The Word Made Fresh
1Are we beginning to pat ourselves on the back again? We certainly don’t need letters to recommend us to you as some do, do we? 2You are our letter, you yourselves, written in your hearts so that everyone can know about it and read it. 3For you have shown that you yourselves are a letter from Christ, though prepared by us, a letter written with the Spirit of the living God rather than with ink, written in your hearts instead of on stone tablets.
4We are confident toward God because of Christ. 5We don’t claim that anything comes from us, but from God. 6God has made us ministers of a new covenant, not of what is written but of the Spirit, for the written letter kills but the Spirit gives life.
7If the agency that brought death chiseled in letters on stones came in such glory that the people of Israel couldn’t look at Moses’ face which shone with glory, though it is now gone, 8how much more evident is it that the message of the Spirit will also come in glory? 9After all, if there was any glory in the law that condemns, how much more is that glory in the work of justification? 10What once was glorious has lost its brightness because of the greater glory that has come. 11If the thing that was put aside was given through God’s glory, how much more glorious is the thing that is permanent?
12It is because we have such a hope that we act so boldly, 13not like Moses, who covered his face with a veil so the people wouldn’t see the ending of the glory of that which was being set aside. 14But their minds were made up. To this day, when they hear the old covenant being read, that same veil is there because it can only be removed through Christ. 15Even today when Moses is read a veil covers their minds. 16But the veil is removed when we turn toward the Lord. 17Know that the Lord is Spirit, and where the Spirit is, there is freedom, 18so that all of us, having our veils removed, can see the Lord’s glory as a reflection, for we are being transformed into the image of Christ from one degree of glory to the next. All this comes from the Lord, the Spirit.
Commentary
1-3: We cannot escape the impression that Paul has a very high opinion of his missionary work. Unlike other evangelists, he says, he doesn’t need a letter of introduction to them. They themselves are his letter of introduction.
4-6: As usual, though, after his elevated opinion of his own work, Paul demurs by giving all credit to God for any success he has had and any abilities he has exhibited, and reiterates that the new covenant is a covenant of the Spirit (which is administered by God), not of the letter (the Law, which is administered by human beings).
7-11: In Exodus 34:29-35 we find the account of how Moses’ face shone after his encounter with God on Mt. Sinai where he was given the ten commandments engraved on stone tablets. Paul refers to the Law as the “ministry of condemnation,” in keeping with his insistence that the Law has no power but the power to condemn. The gospel, on the other hand, is the “ministry of justification” (see Romans 5:16). The glory of the gospel is greater than the glory of the Law.
12-18: In the Exodus account Moses wore a veil because his shining face frightened the people. Paul uses that as a metaphor to illustrate how those Jews who have rejected Jesus as the Christ are unable to “see” the glory revealed in Christ and in his followers. Turning to Christ, he says, is like having the veil removed so that we clearly see the glory of Christ. He makes the extraordinary claim that the followers of Christ see his glory reflected whenever they look in a mirror! To prevent confusion over who is reflecting who, he makes it clear that we Christians reflect Christ.
Takeaway
When we love as Christ loves; when we reflect the spirit of Christ in all we say and do; when we treat others as Christ treated others, people will see Christ in us and be drawn to the faith that guides our words and deeds.