Epistula II ad Corinthios, 3
1. Incipimus iterum nosmetipsos commendare? Aut numquid egemus, sicut quidam, commendaticiis epistulis ad vos aut ex vobis?
1. Are we beginning to commend ourselves again? Or do we need, as some do, letters of recommendation to you, or from you?
2. Epistula nostra vos estis, scripta in cordibus nostris, quae scitur et legitur ab omnibus hominibus;
2. You yourselves are our letter of recommendation, written on your hearts, to be known and read by all men;
3. manifestati quoniam epistula estis Christi ministrata a nobis, scripta non atramento sed Spiritu Dei vivi, non in tabulis lapideis sed in tabulis cordis carnalibus.
3. and you show that you are a letter from Christ delivered by us, written not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of human hearts.
4. Fiduciam autem talem habemus per Christum ad Deum.
4. Such is the confidence that we have through Christ toward God.
5. Non quod sufficientes simus cogitare aliquid a nobis quasi ex nobis, sed sufficientia nostra ex Deo est,
5. Not that we are competent of ourselves to claim anything as coming from us; our competence is from God,
6. qui et idoneos nos fecit ministros Novi Testamenti, non litterae sed Spiritus: littera enim occidit, Spiritus autem vivificat.
6. who has made us competent to be ministers of a new covenant, not in a written code but in the Spirit; for the written code kills, but the Spirit gives life.
7. Quod si ministratio mortis, litteris deformata in lapidibus, fuit in gloria, ita ut non possent intendere filii Israel in faciem Moysis propter gloriam vultus eius, quae evacuatur,
7. Now if the dispensation of death, carved in letters on stone, came with such splendor that the Israelites could not look at Moses' face because of its brightness, fading as this was,
8. quomodo non magis ministratio Spiritus erit in gloria?
8. will not the dispensation of the Spirit be attended with greater splendor?
9. Nam si ministerium damnationis gloria est, multo magis abundat ministerium iustitiae in gloria.
9. For if there was splendor in the dispensation of condemnation, the dispensation of righteousness must far exceed it in splendor.
10. Nam nec glorificatum est, quod claruit in hac parte, propter excellentem gloriam;
10. Indeed, in this case, what once had splendor has come to have no splendor at all, because of the splendor that surpasses it.
11. si enim, quod evacuatur, per gloriam est, multo magis, quod manet, in gloria est.
11. For if what faded away came with splendor, what is permanent must have much more splendor.
12. Habentes igitur talem spem multa fiducia utimur,
12. Since we have such a hope, we are very bold,
13. et non sicut Moyses: ponebat velamen super faciem suam, ut non intenderent filii Israel in finem illius quod evacuatur.
13. not like Moses, who put a veil over his face so that the Israelites might not see the end of the fading splendor.
14. Sed obtusi sunt sensus eorum. Usque in hodiernum enim diem idipsum velamen in lectione Veteris Testamenti manet non revelatum, quoniam in Christo evacuatur;
14. But their minds were hardened; for to this day, when they read the old covenant, that same veil remains unlifted, because only through Christ is it taken away.
15. sed usque in hodiernum diem, cum legitur Moyses, velamen est positum super cor eorum.
15. Yes, to this day whenever Moses is read a veil lies over their minds;
16. Quando autem conversus fuerit ad Dominum, aufertur velamen.
16. but when a man turns to the Lord the veil is removed.
17. Dominus autem Spiritus est; ubi autem Spiritus Domini, ibi libertas.
17. Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.
18. Nos vero omnes revelata facie gloriam Domini speculantes, in eandem imaginem transformamur a claritate in clarita tem tamquam a Domini Spiritu.
18. And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being changed into his likeness from one degree of glory to another; for this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit.
