2 Corinthians 3:12-4:6
English Standard Version
12 Since we have such a hope, we are very bold, 13 not like Moses, who would put a veil over his face so that the Israelites might not gaze at the outcome of what was being brought to an end. 14 But their minds were hardened. For to this day, when they read the old covenant, that same veil remains unlifted, because only through Christ is it taken away. 15 Yes, to this day whenever Moses is read a veil lies over their hearts. 16 But when one turns to the Lord, the veil is removed. 17 Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. 18 And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit.
The Light of the Gospel
4 Therefore, having this ministry by the mercy of God, we do not lose heart. 2 But we have renounced disgraceful, underhanded ways. We refuse to practice cunning or to tamper with God's word, but by the open statement of the truth we would commend ourselves to everyone's conscience in the sight of God. 3 And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing. 4 In their case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God. 5 For what we proclaim is not ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, with ourselves as your servants for Jesus' sake. 6 For God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.
_______________________________________________________
It is a somewhat complex undertaking to imagine what the people of God, gathered around Mount Sinai, would have experienced when Moses came down the mountain after speaking with God. Maybe we could think of this brightness that shone from Moses’ face, as a brightness like that of the sun or a blast furnace. It was bright and overwhelming. It was difficult for the people to see Moses’ face. It may even have offended their sense of security and caused them to shudder.
God was revealing His perfect, holy laws to Israel as a covenant between Himself and them. God was speaking directly to Moses, giving him the Law. As God elaborated each one of the Laws, glorious as they came from the mouth of God, it caused Moses’ face, his skin, to radiate. He was too bright for the people to look at.
Confusing as it may be, there is a lesson here for us about the very Words of God: they are bright and pristine, glorious in their content because they come from the holy wisdom of the Supreme Intelligence of God. They are the gold standard. None can be above them or beyond them. Even Moses’ skin reacted to this perfect standard that God personally revealed to Moses. These Words from the mouth of God brought a glory that caused Moses’ face to shine.
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, which was being brought to an end. (2 Corinthians 3:7)
Notice the ministry that these words were intended to work among the people. Fix your attention on the most prominent feature of God’s holy, glorious Law (carved in letters on stone). It was designed and destined to minister death. It was glorious because every one of those perfect words came from God, but those words only provided death for sin filled hearts. There was no possibility of completing them. Every one of those laws was to do a service, a ministry, in the hearts and lives and minds of the people. That ministry was to convince the human heart of its lost condition - condemnation.
As they approached these laws, day by day they were to meet failure. Each attempt to keep these statutes would solidify an end: “death.” Yet we must remember the glorious brilliance of this Law - all these laws were from the mouth of God. Their work in the human soul would create a fatal end and also remain brilliant. Their ministry was death but there was still glory attached to them.
Now Paul speaks about the ministry that he has to the nations. It is profoundly different in its end. There is a New Testament, or new covenant, ministry. It also comes from the mouth of the Lord and it shines with a holy brightness but it’s end is not death but life.
Since we have such a hope, we are very bold, not like Moses, who would put a veil over his face so that the Israelites might not gaze at the outcome of what was being brought to an end. (2 Corinthians 3:12-13)
Here comes the somewhat confusing veil. Moses would put a veil over his face so that the Israelites couldn’t see this brightness that was a reflection of hearing God’s Law directly from the lips of God. That Law’s ministry had its end or its telos. There was an end goal that God had in mind with this glorious Law. The human heart was to become convinced of the impossibility of pleasing God by performing these laws and any laws. Humanity’s horrible failure would bring condemnation and death.
This first covenant was preparation for a second, new covenant that we now know as the Gospel. Paul is telling us that we all have a real hope in our delivery of God’s message. We have a real, living hope because there is a different outcome to this form of ministry to which he speaks.
For this we will move ahead to the final verse for today:
For God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. (2 Corinthians 4:6)
This ministry was delivered from the mouth of God; it had the same brilliant, holy, glorious brightness. This light shone into the darkness of our hearts, but not in terror that the Law would bring. Not in requirements that could never be met by us and therefore solicit condemnation. Not in lists and the relentless standards that were unmovable and demanding. This light from the mouth of God is the sweet illuminating news that Jesus Christ, with true human heart, body and soul, was also the promised Son of God and therefore able to create a righteous solution. Jesus was the only man able to fully complete God’s righteous requirements.
The light from the Word of God is revealed to us, not in the Law and its perfect demands. The light of the Word of God is opened up to us as we discover, by the Spirits urging, the good news of Jesus Christ. It is the Spirit that lifts the veil from our hearts so that we see both the impossibility of keeping God’s glorious, stunning Law. It is the same Spirit that rushes to soothe our beleaguered hearts and assures us that an answer has come in the person of Jesus CHrist.
The Light of the Gospel is given to us in the face of Christ Jesus. In Christ Jesus we have the same God but He displays His purpose for walking and living in this crusty world.
This light from the gospel brings a new way to live. We don’t have the burden of trying to appease an impossible requirement - the Holy Law of God. Instead we now have the freedom that comes from Jesus’ fulfillment of all of God’s Law. He kept it all so that we could be released to a real freedom - a freedom of living well.
This empowers us to live in new and God-pleasing ways. We become Spirit-powered children of God. We renounce the disgraceful and underhanded ways of living.
And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit. (2 Corinthians 4:18)
We see the glory of the Lord Jesus CHrist. What is that glory? That God destined to solve the great transcendent gap between His holy Law and our broken ability to keep that law. The Fix was Jesus, our Lord. The glory of God is that He both requires perfect obedience to this Law and then fills up its requirements in Christ Jesus.
Now, as we continue to place our attention on this glory, it changes us and transforms us from within. Our polluted inability to keep God’s law gets renewed. We move from impossibility to a deep heartfelt desire to become more and more like Jesus. We are being transformed from our polluted image into his perfect image. THis is the life of Sanctification.
What was once dark and malodorous is not made bright and sweet. Is this instantaneous? No. But it is in progress and it gains its momentum from “beholding the glory of the Lord.” The glory of the Lord rests in the truth that He desires to fulfill all God’s Law - to be what we could not be.
Now the Law takes on a new spin. It is still a righteous requirement but in Jesus it is fully completed. Now, as we gaze on Jesus’ face and notice his fullest passion to be our substitute in front of God, our hearts are changed, the veil is lifted and we see the bright light of God’s Law and God’s Gospel in the face of Christ.
English Standard Version
12 Since we have such a hope, we are very bold, 13 not like Moses, who would put a veil over his face so that the Israelites might not gaze at the outcome of what was being brought to an end. 14 But their minds were hardened. For to this day, when they read the old covenant, that same veil remains unlifted, because only through Christ is it taken away. 15 Yes, to this day whenever Moses is read a veil lies over their hearts. 16 But when one turns to the Lord, the veil is removed. 17 Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. 18 And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit.
The Light of the Gospel
4 Therefore, having this ministry by the mercy of God, we do not lose heart. 2 But we have renounced disgraceful, underhanded ways. We refuse to practice cunning or to tamper with God's word, but by the open statement of the truth we would commend ourselves to everyone's conscience in the sight of God. 3 And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing. 4 In their case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God. 5 For what we proclaim is not ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, with ourselves as your servants for Jesus' sake. 6 For God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.
_______________________________________________________
It is a somewhat complex undertaking to imagine what the people of God, gathered around Mount Sinai, would have experienced when Moses came down the mountain after speaking with God. Maybe we could think of this brightness that shone from Moses’ face, as a brightness like that of the sun or a blast furnace. It was bright and overwhelming. It was difficult for the people to see Moses’ face. It may even have offended their sense of security and caused them to shudder.
God was revealing His perfect, holy laws to Israel as a covenant between Himself and them. God was speaking directly to Moses, giving him the Law. As God elaborated each one of the Laws, glorious as they came from the mouth of God, it caused Moses’ face, his skin, to radiate. He was too bright for the people to look at.
Confusing as it may be, there is a lesson here for us about the very Words of God: they are bright and pristine, glorious in their content because they come from the holy wisdom of the Supreme Intelligence of God. They are the gold standard. None can be above them or beyond them. Even Moses’ skin reacted to this perfect standard that God personally revealed to Moses. These Words from the mouth of God brought a glory that caused Moses’ face to shine.
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, which was being brought to an end. (2 Corinthians 3:7)
Notice the ministry that these words were intended to work among the people. Fix your attention on the most prominent feature of God’s holy, glorious Law (carved in letters on stone). It was designed and destined to minister death. It was glorious because every one of those perfect words came from God, but those words only provided death for sin filled hearts. There was no possibility of completing them. Every one of those laws was to do a service, a ministry, in the hearts and lives and minds of the people. That ministry was to convince the human heart of its lost condition - condemnation.
As they approached these laws, day by day they were to meet failure. Each attempt to keep these statutes would solidify an end: “death.” Yet we must remember the glorious brilliance of this Law - all these laws were from the mouth of God. Their work in the human soul would create a fatal end and also remain brilliant. Their ministry was death but there was still glory attached to them.
Now Paul speaks about the ministry that he has to the nations. It is profoundly different in its end. There is a New Testament, or new covenant, ministry. It also comes from the mouth of the Lord and it shines with a holy brightness but it’s end is not death but life.
Since we have such a hope, we are very bold, not like Moses, who would put a veil over his face so that the Israelites might not gaze at the outcome of what was being brought to an end. (2 Corinthians 3:12-13)
Here comes the somewhat confusing veil. Moses would put a veil over his face so that the Israelites couldn’t see this brightness that was a reflection of hearing God’s Law directly from the lips of God. That Law’s ministry had its end or its telos. There was an end goal that God had in mind with this glorious Law. The human heart was to become convinced of the impossibility of pleasing God by performing these laws and any laws. Humanity’s horrible failure would bring condemnation and death.
This first covenant was preparation for a second, new covenant that we now know as the Gospel. Paul is telling us that we all have a real hope in our delivery of God’s message. We have a real, living hope because there is a different outcome to this form of ministry to which he speaks.
For this we will move ahead to the final verse for today:
For God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. (2 Corinthians 4:6)
This ministry was delivered from the mouth of God; it had the same brilliant, holy, glorious brightness. This light shone into the darkness of our hearts, but not in terror that the Law would bring. Not in requirements that could never be met by us and therefore solicit condemnation. Not in lists and the relentless standards that were unmovable and demanding. This light from the mouth of God is the sweet illuminating news that Jesus Christ, with true human heart, body and soul, was also the promised Son of God and therefore able to create a righteous solution. Jesus was the only man able to fully complete God’s righteous requirements.
The light from the Word of God is revealed to us, not in the Law and its perfect demands. The light of the Word of God is opened up to us as we discover, by the Spirits urging, the good news of Jesus Christ. It is the Spirit that lifts the veil from our hearts so that we see both the impossibility of keeping God’s glorious, stunning Law. It is the same Spirit that rushes to soothe our beleaguered hearts and assures us that an answer has come in the person of Jesus CHrist.
The Light of the Gospel is given to us in the face of Christ Jesus. In Christ Jesus we have the same God but He displays His purpose for walking and living in this crusty world.
This light from the gospel brings a new way to live. We don’t have the burden of trying to appease an impossible requirement - the Holy Law of God. Instead we now have the freedom that comes from Jesus’ fulfillment of all of God’s Law. He kept it all so that we could be released to a real freedom - a freedom of living well.
This empowers us to live in new and God-pleasing ways. We become Spirit-powered children of God. We renounce the disgraceful and underhanded ways of living.
And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit. (2 Corinthians 4:18)
We see the glory of the Lord Jesus CHrist. What is that glory? That God destined to solve the great transcendent gap between His holy Law and our broken ability to keep that law. The Fix was Jesus, our Lord. The glory of God is that He both requires perfect obedience to this Law and then fills up its requirements in Christ Jesus.
Now, as we continue to place our attention on this glory, it changes us and transforms us from within. Our polluted inability to keep God’s law gets renewed. We move from impossibility to a deep heartfelt desire to become more and more like Jesus. We are being transformed from our polluted image into his perfect image. THis is the life of Sanctification.
What was once dark and malodorous is not made bright and sweet. Is this instantaneous? No. But it is in progress and it gains its momentum from “beholding the glory of the Lord.” The glory of the Lord rests in the truth that He desires to fulfill all God’s Law - to be what we could not be.
Now the Law takes on a new spin. It is still a righteous requirement but in Jesus it is fully completed. Now, as we gaze on Jesus’ face and notice his fullest passion to be our substitute in front of God, our hearts are changed, the veil is lifted and we see the bright light of God’s Law and God’s Gospel in the face of Christ.
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