Parallel Bible results for "2 Corinthians 3"

2 Corinthians 3

GW

NIV

1 Do we have to show you our qualifications again? Do we, like some people, need letters that recommend us to you or letters from you that recommend us to others?
1 Are we beginning to commend ourselves again? Or do we need, like some people, letters of recommendation to you or from you?
2 You're our letter of recommendation written in our hearts that everyone knows and reads.
2 You yourselves are our letter, written on our hearts, known and read by everyone.
3 It's clear that you are Christ's letter, written as a result of our ministry. You are a letter written not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God, a letter written not on tablets of stone but on tablets of human hearts.
3 You show that you are a letter from Christ, the result of our ministry, written not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of human hearts.
4 Christ gives us confidence about you in God's presence.
4 Such confidence we have through Christ before God.
5 By ourselves we are not qualified in any way to claim that we can do anything. Rather, God makes us qualified.
5 Not that we are competent in ourselves to claim anything for ourselves, but our competence comes from God.
6 He has also qualified us to be ministers of a new promise, a spiritual promise, not a written one. Clearly, what was written brings death, but the Spirit brings life.
6 He has made us competent as ministers of a new covenant—not of the letter but of the Spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.
7 The ministry that brought death was inscribed on stone. Yet, it came with such glory that the people of Israel couldn't look at Moses' face. His face was shining with glory, even though that glory was fading.
7 Now if the ministry that brought death, which was engraved in letters on stone, came with glory, so that the Israelites could not look steadily at the face of Moses because of its glory, transitory though it was,
8 Won't the ministry that brings the Spirit have even more glory?
8 will not the ministry of the Spirit be even more glorious?
9 If the ministry that brings punishment has glory, then the ministry that brings God's approval has an overwhelming glory.
9 If the ministry that brought condemnation was glorious, how much more glorious is the ministry that brings righteousness!
10 In fact, the ministry that brings punishment lost its glory because of the superior glory of the other ministry.
10 For what was glorious has no glory now in comparison with the surpassing glory.
11 If that former ministry faded away despite its glory, how much more does that ministry which remains continue to be glorious?
11 And if what was transitory came with glory, how much greater is the glory of that which lasts!
12 Since we have confidence [in the new promise], we speak very boldly.
12 Therefore, since we have such a hope, we are very bold.
13 We are not like Moses. He kept covering his face with a veil. He didn't want the people of Israel to see the glory fading away.
13 We are not like Moses, who would put a veil over his face to prevent the Israelites from seeing the end of what was passing away.
14 However, their minds became closed. In fact, to this day the same veil is still there when they read the Old Testament. It isn't removed, because only Christ can remove it.
14 But their minds were made dull, for to this day the same veil remains when the old covenant is read. It has not been removed, because only in Christ is it taken away.
15 Yet, even today, when they read the books of Moses, a veil covers their minds.
15 Even to this day when Moses is read, a veil covers their hearts.
16 But whenever a person turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away.
16 But whenever anyone turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away.
17 This Lord is the Spirit. Wherever the Lord's Spirit is, there is freedom.
17 Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.
18 As all of us reflect the Lord's glory with faces that are not covered with veils, we are being changed into his image with ever-increasing glory. This comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.
18 And we all, who with unveiled faces contemplate the Lord’s glory, are being transformed into his image with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.
GOD'S WORD® is a copyrighted work of God's Word to the Nations. Copyright © 1995 by God's Word to the Nations. All rights reserved. Used by permission.
Scripture quoted by permission.  Quotations designated (NIV) are from THE HOLY BIBLE: NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®.  NIV®.  Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica.  All rights reserved worldwide.