2 Corinthians 3 and verse 1 reads.
2Cor.3:1] Do we begin again to commend ourselves? or need we, as some others, epistles of commendation to you, or letters of commendation from you?
Is it about you and me or about who and what we teach.
2Cor.3:2] Ye are our epistle written in our hearts, known and read of all men:
[3] Forasmuch as ye are manifestly declared to be the epistle of Christ ministered by us, written not with ink, but with the Spirit of the living God; not in tables of stone, but in fleshy tables of the heart.
We should teach God’s word and the Gospels of Jesus Christ. The Old and New Testaments only and not philosophy of our own hearts.
2Cor.3:4] And such trust have we through Christ to God-ward:
Our trust is in God, let’s go to Jeremiah 17 and read verses 5-7.
Jer.17:5] Thus saith the LORD; Cursed be the man that trusteth in man, and maketh flesh his arm, and whose heart departeth from the LORD.
Philosophy is contrary to the word of God thus your heart departs from the LORD.
Jer.17:6] For he shall be like the heath in the desert, and shall not see when good cometh; but shall inhabit the parched places in the wilderness, in a salt land and not inhabited.
[7] Blessed is the man that trusteth in the LORD, and whose hope the LORD is.
Blessed is he that trusts in the LORD, cursed is he that puts his trust in man. Back to 2Cor.3 and verse 5 reads.
2Cor.3:5] Not that we are sufficient of ourselves to think any thing as of ourselves; but our sufficiency is of God;
All glory goes to the Lord, we take no credit.
2Cor.3:6] Who also hath made us able ministers of the new testament; not of the letter, but of the spirit: for the letter killeth, but the spirit giveth life.
Look at this word letter, it should have been translated “law”. For a more perfect understanding let’s go to Jeremiah 31 and read 29-33.
Jer.31:29] In those days they shall say no more, The fathers have eaten a sour grape, and the children’s teeth are set on edge.
Every man is responsible for his own sins, the sins do not fall from father to son.
Jer.31:30] But every one shall die for his own iniquity: every man that eateth the sour grape, his teeth shall be set on edge.
[31] Behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel, and with the house of Judah:
Notice the two houses are split. Also notice the New Covenant.
Jer.31:32] Not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt; which my covenant they brake, although I was an husband unto them, saith the LORD:
[33] But this shall be the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel; After those days, saith the LORD, I will put my law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts; and will be their God, and they shall be my people.
The promise is Salvation, through Jesus Christ, his law in our hearts comes with reading his word. This is for the house of Israel, the house of Judah is still under law, how much easier it would be for them to come under Christ. back to 2Cor.3 and verse 7 reads.
2Cor.3:7] But if the ministration of death, written and engraven in stones, was glorious, so that the children of Israel could not stedfastly behold the face of Moses for the glory of his countenance; which glory was to be done away:
Speaking of the Ten Commandments. Remember the house of Judah chooses to be under the law.
2Cor.3:8] How shall not the ministration of the spirit be rather glorious?
[9] For if the ministration of condemnation be glory, much more doth the ministration of righteousness exceed in glory.
Glorify God only, only Christ is righteous.
2Cor.3:10] For even that which was made glorious had no glory in this respect, by reason of the glory that excelleth.
[11] For if that which is done away was glorious, much more that which remaineth is glorious.
From the Old to the New Testament. Salvation much more glorious than the Old Law.
2Cor.3:12] Seeing then that we have such hope, we use great plainness of speech:
We teach boldly.
2Cor.3:13] And not as Moses, which put a vail over his face, that the children of Israel could not stedfastly look to the end of that which is abolished:
[14] But their minds were blinded: for until this day remaineth the same vail untaken away in the reading of the old testament; which vail is done away in Christ.
This is why he spoke of the two houses, Israel and Judah. Judah choosing to stay under the law, chooses to stay behind the vail. The first thing Jesus did after dying on the cross was to tear the vail from top to bottom, from heaven to earth. Giving salvation upon repentance, now that the vail is torn in twain, we can come directly to the Father without a priest between us and the LORD.
2Cor.3:15] But even unto this day, when Moses is read, the vail is upon their heart.
Remember Jer.31:33? “I will put my law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts; and will be their God, and they shall be my people.” By reading all of God’s word, from Genesis through Revelations. Back to 2Cor.3 and verse 16 reads.
2Cor.3:16] Nevertheless when it shall turn to the Lord, the vail shall be taken away.
When anyone of the house of Judah returns to the LORD the vail shall be taken away and Salvation shall be with them also. God certainly loves his children.
2Cor.3:17] Now the Lord is that Spirit: and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty.
Here is the Trinity again.
2Cor.3:18] But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord.
And if they choose to be under law, their sins remain. Let’s go to John chapter 9 and verse 39 reads.
John 9:39] And Jesus said, For judgment I am come into this world, that they which see not might see; and that they which see might be made blind.
[40] And some of the Pharisees which were with him heard these words, and said unto him, Are we blind also?
[41] Jesus said unto them, If ye were blind, ye should have no sin: but now ye say, We see; therefore your sin remaineth.
The vail that Christ rent in twain is what gives us the opportunity to go directly to the Father and ask for forgiveness of our sins when we repent. Also just to talk to him, and be comforted, and to let him know that we love him. Let’s go to his throne.
Father, we thank you for your word and ask that you bless all that love you in Jesus’s precious name, Amen.
KJV along with The New Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance Of The Bible