2 Corinthians 3–4

LIVING LETTERS

3Are we beginning to commend ourselves again? Or do we need, like some, letters of recommendation to you or from you? ²You yourselves are our letter, written on our hearts, known and read by everyone.^{s 3}You show that you are Christ’s letter,^t delivered^A by us, not written with ink but with the Spirit of the living God^u—not on tablets of stone^v but on tablets of human hearts.^Bw

PAUL’S COMPETENCE

⁴Such is the confidence we have through Christ before God. ⁵It is not that we are competent in^C ourselves to claim anything as coming from ourselves, but our adequacy is from God.^{x 6}He has made us competent to be ministers of a new covenant,^y not of the letter,^z but of the Spirit. For the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.

NEW COVENANT MINISTRY

⁷Now if the ministry that brought death, chiseled in letters on stones, came with glory,^aa so that the Israelites were not able to gaze steadily at Moses’s face because of its glory, which was set aside, ⁸how will the ministry of the Spirit not be more glorious? ⁹For if the ministry that brought condemnation had glory, the ministry that brings righteousness overflows with even more glory. ¹⁰In fact, what had been glorious is not glorious now by comparison because of the glory that surpasses it. ¹¹For if what was set aside^ab was glorious, what endures will be even more glorious.

¹²Since, then, we have such a hope,^ac we act with great boldness. ¹³We are not like Moses, who used to put a veil over his face^ad to prevent the Israelites from gazing steadily until the end^D of the glory of what was being set aside, ¹⁴but their minds were hardened.^ae For to this day, at the reading of the old covenant,^af the same veil remains; it is not lifted, because it is set aside only in Christ.^{ag 15}Yet still today, whenever Moses is read, a veil lies over their hearts, ¹⁶but whenever a person turns^ah to the Lord, the veil is removed.^{ai 17}Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. ¹⁸We all, with unveiled faces, are looking as in a mirror at^Eaj the glory of the Lord^ak and are being transformed^al into the same image^am from glory to glory; this is from the Lord who is the Spirit.^F

THE LIGHT OF THE GOSPEL

4Therefore, since we have this ministry because we were shown mercy,^an we do not give up.^{ao 2}Instead, we have renounced secret and shameful things, not acting^ap deceitfully or distorting the word of God,^aq but commending ourselves before God to everyone’s conscience by an open display of the truth.^{ar 3}But if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing. ⁴In their case, the god of this age^as has blinded the minds of the unbelievers to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ,^Ga who is the image of God.^{b 5}For we are not proclaiming ourselves but Jesus Christ as Lord,^c and ourselves as your servants for Jesus’s sake. ⁶For God who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,”^d has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge^e of God’s glory^f in the face of Jesus Christ.

TREASURE IN CLAY JARS

⁷Now we have this treasure in clay jars, so that this extraordinary power^g may be from God and not from us. ⁸We are afflicted in every way but not crushed; we are perplexed but not in despair; ⁹we are persecuted but not abandoned; we are struck down but not destroyed. ¹⁰We always carry the death of Jesus^h in our body, so that the life of Jesus may also be displayed in our body. ¹¹For we who live are always being given over to deathⁱ for Jesus’s sake, so that Jesus’s life may also be displayed in our mortal flesh. ¹²So then, death is at work in us, but life in you. ¹³And since we have the same spirit of faith in keeping with what is written, I believed, therefore I spoke,^Aj we also believe, and therefore speak. ¹⁴For we know that the one who raised the Lord Jesus will also raise us with Jesus^k and present us with you. ¹⁵Indeed, everything is for your benefit so that, as grace extends through more and more people, it may cause thanksgiving^l to increase to the glory of God.

¹⁶Therefore we do not give up.^m Even though our outer person is being destroyed, our inner personⁿ is being renewed day by day. ¹⁷For our momentary light affliction^o is producing for us an absolutely incomparable eternal weight of glory.^{p 18}So we do not focus on what is seen,^q but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.