3 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 yourselves are our letter, written on our hearts, known and read by everyone. 3 You show that you are a letter from Christ, delivered through us, written not with ink but with the Spirit of our living Father — not on tablets of stone but on tablets of human hearts.
4 Such is the confidence we have through Christ toward our Father. 5 Not that we are competent in ourselves to claim anything as coming from us, but our competence is from our Father. 6 He has made us competent to be ministers of a new covenant — not of the letter but of the Spirit. For the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.
The New Covenant Shines Brighter
7 Now if the ministry of death, carved in letters on stone, came with such glory that the Israelites could not gaze at Moses' face because of its glory — a glory that was fading 8 —will not the ministry of the Spirit come with even greater glory? 9 For if the ministry that brought condemnation had glory, how much more does the ministry that brings righteousness overflow with glory! 10 Indeed, what once had glory now has no glory at all, because of the glory that surpasses it. 11 For if what was fading came with glory, how much greater is the glory of what endures!
12 Since we have such a hope, we act with great boldness. 13 We are not like Moses, who would put a veil over his face to keep the Israelites from gazing at the end of what was fading away. 14 But their minds were hardened. For to this very day the same veil remains when the old covenant is read; it has not been lifted, because only in Christ is it taken away. 15 Yes, to this day, whenever Moses is read, a veil lies over their hearts. 16 But whenever anyone turns to our Lord Jesus, the veil is taken away. 17 Now our Lord Jesus is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of our Lord Jesus is, there is freedom. a a v17 Paul makes a striking identity claim here: the Lord whom Israel turns to and the Spirit who brings freedom are one God — never two competing powers, but the one Father, Son, and Holy Spirit at work to set the heart free. 18 And we all, with unveiled faces, gazing at the glory of our Lord Jesus, are being transformed into his very image from one degree of glory to another — for this comes from our Lord Jesus, the Spirit.