe, and therefore also we speak; ¹⁴knowing that he that raised up the Lord Jesus shall raise up us also with Jesus, and shall present us with you. ¹⁵For all things are for your sakes, that the grace, being multiplied through the many, may cause the thanksgiving to abound unto the glory of God.

¹⁶Wherefore we faint not; but though our outward man is decaying, yet our inward man is renewed day by day. ¹⁷For our light affliction, which is for the moment, worketh for us more and more exceedingly an eternal weight of glory; ¹⁸while we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen: for the things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal.