2 Corinthians 3–4

¹Do we begin again to recommend ourselves, except we need, as some, letters of recommendation unto you, or from you? ²our letter ye are, having been written in our hearts, known and read by all men, ³manifested that ye are a letter of Christ ministered by us, written not with ink, but with the Spirit of the living God, not in the tablets of stone, but in fleshy tablets of the heart, ⁴and such trust we have through the Christ toward God, ⁵not that we are sufficient of ourselves to think anything, as of ourselves, but our sufficiency is of God.

⁶Who also made us sufficient to be ministrants of a new covenant, not of letter, but of spirit; for the letter doth kill, and the spirit doth make alive. ⁷and if the ministration of the death, in letters, engraved in stones, came in glory, so that the sons of Israel were not able to look stedfastly to the face of Moses, because of the glory of his face—which was being made useless, ⁸how shall the ministration of the Spirit not be more in glory? ⁹for if the ministration of the condemnation is glory, much more doth the ministration of the righteousness abound in glory; ¹⁰for also even that which hath been glorious, hath not been glorious—in this respect, because of the superior glory; ¹¹for if that which is being made useless is through glory, much more that which is remaining is in glory.

¹²Having, then, such hope, we use much freedom of speech, ¹³and are not as Moses, who was putting a vail upon his own face, for the sons of Israel not stedfastly to look to the end of that which is being made useless, ¹⁴but their minds were hardened, for unto this day the same vail at the reading of the Old Covenant doth remain unwithdrawn—which in Christ is being made useless— ¹⁵but till to-day, when Moses is read, a vail upon their heart doth lie, ¹⁶and whenever they may turn unto the Lord, the vail is taken away. ¹⁷And the Lord is the Spirit; and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty; ¹⁸and we all, with unvailed face, the glory of the Lord beholding in a mirror, to the same image are being transformed, from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord.

Chapter 4

¹Because of this, having this ministration, according as we did receive kindness, we do not faint, ²but did renounce for ourselves the hidden things of shame, not walking in craftiness, nor deceitfully using the word of God, but by the manifestation of the truth recommending ourselves unto every conscience of men, before God; ³and if also our good news is vailed, in those perishing it is vailed, ⁴in whom the god of this age did blind the minds of the unbelieving, that there doth not shine forth to them the enlightening of the good news of the glory of the Christ, who is the image of God; ⁵for not ourselves do we preach, but Christ Jesus—Lord, and ourselves your servants because of Jesus; ⁶because it is God who said, Out of darkness light is to shine, who did shine in our hearts, for the enlightening of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. ⁷And we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellency of the power may be of God, and not of us.

⁸On every side being in tribulation, but not straitened; perplexed, but not in despair; ⁹persecuted, but not forsaken; cast down, but not destroyed; ¹⁰at all times the dying of the Lord Jesus bearing about in the body, that the life also of Jesus in our body may be manifested, ¹¹for always are we who are living delivered up to death because of Jesus, that the life also of Jesus may be manifested in our dying flesh, ¹²so that, the death indeed in us doth work, and the life in you. ¹³And having the same spirit of the faith, according to that which hath been written, ‘I believed, therefore I did speak;’ we also do believe, therefore also do we speak; ¹⁴knowing that He who did raise up the Lord Jesus, us also through Jesus shall raise up, and shall present with you, ¹⁵for the all things are because of you, that the grace having been multiplied, because of the thanksgiving of the more, may abound to the glory of God; ¹⁶wherefore, we faint not, but if also our outward man doth decay, yet the inward is renewed day by day; ¹⁷for the momentary light matter of our tribulation, more and more exceedingly an age-during weight of glory doth work out for us— ¹⁸we not looking to the things seen, but to the things not seen; for the things seen are temporary, but the things not seen are age-during.

Chapter 5