2 Corinthians 3

Translator Notes

1. Letters of recommendation (systatikōn epistolōn) were standard practice in the ancient world for traveling teachers and missionaries. Paul's opponents in Corinth apparently carried such letters; Paul's rhetorical question implies that his relationship with the Corinthians makes such documentation unnecessary.

Translator Notes

1. Paul transforms the metaphor: the Corinthian believers themselves are his letter of recommendation, and they are written not on paper but on the apostle's heart. The wordplay between ginōskomenē ('known') and anaginōskomenē ('read') creates an elegant pairing in Greek.

Key Terms

Translator Notes

1. The contrast between stone tablets and hearts of flesh directly evokes Ezekiel 36:26 ('I will remove the heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh') and Jeremiah 31:33 ('I will write my law on their hearts'). Paul fuses the new covenant prophecies of Jeremiah and Ezekiel with the Sinai narrative to distinguish his ministry from that of Moses. The phrase 'letter of Christ' (epistolē Christou) makes Christ the author and the Corinthians the document.
2. [TCR Cross-Reference] References Ezekiel 36:26 — the TCR OT rendering of that text provides the Hebrew source and explains the translation decisions involved.
3. [TCR Cross-Reference] References Jeremiah 31:33 — the TCR OT rendering of that text provides the Hebrew source and explains the translation decisions involved.

Translator Notes

1. The word pepoithēsis ('confidence, trust') is directed 'through Christ toward God' — Paul's confidence in his ministry is not self-generated but mediated by Christ and directed toward God as its ultimate ground.

Translator Notes

1. This answers the question of 2:16, 'Who is sufficient for these things?' The word hikanotēs ('sufficiency, competence, adequacy') is emphatically sourced in God (ek tou theou), not in the apostle's own ability. Paul's ministry operates by divine enablement, not human qualification.

Key Terms

Translator Notes

1. The phrase kainēs diathēkēs ('new covenant') directly echoes Jeremiah 31:31 (LXX 38:31). The contrast between gramma ('letter') and pneuma ('Spirit') is not between literal and allegorical interpretation, nor between Old Testament and New, but between the mode of the old covenant (external law that exposes sin and condemns) and the mode of the new (the Spirit who transforms from within). The verb zōopoiei ('gives life, makes alive') is the same used for resurrection in 1 Corinthians 15:22.
2. [TCR Cross-Reference] Quotes Jeremiah 31:31. The TCR rendering of that OT passage preserves the Hebrew source text and documents the translation decisions behind it.

Translator Notes

1. Paul calls the Sinai covenant the 'ministry of death' (diakonia tou thanatou) — not because the law is evil, but because when the law encounters human sin, it can only condemn (cf. Romans 7:10). The participle katargoumenēn ('being set aside, being brought to nothing') indicates that the glory of the old covenant was transitory by design, not that it was invalid. Paul is interpreting, not denigrating, the Mosaic ministry.

Translator Notes

1. Paul argues from the lesser to the greater (qal vahomer in rabbinic terminology): if the ministry that brought death was glorious, how much more glorious is the ministry that brings the Spirit? The logic assumes that both ministries are genuinely glorious — the new does not negate the old but surpasses it.

Translator Notes

1. A second qal vahomer argument, now using different terms: 'condemnation' (katakrisis) versus 'righteousness' (dikaiosynē). The verb perisseuei ('overflows, abounds') indicates not merely a comparative but a qualitative superiority of the new covenant's glory.

Translator Notes

1. Paul uses a startling paradox: the old covenant's glory is so outshone by the new that it appears gloryless by comparison — like stars that are invisible at sunrise, not because they have ceased to exist, but because a greater light overwhelms them.

Translator Notes

1. The contrast is between to katargoumenon ('what is being set aside') and to menon ('what remains, what endures'). The old covenant was temporary by divine design; the new covenant is permanent. Both come in glory, but permanence confers greater glory.

Key Terms

Translator Notes

1. The word parrēsia ('boldness, openness, confidence, freedom of speech') is a key political and philosophical term in the Greek world, denoting the citizen's right to speak freely. Paul contrasts his parrēsia with Moses's veil: the new covenant minister speaks openly because the glory he mediates does not fade.

Translator Notes

1. Paul's interpretation goes beyond Exodus 34:33-35, where Moses veils his face after speaking with Israel, apparently to shield them from the residual glory. Paul reinterprets the veil's purpose: it prevented Israel from seeing the telos ('end, outcome, goal') of the fading glory. The word telos can mean both 'end' (cessation) and 'goal' (fulfillment), and Paul may intend both — the old covenant's glory was pointing toward Christ as its fulfillment.
2. [TCR Cross-Reference] References Exodus 34:33-35 — the TCR OT rendering of that text provides the Hebrew source and explains the translation decisions involved.

Translator Notes

1. The verb epōrōthē ('were hardened, were made dull') shifts the veil from Moses's face to the minds of his hearers. Paul transfers the image across time: what happened at Sinai continues 'to this day' whenever the old covenant is read without recognizing Christ as its fulfillment. The phrase palaia diathēkē ('old covenant') is the earliest use of this term for the Hebrew Scriptures, though Paul means the Sinai covenant specifically, not the entire Old Testament.

Translator Notes

1. The shift from 'minds' (v. 14) to 'hearts' (kardia) deepens the diagnosis: the problem is not merely intellectual but affects the core of the person. 'Moses' is used by metonymy for the Torah or the entire old covenant scripture read in synagogue.

Translator Notes

1. Paul alludes to Exodus 34:34, where Moses removed the veil when he entered the LORD's presence. Paul universalizes this: whenever anyone (not just Moses) turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away. The verb periaireitai ('is removed') is in the present tense — this is not a future eschatological event but a present reality available to any who turn to Christ.
2. [TCR Cross-Reference] Quotes Exodus 34:34. The TCR rendering of that OT passage preserves the Hebrew source text and documents the translation decisions behind it.

Translator Notes

1. This is one of the most debated sentences in Paul. 'The Lord is the Spirit' does not mean that the second and third persons of the Trinity are identical, but that in the experience of the new covenant, the risen Lord encounters believers through the Spirit. The 'Lord' whom Moses approached (Exodus 34:34) is now encountered as 'the Spirit' who transforms. The freedom (eleutheria) is freedom from the veil, from the letter that kills, and from condemnation.
2. [TCR Cross-Reference] Draws on Exodus 34:34. Consult the TCR rendering of that passage for the underlying Hebrew and the rationale for key translation choices.

Key Terms

Translator Notes

1. The verb katoptrizomenoi can mean 'beholding as in a mirror' or 'reflecting.' Either sense works: believers see Christ's glory and, in seeing it, are transformed. The verb metamorphoumetha ('are being transformed') is the same word used for the Transfiguration (Matthew 17:2; Mark 9:2) and for Romans 12:2. The present tense indicates an ongoing process. The phrase apo doxēs eis doxan ('from glory to glory') describes progressive transformation, and the source is identified as kyriou pneumatos ('the Lord who is the Spirit').