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2 Corinthians 3:16  (King James Version)
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<< 2 Corinthians 3:15   2 Corinthians 3:17 >>


2 Corinthians 3:12-16

Paul says Moses kept Israel from looking at “the end of what was passing away.” Romans 10:4 says that Christ is the end (meaning “the goal” or “aim”) of the law. This reality is vital to us because we should be able to look at all the sacrifices and rituals and see Christ's glory, for He was their object. His light was too bright for the Israelites because their carnal minds could not receive it. So, Paul uses the metaphors of blindness and veils. Moses' veil was out of consideration for a carnal people who could not handle the light—either physically or spiritually—because of their natural state (see Deuteronomy 29:4).

But it was not Satan who introduced the veil! Who blinded Israel? God Himself declares that He blinded and hardened the hearts of the Israelites, just as He promised He would if they persisted in disobedience (Deuteronomy 28:28):

» And He said, “Go, and tell this people: 'Keep on hearing, but do not understand; keep on seeing, but do not perceive.' Make the heart of this people dull, and their ears heavy, and shut their eyes; lest they see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their heart, and return and be healed.” (Isaiah 6:9-10)

» For the LORD has poured out on you the spirit of deep sleep, and has closed your eyes, namely, the prophets; and He has covered your heads, namely, the seers. (Isaiah 29:10)

» Therefore, behold, I will again do a marvelous work among this people, a marvelous work and a wonder; for the wisdom of their wise men shall perish, and the understanding of their prudent men shall be hidden. (Isaiah 29:14)

Because of Israel's hardness of heart and rejection of God, part of Isaiah's unusual commission was to make Israel's self-inflicted blindness even worse (Isaiah 6:9-10)! God successfully used Isaiah, such that when Jesus came on the scene, the nation was still blind except for the few to whom He chose to grant spiritual sight. When Jesus came to His own, God withheld an incredible blessing, such that the Jews, in general, could not see their Savior. Recall Jesus' prayer in Matthew 11:25: “I thank You, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that You have hidden these things from the wise and prudent and have revealed them to babes.” His people saw Him physically, yet most did not recognize Him spiritually. God did not withhold this understanding out of vindictiveness but because they had rejected Him all along.

On the road to Emmaus, the two disciples' eyes were restrained (Luke 24:16). Jesus, beginning with Moses' writings, showed them all the places in Scripture that spoke about Him. He opened their eyes to see the things they could not comprehend before. The true God had closed Israel's eyes—the God of this age had blinded them—and He was now opening the eyes of those few He was calling so that He could heal their minds.

In his epistle to the Romans, Paul underscores Israel's spiritual blindness and clearly identifies who was and is responsible for it:

What then? Israel has not obtained what it seeks; but the elect have obtained it, and the rest were blinded. Just as it is written: “God has given them a spirit of stupor, eyes that they should not see and ears that they should not hear, to this very day.” (Romans 11:7-8)

He uses somewhat different terminology, but the essence of his words unmistakably matches II Corinthians 4:3-4:

But even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing, whose minds the [G]od of this age has blinded, who do not believe, lest the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine on them.

For those who are perishing, the gospel of the Kingdom of God is veiled. They can understand some aspects of it, for which God will hold them accountable, but He has equipped only the elect with the Holy Spirit to understand the deep things (I Corinthians 2:10). Even with what His elect do understand, they still see dimly and await being face to face (see I Corinthians 13:12).

Everybody else will have his or her chance in the resurrection. God holds them responsible for much less than He does the elect. He has consigned them to disobedience so that He may show mercy. When the time is right, He will open the eyes of those whom He has blinded for now.

David C. Grabbe
Spiritual Blindness (Part Two): The God of This Age



2 Corinthians 3:14-16

This passage is very important to us in regard to God's revelation of Himself. The apostle Paul refers to when Moses came down off the mount, and his face was shining, reflecting the glory of God, and he put a veil over his face. Paul is using the veil Moses put over his face as a metaphor. However, the veil represents something different to us spiritually.

We are in this condition because we are all spiritual Gentiles when God calls us. He initiates contact with us, beginning a process of revealing Himself, and as we turn to Him, we begin to be able to "see" Him, to understand God. But even after conversion, some of that veil, the lack of understanding, remains. Because of our former blindness, it takes a long time to come to the place where we really "see" God in a great deal more of His glory.

Jesus says in John 17:3 that eternal life is to know God. How can we have faith in someone that we do not know? The relationship with God, once He begins the revelation, has to be developed. He does not reveal Himself fully all at once. We could not take it, so He reveals His glory little by little. He takes the veil away from our eyes, and as time passes, we see increasingly more of Him.

Do we see God? Do we see Him working in our lives? Do we see Him working in the world? Those who see Him most clearly are those who have the closest, most intimate relationship with Him. Such people will also be the ones who have the highest, greatest degree of faith in Him. Because they know Him, they trust Him because to know Him is to love Him, and to love Him is to submit to Him. It is a cycle; we keep coming around to the same spiritual concepts.

God has called us. He has opened our minds, and so when we turn to Him, He will remove the veil, taking away the blindness so that the relationship can be more intense, pure, and trusting. That is His promise: He will remove the blindness.

Yet, all of us still have blind spots. We do not understand God completely, so we should not feel that we alone in the world really do not see God well. None of us see Him as completely as we will see Him someday, but our understanding of Him should be growing. We should be evaluating how well we respond to God because we will respond to Him to the degree that we "see" Him, know Him, and trust Him.

John W. Ritenbaugh
A Pre-Passover Look



2 Corinthians 3:15-17

A carnal man cannot understand the law (Romans 8:7), for a veil keeps the meaning hidden. The converted man, however, has God's Spirit, the essence of the mind of God. An effect of God's Spirit is that where it is present, there is liberty (verse 17). It is not coincidental that the fruit of the Spirit includes self-control (Galatians 5:23). Where the Holy Spirit is working, the people will be self-governing, and the leaders will be self-governing. Because everybody keeps a tight rein on himself and is being led by God's Spirit, there is no need for heavy-handedness—for strict external enforcement—nor for people to live in fear of the leaders. The leaders will be serving, the people will be working and growing, and liberty will flourish.

Liberty exists where God's Spirit is at work because the people have the time and the space to grow and develop character. They will not act out of fear or because they feel that they have to. Everyone must practice forbearance and patience, as we allow God's other children the time and space to grow and develop character, just as they forbear with us as we grow and mature spiritually.

The controls, however, are internal rather than external. They will not be developed instantly because growth takes time. Proper judgment and discernment take a lifetime of personal experience with God to develop. Yet, when they are developed, they become permanent. They become eternal, which is what God is after.

It may seem like a risky proposition, and our Western nations are evidence that self-government without true internal controls cannot work. When people do not govern themselves, the human solution is a Nanny State. When the Nanny State falls apart—which it will—it typically ushers in either a Police State or occupation by a foreign power, which will impose order on those who will not govern themselves or provide for themselves when it is within their power.

But it need not be so for the church of God. If we have the Holy Spirit, we have the means to control ourselves and thus be free. This does not mean that external control will never be imposed upon us. The lives of Jesus and the apostles demonstrate that they were subject to governing authorities who exercised lordship over them. Yet, heavy-handed external control is not necessary when the Holy Spirit is working in the leadership and the people. That is what matters in God's purpose in bringing many sons to the same glory and liberty that He has.

David C. Grabbe
The Nanny Church (Part Two)



2 Corinthians 3:12-16

The veil Paul speaks of is the carnality of a deceived mind formed and shaped in the world's Satan-manipulated cultures. It is so antagonistic to the true God and His Word (Romans 8:7) that it fights the very approach of God to heal them through a great, freely given gift, just as the first-century Jews opposed and rejected Christ.

However, be aware that the miraculous removal of this veil of blindness by God, through the wonderful gifts of His Spirit and of a great hope, also places an obligation on us. With the blindness gone, we are granted the ability to choose between God's way and the world's way for the first time in our lives. Choosing to submit to God provides our witness of God, as well as being the means of building the character God greatly desires to create within us.

However, the effects of the self-centered way of life we have absorbed through the course of this world remain in our attitudes and characters, becoming what must be overcome. It will dog us all our converted lives as a means of testing our determination to be in God's Kingdom, as well as our love and loyalty to our God and Savior.

John W. Ritenbaugh
Communication and Leaving Babylon (Part Three)




Other Forerunner Commentary entries containing 2 Corinthians 3:16:

Romans 1:20-21
Ephesians 2:2
2 Timothy 2:26

 

<< 2 Corinthians 3:15   2 Corinthians 3:17 >>



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