Sunday LinkUp- March 2, 2025 – 2 Corinthians 3:12-4:2

2 Corinthians 3:12 – 4:2 … 

The CONTEXT …

2 Corinthians 3:1-11   Are we beginning to commend ourselves again?  Surely we do not need, as some do, letters of recommendation to you or from you, do we?   ² You yourselves are our letter, written on our hearts, known and read by all,  ³ and you show that you are a letter of Christ, prepared by us, written not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets that are human hearts.  

⁴ Such is the confidence that we have through Christ toward God.  ⁵ Not that we are qualified of ourselves to claim anything as coming from us; our qualification is from God,   ⁶ who has made us qualified to be ministers of a new covenant, not of letter but of spirit, for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.  

⁷ Now if the ministry of death, chiseled in letters on stone tablets, came in glory so that the people of Israel could not gaze at Moses’s face because of the glory of his face, a glory now set aside, ⁸ how much more will the ministry of the Spirit come in glory?  ⁹ For if there was glory in the ministry of condemnation, much more does the ministry of justification abound in glory!  ¹⁰ Indeed, what once had glory has in this respect lost its glory because of the greater glory, ¹¹ for if what was set aside came through glory, much more has the permanent come in glory!  

¹² Since, then, we have such a hope, we act with complete frankness, ¹³ not like Moses, who put a veil over his face to keep the people of Israel from gazing at the end of the glory  that was being set aside.   

• What is the “hope” that we have? 
• Why did Moses put a veil over his face?

• Since our hope is in a more glorious covenant, we can have a more glorious hope.
• Because of this hope, Paul can use great boldness of speech.  The old covenant restricted and separated men from God; the new covenant brings us to God and enables us to come  boldly  to Him.
• Even Moses did not have real boldness under the old covenant.  A veil is a barrier of sorts … something to hide behind.  Moses lacked boldness (compared to Paul) because the covenant that he ministered under was fading away and fading in glory.   
• From reading the account in Exodus 34:29-35, one might first get the impression that Moses wore a veil after his meetings with God so that the people wouldn’t be afraid to come near him; the veil was to protect them from seeing the shining face of Moses. Here Paul explains the real purpose of the veil: not to hide the shining face of Moses, but to hide the diminishing glory of his face because the glory was fading.

¹⁴ But their minds were hardened.  Indeed, to this very day, when they hear the reading of the old covenant, the same veil is still there; it is not unveiled since in Christ it is set aside.   

• What do you understand the phrase “the same veil” to mean?
• What was the veil preventing them from seeing?

• The passing glory of the old covenant contrasts with the enduring glory of the new covenant.
• Could not look: Since the veil hid the face of Moses, the children of Israel couldn’t see any of the glory from his face. Therefore, the contrast isn’t only between passing glory and enduring glory, but also between concealed glory and revealed glory.

¹⁵ Indeed, to this very day whenever Moses is read, a veil lies over their minds,  

• For until this day the same veil remains unlifted: Paul says that most of the Jews of his day could not see that the glory of Moses’ ministry faded in comparison to the ministry of Jesus. Because the veil remains unlifted, they can’t see that the glory of Moses’ ministry has faded and they should now look to Jesus.
• Since the same veil that hid Moses’ face now lies on their heart, they still think there is something superior or more glorious in the ministry of Moses.

¹⁶ but when one turns to the Lord, the veil is removed.   

• What was the main difference between the “veil” in v.15 and the “veil” in v.13?
• How is the “veil” removed?
• when one turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away: Paul could say of his fellow Jews that a veil lies on their heart, but he could also say that the veil can be taken away in Jesus.   
• Many Christians with a heart to preach to their Jewish friends wonder why it is rarely so simple as just showing them that Jesus is the Messiah.  This is because a veil lies on their heart.  Unless God does a work in them so they turn to the Lord and have the veil taken away, they will never see the fading glory of Moses’ covenant and the surpassing glory of Jesus and the new covenant.
• Of course, it could be said that the Jews are not the only ones with a veil… on their heart. Gentiles also have “veils” that separate them from seeing Jesus and His work for us clearly, and Jesus is more than able to take those veils away.  This points to the essential need of prayer in evangelism.  It has been rightly said that it is more important to talk to God about men than it is to talk to men about God, but we can do both of these important works.  

¹⁷ Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.   

• What do you think the phrase “the Lord is the Spirit” means?
  • The Lord is the Spirit: From the context of Exodus 34:34, we see that when Paul says the Lord is the Spirit, he means that the Holy Spirit is God, just as Jesus and the Father are God.
• How do you understand the “liberty” that is where the Spirit of the Lord is?   
  •  When Moses went into God’s presence, he had the liberty to take off the veil; the presence of the Lord gave him this liberty. 
  • We have the Holy Spirit, who is the Lord. We live in the Spirit’s presence because He is given to us under the new covenant.
  • So, just as Moses had the liberty to relate to God without the veil in the presence of the Lord, so we have liberty because of the presence of the Holy Spirit.
  • Paul really has in mind the liberty of access. He is building on what he wrote in 2 Corinthians 3:12: We use great boldness of speech. Boldness is a word that belongs with liberty. Because of the great work of the Holy Spirit in us through the new covenant, we have a bold, liberated relationship with God.  
• “A liberty from the yoke of the law, from sin, death, hell; but the liberty which seemeth here to be chiefly intended, is a liberty from that blindness and hardness which is upon men’s hearts, until they have received the Holy Spirit.” (Poole)

¹⁸ And all of us, with unveiled faces, seeing the glory of the Lord as though reflected in a mirror, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another, for this comes from the Lord, the Spirit.   

• How did we come to have “unveiled” faces?
• What do we see as a result of having unveiled faces?
• What is happening to us as a result of having unveiled faces?

• Paul invites every Christian to a special, glorious intimacy with God. This is a relationship and transforming power that is not the property of just a few privileged Christians.  It can belong to all, to everyone who has an unveiled face.  
• How do we get an unveiled face?
  • When one turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away (2 Corinthians 3:16). 
  • If we will turn to the Lord, He will take away the veil and we can be one of the “we all.”
• Beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord:  We can see the glory of the Lord, but we cannot see His glory perfectly.  A mirror in the ancient world did not give nearly as good a reflection as our mirrors do today. Ancient mirrors were made of polished metal, and gave a clouded, fuzzy, somewhat distorted image. Paul says, “We can see the glory of the Lord, but we can’t see it perfectly yet.”
• There may be another thought here also: “Now as mirrors, among the Jews, Greeks, and Romans, were made of highly polished metal, it would often happen, especially in strong light, that the face would be greatly illuminated by this strongly reflected light; and to this circumstance the apostle seems here to allude.” (Clarke)
• Are being transformed: As we behold the glory of God, we will be transformed. God will change our lives and change us from the inside out. Though the old covenant had its glory, it could never transform lives through the law. God uses the new covenant to make us transformed people, not just nice people.
• Everyone wants to know, “How can I change?”  Or, everyone wants to know, “How can they change?” The best and most enduring change comes into our life when we are transformed by time spent with the Lord. There are other ways to change, such as guilt, willpower, or coercion, but none of these methods bring change that is as deep and lasts as long as the transformation that comes by the Spirit of God as we spend time in the presence of the Lord.
• Yet, it requires something: beholding.  The word means more than a casual look; it means to making a careful study. 
  • We all have something to behold, something to study.  We can be transformed by the glory of the Lord, but only if we will carefully study it.  (Guzik)  
• Into the same image: As we look into “God’s mirror,” we are changed into the same image of the Lord.  When we spend time beholding the glory of the God of love, grace, peace, and righteousness, we will see a transforming growth in love, grace, peace, and righteousness.
• Of course, this is how you can know someone is really spending time with the Lord: They are being transformed into the same image. However, much depends on what we “see” when we look into “God’s mirror.”  In this analogy, “God’s mirror” is not a mirror that shows us what we are as much as it shows us what we will become, and what we will become is based on our picture of who God is.  If we have a false picture of God, we will see that false picture in God’s “mirror” and will be transformed into that same image – much to our harm, both for now and eternity.   
• Not everyone sees the truth when they look into the mirror.  Thirty-year-old David gets up every morning, and his morning routine only gets as far as the bedroom mirror, where he sees a horribly distorted face – a crooked, swollen nose covered with scars and a bulging eye. The pain from his deformities made him quit college and move in with his parents ten years ago. Since then, he rarely leaves his room, afraid to let anyone see him. His four cosmetic surgeries have done nothing to help his condition because the problem is with David’s appearance are only in his mind.  Experts call it body dysmorphic disorder, or BDD.  It causes people to imagine themselves as deformed, ugly people when they really have a normal appearance.  Psychiatrists call it a hidden epidemic, and one psychiatrist said, “Patients are virtually coming out of the woodwork.  I’m meeting with one new patient each week.”  Most BDD sufferers are convinced the problem is with their face.  Those afflicted live with such an overwhelming sense of shame that they can barely function.  One young teacher in Boston tried to continue her job but often ran out in the middle of class, afraid that her imagined hideous appearance showed through her thick makeup.  A Denver businessman called his mother from the office 15 times a day for reassurance that he did not look grotesque and spent hours in the bathroom stall with a pocket mirror trying to figure out a way to improve his appearance.  Some try to cope with harmful rituals, such as cutting themselves to “bleed” the damaged area.  BDD sufferers are usually convinced that the problem is with their body, not their mind.  They don’t want to see anyone but plastic surgeons and dermatologists for their problem.  
• Thankfully, we don’t have to be in bondage to a false image of ourselves or of God. When we behold the picture of God as He is in truth, we will be transformed into His image.  This is God’s great design in our salvation, for whom He foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son (Romans 8:29).  Calvin speaks to this great design of God: “That the image of God, which has been defaced by sin, may be repaired within us … the progress of this restoration is continuous through the whole of life, because it is little by little that God causes His glory to shine forth in us.”  
• Are being transformed: This work of transformation is a process. We are  being  transformed; the work isn’t complete yet, and no one should expect it to be complete in themselves or in others.  No one comes away from one incredible time with the Lord perfectly transformed.  
• From glory to glory:  The work of transformation is a continual progression. It works from glory to glory.  It doesn’t have to work from backsliding to glory to backsliding to glory.  God’s work in our lives can be a continual progression, from glory to glory.  
• By the Spirit of the Lord: With these last words, Paul emphasizes two things.
  1. First, this access to God and His transforming presence is ours by the new covenant, because it is through the new covenant we are given the Spirit of the Lord.
  2. Secondly, this work of transformation really is God’s work in us.  It happens by the Spirit of the Lord, not by the will or effort of man.
     • We don’t achieve or earn spiritual transformation by beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord.
     • We simply put ourselves in a place where the Spirit of the Lord can transform us.  

A. Paul’s letter of recommendation.

• B. A contrast between the old and new covenants.
• 1. (7-11) The surpassing glory of the new covenant.
• d. How will the ministry of the Spirit not be more glorious: If the old covenant, which brought death had this glory, we should expect greater glory in the new covenant, which brings the ministry of the Spirit and life.
• i. The old covenant was a ministry of condemnation, but the new covenant is the ministry of righteousness. The old covenant is passing away, but the new covenant remains. No wonder the new covenant is much more glorious!
• ii. The old covenant had glory, but the glory of the new covenant far outshines it, just as the sun always outshines the brightest moon. Compared to the new covenant, the old covenant had no glory because of the glory that excels in the new covenant.
• 3. (17) The liberty of the new covenant.
• 4. (18) The transforming glory of the new covenant. 

4 Therefore, since it is by  God’s mercy  that we are engaged in this ministry, we do not lose heart.   

• Since we have this ministry… we do not lose heart: Paul preached his gospel boldly. When Paul considered the greatness of his calling, it gave him the heart to face all his difficulties. We often lose heart because we do not consider how great a calling God gives us in Jesus.  (Guzik)
• The idea behind the ancient Greek word for “lose heart” is of the “faint-hearted coward.” The ancient Greek word has the connotation of not only a lack of courage but of bad behavior and evil conduct.  
• “The preacher should either speak in God’s name or hold his tongue.  My brother, if the Lord has not sent you with a message, go to bed, or to school, or mind your farm; for what does it matter what you have to say of your own?  If heaven has given you a message, speak it out as he ought to speak who is called to be the mouth of God.” (Spurgeon)  
• As we have received mercy: Paul preached his gospel humbly. He knew his glorious calling to ministry was not due to his own works but by mercy. Mercy, by its very nature, is undeserved.

² We have renounced the shameful, underhanded ways; we refuse to practice cunning or to falsify God’s word, but by the open statement of  the truth we commend ourselves to the conscience of everyone in the sight of God.   

• Paul preached his gospel honestly. The ancient Greek word translated to deceitfully is a verb only found here in the New Testament, meaning “to dilute or adulterate.” Paul didn’t preach a concealed gospel (renouncing the hidden things of shame) or a corrupted gospel (craftiness… deceitfully), mixing the message with human ingenuity or watering it down to accommodate his audience.  Paul preached an honest gospel.
• Many preachers fail on this exact point.  They have the true gospel, but they add to it things of human ingenuity and wisdom.  Often, they add these corrupting or diluting things to the gospel because they think adding them will make the gospel more effective or give it a greater hearing.  They are still doing what Paul insisted he would never do, handling the word of God deceitfully.  
• Cunning speaks of  “readiness to adopt any device or trickery for the achievement of ends which are anything but altruistic.” (Hughes)
• By statement of the truth, Paul preached an openly true gospel.  Anyone could look at what Paul preached and see the plain truth of it.  He did not preach an elaborate system of hidden mysteries.  
• Commending ourselves to every man’s conscience: Paul preached a gospel of integrity. Anyone could look at Paul’s gospel and ministry, then judge it by his or her own conscience and see that it was full of integrity.
• Some men attacked Paul with words and some attacked him with actions. Nevertheless, Paul knew both his ministry and his message found approval in the conscience of every man, even if he would not admit it.  
• In the sight of God: Paul preached his gospel before God. It was important to Paul to know every man’s conscience would approve his manner of ministry, but it was far more important to know that what he did was right in the sight of God.
• “There is a higher scrutiny than that of the human conscience: It is to God that every minister of the gospel is ultimately and eternally answerable.” (Hughes)
• Later in this chapter, Paul will reflect again on his sufferings. In these first two verses, he makes it clear that he did not suffer because he has been an unfaithful minister of the gospel. It was easy for Paul’s enemies to claim, “He suffers so much because God is punishing him for his unfaithfulness,” but that wasn’t true at all.   

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 clearly the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.  ⁵ For we do not proclaim ourselves; we proclaim Jesus Christ as Lord and ourselves as your slaves for Jesus’s sake.  ⁶ For it is the God who said, “Light will shine out of darkness,” who has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ.