1Do we begin again to commend ourselves ? or need we , as some others , epistles of commendation to you , or letters of commendation from you ? 2Ye are our epistle written in our hearts , known and read of all men : 3Forasmuch as ye are manifestly declared to be the epistle of Christ ministered by us , written not with ink , but with the Spirit of the living God ; not in tables of stone , but in fleshy tables of the heart . 4And such trust have we through Christ to God-ward : 5Not that we are sufficient of ourselves to think any thing as of ourselves ; but our sufficiency is of God ; 6Who also hath made us able ministers of the new testament ; not of the letter , but of the spirit : for the letter killeth , but the spirit giveth life .
The Glory of the New Covenant
7But if the ministration of death , written and engraven in stones , was glorious , so that the children of Israel could not stedfastly behold the face of Moses for the glory of his countenance ; which glory was to be done away : 8How shall not the ministration of the spirit be rather glorious ? 9For if the ministration of condemnation be glory , much more doth the ministration of righteousness exceed in glory . 10For even that which was made glorious had no glory in this respect , by reason of the glory that excelleth . 11For if that which is done away was glorious , much more that which remaineth is glorious . 12Seeing then that we have such hope , we use great plainness of speech :
The Boldness of the New Covenant Ministry
13And not as Moses , which put a vail over his face , that the children of Israel could not stedfastly look to the end of that which is abolished : 14But their minds were blinded : for until this day remaineth the same vail untaken away in the reading of the old testament ; which vail is done away in Christ . 15But even unto this day , when Moses is read , the vail is upon their heart . 16Nevertheless when it shall turn to the Lord , the vail shall be taken away . 17Now the Lord is that Spirit : and where the Spirit of the Lord is , there is liberty . 18But we all , with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord , are changed into the same image from glory to glory , even as by the Spirit of the Lord .