2 Corinthians 3:2 - Printer Friendly

ESV: You yourselves are our letter of recommendation, written on our hearts, to be known and read by all.

NIV: You yourselves are our letter, written on our hearts, known and read by everyone.

NASB: You are our letter, written in our hearts, known and read by all people,

CSB: You yourselves are our letter, written on our hearts, known and read by everyone.

NLT: The only letter of recommendation we need is you yourselves. Your lives are a letter written in our hearts; everyone can read it and recognize our good work among you.

KJV: Ye are our epistle written in our hearts, known and read of all men:

NKJV: You are our epistle written in our hearts, known and read by all men;

Some in Corinth had apparently questioned Paul's legitimacy as an apostle. How does an apostle, truly sent by God to represent Christ, prove he is genuine? In the ancient world, some teachers carried commendations describing their own experiences, or letters of recommendation from other qualified people.

Paul, though, insists he has an even better letter of recommendation: the Corinthian Christians themselves. The transformation in them, from pagans to followers of Jesus, is all the evidence he will ever need that his ministry as Christ's representative is the real thing. The Corinthians, above all, should be able to declare that Paul's ministry is valid. Otherwise, they would be saying that their own conversion to faith in Christ was not valid.

Paul first points not to their hearts but to his own. He has expressed his deep love for the Corinthians on multiple occasions. Here, he says they have been written on the hearts of him and of his co-workers in ministry. All who know Paul can read this letter describing his affection for the Corinthians. He also describes the transformation that is taking place among them by the power of the Holy Spirit. An obvious and positive change has taken place in him, as well as in them.

Second Corinthians 3:1–6 poetically describes the only letter of recommendation Paul needs for his legitimacy as an apostle: the Christians in Corinth. Paul and his friends delivered Christ to them. The Corinthians are a letter written by Christ not with ink but with the Holy Spirit, not on tablets of stone but on human hearts. God is the one who has empowered Paul for the ministry and who sent him and his friends into the world to do it.

Second Corinthians 3 begins with Paul's insistence that Christ's presence in the hearts of the Corinthians should be all the evidence they need that his ministry is true. He compares the limited glory revealed by the Old Covenant between God and Israel with the far greater glory revealed by Christ to all who come to Him by faith. That glory is revealed only when the veil of unbelief is removed through Christ by the Holy Spirit's power. Those who see God's glory in Christ begin to be changed to become like Him.

Earlier chapters described the Corinthians' response to Paul's earlier instructions. Here, Paul once again defends the legitimacy of his role as an apostle of Christ. He then compares the old covenant of the law of Moses with the new covenant of faith in Christ. The old covenant revealed human sinfulness, God's condemnation, and the death required to pay for sin. The new covenant brings God's forgiveness for sin to all who trust in Christ, making it possible to look on His glory and to begin to be changed by it into the image of Christ through the power of the Holy Spirit. This launches Paul into a description of the value of the gospel, in contrast to the struggles of earthly life.

Second Corinthians returns to similar themes as those Paul mentioned in his first letter to this church. Paul is glad to hear that the church in Corinth has heeded his advice. At the same time, it is necessary for Paul to counter criticisms about his personality and legitimacy. Most of this text involves that subject. The fifth chapter, in contrast, contains comforting words which Christians have quoted often in times of hardship. Paul also details his expectations that the church in Corinth will make good on their promise to contribute to the needs of suffering believers in Jerusalem.