Down to Earth But Heavenly Minded

What does 2nd Corinthians Chapter 3 mean?

Eager for the Corinthians to understand that he is not promoting himself, Paul wants them to look at themselves to validate his role as an apostle of Jesus. Their own lives should serve as all the evidence they need that Paul delivered not himself but Christ to them. After all, they have become living, breathing letters of recommendation for him and his co-workers. They are letters written by Christ with the Holy Spirit instead of ink on human hearts instead of tablets (2 Corinthians 3:1–3).

Paul insists this is not because of his own strength and skill. He and his friends are not “sufficient” to carry out this work. They are not specially qualified, in and of themselves. They’re not boosted by their own power. All their sufficiency comes from the power of God. He is the one who has empowered and enabled them to be ministers of the new covenant (2 Corinthians 3:4–6).

Paul compares the new covenant of salvation by faith in Christ through God’s grace with the old covenant between God and Israel. He describes that old covenant as a ministry of death carved in letters on stone. It came with true glory. It was God’s revelation of Himself, after all, to the Israelites. The glory was so powerful that the Israelites could not even bear to look at the reflection of it on Moses’ face after he spent time with God. It was a ministry of death, though, because it required the death of an animal to pay for every sin Israel committed. It revealed that sinful human beings cannot lead the righteous lives required by God to see His glory (2 Corinthians 3:7).

The glory of the new covenant of God’s grace and forgiveness for sinners through faith in Christ far surpasses the glory revealed by the old covenant of the law. That old ministry of condemnation for sin was being brought to an end, while the ministry of righteousness received as a gift through Christ will go on forever. It reveals a glory that is permanent (2 Corinthians 3:8–11).

Because Paul is a minister of the new covenant, which allows those in Christ to see God’s glory, Paul can be far more bold than Moses. As a minister of the old covenant, Moses had to cover his face with a veil in order to protect the sinful Israelites from seeing the glory of God. That veil is still there. It stands between those who are not in Christ and the glory of God. It can only be removed by the Holy Spirit through Christ for those who turn to Him in faith (2 Corinthians 3:12–17).

Those in Christ look at Him with unveiled faces. To see Christ in this way is to see the glory of God on earth. It begins a transformation, changing those who look on Him to becoming like Him, over time, by the power of the Holy Spirit (2 Corinthians 3:18).

Chapter Context
Earlier chapters described the Corinthians’ response to Paul’s earlier instructions. Here, Paul once again defends the legitimacy of his role as an apostle of Christ. He then compares the old covenant of the law of Moses with the new covenant of faith in Christ. The old covenant revealed human sinfulness, God’s condemnation, and the death required to pay for sin. The new covenant brings God’s forgiveness for sin to all who trust in Christ, making it possible to look on His glory and to begin to be changed by it into the image of Christ through the power of the Holy Spirit. This launches Paul into a description of the value of the gospel, in contrast to the struggles of earthly life.

Verse by Verse

Verse 1. Are we beginning to commend ourselves again? Or do we need, as some do, letters of recommendation to you, or from you?

In times past, Paul had enjoyed a close relationship with the Corinthians. He had founded the church in Corinth and led many of them to faith in Christ. Their deep respect for him had diminished, though, over time. Some had pledged their allegiance to other apostles and teachers over him. He had rebuked others involved in various sins and foolish practices.

More recently, the Corinthians stood with Paul, against a man who challenged his authority. Still, Paul felt the need to insist that he and those with him were not dishonest “peddlers” of God’s Word (2 Corinthians 2:17). They were truly sent out by God to represent Christ.

Now Paul asks if he and his friends need to commend themselves to the Corinthians again. Do they need new letters of recommendation to or from the Corinthians? It was common practice for traveling teachers or speakers to come with such letters. These were written by themselves or others, to establish their credentials to people who did not know them. Such letters are something like the resumé or CV modern people present to potential audiences and business partners.

Paul is not condemning the use of such letters. Instead, he seems to be asking the Corinthians if he has not already proven himself to them based on their history together. He says in the following verses that they themselves—their growth and character and place in Christ—have become his letter of recommendation to the outside world.

Context Summary
Second Corinthians 3:1–6 poetically describes the only letter of recommendation Paul needs for his legitimacy as an apostle: the Christians in Corinth. Paul and his friends delivered Christ to them. The Corinthians are a letter written by Christ not with ink but with the Holy Spirit, not on tablets of stone but on human hearts. God is the one who has empowered Paul for the ministry and who sent him and his friends into the world to do it.

Verse 2. You yourselves are our letter of recommendation, written on our hearts, to be known and read by all.

Some in Corinth had apparently questioned Paul’s legitimacy as an apostle. How does an apostle, truly sent by God to represent Christ, prove he is genuine? In the ancient world, some teachers carried commendations describing their own experiences, or letters of recommendation from other qualified people.

Paul, though, insists he has an even better letter of recommendation: the Corinthian Christians themselves. The transformation in them, from pagans to followers of Jesus, is all the evidence he will ever need that his ministry as Christ’s representative is the real thing. The Corinthians, above all, should be able to declare that Paul’s ministry is valid. Otherwise, they would be saying that their own conversion to faith in Christ was not valid.

Paul first points not to their hearts but to his own. He has expressed his deep love for the Corinthians on multiple occasions. Here, he says they have been written on the hearts of him and of his co-workers in ministry. All who know Paul can read this letter describing his affection for the Corinthians. He also describes the transformation that is taking place among them by the power of the Holy Spirit. An obvious and positive change has taken place in him, as well as in them.

Verse 3. And you show that you are a letter from Christ delivered by us, written not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of human hearts.

Paul should not need to prove, any further, that he is a genuine apostle, truly sent by God to represent Christ. He has the only letter of recommendation he needs: the genuine transformation in the Corinthians themselves. These people were changed from idol-worshiping pagans into followers of Jesus. They are Paul’s letter of recommendation, written on his own heart and open to be read by all.

Paul is not claiming that he is the one who made the Corinthian believers into Christians. He is the representative. He merely delivered the letter, but it was written by Christ with the Holy Spirit of the living God, instead of ink. And it was written onto human hearts, instead of stone tablets.

Paul’s point is that the Corinthians’ faith is genuine. Christ indisputably wrote Himself into their hearts through the Holy Spirit. All of that was real. Since Paul is the one who brought that “letter” to them, they should see clearly that he is truly a genuine apostle sent by God.

Verse 4. Such is the confidence that we have through Christ toward God.

Paul has described the believers in Corinth as the only letter of recommendation he needs. Their transformation and growth is enough to establish himself as a legitimate apostle, sent by God to represent Christ to the world. Some in Corinth may have been challenging his authority in that position. Paul has pointed to the Corinthians themselves as the evidence that his ministry is genuine and established by God. After all, they have experienced God’s forgiveness through faith in Christ and have witnessed the power of the Holy Spirit. All that they now believe to be true has come from Paul’s delivery of the gospel to them.

Where does Paul’s confidence in God’s working among the Corinthians come from? How is he so sure he has truly been sent by God? It is not a confidence that comes from belief in himself. Instead, he is confident in God through Christ. When God is the one at work, confidence in what He is doing is the only rational response.

Verse 5. Not that we are sufficient in ourselves to claim anything as coming from us, but our sufficiency is from God,

In the previous verse, Paul referred to the absolute confidence he has that his ministry of representing Christ is from God. Now he makes clear that his is not a confidence built on belief in himself or his own skills, abilities, and knowledge.

At one time, Paul would likely have placed great confidence in himself based on those things. He wrote this in Philippians 3:4–6, “If anyone else thinks he has reason for confidence in the flesh, I have more: circumcised on the eighth day, of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; as to the law, a Pharisee; as to zeal, a persecutor of the church; as to righteousness under the law, blameless.”

But when he came to Christ, Paul lost all that earthly, religious confidence, “But whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ” (Philippians 3:7). Now he writes that any selfish version of self-confidence is gone. He does not believe he and his co-workers are sufficient in themselves to take any credit. They are not ultimately responsible for delivering anything of value to the Corinthians. Instead, their sufficiency comes from God. It is by God’s power they deliver God’s message to the people God wants to reach.

Verse 6. who has made us sufficient to be ministers of a new covenant, not of the letter but of the Spirit. For the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.

Paul is writing about confidence in his own ministry. He has been clear, though, that this is not the same as confidence in himself. He and his co-workers are not claiming that anything of value comes from them. His authority as an apostle is not based on his skill and knowledge and aptitude. It is based only on God’s authority and power to act through him.

Paul now writes that God is the one who has made him and the other apostles and teachers sufficient—adequate or competent—to be ministers of the new covenant. When Paul uses the words “new covenant,” he is contrasting their message of salvation through faith in Christ by God’s grace with the Old Covenant message of salvation for Israel through following the law of Moses.

Paul adds that he and the others are not ministers of the letter, perhaps meaning the “letter of the law.” In his old life as a Pharisee, Paul was a minister of the letter of the law, teaching Israelites to obey God’s written words in the Old Covenant. Now, though, he has become a minister of the Holy Spirit. By this, he means that he teaches those who trust in Christ to live by the Spirit’s power.

Paul adds that “the letter” kills. In other words, those who attempt to follow the law discover that they are unable to follow the law. They discover in themselves the sinfulness that keeps them from obeying God and condemns them to death. He put it this way in Romans 7:9–10, “I was once alive apart from the law, but when the commandment came, sin came alive and I died. The very commandment that promised life proved to be death to me.”

God’s Spirit, on the other hand, truly gives life to those who trust in Christ under God’s new covenant with all of humanity. God’s Spirit comes to live with all who believe in Jesus. His presence becomes the evidence that we belong to God. Romans 8:11 says, “If the Spirit of him 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 dwells in you.”

Verse 7. Now if the ministry of death, carved in letters on stone, came with such glory that the Israelites could not gaze at Moses ‘ face because of its glory, which was being brought to an end,

Paul is comparing two covenants between God and His people. Paul had lived under both covenants, first the Old Covenant of God’s law for Israel and then the new covenant of God’s grace for all who come to Him through faith in Christ. In fact, Paul had been a minister of both covenants. First, he was a Jewish religious leader called a Pharisee, then an apostle of Jesus Christ. He is especially qualified to call out the differences between the two.

He starts by describing the Old Covenant as “the ministry of death, carved in letters of stone.” That may sound harsh, but Paul is careful never to dismiss God’s Old Covenant with Israel. It was instituted by God, after all. Instead, Paul shows how it served the purpose of making all who attempted to live under it aware of their own sinfulness and inability to obey God. Since our sin deserves eternal death and separation from God, the Old Covenant provided the awareness that those who followed it lived under a death sentence (Romans 7:10–11).

The Old Covenant was delivered with the glory of God, however. That glory was reflected in a supernatural glow on Moses’ face after he had been talking to God (Exodus 34:29–30). That reflected glory terrified the people even as it was fading away from Moses’ face. Why? They recognized themselves as being unworthy to look at God’s glory because of their own sinfulness.

In the following verse, Paul shows that the ministry of the Spirit, under the new covenant, brings an even greater glory.

Context Summary
Second Corinthians 3:7–18 contains Paul’s comparison of the glory of God revealed in two covenants. The first is the Old Covenant with Israel, second is the far greater glory revealed in the new covenant of God’s grace through faith in Christ. The glory of the Old Covenant is fading just as it did on Moses’ face after he had been with God. Those who come to God through faith in Christ are forgiven for their sins and able to look on God’s glory. The veil of unbelief must be removed by the Spirit through Christ. Those who see Him begin to become like Him.

Verse 8. will not the ministry of the Spirit have even more glory?

God’s work in the world is always glorious. Paul is describing the differences between the ministry of God’s Old Covenant with Israel and the ministry of God’s new covenant of grace through faith in Christ for all who believe. In the previous verse, he called the ministry of the Old Covenant the “ministry of death.” Through the law, carved in letters on stone, the Israelites became aware of their inability to obey God. They understood their sinfulness deserved death (Romans 7:10–11). The required death often took place through the sacrifice of animals to atone for their sin.

Still, the Old Covenant brought glory, reflected on Moses’ face after he had talked with God. Paul now uses a rhetorical question to declare that the ministry of the new covenant, the “ministry of the Spirit,” will have even more glory. He shows in the following verses that the glory of the ministry of the Spirit will far surpass the former glory revealed under the ministry of death.

Verse 9. For if there was glory in the ministry of condemnation, the ministry of righteousness must far exceed it in glory.

Paul is contrasting two covenants God has had with His people. The first is the Old Testament, the initial agreement God had with the nation of Israel. If they would follow His law, He would give them abundant life. If they disobeyed, he would bring judgment.

Paul has described that covenant as the “ministry of death,” because those who tried to follow God’s law learned they could not. They understood their sinfulness deserved death, often covered by the death of animals in sacrifice. Paul now describes it as the “ministry of condemnation.”

The new covenant is different. God offers forgiveness of sin to all who come to Him through faith in Jesus. By His grace, He gives credit for Christ’s righteous life and takes Christ’s death on the cross as payment for sin. He places His Holy Spirit in all who trust in Christ in this way, guaranteeing an eternal place with Him in glory.

Paul now describes this as the “ministry for righteousness,” because God declares believers to be righteous in Christ. No condemnation remains for them (Romans 8:1).

Since all those in Christ will share in God’s glory for eternity, it’s no wonder that Paul declares here that the ministry of righteousness will far exceed the ministry of condemnation in glory.

Verse 10. Indeed, in this case, what once had glory has come to have no glory at all, because of the glory that surpasses it.

Paul has compared the old covenant and the new covenant. He described the old covenant between God and Israel—defined by the Old Testament Law—as a “ministry of death” and a “ministry of condemnation.” By that, he meant that the law at the heart of the covenant revealed to all who tried to follow it that they could not. All are sinners. None can reach God’s glory through following the law (Romans 3:23). All stand condemned and sentenced to death and separation from God forever (Romans 6:23).

That old covenant did have glory at one point, though. It was, after all, the revelation of God on earth. The glory was reflected in Moses’ face (2 Corinthians 3:7). Now, though, that glory that came with relationship with God through the law and the sacrifice of animals to cover sin has been surpassed by a far greater glory. This is the glory of the new covenant.

This covenant is God’s offer of grace and mercy to all who trust in Christ and receive the gift of eternal life. God forgives the sin, once and for all, of everyone who believes that Christ’s death covers their sin permanently. He gives the Holy Spirit to each believer, as well, as a promise of eternal glory to come.

Now that Christ has come and lived and died and has been resurrected, the old covenant is fulfilled. It offers no glory, at all, any longer. The glory of the new covenant outshines it so brightly as to make the reflected glory of the old covenant completely disappear.

Verse 11. For if what was being brought to an end came with glory, much more will what is permanent have glory.

Paul has been comparing the old and new covenants between God and His people. The old covenant was God’s agreement to bless Israel to the degree they kept the law of Moses. What it revealed, though, was that human beings cannot keep God’s law because of our inescapable sin. The old covenant did reveal the glory of God, but it also showed that people cannot reach God’s glory (Romans 3:23). That covenant is fading away, Paul has written, in the same way that God’s reflected glory faded from Moses’ face after he spent time with God.

The new covenant offers God’s glory to people for free through faith in Christ’s perfect life and death for their sins. The glory of this agreement between God and humanity is permanent because it is given by God out of His grace and mercy and is not based on human performance. The glory of this covenant far outshines the glory of the old covenant.

Verse 12. Since we have such a hope, we are very bold,

Paul has shown in previous verses that the new covenant—between God and those who trust in Christ for salvation—far outshines the fading glory of the old covenant. That arrangement was based on human attempts to follow the law of Moses in order to be acceptable to God. It’s not that the law served no purpose. It revealed the human need for God’s grace and forgiveness: exactly what is made available through faith in Christ for the forgiveness of our sin.

One result of this new agreement between God and those who come to Him through faith in Christ, Paul writes, is boldness. The old covenant, by design, caused men and women to become deeply aware of their own sinfulness and inability to do what was right before God. The result was a lack of confidence before God. The new covenant, though, removes the need for people to trust in their own ability to do right. Believers are not bold because we are confident in ourselves. A Christian places all his or her confidence in Jesus’ right choices and in the power of the Holy Spirit.

Because we come to God in Christ, who is perfect and sinless, we do not need to veil our faces before Him. We have the “hope” that we are in good standing and at peace with God right now. The word “hope” as used here does not mean “wish.” It means confidence that God will keep His promises.

Paul, then, is bold in how he lives and bold in what he says. This includes a boldness in rebuking the Christians in Corinth when they are wrong or sinful.

Verse 13. not like Moses, who would put a veil over his face so that the Israelites might not gaze at the outcome of what was being brought to an end.

Paul has been comparing the glory of the old covenant between God and Israel and the new covenant of God’s grace for all who come to Him through faith in Christ. The glory of the revelation of God through the old covenant was always fading away and being brought to an end. The glory of God’s revelation of Himself through Christ is eternal. Through faith in Christ, God receives Jesus’ death on the cross as payment for sin and gives credit for Jesus’ sinless, righteous life in return.

The result for him, Paul has written, is boldness and confidence while representing God to others. He has nothing to fear, because his standing before God is not based on his own performance. It is all based on Christ’s righteousness.

Moses, on the other hand, could not be so bold in representing God to the Israelites. Paul is referencing Exodus 34. Moses returned to the people after being with God visibly changed in his appearance. His face reflected God’s glory so powerfully that the people were afraid to come near him (Exodus 34:30). The glory of God was painful to them in their sinfulness. Moses covered his face to protect them from God’s glory. He could not boldly reveal it to them as Paul revealed God’s glory in the person of Jesus.

Verse 14. But their minds were hardened. For to this day, when they read the old covenant, that same veil remains unlifted, because only through Christ is it taken away.

Paul is explaining Exodus 34 to make his point: the new covenant between God and those who trust in Christ is far more glorious than the old covenant between God and Israel. One reason for this is that Moses had to cover his own face to protect the people from looking at God’s glory reflected there after he spent time with the Lord. In their sinfulness, the glory of God was dangerous to them. It scared and hurt them. They could not endure it.

Now Paul adds that the minds of the Israelites were hardened by sin. Even as Moses was receiving the commandments from God, Israel built an idol to worship instead of worshipping the Lord. This disobedience and betrayal of God resulted not just in punishment from Him but in a hardening of their minds to see His glory. The glory was revealed in God’s Word to them, but they could not, would not, see it.

Nobody can see God’s glory, Paul adds, because of this veil created by sin. It keeps us from understanding what is true until it is removed through Christ. In other words, only those who come to God through faith in Christ are freed from the veil and given the ability to begin to receive God’s glory. Why? Because in Christ, their sin is forgiven and replaced with Jesus’ righteousness.

Verse 15. Yes, to this day whenever Moses is read a veil lies over their hearts.

Paul has written that Israel’s minds were hardened to the glory of God because of their own sinfulness. They could not, would not, receive His glory. Now Paul adds that the veil created by their own sin remains in place. This is true of the Israelites, who were opposing him, but Paul makes it clear that it is true of all who have not yet trusted in Christ for the forgiveness of their sin.

Paul had experienced what he was describing. He had been a highly regarded Pharisee in Israel. He had read every word of Moses’ writing. He’d likely memorized a great deal of it. However, the veil of misunderstanding had remained over his own heart, until his sins were forgiven through faith in Christ and that veil was removed. Then, for the first time despite all his years of study and teaching, he could finally see and understand the glory of God in Christ.

Verse 16. But when one turns to the Lord, the veil is removed.

Paul has described a condition that afflicts every human being, though he is talking specifically about the people of Israel. Despite their privileged position as God’s chosen people and His revelation to them of Himself through the law of Moses, they could not reach a right understanding about who God is. They could not see His glory. Paul has described this separation caused by human sinfulness, by the hardening of our minds, as a veil that lies over our hearts.

We cannot remove this veil ourselves no matter how sincerely we want to or how diligently we study or how desperately we try to obey. Our sin stands in the way, keeping us from God’s glory (Romans 3:23). But, Paul now adds, when a person turns to the Lord, the veil is removed. It is replaced by the rock-solid hope of sharing in God’s glory for eternity (Romans 6:23). But this veil is only removed through Christ. There is no other way to be free from it.

Verse 17. Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.

Paul declares that the Lord is a Spirit. He is talking about the Holy Spirit, one of the three members of the Trinity: God the Father, God the Son, and God the Spirit. In addition to being Christ, the Lord is also the Spirit. Paul has described in the previous verses the one and only way by which the veil of separation between human understanding and God’s glory is removed. It happens when a person “turns to the Lord” by trusting in Christ’s death in their place for the forgiveness of their sin. Sin is what holds the veil in place, and forgiveness of sin is what removes the veil.

The power to remove that veil and open human minds to God’s glory comes through the Holy Spirit. Paul adds that where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom from the veil that keeps people from seeing God’s glory. Through faith in Christ and the power of the Spirit, the veil is removed and God’s glory is revealed in the person of Jesus Christ. That freedom from spiritual blindness or hardened minds is the difference between life and death.

Verse 18. And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit.

Paul has been referencing Exodus 34, which describes how the skin of Moses’ face would shine after meeting with God. Moses’ face so powerfully reflected God’s glory that he covered it with a veil to protect the Israelites from even the reflection of God’s presence with them. Their sin had caused their minds to be hardened. In that condition, God’s glory was unbearable to them.

Paul has described the only way for this separation between sinful humans and God’s glory to be removed. It is not through study or attempts at obedience or even through religiously following the law. God removes this “veil” between Himself and people only when they come to Him through faith in Christ. Only in Christ is sin forgiven once and for all. Only then does God’s Holy Spirit act to remove the veil of hardness and allow those in Christ to see God’s glory as He has revealed it in Jesus.

Now Paul shows that this moment of spiritual revelation is followed by spiritual transformation. With the veil gone, all those in Christ have unveiled faces, boldly looking at Christ, who is the glory of God. We can now see Him for who and what He is. This act of seeing, of understanding, the nature of Christ begins the process through which God transforms His children into the image of Christ.

Paul writes that this change happens from “one degree of glory to another” or “from glory to glory” in the Greek language. It is a remarkable promise. Not only are those in Christ finally freed to see God’s glory, but they begin to become God’s glory as they begin to become like Christ. This is not something we accomplish for ourselves through study or discipline or self-will. Paul insists that it is the Spirit of God who makes this happen in all of those who are in Christ Jesus. Seeing the glory of God in Christ initiates what some scholars call “progressive sanctification,” meaning that we will become more and more like Him as we are changed by the Spirit over time.

End of Chapter 3.

Please Note:

The material use in this post, video is from BibleRef.com which is from Got Questions Ministries and is posted here to be read by Immersive reader in the Edge Browser. If you copy this material please follow these rules:

•Content from BibleRef.com may not be used for any commercial purposes, or as part of any commercial work, without explicit prior written consent from Got Questions ministries.

•Any use of our material should be properly credited; please make it clear the content is from BibleRef.com.

•BibleRef.com content may not be altered, modified, or otherwise changed unless such changes are specifically noted.