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2 Corinthians 3:1
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Christ’s Epistle

1 Do awe begin again to commend ourselves? Or do we need, as some others, bepistles of commendation to you or letters of commendation from you?  
2 aYou are our epistle written in our hearts, known and read by all men;  
3 clearly you are an epistle of Christ, aministered by us, written not with ink but by the Spirit of the living God, not bon tablets of stone but con tablets of flesh, that is, of the heart.  

The Spirit, Not the Letter

4 And we have such trust through Christ toward God.
5 aNot that we are sufficient of ourselves to think of anything as being from ourselves, but bour sufficiency is from God,  
6 who also made us sufficient as aministers of bthe new covenant, not cof the letter but of the Spirit; for dthe letter kills, ebut the Spirit gives life.  

Glory of the New Covenant

7 But if athe ministry of death, bwritten and engraved on stones, was glorious, cso 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,  
8 how will athe ministry of the Spirit not be more glorious?  
9 For if the ministry of condemnation had glory, the ministry aof righteousness exceeds much more in glory.  
10 For even what was made glorious had no glory in this respect, because of the glory that excels.
11 For if what is passing away was glorious, what remains is much more glorious.
12 Therefore, since we have such hope, awe use great boldness of speech—  
13 unlike Moses, awho put a veil over his face so that the children of Israel could not look steadily at bthe end of what was passing away.  
14 But atheir 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.  
15 But even to this day, when Moses is read, a veil lies on their heart.
16 Nevertheless awhen one turns to the Lord, bthe veil is taken away.  
17 Now athe Lord is the Spirit; and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is bliberty.  
18 But we all, with unveiled face, beholding aas in a mirror bthe glory of the Lord, care being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as1 by the Spirit of the Lord. 
Commentaries:
Jamieson, Fausset, and Brown
<< 2 Corinthians 2:17   2 Corinthians 3:2 >>


2 Corinthians 3:1

THE SOLE COMMENDATION HE NEEDS TO PROVE GOD'S SANCTION OF HIS MINISTRY HE HAS IN HIS CORINTHIAN CONVERTS: HIS MINISTRY EXCELS THE MOSAIC, AS THE GOSPEL OF LIFE AND LIBERTY EXCELS THE LAW OF CONDEMNATION. (2Co. 3:1-18)

Are we beginning again to recommend ourselves (II Corinthians 5:12) (as some of them might say he had done in his first Epistle; or, a reproof to "some" who had begun doing so)!

commendation—recommendation. (Compare II Corinthians 10:18). The "some" refers to particular persons of the "many" (II Corinthians 2:17) teachers who opposed him, and who came to Corinth with letters of recommendation from other churches; and when leaving that city obtained similar letters from the Corinthians to other churches. The thirteenth canon of the Council of Chalcedon (A.D. 451) ordained that "clergymen coming to a city where they were unknown, should not be allowed to officiate without letters commendatory from their own bishop." The history (Acts 18:27) confirms the existence of the custom here alluded to in the Epistle: "When Apollos was disposed to pass into Achaia [Corinth], the brethren [of Ephesus] wrote, exhorting the disciples to receive him." This was about two years before the Epistle,and is probably one of the instances to which Paul refers, as many at Corinth boasted of their being followers of Apollos (I Corinthians 1:12).




Other Jamieson, Fausset, and Brown entries containing 2 Corinthians 3:1:

Acts 18:27-28
2 Corinthians 3:3
2 Corinthians 4:2
2 Corinthians 5:12
2 Corinthians 6:4
2 Corinthians 10:12
2 Corinthians 10:18
2 Corinthians 12:19

 

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

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