2 Coríntios 3
Marvin Vincent · Citado em PreceptAustin
2 Coríntios 3:1-4
Vincent explains through Christ toward God..."Through Christ who engenders the confidence, toward God, with reference to God who gives us success, and to whom we must account for our work. (2 Corinthians 3 Word Studies in the New Testament) "THE PROOF IS IN THE PUDDING" I love J Vernon McGee's comment - This gives me confidence. I know the Bible is the Word of God. When I was in seminary, I believed it was the Word of God. I think that intellectually it can be determined that it is the Word of God. But today I don’t even need the intellectual demonstrations anymore. I’ve passed that. To me it is very simple—the proof of the Word of God is what it does. They say that the proof of the pudding is in the eating. God put it like this: “O taste and see that the Lord is good …” (Ps. 34:8). This is His challenge to you. Paul Apple sums up this chapter... PREACHING CHRIST: 1) Jesus Christ came to change the heart of man … to transform him from the inside out … not to reform the externals. Initial conversion plays itself out in ongoing sanctification by the Spirit so that increasing Christlikeness is evident to all. 2) We don’t have to worry about how others evaluate our ministry; the only one whose opinion counts is our Lord and Master. It is the Holy Spirit who commends men to positions of ministry leadership in the church. 3) Jesus Christ makes His disciples a “letter of Christ” by transforming them by His grace and writing His law on their hearts and enabling them to fulfill His righteousness. He took a bunch of fishermen and outcasts from society who had no formal training or academic degrees and transformed them into the pillars of His church. 4) Our shepherding work in caring for the flock is patterned after the Chief Shepherd who gave His life for the flock. DEVOTIONAL QUESTIONS: 1) What type of commendation are we asking others to receive to validate our ministry? Are we overly impressed by the wrong type of credentials? 2) Is our life an open book – transparent to others – so that they can see the reality of our own changed life? Can we be accurately “read” by others, or is there a secret, mysterious side that we do not show to others? 3) Do we acknowledge the sovereign work of the Holy Spirit as the one who changes and molds Christlike character or do we seek to take some of the credit and glory? 4) Are we satisfied with mere external reform and legalistic righteousness or are we truly concerned with the state of the heart? (2Corinthians - Outline Commentary) David Hocking alliterates this section as follows (reference)... THE COMMENDATION OF GOD’S SERVANT - 2 CORINTHIANS 3:1-11 1B. He POSES the question – v1 “Do we begin again to commend ourselves?” Greek: sunistao – used 16 times – “to stand or set together; to exhibit, approve, or introduce” 8 times in 2 Corinthians – 2Co 4:2; 5:12; 6:4; 7:11; 10:12, 18; 12:11 2B. He PRESENTS the evidence – vv2-3 1C. It was a Writing in the heart – v2 “Ye are our epistle written in our hearts, known and read of all men” cf. Php 1:7-8 2C. It was a Work of the Holy Spirit – v3 “written not with ink, but with the Spirit of the living God” cf. Ro 8:2, 9, 16 3B. He POINTS to his dependency upon God – vv4-6
2 Coríntios 3:1-4
Vincent comments it is "As if (Paul is) anticipating the taunt so often repeated, that he had no commendatory letters, and therefore was forced to commend himself by self-laudation and by dishonest means. See 2Cor 4:2; 10:12. You will say, “You are beginning again the old strain of self-commendation as in the first epistle.” See 1Cor. 9:15-21. (2 Corinthians 3 Word Studies in the New Testament) To commend ourselves again...do we need...letters of commendation - Paul is not saying he had been commending himself before, but that he has been accused of this act! Letters of commendation is analogous to someone today needing a letter of recommendation from their previous employer! Paul says "No". Clearly Paul anticipated a hostile attack from his opponents that his epistles were nothing but letters of self-commendation. In 2Co 3:2 Paul quickly counters any such distortion from the false teachers and false apostles. Paul being a student of the Old Testament was very familiar with the wise advice to.... Let another praise you, and not your own mouth, a stranger, and not your own lips. (Pr 27:2) Charles Hodge on letters of commendation - The apostle sets it forth as certain that his apostolic mission and authority were so authenticated, that he did not need, as certain people did, letters of commendation either to them or from them. These false teachers had no doubt gained access to Corinth on the strength of certain letters of recommendation. They were so little known and had so little character, that when they went elsewhere, they would need to be commended by the Corinthians. With Paul the case was different. (2 Corinthians Commentary) James Denney writes how much more serious it is to impugn the character of a minister than other professions "that a minister’s character is the whole capital he has for carrying on his business, and that nothing can be more cruel and wicked than to cast suspicion on it without cause. In most other callings a man may go on, no matter what his character, provided his balance at the bank is on the right side (!); but an evangelist or a pastor who has lost his character has lost everything. It is humiliating to be subject to suspicion, painful to be silent under it, degrading to speak....From the serious tone the Apostle passes suddenly to the ironical. “Or need we, as do some, epistles of commendation to you or from you?” The “some” of this verse are probably the same as “the many” of 2Corinthians 2:17. Persons had “come to Corinth in the character of Christian teachers, bringing with them recommendatory letters which secured their standing when they arrived. (2 Corinthians 3 Commentary) Commend (4921) (sunistemi/sunistao from sún = together with + hístemi = set, place, stand) means literally to put or place one with another, to put together. To set in the same place, this literal meaning being found in Luke 9:32+. To bring together. When one brings together a person with another person, it is a way of presenting or introducing them. This gives sunistemi the meaning of commend, which means to recommend as worthy of confidence (the implication being that others adopt a similar attitude) or to present to one’s acquaintance for favorable notice. Sunistemi is a keyword in 2 Corinthians - (9/16 NT uses) Lk. 9:32; Rom. 3:5; Ro 5:8; Ro 16:1; 2 Co. 3:1; 2 Co. 4:2; 2 Co. 5:12; 2 Co. 6:4; 2 Co. 7:11; 2 Co. 10:12; 2 Co. 10:18; 2 Co. 12:11; Gal. 2:18; Col. 1:17; 2 Pet. 3:5 In this same letter Paul repeatedly addresses the false claims raised by his detractors (Satan's ambassadors )... We are not again commending (sunistemi) ourselves to you but are giving you an occasion (Greek word = Military term signifying a camping place which becomes a base for military operations = bridgehead for starting point an expedition or attack and thus an occasion or opportunity) to be proud of us, so that you will have an answer for those who take pride in appearance and not in heart. (2 Corinthians 5:12) For even if I boast somewhat further about our authority, which the Lord gave for building you up and not for destroying you, I will not be put to shame ( 2 Corinthians 10:8) For we are not bold to class or compare ourselves with some of those who commend themselves; but when they measure themselves by themselves and compare themselves with themselves, they are without understanding. (2 Corinthians 10:12) I have become foolish; you yourselves compelled me. Actually I should have been commended by you, for in no respect was I inferior to the most eminent apostles, even though I am a nobody. (2 Corinthians 12:11) All this time you have been thinking that we are defending ourselves to you. Actually, it is in the sight of God that we have been speaking in Christ; and all for your upbuilding, beloved. (2 Corinthians 12:19) Ourselves - Henry Alford feels that although this is plural, Paul is speaking of himself. Alford writes "The plural seems to be used, as so often in this Epistle, -- see e.g. 2Co 7:3, 5 -- of Paul himself only." (The New Testament for English Readers) Again - This time phrase suggests that Paul had previously been accused of commending or praising himself. Pulpit Commentary notes that "Such passages (as 1Co 2:16; 3:10; 4:11, 12, 13, 14; 9:15–23; 14:18, etc) might be called self-laudatory and egotistical, were it not that (as St. Paul here explains) they arose only from a sense of the grandeur of his office, of which he was the almost involuntary agent, used by God as it seemed best to him. Hence he says later on (2Co 7:18) that self-praise is no commendation, and that the true test of a man is God’s commendation. (The Pulpit Commentary) Diogenes, the cynic philosopher, was once asked to give a letter of commendation for someone & he answered "That you are a man he will know at a glance; but whether you are a good or a bad man he will discover if he has the skill to distinguish between good and bad, and if he is without that skill he will not discover the facts even though I write to him thousands of times." Here’s a letter that was found on papyri "To Julius Domitius, military tribune of the legion, from Aurelius Archelaus, his beneficiaries (a soldier exempt from menial duties), greeting. I have already before this recommended to you Theon, my friend and now also, I ask you sir, to have him before your eyes as you would myself. For he is man such as to deserve to be loved by you, for he left his own people, his goods and his business & followed me, and through all things he has kept me safe. I therefore pray you that he may have the right to come & see you. He can tell you everything about our business…I have loved the man…I wish you, sir, great happiness & long life with your family and good health. Have this letter before your eyes and let it make you think that I am speaking to you. Farewell.” (Brian Bell's "From Glory to Glory" Sermon Notes) Or do we need, as some, letters of commendation to you or from you? - Apparently the entrance of the false apostles (although he does not specifically name them) into the body of believers at Corinth was accompanied by presentation of written papyrus "letters of recommendation" from so called spiritual authorities (or possibly forgeries from genuine spiritual authorities). Aware that his words were likely to be misused by the false teachers at Corinth, he attempted to call attention to their need of authentication while at the same time chiding the Corinthians. Or...as some (e me...os tines) - The Pulpit Commentary says that this introduction "would have a somewhat ironical force. The me in the reading e me implies, “Can you possibly think that we need,” etc.? Generally, when a stranger came to some Church to which he was not personally known, he carried with him some credentials in the form of letters from accredited authorities. Paul treats it as absurd to suppose that he or Timothy should need such letters, either from the Corinthians or to them...It is not meant that there was anything discreditable in using such letters (for Apollos had used them, Acts 18:27), but the disgraceful thing was that St. Paul should be disparaged for not bringing them. (The Pulpit Commentary) As some - See similar uses of "some" (Paul's "usual vague description of opponents") in 1Co 4:18, 1Co 15:12, 34, 2Co 10:2, 12, Gal 1:7, Php 1:15, 1Ti 1:3, 6, 19 6:21 Letters of commendation were common in Paul's day, Dr Luke recording an example in Acts "And when he wanted to go across to Achaia, the brethren encouraged him and wrote to the disciples to welcome him; and when he had arrived, he greatly helped those who had believed through grace (Acts 18:27, cf Acts 15:25-27, 2Co 8:22-24, Paul commended Phoebe in Ro 16:1+, Col 4:10). Need (5535) (chrezo from chreia = need, necessity from chreos = debt) means to have need of, to want or to desire. In the Sermon on the Mount Jesus exhorted His hearers not to worry about clothing, food, or drink, because their Father would provide that need. Chrēzō occurs only rarely in the Septuagint. In Jdg 11:7 this term describes the elders of Gilead being “in distress.” They were “in need of” military allies to defend themselves against the Ammonites. Chreizo - 5x in the NAS - Mt 6:32 = (heavenly Father knows that you need); Lk 11:8 = (give him as much as he needs.) Lk 12:30 = (your Father knows that you need these things.) Ro 16:2 = (help her in whatever matter she may have need of you;) 2Co 3:1 Letters (1992)(epistole from epi = to + stello = send) is an epistle, used figuratively in this passage of the believers at Corinth. Epistole - 23v - Acts 9:2; Acts 15:30; Acts 22:5; Acts 23:25; Acts 23:33; Ro 16:22; 1 Co. 5:9; 1 Co. 16:3; 2 Co. 3:1; 2 Co. 3:2; 2 Co. 3:3; 2 Co. 7:8; 2 Co. 10:9; 2 Co. 10:10; 2 Co. 10:11; Col. 4:16; 1 Th 5:27; 2 Th 2:2; 2 Th 2:15; 2 Th 3:14; 2 Th 3:17; 2 Pe 3:1; 2 Pe 3:16 Commendation (4956)(sustatikos from sunistao) (Only NT use of this word) is literally a placing together, and thus introducing in the sense of being commendatory. Here it refers to a letter of commendation, which Paul says he does not need because of the saints at Corinth, whose lives were transformed by Paul's teaching of the Word of Truth. J H Bernard comments that Paul "has testimonies to his character and office far superior to any that could be written on papyrus. These can be pointed to if any object that his Apostolic office was self-assumed, and that he delivers the Gospel message in his own way and on his own authority (Gal. 1:12). (The Expositor's Greek Testament) J Vernon McGee rightly comments that "The proof of the effectiveness of any ministry is whether or not it has a recommendation from God. He is not giving out letters of recommendation; the proof lies in the epistles that are written in the fleshly tables of the heart. I read many letters from folk who have turned to Christ because of my radio ministry. Several years ago a wonderful family came up to me in Houston, Texas. If no one else turned to Christ through my radio program there, I still would consider it worthwhile. They listened to the radio program for three months before they made a decision for Christ, and then the entire family, a handsome family, all received Christ. They are some of the epistles I have down in Texas. I have such epistles in practically every state of these United States and on many foreign shores. They are my letters of commendation. THOUGHT: Beloved, Dr McGee's testimony to the life changing power of the Word of God begs the question - Do I have human "epistles" that serve as my letters of commendation? What if we hired pastors and ministry workers not on their credentials, not on how eloquently they preach or teach, but on the basis of the "letters of commendation in the from of transformed lives? That might be interesting! Pulpit Commentary notes that letters of commendation were "“introductory letters”—was familiar in later Greek. In days when there were few public hostels, and when it was both a duty and a necessity for small and persecuted communities like those of the Jews and Christians to practise hospitality (Rom. 12:13; Heb. 13:2, etc.), it was customary both for synagogues and Churches to provide their friends and emissaries with authentic testimonials. Otherwise they might have been deceived by wandering impostors, as, in fact, the Christians were deceived by the vagabond quack Peregrinus Proteus. We can easily see how the custom of using such letters might be abused by idle, restless, and intriguing persons, who have never found it very difficult to procure them. We find traces of their honest use by Phoebe, by Silas and Jude, by Apollos, by Mark, and by Zenas, in Ro 16:1; Acts 18:27; 15:25, Col. 4:10; Titus 3:13; and of their unfair use by certain Judaists, in Gal 1:7 and Gal 2:12. Nothing can more forcibly illustrate the necessity for Paul’s protest against the idle vaunt of possessing such letters, than the fact that, more than a century afterwards, we find malignant innuendoes aimed at Paul in the pseudo-Clementines , under the name of “the enemy” and “Simon Magus” and “a deceiver.” He is there spoken of as using letters from the high priest (which, indeed, St. Paul had done as Saul of Tarsus, Acts 9:1, 2); and the Churches are warned never to receive any one who cannot bring credentials from James; so deep-rooted among the Judaists was the antagonism to the independent apostolate and daring originality of the apostle of the Gentiles! (The Pulpit Commentary) PAUL CONTRASTS THE TWO COVENANTS THE OLD COVENANT THE NEW COVENANT Written with ink on tablets of stone 2Cor 3:3+ Written with the Spirit on tablets of human hearts 2Cor 3:3 Adequacy from Self 2Cor 3:5+ Adequacy from God 2Cor 3:5 The Letter (law) Kills (3000 @ Sinai – Ex 32:28+) 2Cor 3:6+ The Spirit gives Life (3000 @
2 Coríntios 3:1-4
Vincent has a lengthy comment on you are our letter... The figure which follows is freely and somewhat loosely worked out, and presents different faces in rapid succession. The figure itself is that of a commendatory letter representing the Corinthian Church: “Ye are our letter.” This figure is carried out in three directions: 1. As related to the apostles’ own consciousness. The Corinthian Church is a letter written on the apostles’ hearts. Their own consciousness testifies that that Church is the fruit of a divinely accredited, honest, and faithful ministry. 2. As related to the Corinthians themselves. The Church needs no letter to commend the apostles to it. It is its own commendation. As the visible fruit of the apostles’ ministry they are a commendatory letter to themselves. If the question arises among them, “Were Paul and his colleagues duly commissioned? “ — the answer is, “We ourselves are the proof of it.” 3. As related to others outside of the Corinthian Church. The answer to the charge that the Corinthians have been taught by irregular and uncommissioned teachers is the same: “Behold the fruit of their labors in us. We are their commission.” At this point the figure again shifts; the letter being now conceived as written on the Corinthians’ hearts, instead of on the hearts of the apostles: written by Christ through the apostles’ ministry. This suggests the comparison with the law written on tables of stone, which are used as a figure of the heart, fleshy tables, thus introducing two incongruities, namely, an epistle written on stone, and writing with ink on stone tables. (2 Corinthians 3 Word Studies in the New Testament) R Kent Hughes cites a similar example of "Polycarp’s second-century Epistle to the Philippians where he addresses the members of the church as those “among whom the blessed Paul laboured, who were his letters in the beginning.” (2 Corinthians : Power in weakness. Preaching the Word) James Denney writes that "The conversion and new life of the Corinthians were Paul’s certificate as an apostle. They were a certificate, he says, known and read by all men. Often there is a certain awkwardness in the presenting of credentials. It embarrasses a man when he has to put his hand into his heart pocket, and take out his character, and submit it for inspection. Paul was saved this embarrassment. There was a fine unsought publicity about his testimonials. Everybody knew what the Corinthians had been; everybody knew what they were; and the man to whom the change was due needed no other recommendation to a Christian society. Whoever looked at them saw plainly that they were an epistle of Christ; the mind of Christ could be read upon them, and it had been written by the intervention of Paul’s hand. This is an interesting though a well-worn conception of the Christian character. Every life has a meaning, we say, every face is a record; but the text goes further. The life of the Christian is an epistle; it has not only a meaning, but an address; it is a message from Christ to the world. (THOUGHT) Is Christ’s message to men legible on our lives? When those who are without look at us, do they see the hand of Christ quite unmistakably? Does it ever occur to anybody that there is something in our life which is not of the world, but which is a message to the world from Christ? Did you ever, startled by the unusual brightness of a true Christian’s life, ask as it were involuntarily, “Whose image and superscription is this?” and feel as you asked it that these features, these characters, could only have been traced by one hand, and that they proclaimed to all the grace and power of Jesus Christ? Christ wishes so to write upon us that men may see what He does for man. He wishes to engrave His image on our nature, that all spectators may feel that it has a message for them, and may crave the same favor. A congregation which is not in its very existence and in all its works and ways a legible epistle, an unmistakable message from Christ to man, does not answer to this New Testament ideal. (2 Corinthians 3 Commentary) Written in our hearts (cp 2Co 7:3) - Written is in the perfect tense (also in divine passive) signifying the permanence of the inscription of the Corinthian believer's names on his heart. Paul was not about to forget them. Note that this great truth allowed him to speak of confidence in 2Cor 3:4 and his hope and boldness in speech in 2Cor 3:12. Paul's prior work among these saints (even with their "issues") had left an indelible impression on his heart. This speaks of the love Paul had in his heart for the Corinthians (2Co 11:11 2Co 12:15) which is amazing (and supernatural) considering all the problems they had caused him! J H Bernard calls our attention to the fact that "The letter written on St. Paul’s heart was not open to the world; but the letter written on the heart of the Corinthians by Christ through St. Paul’s ministry was patent to the world’s observation, as it was reflected in their Christian mode of life. Facts speak louder than words. (The Expositor's Greek Testament) Written (1449) (eggrapho from en = in or on, + grapho = to write, engrave, inscribe) is used here in a figurative sense of being inscribed in Paul's heart. In classical Greek the term engraphō is used with the sense of “to be enrolled or registered.” This explains what Jesus said in Luke 10:20+ to the 70 disciples. Used only 3x in NT - Lk. 10:20+ = "rejoice that your names are recorded in heaven"; 2 Co. 3:2; 2 Co. 3:3. Lxx = Ex 39:14, Da 12:1. THOUGHT - Do you have "spiritual children" in the Lord who like the saints at Corinth who have been written permanently on your heart and who serve as living testimony of the authenticity of your ministry? Adam
2 Coríntios 3:1-4
Vincent has a quote from Plato "I am speaking of an intelligent writing which is graven in the soul of him who has learned, and can defend itself (“Phaedrus,” 276). (2 Corinthians 3 Word Studies in the New Testament) LIVING EPISTLES LIVING AS SALT AND LIGHT Known and read by all men - There is a play in Greek (ginosko, anaginosko) and both are in the present passive, continually being known and read by all men. How the Corinthians lived their lives reflected on Paul's reputation but even more importantly on Christ's reputation. In the present context ginosko speaks of the fact that "all men" had an experiential knowledge of the Corinthian believers. They were not hypocrites or imposters but were new creatures in Christ (2Co 5:17-note) living transformed lives, having proven themselves before "all men" to be blameless and innocent, children of God above reproach in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, among whom (they) appear as lights in the world (Php 2:15-note) These saints had proved themselves true to Jesus' call for His disciples to be "salt" and "light" in a godless, idol filled, sex saturated culture like that found in Corinth, Jesus in His "Sermon on the Mount" declaring... You are the salt of the earth; but if the salt has become tasteless, how will it be made salty again? It is good for nothing anymore, except to be thrown out and trampled under foot by men. You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden. Nor do men light a lamp, and put it under the peck-measure, but on the lampstand; and it gives light to all who are in the house. Let your light shine before men in such a way that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father who is in heaven. (Mt 5:13-note, Mt 5:14, 15, 16-note) THOUGHT: D. L. Moody said: "It is a great deal better to live a holy life than to talk about it. We are told to let our light shine, and if it does we won't need to tell anybody it does. The light will be its own witness. Lighthouses don't ring bells and fire cannons to call attention to their shining--they just shine!" Amen! Are you (am I) shining? (cp Saints' lives as Shining lights - Da 12:3+ , Acts 6:15+ of Stephen, Acts 13:47+, 2Co 3:18+, Ps 34:5+, Pr 4:18+ Job 11:17) Known (1097) (ginosko) conveys the basic meaning of taking in knowledge in regard to something or someone, knowledge that goes beyond the merely factual. By extension, the term frequently was used of a special relationship between the person who knows and the object of the knowledge. It was often used of the intimate relationship between husband and wife and between God and His people. All uses of ginosko in the Corinthian letters - 1 Co. 1:21; 1 Co. 2:8; 1 Co. 2:11; 1 Co. 2:14; 1 Co. 2:16; 1 Co. 3:20; 1 Co. 4:19; 1 Co. 8:2; 1 Co. 8:3; 1 Co. 13:9; 1 Co. 13:12; 1 Co. 14:7; 1 Co. 14:9; 2 Co. 2:4; 2 Co. 2:9; 2 Co. 3:2; 2 Co. 5:16; 2 Co. 5:21; 2 Co. 8:9; 2 Co. 13:6 Read (314) (anaginosko from aná = emphatic, again + ginosko = know <> know again) literally to know again or to recognize again. It came to mean to distinguish between, to know accurately and then to read. In the NT anaginosko is only used with the meaning of to read, especially referring to reading aloud and to public reading. In Acts 8:28, 30, 32 we see the Ethiopian eunuch is reading in private (until encountered by Phillip!) In the present context the use is clearly in a figurative sense of others "reading" the lives of the Corinthian saints as one would read a written letter. Know (understood) and read are found in Acts 8 Luke describing when "Philip ran up and heard him (the Ethiopian eunuch) reading (anaginosko) Isaiah the prophet, and said, “Do you understand (ginosko) what you are reading?” (Ac 8:30+). THOUGHT - The lives of the saints at Corinth were so real and transparent that they could be easily read. Their lives were not written in the difficult to understand language of "religiosity" or "Christianeze (Christian jargon)" but with real lives that could be really read, really understood and really believed! Are you convicted? I am! What would my neighbors say is the "gospel written by me (by my life lived out before their eyes)?" By all men - Believers and unbelievers alike, among the former group serving to encourage faithful lives much as iron sharpens iron (Pr 27:17+), and among the latter group emitting an aroma of death (cf 2Co 2:15-16+ Jn 3:19-21+) R Kent Hughes makes the point that living, breathing letters "are incontrovertible evidence of the power of the gospel and the fruit of ministry. Written letters may easily mislead, but living letters will reveal the truth. Living heart letters are also more intimate. As Philip
2 Coríntios 3:1-4
Vincent explains a letter of Christ cared for by us..."An epistle written by Christ through our ministry; that is, you, as the converted subjects of our ministry, are an epistle of Christ. Others explain: an epistle of which Christ forms the contents, thus making the apostles the writers. (2 Corinthians 3 Word Studies in the New Testament) Cared for by us -
2 Coríntios 3:1-4
Vincent remarks that Paul had confidence "In the fact that he may appeal to them, notwithstanding their weaknesses and errors." (2 Corinthians 3 Word Studies in the New Testament)
2 Coríntios 3:7-11
Vincent comments that ministry of death "is that of Moses, and does not apply to his entire career as Israel’s lawgiver, but to his particular ministry in receiving on Sinai and transmitting to the people the law of God. The ministration may be said to have been graven on stones, since the whole purport of that economy which he represented was contained in the tables, and he was its minister in being the agent through whom God delivered it to the people. (2 Corinthians 3) Ministry (1248)(diakonia) means the rendering or assistance or help by performing certain duties, often of a humble or menial nature serve, including such mundane activities as waiting on tables or caring for household needs. In this section of Corinthians, diakonia, is used somewhat figuratively to speak of the service rendered by the two covenants Paul is contrasting. Diakonia in 2 Cor - 2 Co. 3:7; 2 Co. 3:8; 2 Co. 3:9; 2 Co. 4:1; 2 Co. 5:18; 2 Co. 6:3; 2 Co. 8:4; 2 Co. 9:1; 2 Co. 9:12; 2 Co. 9:13; 2 Co. 11:8 Letters engraved on stones (2Co 3:3) - Literally "engraved on stones by means of letters" The Old Covenant. The Mosaic Covenant. The Tablets God wrote on Mt Sinai... Now the Lord said to Moses, “Come up to Me on the mountain and remain there, and I will give you the stone tablets with the law and the commandment which I have written for their instruction.” (Exodus 24:12+) When He had finished speaking with him upon Mount Sinai, He gave Moses the two tablets of the testimony, tablets of stone, written by the finger of God. (Ex 31:18+, cp Exodus 32:15,16,19 34:1,28 Dt 4:13 5:22 9:9-11,15 Dt 10:1-4 Heb 9:4) Engraved (1795) (entupoo from en = in + tupos = form, stamp) means to stamp in or on and so to engrave. It describe the forming of letters by carving or incising in this case on stones. Used only in 2Co 3:7 in Scripture. Stones (plural) (3037) (lithos) a piece of rock, a a concretion of earthy or mineral matter of indeterminate size or shape. Stones are of various degrees of hardness and weight; they are brittle and fusible, but not malleable, ductile, or soluble in water. Lithos is used figuratively to refer to Christ as "the stone which the builders (Israel) rejected", the chief corner stone of the God's spiritual temple. Peter uses lithos figuratively to describe believers as living stones "who are being built up as a spiritual house" (1Pe 2:5-note). Here Paul is clearly referring to the two stone "tablets of the testimony, tablets of stone, written by the finger of God." (Ex 31:18+). The first tablets of stone which Moses broke in anger were engraved by God as recorded in Exodus 32... Then Moses turned and went down from the mountain with the two tablets of the testimony in his hand, tablets which were written on both sides; they were written on one side and the other. The tablets were God’s work, and the writing was God’s writing engraved on the tablets. (Ex 32:15, 16+). Comment: The Stones or Tablets refer to what we commonly call "The Ten Commandments" (the "Ten Words") - These were a summary of the moral law reduced to ten commandments, which summarized the whole law, even as the essence of the ten commandments is summarized in the two commands to "Love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind and with all your strength...(and) love your neighbor as yourself." (Mk 12:30, 31+). THE GLORY ON THE FACE OF MOSES The second set of two tablets of the "Ten Commandments" were written not by the finger of God but by Moses... Then the LORD said to Moses, "Write down these words, for in accordance with these words I have made a covenant with you and with Israel." So he was there with the Lord forty days and forty nights; he did not eat bread or drink water. And he wrote on the tablets the words of the covenant, the Ten Commandments. And it came about when Moses was coming down from Mount Sinai (and the two tablets of the testimony were in Moses' hand as he was coming down from the mountain), that Moses did not know that the skin of his face shone because of his speaking with Him. 30 So when Aaron and all the sons of Israel saw Moses, behold, the skin of his face shone, and they were afraid to come near him. 31 Then Moses called to them, and Aaron and all the rulers in the congregation returned to him; and Moses spoke to them. 32 And afterward all the sons of Israel came near, and he commanded them to do everything that the LORD had spoken to him on Mount Sinai. 33 When Moses had finished speaking with them, he put a veil over his face. (2Co 3:13) 34 But whenever Moses went in before the LORD to speak with Him, he would take off the veil until he came out; and whenever he came out and spoke to the sons of Israel what he had been commanded, 35 the sons of Israel would see the face of Moses, that the skin of Moses' face shone. So Moses would replace the veil over his face until he went in to speak with Him. (Ex 34:27-35+). Glory means to give a proper opinion of. And here Paul says that even the first covenant came with glory because it reflected God's holy nature, will and character. In short the Law which Paul later said was "holy" (Ro 7:12) gave a proper opinion of the holiness of God, the "setapartedness" of God. Came with glory - was made glorious (literally "in glory") (See Romans 9:4-5+). The Old Covenant (Law) had a degree of supernatural glory, brightness and splendor which Paul explains below was evident on the face of Moses (not on the tablets per se), not to mention the glory on the mountain manifest by "lightning flashes and a thick cloud upon the mountain and a very loud trumpet sound...in smoke because the LORD descended upon it in fire; and its smoke ascended like the smoke of a furnace, and the whole mountain quaked violently, so that all the people who were in the camp trembled." (Ex 19:16, 18+, see also "glory of the LORD" on Mt Sinai - Ex 24:16-17+) Paul did not despise the Law of God as his enemies suggested, for "It came with glory" and "is holy and the commandment is holy and righteous and good." (Ro 7:12) What Paul did despise was the misuse of the Law by the false teachers (e.g, that one could attain righteousness by keeping the law). So Paul does not argue that the Old Covenant lacked glory but clearly states it had glory. However as he goes on to add, this glory was a fading glory, a temporary glory, a glory that was now replaced by the glory of the New Covenant which in place of death and condemnation brings life and righteousness. And so in this section, Paul illustrates the fading glory of the Old Covenant by referring to the time when Moses encountered God and had his face transformed so that it reflected God's glory. Even as the glory on Moses' face faded, so too the glory of the Old Covenant had "faded" away and was now replaced by the permanent glory of the New Covenant.
2 Coríntios 3:7-11
Vincent comments that the KJV's translation of was glorious is "A very inadequate translation. Egenethe means came to pass or took place, not simply was. A glory passed from God to Moses, so that his face became shining. It is much more graphic and truthful to render en doxe literally, in or with glory, than to convert the two words into a single adjective, glorious. Rev., much better, came with glory.
2 Coríntios 3:12-14
Vincent comments on Paul's bold, open speech noting that "The contrast is with the dissembling (the concealing of facts or intentions under some pretense) with which his adversaries charged him." John
2 Coríntios 3:12-14
Vincent comments that when one looks at Ex 34:30-35 "The true sense of the Hebrew is given by the Septuagint --“When he ceased speaking he put a veil on his face;” not because the Israelites could not endure the radiance, but that they should not see it fade away. Whenever Moses went into the presence of God he removed the veil, and his face was again illumined, and shone while he delivered God’s message to the people. Then, after the delivery of the message, and during his ordinary association with the people, he kept his face covered. (As an aside, he would have had no problem with masking mandates in our 2020-21 COVID-19 world!)....Paul’s comparison is between the ministry of Moses, interrupted by intervals of concealment, and the gospel ministry, which is marked by frank and full proclamation. The opposition is twofold: (1) Between the veiled and the unveiled ministry, as regards the mere fact of concealment in the one case, and openness in the other. (2) Between the ministry which was suspended by the veiling that its end might not be seen, and that which proceeds ‘from glory to glory,’ having no termination (Alford). The face of Moses needed a continually renewed illumination: in the face of Christ the glory abides forever. (2 Corinthians 3) Murray Harris notes it is interesting that "in rabbinic tradition the glory of Moses’ face was undiminished right up to the day of his death when he was 120 years old." (As someone has quipped "Who wants to follow a leader who is losing his glory?") (Expositor's Bible Commentary). F W Grant has stated "The glory on the face of Moses must give way to the glory in Another Face." Warren
2 Coríntios 3:12-14
Vincent comments on the same veil..."The expression their minds were hardened is carried out figuratively. There is a veil over their minds when the law is read, as there was over Moses’ face. They cannot yet recognize the end of the Mosaic ministry."
2 Coríntios 3:12-14
Vincent writes that hope "in classical Greek, has the general signification of expectancy, relating to evil as well as to good. Thus Plato speaks of living in evil hope (“Republic,” i., 330); i.e., in the apprehension of evil; and Thucydides, of the hope of evils to come; i.e., the expectation or apprehension. In the New Testament the word always relates to a future good. (Vincent, M. R. Word Studies in the New Testament Vol. 1) Seneca, Rome's leading intellectual figure, tutor of the depraved emperor Nero (who forced Seneca to commit suicide!) and contemporary of Paul tragically defined hope as “an uncertain good”, the antithesis of Biblical hope! What a difference the new birth in Christ makes in one's temporal and eternal perspective. The cynical editor H. L. Mencken also inaccurately defined hope as “a pathological belief in the occurrence of the impossible.” His cynical definition does not even agree with the secular Webster's Collegiate dictionary which defines "Hope" much like the NT declaring that hope means "to cherish a desire with anticipation, desire with expectation of obtainment, expect with confidence." Biblical hope is not "finger crossing", but is alive and certain because of the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. Life without Christ is a hopeless end whereas life in Christ is an endless hope. The book of Hebrews defines hope as that which gives "full assurance" (He 6:11-note). Thus we can have strong confidence that God is going to do good to us in future. The opposite of hope is despair, (hopelessness; a hopeless state; a destitution of hope or expectation) which is all that those without Christ as Savior can know, for Paul defines hope as "Christ Jesus, Who is our Hope" (1Ti 1:1). Recalling our Hope to mind is a sterling antidote for despair, according to the "prescription" of the psalmist who advocates preaching the following "sermon" to yourself when your hope ebbs low... Why are you in despair, O my soul? And why have you become disturbed within me? Hope (Lxx = elpizo, a command) in God, for I shall again praise Him For the help (Lxx = soterion = salvation) of His presence. (Ps 42:5-note) The venerable "prince of preachers", C H Spurgeon has some sage comments on this "self sermon"... As though he were two men, the psalmist talks to himself. His faith reasons with his fears, his hope argues with his sorrows. These present troubles, are they to last forever? The rejoicings of my foes, are they more than empty talk? My absence from the solemn feasts, is that a perpetual exile? Why this deep depression, this faithless fainting, this chicken hearted melancholy? As
2 Coríntios 3:15-17
Vincent - The verb (taken away) occurs twice in Acts 27:20, 40 of the taking away of hope, and of the unfastening of the anchors in Paul’s shipwreck; and in He 10:11, of the taking away of sins. There is an allusion here to the removal of the veil from Moses’ face whenever he returned to commune with God. See Ex 34:34. Richards concludes that "The Old Covenant administered by Moses offered no inner transformation. This is illustrated by Moses himself, for after leaving God’s presence he put a veil over his face so the people would not see the splendor, which God’s presence had imparted, fade away. In contrast, because God’s Spirit now lives within the believer a process of transformation is taking place. That transformation, marked by increasingly clear reflection through the believer’s life of the splendor of Christ Himself, is the mark of New Covenant ministry. (Richards, Lawrence. The Bible Reader's Companion) A PRAYER OF PRAISE AND THANKSGIVING FOR GOD REMOVING THE VEIL I love Dr MacArthur's prayer which is a good way to sum up this passage "We're so grateful, our God, that You have lifted the veil and that You've let us see the glory of Christ. Oh we thank You that You've given us life, that You've provided righteousness that what You've done for us is permanent and forever, that You've filled us with hope, that You've drawn us into the very vision of Christ and we gaze at His glory. Nothing is veiled anymore. We with unveiled face behold the glory. Father, we're not many noble and not many mighty and we're certainly not the profound, we're the common and the base, but we understand what the religious elite of the world don't understand and we see the glory that is veiled to them. Such mercy overwhelms us and we thank You and praise You for it in Christ's name. Amen. (The Glory of the New Covenant, Part 5) The Veil Taken Away Preached at Zoar Chapel, London, on July 28, 1844 J. C. Philpot "But whenever anyone turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away!" 2 Cor. 3:16 In looking at this portion of Holy Writ, I shall endeavor, with God's blessing, to show— What the veil is. What it is to turn to the Lord. What it is to have the veil taken away. And may God the Spirit own his word with power to our consciences. I. What the veil is. There is, then a veil upon the human heart. And what is meant by the expression? We are not to understand by the word "veil" such as are now worn by women, which do not hide, so much as show off the features. The ancient veil worn by the Eastern women (and the same, I believe, is worn to this day), completely obscured the countenance. It was a thick covering which they wore over their face when they went abroad; it being considered to this day in the East highly indelicate that a single feature of a female's countenance should be seen. Thus Judah did not know Tamar, though she was his own daughter-in-law, and of course he had often seen her, because "she covered herself with a veil." (Ge 38:14, 15.) Thus also, we find, that the veil of the tabernacle, which separated the holy of holies from the holy place, was very thick; for it consisted of four distinct coverings, as we read (Exod. 36:35), "And he made a veil of blue, and purple, and scarlet, and fine twined linen." These four distinct pieces seem to have been quilted together with needlework, which we know was the case with the hanging for the tabernacle door (v. 37); and all these put together into one piece formed a thick, dense, impenetrable covering. The veil of the tabernacle was then more a curtain, or rather four curtains sewed one over the other, than what we understand by the word veil. And thus, by the veil upon the heart, we are to understand a covering, or curtain, so dense, thick, and closely-knit, as to exclude all light from penetrating through it; not merely shutting out the person from seeing, but also shutting out the person from being seen. In looking, then, at the veil upon the heart of man by nature, we must take with us this idea of a dense, impenetrable covering, to understand what the Spirit of God means by the expression. If we look, then, at the veil over man's heart by nature, we shall find it to consist of covering upon covering. For instance: 1. There is the veil of IGNORANCE. What a thick, dense, impenetrable covering is that! If we look back to the days of darkness and unregeneracy, in what dense ignorance did we walk. The very doctrines of grace, and the whole scheme of salvation, were hidden from our eyes, and we understood not a single truth of the gospel aright. Our minds were wrapped up in such thick clouds of ignorance, that we knew neither God nor ourselves, neither our state here or hereafter. This veil of ignorance spread over the heart seems spoken of, Isaiah 25:7, "He will destroy in this mountain the face of the covering cast over all people, and the veil that is spread over all nations." And again, "Darkness shall cover the earth, and gross darkness the people." (Isaiah 60:2.) And thus Paul testifies that the Gentiles walk, "Having the understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God through the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their heart." (Eph. 4:18.) 2. But this is not the only covering that goes to make up this thick, dense, impenetrable veil. There is the veil of UNBELIEF. So that could man by the dint of his natural faculties overcome his ignorance, and thus strip off one part of the veil, the other part, that of unbelief, would still remain. Look at the scribes and Pharisees; the Lord wrought such amazing and undeniable miracles, as we should think must have convinced them that he was the Messiah—as, for instance, the raising up of Lazarus from the dead. They saw him come out of the sepulcher with their bodily eyes at the word of Jesus; but it had no effect on their minds. They saw the blind restored to sight, the lame walk, and the deaf receive hearing; but it never wrought faith in their consciences. They were, as the Apostle says, "shut up in unbelief." (Rom. 11:32, margin.) This is just our state by nature; unbelief has such possession of our hearts that we cannot believe the things of God until they are made known to us by divine revelation. 3. But again; there is the covering of SELF-RIGHTEOUSNESS. What a motley monster is man in his natural state! Full of evil, continually committing sin, daring God to his face by a thousand crimes, and yet setting up his own righteousness! We might just as well expect that a felon in prison, who is there awaiting in the condemned cell the merited punishment of his aggravated crimes, of his murders, robberies, and continued outrage against all human laws, should hope to come out of prison by his good deeds and obedience to the laws of his country, as expect such a vile wretch as man to hope to climb up to heaven by the ladder of his good words, good thoughts, good works, and good intentions. But the veil upon his heart prevents him from seeing that by anything he can do he cannot please God. Self-righteousness in all its forms is so interlaced with every thought of our heart, so intertwined with every fiber of our natural mind, that though we know ourselves to be sinners, yet self-applause and self-complacency bid us do something to gain God's favor. 4. But again; there is the veil of SUPERSTITION. What a hold has superstition over the minds of men! If we go into any country parish, what superstition universally reigns over the minds of those dead in sin! How church and churchyard, ecclesiastical vestments and gown, font and altar, are well near worshiped! And in town, as well as country, in dissenter as well as in churchman, what superstitious feeling prevails; and how much passes off for religion and piety that was never wrought in the heart and conscience by God the Spirit! I believe there are many people who cannot sin comfortably until they have said their prayers, and cannot launch out with an easy conscience into the pleasures of the world, until they have gone to church or chapel. They must needs attend upon the ceremonies and forms of religion to get a license for sin, as a school-boy learns his task to obtain a holiday. 5. And then, there is the veil of PREJUDICE. How deeply prejudiced are men's minds against the truth, and against all who profess or preach it! Have we ourselves not in time past walked in this path? What deep prejudice have our minds been steeped in against the truths of God's word! And have we not looked upon the people who held and preached them rather as monsters than men! When I walk through the streets of the town in which I live, I can see sometimes prejudice staring out from the very eyes of the people, especially the well-dressed and respectable, whom I meet; and though they cannot, through mercy, bring anything against my life and conduct, so great is their prejudice because I hold and preach the truth, that I believe they look upon me as a worse character than an adulterer, a swearer, or a drunkard. The prejudice painted in their very features sometimes almost amuses, and sometimes annoys me; sometimes stirs up my pride, and sometimes makes me thankful that I differ from them, and suffer reproach for the Lord's sake. 6. And then, there is the veil of ENMITY. "The carnal mind is enmity against God." What bitter enmity there is in man against the humbling truths of the gospel, against all who live godly in Christ Jesus, and against everything spiritual and heavenly, or that breathes the Spirit of the Lord! 7. Then, there is the covering of PRIDE. And O, what a dense veil is that, which, like an unclean bird, spreads its baneful wings over a man's heart, that he will not submit to the humbling truths of the gospel! 8. And then, there is the veil of HYPOCRISY, in which man is so deeply sunk, prompting him to every hypocritical word and action. All these coverings, one upon another, are so spread over the heart of man by nature, that the truth of God, of itself, cannot reach him; so that he has no eyes to see, no ears to hear, no heart to feel, no conscience to submit to the power of truth. O, in what a sunken state man is! We never can abase man too much. O the gulf of misery and ruin into which he has fallen through the transgressions of our first parents! O the depths of depravity into which he has been hurled! O the bottomless abyss of destruction and guilt into which, when Adam fell, he cast himself and all his race! But though so awful is man's state, yet, "the veil" upon his heart prevents him from seeing the depths of his own fall. This is one of the worst features of man's ruin, that it is hidden from him, and that he knows nothing of it until, through a miracle of grace, he is plucked out of the pit of horror, and saved from going down to the abyss of hell, with all his sins and crimes upon his head. Ministers, therefore, can never abase man too much, nor point out too clearly the awful abyss of ruin and degradation into which he has fallen; and the more they point it out, the more witness have they in the consciences of those who know something of these things by painful experience. But the veil on man's heart hides from him his own ruin; and until the veil in a measure is removed, he never knows, never sees, never feels one truth aright. II. What it is to turn to the Lord? Now the first work, (and this leads me to the second branch of the subject) of the Spirit of God on the heart, is, not to remove the veil, (that is a second work), but to discover the veil. If I may use such an expression, the Spirit of God breathing on a man's heart, blows away a little corner of the veil spread over it; and then we begin for the first time to see and feel that there is a veil there. The beginning of knowledge is to learn our foolishness; the beginning of mercy is to feel our misery; the beginning of salvation is to know our condemnation; and the beginning of eternal life is to pass under the sentence of everlasting death. It is thus that the Lord, in his overflowing love to the objects of his choice, begins to deal with their consciences. The conscience is the place where God always begins, as the Apostle says in his own ministry, "Commending ourselves to every man's conscience in the sight of God:" He begins to deal with a man's conscience, when, by the secret light and life of his Spirit, he makes him see and feel something of his lost and undone state before God. Eternal realities thus are made to lie upon his conscience; the truths of God to come into his soul; and the entrance of God's word to give light to his heart. Now where did your religion begin? It is a grand point to know where your religion began; for if the beginning be all right, all is right; and if the beginning be wrong, is it not to be feared that all the rest is wrong? Did your religion begin with conscience, for that is the place where God begins? Were eternal realities laid upon your mind? Did a sense of your sinfulness come upon your soul? Did you feel what a ruined wretch you were in the sight of a holy God? Did you see what a veil by nature there was upon your heart? As a man begins to see these things, the veil is in a measure beginning to be removed; he begins to see eternal things in a clearer light, and as the veil thins away, to feel them with a more powerful life. Now this leads him to "turn to the Lord." When God's truth comes into the conscience, and eternal realities lie close upon the mind, and we thus see and feel that there is a veil upon our hearts, we begin to turn to the Lord that the veil may be taken away. And there is no true turning to the Lord until these things are spiritually and experimentally felt. But what does turning to the Lord imply? It implies a turning away from everything else. We never knew our need of a Savior until conviction of sin was brought into the conscience; we thought we could be saved by our works until we knew something of the purity and spirituality of God's law. We thought ourselves wise in our own generation, yes, that "wisdom would almost die with us," until we felt our ignorance and blindness, and that there was a thick veil spread over our hearts. Now, as the Lord the Spirit enables a poor sinner to turn to the Lord (for it is the Spirit's work to turn to the stronghold the "prisoners of hope,") he begins to unfold to him who the Lord is. This is the grand turning point, the Spirit fulfilling his covenant office in showing a condemned sinner who the Lord is. This is the first discovery that there is a refuge; the first ray of gospel light whereby the way of escape is made known; the first dawn of hope in the soul; the first setting the feet in the way of peace. After the Lord has quickened our souls, for a time we often go, shall I say, blundering on, not knowing there is a Jesus. We think that the way of life is to keep God's commandments, obey the law, cleanse ourselves from sin, reform our lives, and cultivate universal holiness in thought, word, and action and so we go, blundering and stumbling on in darkness; and all the while never get a single step forward. But when the Lord has allowed us to weary ourselves to find the door, and let us sink lower and lower into the pit of guilt and ruin, from feeling that all our attempts to extricate ourselves have only plunged us deeper and deeper, and the Spirit of God opens up to the understanding and brings in the soul some spiritual discovery of Jesus, and thus makes known that there is a Savior, a Mediator, and a way of escape—this is the grand turning point in our lives, the first opening in the 'valley of Achor' of the 'door of hope'. And when the soul has once seen that there is a Jesus, and once felt a measure of the power of his resurrection, it never goes to any other quarter for pardon, justification, and salvation. We may compare the soul in this state to a mariner shipwrecked by night an a reef of rocks, and seeing the first dawn of light in the horizon. Does he not instinctively turn to the point where the sun is to rise? Are not his eyes anxiously fixed upon the dawning day? He does not look to the North for the sun to appear; he does not turn to the South, or to the West, but to the East, for there the dawn breaks, and there he keeps his eyes fixed until the sun rises. So with the poor shipwrecked soul cast away upon the shoals of despondency, and washed up on those rocks, where he fears he must starve or die. When the Spirit of God begins to open up with power in his conscience that there is a Jesus, that he is the only Mediator, that the Son of God has come down and taken a holy human nature into union with himself, and is now at the right hand of the Father, it is the first break of day, the first dawn of hope; and upon that bright spot does the shipwrecked soul fix his longing eyes until the Sun of Righteousness arises upon it, with healing in his wings. It is a great step in a man's experience to turn wholly and solely to the Lord, and renounce all creature righteousness, all forms and ceremonies as a way of salvation. It is a great mercy to turn away from them, as the shipwrecked mariner turns away from his sinking ship, and looks to the rising sun to show him some way of escape, and thus afford him some gleam of hope. But, as the soul turns to the Lord, it is with earnest prayer and supplication. As we read, Jer. 31:9, "They shall come with weeping, and with supplications will I lead them." This is the way in which the Lord always leads the 'people of his choice'—he creates the desire, raises up the power to ask in prayer, and then graciously answers the request. "I will yet, for this," he says, "be enquired of by the house of Israel to do it for them." (Ezek. 36:37.) "Then shall you call upon me, and you shall go and pray unto me, and I will hearken unto you. And you shall seek me, and find me, when you shall search for me with all your heart." (Jer. 29:12, 13.) III. The REMOVAL of the veil. And this leads us to the third branch of the subject—the taking away of the veil. There are three steps in experience connected with the veil upon the heart– 1. The knowledge of the veil being there. 2. The turning to the Lord, that he would take the veil away. 3. The removal of it; as the Apostle speaks in the text, and also intimates a little lower down—"We all, with open," or, as it is literally, "with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord." The veil is taken away when the soul turns to the Lord. The light of his countenance, the beams of his grace, and the sheddings abroad of his mercy, dissolve and melt the veil away, just as the sun thaws away the winter snows. And what does the soul see when the veil is removed? Until this dense covering was taken away, it saw nothing aright, heard nothing aright, felt nothing aright, but stumbled on in thick darkness. But when the soul turned to the Lord, and gave itself wholly and solely unto him, there was a discovery to faith of the glorious Person of Jesus, divine realities became manifested in the Spirit's light, and sealed upon the conscience by a measure of the Spirit's teaching. And this is what the Apostle speaks of in the next chapter, where he says, "God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, has shined in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ." (2 Cor. 4:6.) 1. Until the veil is taken away, we do not see the glory of GOD shining forth in the Person of Jesus. But what is it to see the light of the knowledge of the glory of God thus shining? It is to see all the perfections of God shine forth in the glorious Person of Jesus. We cannot know God outside of knowing Christ. He is "the blessed and only Potentate, the King of kings, and Lord of lords; who only has immortality, dwelling in the light which no man can approach unto; whom no man has seen nor can see." (1 Tim. 6:15, 16.) "You can not see my face; for there shall no man see me, and live." (Exod. 33:20.) But the invisible God having sent his only begotten Son into the world, who is "the brightness of his glory, and the express image of his Person;" and he having taken into union with himself a holy human nature, it is thus, as the Spirit of God gives us light to see by faith the Person of Immanuel, that we view the glory of God shining forth in the face of the God-Man Mediator. The Lord, therefore, gently chided Philip, when he said, "Lord, show us the Father, and it suffices us. Jesus says unto him, Have I been so long time with you, and yet have you not known me, Philip? He who has seen me has seen the Father; and how say you then, Show us the Father?" (John 14:8, 9.) 2. But what do we see in the PERSON of Jesus, when the veil is removed? We see in him all the perfections of God harmonize, and specially behold "justice and mercy meeting together, righteousness and peace kissing each other." And we see in this great truth, which is all the comfort of a believing soul, how that "God can be just, and yet the justifier of him that believes in Jesus." We see that God can pardon the sinner, and yet condemn the sin; that all the attributes of Jehovah shine forth in the face of Jesus, without clashing, without collision, and that the love, mercy, and grace of a Three-One God beam forth in the Person of Christ. We see that a propitiation has been made for sin; that atoning blood has been shed to satisfy all law-claims, "to make reconciliation for iniquity, and bring in everlasting righteousness;" that a sacrifice has been offered up which God has accepted; and a ransom paid which the Father has received as a complete acquittance of the debt due to divine and inflexible justice. When we see and feel this, the veil is removed. We may have been wearying ourselves, and we should have gone on wearying ourselves to the end of our lives, trying to make ourselves righteous, to put away our sins, to purge our consciences, and reconcile our guilty souls to God. We might go on heaping up prayer upon prayer, tear upon tear, sacrament upon sacrament, and mass upon mass, and yet after all sink down into a deserved hell. And there all will sink who are not 'experimentally acquainted' with the propitiation made for sin through the sacrifice of the only begotten Son of God. Into that pit of horror will all sink, who put confidence in any other way of salvation than the meritorious sacrifice offered up on Calvary, or look to any other way of salvation than that propitiation which the Son of God has made by his obedience and blood. What virtue and efficacy there is in his blood to purge the guilty conscience! God the Spirit lead us deeply into it! There is a great deal of caviling in some men's minds about the expression, "the blood of God." 'How,' say they, 'could the Godhead bleed? How could the Godhead suffer?' But if it is not the blood of him who was God, I might just as well rely for salvation on the blood of one of the thieves that were crucified with him. What is Christ's human nature? That is the rock on which many gallant ships have struck. It is not a person having a distinct existence apart from the Deity of Christ; but it is a nature—what the Holy Spirit calls that "Holy One," (Luke 1:35); "a body that God had prepared for him," (Heb. 10:5) taken into intimate, mysterious, and inexplicable union with the Person of the Son of God. So that, whatever that human nature did and suffered, from its intimacy and union with the Son of God, the Son of God did and suffered. Did that nature bleed? It bled as having union with Deity; it being, so to speak, the instrument that Deity made use of. To use an illustration—as my soul touches an object through my hand, or speaks its thoughts by my tongue; so Deity not being itself able to bleed, bled through the humanity. Did that nature suffer? It was not the mere suffering of a human person, as a man might suffer; but it was the suffering of a holy nature in intimate union with the Person of the Son of God. And did that nature obey? The Son of God obeyed through and with that nature. So that, to cavil at the expression, "the blood of God," is nothing less than to strike a blow at a great fundamental truth. We might object, on the same ground, to the expression, "God our righteousness," as the Prophet speaks, "And this is the name whereby he shall be called, the Lord our righteousness," that is "Jehovah our Righteousness." (Jer. 23:6). Who is our righteousness but the Son of God? And what was that righteousness but the obedience of his human nature? for Godhead could no more obey than suffer and bleed; and yet Jehovah is our righteousness. And if we do not object to the expression, "the righteousness of God," why should we cavil at the expression, "the blood of God?" Now this is the grand mystery which faith embraces, and which is dear to the heart of every God-taught soul. What a power and efficacy, as the veil is taken off the heart, does faith see in that sacrifice! What a propitiation does it see made for sin by the blood of the Son of God! Faith does not view it as the blood of man! Can the blood of man put away sin? But when we see it as the blood of the Son of God, O what a value, efficacy, power, and glory shine forth in it! But until the veil is taken off the heart we cannot see it; nor can we, until the Spirit makes it experimentally known, learn what a divine reality there is in this blood to purge the guilty conscience. 3. So with respect to Christ's obedience to the law; if his obedience were merely the obedience of man, it could not justify all the persons of his elect; but being the obedience of the Son of God, who "being found in fashion as a man, humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross"—it becomes a justifying robe for every soul to whom it is imputed, and who, by the removing of the veil, takes a happy and blessed shelter under it. 4. Again. As the veil is taken off the heart, we begin to see and feel what a power there is in true religion, what a reality in divine teaching, and what a sweetness there is in the inward testimonies of God. Most men's religion is nothing else but a round of 'forms'. Some have their 'doings', some their 'doctrines', and others their 'duties'. And when the one has performed his doings, the other learned his doctrines, and the third discharged his duties, why, he is as good a Christian, he thinks, as anybody. While all the time, the poor deceived creature is thoroughly ignorant of the kingdom of God, which stands not in word, but in power. But as the veil of ignorance and unbelief is taken off the heart, we begin to see and feel that there is a power in vital godliness, a reality in the teachings of the Spirit; that religion is not to be put on and put off as a man puts on and off his Sunday clothes; but when we come away from chapel we cannot take off our religion, fold it up, and put it away into the drawer, and there let it lie safe and quiet all the week. Where vital godliness is wrought with divine power in a man's heart, and preached by the Holy Spirit into his conscience, it mingles, daily and often hourly, with his thoughts, entwines itself with his feelings and becomes the very food and drink of his soul. But until the veil was taken away, we could put our religion on and off at pleasure; and were often glad to take off the tight Sunday coat, and slip on the comfortable week-day clothes. As then we begin to see and feel the reality and power of vital godliness, it separates us from those who have only a name to live while they are dead; it makes us manifest as one of "the peculiar people;" and our friends and companions, no, the only people whose society we really love, are those who have felt divine realities by divine teaching. We can no more do with a dead profession of truth, than with a dead profession of error! We can no more make friends and companions of presumptuous professors, than of swearers, adulterers, or drunkards. And feeling, or at least desiring to feel, in our hearts—light, life, savor, dew, and power for ourselves—we look out for those who have experienced these things themselves; and in whom we can read, if we have a discerning eye, the legible lines of God's Spirit written upon their conscience, or towards whom we can feel a sweet knitting of soul, as taught by the same Spirit the same realities which we believe the Holy Spirit has taught us. Now when a man comes to this spot—to see and feel what a reality there is in the things of God made manifest in the conscience by the power of the Holy Spirit, it effectually takes him out of dead churches, cuts him off from false ministers, winnows the chaff from the wheat, and brings him into close communion with the broken-hearted family of God. 5. But as the veil is removed, the soul also begins to see and feel the workings of inward sin that it was previously ignorant of. The removal of the veil not merely shows us the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ, but everything contrary to that glory. The pride of our heart, the power of our unbelief, the enmity of our carnal mind, the awful hypocrisy, the daring presumption, the abominable treachery, the fleshy lusts, and all the obscene imaginations of our depraved nature, that will work in us in spite of all our groans and cries to the contrary—all this, as the veil is taken off the soul, becomes more and more manifested, and we have (and O, what a sight it is!) a sight of ourselves. Did ever a man see so filthy a sight as himself! When he looks down into the sewer of his own nature, does he not see everything there, creeping and crawling, like tadpoles in a ditch, to disgust him? But even this works together for good; for as a man feels a measure of light and life in his conscience, and sees and feels also, more and more of the workings of his depraved nature, and the breakings forth of the hypocrisy of a treacherous heart, he is brought to look more simply and more singly to the glorious Person of the Son of God, and cast himself more sincerely and unreservedly upon that blood which cleanses from all sin. And thus, as the veil is removed from off the heart, he begins to drink more deeply into the spirit of the gospel, into the mind of Christ, into the reality of the things of God, into union and communion with Jesus, into the solemn renunciation of self, into an abhorrence of evil, and separation from the world, and learns to live a life of faith upon the Son of God. But the veil is continually (if I may use the expression) "flapping back again over the heart," it is not so taken away that no more darkness is felt, no more ignorance known, no more self-righteousness, and no more of its accompanying fruits perceived. It is removed as long as the Spirit shines, as long as the soul sees light in God's light. But the veil at times seems to come back over our hearts as much as if it never had been removed. We have to walk in darkness, and have no light; and frequently have to grope for the wall like the blind, and grope as if we had no eyes. We can see no beauty in Jesus, and can scarcely believe there is a Jesus. We can see none of our evidences; all seem clean swept away, and scarcely a landmark left; we can find no more cries and groans in our soul than in the emptiest professor, and can feel no more godly sensations or spiritual movements in our hearts than if we were deceived altogether. Now we fear that there has never been a single spark of grace in our hearts; for the word of God is hid from our view, the promises buried in impenetrable darkness, and past experiences covered with a thick, black cloud. This makes a man feel more of the veil on his heart than before. The feelings of darkness, when light does not shine; the sensation of misery, when mercy is not manifested; the sense of helplessness, when strength is not given; the experience of absence, when presence is denied—all these teach us what the veil is! But O, what profitable lessons are learned in this dark valley of humiliation, in these trials, exercises, and temptations! How, by this experience, we learn more in what vital godliness consists! How the marrow of religion is more opened up in our conscience! How we learn more to cease from our own works! How we see more what a barren wilderness there is in our own heart! And feeling how deceitful and hypocritical it is, we learn to place less confidence in it. And when the Lord sees fit to bring the soul out of darkness—will it not make the light more precious? The gloom that hung over the soul—will it not make God's countenance more sweet when it comes? And the unbelief, the coldness, the deadness, the depravity, the hardness, and the apparent searedness of conscience which the soul has to grapple with—will it not make it prize more and more the teachings, leadings, and guidings of God the Spirit? And thus, by these various dispensations of God, we learn more to cease from man, to cease from ourselves, to cease from our own wisdom, to look more simply, more singly, more solely and wholly unto the Lord of life and glory, and to depend more upon the Spirit to work in us that which is well pleasing in his sight. Let me just, in a few words, sum up the whole. Look at the three steps. The veil felt; the turning to the Lord; and the removal of the veil. These are the three steps in the divine life, commencing when it is first communicated to the soul. Now, if you are a child of God, taught by the Spirit, you will know one or more of these branches. You will have learned, first, what it is to have the veil over your hearts, under which you will groan and sigh—you will experience the darkness, hardness, deadness, depravity, hypocrisy, unbelief, and presumption of your carnal mind; and under it you may groan for months, and sometimes for years, before light, life, and power manifestly come to melt the veil away. The next step is, to turn to the Lord with all our heart and all our soul; to see and feel that there is a Savior; I do not mean in the judgment—but in the heart and conscience. This will produce a springing up out of ourselves to lie at the feet of the Lord; that we may receive divine life out of his fullness, and feel its powerful operations in the soul. To him will flow our desires, our supplications, our pantings, and our longings to know him and him only. This is the grand turning point. And then comes the third step, the taking off the veil from the heart; a discovery to the soul, by the Spirit, of the glory of God in the face of Jesus; the inward reception into the heart and conscience of the Son of God with power; of his blood to cleanse the guilty conscience, of his righteousness to justify the naked soul, of his love as balm for every wound, and of all his attributes as God-Man, as suited to every need, every misery, and every sense of our wretchedness and ruin. And this path of the just, as the light, shines more and more unto the perfect day; so that the soul, as the Lord leads it on, becomes more and more acquainted with its vileness—and his goodness; its worthlessness—and his infinite worth; its guiltiness—and his blood as purging from sin, its nakedness and filthy rags—and his glorious robe of righteousness. And thus, as we sink into a deeper knowledge of ourselves, we rise higher into a knowledge of Christ; and as we are brought into the wilderness, God is more glorified by leading us in it. So that, while we sink to our right spot—a sinner saved by grace—we learn to put the crown of glory upon the head of him to whom alone it belongs, yielding the praise and thanksgiving to God the Father, God the Son, and God the Spirit, as one undivided, glorious, and ever-living Jehovah, both now and forever! 2 Corinthians 3:17 Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty. (NASB: Lockman) Greek: o de kurios to pneuma estin; (3SPAI) ou de to pneuma kuriou, eleutheria. Amplified: Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty (emancipation from bondage, freedom). [Is 61:1, 2] (Lockman) ESV: Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. (ESV) KJV: Now the Lord is that Spirit: and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty. NET: Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is present, there is freedom. (NET Bible) NIV: Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. (NIV - IBS) NLT: For the Lord is the Spirit, and wherever the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. (NLT-Tyndale House)
2 Coríntios 3:15-17
Vincent writes that "The Lord Christ of 2Co 3:16 is the (Holy) Spirit Who pervades and animates the New Covenant of which we are ministers (2Co 3:6-note), and the ministry of the Spirit is with glory (2Co 3:8-note) (Ed: And the Spirit liberates us [2Co 3:17] and transforms us from glory to glory - 2Co 3:18-note). Lord (2962) (kurios from kuros = might or power) has a variety of meanings/uses in the NT and therefore one must carefully examine the context in order to discern which sense is intended by the NT author. The main sense of kurios is that of a supreme one, one who is sovereign and possesses absolute authority, absolute ownership and uncontested power. Dr Charles Ryrie comments that the Lord is the Spirit is "A strong statement that Christ and the Holy Spirit are one in essence, though Paul also recognized the distinctions between them (2Co 13:14). (The Ryrie Study Bible) The KJV Bible Commentary offers a well reasoned explanation that "Paul is not saying “the Lord is Spirit” (in the same sense that is indicated in Jn 4:24) but “the Lord is the Holy Spirit, the Third Person of the Godhead.” It is also important to note here that Paul is not confusing the two Persons. Jesus said earlier, “I and my Father are one” (Jn 10:30). He bears the same relationship to the Holy Spirit. Here is the ineffable mystery of the Trinity, one in essence yet three distinct personalities. (KJV Bible Commentary: Nelson) In a "Trinitarian passage" in Romans 8 Paul clearly identifies Jesus with the Spirit which helps us understand the phrase the Spirit of the Lord… However, you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God (the Father) dwells in you. But if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ (the Son), he does not belong to Him. And if Christ is in you, though the body is dead because of sin, yet the spirit is alive because of righteousness. But if the Spirit of Him (Father) who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who indwells you. (Ro 8:9+, Ro 8:10, 11+, see also Jn 14:16 and Jn 14:18 which also identifies Jesus Christ with the Holy Spirit) Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty - The Spirit of Christ turns a person to the Lord Jesus Christ, taking the veil from their heart so they can "see" Christ in the New Covenant, at the same time bringing them into the broad pastures of spiritual liberty in Christ. The false teachers at Corinth were apparently holding forth the Law as the way to change one's life, but Paul teaches that it is only the Spirit of the Lord Who can transfer one from a life of legalistic bondage and into a life of liberty. Paul describes this liberty declaring For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free (eleutheroo) from the law (the principle) of sin and of death. For you have not received a spirit of slavery leading to fear again (contrast the reaction of the sons of Israel in Ex 34:29), but you have received a spirit of adoption as sons by which we cry out, “Abba! Father!” The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God (Ro 8:15, 16+). Because you are sons, God has sent forth the Spirit of His Son into our hearts, crying, “Abba! Father!” Therefore you are no longer a slave (bondage), but a son (liberty); and if a son, then an heir through God. (Ga 4:6, 7+) Liberty (freedom) (1657) (eleutheria from eleutheros - that which is capable of movement, freedom to go wherever one likes, unfettered; see word study on verb eleutheroo) describes the state of being free and stands in opposition to slavery or bondage. Liberty describes the state of being free from restraint. In NT terms, freedom is not the right to do as you wish, but the power to behave as you should. Vine writes that "liberty is rendered freedom in Gal 5:1 “with freedom did Christ set us free.” The combination of the noun (freedom) with the verb stresses the completeness of the act, the aorist (or point) tense indicating both its momentary and comprehensive character; it was done once for all. The word is twice rendered “freedom” in the RV of Gal 5:13 (KJV, “liberty”). The phraseology is that of manumission from slavery, which among the Greeks was effected by a legal fiction, according to which the manumitted slave was purchased by a god; as the slave could not provide the money, the master paid it into the temple treasury in the presence of the slave, a document being drawn up containing the words “for freedom.” No one could enslave him again, as he was the property of the god. In 2Co 3:17 the word denotes “freedom” of access to the presence of God. (Vine's Expository Dictionary of Old Testament and New Testament Words) Guzik feels that in this context the liberty which Paul is emphasizing is "the liberty of access. He is building on his words from 2Co 3:12 (note): we use great boldness of speech. Boldness is a word that belongs with liberty. Because of the great work of the Holy Spirit in us through the New Covenant, we have a bold, liberated relationship with God. (2 Corinthians 3) Matthew
2 Coríntios 3:18
Vincent comments that "beholding expresses the fact from which the process of change into God’s image proceeds. When Moses beheld Jehovah’s glory, his own face reflected that glory. The mirror is the Gospel, which is called the Gospel of the glory of Christ, 2Co 4:4+. Charles Hodge explains that "The Greek verb means, in the active voice, “to show in a mirror” and in the middle voice (the form used here) generally “to see oneself in a mirror.” This is always the way it is used in the classics. But in Philo it is used to express the idea of seeing by means of a mirror. - see also Hodges four arguments that lead him to favor beholding rather than reflecting as the best interpretation of katoptrizomai), where he concludes "We are transformed into the Lord’s likeness by seeing it, not by reflecting it.") (2 Corinthians) Related Resource: Fix Your Eyes on Jesus - Ann Ortlund's devotional A T