2 Corinthians 3:3

2 Corinthians 3:3

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.

Commentaries:

Robertson's Word Pictures (NT)

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2 Corinthians 3:4 >>

An epistle of Christ (epistolh Xristou). He turns the metaphor round and round. They are Christ's letter to men as well as Paul's.

Not with ink (ou melani). Instrumental case of melav, black. Plato uses to melan for ink as here. See also II John 1:12; III John 1:13.

Of stone (liqinaiv). Composed of stone (liqov and ending -inov).

Of flesh (sarkinaiv). "Fleshen" as in I Corinthians 3:1; Romans 7:14.

**Other Robertson's Word Pictures (NT) entries containing 2 Corinthians 3:3:**

John 2:6
Romans 2:29
1 Corinthians 3:1
2 Corinthians 4:2
Hebrews 9:4
1 John 2:19
2 John 1:12

<< 2 Corinthians 3:2

2 Corinthians 3:4 >>

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