2Cor.3.1
Do we begin again to commend ourselves? or need we, as some others, epistles of commendation to you, or letters of commendation from you?
2Cor.3.1
Does it sound like we're patting ourselves on the back, insisting on our credentials, asserting our authority? Well, we're not. Neither do we need letters of endorsement, either to you or from you.
2Cor.3.1
Are we beginning to commend ourselves again? Or do we need, like some people, letters of recommendation to you or from you?
2Cor.3.1
Do we begin again to commend ourselves? Or do we need, as some others, epistles of commendation to you or letters of commendation from you?
2Cor.3.1
Are we beginning again to tell you how good we are? Some people need to bring letters of recommendation with them or ask you to write letters of recommendation for them.
2Cor.3.2
Ye are our epistle written in our hearts, known and read of all men:
2Cor.3.2
You yourselves are all the endorsement we need. Your very lives are a letter that anyone can read by just looking at you.
2Cor.3.2
You yourselves are our letter, written on our hearts, known and read by everybody.
2Cor.3.2
You are our epistle written in our hearts, known and read by all men;
2Cor.3.2
But the only letter of recommendation we need is you yourselves! Your lives are a letter written in our hearts, and everyone can read it and recognize our good work among you.
2Cor.3.3
Forasmuch as ye are manifestly declared to be the epistle of Christ ministered by us, written not with ink, but with the Spirit of the living God; not in tables of stone, but in fleshy tables of the heart.
2Cor.3.3
Christ himself wrote it--not with ink, but with God's living Spirit; not chiseled into stone, but carved into human lives--and we publish it.
2Cor.3.3
You show that you are a letter from Christ, the result of our ministry, written not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of human hearts.
2Cor.3.3
clearly you are an epistle of Christ, ministered by us, written not with ink but by the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of flesh, that is, of the heart.
2Cor.3.3
Clearly, you are a letter from Christ prepared by us. It is written not with pen and ink, but with the Spirit of the living God. It is carved not on stone, but on human hearts.
2Cor.3.4
And such trust have we through Christ to God-ward:
2Cor.3.4
We couldn't be more sure of ourselves in this--that you, written by Christ himself for God, are our letter of recommendation.
2Cor.3.4
Such confidence as this is ours through Christ before God.
2Cor.3.4
And we have such trust through Christ toward God.
2Cor.3.4
We are confident of all this because of our great trust in God through Christ.
2Cor.3.5
Not that we are sufficient of ourselves to think any thing as of ourselves; but our sufficiency is of God;
2Cor.3.5
We wouldn't think of writing this kind of letter about ourselves. Only God can write such a letter.
2Cor.3.5
Not that we are competent in ourselves to claim anything for ourselves, but our competence comes from God.
2Cor.3.5
Not that we are sufficient of ourselves to think of anything as being from ourselves, but our sufficiency is from God,
2Cor.3.5
It is not that we think we can do anything of lasting value by ourselves. Our only power and success come from God.
2Cor.3.6
Who also hath made us able ministers of the new testament; not of the letter, but of the spirit: for the letter killeth, but the spirit giveth life.
2Cor.3.6
His letter authorizes us to help carry out this new plan of action. The plan wasn't written out with ink on paper, with pages and pages of legal footnotes, killing your spirit. It's written with Spirit on spirit, his life on our lives!
2Cor.3.6
He has made us competent as ministers of a new covenant--not of the letter but of the Spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.
2Cor.3.6
who also made us sufficient as ministers of the new covenant, not of the letter but of the Spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.
2Cor.3.6
He is the one who has enabled us to represent his new covenant. This is a covenant, not of written laws, but of the Spirit. The old way ends in death; in the new way, the Holy Spirit gives life.
2Cor.3.7
But if the ministration of death, written and engraven in stones, was glorious, so that the children of Israel could not stedfastly behold the face of Moses for the glory of his countenance; which glory was to be done away:
2Cor.3.7
The Government of Death, its constitution chiseled on stone tablets, had a dazzling inaugural. Moses' face as he delivered the tablets was so bright that day (even though it would fade soon enough) that the people of Israel could no more look right at him than stare into the sun.
2Cor.3.7
Now if the ministry that brought death, which was engraved in letters on stone, came with glory, so that the Israelites could not look steadily at the face of Moses because of its glory, fading though it was,
2Cor.3.7
But if the ministry of death, written and engraved on stones, was glorious, so that the children of Israel could not look steadily at the face of Moses because of the glory of his countenance, which glory was passing away,
2Cor.3.7
That old system of law etched in stone led to death, yet it began with such glory that the people of Israel could not bear to look at Moses' face. For his face shone with the glory of God, even though the brightness was already fading away.
2Cor.3.8
How shall not the ministration of the spirit be rather glorious?
2Cor.3.8
How much more dazzling, then, the Government of Living Spirit?
2Cor.3.8
will not the ministry of the Spirit be even more glorious?
2Cor.3.8
how will the ministry of the Spirit not be more glorious?
2Cor.3.8
Shouldn't we expect far greater glory when the Holy Spirit is giving life?
2Cor.3.9
For if the ministration of condemnation be glory, much more doth the ministration of righteousness exceed in glory.
2Cor.3.9
If the Government of Condemnation was impressive, how about this Government of Affirmation?
2Cor.3.9
If the ministry that condemns men is glorious, how much more glorious is the ministry that brings righteousness!
2Cor.3.9
For if the ministry of condemnation had glory, the ministry of righteousness exceeds much more in glory.
2Cor.3.9
If the old covenant, which brings condemnation, was glorious, how much more glorious is the new covenant, which makes us right with God!
2Cor.3.10
For even that which was made glorious had no glory in this respect, by reason of the glory that excelleth.
2Cor.3.10
Bright as that old government was, it would look downright dull alongside this new one.
2Cor.3.10
For what was glorious has no glory now in comparison with the surpassing glory.
2Cor.3.10
For even what was made glorious had no glory in this respect, because of the glory that excels.
2Cor.3.10
In fact, that first glory was not glorious at all compared with the overwhelming glory of the new covenant.
2Cor.3.11
For if that which is done away was glorious, much more that which remaineth is glorious.
2Cor.3.11
If that makeshift arrangement impressed us, how much more this brightly shining government installed for eternity?
2Cor.3.11
And if what was fading away came with glory, how much greater is the glory of that which lasts!
2Cor.3.11
For if what is passing away was glorious, what remains is much more glorious.
2Cor.3.11
So if the old covenant, which has been set aside, was full of glory, then the new covenant, which remains forever, has far greater glory.
2Cor.3.12
Seeing then that we have such hope, we use great plainness of speech:
2Cor.3.12
With that kind of hope to excite us, nothing holds us back.
2Cor.3.12
Therefore, since we have such a hope, we are very bold.
2Cor.3.12
Therefore, since we have such hope, we use great boldness of speech--
2Cor.3.12
Since this new covenant gives us such confidence, we can be very bold.
2Cor.3.13
And not as Moses, which put a vail over his face, that the children of Israel could not stedfastly look to the end of that which is abolished:
2Cor.3.13
Unlike Moses, we have nothing to hide. Everything is out in the open with us. He wore a veil so the children of Israel wouldn't notice that the glory was fading away--
2Cor.3.13
We are not like Moses, who would put a veil over his face to keep the Israelites from gazing at it while the radiance was fading away.
2Cor.3.13
unlike Moses, who put a veil over his face so that the children of Israel could not look steadily at the end of what was passing away.
2Cor.3.13
We are not like Moses, who put a veil over his face so the people of Israel would not see the glory fading away.
2Cor.3.14
But their minds were blinded: for until this day remaineth the same vail untaken away in the reading of the old testament; which vail is done away in Christ.
2Cor.3.14
and they didn't notice. They didn't notice it then and they don't notice it now, don't notice that there's nothing left behind that veil.
2Cor.3.14
But their minds were made dull, for to this day the same veil remains when the old covenant is read. It has not been removed, because only in Christ is it taken away.
2Cor.3.14
But their minds were blinded. For until this day the same veil remains unlifted in the reading of the Old Testament, because the veil is taken away in Christ.
2Cor.3.14
But the people's minds were hardened, and even to this day whenever the old covenant is being read, a veil covers their minds so they cannot understand the truth. And this veil can be removed only by believing in Christ.
2Cor.3.15
But even unto this day, when Moses is read, the vail is upon their heart.
2Cor.3.15
Even today when the proclamations of that old, bankrupt government are read out, they can't see through it. Only Christ can get rid of the veil so they can see for themselves that there's nothing there.
2Cor.3.15
Even to this day when Moses is read, a veil covers their hearts.
2Cor.3.15
But even to this day, when Moses is read, a veil lies on their heart.
2Cor.3.15
Yes, even today when they read Moses' writings, their hearts are covered with that veil, and they do not understand.
2Cor.3.16
Nevertheless when it shall turn to the Lord, the vail shall be taken away.
2Cor.3.16
Whenever, though, they turn to face God as Moses did, God removes the veil and there they are--face to face!
2Cor.3.16
But whenever anyone turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away.
2Cor.3.16
Nevertheless when one turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away.
2Cor.3.16
But whenever anyone turns to the Lord, then the veil is taken away.
2Cor.3.17
Now the Lord is that Spirit: and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty.
2Cor.3.17
They suddenly recognize that God is a living, personal presence, not a piece of chiseled stone. And when God is personally present, a living Spirit, that old, constricting legislation is recognized as obsolete. We're free of it!
2Cor.3.17
Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.
2Cor.3.17
Now the Lord is the Spirit; and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty.
2Cor.3.17
Now, the Lord is the Spirit, and wherever the Spirit of the Lord is, he gives freedom.
2Cor.3.18
But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord.
2Cor.3.18
All of us! Nothing between us and God, our faces shining with the brightness of his face. And so we are transfigured much like the Messiah, our lives gradually becoming brighter and more beautiful as God enters our lives and we become like him.
2Cor.3.18
And we, who with unveiled faces all reflect the Lord's glory, are being transformed into his likeness with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.
2Cor.3.18
But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as by the Spirit of the Lord.
2Cor.3.18
And all of us have had that veil removed so that we can be mirrors that brightly reflect the glory of the Lord. And as the Spirit of the Lord works within us, we become more and more like him and reflect his glory even more.
