‘Are we beginning again to commend ourselves? or do we need, as do some, letters of commendation to you or from you? You are our letter, written in our hearts, known and read of all men, it being revealed openly that you are a letter of Christ, ministered by us, written not with ink, but with the Sp... [ Continue Reading ]
HE IS NOT SPEAKING LIKE THIS TO COMMEND HIMSELF. INDEED THE CORINTHIANS THEMSELVES ARE HIS LETTER OF RECOMMENDATION, WRITTEN BY THE SPIRIT OF GOD (2 CORINTHIANS 3:1). He firmly points out that he does not need to commend himself to them like this, for are they not themselves a testimony to his succ... [ Continue Reading ]
‘And such confidence have we through Christ to God-ward. Not that we are sufficient of ourselves, to account anything as from ourselves; but our sufficiency is from God, who also made us sufficient as ministers of a new covenant. Not of the letter, but of the spirit, for the letter kills, but the sp... [ Continue Reading ]
THE CONTRAST BETWEEN THE OLD AND THE NEW, BETWEEN MOSES' COVENANT AND CHRIST'S COVENANT (2 CORINTHIANS 3:7) ‘But if the ministration of death, written, and engraved on stones, came with glory, so that the children of Israel could not look steadfastly on the face of Moses for the glory of his face,... [ Continue Reading ]
‘For if the ministration of condemnation has glory, much rather does the ministration of righteousness exceed in glory.' He compares the two covenants. The one administered condemnation. It pointed man to his sin but could do nothing further for him (although God did provide through the sacrificial... [ Continue Reading ]
‘For truly that which has been made glorious has not been made glorious in this respect, by reason of the glory that surpasses For if that which passes away was with glory, much more that which remains is in glory.' ‘In this respect' or ‘in this case' may also be translated ‘partially' (thus ‘that... [ Continue Reading ]
CONSIDERATION OF THE CONSEQUENCES OF THE DIFFERENCE IN THE TWO COVENANTS (2 CORINTHIANS 3:12) ‘Having therefore such a hope, we use great boldness of speech, and are not as Moses, who put a veil on his face, that the children of Israel should not look steadfastly on the end of that which was passin... [ Continue Reading ]
‘But to this day, whenever Moses is read, a veil lies on their heart.' The final phrase in 2 Corinthians 3:14 is repeated, but this time going a step further and applies the veil, not to ‘Moses' but to their own heart. For the fact is that it is not just ‘Moses' (the Torah) that is veiled, there is... [ Continue Reading ]
‘But whenever it shall turn to the Lord, the veil is taken away.' Here we have to interpret ‘it'. So, it could mean ‘but whenever the heart (referring back to 2 Corinthians 3:15) of a man turns to the Lord', or ‘whenever there is a turning to the Lord' or ‘whenever a person turns to the Lord', the... [ Continue Reading ]
‘Now the Lord is the spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty.' We must probably see this as an explanation of Whom ‘the Lord' is in 2 Corinthians 3:16. If ‘the Lord' there refers back to the Lord in the Old Testament because it has Jews in mind, then this is simply pointing ou... [ Continue Reading ]
‘But we all, with unveiled face beholding as in a mirror (or ‘beholding intently') the glory of the Lord, are transformed into the same image from glory to glory, even as from the Lord the Spirit.' The literal order of the words is ‘but we all with unveiled face the glory of the Lord beholding as i... [ Continue Reading ]