2 Corinthians 3 Study Notes

3:10-11 One way in which the old and new covenants contrast is in the degree of glory connected with each. In the natural order, the glory of the moon (which wanes every month) is no glory at all in comparison with the unfading sun.

3:12 If the ministry of the Spirit can have greater splendor than Moses’s ministry, then its ministers can have greater boldness (Garland).

3:13 Paul concluded that the main purpose of Moses’s veil was to prevent the Israelites from observing the fading of the old-covenant glory. The law was designed by God with a built-in obsolescence (Gl 3:24-25; Heb 8:13).

3:14 Another purpose of a veil is to keep the veiled person from seeing outside. Paul implies that the first-century Jews who had not believed the gospel were unable to recognize the fading, temporary nature of the old covenant, even when their Scriptures were read.

3:15-16 The phrase a veil lies over their hearts refers not to a literal veil but to a spiritual impairment. One of the great difficulties Jews have had historically in coming to Jesus as Messiah is to acknowledge that he has surpassed the fading old covenant. The passive verb in the veil is removed refers to the sovereign work of God.

3:17 This is an important Trinitarian text emphasizing the close relationship between the Son and the Spirit. In Rm 8:9 “the Spirit of God” and “the Spirit of Christ” appear to be interchangeable.

3:18 Paul included all believers among the unveiled, whose glory, having begun in the new covenant, can never fade. It moves from glory (on earth, in regeneration, justification, and sanctification) to glory (in heaven, in glorification).