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Read the New Testament in 24 Weeks

A reading plan that walks through the entire New Testament in 24 weeks of daily readings.

Duration: 168 days

2 Corinthians 3-4

Chapter 3

A Letter from God.^[a] ¹Are we beginning once again to commend ourselves to you? Surely, as is true in some cases, we do not need letters of recommendation to you or from you. ²You yourselves are our letter, one that is written on our hearts, so that it may be known and read by all. ³And you make it clear that you are a letter from Christ entrusted to our care, a letter written not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God, and written not on tablets of stone^[b] but on tablets of the human heart.

⁴Such is the complete confidence in God that we have through Christ. ⁵Obviously, we are not competent of ourselves to take credit for anything as coming from us. Our competence comes from God ⁶who has empowered us to be the ministers of a new covenant, not written but of the Spirit. For the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.

Ministers of a New Covenant.^[c] ⁷Now if the ministry of death, engraved with letters on stone, was so glorious that the Israelites could not fix their glance on the face of Moses because of its glory, a glory that would soon fade, ⁸how much greater will be the glory of the ministry of the Spirit?

⁹For if the ministry of condemnation was glorious, how much richer in glory will be the ministry of righteousness! ¹⁰Indeed, what was once glorious is now without any glory in comparison with the surpassing glory. ¹¹For if what was destined to fade away was glorious, how much greater will be the glory of that which endures!

¹²The Lord Is the Spirit.^[d] Therefore, since we have such hope, we can act with complete confidence, ¹³and not like Moses who put a veil over his face so that the Israelites could not observe the radiance that was fading away. ¹⁴However, their minds were hardened. Even to this very day, the same veil remains unlifted during the reading of the old covenant,^[e] since only in Christ is it set aside. ¹⁵Indeed, to this very day, whenever Moses is read, a veil lies over their hearts.

¹⁶However, when one turns to the Lord, the veil is removed. ¹⁷Now this Lord is the Spirit,^[f] and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. ¹⁸And as we gaze upon the glory of the Lord with unveiled faces, all of us are being transformed into that same image from glory to glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.

Chapter 4

The Gospel of the Glory of Christ.^[g] ¹Therefore, since we are engaged in this ministry through the mercy of God, we do not lose heart. ²Rather, we have renounced all shameful and hidden ways. We do not engage in deception or falsify the word of God. By stating the truth in an open manner, we commend ourselves to the conscience of everyone in the sight of God.

³If our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing, ⁴those unbelievers whose minds have been blinded by the god of this world to prevent them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.

⁵We do not proclaim ourselves. Rather we proclaim Jesus Christ as Lord and ourselves as your servants for the sake of Jesus. ⁶For the God who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” has enabled his light to shine in our hearts in order to enlighten them with the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.

The State of an Apostle.^[h] ⁷However, we hold this treasure in earthen vessels so that it may be clear that this immense power belongs to God and does not derive from us. ⁸We are afflicted on all sides but not crushed, bewildered but not sunk in despair, ⁹persecuted but not abandoned, struck down but not destroyed.

¹⁰We always carry around in our body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be manifested in our body. ¹¹For in our lives we are constantly being given up to death for Jesus’ sake, so that the life of Jesus may be revealed in our mortal flesh. ¹²As a result, death is at work in us, but life in you.

¹³Therefore, since we have that spirit of faith about which it has been written: “I believed, and therefore I spoke,” we also believe, and therefore speak. ¹⁴For we know that the one who raised the Lord Jesus will raise us also with Jesus and bring us side by side with you into his presence. ¹⁵Indeed, everything is for your sake, so that the grace that is abundantly bestowed on more and more people may cause thanksgiving to superabound, to the glory of God.

¹⁶An Eternal Dwelling in Heaven. Therefore, we do not lose heart. Even though our outer self is continuing to decay, our inner self is being renewed day by day. ¹⁷Our temporary light afflictions are preparing for us an incomparable weight of eternal glory, ¹⁸for our eyes are fixed not on what is seen but rather on that which cannot be seen. What is visible is transitory; what is invisible is eternal.

Footnotes

2 Corinthians 3:1 Preachers are circulating, exhibiting and collecting their letters of credibility from one Church to another. But how futile are merely human recommendations and written documents! The apostolate is attested by one’s life. The existence of the community of Corinth and the Spirit’s action in it certify that Paul and his coworkers have been chosen by God. This is the new covenant announced by the Prophets that inserts itself into the lives of individuals and peoples (see Jer 31:31-33; Ezek 11:19; 36:26).
For the first time in Christian literature, the idea of a “New Covenant” and the term itself make their appearance, and a clear distinction is drawn between the two Testaments. Paul has understood that there has been a radical change: from the letter to the Spirit, from the written book to the live hearts of human beings.
2 Corinthians 3:3 Tablets of stone: a reference to the Law given on Sinai (see Ex 24:12).
2 Corinthians 3:7 Proceeding in the manner of the rabbis, Paul freely interprets an episode in the life of Moses (see Ex 34:29-35) in order to assert the superiority of the New Testament. Set down by Moses, the Law denounces sin without giving the power to conquer sin; it thus condemns people without glorifying or saving them. It is not God’s definitive gift.
Indeed, Paul dares to compare the ministry of the apostles to that of Moses, which was the most prestigious in the Old Testament. He dares to state that the apostolic ministry is greater than that of the founder of the Jewish people. And he invites everyone to enter fully into this New Covenant so as to surpass definitively the universe of the Old Testament. The Letter to the Romans will later offer a lengthy development of this singularly new vision in that age.
2 Corinthians 3:12 Paul continues to comment in rabbinical fashion on the veil of Moses. The veil is now over the faces of the Jews. He makes clear that they refuse to accept the provisional character of the Old Covenant—they do not truly understand either Moses or the Old Testament, for Christ is the key to both. It is he who established a new and definitive Covenant, which leads to life and is the power of liberation, the source of freedom. The light of the risen Christ is reflected in the life of believers by their transformation in an ever more profound manner.
2 Corinthians 3:14 Old covenant, i.e., “Old Testament”: this is the first time that this expression, referring to a collection of Scriptures, appears in a Christian text.
2 Corinthians 3:17 This Lord is the Spirit: the “Lord” to whom the Christian turns (v. 16) is the life-giving Spirit of the living God (vv. 6, 8), who is also the Spirit of Christ. This Spirit is the inaugurator of the New Covenant and the ministry.
2 Corinthians 4:1 Paul has been defamed as one who does not impart the authentic teaching of Christ. He responds that, on the contrary, everything he preaches is nothing but authentically Christ’s. For Paul, the Gospel is not a narrative of the past but the action of God today. The apostle, qualified for the ministry of this New Covenant, cannot falsify the Gospel in order to seek his own glory. His entire existence is illumined by the light and glory of Christ, the image of God, and the sole image that can take profound hold of a person’s life. Illuminated by Christ, the apostle himself becomes a light to irradiate every conscience that refuses to be seduced by the god of this world, i.e., Satan, who personifies the traits of perversion capable of undermining a human existence.
2 Corinthians 4:7 In his life, Paul shows the “mystique” of the apostle. He knows that his existence must be identified with that of Christ, that he must enter into Christ’s struggle and his agony. Thus, he reproduces in his person and his action the Paschal Mystery, the mystery of death and life, suffering and victory, until the day when he will share fully, with all the saved, in the life of the risen Lord.

New Catholic Bible (NCB)