2 Corinthians · Free Bible Version
2 Corinthians 3 Free Bible Version
Audio: World English Bible (WEB), read by Winfred W. Henson · About the recordings
1 Are we starting to speak well of ourselves again? Or do we need to have some letter of recommendation for you, or from you, as some people do?
1 Are we beginning again to commend ourselves? Or do we need, as do some, letters of commendation to you or from you?
2 You are our letter, written in our experience with you, that everybody reads and knows about.
2 You are our letter, written in our hearts, known and read by all men,
3 You demonstrate that you are a letter from Christ, delivered by us; not written with ink but with the Spirit of the living God; not written on stone slabs but in our living experience as human beings.
3 being revealed that you are a letter of Christ, served by us, written not with ink, but with the Spirit of the living God; not in tablets of stone, but in tablets that are hearts of flesh.
4 We have total confidence before God through Christ.
4 Such confidence we have through Christ toward God,
5 Not that we would consider ourselves able to do this on our own—it's God who gives us this capacity!
5 not that we are sufficient of ourselves to account anything as from ourselves; but our sufficiency is from God,
6 He also gave us the ability to be ministers of a new agreement, based not on the letter of the law, but on the spirit. The letter of the law kills, but the spirit gives life.
6 who also made us sufficient as servants of a new covenant, not of the letter but of the Spirit. For the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.
7 However, the old way of relating to God, written in letters carved in stone, ended in death, even though it came with God's glory—so much so that the Israelites couldn't even bear to look at Moses' face because it shone so brightly, even though the glory was fading.
7 But if the service of death, written engraved on stones, came with glory, so that the children of Israel could not look steadfastly on the face of Moses for the glory of his face, which was passing away,
8 If that was so, shouldn't the new way of relating to God in the Spirit come with even greater glory?
8 won’t service of the Spirit be with much more glory?
9 If the old way that condemns us has glory, the new way that makes us right with God has so much more glory!
9 For if the service of condemnation has glory, the service of righteousness exceeds much more in glory.
10 For the old that was once glorious has no glory at all in comparison with the incredible glory of the new.
10 For most certainly that which has been made glorious has not been made glorious in this respect, by reason of the glory that surpasses.
11 If the old that is fading away had glory, the new that continues has so much more glory.
11 For if that which passes away was with glory, much more that which remains is in glory.
12 Since we have such a confident hope, we are truly bold!
12 Having therefore such a hope, we use great boldness of speech,
13 We don't have to be like Moses, who had to put on a veil to cover his face so the Israelites wouldn't be dazzled by the glory, even though it was fading away.
13 and not as Moses, who put a veil on his face so that the children of Israel wouldn’t look steadfastly on the end of that which was passing away.
14 In spite of that, they had a hard, stubborn attitude. For right up until today when the old agreement is read, the same “veil” remains. Only through Christ can it be removed.
14 But their minds were hardened, for until this very day at the reading of the old covenant the same veil remains, because in Christ it passes away.
15 Even today, whenever the books of Moses are read, a veil covers their minds.
15 But to this day, when Moses is read, a veil lies on their heart.
16 But when they turn and accept the Lord, the veil is removed.
16 But whenever someone turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away.
17 Now the Lord is the Spirit, and wherever the Spirit of the Lord is, there's freedom.
17 Now the Lord is the Spirit; and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty.
18 So all of us, with our faces unveiled, see and reflect the glory of the Lord as in a mirror. We are being transformed into the same mirror image, whose glory grows brighter and brighter. This is what the Lord the Spirit does.
18 But we all, with unveiled face seeing the glory of the Lord as in a mirror, are transformed into the same image from glory to glory, even as from the Lord, 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 2 Corinthians 10:12; 2 Corinthians 12:11; 2 Corinthians 5:12; Acts 18:27; 1 Corinthians 16:3
- 2 1 Corinthians 9:1–2; 1 Thessalonians 1:8; Romans 1:8; Philippians 1:7; 2 Corinthians 7:3
- 3 Ezekiel 11:19; Jeremiah 31:33; Hebrews 8:10; Hebrews 10:16; Psalm 40:8
- 4 Philippians 1:6; Ephesians 3:12; 1 Thessalonians 1:8; Exodus 18:19; 2 Corinthians 2:14
- 5 2 Corinthians 12:9; Philippians 4:13; 1 Corinthians 15:10; Philippians 2:13; John 15:5
- 6 John 6:63; Romans 7:6; Romans 8:2; Jeremiah 31:31; Hebrews 8:6–10
- 7 2 Corinthians 3:9–11; Romans 10:4; Exodus 31:18; 1 Corinthians 13:10; 2 Corinthians 3:3
- 8 1 Corinthians 3:16; Ephesians 2:18; 1 Peter 1:2; 2 Thessalonians 2:13; Joel 2:28–29
- 9 Hebrews 12:18–21; Romans 3:21–22; 2 Corinthians 5:21; 2 Corinthians 3:6–7; 1 Corinthians 15:41
- 10 2 Peter 1:17; Haggai 2:7–9; Revelation 22:5; Job 25:5; Acts 26:13
- 11 Romans 5:20–21; Hebrews 8:13; Hebrews 7:21–25; 2 Corinthians 4:1; 2 Corinthians 3:6–7
- 12 2 Corinthians 7:4; Ephesians 6:19–20; Philippians 1:20; Acts 4:13; John 16:29
- 13 Exodus 34:33–35; Ephesians 2:14–15; Colossians 2:17; Hebrews 10:1–9; 2 Corinthians 3:7
- 14 2 Corinthians 4:3–4; Acts 26:18; Romans 11:25; Ephesians 1:17–20; Romans 11:7–10
- 15 Acts 13:27–29
- 16 Exodus 34:34; Isaiah 25:7; Isaiah 29:18; John 6:45–46; Romans 11:23
- 17 Romans 8:2; John 8:32; Galatians 5:13; Galatians 4:6; Galatians 5:1
- 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
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).
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)
… 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 …
… 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)
… 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)
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)