2 Corinthians 3

2Co 3:1-18.

THE

SOLE

COMMENDATION

HE

NEEDS TO

PROVE

GOD'S

SANCTION OF

HIS

MINISTRY

HE

HAS IN

HIS

CORINTHIAN

CONVERTS:

HIS

MINISTRY

EXCELS THE

MOSAIC, AS THE

GOSPEL OF

LIFE AND

LIBERTY

EXCELS THE

LAW OF

CONDEMNATION.

1. Are we beginning again to recommend ourselves

(2Co 5:12)

(as some of them might say he had done in his first Epistle; or, a

reproof to "some" who had begun doing so)!

commendation--recommendation. (Compare

2Co 10:18).

The "some" refers to particular persons of the "many"

(2Co 2:17)

teachers who opposed him, and who came to Corinth with letters of

recommendation from other churches; and when leaving that city obtained

similar letters from the Corinthians to other churches. The thirteenth

canon of the Council of Chalcedon (A.D. 451)

ordained that "clergymen coming to a city where they were unknown,

should not be allowed to officiate without letters commendatory from

their own bishop." The history

(Ac 18:27)

confirms the existence of the custom here alluded to in the Epistle:

"When Apollos was disposed to pass into Achaia [Corinth], the

brethren [of Ephesus] wrote, exhorting the disciples to

receive him." This was about two years before the Epistle,and is

probably one of the instances to which Paul refers, as many at

Corinth boasted of their being followers of Apollos

(1Co 1:12).

2. our epistle--of recommendation.

in our hearts--not letters borne merely in the hands. Your

conversion through my instrumentality, and your faith which is "known of

all men" by widespread report

(1Co 1:4-7),

and which is written by memory and affection on my inmost heart and is

borne about wherever I go, is my letter of recommendation

(1Co 9:2).

known and read--words akin in root, sound, and sense (so

2Co 1:13).

"Ye are known to be my converts by general knowledge: then ye

are known more particularly by your reflecting my doctrine in

your Christian life." The handwriting is first "known," then the

Epistle is "read" [GROTIUS]

(2Co 4:2;

1Co 14:25).

There is not so powerful a sermon in the world, as a consistent

Christian life. The eye of the world takes in more than the ear.

Christians' lives are the only religious books the world reads. IGNATIUS [Epistle to the Ephesians, 10] writes,

"Give unbelievers the chance of believing through you. Consider

yourselves employed by God; your lives the form of language in which He

addresses them. Be mild when they are angry, humble when they are

haughty; to their blasphemy oppose prayer without ceasing; to their

inconsistency, a steadfast adherence to your faith."

3. declared--The letter is written so legibly that it can be "read

(2Co 3:2).

Translate, "Being manifestly shown to be an Epistle of Christ"; a

letter coming manifestly from Christ, and "ministered by us," that is,

carried about and presented by us as its (ministering) bearers to those

(the world) for whom it is intended: Christ is the Writer and the

Recommender, ye are the letter recommending us.

written not with ink, but with the Spirit of the living God--Paul

was the ministering pen or other instrument of writing, as well as the

ministering bearer and presenter of the letter. "Not with ink" stands in

contrast to the letters of commendation which "some" at Corinth

(2Co 3:1)

used. "Ink" is also used here to include all outward materials for

writing, such as the Sinaitic tables of stone were. These, however,

were not written with ink, but "graven" by "the finger of God"

(Ex 31:18; 32:16).

Christ's Epistle (His believing members converted by Paul) is better

still: it is written not merely with the finger, but with the

"Spirit of the living God"; it is not the "ministration

of death" as the law, but of the "living Spirit" that "giveth

life"

(2Co 3:6-8).

not in--not on tables (tablets) of stone, as the ten commandments

were written

(2Co 3:7).

in fleshy tables of the heart--ALL the best manuscripts read, "On

[your] hearts [which are] tables of flesh." Once your hearts were

spiritually what the tables of the law were physically, tables of stone,

but God has "taken away the stony heart out of your flesh, given you a

heart of flesh" (fleshy, not fleshly, that is, carnal; hence it

is written, "out of your flesh" that is, your carnal nature),

Eze 11:19; 36:26.

Compare

2Co 3:2,

"As ye are our Epistle written in our hearts," so Christ has in the

first instance made you "His Epistle written with the Spirit in (on)

your hearts." I bear on my heart, as a testimony to all men, that which

Christ has by His Spirit written in your heart [ALFORD]. (Compare

Pr 3:3; 7:3;

Jer 31:31-34).

This passage is quoted by PALEY [Horæ

Paulinæ] as illustrating one peculiarity of Paul's style,

namely, his going off at a word into a parenthetic reflection:

here it is on the word "Epistle." So "savor,"

2Co 2:14-17.

4. And--Greek, "But." "Such confidence, however (namely, of our

'sufficiency,'

2Co 3:5, 6;

2Co 2:16

--to which he reverts after the parenthesis--as ministers of the New

Testament, 'not hinting,'

2Co 4:1),

we have through Christ (not through ourselves, compare

2Co 3:18)

toward God" (that is, in our relation to God and His work, the ministry

committed by Him to us, for which we must render an account to Him).

Confidence toward God is solid and real, as looking to Him for the

strength needed now, and also for the reward of grace to be given

hereafter. Compare

Ac 24:15,

"hope toward God." Human confidence is unreal in that it looks to man

for its help and its reward.

5. The Greek is, "Not that we are (even yet after so long

experience as ministers) sufficient to think anything OF ourselves as

(coming) FROM ourselves; but our

sufficiency is (derived) FROM God."

"From" more definitely refers to the source out of which a thing

comes; "of" is more general.

to think--Greek, to "reason out" or "devise"; to attain to

sound preaching by our reasonings

[THEODORET]. The "we" refers here

to ministers

(2Pe 1:21).

anything--even the least. We cannot expect too little from man, or too

much from God.

6. able--rather, as the Greek is the same, corresponding to

2Co 3:5,

translate, "sufficient as ministers"

(Eph 3:7;

Col 1:23).

the new testament--"the new covenant" as contrasted with the

Old Testament or covenant

(1Co 11:25;

Ga 4:24).

He reverts here again to the contrast between the law on "tables of

stone," and that "written by the Spirit on fleshly tables of the heart"

(2Co 3:3).

not of the letter--joined with "ministers"; ministers not of

the mere literal precept, in which the old law, as then understood,

consisted; "but of the Spirit," that is, the spiritual holiness which lay under the old law, and which the new covenant brings to light

(Mt 5:17-48)

with new motives added, and a new power of obedience

imparted, namely, the Holy Spirit

(Ro 7:6).

Even in writing the letter of the New Testament, Paul and the

other sacred writers were ministers not of the letter, but of the

spirit. No piety of spirit could exempt a man from the yoke of the

letter of each legal ordinance under the Old Testament; for God had

appointed this as the way in which He chose a devout Jew to express his

state of mind towards God. Christianity, on the other hand, makes the

spirit of our outward observances everything, and the letter a

secondary consideration

(Joh 4:24).

Still the moral law of the ten commandments, being written by the

finger of God, is as obligatory now as ever; but put more on the Gospel

spirit of "love," than on the letter of a servile obedience, and in a

deeper and fuller spirituality

(Mt 5:17-48;

Ro 13:9).

No literal precepts could fully comprehend the wide range of holiness

which LOVE, the work of the Holy Spirit, under the Gospel, suggests to

the believer's heart instinctively from the word understood in its deep

spirituality.

letter killeth--by bringing home the knowledge of guilt and its

punishment, death;

2Co 3:7,

"ministration of death"

(Ro 7:9).

spirit giveth life--The spirit of the Gospel when brought home to the

heart by the Holy Spirit, gives new spiritual life to a man

(Ro 6:4, 11).

This "spirit of life" is for us in Christ Jesus

(Ro 8:2, 10),

who dwells in the believer as a "quickening" or "life-giving Spirit"

(1Co 15:45).

Note, the spiritualism of rationalists is very different. It would

admit no "stereotyped revelation," except so much as man's own inner

instrument of revelation, the conscience and reason, can approve of:

thus making the conscience judge of the written word, whereas the

apostles make the written word the judge of the conscience

(Ac 17:11;

1Pe 4:1).

True spirituality rests on the whole written word, applied to the soul

far-reaching spirituality. The letter is nothing without the

spirit, in a subject essentially spiritual. The spirit is

nothing without the letter, in a record substantially

historical.

7. the ministration of death--the legal dispensation, summed up in

the Decalogue, which denounces death against man for transgression.

written and engraven in stones--There is no "and" in the

Greek. The literal translation is, "The ministration of death

in letters," of which "engraven on stones" is an explanation.

The preponderance of oldest manuscripts is for the English

Version reading. But one (perhaps the oldest existing manuscript)

has "in the letter," which refers to the preceding words

(2Co 3:6),

"the letter killeth," and this seems the probable reading. Even

if we read as English Version, "The ministration of death

(written) in letters," alludes to the literal precepts of the

law as only bringing us the knowledge of sin and "death," in

contrast to "the Spirit" in the Gospel bringing us "life"

(2Co 3:6).

The opposition between "the letters" and "the Spirit"

(2Co 3:8)

confirms this. This explains why the phrase in Greek should be

"in letters," instead of the ordinary one which English Version

has substituted, "written and."

was glorious--literally, "was made (invested) in glory," glory was the

atmosphere with which it was encompassed.

could not steadfastly behold--literally, "fix their eyes on."

Ex 34:30,

"The skin of his face shone; and they were AFRAID

to come nigh him." "Could not," therefore means here, "for FEAR." The "glory of Moses' countenance" on Sinai passed

away when the occasion was over: a type of the transitory character of

the dispensation which he represented

(2Co 3:11),

as contrasted with the permanency of the Christian dispensation

(2Co 3:11).

8. be rather glorious--literally, "be rather (that is, still more,

invested) in glory." "Shall be," that is, shall be found to be in part

now, but fully when the glory of Christ and His saints shall be

revealed.

9. ministration of condemnation--the law regarded in the "letter" which

"killeth"

(2Co 3:6;

Ro 7:9-11).

The oldest existing manuscript seems to read as English Version.

But most of the almost contemporary manuscripts, versions, and Fathers,

read, "If to the ministration of condemnation there be glory."

the ministration of righteousness--the Gospel, which especially

reveals the righteousness of God

(Ro 1:17),

and imputes righteousness to men through faith in Christ

(Ro 3:21-28; 4:3, 22-25),

and imparts righteousness by the Spirit

(Ro 8:1-4).

exceed--"abound."

10. For even the ministration of condemnation, the law,

2Co 3:7

(which has been glorified at Sinai in Moses' person), has

now (English Version translates less fitly, "was made

. . . had") lost its glory in this respect by reason of

the surpassing glory (of the Gospel): as the light of the stars and

moon fades in the presence of the sun.

11. was glorious--literally, "was with glory"; or "marked

that which remaineth--abideth

(Re 14:6).

Not "the ministry," but the Spirit, and His accompaniments, life and

righteousness.

is glorious--literally, "is in glory." The Greek "with" or

transient. "In" to that of which the glory is permanent. The contrast

of the Old and New Testaments proves that Paul's chief opponents at

Corinth were Judaizers.

12. such hope--of the future glory, which shall result from the

ministration of the Gospel

(2Co 3:8, 9).

plainness of speech--openness; without reserve

(2Co 2:17; 4:2).

13. We use no disguise, "as Moses put a veil over his face, that the

children of Israel might not look steadfastly upon the end of that which

was to be done away" [ELLICOTT and others]. The view of

Ex 34:30-35,

according to the Septuagint is adopted by Paul, that Moses in

going in to speak to God removed the veil till he came out and had

spoken to the people; and then when he had done speaking, he

put on the veil that they might not look on the end, or the

fading, of that transitory glory. The veil was the symbol of

concealment, put on directly after Moses' speaking; so that

God's revelations by him were interrupted by intervals of concealment

[ALFORD]. But ALFORD'S view does not accord with

2Co 3:7;

the Israelites "could not look steadfastly on the face of Moses for the

glory of his countenance." Plainly Moses' veil was put on because

of their not having been able to "look steadfastly at him." Paul

here

(2Co 3:13)

passes from the literal fact to the truth symbolized by it, the

blindness of Jews and Judaizers to the ultimate end of the law: stating

that Moses put on the veil that they might not look steadfastly

at (Christ,

Ro 10:4)

the end of that (law) which (like Moses' glory) is

done away. Not that Moses had this purpose; but often

God attributes to His prophets the purpose which He has Himself.

Because the Jews would not see, God judicially gave them up

so as not to see. The glory of Moses' face is antitypically

Christ s glory shining behind the veil of legal ordinances. The veil

which has been taken off to the believer is left on to the unbelieving

Jew, so that he should not see

(Isa 6:10;

Ac 28:26, 27).

He stops short at the letter of the law, not seeing the end of it. The

evangelical glory of the law, like the shining of Moses' face, cannot

be borne by a carnal people, and therefore remains veiled to them until

the Spirit comes to take away the veil

(2Co 3:14-17)

[CAMERON].

14-18. Parenthetical: Of Christians in general. He resumes the

subject of the ministry,

2Co 4:1.

minds--Greek, "mental perceptions"; "understandings."

blinded--rather, "hardened." The opposite to "looking steadfastly at

the end" of the law

(2Co 3:13).

The veil on Moses' face is further typical of the veil that

is on their hearts.

untaken away . . . which veil--rather, "the

same veil . . . remaineth untaken away [literally, not

unveiled], so that they do not see THAT it

(not the veil as English Version, but

'THE

OLD

TESTAMENT,' or covenant of legal ordinances) is

done away

(2Co 3:7, 11, 13)

in Christ" or, as BENGEL, "Because it is done away

in Christ," that is, it is not done away save in Christ: the veil

therefore remains untaken away from them, because they

will not come to Christ, who does away, with the law as a mere letter.

If they once saw that the law is done away in Him, the veil would be no

longer on their hearts in reading it publicly in their synagogues (so

"reading" means,

Ac 15:21).

I prefer the former.

15. the veil is--rather, "a veil lieth upon their heart"

(their understanding, affected by the corrupt will,

Joh 8:43;

1Co 2:14).

The Tallith was worn in the synagogue by every worshipper, and

to this veil hanging over the breast there may be an indirect allusion

here (see on

1Co 11:4):

the apostle making it symbolize the spiritual veil on their heart.

16. Moses took off the veil on entering into the presence of the Lord.

So as to the Israelites whom Moses represents, "whensoever their heart

(it) turns (not as English Version, 'shall turn') to the Lord,

the veil is (by the very fact; not as English Version, 'shall be')

taken away."

Ex 34:34

is the allusion; not

Ex 34:30, 31,

as ALFORD thinks. Whenever the Israelites turn to

the Lord, who is the Spirit of the law, the veil is taken off their

hearts in the presence of the Lord: as the literal veil was taken off

the veil, they by the Spirit commune with God and with the inner

spirit of the Mosaic covenant (which answers to the glory of Moses'

face unveiled in God's presence).

17. the Lord--Christ

(2Co 3:14, 16;

2Co 4:5).

is that Spirit--is THE Spirit, namely,

that Spirit spoken of in

2Co 3:6,

and here resumed after the parenthesis

(2Co 3:7-16):

Christ is the Spirit and "end" of the Old Testament, who giveth life to

it, whereas "the letter killeth"

(1Co 15:45;

Re 19:10,

end).

where the Spirit of the Lord is--in a man's "heart"

(2Co 3:15;

Ro 8:9, 10).

there is liberty--

(Joh 8:36).

"There," and there only. Such cease to be slaves to the letter,

which they were while the veil was on their heart. They are free to

serve God in the Spirit, and rejoice in Christ Jesus

(Php 3:3):

they have no longer the spirit of bondage, but of free sonship

(Ro 8:15;

Ga 4:7).

"Liberty" is opposed to the letter (of the legal ordinances), and to

the veil, the badge of slavery: also to the fear which the

Israelites felt in beholding Moses' glory unveiled

(Ex 34:30;

1Jo 4:18).

18. But we all--Christians, as contrasted with the Jews who have a

veil on their hearts, answering to Moses' veil on his face. He does not

resume reference to ministers till

2Co 4:1.

with open face--Translate, "with unveiled face" (the veil being removed at conversion): contrasted with "hid"

(2Co 4:3).

as in a glass--in a mirror, namely, the Gospel which reflects the

glory of God and Christ

(2Co 4:4;

1Co 13:12;

Jas 1:23, 25).

are changed into the same image--namely, the image of Christ's glory,

spiritually now

(Ro 8:29;

1Jo 3:3);

an earnest of the bodily change hereafter

(Php 3:21).

However many they be, believers all reflect the same image of

Christ more or less: a proof of the truth of Christianity.

from glory to glory--from one degree of glory to another. As Moses'

face caught a reflection of God's glory from being in His presence, so

believers are changed into His image by beholding Him.

even as, &c.--Just such a transformation "as" was to be

expected from "the Lord the Spirit" (not as English Version, "the

Spirit of the Lord") [ALFORD]

(2Co 3:17):

"who receives of the things of Christ, and shows them to us"

(Joh 16:14;

Ro 8:10, 11).

(Compare as to hereafter,

Ps 17:15;

Re 22:4).