{"id":5051,"date":"2011-11-27T19:03:41","date_gmt":"2011-11-27T19:03:41","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.freedomfrommedom.com\/wp3\/?page_id=5051"},"modified":"2018-05-04T04:20:21","modified_gmt":"2018-05-04T04:20:21","slug":"what-were-all-about-2-corinthians-3-4","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.freedomfrommedom.com\/wp3\/what-were-all-about-2-corinthians-3-4","title":{"rendered":"What We Are All About: 2 Corinthians 3 & 4"},"content":{"rendered":"

Confident in the New Covenant<\/span><\/p>\n

4<\/sup>\u00a0We are confident of all this because of our great trust in God through Christ.\u00a05<\/sup>\u00a0It is not that we think we are qualified to do anything on our own. Our qualification comes from God.\u00a06<\/sup>\u00a0He has enabled us to be ministers of His new covenant. This is a covenant not of written laws, but of the Spirit. The old written covenant ends in death; but under the new covenant, the Spirit gives life.<\/span><\/p>\n

Old Way Fades Away<\/span><\/p>\n

7<\/sup>\u00a0The old way,\u00a0with laws etched in stone, led to death, though it began with such glory that the people of Israel could not bear to look at Moses\u2019 face. For His face shone with the glory of God, even though the brightness was already fading away.\u00a0<\/span>8<\/sup>\u00a0Shouldn\u2019t we expect far greater glory under the new way, now that the Holy Spirit is giving life?\u00a0<\/span>9<\/sup>\u00a0If the old way, which brings condemnation, was glorious, how much more glorious is the new way, which makes us right with God!\u00a0<\/span>10<\/sup>\u00a0In fact, that first glory was not glorious at all compared with the overwhelming glory of the new way.\u00a0<\/span>11<\/sup><\/span>\u00a0So if the old way, which has been replaced, was glorious, how much more glorious is the new, which remains forever!<\/span> <\/span><\/h5>\n

New Way Unveiled<\/span><\/p>\n

12<\/sup>\u00a0Since this new way gives us such confidence, we can be very bold.\u00a013<\/sup>\u00a0We are not like Moses, who put a veil over his face so the people of Israel would not see the glory, even though it was destined to fade away.\u00a014<\/sup>\u00a0But the people\u2019s minds were hardened, and to this day whenever the old covenant is being read, the same veil covers their minds so they cannot understand the truth. And this veil can be removed only by believing in Christ.\u00a015<\/sup>\u00a0Yes, even today when they read Moses\u2019 writings, their hearts are covered with that veil, and they do not understand.<\/span><\/p>\n

16<\/sup>\u00a0But whenever someone turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away.\u00a017<\/sup>\u00a0For the Lord is the Spirit, and wherever the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.\u00a018<\/sup>\u00a0So all of us who have had that veil removed can see and reflect the glory of the Lord. And the Lord\u2014who is the Spirit\u2014makes us more and more like Him as we are changed into His glorious image.<\/span><\/p>\n

1<\/sup>\u00a0Therefore, since God in His mercy has given us this new way,\u00a0we never give up.\u00a02<\/sup>\u00a0We reject all shameful deeds and underhanded methods. We don\u2019t try to trick anyone or distort the word of God. We tell the truth before God, and all who are honest know this.<\/span><\/p>\n

3<\/sup>\u00a0If the Good News we preach is hidden behind a veil, it is hidden only from people who are perishing.\u00a04<\/sup>\u00a0Satan, who is the god of this world, has blinded the minds of those who don\u2019t believe. They are unable to see the glorious light of the Good News. They don\u2019t understand this message about the glory of Christ, who is the exact likeness of God.<\/span><\/p>\n

5<\/sup>\u00a0You see, we don\u2019t go around preaching about ourselves. We preach that Jesus Christ is Lord, and we ourselves are your servants for Jesus\u2019 sake.\u00a06<\/sup>\u00a0For God, who said, \u201cLet there be light in the darkness,\u201d has made this light shine in our hearts so we could know the glory of God that is seen in the face of Jesus Christ.<\/span><\/p>\n

Challenged Vessels of Light<\/span><\/p>\n

7<\/sup>\u00a0We now have this light shining in our hearts, but we ourselves are like fragile clay jars containing this great treasure.\u00a0This makes it clear that our great power is from God, not from ourselves.<\/span><\/p>\n

8<\/sup>\u00a0We are pressed on every side by troubles, but we are not crushed. We are perplexed, but not driven to despair.\u00a09<\/sup>\u00a0We are hunted down, but never abandoned by God. We get knocked down, but we are not destroyed.\u00a010<\/sup>\u00a0Through suffering, our bodies continue to share in the death of Jesus so that the life of Jesus may also be seen in our bodies.<\/span><\/p>\n

11<\/sup>\u00a0Yes, we live under constant danger of death because we serve Jesus, so that the life of Jesus will be evident in our dying bodies.\u00a012<\/sup>\u00a0So we live in the face of death, but this has resulted in eternal life for you.<\/span><\/p>\n

Reaching Out… Renewed Daily<\/span><\/p>\n

13<\/sup>\u00a0But we continue to preach because we have the same kind of faith the psalmist had when he said, \u201cI believed in God, so I spoke.\u201d\u00a014<\/sup>\u00a0We know that God, who raised the Lord Jesus,\u00a0will also raise us with Jesus and present us to Himself together with you.\u00a015<\/sup>\u00a0All of this is for your benefit. And as God\u2019s grace reaches more and more people, there will be great thanksgiving, and God will receive more and more glory.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

16<\/sup>\u00a0That is why we never give up. Though our bodies are dying, our spirits are\u00a0being renewed every day.\u00a017<\/sup>\u00a0For our present troubles are small and won\u2019t last very long. Yet they produce for us a glory that vastly outweighs them and will last forever!\u00a018<\/sup>\u00a0So we don\u2019t look at the troubles we can see now; rather, we fix our gaze on things that cannot be seen. For the things we see now will soon be gone, but the things we cannot see will last forever.<\/span><\/p>\n

2 Corinthians 3:4-4:18 (NLT)<\/span><\/p>\n

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Confident in the New Covenant 4\u00a0We are confident of all this because of our great trust in God through Christ.\u00a05\u00a0It is not that we think we are qualified to do anything on our own. Our qualification comes from God.\u00a06\u00a0He has … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-5051","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.freedomfrommedom.com\/wp3\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/5051","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.freedomfrommedom.com\/wp3\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.freedomfrommedom.com\/wp3\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.freedomfrommedom.com\/wp3\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.freedomfrommedom.com\/wp3\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5051"}],"version-history":[{"count":12,"href":"https:\/\/www.freedomfrommedom.com\/wp3\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/5051\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":41155,"href":"https:\/\/www.freedomfrommedom.com\/wp3\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/5051\/revisions\/41155"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.freedomfrommedom.com\/wp3\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5051"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}