Atlas Biblica

    2 Corinthians · 18 verses

    2 Corinthians 3

    Every verse links to the people and places named in it, and to the passages readers connect it with.

    The chapter

    What happens here

    Atlas's own reading, written from this chapter and nothing else, and published only once a person has approved it. Each scene names the verses it covers; the names inside it link to the people and places they name.

    A congregation becomes a letter with no paper, no ink, and an audience of everyone who can read.

    A letter written on heartsvv. 1–6

    The speakers fend off the faintly absurd notion that they require references, then produce the congregation itself as their letter. It is written by Christ, not in ink but by the Spirit of the living God, and not on stone but on human hearts. Their confidence is borrowed rather than self-made: God supplies the competence and appoints ministers of a new covenant, where the letter kills and the Spirit gives life.

    Glory, and the travelling veilvv. 7–18

    The earlier ministry is called both a ministry of death and a ministry of condemnation, yet it arrived in glory, so brightly that the Israelites could not look at Moses’ face. The new ministry is said to surpass it: righteousness outshines condemnation, and what fades is eclipsed by what endures. Then the veil begins its curious journey—from Moses’ face, to the reading of the old covenant, to hearts—and disappears when anyone turns to the Lord. The chapter ends with unveiled faces reflecting glory and being transformed into the Lord’s image, with the glory intensifying as it goes.

    The text

    Read it

    Berean Standard Bible, public domain. Names the Hebrew and Greek put in the verse link to the person, place or people they name; the address beside each verse is a link to that verse, which is what a reader copies and shares.

    1. 2 Cor 3:1Are we beginning to commend ourselves again? Or do we need, like some people, letters of recommendation to you or from you?

    2. 2 Cor 3:2You yourselves are our letter, inscribed on our hearts, known and read by everyone.

    3. 2 Cor 3:3It is clear that you are a letter from Christ, the result of our ministry, written not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of human hearts.

    4. 2 Cor 3:4Such confidence before God is ours through Christ.

    5. 2 Cor 3:5Not that we are competent in ourselves to claim that anything comes from us, but our competence comes from God.

    6. 2 Cor 3:6And He has qualified us as ministers of a new covenant, not of the letter but of the Spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.

    7. 2 Cor 3:7Now if the ministry of death, which was engraved in letters on stone, came with such glory that the Israelites could not gaze at the face of Moses because of its fleeting glory,

    8. 2 Cor 3:8will not the ministry of the Spirit be even more glorious?

    9. 2 Cor 3:9For if the ministry of condemnation was glorious, how much more glorious is the ministry of righteousness!

    10. 2 Cor 3:10Indeed, what was once glorious has no glory now in comparison to the glory that surpasses it.

    11. 2 Cor 3:11For if what was fading away came with glory, how much greater is the glory of that which endures!

    12. 2 Cor 3:12Therefore, since we have such a hope, we are very bold.

    13. 2 Cor 3:13We are not like Moses, who would put a veil over his face to keep the Israelites from gazing at the end of what was fading away.

    14. 2 Cor 3:14But their minds were closed. For to this day the same veil remains at the reading of the old covenant. It has not been lifted, because only in Christ can it be removed.

    15. 2 Cor 3:15And even to this day when Moses is read, a veil covers their hearts.

    16. 2 Cor 3:16But whenever anyone turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away.

    17. 2 Cor 3:17Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.

    18. 2 Cor 3:18And we, who with unveiled faces all reflect the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into His image with intensifying glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.

    01 — Also here

    Who else the chapter reaches

    Names written in the English are linked in the text above. These are the ones that are not: an entity the Hebrew or Greek names under a spelling the translation does not use, or one reached only by an assertion about a verse of this chapter.

    Named in the Hebrew or Greek somewhere in this chapter, under a form the English renders differently — the registry's Ludim against the translation's Ludites — so there is no word in the sentence to hang the link on.

    Reached by an assertion Atlas extracted from a verse of this chapter rather than by a name written in it — a pronoun, a title, or a participant the sentence carries without naming. This layer is model-read and measured at 88.6–90.3% precision, and it is kept separate from the names above for that reason.

    02 — Read alongside

    Where this is echoed

    Readers' own connections, from OpenBible's crowd-voted cross-references — agreement about relevance, and not scholarly confidence. 301 passages were voted onto 18 verses of this chapter; the 16 shown lead on votes, and each is listed at the verse it was voted onto most strongly.

    • 182 Corinthians 4:6For God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” made His light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.
    • 18Ephesians 4:22–24to put off your former way of life, your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires;
    • 17Romans 8:2For in Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit of life set you free from the law of sin and death.
    • 18Romans 12:2Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what is the good, pleasing, and perfect will of God.
    • 17John 8:32Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”
    • 17Galatians 5:13For you, brothers, were called to freedom; but do not use your freedom as an opportunity for the flesh. Rather, serve one another in love.
    • 17Galatians 4:6And because you are sons, God sent the Spirit of His Son into our hearts, crying out, “Abba, Father!”
    • 182 Corinthians 4:4The god of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers, so they cannot see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.
    • 181 Corinthians 13:12Now we see but a dim reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.
    • 17Galatians 5:1It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not be encumbered once more by a yoke of slavery.
    • 18Colossians 3:10and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge in the image of its Creator.
    • 181 Corinthians 15:49And just as we have borne the likeness of the earthly man, so also shall we bear the likeness of the heavenly man.
    • 18Romans 8:29For those God foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, so that He would be the firstborn among many brothers.
    • 17Isaiah 61:1–2The Spirit of the Lord GOD is on Me, because the LORD has anointed Me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent Me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives and freedom to the prisoners,
    • 17John 6:63The Spirit gives life; the flesh profits nothing. The words I have spoken to you are spirit and they are life.
    • 172 Timothy 1:7For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power, love, and self-control.

    Onward

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