3 manifested that ye are a letter of Christ ministered by us, written not with ink, but with the Spirit of the living God, not in the tablets of stone, but in fleshy tablets of the heart,
And I have given to them one heart, And a new spirit I do give in your midst, And I have turned the heart of stone out of their flesh, And I have given to them a heart of flesh.
For this `is' the covenant that I make, With the house of Israel, after those days, An affirmation of Jehovah, I have given My law in their inward part, And on their heart I do write it, And I have been to them for God, And they are to me for a people.
and Simon Peter answering said, `Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God.'
Let not kindness and truth forsake thee, Bind them on thy neck, Write them on the tablet of thy heart,
for they themselves concerning us do declare what entrance we had unto you, and how ye did turn unto God from the idols, to serve a living and true God,
and what agreement to the sanctuary of God with idols? for ye are a sanctuary of the living God, according as God said -- `I will dwell in them, and will walk among `them', and I will be their God, and they shall be My people,
My soul thirsted for God, for the living God, When do I enter and see the face of God?
To do Thy pleasure, my God, I have delighted, And Thy law `is' within my heart.
And Jehovah saith unto Moses, `Hew for thyself two tables of stone like the first, and I have written on the tables the words which were on the first tables which thou hast broken;
`And to the messenger of the assembly of the Laodiceans write: These things saith the Amen, the witness -- the faithful and true -- the chief of the creation of God;
And to the messenger of the assembly in Sardis write: These things saith he who is having the Seven Spirits of God, and the seven stars: I have known thy works, and that thou hast the name that thou dost live, and thou art dead;
`And to the messenger of the assembly of Thyatira write: These things saith the Son of God, who is having his eyes as a flame of fire, and his feet like to fine brass;
`And to the messenger of the assembly of the Smyrneans write: These things saith the First and the Last, who did become dead and did live;
`To the messenger of the Ephesian assembly write: These things saith he who is holding the seven stars in his right hand, who is walking in the midst of the seven lamp-stands -- the golden:
how much more shall the blood of the Christ (who through the age-during Spirit did offer himself unblemished to God) purify your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?
for even if there are those called gods, whether in heaven, whether upon earth -- as there are gods many and lords many -- yet to us `is' one God, the Father, of whom `are' the all things, and we to Him; and one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom `are' the all things, and we through Him; but not in all men `is' the knowledge, and certain with conscience of the idol, till now, as a thing sacrificed to an idol do eat `it', and their conscience, being weak, is defiled. But victuals do not commend us to God, for neither if we may eat are we in advance; nor if we may not eat, are we behind; but see, lest this privilege of yours may become a stumbling-block to the infirm, for if any one may see thee that hast knowledge in an idol's temple reclining at meat -- shall not his conscience -- he being infirm -- be emboldened to eat the things sacrificed to idols,
And I have sprinkled over you clean water, And ye have been clean; From all your uncleannesses, and from all your idols, I do cleanse you. And I have given to you a new heart, And a new spirit I give in your midst, And I have turned aside the heart of stone out of your flesh, And I have given to you a heart of flesh. And My Spirit I give in your midst, And I have done this, so that in My statutes ye walk, And My judgments ye keep, and have done them.
The sin of Judah is written with a pen of iron, With the point of a diamond, Graven on the tablet of their heart, And on the horns of your altars,
And Jehovah `is' a God of truth, He `is' a living God, and a king age-during, From His wrath shake doth the earth, And nations endure not His indignation.
And David speaketh unto the men who are standing by him, saying, `What is done to the man who smiteth this Philistine, and hath turned aside reproach from Israel? for who `is' this uncircumcised Philistine that he hath reproached the ranks of the living God?'
and Joshua saith, `By this ye know that the living God `is' in your midst, and He doth certainly dispossess from before you the Canaanite, and the Hittite, and the Hivite, and the Perizzite, and the Girgashite, and the Amorite, and the Jebusite:
From before me is made a decree, that in every dominion of my kingdom they are trembling and fearing before the God of Daniel, for He `is' the living God, and abiding to the ages, and His kingdom that which `is' not destroyed, and His dominion `is' unto the end.
Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Matthew Henry Commentary » Commentary on 2 Corinthians 3
Commentary on 2 Corinthians 3 Matthew Henry Commentary
Chapter 3
The apostle makes an apology for his seeming to commend himself, and is careful not to assume too much to himself, but to ascribe all praise unto God (v. 1-5). He then draws a comparison between the Old Testament and the New, and shows the excellency of the later above the former (v. 6-11), whence he infers what is the duty of gospel ministers, and the advantage of those who live under the gospel above those who lived under the law (v. 12-18).
2Cr 3:1-5
In these verses,
2Cr 3:6-11
Here the apostle makes a comparison between the Old Testament and the New, the law of Moses and the gospel of Jesus Christ, and values himself and his fellow-labourers by this, that they were able ministers of the New Testament, that God had made them so, v. 6. This he does in answer to the accusations of false teachers, who magnify greatly the law of Moses.
2Cr 3:12-18
In these verses the apostle draws two inferences from what he had said about the Old and New Testament:-