II Corinthians 3 · The Lantern

Are we beginning to commend ourselves again? Or do we need, like some people, letters of recommendation to you or from you?

You yourselves are our letter, inscribed on our hearts, known and read by everyone.

Evidence of salvation is an epistle in itself. The salvation of the Corinthians was in Paul's heart and in the hearts of those who were with him, for he was always thinking about it.

What, he says, letters would have done, in which you would have commended and glorified us, that very thing you accomplish by your life of faith, which everyone sees and hears. And wherever we go, we carry you with us everywhere, because you are written in our heart, and we proclaim your virtue to all.

Therefore he at once gives the reason for this, saying, you yourselves are our letter of recommendation; as if to say: I have a good letter; I do not need others. In regard to this, he does two things: first, he shows what that letter is which he has; secondly, he explains this (v. 3).

It is clear that you are a letter from Christ, the result of our ministry, written not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of human hearts.

And that the Spirit lays hold on the flesh, he says in the same Epistle, "That ye axe the epistle of Christ, ministered by us, inscribed not with ink, but with the Spirit of the living God, not in tables of stone, but in the fleshly tables of the heart." If, therefore, in the present time, fleshly hearts are made partakers of the Spirit, what is there astonishing if, in the res…

Then exalting them still higher, he even calleth them the epistle of Christ, saying, "Being made manifest that ye are an epistle of Christ." And having said this, he afterwards hence takes ground and occasion for a discussion on the Law. And there is another aim in his here styling them His epistle.

Then he explains how this letter is known, saying, you show that you are a letter from Christ, and in regard to this he does three things. First, he explains whose letter it is; secondly, how it was written; thirdly, on what. He shows whose it is when he says, from Christ.

Such confidence before God is ours through Christ.

Paul's purpose was to show that the ancient prophets did not have this position of trust in God's eyes, because theirs was a preparing ministry.

The apostle Paul, after describing in a few words the benefits of God, states in conclusion: "And for such offices, who is sufficient?" Whence he also says in another place: "Such is the assurance we have through Christ toward God. Not that we are sufficient of ourselves to think anything, as from ourselves, but our sufficiency is from God.

Such is the confidence that we have through Christ toward God. Above, the Apostle excused himself, that he was not seeking his own glory, because he did not need it; here he proves that he is not seeking his own glory. Indeed, everything good he does he attributes not to himself but to God.

Not that we are competent in ourselves to claim that anything comes from us, but our competence comes from God.

See again, yet another corrective. For he possesses this virtue, humility I mean, in singular perfection. Wherefore whenever he saith any thing great of himself, he maketh all diligence to soften down extremely and by every means, what he has said.

In this debt which you demand from us and you repay, do not doubt that I am assisted, so that God, who works in us both to will and to bring to completion the work of the good will, himself gives that I may worthily think and worthily speak.

But the cause of this confidence is that whatever I do, I attribute to the very beginning of the work to God. Therefore, he says, not that we are competent of ourselves to claim anything as coming from us, much less say and accomplish.

And He has qualified us as ministers of a new covenant, not of the letter but of the Spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.

Therefore "the New Testament" will appertain to none other than Him who promised it-if not "its letter, yet its spirit; " and herein will lie its newness.

"Not of the letter, but of the spirit." See again another difference. What then? was not that Law spiritual? How then saith he, "We know that the Law is spiritual?" Spiritual indeed, but it bestowed not a spirit. For Moses bare not a spirit, but letters; but we have been entrusted with the giving of a spirit.

Having commended the ministry of the New Testament, the Apostle then commends its ministers. First, he stipulates two things, which correspond to the above words. For he had mentioned a gift received from God when he said, our competence is from God, and the confidence born of this gift when he said, such is the confidence that we have through Christ toward God.

Now if the ministry of death, which was engraved in letters on stone, came with such glory that the Israelites could not gaze at the face of Moses because of its fleeting glory,

Since he did this to maintain the superiority of the glory of the New Testament, which is permanent in its glory, over that of the Old, "which was to be done away," this fact gives support to my belief which exalts the Gospel above the law and you must look well to it that it does not even more than this.

Paul did not say the dispensation of the law but the dispensation of death, speaking rather of its result in order to lessen its attraction.

From these, therefore, he shows the dignity of his ministry. He does two things in this regard. First, he shows that the ministry of the New Testament is preferred to the Old; secondly, that it is not only preferred, but that in comparison to the Old Testament, the latter has, as it were, nothing of glory (v. 10). In regard to the first, he does two things.

will not the ministry of the Spirit be even more glorious?

It is obvious that the grace of the law of faith is greater than that of the law of Moses. For although the law of Moses was intended to be beneficial, it became the law of death because it was flouted. Then, because there was no way it could make provision for sinners to be saved, there came the law of faith, which not only forgives sinners but also makes them righteous.

Since he called the law the ministry of death, it was natural to call the Gospel the ministry of life; but the apostle gave it a higher name – he called it the ministry of the Spirit. For the New Testament has the power to impart not only life, but – what is far more important – the Spirit Himself, who gives life. All the more glorious, then, is it in comparison with the law.

That the Old Testament is less than the New he proves in three ways. First, from its effect, because the former is a covenant of death, but the latter of life, as has been said.

For if the ministry of condemnation was glorious, how much more glorious is the ministry of righteousness!

Paul says this because there is more glory in salvation than there is in death. However justly a judge may condemn some-one, he earns more honor if he shows mercy, so that the guilty party is given an opportunity to mend his ways.

The law condemned sinners, but grace receives them and justifies them by faith. It leads them to holy baptism and grants them forgiveness of sins.

Then he assigns the reason for all these when he says, For if there was glory in the dispensation of condemnation, the dispensation of justice must far exceed it in glory. This is his reasoning: Glory is owed more to justice than to condemnation, but the ministry of the New Testament is a ministry of justice, because it justifies by giving life within.

Indeed, what was once glorious has no glory now in comparison to the glory that surpasses it.

For if what was fading away came with glory, how much greater is the glory of that which endures!

Paul does not deny that there was splendor in the law and on the face of Moses, but it did not endure because in his case it was a symbol and not a reality. The difference between the face of Moses and the glory of Christ is the same as the difference between the picture and the person whom it portrays.

He presents another syllogism. If the law that was ceasing and subject to abolition was given in glory, then how much more shall the law that is unshakeable and eternal – the New Testament – be in glory.

Then he assigns the cause of this when he says, For if what faded away came with glory, what is permanent must have much more glory. His reasoning is thus: that which was given to pass away is nothing in relation to that which is given to remain always.

Therefore, since we have such a hope, we are very bold.

Paul is saying that we have a hope of seeing glory, not the kind that was on the face of Moses but the kind which the three apostles saw on the mountain when the Lord revealed himself. Therefore we ought to repay the love of God as far as we can by being more fervent in our love for him, who by cleansing us from our sins has given us this confidence.

What hope do we have? The hope that the grace of the Spirit will not be abolished like the law but that it will remain, even after the resurrection.

Having laid down what pertains to commending the gift received from God, he now lays down what pertains to commending the confidence born of that gift. In regard to this he does two things: first, he mentions the confidence born of the gift; secondly, he compares the confidence in the Old and in the New Testament (v. 13).

We are not like Moses, who would put a veil over his face to keep the Israelites from gazing at the end of what was fading away.

But their minds were closed. For to this day the same veil remains at the reading of the old covenant. It has not been lifted, because only in Christ can it be removed.

And even to this day when Moses is read, a veil covers their hearts.

But whenever anyone turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away.

But what concern has Paul with the veil which still obscures Moses from their view, if the Christ of the Creator, whom Moses predicted, is not yet come? How are the hearts of the Jews represented as still covered and veiled, if the predictions of Moses relating to Christ, in whom it was their duty to believe through him, are as yet unfulfilled?

The same is true for you as well. When you believe in Christ, the veil of your unbelief will be taken away.

But when and how that veil shall be removed from them is shown when he says, but when a man turns to the Lord the veil is removed. First he describes how to remove this veil; secondly, the reason for this (v. 17). He says, therefore, that this veil is still upon them; not that the Old Testament is veiled, but because their hearts are veiled.

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

Because God is Spirit, he has given through Christ the law of the Spirit, which persuades us to believe in invisible things which our reasoning understands spiritually. This law gives liberty because it demands only faith, and because it believes what it does not see, we are able to be rescued from our condition.

If Paul had wanted to say that the Lord is a spirit, he would have left the article the out. Compare John [4:24], where in speaking to the Samaritan woman, Jesus says that God is a spirit, meaning that he does not have a body. But in this case Paul puts the article in, which proves that he is not saying that the Lord is a spirit but rather that the Spirit is Lord.

But the reason why they are converted and the veil removed in this manner is because God wills it. For they could claim that God put the veil on them and therefore it cannot be removed. But the Apostle shows that it cannot only be removed, but even that it is removed by him who is the Lord. Hence, he says, now the Lord is the Spirit. This can be understood in two ways.

And we, who with unveiled faces all reflect the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into His image with intensifying glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.

By thus setting forth the glory which illumined the person of Moses from his interview with God, and the veil which concealed the same from the infirmity of the people, and by superinducing thereupon the revelation and the glory of the Spirit in the person of Christ-"even as," to use his words, "by the Spirit of the Lord" -he testifies that the whole Mosaic system was a figure…

But we all with unveiled face beholding reflected as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are transformed into the same image from glory to glory even as from the spirit of the Lord; as if he said, when the Lord is nigh, all we the faithful, in the most manifest manner, without any veil, behold the glory of the Lord as in a mirror—and are transformed into the same image as the Lo…

Then when he says, and we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being changed into his likeness from one degree of glory to another, he shows how the faithful of Christ are altogether free of this veil.

II Corinthians3