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 life.
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.
Versículos relacionados com 2 Corinthians, 3:
In 2 Corinthians 3, Paul talks about the superiority of the New Testament ministry in relation to the Old Testament ministry, emphasizing the superiority of the message of the Gospel of Christ over the law of Moses. He also highlights the transformative nature of the message of Christ, which brings freedom and life in contrast to the "law of death" that the law of Moses represented.
Romans 7:6 - "But now, because we die for what we were subject to, we were freed from the law, to serve in novelty of spirit, not the old age of the letter." This verse speaks of the liberation of the law of Moses that the Gospel brings, in contrast to the legalism that characterized Judaism.
Galatians 3:24-25 - "so that the law served us as aio, to lead us to Christ, that by faith we were justified. But after faith came, we are no longer under Aio." Paul uses this metaphor of the "law as aio" to explain how the law of Moses has led people to Christ, but now, with faith in Christ, the law is no longer necessary.
1 Peter 1:23 - "Being again generated, not of corruptible seed, but the incorruptible, by the Word of God, living and remains forever." Peter highlights the transformative nature of the Word of God, which brings life and renewal.
2 Corinthians 5:17 - "As soon as one is in Christ, a new creature is: Old things have passed; behold, everything has been new." Paul emphasizes the radical transformation that occurs in someone's life when he is reconciled with God through Christ.
Hebrews 8:13 - "Saying New Testament, aged the first one. Well, what was made old, and gets older, close to it." This verse emphasizes the superiority of the new pact in Christ in relation to the Old Testament, which was becoming obsolete.
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