Summary of 2 Corinthians, Chapter 3

Is Paul now as though just beginning, presenting his credentials to the community of Corinth? No, he does not need credentials. For the community itself is his commendatory letter, written on their hearts, known and read by all. They are the letter of Christ which Paul delivered, not written with ink, but with the Spirit of God, not on stone tablets, but on the tablets of hearts.

Paul has great confidence through Christ. He does not mean he is able by himself to get even a good thought. His ability to do that is from God. God has made him capable of being a minister of a New Covenant, not of the old letter, but of the new spirit. The old letter brings death, but the new spirit gives life.

If the ministry of death, the old regime, which was written on stone tablets, was so glorious that the people could not even look on the face of Moses because of the glory of his face -- which is now gone -- how much more will the ministry of the spirit be in glory? The ministry of condemnation, the old law, came in glory -- how much more does the ministry that makes souls righteous abound in glory? For the glory of the old if put before (compared with) the surpassing glory of the new, is nothing. If that which is now gone came in glory -- how much more is the abiding regime glorious?

Since we have such hope, we use much freedom. Moses put a veil over his face, so the people might not see that the glory of his face faded (until he went back again to God). But the minds of those people were dulled. Even today, their hearts are still veiled when the Old Covenant is read. The veil could be removed if they accepted Christ. But even to this day, when the old law is read, their hearts are covered with a veil. But when they, or their hearts, turn to the Lord, the veil will be taken away.

For the Lord, Jesus, brings the new spiritual regime, instead of the old letter. And that spirit gives us freedom from the letter, the old law.All of us, our faces unveiled, see the glory of the Lord, and this transforms us more and more in glory by the action of the Lord of the spiritual regime.

Comments on Chapter 3

It seems Paul's opponents in Corinth, who are likely to be some sort of Judaizers, came with credentials from other Judaizers, making great claims for themselves -- we will see more of their claims reflected in chapters 11:1-15. They seem to have charged that Paul lacked credentials, that he made himself too important, that his letters were impressive, but his appearance not so.

In reply to such claims, Paul says the community there is his credential: a living church under the Spirit of God. His credentials are not written on parchment or papyrus, like those of the opponents, but on the tablets of fleshy hearts. We think of Jeremiah 31:33, in the prophecy of the new Covenant, where God says: "I will write my law on their hearts." For this reason Paul has great confidence.

Yet he does not claim he can even get a good thought by his own power: for even that he depends on God. Many today translate verse 5 to mean that Paul says he cannot claim credit on his own, his ability comes from God. That is true enough in itself. The key word is Greek logizomai, which readily has two meanings, to claim credit or calculate, and to think. In adopting our rendering we are following the definition of the Second Council of Orange held in 529. Because of a special approval given it in 531 by Pope Boniface II, theologians consider its canons equal to those of a general council. Canon 7 says: "If anyone claims that by the power of nature we can think anything that pertains to the salvation of eternal life, as we should, or make a choice, or consent to the preaching of the Gospel without the illumination and inspiration of the Holy Spirit . . . he is deceived by a heretical spirit, and does not understand the voice of God in the Gospel saying (John 15:5): 'Without me you can do nothing' and the word of the Apostle (2 Corinthians 3:5): 'Not that we are sufficient to think anything of ourselves as from ourselves, but our sufficiency is from God'."

Some today want to say that this canon merely uses our verse 5 as an illustration. But it hardly seems that way, and for certain, the illustration should not be taken from something with a different meaning. The Council certainly does take verse 5 to have the meaning we have given. The Latin used by the Council of Orange does not have the ambiguity of the Greek.

We notice a similar situation is present in the translations of Philippians 2:13, where we also have a definition in Canon 4 of II Orange, which renders the verse of Philippians exactly as we did in our comments on that passage.

Perhaps the reason why many are so disinclined to see the sense we have seen in these two passages is the difficult picture that results: We are, of our own power, incapable of a good thought, and even of a good decision of will, and of carrying out that decision. We need grace for all these things. This seems hard to reconcile with free will. Yet it can be done. We gave a sketch of a new proposal in commenting on Philippians 2:13.⁴

Paul goes on to say God has made him able to be a minister of the New Covenant. We notice he seldom speaks of a New Covenant, perhaps because the Judaizers so distorted the Old Covenant.

He says the New Covenant is not of the letter but of the spirit. Here we need to recall the explanation of focusing we saw in comments on First Thessalonians 4:5, summarized in comments on 1 Thessalonians 4:1-12 and Galatians 2:15, and in the glossary. Briefly, Paul commonly takes an artificial view of the old law: It made heavy demands, but gave no strength -- to be under heavy demand with no strength must mean a fall. Then one is spiritually dead. We called this focused because it is as if we were looking through a tube, and so could see only what is framed by the circle of the tube. But in a factual view we remove that limit, and see the whole horizon. Then we see the law still makes heavy demands and gives no strength, but help is at hand, from the grace of Christ which is in no relation to the law. With grace the result is good.

We can call the focused view also a system as system view. The system of being under the law, as such, brings only death. But the system of being under the regime of the Spirit, the regime of grace, as such, can produce nothing but good. Therefore: The letter, the old law, kills, but the Spirit, the regime of grace, gives life.

Many take this saying to mean: Don't bother with what the law says, just get the spirit. But there is no basis whatsoever in Paul's words for that. He is in a very different context, as we have seen.

Within the focused perspective, Paul can call the law "the ministry of death," for in that perspective it can only bring death.

Then he made some contrasts. The old law was on stone tablets, the new is written on hearts. Even the old came in glory at Sinai, but its glory, compared to that of the regime of Christ, is as nothing, as if a candle were put outside in the glaring light of noonday sun in summer.

Exodus 34:29-35 tells how the face of Moses was so gleaming after he was with God that the people could not stand to look at it. So he put a veil over it. Paul adds a bit, in rabbinic fashion. He imagines that the glory on the face of Moses would fade after a while, and be restored only when he went back with God. To hide this fact, Moses used the veil.

Then he says that sadly, the minds of the Jews who continued to reject Christ even in his day were still veiled, unable to see, since they continued to reject Christ, who could remove the veil.

There are several opinions on the sense of every item in verse 17. The following probably is the best way to understand it: the Lord is spirit in the sense that Christ is the lifegiving spirit, of which 1 Corinthians 15:45 spoke: The New Adam became a life giving spirit. Of course Paul did not deny the reality of the flesh of the risen Christ. He meant that His humanity is an instrument giving us spiritual life, and that His flesh is completely dominated by His spirit, so that it functions according to the laws of spirits, not those of bodies.

By our contact with Him we are transformed by the glory of the Lord, going ever farther and farther in glory by the action of the Lord, the lifegiving spirit.