2 Corinthians 3–4

Chapter 3

Ministers of a New Covenant

¹Are we beginning to ^acommend ourselves again? Or do we need, as some, ^bletters of commendation to you or from you?

^2aYou are our letter, written in our hearts, known and read by all men;

³being manifested that you are a letter of Christ, ^1acared for by us, written not with ink but with the Spirit of ^bthe living God, not on ^ctablets of stone but on ^dtablets of ^2ehuman hearts.

⁴Such ^aconfidence we have through Christ toward God.

⁵Not that we are adequate in ourselves to consider anything as coming from ourselves, but ^aour adequacy is from God,

⁶who also made us adequate as ^aservants of a ^bnew covenant, not of ^cthe letter but of the Spirit; for the letter kills, but ^dthe Spirit gives life.

⁷But if the ^aministry of death, ^bin letters engraved on stones, came ¹with glory, ^cso that the sons of Israel could not look intently at the face of Moses because of the glory of his face, fading as it was,

⁸how will the ministry of the Spirit fail to be even more with glory?

⁹For if ^athe ministry of condemnation has glory, much more does the ^bministry of righteousness abound in glory.

¹⁰For indeed what had glory, in this case has no glory because of the glory that surpasses it.

¹¹For if that which fades away was ¹with glory, much more that which remains is in glory.

^12aTherefore having such a hope, ^bwe use great boldness in our speech,

¹³and are not like Moses, ^awho used to put a veil over his face so that the sons of Israel would not look intently at the end of what was fading away.

¹⁴But their minds were ^ahardened; for until this very day at the ^breading of ^cthe old covenant the same veil ¹remains unlifted, because it is removed in Christ.

¹⁵But to this day whenever Moses is read, a veil lies over their heart;

^16abut whenever a person turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away.

¹⁷Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where ^athe Spirit of the Lord is, ^bthere is liberty.

¹⁸But we all, with unveiled face, ^abeholding as in a mirror the ^bglory of the Lord, are being ^ctransformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as from ^dthe Lord, the Spirit.

Chapter 4

Paul’s Apostolic Ministry

¹Therefore, since we have this ^aministry, as we ^breceived mercy, we ^cdo not lose heart,

²but we have renounced the ^athings hidden because of shame, not walking in craftiness or ^badulterating the word of God, but by the manifestation of truth ^ccommending ourselves to every man’s conscience in the sight of God.

³And even if our ^agospel is ^bveiled, it is veiled ¹to ^cthose who are perishing,

⁴in whose case ^athe god of ^bthis ¹world has ^cblinded the minds of the unbelieving ²so that they might not see the ^dlight of the gospel of the ^eglory of Christ, who is the ^fimage of God.

⁵For we ^ado not preach ourselves but Christ Jesus as Lord, and ourselves as your bond-servants ¹for Jesus’ sake.

⁶For God, who said, “^aLight shall shine out of darkness,” is the One who has ^bshone in our hearts to give the ^cLight of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ.

⁷But we have this treasure in ^aearthen vessels, so that the surpassing greatness of ^bthe power will be of God and not from ourselves;

⁸we are ^aafflicted in every way, but not ^bcrushed; ^cperplexed, but not despairing;

^9apersecuted, but not ^bforsaken; ^cstruck down, but not destroyed;

^10aalways carrying about in the body the dying of Jesus, so that ^bthe life of Jesus also may be manifested in our body.

¹¹For we who live are constantly being delivered over to death for Jesus’ sake, so that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal flesh.

¹²So death works in us, but life in you.

¹³But having the same ^aspirit of faith, according to what is written, “^bI believed, therefore I spoke,” we also believe, therefore we also speak,

¹⁴knowing that He who ^araised the Lord Jesus ^bwill raise us also with Jesus and will ^cpresent us with you.

¹⁵For all things are ^afor your sakes, so that the grace which is ^1bspreading to more and more people may cause the giving of thanks to abound to the glory of God.

¹⁶Therefore we ^ado not lose heart, but though our outer man is decaying, yet our ^binner man is ^cbeing renewed day by day.

¹⁷For momentary, ^alight affliction is producing for us an eternal weight of glory far beyond all comparison,

¹⁸while we ^alook 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.