Chapter 3

.In chapter three Paul is going to open up on the subject of the unveiled glory as it relates to the angelic conflict. And as he begins he opens with sarcasm.

Verse 1 — “Do we begin again to commend ourselves?” Paul begins with the present middle indicative of the verb a)rxw which means to begin something; it means the beginning of a relationship. We all have to have beginnings and friendship, love, and everything else has a beginning. And if there is anyone who is really old hat in Corinth it is Paul. All of the members of the church know Paul, he led most of them to the Lord, he taught them their first doctrine, he is the one who got them started properly. He was the one who laid it on the line to them as far as the Word of God was concerned. Now Paul starts off with the word a)rxw and that is a word used only for a stranger. And that really hit them. And Paul says, ‘You mean that I must come back to Corinth as a stranger, as someone that you have never met?’ So he uses the present middle indicative of a)rxw, and in the present tense he is being very dramatic. Usually this is known as a dramatic present but perhaps the syntax calls for a sarcastic present tense. This is confirmed by the middle voice which means in effect ‘we ourselves.’ The indicative mood is the reality that Paul is taking the position that because of their nit picking, their criticism, their judging, their maligning, their gossip about him that he is now a stranger. He wants to establish a point of doctrine with them right now. Paul has known the Corinthians very well for years. When he in effect asks them if they have to get acquainted again he is saying to them, ‘Look, I have known you for a long time, but by your actions you have phased me out. And since you have phased me out I have been fulfilling Romans 16:17,18 which means to love you from afar.’ He has stayed away from them. A)rxw is a short little word Paul uses, designed to exude sarcasm. The Corinthian criticism of Paul means they must begin all over again. Paul is sending a letter so that they can get acquainted again — a very neat piece of sarcasm.

“commend” — sunisthmi [isthmi = to stand; sun = with]. The word actually means to place someone beside another. To stand with someone means to be with them. Do we begin again to be with each other? The word also means to introduce or to commend. It is a present active infinitive. Sunisthmi became known as a verb used for commendation. In the ancient world accommodations were not very good for travelers. Therefore it was ideal if you could stay in someone’s home. So there would often be letters of commendation sent to people with a request to take care of a traveling friend. Paul is using this custom as a means of sarcasm. ‘Must I come to the door of the Corinthian church with a letter of commendation before you will allow me entrance?’

“or need we as some others” — here is sarcasm piled upon sarcasm. When he says ‘need we’ he uses a word that doesn’t occur too often, xrhzw, a present active indicative and it really expresses a critical attitude toward the apostle Paul. The Corinthians have implied that they are not going to permit Paul to enter ever again, they’ll throw him out of he shows up. And Paul is actually saying to them, ‘Do I have to come as a stranger, loaded down with letters of commendation before you will let me in ?’ The word ‘some’ in the Greek is dripping with sarcasm, it is a subtle criticism of the Corinthians for permitting false teachers and legalists to come into the church. How did the false teachers come in? They said they had a letter of commendation. Legalists did this throughout the Roman empire, they often forged Paul’s name. It happened to the Thessalonians and possibly this is what ‘some’ means — that these people, false teachers and legalists, came to the door of the Corinthian church saying that they had a letter from the apostle Paul. Then they came in and taught false doctrine. So they let people with forged letters of commendation come in and teach false doctrine but they won’t let Paul with true doctrine come in.

“epistles of commendation” — the epistles of commendation were simply letters that the false teachers carried whereby they were permitted to come in and speak to the church.

“or do we need commendation from you” — the final barb. He is asking the Corinthians, “Would you sign a letter of commendation if I send for it?” They had been saying all these terrible things about Paul and Paul is now saying in effect, Write it down.

Verse 2 — “Ye are our epistle.” A corrected translation would be “You all are,” present linear aktionsart, and at this particular point Paul does not use ginomai which means to become something you were not but he uses the absolute status quo verb e)imi. Whatever they were at that moment they would keep on being, this is an absolute and this is the basis for establishing a perimeter of defense, this is the basis for taking the offence from that stabilised perimeter, this is the basis whereby you can personally represent the Lord Jesus Christ in phase two. “You keep on being our epistle.” This is quite a shock to these people who have been critical of Paul. Paul originally evangelised the Corinthians, and not only did he evangelise them but he started them out immediately on Bible doctrine. It is true that they failed and their failure is brought out in 2 Corinthiasn chapter six. The reason they failed is because they began to depend on emotion rather than upon Bible doctrine. But at this particular point he says “You keep on being our epistle written in our hearts.”

“written in our hearts” — the perfect tense of the verb written means that they have been written in the past with the result that they will always be in the hearts of Paul and those other men who ministered there. In other words, Paul constantly had the Corinthians in mind. The fact that he had not seen them personally does not in any way change his attitude toward them.

“known and read of all men” — the word for ‘known’ here is ginwskw which means to know from the experience of observation. You are being observed by others around you and being in their observation they come to know something about you. So this means to know from the experience of observation and it is a present passive participle, which means they are being observed constantly by people and by the fallen angels. Remember that it is taught in Ephesians that fallen angels learn something of the grace of God and the justice of God by the observation of born-again believers in time. The passive voice indicates that they receive observation whether they like it or not. You cannot live in this life, you cannot be a believer in phase two without receiving the observation of others. They may not know you, they may not even know your name, but you are under observation both by angels and by men. This is your part in the angelic conflict and you are definitely in the picture as far as that is concerned.

The word for ‘reading’ here doesn’t mean to read at all, it is simply a compound of ginwskw, a)naginwskw [a)na = again] doesn’t really mean to be read at all, it means to be exegeted. Some people are going to casually observe you and some people are going to exegete you. The word means to gather exact information, to understand you exactly, and to discern what you are really like; ‘by all men’ — all mankind. The believer’s life is both observed and exegeted by unbelievers and believers as well. The human race is observing you. You are a battleground, you have the tremendous potentiality for glory, and that glory was unveiled at the beginning of the Church Age. The curtain is still back, the glory is still there, this is a part of your heritage as a believer. From one generation to another as Bible doctrine is learned and applied and utilised this glory becomes a very real and a manifest thing. There is in every generation of believers those who have the courage to stand on the Word of God, who are not herd bound, who are not distracted, who do not fall apart and get into gimmicks, who do not substitute human for divine dynamics, and these people are the glory of God and the grace of God represented on earth.

Verse 3 — the witness of the life of the believer through the Holy Spirit. Really there are only two tacks that one can take here by way of the principle of doctrine. Either this must be approached through knowledge of doctrine or it must be approached through the ministry of the Spirit. In 2 Corinthians chapter five knowledge of doctrine is emphasised, but here in this passage there will be an emphasis on the ministry of God the Holy Spirit. For when God through back the veil of the Church Age the secret to glory is located in the third person of the Trinity.

“Forasmuch” is not found in the original. A corrected translation would be, “Because you are [keep on being] the epistle of Christ ministered by us.” This is addressed to every believer, to the carnal and the spiritual, the baby and the mature. All believers are an epistle. The words “of Christ” is a genitive of source. He is the source of the writing. Jesus Christ writes to the human race through your life. First of all He writes to the unsaved of the human race by saying, “I died for your sins, I took your place when I was judged on the cross; believe on me.” Then again, every believer is an epistle written to other believers — the importance of grace, the importance of the plan of God, the importance of the provision of God, the importance of the glory of God. And again, the writing is designed — believer, you have a right to your priesthood, your privacy on the basis of the Word of God apart from gimmicks and apart from any system of human dynamics, and apart from any public relations image; you have a right to glory. This glory is your heritage since the day the Church Age began. So the source of the epistle is Jesus Christ, an we could translate: “You keep on being an epistle from Christ.”

The word ‘ministered,’ the verb is diakonew — konew means to stir up the dust and dia means ‘by means of.’ That was the original concept of the word. Someone who really hustled around accomplished something and in doing so they stirred up the dust. In other words, it was someone who entered vigorously into some action of some type and accomplished an objective. It has been translated here ‘ministered.’ Actually, it refers to Paul’s initial evangelising but primarily it refers to the inculcation of Bible doctrine. This was Paul’s objective, to so teach the Corinthians that they became spiritually self-sustaining. So that they didn’t depend upon Paul, they depended upon the Word of God which liveth and abideth forever. It is in the aorist tense and it refers to the point of time when the apostle Paul was in Corinth.

“by us” is not that at all. This is the preposition u(po, the preposition of authority — ‘under the authority of us.’ U(po is the life of any pastor.

“written not with ink” — melani. The negative emphasises that the believer does not have to have the gospel in some kind of a sign board situation. The point is that the writing is on the inside and the writing is the glory that God has provided for the believer in the Church Age. The believer possesses a glory that Moses knew nothing of, that no Old Testament believer of the past possessed. God has unveiled something new, beginning on the day of Pentecost. There has to be a way to break through human good, programs; these come from the old sin nature. So in this verse we begin the unveiling of this glory which is not the same as any human, superficial glory.

“but with the Spirit” — now we have met the unveiled glory of God. For the first time in all human history God the Holy Spirit is given to every believer and this is the unveiled glory of God. The Age of Israel is the age of the veiled glory, the Church Age is the age of the unveiled glory.

The dispensation of veiled glory

1. The outline of the dispensation of Israel. It is divided into three parts:

a) The period of the patriarchs, from Abraham to Moses.

b) The period of the law, from Moses to Christ.

c) The Tribulation.

2. The characteristics of the Age of Israel

a) There were many languages on the earth in contrast to the Age of the Gentiles.

b) There were many races on the earth. This is why God developed a special nation to represent Him.

c) There was for the first time in human history a missionary agency. The first missionary was Abraham. Throughout the Old Testament the nation Israel was responsible for the dissemination of the gospel.

d) Security for the regenerate Jews. This is found in four unconditional covenants: Abrahamic, Palestinian, Davidic and New. Each one of these covenants had an eternal life clause which provided the basis for their eternal security.

e) Israel had specific discipline for failure. Leviticus 26, the five cycles of discipline.

f) Salvation was by faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. The pattern: Abraham believed in the Lord and it was credited to his account for righteousness.

g) Spirituality was the fiath-rest technique, not the ministry of the Holy Spirit.

3. The ministry of the Holy Spirit in the Age of Israel.

a) There Holy Spirit indwelt some believers, less than one per cent. There are perhaps 10-16 people in all of the Old Testament who actually had any ministry of the Holy Spirit. Enduement or empowering are better words than indwelling in the Old Testament. The Holy Spirit empowered Joseph — Genesis 41:38; Bezaleel and Aholiab — Exodus 28 & 31; some of the elders who assisted Moses received help from the Holy Spirit — Numbers 11:18,25; Joshua — Numbers 27:18; certain judges, such as Othniel — Judges 3:10; Gideon — Judges 6:34; Samson — Judges 13:25; 14:6; 15:14; Saul and David — 1 Samuel 10:9,10; 16:13; Daniel — Daniel 4:8; 5:11-14; 6:3; certain post-exilic references — Zechariah 4:3-14. This is just about it.

b) These believers who did have the empowering of the Holy Spirit as a matter of discipline could lose the enduement of the Spirit — 1 Samuel 16:14; Psalm 51:11.

c) The believer could obtain the Holy Spirit by asking for him — 2 Kings 2:9,10; Luke 11:13.

d) There would be an elapse of 10 days between the departure of Jesus Christ from the earth and when the Church Age would begin. During that ten days the believers gathered in Jerusalem simply couldn’t remain together, they need help. So Jesus didn’t tell them anymore to ask, He just simply gave them the Holy Spirit to sustain them — John 20:22.

e) The Holy Spirit was not given in that dispensation of veiled glory because Christ was not yet glorified — John 7:39. He was not seated at the right hand of the Father. But once He, is the veil is taken off. The ministry of the Holy Spirit in he Church Age — John 16:14, the glorification of Jesus Christ.

The dispensation of the unveiled glory

The Church Age is divided into two parts, the pre-canon period and the post-canon period. The pre-canon period goes roughly from 30-96 AD. From 96 AD to the present time and all the way to the Rapture we have the post-canon period, we now have the Word of God. The pre-canon period: the book of Acts; the post-canon period: the epistles of the New Testament. There are a number of general characteristics of the age of unveiled glory.

1. Every believer is in union with Christ, the doctrine of positional sanctification. This was never true before and it will never be true after the Rapture of the Church. There is just one age in which God takes every believer and puts him in union with Christ.

2. Every believer is indwelt by the person of Christ. However, the indwelling of Christ is not for functional purpose, it is for fellowship with the glorified Christ. Revelation 2:20.

3. The ministry of God the Holy Spirit in indwelling is functional.

4. Every believer is an ambassador representing Christ on the earth.

5. Every believer is a priest representing himself before God.

6. We have a completed canon of scripture.

7. Every believer is commanded to be filled with the Spirit, so we have a supernatural way of life.

8. Salvation is by faith in Jesus Christ, as it is in every dispensation.

The glory which is emphasised in 2 Corinthians chapter three is the ministry of the Holy Spirit. God the Holy Spirit produces divine good; the old sin nature produces human good. There is no glory in your life by the production of human good. God the Holy Spirit imitates God in our lives in that He produces in our soul those characteristics which make all kinds of personalities attractive. Sin destroys that. So the issue in your life: Who controls your life, the Holy Spirit or the old sin nature? The Holy Spirit can indwell without controlling. The glory is not seen unless the glory controls your life. The Holy Spirit cannot control your life unless you utilise the rebound technique. Once the Holy Spirit controls your life there will be produced inside your life the very character of Christ.

“with the Spirit” — John 7:39; 16:14; 1 Corinthians 6:19,20; Galatians 4:19; 5:22,23.

“not in tables of stone” — not with the Mosaic law. We are not under the law. Jesus Christ fulfilled the law.

“but in the fleshly tables of the heart” — here the word ‘heart’ is used for the soul. The battleground is the soul. What goes on in your soul determines what you really are. If Bible doctrine is in your soul the glory will be revealed. If God the Holy Spirit controls your life the glory will be revealed.

Verse 4 — “And such trust.” The word for ‘trust’ is pepoiqhsij which means confidence. Knowledge of Bible doctrine gives you confidence. A part of the unveiled glory, the principle of on to glory. This chapter is a transitional chapter. We are in suffering, we are in the midst of this [angelic] conflict, we are in the intensification of this stage of the angelic conflict, but the command is ‘on to glory.’ That glory is God the Holy Spirit indwelling you — verse 3; the confidence you can have as a believer — verse 4, and confidence is based upon knowledge of doctrine. The word ‘trust’ means confidence. The confidence of the believer is based on knowledge of Bible doctrine and every believer is not only indwelt by the Spirit but he should be indwelt by doctrine. If you don’t have pepoiqhsij then you are never going to stand up in this conflict in the devil’s world.

“have we” — present active indicative of the verb e)xw which means to have. It is in the present linear aktionsart and it means to keep on having it: ‘we keep on having.’ And how do we have it?

“through Christ” — Paul does not say that he has confidence in the Corinthians, they are the last people he would ever have confidence in. But he does have confidence in the plan of God and he knows that in the unveiled dispensation, the Church Age, the doctrine and the plan has been revealed. Paul’s confidence is not in people as such, his confidence is in the plan of God. The plan of God is tied up in the person of Jesus Christ. The plan of God for the human race begins with Christ. Operation phase one: ‘Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved; Whosoever believeth in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.’ That is where confidence begins.

“to Godward” — the preposition proj plus the accusative case, and it means ‘face to face with God.’ The believer can’t see God and yet he is face to face with God. What does this mean? This means that while you represent Him on the earth you have a personal relationship with Him. Confidence belongs to the believer on the basis of Bible doctrine. Paul’s confidence is not in the conduct of the Corinthians but in the doctrine of the Word of God. According to Bible doctrine God has a purpose for every believer, regardless of his carnality, his obscurity, his lack of talent, his failure or any other factor. Our confidence is not in people, our confidence is in the Word, in the plan of God. God has a purpose for the believer’s life and this purpose is hindered by carnality and is resumed by means of rebound; and he gets oriented to the purpose through Bible doctrine.

Now we have gone from verse 3, the filling of the Spirit, to confidence, knowledge of Bible doctrine, in verse 4 — the progress of the unveiled glory.

Verse 5 — sufficiency, the next principle. It starts out literally, “Not that from the ultimate source of ourselves are we sufficient.” This is not confidence in people, this is confidence in the plan of God. The believer has no human resources which God can use under the operation of grace. So here is a logical progression. The believer has a sufficiency but that sufficiency is not from self.

“we are” is present linear aktionsart, ‘we keep on being sufficient.’ The word ‘sufficiency’ is i)kanoj and it means two things: ‘qualified’ and ‘sufficient.’ Both are true here. We are not self-sufficient but doctrinally sufficient because we are qualified. Our qualification: At the moment of salvation God the Holy Spirit entered us into union with the Lord Jesus Christ. At that moment He made every one of us a priest. At that moment God the Holy Spirit entered into each one of us. We were given a canon of scripture, we were appointed ambassadors for Christ, given a supernatural way of life and a supernatural means of execution. And this is our qualification that leads to our sufficiency, but our sufficiency is not from the ultimate source of self; “of” is the preposition a)po, the preposition of ultimate source. Our sufficiency is from the source of God.

“but our sufficiency is from God” — now we have e)k because God has provided it for us on the basis of Bible doctrine and e)k indicates that we may or may not learn it, depending on whether we are on positive or negative volition toward doctrine. So everything we need for the angelic conflict, our sufficiency, is from the ultimate source of God.

Verse 6 — every believer is in full time Christian service. “Who” — relative pronoun referring to God the Father, the author of the divine plan, the author of operation grace.

“has made us able” — i)kanow, the verb this time. It means to have sufficiency or to have ability on the basis of His provision; “ministers” — the word is used here for every believer. Every believer is in full time Christian service; “of the New Testament” — that is the unveiling glory of God. Since every believer is a target in the Church Age, since every believer is under the intensification of the angelic conflict, God has made every believer a minister of the New Testament; “not of [from] the letter [the Mosaic law], but from the Holy Spirit.” So we go right back to the glory. We live in the age of the unveiled glory; The unveiled glory: God the Holy Spirit indwells the believer; when the believer is filled with the Spirit God the Holy Spirit reveals the glory of Jesus Christ in that believer. The glory of God is unveiled in this intensification of the angelic conflict.

“the letter [Mosaic law] kills” — the Mosaic law destroys, it proves that we are dead and need a saviour; “but the Spirit gives life” — the giving of life here is the glory of God revealed in us.

Moses came down from the mountain after getting the Mosaic law and he had a glory of glamour in his face that was so animated and so great that no Jew in the audience could stand there and look at him intently. He could glimpse that glory but he couldn’t keep looking at it and hear the Mosaic law.

They could not gaze intently upon him, they could only glance. But then all of a sudden as Moses finished he pulled down a curtain, he put a veil over his face. Why? Because the glamour, the glory, faded away. The law has a glory, but like the departure of youth it is a fading glory; it is a glory that disappears. Moses would put a veil over his face and then stumble out of the camp and go up to the mountain again to get the next segment of the law. Then he could come back down with the veil lifted. Then, as he finished that segment of the law, he rolled down the veil again and walked out of the camp. The glory had faded. That is a perfect illustration of the Old Testament dispensation — a fleeting glory. It was a glory that was real, a glory that was there, but a glory that faded. Why? All glory in the Old Testament is focused upon the person of Jesus Christ. But Jesus Christ in the Old Testament times was God, and only God. So beginning in Genesis 3:15, the seed of the woman passage, there was the promise that He would be the God-Man. Consequently all glory in believers was a fleeting glory, it was related to the Mosaic law but it was not related in any way to a glory that never needs the veil. There is a glory which you can have today and no one will ever pull the curtain on you. It is an unfading glory, a glory that belongs only to this dispensation. It belongs by right of [re]birth, by right of eternal heritage; it belongs to every believer in Jesus Christ. The life of the believer in this dispensation is designed for unveiled glory. The believer in Christ learning Bible doctrine and being filled with the Spirit can have an unveiled glory. As long as we live on this earth there should be more glory than the day before, but that ‘more glory’ depends upon spiritual intake, upon how much Bible doctrine is learned to day and tomorrow and the next day and the next. Bible doctrine is the key, the filling of the Spirit is the key; both of them together are the unveiled glory.

We have now in verses 7-11 the contrasts of glory. The first contrast is given in verses 7,8.

Verse 7 begins with a first class condition: “But if the ministration of death” — the word for ministration is diakonia, the word from which we get deacon and it means simply ‘minister.’ Perhaps a better translation here would be ‘ministry,’ “For the ministry of condemnation [judgement].” That is the Mosaic law. The Mosaic law is a ministry of death. Death here is a reference to the fact that the Mosaic law proves that we are spiritually dead. The ten commandments are designed to show us that we are born with an old sin nature which in its area of weakness manifests itself in sins, in its area of strength it manifests itself in human good and a lust pattern which becomes the motivator for life. This old sin nature makes us spiritually dead.

“But if [and it is true] the ministry of death [the ten commandments], written and engraven in stone.” The word ‘written’ is a noun in then dative case which means it was to the advantage of the Jews to have the ten commandments in stone. ‘Engraven’ tells how it was written, it is a perfect passive participle. The perfect tense means the ten commandments were put in stone with the result that they stayed there. The passive voice: the engraving was simply a matter of dictation and Moses was an engraver as well as a student. The stone was simply his notebook. This is the ministry of the law.

“was glorious” — the word ‘was’ here is ginomai, so ‘it became glorious.’ It is not the same as the glory of our dispensation which is e)imi, it is a permanent glory. But with the Mosaic law the word ginomai is used, it becomes a glory but it is a glory that is there for the moment. It is being discussed, it is one that is the subject of a message which Moses gave as he was reading and as he was declaring and disseminating the doctrine of the Mosaic law. But once Moses finished the glory drained away, it faded out, and he put the veil down over his face. So we have a contrast of glory. There is a glory that belongs to the Mosaic law but there is a greater glory that belongs to the believer today in the Lord Jesus Christ.

“so that” introduces a result clause, “with the result that the children of Israel could not steadfastly behold the face of Moses.” They could glance at Moses but they could not a)tenizw, which means to keep on looking, to look with concentrated attention. They could blepw [glance], but that isn’t the word used here. The glamour, the glory was so great that they couldn’t even look at him steadily, they couldn’t keep looking him in the eye.

“for the glory” — dia plus the accusative is literally, “because of the glory [of the ministry of death].” The veil had to cover at the end of his message, it had to cover the fading glory. Once Moses put that veil over his face no one saw his face until he came back again.

So it should read, “For if [and it is true] the ministry of condemnation [the Mosaic law], written and engraved in stones, became [in a point of time] glorious, with the result that the children of Israel were not able to keep on staring into the face of Moses because of the glory of his face which was to be done away [which faded away].”

“was done away” — katargew, which means to abrogate, to supersede, to fade out, to be cancelled. All of these are true here. The Mosaic law is abrogated in our day, the intensified stage of the angelic conflict; it is a glory which fades; it is a glory that is cancelled. The actual historical account of this is found in Exodus 34:30-35.

So verse 7 introduces a glory. This is law glory. It is a glory because it is a part of the Word of God and because it has a function. But it is glory fading. However, there is in the Church Age a grace glory now introduced and it is increasing rather than fading.

Verse 8 — the glory of the grace of God. “How shall not the ministry of the Spirit.” Note the change of dispensation. The word ‘how’ is not an interrogative pronoun, it is an interrogative adverb. It introduces an argument which means from the lesser to the greater. The lesser is the glory of the glory or the glamour of the law, and the greater is the glory or the glamour of the Church Age — the ministry of the Holy Spirit in the believer in the Church Age. Now here is the principle. When you are a new baby in Christ you start out with the filling of the Holy Spirit. The filling of the Holy Spirit in a baby isn’t nearly as glorious as the filling of the Holy Spirit in a mature believer. We all begin as babies. We grow through knowledge of doctrine. If we become mature a mature believer filled with the Spirit has a super glory. So we have an increasing glory which comes from the ministry of the Holy Spirit in the life of the believer.

“be” — this is in contrast to the word ginomai in verse 7; now it is to be — e)imi, and this is verse 8; “rather glorious” should be “in the sphere of more glory.” The sphere of more glory refers to the Church Age. In the dispensation there was the glory of the Mosaic law. This is a part of the angelic conflict, in the dispensation of Israel Jesus Christ was the target. The line of Christ was the target until He came into the world, the person of Christ became the target after He became true humanity and this went on until the cross. Then Jesus Christ was glorified as the God-Man, seated at the right hand of the Father, and now the angelic conflict shifts gears. In the dispensation of Israel they were minus the Holy Spirit, they had no increasing glory, they had the glory of the Mosaic law. But in the Church Age every believers has the Holy Spirit. John 7:39 — the Holy Spirit was not yet given because Christ was not yet glorified. But once He is glorified we now have in the Church Age the super glory and it belongs to every believer. In the Age of Israel they had a fading glory and it belonged to one person only — Moses.

This passage starts with a principle found in John 7:39.

Verse 9 — “For if [1st class condition] the ministry of condemnation [the Mosaic law] is glory.” Codex #1 of the Mosaic law actually condemns the human race, it is the decalogue and a set of moral commandments. The morality standard of God is so high and so great that it demonstrates that all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. So Codex #1 condemns. Codex #2 presents a saviour. Codex #3 presents a way of life for divine institution # 4, nationalism. The law has glory, the law came from God. There is nothing wrong with the law, there is something wrong with those who cannot comply with that law, the entire human race.

“much more” — here is a ministry which is even greater than the law — “a ministry which produces righteousness.” The ministry of righteousness has to do with God the Holy Spirit indwelling the believer and producing a righteousness demanded by the law. In this dispensation God the Holy Spirit indwells every believer to produce this righteousness. The dispensation of Israel had the Mosaic law, the Mosaic law is glory. The dispensation of the Church has the indwelling of the Holy Spirit and this is more glory.

Romans 8:2,3 — “For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus [the law of spirituality in the Church Age] has freed us [set us free] from the law of sin and death [the old sin nature]. For what the law could not so, in that it was weakened through the flesh” — the presence of the old sin nature in man makes it impossible for the law to do. The Mosaic law demands a righteousness from man but the old sin nature precludes the possibility, so because of the old sin nature in man there is something the law cannot do — “God sending his own Son” — before there could be a change of dispensation God had to send His Son “in the likeness of sinful flesh.” He wasn’t sinful flesh but He was like it — True humanity; “and for a sin offering,” literally, “condemned the old sin nature in the flesh.”

Romans 8:4 — “That” introduces a purpose clause, “the righteousness demanded by the law might be fulfilled in us,” believers in he Church Age. In the previous dispensation the law demanded a righteousness but man could not produce it. But in the Church Age God the Holy Spirit indwells every believer; “who walk not according to the standard of the old sin nature but according to the standard of the Holy Spirit.”

2 Corinthians 3:9 — “For if [and it is true] the ministry of condemnation be glory, much more doth the ministry of righteousness [the filling of the Spirit fulfilling the law] exceed in glory.”

John 14 — the back ground for this chapter is the upper room discourse. The upper room discourse was the first announcement of the doctrine of the mystery, the first announcement of the Church Age. Everything pertaining to the Church Age had been hidden in Old Testament times.

Naturally, since the great change will be the ministry of the Holy Spirit there was a great deal of emphasis on the Comforter, the Holy Spirit, in the upper room discourse. Jesus had previously announced that when He would be glorified the Spirit would come. Jesus has announced in the first part of the chapter that He is going to depart, His ascension is declared. Then He says in verse 16, “And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you [believers in the Church Age] another Comforter.” The word ‘another’ is a)lloj which means another of the same kind. In other words, Jesus Christ had been the comforter during His earthly ministry and now another member of the Godhead is going to be the comforter; “that” [purpose clause] he may abide” is literally, “that he may be [this is not the word ‘abide,’ menw, it is e)imi] in you [not ‘with you’] forever.”

Verse 17 — “Even the Spirit of truth,” the functional title for the Holy Spirit whereby He is spreading out the truth of the Word of God; teaching doctrine — “whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth him not, neither knoweth him; but [conjunction of contrast] ye [believers] know him; for he dwelleth with you” — para means to be beside you. This is the end of the Jewish Age, the night before Christ died on the cross, therefore the ministry of the Holy Spirit is para, which means to be beside. God the Holy Spirit did not indwell people in the Old Testament, He was beside them, He empowered them. God the Holy Spirit was beside certain believers to aid them; “and shall be in you” — this is the Church Age. Now in the Church Age He is in every believer.

The indwelling of the Holy Spirit leads to the filling of the Spirit. The filling of the Spirit leads to ‘the glory.’ The believer in this dispensation has a permanent glory. Whether that glory is revealed or not depends on whether God the Holy Spirit controls your life. He indwells you, does He control you? Here is the power of the Church Age and we must always be alert to knowledge of doctrine, to application of doctrine, to discernment, and never to allow anything to replace the glory of the Holy Spirit in the life of the individual. We have a glory that is supernatural, beyond all human gimmicks, all human viewpoint, and only Bible doctrine orients us to this glory.

Verse 9 — “exceed in glory.” The word ‘exceed’ is perisseuw [peri = over; sseuw = abundance], “overabundance of glory.” This overabundance of glory is something that never occurred before, never in all of history. There can never be any greater glory in the Old Testament than the glory of the law until you get the glory Christ at the right hand of the Father, and that leads to sending another Comforter, and now we have as believers in the Church Age the super glory. There is the glory that puts the Mosaic law out of business as far as being the Christian way of life.

Verse 10 — “For even that which was made glorious” — a reference to the law, the perfect passive participle of docazw which actually means to glorify. The perfect tense means the law will always have the glory assigned to it. The passive voice: the Mosaic law receives glory. The participle indicates that God always recognises His Word, He honours the Mosaic law and He gives the Mosaic law a place. But the law cannot save.

“had no glory in this respect, by reason of the glory that excelleth” — the word for excel is u(perballw [u(per = beyond; ballw = to throw] which means to exceed beyond any imagination even, to exceed beyond excess.

The principle: The glory on the face of Moses which resulted from contact with the law was real and was temporary. So in our dispensation the glory on the face of the spiritual believer is real. Our glory is the indwelling of the Holy Spirit and it is real and permanent. There is just one problem. Is this glory going to be seen or not. It can be seen whenever you rebound and you are filled with the Spirit. By growth you stablise and get into the prolonged period of ‘in fellowship’ instead of always out, and so you have the means of revealing the glory of God. This is the glory that excelleth.

Principle: the glory without the veil. You don’t have to put down a veil. Since God has made every believer a priest and given the Holy Spirit to everyone He no longer has to have a veil. The veil is wiped out for the believer. Instead we have an inside situation. Out of fellowship we are quenching and grieving the Spirit, but it is inside, there is no veil now, and when we rebound we are filled with the Holy Spirit and the glory is apparent.

Verse 11 — “For if,” first class condition, if an it is true; “that which is done away” — katargew means to abrogate, it means that someone is unemployed according to a norm or standard [gew = to be employed; a = negative; kat = according to a norm or standard]. According to the norm or standard of grace the Mosaic law is no longer employed. The Mosaic law is out of a job to the Church but not to the human race. The Mosaic law has a glory but it is a transient glory, a fading glory, whereas the Church has a real glory that never fades. Our glory is the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. The Mosaic law is not unemployed to the unbeliever for Codex #1 of the Mosaic law teaches the unbeliever that he is a sinner and that he needs a saviour. It has a purpose, according to Romans 3:20; 1 Timothy chapter 2, and other passages dealing with functions of the Mosaic law. But the Mosaic law cannot save and never could.

“was glorious” — this should read “unemployed through glory,” dia plus the genitive of doca. The Mosaic law was unemployed through glory because in the Church Age, the intensification of the angelic conflict, there is a glory that fades it out. This is really the story of Romans 8:2-4. The Mosaic law demands perfection. God is perfect and anything that comes from God is perfect. The Mosaic law is holy, just and good; there is nothing wrong with the law but it is limited in its function. The law cannot save, it cannot provide spirituality. When a person believes in Christ God the Holy Spirit, the real glory, comes to indwell. When the believer is filled with the Spirit, and only when he is filled with the Spirit, the righteousness demanded by the law can be fulfilled in him. In other words, you can’t keep the law by trying to keep the law, you can only keep the law by the filling of the Spirit. The law had a great glory but now in the Church Age the Holy Spirit has a greater glory, a super glory, and so the super glory of the Holy Spirit outshines the glory of the law. The Christian way of life is a supernatural way of life and demands a supernatural execution. It is executed by the Holy Spirit. The glory of the Mosaic law is still there but when a greater light shines, when a greater glory comes along it supersedes, and everything that the law could do for the individual the Holy Spirit can do infinitely more. A more literal translation: “For if that which was abrogated through glory.” In other words, the glory of the Spirit-filled life abrogates the glory of the Mosaic law — Romans 8:2-4.

“much more that which remaineth” — the verb is menw which means to abide, and in the present tense it is linear aktionsart, it keeps on abiding; “much ,more that which keeps on abiding in the sphere of glory.” The glory of the law is replaced by the glory of the filling of the Spirit. The Holy Spirit is the glory outside of the veil.

Verses 12-18, the removal of the two veils.

Verse 12 — the principle of communication. “Seeing then” — o)un, which means ‘therefore.’ This goes back to verses 1-11.

O)un — “therefore”

1. In view of the glory outside of the veil (the Spirit-filled life) it becomes necessary to communicate spirituality by grace.

2. In the Old Testament doctrine was communicated through training aids — types, holy days, ritual, the structure and furniture of the tabernacle, the offerings, the modus operandi of the priesthood. Because it was presented in a ritual form the legalist doesn’t object; he does not oppose ritual. Now the ritual is all gone, we have a completed canon of scripture.

3. But with the glorification of the Lord Jesus Christ the first advent of the Holy Spirit occurred — John 7:39; 14:17.

4. Since the ministry of the Holy Spirit is to glorify Christ [John 16:14] it becomes necessary to communicate this doctrine to all believers apart from types and apart from shadows.

5. This must be accomplished by categorical teaching. However, you must first of all have exegesis before you can have doctrine presented categorically. There is no categorical presentation of doctrine apart from exegesis, and this means a verse by verse study of the Word.

6. We live in the dispensation of the completed canon of scripture by which God communicates to us. Our norm and standard is the Word.

7. The scriptures must be communicated to believers through the medium of a spiritual gift. There is really only one gift for the communication of the whole realm of doctrine — pastor-teacher. There is no other spiritual gift for communication to believers. Between the gift at the point of salvation and the beginning of the communication there are years of preparation.

8. This communication of pertinent doctrine will remove the veil which hinders spirituality in phase two.

“Therefore we keep on having such a hope [the abounding glory of a spirit-filled life].”

“we use” — xrawmai, means to employ. The Mosaic law is not employed in the Church Age for believers but speech, language, interpretation, exegesis, doctrine presented categorically is employed. So Paul says “we keep on employing.”

“great plainness of speech” — literally, ‘great boldness of speech,” speech from the immediate source of thought is the concept here: parrhsij [para = immediate source; rrhsij = speech]. Speech from the immediate source of self eventually was used for boldness, confidence, courage. The Word must be taught with confidence.

The first veil found in this passage is literal and historical, the second veil is real and historical. The first veil is the veil over the face of Moses which had to be put down to hide the fading glory of the law. The second veil is the veil over the frontal lobe over the volition of the individual who rejects Christ as saviour. This veil is lifted up and removed when a person believes in Jesus Christ, and when he believes in Christ the lifting of the veil reveals the glory of God’s grace. So the first veil has a fading glory, the second glory reveals the greater glory, the glory that belongs to the individual believer priest in the Church Age.

Verse 13 — “And not as Moses, which put a vail over his face.” Paul’s modus operandi is the antithesis of Moses. Moses had to put a veil over his face so that people could not see the fading glory — Exodus 34:30; 34:33-35. Paul uses clarity of speech so that the glory of the Spirit-filled life can be revealed. Moses had to hide a fading glory. “Moses took” — imperfect linear aktionsart. Every time he took a trip up the hill when he stopped speaking down went the veil and his face was hidden as he walked out of camp. The purpose for putting the veil over the face of Moses — “that,” introducing the purpose; “the children of Israel could not steadfastly look [with concentration].” They could look at the face of Moses while he was speaking only for a short time. The point is very simple. The Jews were fascinated by the glory on the face of Moses when he began to declare a segment of the Mosaic law. They couldn’t watch it too intently but they could glance at that glory. But the glory was transient and it would begin to fade. When Moses would complete a segment of the law the glory would begin to fade from his face. The glory of the Mosaic law was a transient glory.

“to the end” means for the purpose; “that which is abolished” — the transient glory of the Mosaic law. The transient or fading glory could not bee seen as it was removed. This first veil was designed to hide a fading glory, but the second veil obscures any possibility of glory — verses 14,15.

Verse 14 — “But their minds” is literally, ‘But their thoughts,’ nohmata, referring specifically to the thinking of the Jewish mind under the Mosaic law, but obviously for anyone. Anyone who has rejected Christ as saviour is completely cut off from God’s viewpoint. Therefore he has nohmata which is human in contrast to divine viewpoint. He has the human viewpoint of life all the way through. There is no way for him to see the divine viewpoint of life on any subject.

“were blinded” — but the word does not mean to be blinded, it means to be hardened, prwrow. It refers to scar tissue on the soul. This is an aorist tense, the were full of scar tissue. This, of course, refers to the Exodus generation originally which was negative to Bible doctrine.

“until this day” — 57 AD when 2 Corinthians was written; the same vail” — Jews with scar tissue on the soul; “remaineth untaken away [not uncovered].” We could translate this: “the same veil remains not removed.” In other words, even today when Jews hear the teaching of the Old Testament they’ve rejected the message of grace, they’ve rejected the message of the Lord Jesus Christ, they’ve rejected the plan of God clearly revealed in the Old Testament scriptures, and as they reject it scar tissue is developed on the left bank of the soul.

“in the reading of the old testament” — the word for ‘reading’ means the analysis, the exegesis of the Old Testament; “which veil can be removed” — the word ‘which’ is antecedent to the word ‘veil’ so it is all right to put the word ‘veil’ in. The veil, the scar tissue of the soul is removed when they believe in Christ.

Verse 16 — “Nevertheless” is de and should be translated “But.” This all should read “But if, when he shall be converted to the Lord.” The word “if” is a 3rd class condition, maybe he will and maybe he won’t, it depends upon his volition, his response to the gospel. If he believes he will be converted, if he doesn’t believe he will not.

“the vail shall be taken away” — the scar tissue on the left bank of the soul shall be taken away; periairew [peri = up and around; airew = to lift up]. To lift up a veil and throw it back is what it means. So a conversion is lifting up the veil over the soul and throwing it back. At the point of conversion the left bank of the soul is free of scar tissue, and at the point of conversion is the glory which will be sustained by the Spirit and by doctrine. The passive voice indicates that scar tissue receives removal by the grace of God.

Verse 17 — “Now the Lord.” The Greek says “a Lord” and it refers to one of the members of the Trinity, God the Holy Spirit. “Now a Lord is [keeps on being] that Spirit” — God the Holy Spirit is deity — kurioj.

“and where the [Holy] Spirit is, there is liberty — e)leuqeria, which means freedom, freedom to serve. It never means license, it always means freedom. It means that when you accept Christ as saviour the veil is pulled back, the glory is there, you have freedom to serve the Lord, you have freedom in His plan, freedom to operate under grace. For the first time you are able to accept something under grace. Previously it had to be earned or deserved.

Verse 18 — “But we all” refers to all believers; “with open face” — a)nakaluptw in the perfect passive. It means ‘unveiled’ here, unveiled in the past with the result that it keeps on being unveiled forever. Passive voice: we receive unveiling at the point of the cross. But with that unveiled face, just as Moses looked at God and received portions of the law, so we look at the Word and receive His glory.

“beholding as in a glass [mirror]” — the mirror represents the Word of God. The mirror is used for the Word and Bible doctrine in James 1:22-25; 2:12; 1 Corinthians 13:12. The word ‘beholding’ is katotrizw which means to look into a mirror to see what you are really like overtly. We look into this mirror to see what we are like on the inside because this mirror is the Word of God. When we look into the mirror of the Word of God we do not see ourselves, we are looking with the eyes of the soul. As Bible doctrine moves into the soul then the glory is developed. We see God in His essence, God in His person, God in His love, God in His attitude, etc. in the Word of God. So when we look into the mirror of God’s Word we see reflected back to us God in all of His glory.

“and [we] are changed” — Bible doctrine changes the believer; metamorfow is the word for changing and it means a complete and total change.

“into the same image” — what kind of an image? “from glory to glory” — from the ultimate source of glory; a)po, the preposition of ultimate source referring to doctrine; “to glory” is e)ij, the preposition of direction, “unto glory.” The direction is the perfect glory, the perfect character of God. Bible doctrine changes us on the inside, “into the same image” — the glory of God. In other words, doctrine is the thinking of God and doctrine is the glory of God. And doctrine in the soul brings out the very glory of God in the human being.

“as by the Spirit of the Lord.”