| 3:1 | DOES this mean yet another production of credentials? Do we need, as some apparently do, to exchange testimonials before we can be friends? |
| 3:2 | You yourselves are our testimonial, written in our hearts and yet open for anyone to inspect and read. |
| 3:3 | You are an open letter about Christ delivered by us and written, not with pen and ink but with the Spirit of the living God, engraved not on stone, but on human hearts. |
| 3:4 | We dare to say such things because of the confidence we have in God through Christ. |
| 3:5 | Not that we are in any way confident of doing anything by our own resourcesour ability comes from God. |
| 3:6 | It is he who makes us competent administrators of the agreement, concerned not with the letter but with the Spirit. The letter of the Law leads to the death of the soul; the Spirit alone can give it life. |
| 3:7 | The administration of the Law which was engraved in stone (and which led in fact to spiritual death) was so magnificent that the Israelites were unable to look unflinchingly at Moses' face, for it was alight with heavenly splendor. Now if the old administration held such heavenly, even though transitory, splendor, |
| 3:8 | can we not see what a much more glorious thing is the new administration of the Spirit of life? |
| 3:9 | If to administer a system which is to end in condemning men had its glory, how infinitely more splendid is it to administer a system which ends in making men right with God! |
| 3:10 | And while it is true that the former glory has been eclipsed by the latter, |
| 3:11 | we do well to remember that it is eclipsed because the present and permanent is so much more glorious than the old and transient. |
| 3:12 | With this hope in our hearts we are quite frank and open in our ministry. |
| 3:13 | We are not like Moses, who veiled his face to prevent the Israelites from seeing its fading glory. |
| 3:14 | But it was their minds really which were blinded, for even today when the old agreement is read to them there is still a veil over their mindsthough the veil has actually been lifted by Christ. |
| 3:15 | Yes even to this day there is still a veil over their hearts when the writings of Moses are read. |
| 3:16 | Yet if they "turned to the Lord" the veil would disappear. |
| 3:17 | For the Lord to whom they could turn is the Spirit, and wherever the Spirit of the Lord is, men's souls are set free. |
| 3:18 | But all of us who are Christians have no veils on our faces, but reflect like mirrors the glory of the Lord. We are transformed in everincreasing splendor into his own image, and this is the work of the Lord who is the Spirit. |
2 Corinthians 3 - Philips NT in Modern English
