CHAPTER 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? 2 Ye are our epistle written in our hearts,
known and read of all men: 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. 4 And such trust have we through Christ to
God-ward: 5 Not that we are sufficient of ourselves to think any
thing as of ourselves; but our sufficiency is of God;
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 lifea. 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: 8 How shall
not the ministration of the spirit be rather glorious? 9 For if
the ministration of condemnation be glory, much more doth the
ministration of righteousness exceed in glory. 10 For even that
which was made glorious had no glory in this respect, by reason of the glory
that excelleth. 11 For if that which is done away was
glorious, much more that which remaineth is glorious.
12 Seeing then that we have such hope, we use great plainness
of speech: 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: 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. 15 But even
unto this day, when Moses is read, the vail is upon their heart. 16
Nevertheless when it shall turn to the Lord, the vail shall be taken away. 17
Now the Lord is that Spirit: and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there
is liberty. 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.
The
Holy Bible : King James Version. 1995. Oak Harbor, WA: Logos Research Systems,
Inc.
a giveth life: or, quickeneth
COMMENTARIES:
A Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary on the Bible
Matthew Henry's Commentary on the Whole Bible
The People’s New Testament
COMMENTARIES:
A Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Matthew Henry's Commentary on the Whole Bible
The People’s New Testament