[1] Are we beginning to commend ourselves again? Or do we need, as some do,
letters of recommendation to you, or from you? [2] You yourselves are our
letter of recommendation, written on your hearts, to be known and read by
all men; [3] and you show that you are a letter from Christ delivered by
us, written not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God, not on
tablets of stone but on tablets of human hearts. [4] Such is the confidence
that we have through Christ toward God. [5] Not that we are competent of
ourselves to claim anything as coming from us; our competence is from God,
[6] who has made us competent to be ministers of a new covenant, not in a
written code but in the Spirit; for the written code kills, but the Spirit
gives life. [7] Now if the dispensation of death, carved in letters on
stone, came with such splendor that the Israelites could not look at Moses'
face because of its brightness, fading as this was, [8] will not the
dispensation of the Spirit be attended with greater splendor? [9] For if
there was splendor in the dispensation of condemnation, the dispensation of
righteousness must far exceed it in splendor. [10] Indeed, in this case,
what once had splendor has come to have no splendor at all, because of the
splendor that surpasses it. [11] For if what faded away came with splendor,
what is permanent must have much more splendor. [12] Since we have such a
hope, we are very bold, [13] not like Moses, who put a veil over his face
so that the Israelites might not see the end of the fading splendor. [14]
But their minds were hardened; for to this day, when they read the old
covenant, that same veil remains unlifted, because only through Christ is
it taken away. [15] Yes, to this day whenever Moses is read a veil lies
over their minds; [16] but when a man turns to the Lord the veil is
removed. [17] Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord
is, there is freedom. [18] And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the
glory of the Lord, are being changed into his likeness from one degree of
glory to another; for this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit.
