2 Corinthians 3:13

αὐτοῦ (ABCFGLP) rather than ἑαντοῦ (אDK).

13. καὶ οὐ καθάπερ Μ. ἐτίθει κάλυμμα. And not, as M. used to put a veil over his face, do we act. The suppression of what corresponds to καθάπερ, ὥσπερ, ὡς, and the like, is natural and not rare; comp. Matthew 25:14; Mark 13:34. Excepting Hebrews 4:2, the Attic καθάπερ is found in the N.T. in S. Paul only (2 Corinthians 3:18; 2 Corinthians 1:14; 2 Corinthians 8:11; elsewhere twelve times). Moses did not enjoy the freedom from fear and reserve which is given so abundantly to Christ’s ministers. Christ Himself had used reserve, not only in teaching the multitude, but in training the Twelve (John 16:12). The change came at Pentecost. ‘We need not hide the full magnificence of our message, lest the future should prove it false: it will stand the test of time, and will not fade away.’

πρὸς τὸ μὴ�. That they should not look steadfastly upon. Comp. 1 Thessalonians 2:9. In 2 Corinthians 3:7 ‘could not’ is right. The A.V. has ‘could’ in both places, ‘behold’ in one, and ‘look’ in the other. In both we have ‘the sons of Israel,’ τοὺς υἱοὺς Ἰσραήλ, as commonly in the LXX. The two verses differ, but are not inconsistent. In 2 Corinthians 3:7 the glory was such that the Israelites could not fix their gaze (Luke 22:56) on Moses’ face. In 2 Corinthians 3:13 he used to put a veil on his face to prevent them from fixing their gaze on the end of that which was being done away. Neither of these statements agrees with the A.V. of Exodus 34:29 ff., which implies that he veiled his face to overcome their fear of him. The R.V., agreeing with both the Hebrew and the LXX., shows that he overcame their fear by exhorting them to come to him, that he talked to them unveiled, and that, when he had finished speaking with them, he put a veil on his face, until he returned to the presence of the Lord. There he was unveiled, and he remained so on coming out, so long as he was addressing the people as God’s emissary. Then he put the veil on again, until he went back to commune with Jehovah. This agrees with what we have here (2 Corinthians 3:13). He veiled himself that the people might not gaze upon the end of that which was passing away, viz. the fading glory. They saw him only when the reflexion of the Divine splendour was fresh upon him. S. Paul makes the transitoriness of this reflexion a symbol of the transitory character of the Law; but of course he does not mean that either the Israelites or Moses so understood it. With this symbolizing comp. 1 Corinthians 10:2-4 and Galatians 4:21-26. He considers the Jews of his own day as quite alien from the Christian Church. They have been cut off from their own olive tree (Romans 11:24). This passage should be compared with Romans 9-11, where see Sanday and Headlam.