Bible / 2 Corinthians

2 Corinthians 3

World English Bible, Catholic edition, in plain modern English. About the translations

1 Are we beginning again to commend ourselves? Or do we need, as do some, letters of commendation to you or from you?

2 You are our letter, written in our hearts, known and read by all men,

3 being revealed that you are a letter of Christ, served by us, written not with ink, but with the Spirit of the living God; not in tablets of stone, but in tablets that are hearts of flesh. CCC · Fathers

4 Such confidence we have through Christ toward God,

5 not that we are sufficient of ourselves to account anything as from ourselves; but our sufficiency is from God,

6 who also made us sufficient as servants of a new covenant, not of the letter but of the Spirit. For the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life. CCC

7 But if the service of death, written engraved on stones, came with glory, so that the children of Israel could not look steadfastly on the face of Moses for the glory of his face, which was passing away,

8 won’t service of the Spirit be with much more glory?

9 For if the service of condemnation has glory, the service of righteousness exceeds much more in glory.

10 For most certainly that which has been made glorious has not been made glorious in this respect, by reason of the glory that surpasses.

11 For if that which passes away was with glory, much more that which remains is in glory.

12 Having therefore such a hope, we use great boldness of speech,

13 and not as Moses, who put a veil on his face so that the children of Israel wouldn’t look steadfastly on the end of that which was passing away.

14 But their minds were hardened, for until this very day at the reading of the old covenant the same veil remains, because in Christ it passes away. CCC

15 But to this day, when Moses is read, a veil lies on their heart. CCC

16 But whenever someone turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away. CCC

17 Now the Lord is the Spirit; and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty. CCC

18 But we all, with unveiled face seeing the glory of the Lord as in a mirror, are transformed into the same image from glory to glory, even as from the Lord, the Spirit.

This chapter in the Catechism and the early Church

Where the Catechism of the Catholic Church cites these verses (from its footnotes on vatican.va), and where the earliest Church Fathers quote them (Ante-Nicene Fathers, vol. 1, public domain). Short quotes only; follow the links for the full text.

  1. Read the Catechism and Fathers
    • CCC 700 “The finger. "It is by the finger of God that [Jesus] cast out demons." If God's law was written on tablets of…”
    • “… hold on the flesh, he says in the same Epistle, "That ye are the epistle of Christ, ministered by us, inscribed not with ink, but with the Spirit of the living God, not in tables of stone, but in the fleshly tables of the heart.”

      Quoted in Against Heresies, Book V, St. Irenaeus of Lyons (c. AD 180), Chapter XIII. Ante-Nicene Fathers, vol. 1

  2. Read the Catechism
    • CCC 859 “Jesus unites them to the mission he received from the Father. As "the Son can do nothing of his own accord," but…”
  3. Read the Catechism
    • CCC 702 “From the beginning until "the fullness of time," The joint mission of the Father's Word and Spirit remains hidden, but it is…”
    • CCC 1094 “It is on this harmony of the two Testaments that the Paschal catechesis of the Lord is built, and then, that of…”
  4. Read the Catechism
    • CCC 1094 “It is on this harmony of the two Testaments that the Paschal catechesis of the Lord is built, and then, that of…”
  5. Read the Catechism
    • CCC 1094 “It is on this harmony of the two Testaments that the Paschal catechesis of the Lord is built, and then, that of…”
  6. Read the Catechism
    • CCC 693 “Besides the proper name of "Holy Spirit," which is most frequently used in the Acts of the Apostles and in the Epistles,…”