Book of Common Prayer

3 Do you think we are starting again to tell how good we are? Do we need letters to tell about us, as some teachers do? We do not need letters to you or from you to praise us.

² You yourselves are our letter. This letter has been written in our hearts. All people can read it and understand it.

³ All can see that you are a letter from Christ written by us. It is not written in ink, but it is written in the Spirit of the living God. It is not written on pieces of rock, but on the hearts of people.

⁴ We can say this because we trust in God. And we trust in God because of Christ.

⁵ We are not good enough to think we can do anything ourselves. But God makes us able to do it.

⁶ God has made a new start with people. He has given us a new way back to God. It is not a written law. The Spirit gives it to us. The written law brings death, but the Spirit gives life.

⁷ The old law that brought death was written on pieces of rock. There was a very bright light when God gave it to the people. The people of Israel could not look at Moses because his face was so bright. And even as they saw it, the light on his face was going away.

⁸ Now bringing the law was bright and wonderful. Will not bringing the Spirit be far more bright and wonderful?

⁹ Bringing the law was a wonderful thing even though it brought death. So bringing the good news that people can be put right with God is much more wonderful.

¹⁰ The law was so bright and wonderful at first but has no light now. There is something else that is so much more bright and wonderful.

¹¹ The one which does not stay alive for ever came first in a great light. Does not the one which does stay alive have a much brighter light?

¹² Because we believe this, we do not fear.

¹³ We are not like Moses. He put a cloth over his face so that the people of Israel would not see that the light from God was dying.

¹⁴ But their minds were made dull. Even today, when the old law of God is read, it is as if a cloth still covers it. It is Christ who takes the cloth away.

¹⁵ Yes, even today, when the books of Moses are read, it is as if a cloth covers their hearts and minds.

¹⁶ But when a man turns to the Lord, the cloth is taken away.

¹⁷ Now the Lord is the Spirit. Where the Spirit of the Lord is, people are set free.

¹⁸ All of us have no cloth over our faces. People can see that we have some of the bright and wonderful light that the Lord has. And we are becoming brighter and brighter, more and more like him. It is the Lord, the Spirit, who does this.

16 Jesus also talked to his disciples. He said, `A rich man had a manager in charge of his things. People told the rich man that the manager was wasting his things.

² he called the manager and asked him, "What is this I hear about you? Tell me what you have done. You cannot be my manager any more."

³ `Then the manager thought to himself, "What will I do? My master is taking my work away from me. I am not strong enough to go out and dig. I am ashamed to beg.

⁴ I know what I will do. Then, when I lose my job, these people will take me into their own homes."

⁵ `So he called to him everyone who owed his master something. He asked the first man, "How much do you owe my master?"

⁶ He answered, "A hundred tins of oil." The manager said, "Take your paper. Sit down right now and write on it fifty."

⁷ Then he asked the next man, "How much do you owe?" He said, "A hundred bags of grain." The manager said, "Take your paper and write on it eighty."

⁸ `Then the master praised the manager who did wrong. He praised him because he did what was wise. The people of this world are wiser than the people who have the Light. They know how to get along with people like themselves.

⁹ `I tell you this. Money may be a wrong thing, but use it to make friends for yourselves. Then when your money is spent, they will be glad to see you come into that place where people live for ever.