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2 Corinthians 3:1-3
New Catholic Bible
2 Corinthians 3:1-3
New Catholic Bible
Chapter 3
A Letter from God.[a] 1 Are we beginning once again to commend ourselves to you? Surely, as is true in some cases, we do not need letters of recommendation to you or from you. 2 You yourselves are our letter, one that is written on our hearts, so that it may be known and read by all. 3 And you make it clear that you are a letter from Christ entrusted to our care, a letter written not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God, and written not on tablets of stone[b] but on tablets of the human heart.
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- 2 Corinthians 3:1 Preachers are circulating, exhibiting and collecting their letters of credibility from one Church to another. But how futile are merely human recommendations and written documents! The apostolate is attested by one’s life. The existence of the community of Corinth and the Spirit’s action in it certify that Paul and his coworkers have been chosen by God. This is the new covenant announced by the Prophets that inserts itself into the lives of individuals and peoples (see Jer 31:31-33; Ezek 11:19; 36:26).
For the first time in Christian literature, the idea of a “New Covenant” and the term itself make their appearance, and a clear distinction is drawn between the two Testaments. Paul has understood that there has been a radical change: from the letter to the Spirit, from the written book to the live hearts of human beings. - 2 Corinthians 3:3 Tablets of stone: a reference to the Law given on Sinai (see Ex 24:12).
