2 Corinthians 3
The Corinthians: Paul's Letter of Recommendation 1–5
The Ministry of the Spirit and Its Glory 6–11
Clarity and Transformation by the Spirit 12–18
Bible text: King James Version (1769 Blayney text) · Public domain
Study Notes for 2 Corinthians 3
Verse 1
epistles of commendation — Systatikos, a letter of introduction, found only here in the NT. Such letters were in use: the brethren ‘wrote, exhorting the disciples to receive’ Apollos (Acts 18:27), and Paul writes ‘I commend unto you Phebe’ (Rom 16:1). ‘Commend’ is synistemi, the verb of Rom 16:1; the question returns in 5:12, ‘we commend not ourselves again unto you’.
Verse 3
written not with ink, but with the Spirit of the living God — The Corinthians themselves are ‘the epistle of Christ’, and Paul the one who ‘ministered’ it. ‘Tables of stone’ recalls the ‘tables of stone, written with the finger of God’ (Ex 31:18); ‘fleshy tables of the heart’ recalls the promise of ‘an heart of flesh’ (Ezek 36:26) and the law written ‘in their hearts’ (Jer 31:33).
Verse 5
our sufficiency is of God — Hikanotes, sufficiency, is found only here; its root is the word of 2:16, ‘who is sufficient for these things?’, and of ‘able’ in v.6 (hikanoo). The answer to the question is given here: not ‘of ourselves’, but ‘of God’. ‘To think’ is logizomai, to reckon or count.
Verse 6
the new testament — Diatheke, covenant, with kainos, new: the covenant promised in Jer 31:31, ‘I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel’. ‘Letter’ (gramma) ‘killeth’, and the Spirit ‘giveth life’ (zoopoieo), the verb of John 6:63, ‘It is the spirit that quickeneth’. ‘Ministers’ (diakonos) is of the same family as ‘ministered’ in v.3.
Verse 7
the ministration of death — Diakonia, service; the word returns in vv.8–9. ‘Engraven in stones’ (entypoo, found only here) is the law of Ex 31:18; and when Moses’ face shone, the people ‘were afraid to come nigh him’ (Ex 34:30). ‘Done away’ is katargeo, the verb of vv.11, 13 and 14; ‘stedfastly behold’ is atenizo, repeated in v.13.
Verse 9
the ministration of condemnation — ‘Condemnation’ is katakrisis, found elsewhere only in 7:3, ‘I speak not this to condemn you’. The ministration ‘of righteousness’ is the one in Rom 3:21–22, ‘the righteousness of God which is by faith of Jesus Christ’. ‘Exceed’ is perisseuo, to be over and above; compare ‘grace did much more abound’ (Rom 5:20).
Verse 11
that which remaineth — Meno, to abide; set against katargeo, ‘done away’. The Greek differs by a preposition: the old came ‘through glory’ (dia), the new is ‘in glory’ (en). Hebrews 8:13 says the same: ‘In that he saith, A new covenant, he hath made the first old.’ The ‘if… much more’ reasoning runs through vv.7–11.
Verse 12
great plainness of speech — Parrhesia, outspokenness, translated ‘boldness’ in Acts 4:13 and ‘confidence’ in 1 John 2:28. It stands against the veil of v.13: Paul speaks without covering anything. ‘Such hope’ (elpis) follows from the glory that ‘remaineth’ in v.11.
Verse 13
a vail over his face — Kalymma, a covering, found only in vv.13–16. Ex 34:33–35 tells it: Moses put the vail on when he had done speaking, and took it off to go in before the LORD. Paul gives the reason as ‘that the children of Israel could not stedfastly look to the end’ (telos) of what was passing; ‘Christ is the end of the law’ (Rom 10:4).
Verse 14
their minds were blinded — ‘Blinded’ is poroo, to harden or make dull, the verb of Rom 11:7, ‘the rest were blinded’. ‘The reading of the old testament’ (anagnosis) is the public reading in the synagogue (Acts 13:15, ‘the reading of the law and the prophets’). ‘Untaken away’ is anakalupto, to unveil, used again in v.18 of the ‘open’ face.
Verse 16
when it shall turn to the Lord — The pattern is Ex 34:34: ‘when Moses went in before the LORD… he took the vail off’. Epistrepho, to turn, is the verb of Acts 9:35, where ‘all that dwelt at Lydda and Saron… turned to the Lord’. Isa 25:7 had foretold that the LORD ‘will destroy… the vail that is spread over all nations’.
Verse 17
the Lord is that Spirit — The Lord is the one of v.16 and Ex 34:34; Paul calls him ‘that Spirit’ and in v.18 ‘the Spirit of the Lord’. Eleutheria, liberty, is the word of Gal 5:1, ‘Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free’, and the Spirit of the Lord GOD upon the one who proclaims ‘liberty to the captives’ (Isa 61:1).
Verse 18
with open face beholding as in a glass — ‘Open’ is anakalupto, unveiled, as in v.14. ‘Beholding as in a glass’ is katoptrizo, found only here. ‘Changed’ is metamorphoo, the verb of ‘transformed’ in Rom 12:2 and ‘transfigured’ in Matt 17:2. The ‘image’ (eikon) is the one ‘conformed’ to in Rom 8:29, ‘the image of his Son’.