[Esaias]

Originally Posted by Tithesmeister

Paul’s interpretation of the veil covering Moses’ face.

[11] For if that which is done away was glorious, much more that which remaineth is glorious.
[12] Seeing then that we have such hope, we use great plainness of speech:
[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.
[15] But even unto this day, when Moses is read, the vail is upon their heart.
[16] Nevertheless when it shall turn to the Lord, the vail shall be taken away.

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. And such trust have we through Christ to God-ward: Not that we are sufficient of ourselves to think any thing as of ourselves; but our sufficiency is of God; 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. 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: How shall not the ministration of the spirit be rather glorious? For if the ministration of condemnation be glory, much more doth the ministration of righteousness exceed in glory. For even that which was made glorious had no glory in this respect, by reason of the glory that excelleth. For if that which is done away was glorious, much more that which remaineth is glorious. Seeing then that we have such hope, we use great plainness of speech: 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: 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. But even unto this day, when Moses is read, the vail is upon their heart. Nevertheless when it shall turn to the Lord, the vail shall be taken away. Now the Lord is that Spirit: and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty. 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.
(2Co 3:3-18)

V. 3 identifies the Christians as epistles of Christ written by the Spirit on the heart, just like here:

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.
(Jer 31:33)

And here:

A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh. And I will put my spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes, and ye shall keep my judgments, and do them.
(Eze 36:26-27)

V. 6 Is about the superiority of the new covenant over the old, as here:

For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh: That the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. For they that are after the flesh do mind the things of the flesh; but they that are after the Spirit the things of the Spirit. For to be carnally minded is death; but to be spiritually minded is life and peace. Because the carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be. So then they that are in the flesh cannot please God. But ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you. Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his.
(Rom 8:3-9)

V. 7 speaks of the glory of God revealed to Moses during his time in the mountain when he received the divine law of God to give to the people. The glory was so great that the people, as usual, couldn't handle it. Just as they couldn't handle hearing the voice of God speaking, and so asked Moses to go up and speak with God for them, they couldn't stand to see the glory of God that reflected in Moses' face. So he had to put a vail over his face to cover up the glory. This shows that while people are without Christ, but merely in an old covenant relationship with God, based upon the mere letter of the law written on tables of stone, and NOT having been circumcised in heart and regenerated by the Spirit of Christ, the glory of God is vailed and hidden from them. This old covenant glory (the glory of God reflected in the old covenant) was to be done away with (as per Jeremiah previously quoted) to make way for the new covenant.

V.8 is saying the new covenant glory (the glory of God shining in and through Christ) is better and more glorious than the old.

V.9 is saying the old covenant was a ministration of condemnation, it could only identify sin and condemn it, it could not produce righteousness in the heart, meaning it could not in itself cause people to be righteous and cause them to be like God. This of course is exactly what Jeremiah and Ezekiel were talking about, and which Paul reaffirmed in Romans 8 (see above).

V. 10-11 are saying the glory of the old covenant as awesome as it was has no comparison to the glory of the new, which is the ministration of righteousness (according to verse 9). That is, the old covenant has no grounds for boasting because it could not produce righteousness, whereas the new covenant DOES have the ground for boasting because it DOES produce righteousness. Again, see Romans 8.

V. 12-13 shows that Gospel preaching is the undiluted testimony of the unvailed glory of God revealed in Christ, and is NOT like the enactment of the old covenant which required a vail over Moses' face.

V. 14 points out the people were blinded (actually, per the Greek, "hardened") at Sinai. As proven by their repeated apostasies during the time in the wilderness, as mentioned here:

Harden not your heart, as in the provocation, and as in the day of temptation in the wilderness: When your fathers tempted me, proved me, and saw my work. Forty years long was I grieved with this generation, and said, It is a people that do err in their heart, and they have not known my ways: Unto whom I sware in my wrath that they should not enter into my rest.
(Psa 95:8-11)

V. 14-15 further states that this hardness of heart continues even up to Paul's time. That is, the Jews were generally hard hearted and "uncircumcised in heart" not only at Sinai and in the wilderness, but all through their history up to Paul's day. They read the old covenant scriptures and their hardened hearts prevent them from seeing the glory of God, that is, they remain uncircumcised in heart and void of true understanding. BUT that blindness or hardness is taken away in Christ, that is, by hearing and believing in Christ and entering the new covenant and being regenerated the hardness of heart is removed and one is no longer blind to the glory of God revealed in Christ.

V. 16-18 declares that when the heart turns to Christ the vail is taken away, that is, the hardness of the heart or the blindness toward God is removed, by the Spirit, so that Christians perceive the true goodness of God and all His moral perfections in an experiential life changing way.

This exact same dichotomy between unregenerate Judean and regenerated (even gentile) Christian is expressed by Paul in Romans 2:

For when the Gentiles, which have not the law, do by nature the things contained in the law, these, having not the law, are a law unto themselves: Which shew the work of the law written in their hearts, their conscience also bearing witness, and their thoughts the mean while accusing or else excusing one another;
(Rom 2:14-15)

And again:

Therefore if the uncircumcision keep the righteousness of the law, shall not his uncircumcision be counted for circumcision? And shall not uncircumcision which is by nature, if it fulfil the law, judge thee, who by the letter and circumcision dost transgress the law? For he is not a Jew, which is one outwardly; neither is that circumcision, which is outward in the flesh: But he is a Jew, which is one inwardly; and circumcision is that of the heart, in the spirit, and not in the letter; whose praise is not of men, but of God.
(Rom 2:26-29)

Paul's argument in 2 Cor 3 is the superiority of the new covenant in Christ compared to the inferiority of the old covenant in Moses, due to the lack of moral and spiritual change wrought in the hearts of men by the latter and the evident proven moral and spiritual change wrought in the hearts of men by the former. The old covenant could not produce righteousness because it's adherents were not regenerated, but were instead hard-hearted and "blinded" to the glory of God. The new covenant however is able to produce righteousness because the new covenant effects actual regeneration in the hearts of men and women. The fact the abridged passage was brought up in a thread discussing the ten commandments suggests perhaps that some might take Paul's words about the superiority of the new covenant over the old covenant to mean that as Christians we are no longer under any moral obligation to obey God's commandments. Nothing could be further from the truth, however. Paul repeatedly explains the old covenant is inferior precisely because it does not produce sincere obedience to God from the heart, whereas the new covenant actually does through regeneration by the Spirit of Christ. The issue is not about the moral commandments of God and our moral obligations to God, but about which covenant is able to secure God-manifestation in human nature. Christ is God manifest in the flesh. We are to be conformed to His image and likeness. Which means we are to manifest God in our flesh as well. That is to say, our lives are to reflect the spiritual, moral, and ethical character and nature of God. He is our Father, we are His children, therefore we are to be made "in His image, after His likeness". We are to be little versions of Him, if you will. This means our lives are to be conformed to His will, which is expressed through His commandments, His Word. This will only occur by being born again, regenerated by His Spirit, so that Christ is FORMED IN US. So that we can say it is not we who live, but Christ Who lives through us.