Notes on 2 Corinthians 3

1 Do we begin again to commend ourselves? or need we, as some others, epistles of commendation to you, or letters of commendation from you?
2 Ye are our epistle written in our hearts, known and read of all men:
3 Forasmuch 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.
4 And such trust have we through Christ to God-ward:
5 Not that we are sufficient of ourselves to think any thing as of ourselves; but our sufficiency is of God;

There is much written between the lines here.  Evidently, men were coming to the church with some sort of letters of recommendation, and expecting special treatment, or even some position or another, as a result.  It was enough of a problem that Paul felt compelled to spend a good part of this letter addressing his own credentials.  Instead of looking to some important or powerful person for a letter of introduction, he pointed out that the best possible letter they could point to was the Corinthian Christians themselves, a letter written by Christ himself.  There is an old saying that we, as Christians, are the only Bible people will ever read, because they should see him in the things we do and say.  That's Paul was saying here; the fact that the Corinthians were saved under the ministry of him and is companions is the only recommendation he needs.  He doesn't need a long list of accomplishments to make himself look important; the important one, the object of our pride, is God himself, in Christ.

6 Who 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.
7 But 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:
8 How shall not the ministration of the spirit be rather glorious?
9 For if the ministration of condemnation be glory, much more doth the ministration of righteousness exceed in glory.
10 For even that which was made glorious had no glory in this respect, by reason of the glory that excelleth.
11 For if that which is done away was glorious, much more that which remaineth is glorious.

The contrast between the glorious life of grace in the Spirit and the dead letter of life under the law is a recurring theme in Paul's writings.  The attempts of Jews, inside the church and out, to place legalistic restrictions on new converts was one of the most serious challenges he face, and his most serious problems often came from the Jews, not from Gentiles.  Whatever God does is glorious, even the temporary solution of the law as a means of maintaining the relationship between God and man.  The law could only point out that sin exists; it had no provision for salvation, only the temporary solution of the sacrificial system.  The law could only condemn someone one of sin; the Gospel is able to minister righteousness.  The law was righteousness imposed from the outside, without inward change; the working of the Spirit is righteousness that works from within toward the outside.

12 Seeing then that we have such hope, we use great plainness of speech:
13 And 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:
14 But 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.
15 But even unto this day, when Moses is read, the vail is upon their heart.
16 Nevertheless when it shall turn to the Lord, the vail shall be taken away.
17 Now the Lord is that Spirit: and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty.
18 But 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.

Spiritual blindness is not restricted to the Jews.  Most of the people today who know about Christ are so blinded by modern "scientific" attitudes and the pervading moral corruption that they have no concept of the truth.  Christians are viewed as narrow-minded bigots who won't tolerate differences of opinion.  The popular idea is that there are no moral absolutes, and that not being bound by moral restraints defines liberty.  In truth, such an attitude comes out of spiritual bondage; the only true liberty, as Paul points out, is in Jesus Christ, in the working of the Spirit.  Our whole goal as Christians is to be like Christ, to be changed from glory to glory, as Paul says.  Everything we thing, everything we say, and everything we do should be directed to that end.  That's what spiritual maturity is about, and that lifelong process is what we know as sanctification.  The sad thing is that so few Christians ever make the effort to grow in Christ, or even know what that means.  When we are saved, the veil of spiritual blindness is removed from our hearts, but most never allow the veil to be removed from their minds and understanding.