返回Chapter 3
Chapter 3
Chapter Three
2 Cor. 3:1. Do we really need to introduce ourselves to you again?
Since he said many great things about himself, he says: will not someone say: what is this, Paul? By saying this about yourself, you are praising yourself. He removes this objection with the following words.
2 Cor. 3:1. "Do we really need, as some do, letters of recommendation to you or from you?"
He says this with force, making his speech more expressive. He hints at the false apostles, who, having nothing in their deeds that could make them known, composed letters of commendation, presented them to whomever they wished, and in this way recommended themselves and brought themselves into prominence. His words, spoken with force, have this meaning: would anyone really say that we must present to you letters of commendation in order to become known through them among you, or present such letters from you to others? Then he adds with feeling.
2 Cor. 3:2. You are our letter, written in our hearts, known and read by all men.
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. Thus, since you are for me a letter of commendation to others, I have no need of other letters from you in order to become known to those who do not know me. Likewise, since I have you in my heart, I have no need for others to recommend me to you. Letters of commendation are needed for strangers, not for acquaintances, and you are so written in my heart that you cannot leave it. Here he testifies not only to his love for them, but also to their virtuous life, that is, that they were able to demonstrate before all people the worthiness of their teacher, for the virtue of disciples serves as an adornment for the teacher.
2 Cor. 3:3. You show yourselves that you are an epistle of Christ,
In what way? In that the law of Christ and His commandments, like written letters, abide and are preserved in you.
2 Cor. 3:3. through our ministry, written not with ink, but with the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone, but on fleshy tablets of the heart.
Having taken the opportunity to compare the Law with the Gospel, he makes here such a comparison: as Moses was a minister of the Law, so we too are ministers of your faith in the Gospel, and as he engraved on stone tablets, so we engrave on your hearts; the Law was written with ink, but the Gospel is written in you by the Spirit. Therefore, as much as the Spirit differs from ink and the heart from stone, so much does the New Testament differ from the Law. Since hardened people have hearts of stone, he called the hearts of believers fleshly, because they are receptive to the word.
2 Cor. 3:4. Such confidence we have in God through Christ,
2 Cor. 3:5. Not that we are sufficient of ourselves to think anything as of ourselves,
Since he showed that the New Testament is above the Old, and it was natural to conclude that we too — the apostles, ministers of the New Testament — are above Moses, who served the Old Testament, but this seemed arrogant, he says: nothing is ours, but our "confidence," that is, our boasting is "in God through Christ." For Christ is the reason that we boast in God, and nothing is ours, not even the slightest thing. This very thought he expresses with the words: "we are not sufficient to think anything of ourselves."
2 Cor. 3:5. but our sufficiency is from God,
2 Cor. 3:6. He made us sufficient to be ministers of the New Testament,
Our strength, he says, is from God: He made us "sufficient," that is, He strengthened us, made us capable of serving this great divine work — the New Testament.
2 Cor. 3:6. not of the letter, but of the spirit,
And the Old Law is spiritual, that is, given by the Spirit; but it did not bestow the Spirit, as the New will bestow Him. So the meaning of the words is this: we have been entrusted to impart not the letter, as Moses did, but the Spirit. For the apostles not only taught spiritual and divine things, but also imparted the Spirit through the laying on of hands.
2 Cor. 3:6. For the letter kills, but the spirit gives life.
The Law, he says, subjects to punishment when it notices someone sinning even in what would seem the very least matter, such as gathering wood on the Sabbath (Num. 15:32–36), while the Holy Spirit, receiving those who have committed innumerable iniquities, justifies them in the bath of baptism and gives life to those dead through sin.
2 Cor. 3:7. If the ministry of deadly letters, engraved on stones, was so glorious,
Having shown above the difference between the New and Old Testaments, which consists in the fact that the latter is written with ink, while the former with the Spirit, the one on stones, and the other on hearts, and also that the latter kills, while the former gives life, he now wishes to show that the glory of the Gospel is also greater. Since the law had a sensible glory, that is, glory in the face of Moses, while the New Testament has an intelligible glory, which no one sees with the senses, he demonstrates the superiority of the evangelical glory by means of reasoning, saying that the law was a minister of death. He did not say "author of death," so as not to give occasion to the heretics, but "minister." For the author of death was sin, while the law administered the punishment. Moreover, the law was only a letter and did not provide those who struggled with any help, as baptism does, but imposed punishments that could not be erased. For this minister of death was engraved on stones. If, therefore, the law, with such a character, was so glorious, how much more glory does grace have, which incomparably surpasses it?
2 Cor. 3:7. that the children of Israel could not look upon the face of Moses because of the glory of his face, which was passing away,
He covertly accuses the Jews. They, he says, were so crude that they could not gaze even upon the sensible glory. He did not say that the law and the tablets had glory, but the face of Moses; for it was Moses who was glorified, not the tablets of the law. But he also diminishes the very glory of Moses, calling it passing away. Notice, however, that he did not call it bad, but having an end and ceasing.
2 Cor. 3:8. Shall not the ministration of the spirit be rather glorious?
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.
2 Cor. 3:9. For if the ministry of condemnation is glorious, then much more does the ministry of righteousness abound in glory.
Again in another way he presents the same thought. Explaining his own words, "the letter kills," he calls the law "the ministry of condemnation," as the punisher of sins, not their cause. The Gospel, however, he calls "the ministry of righteousness," because it not only frees from punishment, but also makes sinners righteous. Therefore the Gospel will possess far greater glory.
2 Cor. 3:10. For even that which was glorified has not been made glorious in this respect, by reason of the surpassing glory of what follows.
For what am I, he says, comparing the Old and New Testaments with each other? The superiority of the New Testament is such "in this regard," that is, in comparison, that the glorified one, that is, the Old Testament, appears to have no glory at all, by reason of the surpassing glory of the New. For although the law was glorious in itself, yet by reason of the superiority of the evangelical glory it appears inglorious. Note that by this too he commends the Old Testament; for things that are compared are usually of the same kind.
2 Cor. 3:11. If that which is passing away is glorious, much more glorious is that which remains.
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.
2 Cor. 3:12. Having such a hope, we act with great boldness,
Since he ascribed extraordinary glory to the New Testament, to those who, having heard this, would wish to see his glory in a sensible manner, he says that we have such hope. What kind? That all of us who believe have been deemed worthy of more than Moses, and therefore we use great boldness toward those whom we instruct, hiding nothing and omitting nothing, and we do not cover our face from you, as Moses covered his from the Jews. For you are not as weak as they were. Moses, when he received the tablets for the second time and came down from the mountain, had such a radiant face that the Jews could neither approach him nor speak with him until he covered his face with a veil. Paul points to the history of this event when he says the following.
2 Cor. 3:13. And not as Moses, who put a veil over his face, so that the children of Israel could not gaze upon the end of that which was passing away.
That is, we do not need to cover ourselves, like Moses. For you can look upon that glory which we have, I mean the glory of the Gospel, although it is far more radiant than that of Moses. That is, you can understand the mysteries of God, namely the Gospel, and we do not need to hide them from you with obscurity, as with a veil. The Israelites, being carnal, could not see that the law has an end and that it would be abolished; for the veil signifies their carnal mind, as you will learn below. Some, however, understood this as follows: the very fact that they could not gaze upon the face of Moses showed that this glory has an end. For as soon as they did not see the glory, it was no more, and by this it was shown that it was short-lived, because it did not manifest itself as glory.
2 Cor. 3:14. But their minds were blinded: for the same veil remains unlifted to this day in the reading of the Old Testament, because it is taken away by Christ.
Their mind has been blinded, he says, and therefore neither those who lived then saw, nor those who live now see, being blinded and having the same veil on the face of Moses during the superficial reading of the law. For Christ calls the law Moses, as in the following place: "they have Moses and the prophets" (Luke 16:29). And it is not revealed to them, it is not recognized by them, that Christ was to abolish the Old Testament. Therefore, their error is an error of the mind, because blindness is a sin of the mind. Do not be surprised, he says, that the Jews cannot see the glory, the glory of the law. If they had seen the glory of the law, they would have also seen the glory of Christ. For the glory of the law consists in turning to Christ. But where is it said that the law would be abolished by Christ? There, where it says: "The Lord your God will raise up for you a Prophet — listen to Him" (Deut. 18:15). Therefore, when it is commanded to listen to Him, and He abolished the Sabbath, circumcision, and everything else, it follows that the law itself gave the command concerning this abolition. Besides this, by the fact that it was commanded to offer sacrifices in one temple, and Christ destroyed it, are not the sacrifices completely abolished? And: "You are a priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek" (Ps. 110:4), also: "sacrifice and offering You did not desire" (Ps. 40:6) — all this constitutes the abolition of the law.
2 Cor. 3:15. But even unto this day, when Moses is read, the veil is upon their heart,
Since he said above that a veil lies upon the reading of the Old Testament, lest anyone think that by the veil he means the obscurity of the law, he says: no, I call the veil the blindness and dullness of heart of the Jews. For even on the face of Moses it lay not for his sake, but because of the dullness and weak sight of the Jews.
2 Cor. 3:16. But when they turn to the Lord, then the veil is taken away.
2 Cor. 3:17. The Lord is the Spirit,
Now he speaks about the way in which the Israelites can be corrected. "When they turn to the Lord," he says, that is, when they abandon the law and approach the spiritual Gospel, then the veil will be removed. For Moses too, as the narrative relates, when he turned to the Lord, removed the veil from himself. And this prefigured what was to come afterward, namely, when someone turns to the Spirit (for He is the Lord), then he will see the uncovered face of the lawgiver, and even more — he himself will be on par with Moses and will enjoy the glory that surpasses, as was said, the glory of the law. For the Spirit will grant it, as Lord and Almighty.
2 Cor. 3:17. Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.
The law had a yoke and slavery, but in the law of the Spirit and in the Gospel there is freedom, so that the glory of the Lord is contemplated without hindrance and freely.
2 Cor. 3:18. But we all, with unveiled face, as in a mirror, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, as from the Lord the Spirit.
We enjoy, he says, such freedom and nobility, that all of us who are faithful, not as there — Moses alone, "with unveiled face" (for believers have no veil) "beholding the glory of the Lord, are transformed into the same image from glory to glory," that is, we receive the same glory, and, like a mirror, receiving radiance, we reflect it. Just as silver, lying in the sun, itself also emits certain rays under the influence of the sun, so we too, purified by the Spirit in baptism and illumined by His rays, reflect a certain spiritual radiance and are transformed according to the same image from the glory of the Spirit into our own glory, and indeed into such glory as is proper to have for one who is enlightened by the Spirit of the Lord, Who is subject to no one. For being Lord, He also possesses sovereign lights. For all believers through baptism are filled with the Holy Spirit and their soul is illumined, and Moses too, beholding the divine glory, was himself transformed into it, that is, he himself received radiance, and his face was illumined, prefiguring us.
2 Cor. 3:1. Do we really need to introduce ourselves to you again?
Since he said many great things about himself, he says: will not someone say: what is this, Paul? By saying this about yourself, you are praising yourself. He removes this objection with the following words.
2 Cor. 3:1. "Do we really need, as some do, letters of recommendation to you or from you?"
He says this with force, making his speech more expressive. He hints at the false apostles, who, having nothing in their deeds that could make them known, composed letters of commendation, presented them to whomever they wished, and in this way recommended themselves and brought themselves into prominence. His words, spoken with force, have this meaning: would anyone really say that we must present to you letters of commendation in order to become known through them among you, or present such letters from you to others? Then he adds with feeling.
2 Cor. 3:2. You are our letter, written in our hearts, known and read by all men.
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. Thus, since you are for me a letter of commendation to others, I have no need of other letters from you in order to become known to those who do not know me. Likewise, since I have you in my heart, I have no need for others to recommend me to you. Letters of commendation are needed for strangers, not for acquaintances, and you are so written in my heart that you cannot leave it. Here he testifies not only to his love for them, but also to their virtuous life, that is, that they were able to demonstrate before all people the worthiness of their teacher, for the virtue of disciples serves as an adornment for the teacher.
2 Cor. 3:3. You show yourselves that you are an epistle of Christ,
In what way? In that the law of Christ and His commandments, like written letters, abide and are preserved in you.
2 Cor. 3:3. through our ministry, written not with ink, but with the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone, but on fleshy tablets of the heart.
Having taken the opportunity to compare the Law with the Gospel, he makes here such a comparison: as Moses was a minister of the Law, so we too are ministers of your faith in the Gospel, and as he engraved on stone tablets, so we engrave on your hearts; the Law was written with ink, but the Gospel is written in you by the Spirit. Therefore, as much as the Spirit differs from ink and the heart from stone, so much does the New Testament differ from the Law. Since hardened people have hearts of stone, he called the hearts of believers fleshly, because they are receptive to the word.
2 Cor. 3:4. Such confidence we have in God through Christ,
2 Cor. 3:5. Not that we are sufficient of ourselves to think anything as of ourselves,
Since he showed that the New Testament is above the Old, and it was natural to conclude that we too — the apostles, ministers of the New Testament — are above Moses, who served the Old Testament, but this seemed arrogant, he says: nothing is ours, but our "confidence," that is, our boasting is "in God through Christ." For Christ is the reason that we boast in God, and nothing is ours, not even the slightest thing. This very thought he expresses with the words: "we are not sufficient to think anything of ourselves."
2 Cor. 3:5. but our sufficiency is from God,
2 Cor. 3:6. He made us sufficient to be ministers of the New Testament,
Our strength, he says, is from God: He made us "sufficient," that is, He strengthened us, made us capable of serving this great divine work — the New Testament.
2 Cor. 3:6. not of the letter, but of the spirit,
And the Old Law is spiritual, that is, given by the Spirit; but it did not bestow the Spirit, as the New will bestow Him. So the meaning of the words is this: we have been entrusted to impart not the letter, as Moses did, but the Spirit. For the apostles not only taught spiritual and divine things, but also imparted the Spirit through the laying on of hands.
2 Cor. 3:6. For the letter kills, but the spirit gives life.
The Law, he says, subjects to punishment when it notices someone sinning even in what would seem the very least matter, such as gathering wood on the Sabbath (Num. 15:32–36), while the Holy Spirit, receiving those who have committed innumerable iniquities, justifies them in the bath of baptism and gives life to those dead through sin.
2 Cor. 3:7. If the ministry of deadly letters, engraved on stones, was so glorious,
Having shown above the difference between the New and Old Testaments, which consists in the fact that the latter is written with ink, while the former with the Spirit, the one on stones, and the other on hearts, and also that the latter kills, while the former gives life, he now wishes to show that the glory of the Gospel is also greater. Since the law had a sensible glory, that is, glory in the face of Moses, while the New Testament has an intelligible glory, which no one sees with the senses, he demonstrates the superiority of the evangelical glory by means of reasoning, saying that the law was a minister of death. He did not say "author of death," so as not to give occasion to the heretics, but "minister." For the author of death was sin, while the law administered the punishment. Moreover, the law was only a letter and did not provide those who struggled with any help, as baptism does, but imposed punishments that could not be erased. For this minister of death was engraved on stones. If, therefore, the law, with such a character, was so glorious, how much more glory does grace have, which incomparably surpasses it?
2 Cor. 3:7. that the children of Israel could not look upon the face of Moses because of the glory of his face, which was passing away,
He covertly accuses the Jews. They, he says, were so crude that they could not gaze even upon the sensible glory. He did not say that the law and the tablets had glory, but the face of Moses; for it was Moses who was glorified, not the tablets of the law. But he also diminishes the very glory of Moses, calling it passing away. Notice, however, that he did not call it bad, but having an end and ceasing.
2 Cor. 3:8. Shall not the ministration of the spirit be rather glorious?
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.
2 Cor. 3:9. For if the ministry of condemnation is glorious, then much more does the ministry of righteousness abound in glory.
Again in another way he presents the same thought. Explaining his own words, "the letter kills," he calls the law "the ministry of condemnation," as the punisher of sins, not their cause. The Gospel, however, he calls "the ministry of righteousness," because it not only frees from punishment, but also makes sinners righteous. Therefore the Gospel will possess far greater glory.
2 Cor. 3:10. For even that which was glorified has not been made glorious in this respect, by reason of the surpassing glory of what follows.
For what am I, he says, comparing the Old and New Testaments with each other? The superiority of the New Testament is such "in this regard," that is, in comparison, that the glorified one, that is, the Old Testament, appears to have no glory at all, by reason of the surpassing glory of the New. For although the law was glorious in itself, yet by reason of the superiority of the evangelical glory it appears inglorious. Note that by this too he commends the Old Testament; for things that are compared are usually of the same kind.
2 Cor. 3:11. If that which is passing away is glorious, much more glorious is that which remains.
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.
2 Cor. 3:12. Having such a hope, we act with great boldness,
Since he ascribed extraordinary glory to the New Testament, to those who, having heard this, would wish to see his glory in a sensible manner, he says that we have such hope. What kind? That all of us who believe have been deemed worthy of more than Moses, and therefore we use great boldness toward those whom we instruct, hiding nothing and omitting nothing, and we do not cover our face from you, as Moses covered his from the Jews. For you are not as weak as they were. Moses, when he received the tablets for the second time and came down from the mountain, had such a radiant face that the Jews could neither approach him nor speak with him until he covered his face with a veil. Paul points to the history of this event when he says the following.
2 Cor. 3:13. And not as Moses, who put a veil over his face, so that the children of Israel could not gaze upon the end of that which was passing away.
That is, we do not need to cover ourselves, like Moses. For you can look upon that glory which we have, I mean the glory of the Gospel, although it is far more radiant than that of Moses. That is, you can understand the mysteries of God, namely the Gospel, and we do not need to hide them from you with obscurity, as with a veil. The Israelites, being carnal, could not see that the law has an end and that it would be abolished; for the veil signifies their carnal mind, as you will learn below. Some, however, understood this as follows: the very fact that they could not gaze upon the face of Moses showed that this glory has an end. For as soon as they did not see the glory, it was no more, and by this it was shown that it was short-lived, because it did not manifest itself as glory.
2 Cor. 3:14. But their minds were blinded: for the same veil remains unlifted to this day in the reading of the Old Testament, because it is taken away by Christ.
Their mind has been blinded, he says, and therefore neither those who lived then saw, nor those who live now see, being blinded and having the same veil on the face of Moses during the superficial reading of the law. For Christ calls the law Moses, as in the following place: "they have Moses and the prophets" (Luke 16:29). And it is not revealed to them, it is not recognized by them, that Christ was to abolish the Old Testament. Therefore, their error is an error of the mind, because blindness is a sin of the mind. Do not be surprised, he says, that the Jews cannot see the glory, the glory of the law. If they had seen the glory of the law, they would have also seen the glory of Christ. For the glory of the law consists in turning to Christ. But where is it said that the law would be abolished by Christ? There, where it says: "The Lord your God will raise up for you a Prophet — listen to Him" (Deut. 18:15). Therefore, when it is commanded to listen to Him, and He abolished the Sabbath, circumcision, and everything else, it follows that the law itself gave the command concerning this abolition. Besides this, by the fact that it was commanded to offer sacrifices in one temple, and Christ destroyed it, are not the sacrifices completely abolished? And: "You are a priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek" (Ps. 110:4), also: "sacrifice and offering You did not desire" (Ps. 40:6) — all this constitutes the abolition of the law.
2 Cor. 3:15. But even unto this day, when Moses is read, the veil is upon their heart,
Since he said above that a veil lies upon the reading of the Old Testament, lest anyone think that by the veil he means the obscurity of the law, he says: no, I call the veil the blindness and dullness of heart of the Jews. For even on the face of Moses it lay not for his sake, but because of the dullness and weak sight of the Jews.
2 Cor. 3:16. But when they turn to the Lord, then the veil is taken away.
2 Cor. 3:17. The Lord is the Spirit,
Now he speaks about the way in which the Israelites can be corrected. "When they turn to the Lord," he says, that is, when they abandon the law and approach the spiritual Gospel, then the veil will be removed. For Moses too, as the narrative relates, when he turned to the Lord, removed the veil from himself. And this prefigured what was to come afterward, namely, when someone turns to the Spirit (for He is the Lord), then he will see the uncovered face of the lawgiver, and even more — he himself will be on par with Moses and will enjoy the glory that surpasses, as was said, the glory of the law. For the Spirit will grant it, as Lord and Almighty.
2 Cor. 3:17. Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.
The law had a yoke and slavery, but in the law of the Spirit and in the Gospel there is freedom, so that the glory of the Lord is contemplated without hindrance and freely.
2 Cor. 3:18. But we all, with unveiled face, as in a mirror, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, as from the Lord the Spirit.
We enjoy, he says, such freedom and nobility, that all of us who are faithful, not as there — Moses alone, "with unveiled face" (for believers have no veil) "beholding the glory of the Lord, are transformed into the same image from glory to glory," that is, we receive the same glory, and, like a mirror, receiving radiance, we reflect it. Just as silver, lying in the sun, itself also emits certain rays under the influence of the sun, so we too, purified by the Spirit in baptism and illumined by His rays, reflect a certain spiritual radiance and are transformed according to the same image from the glory of the Spirit into our own glory, and indeed into such glory as is proper to have for one who is enlightened by the Spirit of the Lord, Who is subject to no one. For being Lord, He also possesses sovereign lights. For all believers through baptism are filled with the Holy Spirit and their soul is illumined, and Moses too, beholding the divine glory, was himself transformed into it, that is, he himself received radiance, and his face was illumined, prefiguring us.