SUMMARY
Paul’s confidence resides in his hope in the Spirit of the MessiahThe Messiah was the one who, it was believed, would come to free the people of Israel from bondage and exile. In Jewish thought the Messiah is the anticipated one who will come, as prophesied by Isaiah. In Christian thought Jesus of Nazareth is identified... More who bestows freedom by removing the veil from our hardened hearts. Thus, all of us, like Moses—who with an “unveiled” face conversed with God and spoke the word of the Lord to the people—can, in turn, reflect and behold to one another the glory of the Lord, who is Messiah, God’s very WisdomWisdom encompasses the qualities of experience, knowledge, and good judgment. The Old Testament book of Proverbs, which sometimes invokes a Woman as the personification of Wisdom, is a collection of aphorisms and moral teachings. Along with other biblical passages, it teaches, "The fear of the... More written on our hearts.
ANALYSIS
PaulThe Apostle Paul, originally known as Saul of Tarsus, was the author of several New Testament letters and the founder of many Christian communities. More has hope because, as he concluded in the previous passage, his apostolic ministry is rooted in what abides and not on what passes away (2 Corinthians 3:10-11). Such hope empowers him to act with great parrēsia, a Greek word that means speaking truthfully without being beholden to special interests (2 Corinthians 3:12). Biblical writers associate such parrēsia not only with the freedom of liberated slaves from Egypt (Leviticus 26:13), but also with the forceful power of wisdom proclaimed in the streets (Proverbs 1:20) and the confidence the suffering righteousA righteous person is one who is ethical and faithful to God's covenant. Righteousness in the Old Testament is an attitude of God; in the New Testament it is a gift of God through grace. In the New Testament righteousness is a relationship with God... More will have at the final judgment as they stand in the presence of those who have oppressed them (Wisdom 5:1). Paul contrasts this hope and parrēsia with the veil MosesProphet who led Israel out of Egypt to the Promised Land and received the law at Sinai. More put on his face to protect the people from the “end” of glory that was passing away (2 Corinthians 3:13). Paul is referring here to the story of how Moses’ skin would shine (or in the Greek translation of the Bible, appear “glorified”) after he had been conversing with God. To protect the people from either being frightened or perhaps tempted to worship him because of the power and glory they saw shining on his face, Moses would put a veil on his face. But, whenever he would go in to talk with God and then speak the Lord’s commandment to the people, he would take the veil off (Exodus 34:29-35).
Paul’s contrast between his hope and parrēsia, on one side, and Moses’ veil, on the other, is to underline the point he has been making in the previous section about the ministries of Moses and the Spirit of the Messiah (2 Corinthians 3:7-11). The point of being in the Messiah is not so that we can be “glorified” with the special aura that Moses had when speaking with God, but so that we can we saved through the Spirit from death and condemnation—a point underlined by the fact that the larger context for these references to Moses is the golden calf incident. In fact, as Paul points out, even Moses veiled his face when he was not conversing with God or speaking God’s word to the people so that they would not be tempted by the “end” of a divine power not clothed in God’s word of promise and command. As Scripture avers, no one can see God and live, although like Moses, we can converse with God and thus be in a relationship (Exodus 33:20).
But the people’s minds were hardened. They did not want the word of the Lord; they only wanted the glory associated with being divine. In fact, even to this day Paul observes—as evident in the Corinthians’ own desire for leaders who imbue this kind of rarified glory—a veil remains over their hearts whenever they hear the “Moses” read (“Moses” being a reference here to the Scripture). Like the people that JeremiahProphet who condemned Judah's infidelity to God, warned of Babylonian conquest, and promised a new covenant. More referred to in his vision of the new covenantBecause Israel had broken the old covenant, the prophet Jeremiah declared that God would establish a new covenant, one that would be written on the heart. The New Testament is often referred to as the New Covenant because Jesus came to fulfill the law and... More, all they can hear is the same “old covenantA covenant is a promise or agreement. In the Bible the promises made between God and God's people are known as covenants; they state or imply a relationship of commitment and obedience. More” signified by the tablets broken after the golden calf incident (Jeremiah 31:31-32; Exodus 32:15-19). And as Scripture maintains, only the Messiah can set aside this veil that lies on their hearts and minds so that, like Moses, who remains the exemplar of what it means to be an obedient prophet and servant, they too, can turn to be in conversation with the Lord with the veil removed (2 Corinthians 3:14-16).
Paul goes on to say that the “Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom” (2 Corinthians 3:17). Throughout his letters, Paul associates the Messiah with the Lord (YHWH) and thus here he associates the Spirit he had been discussing in the previous section (2 Corinthians 3:7-11) with the Spirit of the Messiah, who brings the kind of “freedom” that only God’s word and wisdom can give (cf. the parrēsia mentioned in 3:12 and its biblical associations with God’s liberating commands and wisdom).
Given these associations, Paul concludes by addressing “all of us,” by which he means everyone, since God’s promises through the Spirit of the Messiah are for everyone—both those who still need their veil removed and those who, like Moses, have already turned to the Lord unveiled. He presents to us a vision, in line with Jeremiah’s vision of living in the “new covenant” (Jeremiah 31:31-34). What Paul hopes for is that “all of us, with unveiled faces,” might stand together and—as the Greek word (katoptrizō) implies—both reflect and behold to one another the glory of the Lord, as if in a mirror. In this image, the glory we reflect and behold to one another’s “unveiled faces” is the glory associated with the biblical figure of Wisdom, who was portrayed as a “a spotless mirror of the working of God, and an image of his goodness” (Wisdom 7:1) and who had already been associated with the TorahThe Torah is the law of Moses, also known as the first five books of the Bible. To many the Torah is a combination of history, theology, and a legal or ritual guide. More, the teaching and instruction given to Moses (Sirach 24:1-33). With this image, Paul reiterates that the point of having the Spirit of the Messiah in our lives is not so that we can glow with a special aura, an aura we then use to glorify ourselves and to compare ourselves with others so that we can establish who is superior and who is inferior. Rather, what the Spirit of the Messiah does is to justify us and give us life so that all of us can be like Moses, who with an unveiled face, not only conversed with God but also spoke the word of the Lord to the people (Exodus 34:33-34)—from the least of us to the greatest (Jeremiah 31:34).
RELATED PASSAGES
Exodus 34:29-35 — The Shining Face of Moses
Leviticus 26:9-13 — God’s Promises to the People
Jeremiah 31:31-34 — The Vision of a New Covenant
Proverbs 1:20-23 — Wisdom Cries Out in the Streets
Sirach 24:1-33 — God’s Wisdom as God’s Torah
Wisdom 5:1-4 — The Suffering Righteous at the Final Judgment
Wisdom 7:22a-30 — The Wisdom of God Personified