2 Corinthians 3

General context

Paul asks whether he is commending himself again, and whether he needs letters of commendation to the Corinthians or from them, as some others do. He answers that they are his epistle, written in his heart and read by everyone, an epistle of Christ written not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God, and not in tables of stone but in fleshy tables of the heart. He denies that any sufficiency is his own and says it comes from God, who made him a minister of the new testament, not of the letter but of the spirit, because the letter kills and the spirit gives life. He then argues from the lesser to the greater. If the ministration of death, engraven in stones, came with a glory the children of Israel could not look at in Moses' face, the ministration of the spirit must be more glorious, and righteousness must exceed condemnation. Since that glory was to be done away and this one remains, he says he uses great plainness of speech, unlike Moses who put a vail over his face. Paul says the same vail remains in the reading of the old testament and lies on the heart when Moses is read, and that it is removed in Christ when the heart turns to the Lord. He ends with liberty where the Spirit is, and with all believers beholding the glory of the Lord with open face and being changed from glory to glory.

Cited passages: 2 Corinthians 3:1, 2 Corinthians 3:2, 2 Corinthians 3:3, 2 Corinthians 3:4, 2 Corinthians 3:5, 2 Corinthians 3:6, 2 Corinthians 3:7, 2 Corinthians 3:8, 2 Corinthians 3:9, 2 Corinthians 3:10, 2 Corinthians 3:11, 2 Corinthians 3:12, 2 Corinthians 3:13, 2 Corinthians 3:14, 2 Corinthians 3:15, 2 Corinthians 3:16, 2 Corinthians 3:17, 2 Corinthians 3:18

2 Corinthians 3 (KJV)

This page shows the King James Version. In the app, reading opens in the Berean Standard Bible unless you have chosen another translation. The reader includes five translations: the Berean Standard Bible (BSB), the King James Version (KJV), the World English Bible (WEB), the Bible in Basic English (BBE), and the American Standard Version (ASV). Search covers three of them: Berean Standard, King James, and World English. Basic English and American Standard readers search the King James words.

Historical context

The chapter establishes that letters of commendation were in use and that some others carried them, but it does not name those people or say what their letters claimed. Moses is the only human figure named apart from Christ, and the chapter refers to the vail on his face and to the glory the children of Israel could not steadfastly behold without quoting the passage that tells the story or giving any reference for it. Two writing materials are set against each other, tables of stone and fleshy tables of the heart, and two ministrations are distinguished, one written and engraven in stones and one of the spirit. The chapter twice speaks of reading in the present, when it says the vail remains untaken away in the reading of the old testament and that it lies on the heart when Moses is read, but it does not say who the readers are or where the reading happens. No dates and no Old Testament quotation appear here.

Cited passages: 2 Corinthians 3:1, 2 Corinthians 3:3, 2 Corinthians 3:6, 2 Corinthians 3:7, 2 Corinthians 3:11, 2 Corinthians 3:13, 2 Corinthians 3:14, 2 Corinthians 3:15, 2 Corinthians 3:16

Literary context

The chapter opens with questions and turns the answer into an image: the readers themselves are the credential, so a demand for paperwork is met by pointing at people. The argument then runs on a repeated comparative form. Three times a conceded glory in the older ministration becomes the premise for a greater one, and the word glory itself is repeated until it appears twice in the same phrase at the close, from glory to glory. The vail is the hinge. It starts as a covering on one man's face, then moves to the minds of hearers, then to a heart, so a detail from a story about Moses becomes a description of how a text is received. Paul sets his own manner against that covering, claiming great plainness of speech, and the chapter ends with faces uncovered rather than hidden.

Cited passages: 2 Corinthians 3:1, 2 Corinthians 3:2, 2 Corinthians 3:3, 2 Corinthians 3:7, 2 Corinthians 3:8, 2 Corinthians 3:9, 2 Corinthians 3:10, 2 Corinthians 3:11, 2 Corinthians 3:12, 2 Corinthians 3:13, 2 Corinthians 3:14, 2 Corinthians 3:15, 2 Corinthians 3:16, 2 Corinthians 3:18

Key moments

1. Ye are our epistle (2 Corinthians 3:2). Paul says the Corinthians are his letter of recommendation, read by everyone.
2. Letter and spirit (2 Corinthians 3:6). He says the letter kills and the spirit gives life.
3. Moses' face (2 Corinthians 3:7). He recalls that Israel could not steadfastly behold the glory of Moses' countenance.
4. Plainness of speech (2 Corinthians 3:12). Paul contrasts his own plain speaking with the vail Moses put on.
5. The vail on the heart (2 Corinthians 3:15). He says the vail lies on the heart whenever Moses is read.
6. Changed from glory to glory (2 Corinthians 3:18). With open face, beholding the glory of the Lord, believers are changed into the same image.

For reflection

Paul says the Corinthians themselves are the letter that recommends him, known and read of all men. If the people around you were the only reference you could offer, what would they say?

People in this chapter

• Jesus Christ
• Moses
• Jacob