2 Corinthians 3:4

4 This is the confidence that we have through Christ in the presence of God.

2 Corinthians 3:4 Meaning and Commentary

2 Corinthians 3:4

And such trust have we
This refers to what he had said in the latter end of the foregoing chapter, and the beginning of this; as that they made manifest the savoury knowledge of God and Christ everywhere, and were the sweet savour of Christ to many souls; were sufficient in some measure, through the grace of Christ, to preach the Gospel sincerely and faithfully, and were attended with success, had many seals of their ministry, and particularly the Corinthians were so many living epistles of commendations of the power and efficacy of their ministry; such confidence and firm persuasion of the truth of grace on your souls, and of our being the happy instruments of it, we have

through Christ,
the grace of Christ,

to God-ward:
who is the object of our confidence and hope, and the ground thereof.

2 Corinthians 3:4 In-Context

2 You are our letter, written on our hearts, known and read by everyone.

3 You show that you are Christ's letter, delivered by us. You weren't written with ink but with the Spirit of the living God. You weren't written on tablets of stone but on tablets of human hearts.

4 This is the confidence that we have through Christ in the presence of God.

5 It isn't that we ourselves are qualified to claim that anything came from us. No, our qualification is from God.

6 He has qualified us as ministers of a new covenant, not based on what is written but on the Spirit, because what is written kills, but the Spirit gives life.