Ministers of the New Covenant
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1Are we beginning to commend ourselves again? Or do we need, 2as some do, 3letters of recommendation to you, or from you?
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4You yourselves are our letter of recommendation, written on oura hearts, to be known and read by all.
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And you show that you are a letter from Christ delivered by us, written not with ink but with the Spirit of 5the living God, not on 6tablets of stone but on 7tablets of 8human hearts.b
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9Such is the confidence that we have through Christ toward God.
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10Not that we are sufficient in ourselves to claim anything as coming from us, but 11our sufficiency is from God,
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who has made us competentc to be 12ministers of 13a new covenant, not of 14the letter but of the Spirit. For the letter kills, but 15the Spirit gives life.
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Now if 16the ministry of death, carved in letters on stone, came with such glory 17that the Israelites could not gaze at Moses' face because of its glory, which was being brought to an end,
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will not the ministry of the Spirit have even more glory?
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For if there was glory in 18the ministry of condemnation, 19the ministry of righteousness must far exceed it in glory.
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Indeed, in this case, what once had glory has come to have no glory at all, because of the glory that surpasses it.
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For if what was being brought to an end came with glory, much more will what is permanent have glory.
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Since we have such a hope, 20we are very bold,
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not like Moses, 21who 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.
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But 22their minds were 23hardened. For to this day, 24when they read 25the old covenant, that same veil remains unlifted, because only through Christ is it taken away.
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Yes, to this day whenever Moses is read a veil lies over their hearts.
The English Standard Version is published with the permission of Good News Publishers.
(English Standard Version - The Holy Bible Online)