2Corinthians:3

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* Are we beginning to commend ourselves again ? Or do we need , as some do , letters of recommendation to you , or from you ? * You yourselves are our letter , written in our hearts , known and read by all men . * 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 carnal hearts . * Such is the confidence that we have through Christ toward God . * Not that we are competent of ourselves to claim anything as coming from ourselves ; but our competence is from God , * who has made us competent as ministers of a new covenant , not of the letter but of the Spirit ; for the letter kills , but the Spirit gives life . * Now if the ministry that brought death , which was engraved in letters on stone , came with glory , so that the Israelites could not look steadily at the face of Moses because of its glory , fading though it was , * will not the ministry of the Spirit be even more glorious ? * For if the ministry of condemnation has glory , much more does the ministry of righteousness exceed it in glory . * For indeed what had glory , in this case has no glory because of the glory that surpasses it . * For if what was fading away came with glory , much more is the glory of that which lasts . * Therefore , since we have such a hope , we are very bold . * We are not like Moses , who would put a veil over his face to keep the Israelites from gazing at the end of the radiance that was fading away . * But their minds were hardened ; for to this day , when they read the old covenant , the same veil remains unlifted , because only in Christ is it removed . * Even to this day when Moses is read , a veil lies over their hearts . * But whenever a person turns to the Lord , the veil is taken away . * Now the Lord is the Spirit , and where the Spirit of the Lord is , there is freedom . * And we all , with unveiled face , beholding the glory of the Lord , are being transformed into his likeness from one degree of glory to another , for this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit .

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