2 Corinthians 3-4

Christian Standard Bible

Living Letters

3 Are we beginning to commend ourselves again? Or do we need, like some, letters of recommendation to you or from you? ² You yourselves are our letter, written on our hearts, known and read by everyone.^{(A) 3} You show that you are Christ’s letter,^(B) delivered^[a] by us, not written with ink but with the Spirit of the living God^(C)—not on tablets of stone^(D) but on tablets of human hearts.^[b](E)

Paul’s Competence

⁴ Such is the confidence we have through Christ before God. ⁵ It is not that we are competent in^[c] ourselves to claim anything as coming from ourselves, but our adequacy is from God.^{(F) 6} He has made us competent to be ministers of a new covenant,^(G) not of the letter,^(H) but of the Spirit. For the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.

New Covenant Ministry

⁷ Now if the ministry that brought death, chiseled in letters on stones, came with glory,^(I) so that the Israelites were not able to gaze steadily at Moses’s face because of its glory, which was set aside, ⁸ how will the ministry of the Spirit not be more glorious? ⁹ For if the ministry that brought condemnation had glory, the ministry that brings righteousness overflows with even more glory. ¹⁰ In fact, what had been glorious is not glorious now by comparison because of the glory that surpasses it. ¹¹ For if what was set aside^(J) was glorious, what endures will be even more glorious.

¹² Since, then, we have such a hope,^(K) we act with great boldness. ¹³ We are not like Moses, who used to put a veil over his face^(L) to prevent the Israelites from gazing steadily until the end^[d] of the glory of what was being set aside, ¹⁴ but their minds were hardened.^(M) For to this day, at the reading of the old covenant,^(N) the same veil remains; it is not lifted, because it is set aside only in Christ.^{(O) 15} Yet still today, whenever Moses is read, a veil lies over their hearts, ¹⁶ but whenever a person turns^(P) to the Lord, the veil is removed.^{(Q) 17} Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. ¹⁸ We all, with unveiled faces, are looking as in a mirror at^[e](R) the glory of the Lord^(S) and are being transformed^(T) into the same image^(U) from glory to glory; this is from the Lord who is the Spirit.^[f]

The Light of the Gospel

4 Therefore, since we have this ministry because we were shown mercy,^(V) we do not give up.^{(W) 2} Instead, we have renounced secret and shameful things, not acting^(X) deceitfully or distorting the word of God,^(Y) but commending ourselves before God to everyone’s conscience by an open display of the truth.^{(Z) 3} But if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing. ⁴ In their case, the god of this age^(AA) has blinded the minds of the unbelievers to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ,^[g](AB) who is the image of God.^{(AC) 5} For we are not proclaiming ourselves but Jesus Christ as Lord,^(AD) and ourselves as your servants for Jesus’s sake. ⁶ For God who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,”^(AE) has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge^(AF) of God’s glory^(AG) in the face of Jesus Christ.

Treasure in Clay Jars

⁷ Now we have this treasure in clay jars, so that this extraordinary power^(AH) may be from God and not from us. ⁸ We are afflicted in every way but not crushed; we are perplexed but not in despair; ⁹ we are persecuted but not abandoned; we are struck down but not destroyed. ¹⁰ We always carry the death of Jesus^(AI) in our body, so that the life of Jesus may also be displayed in our body. ¹¹ For we who live are always being given over to death^(AJ) for Jesus’s sake, so that Jesus’s life may also be displayed in our mortal flesh. ¹² So then, death is at work in us, but life in you. ¹³ And since we have the same spirit of faith in keeping with what is written, I believed, therefore I spoke,^[h](AK) we also believe, and therefore speak. ¹⁴ For we know that the one who raised the Lord Jesus will also raise us with Jesus^(AL) and present us with you. ¹⁵ Indeed, everything is for your benefit so that, as grace extends through more and more people, it may cause thanksgiving^(AM) to increase to the glory of God.

¹⁶ Therefore we do not give up.^(AN) Even though our outer person is being destroyed, our inner person^(AO) is being renewed day by day. ¹⁷ For our momentary light affliction^(AP) is producing for us an absolutely incomparable eternal weight of glory.^{(AQ) 18} So we do not focus on what is seen,^(AR) but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.