Ministers of the New Covenant

¹qAre we beginning to commend ourselves again? Or do we need, ras some do, sletters of recommendation to you, or from you? ²tYou yourselves are our letter of recommendation, written on our1 hearts, to be known and read by all. ³And you show that you are a letter from Christ delivered by us, written not with ink but with the Spirit of uthe living God, not on vtablets of stone but on wtablets of xhuman hearts.2

⁴ySuch is the confidence that we have through Christ toward God. ⁵zNot that we are sufficient in ourselves to claim anything as coming from us, but aour sufficiency is from God, ⁶who has made us sufficient to be bministers of ca new covenant, not of dthe letter but of the Spirit. For the letter kills, but ethe Spirit gives life.

⁷Now if fthe ministry of death, carved in letters on stone, came with such glory gthat the Israelites could not gaze at Moses' face because of its glory, which was being brought to an end, ⁸will not the ministry of the Spirit have even more glory? ⁹For if there was glory in hthe ministry of condemnation, ithe ministry of righteousness must far exceed it in glory. ¹⁰Indeed, in this case, what once had glory has come to have no glory at all, because of the glory that surpasses it. ¹¹For if what was being brought to an end came with glory, much more will what is permanent have glory.

¹²Since we have such a hope, jwe are very bold, ¹³not like Moses, kwho would put a veil over his face so that the Israelites might not gaze at the outcome of what was being brought to an end. ¹⁴But ltheir minds were mhardened. For to this day, nwhen they read othe old covenant, that same veil remains unlifted, because only through Christ is it taken away. ¹⁵Yes, to this day whenever Moses is read a veil lies over their hearts. ¹⁶But when pone3 turns to the Lord, qthe veil is removed. ¹⁷Now the Lord4 is the Spirit, and where rthe Spirit of the Lord is, there is sfreedom. ¹⁸And we all, with unveiled face, tbeholding uthe glory of the Lord,5 vare being transformed into the same image wfrom one degree of glory to another.6 For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit.