Chapter Three

¹ Chapter Three. Do we begin again to commend ourselves? Since he uttered great things concerning himself, he says: Perhaps someone will say, What is this, O Paul? You exalt yourself in saying these things about yourself. This objection, then, he resolves through what follows.

² Unless we need, as some do, letters of commendation to you, or [letters] of commendation from you? This he says with severity, making the discourse more cutting; and he intimates the false apostles, the false ones, who, not having it in them to be known from their own works, fabricated letters of commendation and carried them about wherever they wished, being by these commended and made known. What he means, then, speaking with severity, is this: Unless perhaps someone should say that we must bring letters of commendation to you, that through them we may be made known; or again, [letters] from you to others. Then he adds, with feeling:

³ You are our epistle, written in our hearts, known and read by all men. What the letters would have done, commending us and making us reverenced, this you do, both being seen and being heard; and wherever we go, we carry you about; for, written in the heart, we both behold you and point out your virtue to all. So that, since I have you as an epistle commending me to others, I do not need letters from you beforehand, that through them I may be made known to those who do not know me. But also, since you are in my mind, I do not need that any others should commend me to me. For toward those who are unknown one needs letters, not toward those who know; but you are written in my mind, so that you cannot even fall away. And here he bears them witness not only of love, but also of good deeds; if indeed they were able to show to all men the dignity of their teacher. For the virtue of disciples adorns the teacher.

⁴ Made manifest, that you are an epistle of Christ. How? In that the law of Christ[1] and his commandments abide with you, and are kept in the manner of letters.

⁵ Ministered by us, written not with ink, but with the Spirit of the living God, not in tablets of stone, but in tablets that are hearts of flesh. Taking occasion to compare the law with the gospel, he begins from here, and says that, Just as Moses became a minister of the law, so we too became ministers of your faith to the preaching; and just as he hewed[2] the tablets, so we too [hewed] your hearts. And the law indeed was written with ink; but the gospel has been written in you with the Spirit. By as much, then, as the Spirit differs from ink, and a heart from stone, by so much also does the New differ from the law. And the words In tablets that are hearts of flesh, read thus, by transposition: In tablets of flesh; then, in the middle, that is, of hearts. Or also, since the hearts of the hardened are of stone, on this account he called the hearts of the faithful fleshly, as receptive of the word.

⁶ And such confidence we have through Christ toward God; not that we are sufficient of ourselves to reckon anything, as from ourselves. Since he showed the things of the New to be greater than those of the Old, and the consistent inference was to conclude that, We too, then, the apostles, the ministers of the New, are greater than Moses, who ministered to the Old—but this seemed [a mark] of arrogance—he says that, Nothing is ours, but our confidence—that is, our boasting—is through Christ toward God. For Christ is the cause to us of boasting in God, and nothing is ours, not even the least. For this is what he makes plain by saying, For we are not sufficient to reckon anything as from ourselves.

⁷ But our sufficiency is from God, who also made us sufficient as ministers of a New Covenant. Our power, he says, is from God; for he himself made us sufficient—that is, empowered us, wrought us fit—as ministers of this great and divine thing, the New Covenant.

⁸ Not of letter, but of Spirit. The law also indeed was spiritual—that is, set down by the Spirit; yet it did not supply the Spirit, as the New does. This, then, is what he means: that We were entrusted not with letter, as Moses was, but with the supply of Spirit. For the apostles not only taught spiritual and divine things, but also, laying on their hands, gave the Spirit.

⁹ For the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life. The law, he says, if it take one who has sinned in what seems a very small matter—as the man who gathered sticks on the Sabbath—puts him to death; but the Holy Spirit, receiving those who have transgressed in ten thousand evil things, justifies them in the laver of baptism, and gives life to those who are dead in sin.

¹⁰ But if the ministry of death, engraved in letters on stones, came to be in glory. Having taught above the difference of the New as compared with the Old—that the one was written with ink, this with the Spirit; and the one on stones, this on hearts; and the one kills, but this gives life—he now wishes to show that the glory of the Gospel also is greater. But since the law had a sensible glory, that of the face of Moses, while the New has an intelligible glory, which no one beholds sensibly, he shows the surpassing excellence of the glory of the Gospel from reasoning, and says: that the law was a minister of death. And he did not say productive, lest he give room to the heretics, but a servant. For sin was productive of death; but this brought on the punishment. And it was also mere letters, supplying no help to those who struggle—which is what happens in baptism—but rather pointing out the penalties as ineffaceable. For engraved on stones, he says, was this ministry of death. If, then, the law, being such, came to be in glory, how much more the grace, which surpasses incomparably?

¹¹ So that the sons of Israel could not gaze upon the face of Moses, because of the glory of his face, which was being done away. And he accuses the Jews with reason. For so gross were they, he says, as not to be able even to behold a sensible glory. And he did not say that the law and the tablets had the glory, but the face of Moses; for Moses was glorious, not the tablets of the law. But he also takes down this very glory of Moses, calling it being done away, instead of, ceasing. And observe that he did not say, The evil [glory], but, That which takes an end, and is being brought to a close.

¹² How shall not the ministry of the Spirit be much more in glory? Just as he called the law a ministry of death, the consistent thing was to call the gospel a ministry of life; but he said the greater thing, of the Spirit. For the New Covenant has the supply not of life only, but, what is greater, of the Spirit also, which supplies the life. Much more, then, shall this be in glory than the law.

¹³ For if the ministry of condemnation was glory, much more does the ministry of righteousness abound in glory. Again he turns the same thought about; and, in explaining how he said that The letter kills, he says that the law is a ministry of condemnation, as punitive of sin, not productive of it; and the Gospel a ministry of righteousness; for it not only releases from punishment, but also justifies sinners.

¹⁴ For indeed that which was glorified has not been glorified in this respect, by reason of the surpassing glory. And why, he says, do I compare the Old and the New? For so great is the surpassing excellence of the New that in this respect—that is, in being compared—that which was glorified, namely the Old, will not be reckoned even to have glory, because of the surpassing glory of the New. For although the law was glorified, considered in itself, yet, because of the surpassing measure of the glory of the Gospel, it appears without glory. And observe that in this also he commends the Old; for comparisons are made among good things.

¹⁵ For if that which is being done away [came] through glory, much more that which abides [is] in glory. And he adds another reasoning. For if the law, which was to be done away and to cease, was given through glory, much more shall the abiding New Covenant, which ever continues, be in glory.

¹⁶ Having, therefore, such a hope, we use great boldness. Since he bore witness to some great glory of the New, but the hearers perhaps, as being weak, desired to see a sensible glory, he says that, We have a hope. Of what kind? That we, all who have believed, have been counted worthy of greater things than Moses; and on this account we use great boldness toward those who are being taught, hiding nothing, withholding nothing; and we do not dread your faces, as Moses did those of the Jews; for you are not weak, as they were. For Moses, after receiving the tablets the second time, having come down from the mountain, had his face shining, so that the Jews could not approach him and converse with him, until he put a veil upon his face. Of this history Paul now reminds them, and says:

¹⁷ And not as Moses, who put a veil upon his face, that the sons of Israel should not gaze upon the end of that which was being done away. That is, there is no need for us to be veiled, as Moses was; for you are able to see this glory which we have, the glory of the Gospel, though it is brighter than that one; that is, you are able to understand the mysteries of God, namely the gospel, and we need not hide these things from you, as with a kind of veil, [namely] by obscurity. But the Israelites, being gross, were not able to see that the law has an end, and that it would be done away; for the veil signifies their gross understanding, as you will learn hereafter. But some understood it thus: that this very thing, their not being able to gaze, showed that the glory had an end. For, not being seen, neither was it a glory; and thus it was made plain that it would be short-lived, from its not even being seen openly.

¹⁸ But their minds were hardened; until this day the same veil remains upon the reading of the Old Covenant, not being uncovered, because in Christ it is done away. Their mind was hardened, he says, and on this account neither did those of that time see, nor those of now, as being hardened, and having the same veil upon the face of Moses—that is, in the superficial reading of the law (for Christ calls the law Moses, as in the saying, They have Moses and the prophets)—and it is not uncovered to them, nor discerned, that Christ was to abolish the Old. So that the fault is of their own mind; for the hardening is a fault of the mind. Do not, then, he says, marvel if the Jews cannot see the glory of Christ and believe; for neither were they able to see that of the law, the lesser. For if they had seen that one, they would assuredly have seen that of Christ also. For the glory of the law is to turn toward Christ. And where did he say that the law was to be abolished in Christ? Both in the saying, A prophet shall the Lord God raise up to you; him you shall hear in all things. So that, since they were commanded to hear him, and he both loosed the Sabbaths, and circumcision, and all the rest, the law therefore ordained beforehand its own dissolution. But also, in commanding that the sacrifices should be made in one temple only, and then in destroying this same temple, he did not abolish the sacrifices utterly. And, You are a priest forever after the order of Melchizedek; and, Sacrifice and offering you did not desire. For all these things are a dissolution of the law.

¹⁹ But to this day, whenever Moses is read, a veil lies upon their heart. Since he had said above that a veil lies upon the reading of the Old, lest anyone should think that by “veil” he means the obscurity of the law, No, he says, but [I mean] the hardening and grossness of their heart; this I call a veil; since even upon the face of Moses it lay, not on his account, but on account of their grossness and dull-sightedness.

²⁰ But whenever it shall turn to the Lord, the veil is taken away; and the Lord is the Spirit. He now states the manner by which it is possible for the Israelites to be set right. Whenever it shall turn to the Lord, he says—that is, Whenever it departs from the law, and draws near to the spiritual Gospel, then the veil is taken away. For indeed in the history also, when Moses turned to God, he was unveiled. And this was a type of the future: that whenever one turns to the Spirit (for this is the Lord), then he shall see bare the face of the lawgiver; or rather, he himself shall be in the rank of Moses, and shall enjoy the glory that surpasses the glory of the law, as much as has been said; for this the Spirit will bestow upon you, as Lord and almighty.

²¹ And where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. In the law there was a yoke and slavery; but in the law of the Spirit and in the Gospel, freedom, so as to behold the glory of the Lord without hindrance and freely.

²² But we all, with unveiled face beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are transformed into the same image from glory to glory, as from the Lord, the Spirit. So great is the freedom and nobility we enjoy, he says, that all we who are faithful—not, as there, one alone, Moses—with unveiled face (for among the believers there is no veil) beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are transformed into the same image; that is, we partake of the same glory, being as it were a mirror and receiving the splendor, and again reflecting it back. And just as silver lying opposite sends back certain rays itself also at the striking of the sun upon it, so we too, being cleansed in baptism through the Spirit, and illumined by his rays, send back ourselves also a kind of intelligible radiance, and are transformed into the same image, from the glory which is of the Spirit, to our own glory—and such a glory as it is fitting for him to have who is illumined by the Spirit of the Lord, and is subject to none. For being Lord, he has lordly splendors also. For all the faithful are filled with the Holy Spirit through baptism, and their soul shines; since Moses too, having beheld the divine glory, was himself also transformed toward it—that is, he too partook of it, and his face shone, being a type of us.