Skip to the text

2 Corinthians · Berean Standard Bible

2 Corinthians 3 Berean Standard Bible

Leer en español
About BSB
  • Protestant
  • OT: Masoretic Hebrew
  • NT: Critical text
  • Protestant (66 books)
  • Formal (word for word)
  • 2022
  • Public domain

Audio: World English Bible (WEB), read by Winfred W. Henson · About the recordings

1 Are we beginning to commend ourselves again? Or do we need, like some people, letters of recommendation to you or from you? 2 You yourselves are our letter, inscribed on our hearts, known and read by everyone. 3 It is clear that you are a letter from Christ, the result of our ministry, written not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of human hearts. 4 Such confidence before God is ours through Christ. 5 Not that we are competent in ourselves to claim that anything comes from us, but our competence comes from God. 6 And He has qualified us as ministers of a new covenant, not of the letter but of the Spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life. 7 Now if the ministry of death, which was engraved in letters on stone, came with such glory that the Israelites could not gaze at the face of Moses because of its fleeting glory, 8 will not the ministry of the Spirit be even more glorious? 9 For if the ministry of condemnation was glorious, how much more glorious is the ministry of righteousness! 10 Indeed, what was once glorious has no glory now in comparison to the glory that surpasses it. 11 For if what was fading away came with glory, how much greater is the glory of that which endures! 12 Therefore, since we have such a hope, we are very bold. 13 We are not like Moses, who would put a veil over his face to keep the Israelites from gazing at the end of what was fading away. 14 But their minds were closed. For to this day the same veil remains at the reading of the old covenant. It has not been lifted, because only in Christ can it be removed. 15 And even to this day when Moses is read, a veil covers their hearts. 16 But whenever anyone turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away. 17 Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. 18 And we, who with unveiled faces all reflect the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into His image with intensifying glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.

Cross references (18)

Related passages for each verse, from the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge as collected and ranked by readers at OpenBible.info.

  1. 1 2 Corinthians 10:12; 2 Corinthians 12:11; 2 Corinthians 5:12; Acts 18:27; 1 Corinthians 16:3
  2. 2 1 Corinthians 9:1–2; 1 Thessalonians 1:8; Romans 1:8; Philippians 1:7; 2 Corinthians 7:3
  3. 3 Ezekiel 11:19; Jeremiah 31:33; Hebrews 8:10; Hebrews 10:16; Psalm 40:8
  4. 4 Philippians 1:6; Ephesians 3:12; 1 Thessalonians 1:8; Exodus 18:19; 2 Corinthians 2:14
  5. 5 2 Corinthians 12:9; Philippians 4:13; 1 Corinthians 15:10; Philippians 2:13; John 15:5
  6. 6 John 6:63; Romans 7:6; Romans 8:2; Jeremiah 31:31; Hebrews 8:6–10
  7. 7 2 Corinthians 3:9–11; Romans 10:4; Exodus 31:18; 1 Corinthians 13:10; 2 Corinthians 3:3
  8. 8 1 Corinthians 3:16; Ephesians 2:18; 1 Peter 1:2; 2 Thessalonians 2:13; Joel 2:28–29
  9. 9 Hebrews 12:18–21; Romans 3:21–22; 2 Corinthians 5:21; 2 Corinthians 3:6–7; 1 Corinthians 15:41
  10. 10 2 Peter 1:17; Haggai 2:7–9; Revelation 22:5; Job 25:5; Acts 26:13
  11. 11 Romans 5:20–21; Hebrews 8:13; Hebrews 7:21–25; 2 Corinthians 4:1; 2 Corinthians 3:6–7
  12. 12 2 Corinthians 7:4; Ephesians 6:19–20; Philippians 1:20; Acts 4:13; John 16:29
  13. 13 Exodus 34:33–35; Ephesians 2:14–15; Colossians 2:17; Hebrews 10:1–9; 2 Corinthians 3:7
  14. 14 2 Corinthians 4:3–4; Acts 26:18; Romans 11:25; Ephesians 1:17–20; Romans 11:7–10
  15. 15 Acts 13:27–29
  16. 16 Exodus 34:34; Isaiah 25:7; Isaiah 29:18; John 6:45–46; Romans 11:23
  17. 17 Romans 8:2; John 8:32; Galatians 5:13; Galatians 4:6; Galatians 5:1
  18. 18 2 Corinthians 4:6; Ephesians 4:22–24; Romans 12:2; 2 Corinthians 4:4; 1 Corinthians 13:12

Cross references: OpenBible.info (CC BY), drawn mainly from the public-domain Treasury of Scripture Knowledge. · Sources & licences

Articles and answers on this site that cite 2 Corinthians 3.

What the Fathers said

Passages from the Church Fathers that expound or quote this chapter, verbatim from the public-domain Schaff edition (19th-century English translations).

How these were chosen

“Commentary” is the opening of a homily or exposition on this chapter (John Chrysostom’s homilies, Augustine’s tractates, sermons and expositions of the Psalms). “Quotes” are sentences where the edition’s own footnotes identify a quotation of a verse here, kept only when the wording matches the verse. Only works whose authorship is not in doubt are used. Psalms follow the Hebrew/English numbering (Augustine numbers them as the Septuagint does: his Psalm 50 is Psalm 51 here).

  1. Commentary 3:1 John Chrysostom, Homilies on Second Corinthians (Homily VI)

    He anticipates and puts himself an objection which others would have urged against him, Thou vauntest thyself;' and this though he had before employed so strong a corrective in the expressions, "Who is sufficient for these things?" and, "of sincerity...speak we." (2 Cor. ii. 16, 17.) Howbeit he is not satisfied with these. For such is his character.

    Read in context · Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, series 1, vol. 12 (1889)

  2. Quotes verse 3:3 Irenaeus of Lyons, Against Heresies (Book V, Preface)

    … hold on the flesh, he says in the same Epistle, "That ye are the epistle of Christ, ministered by us, inscribed not with ink, but with the Spirit of the living God, not in tables of stone, but in the fleshly tables of the heart." If, therefore, in the present time, fleshly hearts are made partakers of the Spirit, what …

    Read in context · Ante-Nicene Fathers, vol. 1 (1885)

  3. Quotes verse 3:6 Augustine of Hippo, Confessions (Book VI, Chapters IV–VI)

    … before, when I censured Thy holy ones for so thinking, whereas in truth they thought not so; and with delight I heard Ambrose, in his sermons to the people, oftentimes most diligently recommend this text as a rule,--"The letter killeth, but the Spirit giveth life;" whilst, drawing aside the mystic veil, he spiritually laid open that which, accepted according to …

    Read in context · Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, series 1, vol. 1 (1886)

  4. Quotes verse 3:3 John Chrysostom, Homilies on the Gospel of Matthew (Homily I)

    … their mind, and in their heart I will write them," and, "they shall be all taught of God." And Paul too, pointing out the same superiority, said, that they had received a law "not in tables of stone, but in fleshy tables of the heart." But since in process of time they made shipwreck, some with regard to doctrines, others …

    Read in context · Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, series 1, vol. 10 (1888)

  5. Quotes verse 3:14 Cyril of Jerusalem, Catechetical Lectures (Lecture XV)

    For until this day...when Moses is read, a vail lieth upon their heart.

    Read in context · Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, series 2, vol. 7 (1894)