CHAPTER 3
2Co
3:1–18. 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.
1. Are we beginning again to recommend ourselves (2Co 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 2Co 10:18). The “some” refers to
particular persons of the “many” (2Co 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 (Ac 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 (1Co 1:12).
2.
our epistle—of recommendation.
in
our hearts—not letters borne merely in the
hands. Your conversion through my instrumentality, and your faith which is
“known of all men” by widespread report (1Co 1:4–7), and which is written by
memory and affection on my inmost heart and is borne about wherever I go, is my
letter of recommendation (1Co 9:2).
known
and read—words akin in root, sound, and
sense (so 2Co 1:13). “Ye are known to be my converts by general
knowledge: then ye are known more particularly by your reflecting my
doctrine in your Christian life.” The handwriting is first “known,” then the
Epistle is “read” [Grotius] (2Co
4:2; 1Co 14:25). There is not so powerful a sermon in the world, as a
consistent Christian life. The eye of the world takes in more than the ear.
Christians’ lives are the only religious books the world reads. Ignatius [Epistle to the Ephesians,
10] writes, “Give unbelievers the chance of believing through you. Consider
yourselves employed by God; your lives the form of language in which He
addresses them. Be mild when they are angry, humble when they are haughty; to
their blasphemy oppose prayer without ceasing; to their inconsistency, a
steadfast adherence to your faith.”
3.
declared—The letter is written so legibly
that it can be “read by all men” (2Co 3:2). Translate, “Being manifestly shown
to be an Epistle of Christ”; a letter coming manifestly from Christ, and
“ministered by us,” that is, carried about and presented by us as its
(ministering) bearers to those (the world) for whom it is intended: Christ is
the Writer and the Recommender, ye are the letter recommending us.
written
not with ink, but with the Spirit of the living God—Paul was the ministering pen or other instrument of
writing, as well as the ministering bearer and presenter of the letter. “Not
with ink” stands in contrast to the letters of commendation which “some” at
Corinth (2Co 3:1) used. “Ink” is also used here to include all outward
materials for writing, such as the Sinaitic tables of stone were. These,
however, were not written with ink, but “graven” by “the finger of God” (Ex
31:18; 32:16). Christ’s Epistle (His believing members converted by Paul) is
better still: it is written not merely with the finger, but with the “Spirit
of the living God”; it is not the “ministration of death” as the law,
but of the “living Spirit” that “giveth life” (2Co 3:6–8).
not
in—not on tables (tablets) of
stone, as the ten commandments were written (2Co 3:7).
in
fleshy tables of the heart—all the best manuscripts read, “On
[your] hearts [which are] tables of flesh.” Once your hearts were
spiritually what the tables of the law were physically, tables of stone, but
God has “taken away the stony heart out of your flesh, given you a heart of
flesh” (fleshy, not fleshly, that is, carnal; hence it is
written, “out of your flesh” that is, your carnal nature), Ez
11:19; 36:26. Compare 2Co 3:2, “As ye are our Epistle written in our hearts,”
so Christ has in the first instance made you “His Epistle written with the
Spirit in (on) your hearts.” I bear on my heart, as a testimony to all men,
that which Christ has by His Spirit written in your heart [Alford]. (Compare Pr 3:3; 7:3; Je
31:31–34). This passage is quoted by Paley
[Horae Paulinae] as illustrating one peculiarity of Paul’s style, namely,
his going off at a word into a parenthetic reflection: here it is on the
word “Epistle.” So “savor,” 2Co 2:14–17.
4.
And—Greek, “But.” “Such
confidence, however (namely, of our ‘sufficiency,’ 2Co 3:5, 6; 2Co 2:16—to
which he reverts after the parenthesis—as ministers of the New Testament, ‘not
hinting,’ 2Co 4:1), we have through Christ (not through ourselves, compare 2Co
3:18) toward God” (that is, in our relation to God and His work, the ministry
committed by Him to us, for which we must render an account to Him). Confidence
toward God is solid and real, as looking to Him for the strength needed now,
and also for the reward of grace to be given hereafter. Compare Ac 24:15, “hope
toward God.” Human confidence is unreal in that it looks to man for its help
and its reward.
5. The Greek is, “Not that we are (even yet after so
long experience as ministers) sufficient to think anything OF ourselves as
(coming) from ourselves; but our
sufficiency is (derived) from
God.” “From” more definitely refers to the source out of which a
thing comes; “of” is more general.
to
think—Greek, to “reason out” or
“devise”; to attain to sound preaching by our reasonings [Theodoret]. The “we” refers here to ministers
(2Pe 1:21).
anything—even the least. We cannot expect too little from man, or
too much from God.
6.
able—rather, as the Greek is the
same, corresponding to 2Co 3:5, translate, “sufficient as ministers”
(Eph 3:7; Col 1:23).
the
new testament—“the new covenant” as
contrasted with the Old Testament or covenant (1Co 11:25; Ga 4:24). He
reverts here again to the contrast between the law on “tables of stone,” and
that “written by the Spirit on fleshly tables of the heart” (2Co 3:3).
not
of the letter—joined with “ministers”; ministers
not of the mere literal precept, in which the old law, as then
understood, consisted; “but of the Spirit,” that is, the spiritual holiness
which lay under the old law, and which the new covenant brings to light (Mt
5:17–48) with new motives added, and a new power of obedience
imparted, namely, the Holy Spirit (Ro 7:6). Even in writing the letter
of the New Testament, Paul and the other sacred writers were ministers not
of the letter, but of the spirit. No piety of spirit could exempt a man
from the yoke of the letter of each legal ordinance under the Old Testament;
for God had appointed this as the way in which He chose a devout Jew to express
his state of mind towards God. Christianity, on the other hand, makes the
spirit of our outward observances everything, and the letter a secondary
consideration (Jn 4:24). Still the moral law of the ten commandments, being
written by the finger of God, is as obligatory now as ever; but put more on the
Gospel spirit of “love,” than on the letter of a servile obedience, and in a
deeper and fuller spirituality (Mt 5:17–48; Ro 13:9). No literal precepts could
fully comprehend the wide range of holiness which LOVE, the work of the Holy
Spirit, under the Gospel, suggests to the believer’s heart instinctively from
the word understood in its deep spirituality.
letter
killeth—by bringing home the knowledge of
guilt and its punishment, death; 2Co 3:7, “ministration of death” (Ro
7:9).
spirit
giveth life—The spirit of the Gospel when
brought home to the heart by the Holy Spirit, gives new spiritual life to a man
(Ro 6:4, 11). This “spirit of life” is for us in Christ Jesus (Ro 8:2, 10), who
dwells in the believer as a “quickening” or “life-giving Spirit” (1Co 15:45).
Note, the spiritualism of rationalists is very different. It would admit no
“stereotyped revelation,” except so much as man’s own inner instrument of
revelation, the conscience and reason, can approve of: thus making the
conscience judge of the written word, whereas the apostles make the written
word the judge of the conscience (Ac 17:11; 1Pe 4:1). True spirituality rests
on the whole written word, applied to the soul by the Holy Spirit as the only
infallible interpreter of its far-reaching spirituality. The letter is
nothing without the spirit, in a subject essentially spiritual. The spirit
is nothing without the letter, in a record substantially historical.
7.
the ministration of death—the legal
dispensation, summed up in the Decalogue, which denounces death against
man for transgression.
written
and engraven in stones—There
is no “and” in the Greek. The literal translation is, “The ministration
of death in letters,” of which “engraven on stones” is an explanation.
The preponderance of oldest manuscripts is for the English Version
reading. But one (perhaps the oldest existing manuscript) has “in the letter,”
which refers to the preceding words (2Co 3:6), “the letter killeth,” and
this seems the probable reading. Even if we read as English Version,
“The ministration of death (written) in letters,” alludes to the literal precepts
of the law as only bringing us the knowledge of sin and “death,” in
contrast to “the Spirit” in the Gospel bringing us “life” (2Co
3:6). The opposition between “the letters” and “the Spirit” (2Co 3:8) confirms
this. This explains why the phrase in Greek should be “in letters,”
instead of the ordinary one which English Version has substituted,
“written and.”
was
glorious—literally, “was made (invested) in
glory,” glory was the atmosphere with which it was encompassed.
could
not steadfastly behold—literally,
“fix their eyes on.” Ex 34:30, “The skin of his face shone; and they were afraid to come nigh him.” “Could
not,” therefore means here, “for fear.”
The “glory of Moses’ countenance” on Sinai passed away when the occasion was
over: a type of the transitory character of the dispensation which he
represented (2Co 3:11), as contrasted with the permanency of the Christian
dispensation (2Co 3:11).
8.
be rather glorious—literally, “be rather (that is,
still more, invested) in glory.” “Shall be,” that is, shall be found to be in
part now, but fully when the glory of Christ and His saints shall be revealed.
9.
ministration of condemnation—the
law regarded in the “letter” which “killeth” (2Co 3:6; Ro 7:9–11). The oldest
existing manuscript seems to read as English Version. But most of the
almost contemporary manuscripts, versions, and Fathers, read, “If to the
ministration of condemnation there be glory.”
the
ministration of righteousness—the
Gospel, which especially reveals the righteousness of God (Ro 1:17), and
imputes righteousness to men through faith in Christ (Ro 3:21–28), and imparts
righteousness by the Spirit (Ro 8:1–4).
exceed—“abound.”
10. For even the ministration of condemnation, the law,
2Co 3:7 (which has been glorified at Sinai in Moses’ person), has
now (English Version translates less fitly, “was made … had”) lost
its glory in this respect by reason of the surpassing glory (of the
Gospel): as the light of the stars and moon fades in the presence of the sun.
11.
was glorious—literally, “was with glory”; or
“marked by glory.”
that
which remaineth—abideth (Rev 14:6). Not “the
ministry,” but the Spirit, and His accompaniments, life and righteousness.
is
glorious—literally, “is in glory.”
The Greek “with” or “by” is appropriately applied to that of which the
glory was transient. “In” to that of which the glory is permanent. The
contrast of the Old and New Testaments proves that Paul’s chief opponents at
Corinth were Judaizers.
12.
such hope—of the future glory, which shall
result from the ministration of the Gospel (2Co 3:8, 9).
plainness
of speech—openness; without reserve (2Co
2:17; 4:2).
13. We use no disguise, “as Moses put a veil over his face,
that the children of Israel might not look steadfastly upon the end of that
which was to be done away” [Ellicott
and others]. The view of Ex 34:30–35, according to the Septuagint is
adopted by Paul, that Moses in going in to speak to God removed the veil
till he came out and had spoken to the people; and then when he had done
speaking, he put on the veil that they might not look on the end, or
the fading, of that transitory glory. The veil was the symbol of concealment,
put on directly after Moses’ speaking; so that God’s revelations by him were
interrupted by intervals of concealment [Alford].
But Alford’s view does not accord
with 2Co 3:7; the Israelites “could not look steadfastly on the face of Moses
for the glory of his countenance.” Plainly Moses’ veil was put on because of
their not having been able to “look steadfastly at him.” Paul here (2Co 3:13)
passes from the literal fact to the truth symbolized by it, the blindness of
Jews and Judaizers to the ultimate end of the law: stating that Moses put on
the veil that they might not look steadfastly at (Christ, Ro 10:4) the
end of that (law) which (like Moses’ glory) is done away. Not
that Moses had this purpose; but often God attributes to His
prophets the purpose which He has Himself. Because the Jews would not see,
God judicially gave them up so as not to see. The glory of Moses’ face
is antitypically Christ s glory shining behind the veil of legal ordinances.
The veil which has been taken off to the believer is left on to the unbelieving
Jew, so that he should not see (Is 6:10; Ac 28:26, 27). He stops short at the
letter of the law, not seeing the end of it. The evangelical glory of the law,
like the shining of Moses’ face, cannot be borne by a carnal people, and
therefore remains veiled to them until the Spirit comes to take away the veil
(2Co 3:14–17) [Cameron].
14–18. Parenthetical: Of Christians in general. He resumes
the subject of the ministry, 2Co 4:1.
minds—Greek, “mental perceptions”; “understandings.”
blinded—rather, “hardened.” The opposite to “looking steadfastly at
the end” of the law (2Co 3:13). The veil on Moses’ face is further typical
of the veil that is on their hearts.
untaken
away … which veil—rather,
“the same veil … remaineth untaken away [literally, not unveiled], so
that they do not see that it (not
the veil as English Version, but ‘the
Old Testament,’ or covenant of legal ordinances) is done away (2Co 3:7,
11, 13) in Christ” or, as Bengel,
“Because it is done away in Christ,” that is, it is not done away save in
Christ: the veil therefore remains untaken away from them, because
they will not come to Christ, who does away, with the law as a mere letter. If
they once saw that the law is done away in Him, the veil would be no longer on
their hearts in reading it publicly in their synagogues (so “reading” means, Ac
15:21). I prefer the former.
15.
the veil is—rather, “a veil lieth
upon their heart” (their understanding, affected by the corrupt will, Jn
8:43; 1Co 2:14). The Tallith was worn in the synagogue by every worshipper, and to this
veil hanging over the breast there may be an indirect allusion here (see on 1Co
11:4): the apostle making it symbolize the spiritual veil on their heart.
16. Moses took off the veil on entering into the presence of
the Lord. So as to the Israelites whom Moses represents, “whensoever their
heart (it) turns (not as English Version, ‘shall turn’) to the
Lord, the veil is (by the very fact; not as English Version, ‘shall
be’) taken away.” Ex 34:34 is the allusion; not Ex 34:30, 31, as Alford thinks. Whenever the Israelites
turn to the Lord, who is the Spirit of the law, the veil is taken off their
hearts in the presence of the Lord: as the literal veil was taken off by Moses
in going before God: no longer resting on the dead letter, the veil,
they by the Spirit commune with God and with the inner spirit of the Mosaic
covenant (which answers to the glory of Moses’ face unveiled in God’s
presence).
17.
the Lord—Christ (2Co 3:14, 16; 2Co 4:5).
is
that Spirit—is the
Spirit, namely, that Spirit spoken of in 2Co 3:6, and here resumed after
the parenthesis (2Co 3:7–16): Christ is the Spirit and “end” of the Old
Testament, ho giveth life to it, whereas “the letter killeth” (1Co 15:45; Rev
19:10, end).
where
the Spirit of the Lord is—in a
man’s “heart” (2Co 3:15; Ro 8:9, 10).
there
is liberty—(Jn 8:36). “There,” and there
only. Such cease to be slaves to the letter, which they were while the veil
was on their heart. They are free to serve God in the Spirit, and rejoice in
Christ Jesus (Php 3:3): they have no longer the spirit of bondage, but of free
sonship (Ro 8:15; Ga 4:7). “Liberty” is opposed to the letter (of the legal
ordinances), and to the veil, the badge of slavery: also to the fear
which the Israelites felt in beholding Moses’ glory unveiled (Ex 34:30;
1Jn 4:18).
18.
But we all—Christians, as contrasted with the
Jews who have a veil on their hearts, answering to Moses’ veil on his face. He
does not resume reference to ministers till 2Co 4:1.
with
open face—Translate, “with unveiled
face” (the veil being removed at conversion): contrasted with “hid” (2Co
4:3).
as
in a glass—in a mirror, namely, the Gospel
which reflects the glory of God and Christ (2Co 4:4; 1Co 13:12; Jam 1:23, 25).
are
changed into the same image—namely,
the image of Christ’s glory, spiritually now (Ro 8:29; 1Jn 3:3); an earnest of
the bodily change hereafter (Php 3:21). However many they be, believers all
reflect the same image of Christ more or less: a proof of the truth of
Christianity.
from
glory to glory—from one degree of glory to
another. As Moses’ face caught a reflection of God’s glory from being in His
presence, so believers are changed into His image by beholding Him.
even as,
&c.—Just such a transformation “as” was to be expected from “the
Lord the Spirit” (not as English Version, “the Spirit of the Lord”) [Alford] (2Co 3:17): “who receives of the
things of Christ, and shows them to us” (Jn 16:14; Ro 8:10, 11). (Compare as to
hereafter, Ps 17:15; Rev 22:4).
Excerpt from:
A Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
by Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset and David Brown
Visit www.e-sword.net
or www.ccel.org
