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Ministers of a New Covenant

¹ Are we starting to ^(C1)commend ourselves again? Or do we need, like some false teachers, ^(C2)letters of recommendation to you or from you? No!^2 (C1)You are our letter of recommendation, written in our hearts, recognized and read by everyone.³ You show that you are a letter from Christ, ^(C1)delivered by us, written not with ink but with the Spirit of the ^(C2)living God, not on ^(C3)tablets of stone but on ^(C4)tablets of ^(C5)human hearts. ^(VR1)

⁴ Such is the ^(C1)confidence and steadfast reliance and absolute trust that we have through Christ toward God.⁵ Not that we are sufficiently qualified in ourselves to claim anything as coming from us, but ^(C1)our sufficiency and qualifications come from God.⁶ He has qualified us making us sufficient as ^(C1)ministers of a ^(C2)new covenant of salvation through Christ, not of ^(C3)the letter of a written code but of the Spirit; for the letter of the Law kills by revealing sin and demanding obedience, but ^(C4)the Spirit gives life. ^(VR1)

⁷ Now if the ^(C1)ministry of death, engraved ^(C2)in letters on stones the covenant of the Law which led to death because of sin, came with such glory and splendor ^(C3)that the Israelites were not able to look steadily at the face of Moses because of its glory, a brilliance that was fading, ^(VR1)8 how will the ministry of the Spirit the new covenant which allows us to be Spirit-filled fail to be even more glorious and splendid?⁹ For if ^(C1)the ministry that brings condemnation the old covenant, the Law has glory, how much more does glory overflow in the ^(C2)ministry that brings righteousness the new covenant which declares believers free of guilt and sets them apart for God's special purpose!¹⁰ Indeed, what had glory the Law, in this case no longer has glory because of the glory that surpasses it the gospel.¹¹ For if that Law which fades away came with glory, how much more must that gospel which remains and is permanent abide in glory and splendor!

^12 (C1)Since we have such a glorious hope and confident expectation, ^(C2)we speak with great courage,¹³ and we are not like Moses, ^(C1)who used to put a veil over his face so that the Israelites would not gaze at the end of the glory which was fading away.¹⁴ But in fact their minds were ^(C1)hardened for they had lost the ability to understand; for until this very day at the ^(C2)reading of ^(C3)the old covenant the same veil remains unlifted, because it is removed only in Christ.¹⁵ But to this day whenever Moses is read, a veil of blindness lies over their heart;^16 (C1)but whenever a person turns in repentance and faith to the Lord, the veil is taken away.¹⁷ Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where ^(C1)the Spirit of the Lord is, ^(C2)there is liberty emancipation from bondage, true freedom. ^(VR1)18 And we all, with unveiled face, continually ^(C1)seeing as in a mirror the ^(C2)glory of the Lord, are progressively being ^(C3)transformed into His image from one degree of glory to even more glory, which comes from ^(C4)the Lord, who is the Spirit.