Jesus was the veil remover

JESUS WAS THE VEIL REMOVER
EDITED BY GLENN PEASE
2 Corinthians3:14-15 14Buttheir minds were made
dull, for to this day the same veil remains when the old
covenantis read. It has not been removed, because
only in Christis it taken away. 15Evento this day
when Moses is read, a veil covers their hearts.
BIBLEHUB RESOURCES
Boldness Of Speech;The Two Ministries; From "glory To Glory."
2 Corinthians 3:12-18
C. Lipscomb
Dwelling on the superior excellence ofthe gospel, it was natural for the apostle
to speak of his hopefulness (such hope) and of the effect thereofon his
ministry. He had spokenof his trust (ver. 4), and now he expresses the hope
which filled his soul from "the intervening vision of the glory of his work"
(Stanley) and its future results. He uses "greatplainness of speech" -
unreservedness, without disguise, boldness (the last conveying his meaning
most fully). The "able ministers of the new covenant" were also bold, having
no reasonfor concealment, but every reasonfor openness and candour. From
the beginning of the Spirit's dispensationthis boldness had characterized

apostolic preaching. St. Peter, who had shownsuch cowardice in the high
priest's palace, evincedthe utmost fearlessnessatPentecost. Itwas a spectacle
of wonder to the Sanhedrim. "When they saw the boldness of Peterand
John... they marvelled;" and what was the explanation of their courage?
"They took knowledge ofthem that they had been with Jesus." Immediately
thereafterwe hear of prayer offeredby the Church that "with all boldness"
they may speak God's Word. Boldness, atthat time, was a virtue in request,
and not one of the apostles failedto meet its requisitions. At this point the
contrastbetweenthe Law and the gospelpresents a new aspect. Moses had
veiled his face, "that the children of Israel could not steadfastlylook to the
end of that which is abolished." The veil concealedthe evanescence ofthe
brightness and was symbolic of that judicial blindness which fell upon Israel.
"Their minds were blinded," or hardened, so that their perceptions were not
in accordancewith facts;impressibility was lost, feeling was callous. "Until
this day remaineth the same veil untaken away in the reading of the Old
Testament." The punishment continued. What were the old Scriptures but a
sealedbook to most of the Jews in the apostle's day? and now, after eighteen
centuries, how palpable to us the confirmation of his words in the ignorance
and the delusions of the Jews touching the spiritual import of their sacred
books!"Until this day" has a meaning for us it could not have had to St.
Paul's contemporaries. Time has done nothing or next to nothing to remove
the darkness enveloping Jewishmind. Shrewd, intelligent, sagacious,in
everything else;distinguished on nearly every arena of commercialand
professionallife; often foremostamong men in matters as widely separatedas
music and statesmanship; - they yet present the strangestofcontrarieties in
adhesionto prejudices almost two thousand years old, and that too while
evincing an adaptiveness to every form of civilization and to all the
modifications going on in the current activities of the age. Find them where
you may, they are pliant to circumstances, Nota national mould can be
mentioned in which their external charactercannotbe cast, and yet, while this
plasticity is such that we have Russian, Italian, German, Spanish, French,
English, American, Jews, andwithal the individual nationality apparent, there
is the same religious blindness of which St. Paul wrote long ago. Their land,
homes, institutions, the objects that come before us when we think of Judaea
and Galilee, have passedfrom their grasp;but they hold fast to the shreds of

their ancient beliefs, nor canany power relax their hold. Now, surely, this is
inexplicable on the ordinary grounds of human experience. No law of the
mind, no law of society, canexplain the phenomenon. Such a spectacleas the
Jews presentof retaining their attachment and devotion to a skeletonreligion,
from which the soul has departed, is unique in the world's history. St. Paul
solves the enigma; it is providential, it is punitive; "until this day the veil is
untaken away." Two statements follow:
(1) the "veil is done awayin Christ;"
(2) but, though done awayin Christ, "evenunto this day, when Moses [his
writings] is read, the veil is upon their heart."
Only in and through Christ have we the powerto see Christ in the Old
Testament. Only in Christ risen and glorified, only in him as sending the Holy
Ghost, can we understand the relations of Moses to the gospel. "Thenopened
he their understanding, that they might understand the Scriptures" - a post-
resurrectionmatter altogetherand coincident with the preliminary gift of the
Holy Ghostduring the forty days. Yet, while asserting that Moses has been
unveiled, and that his testimony to Christ, as the end of the Law to every
believer, has been made clearand simple, nevertheless, the veil remains. The
idea would seemto be, "The veil remains not takenaway in the reading of the
old covenant, it not being unveiled to them that it (the old covenant) is done
awayin Christ" (note in Lange's 'Commentary'). But was there not room for
hope? Already, in thousands of cases,the veil had been removed. A blinder
and more rabid Pharisee than St. Paul lived not in Jerusalem, and he had had
the veil taken away. The work was going on. One day it would be completed
and Israelwould know her Messiah. "Whenit shall turn to the Lord, the veil
shall be taken away." We, in the present day, read this third chapter of the
SecondCorinthians in a fuller light than even our immediate ancestors. The
events of the nineteenth century have shownus how near the Jews are to the
heart of Providence. Takenas a body of people, they are advancing in wealth,
in culture, in certain elements of socialpower, at a rate beyond the average

progress ofraces. Christian thinkers cannotlook at these facts without seeing
much more than material prosperity. Providence is the historic antecedentof
the Spirit. The prophets of God in our age are not Elijahs and Elishas, but
events that revolutionize thought and silently change the hearts of nations.
But this turning to the Lord (ver. 16)must be explained as to its Divine Agent,
and the nature, thoroughness, and growing excellenceofthe work be set forth.
Its Divine Agent. He is the Holy Ghost. Not only did Christ teachthat he
depended on the Holy Spirit for his anointing as the Messiah, and that the
unction proceeding thence was the strength and inspiration of his earthly
work ("The Spirit of the Lord is upon me"); not only did he refer everything
to the fulness of the Spirit in him ("I do nothing of myself"); not only did he
wait for its baptismal descentupon him before entering on his ministry, and'
acknowledge his presence in his miracles and teaching ("If I castout devils by
the Spirit of God," etc.;"The words I speak unto you, I speak not of myself");
but, in the most solemn hours of his existence, deathjust at hand, he taught
the disciples to expectthe Spirit as his gift, stating what would be his offices as
Remembrancer, Convincer, Witness, Glorifier, and in all the Comforter. This
was to be their outfit for discipling all nations, for victory over themselves as
to all self-seeking andself-furthering emotions, for triumph over all opposing
forces. This was to be the means of realizing him as their glorified Lord, so
that they should know him no more after the flesh, but after the Spirit. Now,
we must not fail to notice that we are indebted to St. Paul for a very full
portrayal of the actual work of the Spirit in the Church. One may call him the
historian of the Spirit, the thinker who, under God, discernedhis blessed
operations in their variety and compass, the writer who put them on record
for the illumination of the Church in all ages, the man who laid bare his own
soul in extremities of sorrow and in moments of supreme happiness so that we
might have his theologyof the Holy Ghostin its experimental results. From
him, then, we have not only the completestdoctrinal instruction on this most
vital subject, but likewise the flesh-and-blood view superinduced upon the
anatomy of theologicaltruth; witness this third chapter: yet this is only one
among his many-sided presentations el this topic. Observe, however, this
chapter fills a specialplace in his system of teaching. Step by step he had been
approaching a point at which he could demonstrate the pre-eminent
excellence ofthe gospel. Charity had been delineated once and forever;the

resurrectionhad been argued on a method and in a manner unusual with
him; so too the economy of the Church as a societydivinely planned. In this
third chapter all his prominent ideas coalescein one greatmastertruth, viz.
the dispensationof the gospelas the ministry of the Spirit. The phrase,
"ministry of the Spirit," is itself remarkable. It includes, in a certainsense, the
ministry of Moses, while differentiating the old covenantfrom the new. It
takes in all ministries, apostolic, ordinary, and the numerous kinds of the
ordinary. If we have lostsome of these as they existedin St. Paul's day, how
many have we gainedas original to later times and generic to circumstances
calledinto existence by England and America in the eighteenthcentury - the
century of a constellation of epochs in the firmament of history? "Now the
Lord is that Spirit." Everywhere, in everything, the Lord Jesus Christis the
Dispenserof its manifold influence. "Being by the right hand of God exalted,
and having receivedof the Father the promise of the Holy Ghost, he hath shed
forth this, which ye now see and hear." It is the doctrine of Pentecost. It is the
miracle and grandeur of Pentecost. YetSt. Peterdoes little more than state
the fact. The doctrinal elaborationwaits for St. Paul, and these two Epistles
furnish the opportunity. Nature, thoroughness, and growing excellenceofthe
Spirit's work. It is liberty. "Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty."
Liberty from the pedagogyof the Law; liberty from the tyranny of the carnal
intellect; liberty from that national domination which in the case ofthe Jews
offered such a solid resistance to the gospel;liberty from Gentile idolatry;
liberty from every agencythat wrought evil in the soul of man. "if the Son
therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed." But it was the glorified
Son who was to make men free by communicating the Holy Ghost. It is a
revelation of God in Christ and Christ in the Spirit of the consciousness and
conscienceofmen, and therefore thorough. It addresseshis consciousness as
one who has the capacityto think, feel, judge; and it addresseshis conscience
as to how he should think, feel, judge, as touching his obligations and as
enforcing them by an immortality of rewardor punishment. By the truth of
the gospel, by the Spirit accompanying that truth and rendering it effective,
consciousnessis enlightened, cultivated, enlarged. The man sees much in
himself he never saw before. And his moral sense or conscience,that mightiest
of the instincts, is instructed and guided so as to represent the Spirit. It is in
the soula Remembrancer, a Convincer, a Witness, a Glorifier of Christ, a

Comforter. And under this twofold development which is brought into unity
by the Spirit of truth and love, the work of grace extends to all the man's
faculties. The intellect, the moral sensibilities, the socialaffections, lift up the
physical man into themselves, and grow togetherinto the spiritual man. Not
an appetite, not a passion, not an attribute, of body or soul is left neglected.
The ideal is "body, soul, and spirit" consecratedto Christ, living, working,
suffering, so that" whatsoeverye do in word or deed, do all in the Name of the
Lord Jesus." And its growing excellence is seenin this, that in harmony with
its freedom and its development of spiritual consciousnessand conscience,it
has an unveiled face. The eye is open and unhindered. Nothing intervenes
betweenit and the glory of the Lord. True, it sees only in a mirror; it sees by
reflection; it sees the image merely - the image of God in Christ, the image of
humanity in Christ, the God Man, the one perfect Man of the human race. We
see him in the New Testament, in the Gospels and Epistles, in the Acts of the
Apostles and in the Apocalypse, the acts of Providence future and final. We
see him in all his relations and aspects - the babe of Mary, the boy of
Nazareth, the carpenter's son, the public Man, Teacher, Benefactor, Healer,
Helper, Friend. Every page of the New Testamentis as a burnished surface
whereonhe is presentedto the eye of faith as a manifestation of God's
righteousness andlove, while he exhibits also the guilt and condemnation of
man. "The glory of the Lord" is thus brought to view amidst the scenesand
circumstances that instruct us in daily life. It is on a level with our
comprehension. It finds the same kind of access to our sympathies that human
qualities have in ordinary intercourse. "Ibeseechthee, show me thy glory,"
was the prayer of Moses, andthe Lord answeredand made all his goodness
pass before him. What Christ's glory was in Moses, in the Psalms and
prophecies, in his incarnation and atoning death, in his glorification;what it
has been, is now, and will be; - all this we have in the Scriptures of the Spirit
and in his Divine offices to sanctify the Word. If we behold as in a mirror, is
the image distorted, confused, inoperative, ineffective? Nay; it is with "open
face" that we look, and the result is we "are changedinto the same image
from glory to glory." Faith is the organof vision, and faith is essentially
transforming by its power to make what is an objectof thought and fueling
the most effectualof subjective influences. It takes the objectfrom the outer
world, separates itfrom the limitations of sense and intellect, disconnects the

objectfrom whatever is darkening and enervating, and secures to it fulness of
activity. Faith is the purest, truest, noblest, form of belief. It is belief of things
unseen and eternal, revealedto us by God and testifiedunto by the most
honest and faithful witnessessthe human race could furnish. To give us a
Peter, a John, a Paul, as testifiers, the world was under providential training
for many centuries and especiallyits electrace, whose ancestor, Abraham,
inaugurated the careerofthe nation by an act of faith the most pathetic, the
most sublime, the most illustrious, in the annals of mankind. It is not only a
belief of things invisible as disclosedby a Revealerand assuredby witnesses,
but likewise a belief created, directed, and sustainedin personal consciousness
by the agencyof the Holy Ghost. Hence its power to conform us to the Divine
image as displayed in Christ, and hence also its progressive work. Notonly are
we changed, but we are changed"from glory to glory." "The righteousness of
God is revealedfrom faith to faith," so that we realize more and more clearly
the consistencyof the Divine righteousness in our justification, and the
righteousness formedin our souls by the Spirit. We know why we are
pardoned and by whom renewed, and, as we advance into new stagesof
experience, the past work of grace is rendered more and more intelligible.
Current experiences leave much unexplained. Infancy, childhood, youth, in
religious life are not fully comprehended till the interpretative light of
manhood is thrown back upon them. "From glory to glory;" this is true of
every Christian virtue. At flint we are timid in confessing Christ before the
world; the cross is heavy; self-denial is often very painful; the remains of the
carnalmind are yet strong enough to resist when some onerous task is put
upon us; but in time we gain strength, and in time are able to run and not
weary, to walk and not faint. It is "from strength to strength," as the psalmist
sang long ago. Take the virtue of patience;what years are neededto acquire it
in any large degree!St. Petersays, "Add to your faith, virtue," etc.; keepup
the supply, and exercise alldiligence in building up one virtue by means of
another. Again, "Grow in grace;" if growth stops, grace stops. "Fromglory to
glory." Temptations that had to be fought against, and sometimes
ineffectually, twenty years ago, trouble us no longer. Infirmities are less
infirm. Mysteries that used to perplex have ceasedto disturb. People whose
presence was anannoyance can be borne with. Irritations, recurring daily,
have lost their powerto ruffle the temper. Many a crookedwayhas been

made straight, many a rough place smooth, many a darkened spot bright, to
our steps. "Fromglory to glory." Grace has workedits way down into our
instincts and begun their fuller development. Thence comes the white light so
grateful to sighs and so helpful. It is reflectedupon the intellect, the sense
organs, the outward world, and dissipates the occasionalgloomthat falls upon
us when Satan's "It is written" obscures our perceptions, or when the logic of
the sense intellectgathers its mists about our pathway. Blessedhours of
illumination are those which attend the later stages ofgrace penetrating the
depths of instinct. Doubts are over; for we know whom we have believed.
"From glory to glory." Gradually our hearts are detachedfrom the world,
and, while its beauty and love and tenderness are none the less, they are seen
as parts of a higher life and a remoter sphere. Afflictions, once "grievous,"
yield "the peaceable fruit of righteousness;" forthe "afterward" has come,
and what an "afterward"!To be reconciledto the cross ofpain; to glory in the
cross ofthe Divine Sufferer; to die to selfas we die when the Man of sorrows
becomes the Christ of our instincts; to say, "Thy will be done" with no half
way utterance, but from the heart, and submit not only willingly but gladly to
whateverit may please Providence to ordain; - this indeed is proof that we
have advanced"from glory to glory." - L.

Biblical Illustrator
Seeing then that we have such hope, we use greatplainness of speech
2 Corinthians 3:12-18
The duty of outspokennessonreligious questions
Prof. Lewis Campbell.
True religion is very simple and very deep. A s simple as this statement, "God
is good";as deep as life and death. But it has ever been hard for men to
receive religion in all its simplicity and in all its depth. They want something
they can touch and handle, something to fill the imagination, something with
many colours to attract the eye. And human teachers have ever been ready to
adapt themselves to this craving, and have put their teaching into a shape in
which they thought it most likely to be received. And yet it is sometimes the
part of the Christian minister, in following the example of Christ and of St.
Paul, to "use greatplainness of speech":to tell the people, not what they most
wish or expect to hear, not what is most in accordancewith their previous
ideas and prejudices, but what he himself thinks and knows, what he has
found in his own experience to be of lasting value, or, in Scriptural language,
the truth which he believes that he has heard of God. St. Paul made the
greatesteffortthat was ever made by any one, excepting only Christ, to bring
men to receive a spiritual religion. He strove to show to the Jew that God in
Christ was the Fatherof all men, and not of the Jew only; that righteousness
meant not the mere outward performance of certain acts, but a right attitude
of the heart towards God. And we read in this Epistle to the Corinthians that
this teaching of St. Paul was "to the Jews a stumbling-block and to the Greeks
foolishness."Now, whywas this? Let us try to imagine how they must have
felt in listening to him. Let us imagine the Jew being told that the law of Moses
was abolishedand done away, that the blood of bulls and goats couldnot take
awaysin; that the Passover, the commemorationof the greatdeliverance that
had first made the Jews a nation, was only a type and a shadow which was
vanishing; that the peculiar people must no longer think that Jehovahhad any

specialregardfor them, but must learn to embrace the Gentiles, who for half
their lives had been polluting themselves with abominations of idols. Was this,
the Jewishobjectormight say — was this, indeed, to stand upon the ancient
paths and to restore the desolations of many generations? Wasit not rather to
remove the landmarks, to tear up the foundations? Such then was the nature
of the offence which the teaching of St. Paul gave to the Jew. Let us now turn
and ask what impressionit was likely to produce upon the Gentiles. I think I
hear one of them crying, "What will this babbler say? And are we not to
worship the sun going forth as a giant to run his course, northe moon walking
in brightness, nor the earth, nor the glorious heaven that smiles on us with
pure radiance in the daytime and gazes onus with a thousand eyes at night?
The Diana of the Ephesians, the Jupiter of Lystria or of Athens, these are to
be nothing to us. Those are no gods, you tell us, that are made with hands.
Would you take from them the only stay, the only consolationwhichthey have
amid the miseries of their feeble life, and offer them instead an unseenGod, to
be comprehended only with the mind! Take heedthat you are not destroying
what you cannotrestore." Now St. Paul was not the first nor the last who in
teaching a spiritual religion, in trying to open a way betweenthe soul of man
and the Spirit of God, had won for himself amongst the people of his own time
the name of a godless and irreligious man. Isaiahis heard proclaiming in the
name of God, "Your new moons and your appointed feasts My soul hateth,
they are a trouble unto me, I am wearyto bear them. Bring no more vain
oblations. Cease to do evil, learn to do well: seek judgment, relieve the
oppressed, judge the fatherless, pleadfor the widow." And Ezekielis heard to
cry, "The son shall not bear the iniquity of his father. The soul that sinneth, it
shall die." But Isaiah fell a victim to the idolatrous fanaticism of his
countrymen, and of Ezekielthe people said, "Doth he not speak parables?"
And so all the Hebrew prophets, one by one, bore witness equally againstthe
formalism and idolatry of the people, and were rejectedequally. And what of
Christ Himself? Was He not put to death for blasphemy: because He had said,
"Destroythis temple and in three days I will raise it up," and because He told
the Chief Priests that "The hour was coming when the Son of Man should sit
on the right hand of Power"? We neednot fear, then, or be discouraged, if it
should be found that in some matters either of doctrine or of customand
tradition there is still a veil upon the people's heart which clouds for them the

perfect vision of the righteousness andgoodness,the justice and mercy, of
Almighty God: nor should the Christian teacher, who thinks he sees it is so,
shrink from trying to remove the veil: if he may hope thereby to bring the
minds of his countrymen nearer to a pure and spiritual religion. Leastof all is
he to be deterred by the imputation of impiety, or of infidelity and atheism,
which has been shared by all religious teachers who have had anything to tell
mankind, including Christ Himself. But still the unveiling of Divine truth to
human apprehensions must be a gradual process, andis not to be completed
in this life, and the same St. Paul who says, "Thatwe all, beholding with open
face the glory of the Lord, are transformed into the same image, from glory to
glory," had already said to this same Corinthian Church, "Now we see
through a glass darkly, but then face to face;now I know in part, but then
shall I know even as I also am known."
(Prof. Lewis Campbell.)
But their minds were blinded
Moralinsensibility of sinners
D. Thomas, D. D.
I. ITS FIGURATIVE REPRESENTATION.This moral blindness)is —
1. Criminal — the result of a sinful course.
2. Dangerous — a most alarming moral disease.
3. Temporary — the heart must one day be quickened.
II. ITS UNIVERSAL SYMPTOMS. Wantof spiritual —

1. Understanding.
2. Perception. A thick haze of sin hides the spiritual from the soul's eye.
III. ITS GRAND DISCOVERY. Man's awful moral insensibility is seenin —
1. His opposition.
2. His indifference to the gospel. But yet this will be done away in Christ.
(D. Thomas, D. D.)
But even unto this day when Moses is read, the vail is upon their hearts.
Veils
E. Mellor, D. D.
How is it that the number of those who believe the gospelis so small compared
with the number of those who do not believe in it? Our nation has had the
gospelin it more or less now for the space ofone thousand six hundred years.
Week by week the gospel has been expounded and enforcedby all sorts of
agencies, yetin no town is there one-half of the population found within the
walls of Christian sanctuaries, andthere are few congregations inwhich the
unbelievers do not out-number the believers. How is this? We propose to look
at the answerto this question as given by St. Paul. The veil is on the heart.
The vision of an objectmay be rendered impossible in either of two ways at
least. There is a mountain that rears its majestic head to the sky; you may
spend weeks in its neighbourhood, and yet never see it once. It may be
shrouded in mist. The veil is then on the mountain. Or, the mountain may be

still unseen, for the eye may be coveredwith thick films. The veil is then on
the eye. This latter case is the one which fitly illustrates the language ofthe
apostle, "The veil is upon the heart, not upon Moses;he is read, but he is not
understood; the veil is upon the heart." Let us look at a few of the veils which
are on the hearts of men now.
I. THE VEIL OF HUMAN DEPRAVITY OR NATURAL CORRUPTION. No
one surely will saythat even the best man we know would reflectcredit upon
his Creator, had he been made exactly as he now is, with so many sinful
tendencies in him. Nor do I see how any thoughtful man can maintain the
theory which affirms that we all came into the world with a clean, pure soul,
and which accounts for what we are, entirely upon the principle of the
influence of circumstances andeducation. How any one who has had to deal
with children can maintain such a theory passesmy comprehension. It may
sound a very plausible principle. "Teachmen the truth, and they will believe
it; teachmen the right, and they will do it." But does any one seriouslybelieve
that ignorance explains all the wickedness ofthe world? Ignorance of what?
Ignorance that it is wickedness?Is it so, then, that man is now doing wrong
with the consciousnessthat it is wrong? To say that men would not drink" if
they knew better is to trifle. They do know better. Where, then, is the veil in
such a case whichprevents their reformation? It is not over the consequences
of their sin. It canonly be upon their heart. The vice is indulged because it is
loved. And what is true of this vice is true also of man's generalalienation
from what is good. The carnalmind is enmity againstGod, etc.
II. THE VEIL OF CONCEIT OR INTELLECTUAL PRIDE. This is closely
connectedwith the one we have just considered. It is, in fact, one of its folds.
There is a peril in our times arising from the almost exclusive attention which
is being directed to the study of the wonders of external nature. It is obvious
that the fascinations of scientific investigationmay blind the mind to the
claims of higher truth, which depends for its understanding on qualities of
heart rather than of intellect. The mathematician may dwell so long in the
regionof figures and formulas that he may never dream of a world in which
they play no part whatever. The chemist may so busy himself among acids,

and alkalies, andcrucibles, and retorts that he may deign no thought to
anything which he cannot fuse or analyse. The Bible introduces the
philosopher into a world which is all but entirely new. It does not require his
calculus, or his crucible, or his battery, or his microscope. Its truths are
different from any that canbe reachedby these processesofinvestigation.
What can they tell us about sin? The Bible does not create sin, it finds it. It
deals not only with sin as a fact, but guilt as a feeling. This, too, is not created
by the Bible. The Bible deals with the idea of a nobler life. Even this idea it did
not wholly create. It deals with death, and with death in its moral aspects, and
with eternity. The Bible tells us of the incarnation, and of the Cross, andof the
resurrection. Now the reasonof man could tell us nothing of these things
apart from the Bible. That profound mysteries are mingled up with this
revelation is admitted. But it surely is not for the human intellect to proudly
turn awayfrom it on this account. How many doors of nature it has knocked
at? how many subtle forces it has sought to seize, and see in their inmost
essence, but in vain? Does it hear and obey the voice which nature utters,
"Hitherto shalt thou go, but no further"? and does it resentsuch a limitation
in the domain of the Divine Word? Then it becomes not the reasonwhich is
reverent, but the reasonwhich is proud. It will not acceptthe truth on which
the light shines full, because there is truth which lies in darkness. But where in
this case is the veil? The veil is on the heart.
III. THE VEIL OF PREJUDICE AND TRADITION. There are few vices of
the mind which are more common and invincible. What a fearful amount of
evidence a prejudice canresist! Now prejudice often assumes the form of
holding fast to a traditional faith. This was the very case with the Jews, who
held fast not to the true Moses,but to the Moses as he had been representedto
them by their authoritative teachers. Had they listened to the true Moses,they
would have been prepared to welcome Christ. But when Moses was readin
their hearing, or by themselves, he was read, not through a clearmedium as
when one sees objects throughthe pure air by the light of the sun, but he was
read through a jaundiced eye and a medium which distorted him. They
brought their conceptions with them, and made their own Moses ina large
degree. Theywere like men who consult the oracle, and tell the oracle what

shall be his response, orwho speak in an echoing vault, and find their voice
returned to them. Things are to us in greatmeasure what we are to them. And
if we bring prejudice or a traditional faith with us, a faith, I mean, which we
have not ourselves testedand proved, and which does not live within us and
support our life, then we need not expectto see the truth. Let us have a better
reasonfor our faith than that we have always held it, or that our father held
it. It was because the Jews had no better reasonthat they calledChrist
Beelzebub — that they crucified Him: and that even to the days of Paul, yes,
and even down to our own days when Moses is read, the veil is on their eyes.
IV. THE VEIL OF LUST, SELF-INTEREST,OR ANY OTHER SIN WHICH
HAS ACQUIRED A MASTERYOVER THE HEART AND LIFE. There is
nothing that canso darkenthe eye of the soul as a sin, and hence no man who
is addicted to sin can see so clearlyas the man whose soulis pure whether in
fact or in aspiration. Who is sanguine in his endeavours to persuade a man to
relinquish a traffic, howevermischievous, provided only it brings in ample
gains? He sees no evil in the traffic, why should he? He compels no one to buy;
and they may buy as little as they choose.Besides, if he did not sell some one
else would. Thus he reasons, but those arguments did not lead him to begin
the traffic, or to continue in it. They never occurto him exceptwhen he is put
on his defence. The one abiding and omnipotent motive is that the trade is
lucrative. This is the veil which is before his eyes, and which no amount of
light will suffice to penetrate. Conclusion: Will you submit to this blinding
process?Or, will you cry to the GreatHealer, and say to Him, "Lord, that I
may receive my sight"? The veil, you will remember, cannotremain for ever.
The hand of death will tear it away;but the light which then will fall upon
your eyes will not be the light of salvation, but that which discovers to you,
when too late, the blessednesswhichyou have bartered for the pleasures of a
day.
(E. Mellor, D. D.)

Truth unveiled
R. Brydon.
The apostle in the text contrasts the state of believing Christians with that of
the unbelieving Jews, forthe former, all with open face, behold the glory of
the Lord. Now the language here employed admits of some latitude of
interpretation. The word "open" means unveiled, and this shows that a
contrastis intended. And the phrase may either be rendered "with open
face," alluding to the face of the beholders, or "in an open face," referring to
the face of Christ, as contrastedwith that of Moses.Forat the sixth verse of
the next chapter the apostle expresslysays that "God, who commanded the
light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the
knowledge ofthe glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ." If, then, we
understand the words in the former sense, the spiritually enlightened
Christian is contrastedwith the carnaland prejudiced Jew. But if we
understand the words in the latter sense, the objects contrastedare the
Christian and Mosaic dispensations,implying that the beholders have now the
advantage, externally, of a far more glorious revelation. Christ did not put a
veil on His face like Moses, but openly reflectedthe glory of the Lord. Now, in
whichever sense the words ought to be grammatically explained, we
apprehend that both ideas are included in the view of the apostle. He
obviously means, that however it was in former times, and howeverit might
be still with blinded, unbelieving Jews, boththe veil of Moses andthe veil of
the heart were now takenawayin reference to the Christian believer. There
was no longer an obstructing medium interposed betweenthem and the
sublime truths of redemption. The light fell at once upon the eyes of their
understanding and the object of their contemplation, and nothing tended any
longereither to obscure it or to intercept its progress. There was neither a
diseasedorganof vision in the beholder nor a concealedobject.
I. In the first place, IT BECOMESUS TO REFLECT, WITHUNFEIGNED
GRATITUDE TO GOD, ON THE PECULIAR ADVANTAGES OF OUR
OWN EXTERNAL SITUATION IN REGARD TO THE MEANS OF
GRACE. There are many heathen nations in the world who have never
enjoyed the light of Divine truth in any degree. And how obscurely was it

possessedevenby the ancient Israelites!Yes, the wayof salvationis now
patent and plain. The glory of the Lord, the excellentglory of His Divine
mercy and love, as seenin the whole series of His dispensations, and reflected
from the word of His grace, is now placedfully in our view.
II. BUT IT BECOMES US TO CONSIDERTHE STATE OF OUR OWN
HEARTS IN REFERENCETO THE PRIVILEGES WE ENJOY. In our day
there is no veil upon the truth, but is there none upon our own minds? Do we
now distinguish that glory of the Lord which emanates from the plan of
redemption? Do we discern the moral beauty, and feel the blessedinfluence of
the doctrines of grace? If so, then the internal veil has surely been removed
from our hearts. But if not, let us remember that the fault is our own, and that
the blindness is in ourselves, for the glory of the Lord has been openly
revealed. And if we discern it not the veil must be still upon our hearts. This
was the case with many among the Jews evenafter Christ had come, And,
alas!how many among professing Christians in the present day have the same
veil upon their hearts. For otherwise, how shall we accountfor the dimness of
their perception in discerning the real nature and bearings of Divine truth?
Why do they not see sin in all its native deformity and soul-ruining
consequences?Why do they not see the beauty and excellencyof holiness, and
the pure and spiritual happiness with which holiness is connected? Whydo
they not recognisethe claims of God upon the devoted affection? Or why do
they not feeland acknowledge the unspeakable obligations under which they
are laid to the infinite love and grace of the Redeemer? Why do they not see
the magnitude of the gospelsalvation, and the aggravatedguilt and
infatuation of neglecting it? And why do they form such erroneous, unworthy,
and unscriptural conceptions ofthat salvation? Were it only a cloud of
ignorance which overshadowedtheir understandings, it might easilybe
dispelled, and could not long remain with all the abundant means of
instruction they enjoy. But, alas!it is a dark cloud, not of ignorance merely,
but of prejudice. It is the influence of pride, stirring up the enmity of the
carnalmind againstthe humiliating doctrines of the gospel;it is the cherished
indulgence of some favourite sin; it is the inveterate love of this present evil
world. But it is the peculiar privilege of the true believer to behold the glory of

the Lord with open face in the mirror of the gospel. Savinglytaught by the
Holy Spirit, he has been delivered from his native ignorance and unbelief; he
has obtained the gift of spiritual discernment, and he beholds wondrous things
out of the Divine law. He sees a majestyand a glory in the Scriptures, a high
importance and excellencyin spiritual subjects, to which he was originally
blind.
(R. Brydon.)
Our study of God's truth must be with the heart
DeanGoulburn.
1. In this passagethe intellectual blindness of the Jews is traced up to the
wrong state of their hearts. Indeed, even without this statementwe could have
gatheredas much. The miracles of our Lord, and the close agreementofHis
careerwith prophecy, must have carriedthe convictions of the Jews by force,
had there not been a predispositionin the heart not to believe. As soon,
therefore, as this predisposition shall be removed, they shall forthwith be
convinced, and "the veil shall be takenaway."
2. Men are well aware that the understanding is liable to be prejudiced by the
heart. "Love," they say, "is blind." We should exclude from the trial of a
man's cause both his friends and his foes, because we accountstrong
sympathies or antipathies prejudicial to the judgment. But the proverb
extends to our judgment of things. The mind of man — the faculty by which
he discerns truth — may be compared to an eye placedabove a fuming
caldron, which can see nothing clearly, because the vapours intercept the
vision. The heart is the caldron, and sends up the vapours which distort the
view. Now in seeking to reform human nature, the philosophers of antiquity
either did not notice this fact, or did not see how the difficulty which it
presents could be surmounted. At all events, by way of persuading men to
virtue, they made their appeal to the understanding, and sought to carry their
point to convincing the mind. As far as the understanding went, nothing could

be more effective than such a method. But what if men do not, as notoriously
they do not, conclude moral questions affecting themselves, on the mere
verdict of the understanding? What if they setthe will on the judgment-seat?
Unless you can rectify the will and its prepossessions, youonly argue before a
corrupted judge, and in the sentence the argument goes for nothing.
3. Christianity, in seeking to reform mankind, makes its first appeal to the
affections, whichare the springs of the will, and through them clears and
rectifies the understanding. What may be saidto have been the main scope of
our Lord's teaching? This — "Godso loved the world," dee. Was not the
apostolic exhortationonly a prolonging of the echoes ofthe Saviour's voice:
"We pray you... be ye reconciledto God"? Now the facts of the life and
sufferings and teaching of Christ are the implements with which Christianity
works. Let any one read the gospelrecords with thorough simplicity, and he
cannot fail to be touched by them in a salutary way, especiallyby the
concluding part of the greatstory.
4. But not only did Christianity commence with an appealto the hearts of
men; but this is the order which grace observes inits work on eachindividual
soul. The Scripture says, "With the heart man believeth unto righteousness."
Justifying faith is not a mere intellectual conviction of the truth; but an
operationof the heart, and by consequence ofthe will, involving a movement
of the affections towards Christ in trust or love. And every forward step in
Christian life must be made on the same principle as the first. It is quite as
true to say, "with the heart man is edified," as it is to say, "with the heart man
believeth." Now let us develop this truth, that edification is through the heart,
and not through the mind.
I. TESTIMONYIS BORNE TO IT BY THE UNIVERSAL EXPERIENCE
OF CHRISTIANS. Whatis that impalpable something, which if an inferior
sermon has, it succeeds in doing good, but if a superior sermon lacks, it fails of

doing good? We call it "unction" — a fervent way of throwing out Divine
truth, corresponding with the fervent characterof that truth. Unction would
be no merit at all, but the reverse, if the gospelwere to be receivedby the
intellect rather than the affections. But men know that the gospelis designed
to meet their sympathies; and if it should be presented to them in such a
manner as not to do this, they feelthat it is wronged and misrepresented.
II. OWING TO OUR NOT PERCEIVING THIS TRUTH, RELIGIOUS
EXERCISES ABE SOMETIMES TAKEN TO BE EDIFYING WHICH ARE
NOT SO. Shall I say that much of our ordinary reading of Holy Scripture
comes under this head? that it often resolves itselfinto a mental exercitation,
and that not of a very high order? What a misuse of terms is there in the
phraseologyso often applied to things got by rote, of which we saythat they
are "learnedby heart"! So far from being learned by heart, such things are
often not even learned by mind, for sometimes they are most deficiently
understood; and the very utmost that can be said in favour of such learning is
that it lodges truth in the memory, which may expand and serve a good
purpose at some future time. Has our study of Scripture given any bias to the
will in the path of holiness? Has it at all stimulated the affections to the love of
God, or of our neighbour? Has it nerved us againsttemptation? supported us
under trial? prompted a prayer? or stirred in us a holy ambition? By these
and the like questions must its influence upon the heart be tested; and unless
it has had some influence upon the heart, there has been no edificationin it.
III. LET OUR STUDIES TURN MORE AND MORE ON THAT WHICH IS
THE CORE AND CENTRE OF THE BIBLE. The Bible is a revelationof
God; and the core and centre of God's revelation is Christ crucified.
(DeanGoulburn.)

Nevertheless,whenit shall turn to the Lord, the veil shall be taken away.
The shining of Moses'face
Plain Sermons by Contributors to the Tracts for the Times.
When Moses spoke ofold to their fathers, the veil was upon his face;but now
when he is read to them, the veil is upon their hearts. In old time it was God's
doing; the Scriptures were made obscure for a time on purpose, the types and
prophecies could not be understood till their fulfilment: but it is now the Jews'
own doing; it is their own perverseness, refusing to see Christ in their
Scriptures. Thus St. Paul speaks;thinking, most likely, as in many other
places, ofhis own history, and of God's dealings with him in particular. You
know, in his early days, he was a sortof figure and type of the whole Jewish
nation, in his greatand bitter enmity to Jesus Christ. His face was not towards
the Lord. When he read the law he saw only the outward sign; he knew
nothing as yet of its end and hidden meaning. But our Saviour, in compassion
to his well-meaning but blind zeal, calledto him from heaven and touched his
heart by His grace. When St. Paul's heart had thus turned to the Lord, then
the scalesfellfrom his eyes;then he saw the purpose and drift of the
ceremonies and sacrifices, the temple and tabernacle, the crown on David's
head, and the anointing oil on Aaron's. And here we must observe well what
"knowing Christ," and "turning to Him," mean in such places as these. It was
not simply knowing that there was such a person, attending to what they
heard and saw of Him; "turning to Him," means turning to His Cross, taking
it up and following Him. When a personhad done this sincerely, he would
find quite a new light break in upon places in the Old Testament, which
before he had no true knowledge of. He would learn what was meant by a
lamb without spot or blemish. Again, he would understand the meaning of
circumcision; how it markedmen as belonging to Him. He would see why the
people were fed with manna, to signify the true bread from heaven. He would
understand why the tabernacle and temple had two parts, the holy place and
the most holy, and why the most holy can only be entered once a year, and
then not without blood. But does this saying apply to Sews only, and to the
reading of the Old Testamentonly? or is it so, that we also, though we have
been Christians many years, may have a veil upon our hearts, and -that, in the

reading of the New Testamentas wellas the Old, of the gospelas well as of the
law, of St. Paul and the epistles as well as of Moses andthe prophets? Surely it
may be our case too;after all that has been done for us, we may but too easily,
if we will, yet go on in stumbling and in ignorance. Is it not too plain that very
many of us come often to hear God's Holy Word; we are present at the
reading of chapter after chapter, and yet we make no real improvement in our
knowledge ofholy things? And the cure for this must be the same as in the
other case. Whena man turns unto the Lord, that is, unto Christ, then the veil
is takenaway. Then a new light and an unaccustomedglory will break out
and shine round our Bibles and in our Churches, and we shall begin to feel
something of what the holy patriarch felt when he cried out, "Surely the Lord
is in this place and I knew it not." But, as I said, to obtain this blessing, to see
so much of heavenon earth, a personmust turn habitually to the Lord. And
what is "turning to the Lord"? I will answerin the words of an ancient writer.
"The better to know what it is to be turned to the Lord, let us first state what
it is to be turned away from Him. Every personwho, while the words of the
law are in reading, is occupiedwith matters of ordinary talk, is turned away
from the Lord. Every one who, whilst the Bible is reading, is indulging
thoughts of worldly business, of money, of gain, he too is turned away. Every
one who is pressedwith cares about his possessions,who strains himself
eagerlyafter wealth, who longs after worldly glory and the honours of this
life, every such person likewise is turned away." Who follows Divine
meditations with as much zealand labour as human? and how then dare we
complain of our ignorance of that which we never tried to learn? Then again
he reproves them for their carelessness aboutwhat is read in Church, and
says of those who talk during the service, that when the Holy Scriptures are
read, not only a veil, but even a partition, if one may callit so, and a wall, is
upon their hearts." The veil, he says, of the sense is the sound of the words;
but not even so much as this comes to them, who either stay awayfrom the
solemn assemblies,orcome there and behave inattentively. Thus you see what
strict attention "turning to the Lord" was then supposedto require, Now
merely to attend may seemto some a simple thing enough: but those who have
tried know it to be no small effort. But then we must well observe whatelse is
implied in that turning to the Lord which the apostle mentions as the
condition of the veil being withdrawn. Attention by itself is not enough;

children we see will sometimes attend to their lessons in order to be rewarded;
or out of a sort of curiosity, just to know what is said; it must be accompanied
by prayer, and must be itself of the nature of prayer. Christian obedience is a
greatcondition of all the promises we have heard. Without this, turning to the
Lord is but a mockery, and it is vain to think of the veil being takenaway.
And, finally, as Moses atour Lord's transfiguration saw that in course of real
accomplishment, which in shadow Godhad showedhim in Mount Sinai long
before — saw the skirts of the glory of God, the Incarnate Son glorified, and
partook himself in His brightness; so shall it be one day with all who faithfully
turn to Christ; and in the meantime His Spirit is with them to change them,
unknown to themselves (for Moses wistnot that the skin of his face shone),
after the one image, from glory to glory.
(Plain Sermons by Contributors to the Tracts for the Times.)
COMMENTARIES
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers
(14) But their minds were blinded.—The Greek verb expresses strictlythe
callousnessofa nerve that has become insensible, as in Mark 6:52; Mark
8:17; Romans 11:7. Here, as applied to the faculties of perception, “blinded”
is, perhaps, a legitimate rendering.
Remaineth the same vail untaken awayin the reading of the old testament. .
.—The words are better translated:the same veil remaineth in the reading of
the old covenant; the fact not being revealed(i.e., by the removal of the veil)
that it (the old covenant) is being done awayin Christ The figure is passing
through a kind of dissolving change. There is still a veil betweenthe hearers of
the Law and its true meaning; but the veil is no longer on the face of the law-
giver, but on their hearts; and the reasonof this is that, the veil not being
withdrawn, they do not see that the glory of the older covenant is done away

by the brightness of the new. It is doing violence to the context to refer to the
veil the words “is done away,” which through the whole passageis applied to
the Law itself; and in 2Corinthians 3:16 a new and appropriate word is used
for the withdrawal of the veil. It is, the Apostle says, becausethe veil of
prejudice and tradition hinders them from seeing the truth that the Jews of
his owntime still think of the Law as permanent, instead of looking on it as
passing through a process ofextinction. The “Old Testament” is clearly used,
not, as in the modern sense, for the whole volume of the Law—Prophets and
Psalms—butspecially for the law which was the basis of the covenant. The
other, but less adequate, rendering would be, the veil remaineth . . .
unwithdrawn, for it (the veil) is abolishedin Christ. If there was any authority
for giving an active force to the middle form of the verb, we might translate
with a perfectly satisfactorymeaning, the same veil remaineth . . . not
revealing the fact that it is being done awayin Christ; but unfortunately there
is no such authority. The English, “which veil is done away,” fails to give, in
any case, the true force of the Greek.
Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary
3:12-18 It is the duty of the ministers of the gospelto use greatplainness, or
clearness,ofspeech. The Old Testamentbelievers had only cloudy and passing
glimpses of that glorious Saviour, and unbelievers lookedno further than to
the outward institution. But the greatprecepts of the gospel, believe, love,
obey, are truths statedas clearly as possible. And the whole doctrine of Christ
crucified, is made as plain as human language canmake it. Those who lived
under the law, had a veil upon their hearts. This veil is takenawayby the
doctrines of the Bible about Christ. When any person is convertedto God,
then the veil of ignorance is takenaway. The condition of those who enjoy and
believe the gospelis happy, for the heart is set at liberty to run the ways of
God's commandments. They have light, and with open face they behold the
glory of the Lord. Christians should prize and improve these privileges. We
should not rest contentedwithout knowing the transforming powerof the

gospel, by the working of the Spirit, bringing us to seek to be like the temper
and tendency of the glorious gospelof our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, and
into union with Him. We behold Christ, as in the glass of his word; and as the
reflectionfrom a mirror causes the face to shine, the faces ofChristians shine
also.
Barnes'Notes on the Bible
But their minds were blinded - The word used here (πωρόω pōroō)means
rather to harden; to make hard like stone;and then to make dull or stupid. It
is applied to the heart, in Mark 6:52; Mark 8:17; to persons, in Romans 11:7;
and to the eyes, in Job 17:7. Paul refers here to the factthat the
understandings of the Jews were stupid, dull, and insensible, so that they did
not see clearlythe design and end of their owninstitutions. He states simply
the fact; he does not refer to the cause of it. The fact that the Jews were thus
stupid and dull is often affirmed in the New Testament.
For until this day ... - The sense ofthis is, that even to the time when Paul
wrote, it was a characteristic of the greatmass of the Jewishpeople, that they
did not understand the true sense oftheir own Scriptures. They did not
understand its doctrines in regard to the Messiah. A veil seems to be thrown
over the Old Testamentwhen they read it, as there was over the face of Moses,
so that the glory of their own Scriptures is concealedfrom their view, as the
glory of the face of Moses was hidden.
Of the Old Testament - Greek, "ofthe old covenant." See this word
"testament," orcovenant, explained in the notes on 1 Corinthians 11:25. This,
I believe, is the only instance in which the Scriptures of the Jews are calledthe
"Old Testament," orcovenant, in the Bible. It was, of course, nota name
which they used, or would use; but it is now with Christians the common
appellation. No doubt can be entertained but that Paul uses the terms in the
same manner in which we now do, and refers to all the inspired writings of the
Jews.

Which vail is done awayin Christ - In the manifestation, or appearance of
Jesus the Messiah, the veil is removed. The obscurity which rested on the
prophecies and types of the former dispensationis withdrawn; and as the face
of Moses couldhave been distinctly seenif the veil on his face had been
removed, so it is in regardto the true meaning of the Old Testamentby the
coming of the Messiah. Whatwas obscure is now made clear; and the
prophecies are so completelyfulfilled in him, that his coming has removed the
covering, and shed a clearlight over them all. Many of the prophecies, for
example, until the Messiahactuallyappeared, appeared obscure, and almost
contradictory. Those which spoke of him, for illustration, as man and as God;
as suffering, and yet reigning; as dying, and yet as ever-living; as a mighty
Prince, a conqueror, and a king, and yet as a man of sorrows;as humble, and
yet glorious:all seemeddifficult to be reconcileduntil they were seento
harmonize in Jesus ofNazareth. Then they were plain, and the veil was taken
away. Christ is seento answerall the previous descriptions of him in the Old
Testament;and his coming casts a clearlight on all which was before obscure.
Jamieson-Fausset-BrownBible Commentary
14-18. Parenthetical:Of Christians in general. He resumes the subject of the
ministry, 2Co 4:1.
minds—Greek, "mental perceptions";"understandings."
blinded—rather, "hardened." The opposite to "looking steadfastlyatthe
end" of the law (2Co 3:13). The veil on Moses'face is further typical of the
veil that is on their hearts.
untaken away… which veil—rather, "the same veil … remaineth untaken
away[literally, not unveiled], so that they do not see THAT it (not the veil as
English Version, but 'THE Old Testament,'or covenantof legalordinances)is
done away(2Co 3:7, 11, 13)in Christ" or, as Bengel, "Becauseit is done away

in Christ," that is, it is not done awaysave in Christ: the veil therefore
remains untaken awayfrom them, because they will not come to Christ, who
does away, with the law as a mere letter. If they once saw that the law is done
awayin Him, the veil would be no longer on their hearts in reading it publicly
in their synagogues (so "reading" means, Ac 15:21). I prefer the former.
Matthew Poole's Commentary
Here the apostle expoundeth what he meant before by the mystical veil, viz.
the blinding of the eyes of the Jews;of which we read often in the New
Testament, Matthew 13:14 Mark 4:12 Luke 8:10 John 12:40 Acts 28:26
Romans 11:8: see the notes upon all those texts. And (saith the apostle)to this
day the veil remaineth not takenaway; that veil, which was signified by the
veil with which Moses coveredhis face.
In the reading of the Old Testament, is, when the Old Testamentis read: some
part of which was wontto be read in the synagogueseverysabbath day. But
we shall meet with this in the next verse more fully. But (saith he) this
veil is done awayin Christ. It is really takenawayupon the coming of Christ;
that is, the veil, that coveredthe face of Christ, is now truly, takenawayupon
his coming;the types are this filled in nim, as their complement and antitype;
the prophecies are fulfilled in him, as he whom they concerned, and of whom
the prophets spake. But the veil, that is drawn over men’s hearts, is not taken
away, till they come to receive Jesus Christas the end of the law for
righteousness, to close withhim, and to believe in him. God hath taken the veil
off from Christ, by sending him personallyto fulfil all righteousness;but
Christ profiteth nothing particular souls, until they come to believe in him,
then it is takenaway from their souls, and not before. Which was the reason
that it remained still upon the Jews, among whom he came, as among his own,
but they receivedhim not.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible
But their minds were blinded,.... This confirms the sense given of the
foregoing verse, and shows, that not the Israelites only in Moses's time, but
the Jews in the times of the Gospel, had their minds so blinded, that they
could not behold the glory of the Gospel, nor Christ the end of the law; see
Romans 11:7.
For until this day, to this very time,
remaineth the same veil untaken away;not the selfsame veilthat was on
Moses'sface, but the veil of blindness, darkness, andignorance, upon the
hearts of the Jews:
in the reading of the Old Testament;the books ofthe Old Testament, which
were used to be read in their synagogueseverysabbath day; the true spiritual
meaning of which, as they respectChrist and the Gospeldispensation, they
understood not; of which darkness, the veil on the face of Moseswas a type
and emblem:
which veil is done awayin Christ; can only be removed by Christ, by his
Spirit and grace, and through the light of the Gospelof Christ, shining into
the heart; and so dispel that blindness and ignorance which is in the
understanding; whereby the books ofthe Old Testamentare understood, and
appear to agree exactlywith the Gospelof Christ, in the books of the New
Testament.
Geneva Study Bible
But their minds were blinded: for until this day remaineth the same vail
untaken awayin the reading of the old testament; which vail is done awayin
Christ.

EXEGETICAL(ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)
Meyer's NT Commentary
2 Corinthians 3:14. Ἀλλʼ ἐπωρώθη κ.τ.λ.]This ἀλλά does not refer to the
thought implied in the previous πρὸς τὸ μὴ ἀτενίσαι κ.τ.λ., that the Jews did
not contemplate the end of the Mosaic ministry, for this was made impossible
to them, in fact, by Moses himselfand according to his own intention. What
Billroth imports into ἀλλά is therefore also unsuitable: “but insteadthere
were hardened,” etc. Flatt, Rückert, de Wette, Hofmann (comp. also
Olshausen)take the connectionrightly, that over againstthe utterance
treating of the holders of the apostolic office, 2 Corinthians 3:12 f., stands that
which speaks ofIsrael. Accordingly ἀλλά is at, nevertheless.
ἐπωρώθη] Paul does not here say by whom this certainly passive (in
opposition to Theodoret)hardness of heart[170]has been caused. It may be
conceivedas produced by God(Romans 11 ff., comp. John 12:39 f.; Acts
28:26)just as well as by the devil (2 Corinthians 4:4, comp. Matthew 13:19),
these two ways of regarding it not being contradictoryto eachother. The
aoristdenotes the hardness of heart which setin later after their intercourse
with Moses,but in connectionwith the insight then rendered impossible to
them. Πεπώρωται would have meant something else. On νοήματα, thoughts,
the products of the ΝΟῦς, of the exercise ofthe theoretic and practicalreason,
which, through the hardness of heart, become inaccessible to, and
insusceptible of, the perception of the divine, comp. on Php 4:7.
ἌΧΡΙ ΓᾺΡ Κ.Τ.Λ.]A proof, in accordancewith experience, for what was just
said ἘΠΩΡΏΘΗΚ.Τ.Λ.
ΤῸ ΑὐΤῸ ΚΆΛΥΜΜΑ ἘΠῚ Κ.Τ.Λ.]The same veil is, of course, to be
understood, not of material identity, but symbolically of the likeness ofthe
spiritual hindrance. Without figure the meaning is: the same incapacityfor

recognising the end of the Mosaic ministry, which was produced among them
then by the veil of Moses,remains with them to this day when the Old
Covenantis read.
ἘΠῚ Τῇ ἈΝΑΓΝΏΣΕΙ] Paul conceives the public reading of the O. T. every
Sabbath (Acts 15:21) as overlaid with the veil hindering knowledge;still we
need not assume, with Wolf, Michaelis, Semler, and others, a reference to the
‫ַט‬ ‫ִּל‬‫תי‬ (see Lakemacher, Obss. III. p. 209 ff.) with which the Jews veiled
themselves at the reading of the law and at prayer, because otherwise Paul
must have made the veil fall on the countenances ofthe Jews, and not on the
public reading. But he has conceivedto himself the matter so, that the public
reading takes place under the veil enwrapping this act, so that in this reading
the Jews remainshut out from insight into the new covenant. 2 Corinthians
3:13; 2 Corinthians 3:15 preclude us from abandoning the localsignification
of ἐπί, on. The explanation, “when there is public reading” (Hofmann),
confuses the meaning with the sensuous, but in relation to the context
appropriate, form of presenting it.
τῆς παλ. διαθήκης]Forwhen the law of Moses is publicly read, there is read
the old covenant(comp. on 2 Corinthians 3:6) therein setforth. This is the
contents of the public reading. Comp. 2 Corinthians 3:15 : ἀναγινώσκεται
Μωϋσῆς. Ἡ παλ. διαθ. does not mean the books of the O. T., as is here usually
suppose.
ΜῊ ἈΝΑΚΑΛΥΠΤΌΜΕΝΟΝ, ὍΤΙἘΝ Χ. ΚΑΤΑΡΓΕῖΤΑΙ] These words in
themselves admit of two explanations; the first refers the participle and
ΚΑΤΑΡΓΕῖΤΑΙ to ΤῸ ΚΆΛΥΜΜΑ, and takes ὍΤΙin the sense ofbecause,
as specifying the ground of the μὴ ἀνακαλ. (so most of the older expositors,
and recently Fritzsche, Billroth, Schrader, Olshausen, de Wette, Neander,
Hofmann, comp. Ewald): without being uncovered, because it is annihilated in
Christ (the veil), but Christ is not preachedto them. On ἈΝΑΚΑΛΎΠΤΕΙΝ

ΚΆΛΥΜΜΑ, to uncover a veil, comp. LXX. Deuteronomy 22:29 : οὐκ
ἀνακαλύψαι συγκάλυμματοῦ πατρός. But againstthis view (a)
ΚΑΤΑΡΓΕῖΤΑΙ seems decisive, which, according to the context(see 2
Corinthians 3:11; 2 Corinthians 3:13), cannot apply to the taking away of the
veil, but only to the abolition of the Mosaic ministry, or according to the
connectionof 2 Corinthians 3:14, to the abolition of the old covenant, which is
the objectof the Mosaic ministry (comp. also Romans 3:31; Ephesians 2:15);
and hence Paul, 2 Corinthians 3:16, does not use ΚΑΤΑΡΓΕῖΤΑΙ of the
removal of the veil, but ΠΕΡΙΑΙΡΕῖΤΑΙ, which signifies the same thing as
ἈΝΑΚΑΛΎΠΤΕΤΑΙ. (b) If μὴ ἀνακαλυπτόμενονwere to refer to τὸ αὐτὸ
κάλυμμα, then κάλυμμα in the contrastintroduced by ἀλλά in 2 Corinthians
3:15 would necessarilybe the same veil, of which ΜῊ ἈΝΑΚΑΛΎΠΤ. would
be here said, and Paul must therefore at 2 Corinthians 3:15 have written ΤῸ
ΚΆΛΥΜΜΑ with the article. Hence the secondmethod of explanation[171]is
to be preferred, according to which the participle is takenabsolutely, and ὅτι
as that, while καταργεῖται is referred to the παλ. διαθήκη, thus: while it is not
disclosed(unveiled),[172]it remains hidden from the Jews, that in Christ the
old covenantis done away, that in Christ—in His appearance and in His
work—the abolition of the Old Covenanttakes place (Romans 10:4;
Colossians 2:14). The whole is thus a more precise practicaldefinition of the
previous τὸ αὐτὸ κάλυμμα … μένει. This absolute appositionaluse of the
neuter participle (to be regardedas accusative, thoughviewed by Hermann
and others as nominative) is a current Greek idiom in impersonal phrases. See
Hermann, ad Viger. p. 769;Bernhardy, p. 471;Krüger, § lvi. 9. 5; Maetzner,
ad Antiph. p. 176. Hence Rückertis without reasonin referring μὴ
ἀνακαλύπτ. to τὸ κάλυμμα, andyet understanding ὅτι as that and καταργεῖται
of the Old Covenant, whereby the unwarranted importation of a thought
becomes necessary, namely, to this effect:“the same veil rests on the reading
of the O. T. and is not uplifted, so that it (the people)might perceive that it
(the O. T.) has its end in Christ.” Luther’s translation (comp. Erasmus, Beza,
and Heumann) follows the reading ὅ,τι (Elzevir), which Scholz also has again
takenup. This ὅ,τι would have to be explained as quippe quod (velamen), and
would give from the nature of the veil (Kühner, ad Xen. Mem. ii. 1. 30)the
information why it remains unlifted,—an interpretation, however, which

would only be compatible with the first view given above, and even with that
would be unnecessar.
καταργεῖται]present;for the fact, that in Christ the Old Covenant is
abolished, is laid down in theoreticalform as an article of faith, as a truth
which remains veiled from the Jews so long as they are not convertedto
Christ (2 Corinthians 3:16).
[170]πωροῦσθαι means to be made hard (from the substantive πῶρος), not to
be blinded, as Schleusner(Thes. IV. p. 541)and others, following the Fathers,
and also Hofmann would take it, since there is no trace at all of the use among
the Greeks ofan adjective πωρός, blind, which the Etymol. Gud. and Suidas
quote. The Greeks have πῆρος, blindness, and πήρος, blind, but not πωρός.
And if the LXX. translate ‫כ‬ ָּ‫כ‬ָּ‫,ה‬ Job 7:7, by πωροῦσθαι, and Zechariah11:17
by ἐκτυφλοῦσθαι (to which Hofmann makes appeal), this proves nothing in
favour of that explanation of πωροῦσθαι, since the LXX. very often, with
exegeticalfreedom, render the same word differently according to the context.
We may add that Hofmann irrelevantly compares Lucian, Amor. 46, where
πηροί does not mean blind at all, but has its fundamental meaning maimed.
The passagein Lucian means:“To whom are the glances of the eyes so blind
(τυφλοί), and the thoughts of the understanding so lame (πηροί)?” Here πηροί
is a figurative expressionfor weakness.
[171]So among the older commentators Castalio, andrecently Kypke, Flatt,
Osiander, Maier; comp. also Krummel, who, however, mentally supplies “by
all teachers of the law.”
[172]Very naturally and suitably Paul chose the word ἀνακαλ., not ἀποκαλ.
(in opposition to de Wette’s objection), since he has to do with the conception
of a καλύμμα that remains. The veil remains, since it is not unveiled that, etc.

In this way the explanatory expressionis quite in keeping with the figure
itself. Besides, ἀνακαλύπτεινwas commonenoughin the sense of to make
manifest, to make known (Tob 12:7; Tob 12:11;Polyb. iv. 85. 6).
2 Corinthians 3:14-18. Sadcontrastwhich the procedure of the preachers of
the gospelindicatedin 2 Corinthians 3:12-13—sowhollydifferent from the
procedure of Moses—meets with in the hardening of Israel. How far off are
they to this day from divine freedom! how altogetherdifferent, however(2
Corinthians 3:18), it is with us Christians!
Expositor's Greek Testament
2 Corinthians 3:14. ἀλλʼ ἐπωρώθη τὰ νοήματα αὐτῶν:but their minds were
blinded, sc., in reference to what they saw (cf. Romans 11:25);they took the
brightness for an abiding glory (cf. Deuteronomy29:4). πῶρος, which
primarily means a kind of marble, came to mean, in medical writers, a
hardening of the tissues;and hence we have πωρός, (1) to petrify, (2) to
become insensible or obtuse, and so (3) it comes to be used of insensibility of
the organs ofvision, to blind. (See J. A. Robinsonin Journal of Theological
Studies, Oct., 1901, andcf. reff. above.)—ἄχρι γὰρτῆς σήμερονἡμέρας
κ.f1τ.λ.:for until this very day at the reading of the Old Covenantthe same
veil remaineth unlifted (for it is only done awayin Christ). (1) Some
commentators take μὴ ἀνακαλυπτόμενονas a nominative absolute, and
translate “the same veil remaineth, it not being revealedthat it (sc., either the
veil or the Old Covenant) is done awayin Christ”. But the order of the words
seems to force us to take the presentparticiple with μένει—it having a merely
explanatory force and being almost redundant. (2) Again both A.V. and R.V.
(text), while translating the first part of the clause as we have done, render ὅ
τι ἐν Χρ. καταργεῖται “whichveil is done awayin Christ”. But it seems
indefensible thus to take ὅ τι as equivalent to ὅ. (3) Field arrives at yet another
rendering by taking κάλυμμα per synecdochemfor the thing veiled, which is
here declaredto be the fact that the Old Covenant is done awayin Christ. He
renders “the same mystery remaineth unrevealed, namely, that it is done
awayin Christ”. But it is a grave objectionto this that τὸ κάλυμμα has to be

takenin a sense different from that which it has all through the rest of the
passage. (4)We prefer, therefore (with Schmiedel and Schnedermann), to
read ὅ τι as ὅτι, for, and to regardthe phrase ὅτι ἐν χρ. καταργεῖται. as
parenthetical: “until this day the veil remains unlifted (for it is only in Christ
that it is done away)”;i.e., the Jews do not recognisethe vanishing awayof the
glory of the Law, which yet is going on before their eyes. How completely
Judaism was dissociatedin St. Paul’s mind from Christianity is plain from the
striking phrase ἡ παλαιὰ διαθήκη (here only found; but cf. 2 Corinthians 3:6),
by which he describes the religious system of his ownearly manhood, which
had only been supersededby ἡ καινὴ διαθήκη thirty years before he wrote
this letter. ἀνάγνωσις is (see reff.) the public reading of the Law in the
synagogues;it seems, however, unnecessarilyingenious to see here, with
Schmiedel, an allusion in τὸ κάλυμμα to the covers in which the Synagogue
Rolls were preserved.
Cambridge Bible for Schools andColleges
14. But their minds were blinded] They neither obeyed the Law when it was
given, nor would ceaseto obey it when it was superseded. The word rendered
blinded properly signifies hardened, and is so translated in Mark 6:52; Mark
8:17; John 12:40; and in the margin of Romans 11:7 (where the text gives the
same translation as here). See also Ephesians 4:18. The rendering blinded is
justified by the fact that many casesofwhat is called cataractare attributable
to the hardening of the crystalline lens of the eye into a chalkysubstance, a
process forwhich the Greek word here used is a proper equivalent. Our
version here follows Tyndale. Wiclif has but the wittis of hem ben astonied,
and the Rhemish but their senses were dulled. For the word translated minds
see note on ch. 2 Corinthians 2:11. Cf. Isaiah6:9-10; Matthew 13:14, &c., and
ch. 2 Corinthians 4:4. The word but implies that in consequenceofthe
condition of the Israelites the Apostle’s plainness of speechwas, to them at
least, of no avail.
remaineth the same vail untaken away]Most modern commentators, and
some ancient ones, e.g. Chrysostom, take the words rendered untaken away

with what follows, and translate the same veil remaineth at the reading of the
old covenant, it not being discoveredthat it is done awayin Christ. The
reasons forthis rendering are (1) that it is not the veil but the old covenant
with its glories which is ‘done awayin Christ,’ (2) that St Paul uses another
word in the original to signify the taking awayof the veil, and (3) that the
hardness of the hearts of the Israelites, and not the doing awayof the veil in
Christ, is the reasonthe veil is not removed. This hardness of heart prevented
them (1) from seeing that the Mosaic was a temporary covenant, and (2) that
it was rendered unnecessaryby the coming of Christ. See Acts 6:11; Acts
6:13; Acts 7:57; Acts 13:45; Acts 14:2; Acts 21:20-21, &c.;1 Thessalonians
2:14-16. The word here translated ‘untaken away’ is translated‘open,’ i.e.
‘unveiled’ in 2 Corinthians 3:18.
in the reading of the old testament] The words old covenant(see note on 2
Corinthians 3:6) refer, as 2 Corinthians 3:15 shews, not to the books we now
include in the Old Testament, but to the books of Moses.It could hardly be
said that to the prophets the abrogationof the Old Testamentin Christ was a
thing unknown. See Jeremiah31:31 above cited. Forthe regular reading of
the books ofthe Law in the synagogue, see Acts 13:15;Acts 15:21. The
prophets were also read, as we learn from the former passage(and also Acts
15:27)and Luke 4:17.
Bengel's Gnomen
2 Corinthians 3:14. Ἀλλʼ ἐπωρώθη, but were hardened) but is opposedto the
phrase to look stedfastly.—τὸ αὐτὸ)the same, as in the time of Moses.—ἐπὶ,
upon) i.e. when they read, and although they read.—ἀναγνώσει, reading)
public, frequent, perpetual. Paul makes a limitation. The veil is not now on the
face of Moses,oron his writings; but on the reading, while they read Moses,
and that too in such a way as not to admit Christ; it is also upon their heart, 2
Corinthians 3:15.—μένει, μὴ ἀνακαλυπτόμενον)remains lying upon them, so
that it is not indeed taken away[so that the veil is not even lifted off].—ὅτι,
because it is not done away, save in Christ. [But Engl. Ver. “which veil is done
awayin Christ.”]—This is a statement introductory to the things which

follow.—καταργεῖται, is abolished[done away]) the Old Testament;comp. 2
Corinthians 3:7; 2 Corinthians 3:11; 2 Corinthians 3:13. He does not say, has
been abolished, but is being abolished in respectof those, that are about “to
turn to the Lord.”
Pulpit Commentary
Verse 14. - Their minds. This word is rendered" devices" in 2 Corinthians
2:11; "minds" in 2 Corinthians 3:14 and 2 Cor 4:4; and "thought" in 2
Corinthians 10:5. It means that their powers of reasonwere, so to speak,
petrified. Were blinded; rather, were hardened. The verb cannot mean" to
blind." By whom were their minds hardened? It would be equally correctto
say by themselves (Hebrews 3:8), or by Satan (2 Corinthians 4:4), or by God
(Romans 11:7, 8). The same veil. Of course the meaning is "a veil of which the
veil of Moses is an exacttype." The veil which prevented them from seeing the
evanescenceofthe light which shone on the face of Moseswas symbolically
identical with that which prevented them also from seeing the transitory
characterof his Law. It had been as it were takenfrom his face and laid on
their hearts (see Acts 13:27-29;Romans 11.). Many commentators have seen
in this verse a reference to the Jewishcustom of covering the head with the
tallith, a four-cornered veil, when they were in the synagogues. Butthis is
doubtful, since the tallith did not coverthe eyes. More probably his metaphor
may have been suggestedby Isaiah25:7, "And he will destroy in this
mountain the face of the covering casteverall people, and the veil that is
spread over all nations." Untaken away. There are two other ways of
rendering this verse:
(1) "For until this very day at the reading of the old covenantthe same veil
remaineth unlifted; which veil is done awayin Christ," as in the Revised
Version; or
(2) "The same veil remaineth, it not being revealedthat it is done awayin
Christ," as it is takenby Chrysostomand many others, and in the margin of

the RevisedVersion. The latter seems to be the better view. It is not the veil,
but the old covenant, which is being done awayin Christ. To the Jews that
truth still remained under a veil. The present tense, "is in course of
annulment," might naturally be used until the utter abrogationof even the
possible fulfilment of the Mosaic Law at the fall of Jerusalem. In the reading
of the old testament; rather, the old covenant. There is no allusion to the Old
Testamentas a book, but the phrase is equivalent to "Mosesis read" in the
next verse. (On this obduracy of the Jews, see Romans 11:7, 8, 25.)
Vincent's Word Studies
Minds (νοήματα)
Originally, things which proceedout of the mind. Compare hearts and minds,
Philippians 4:7, and devices, 2 Corinthians 2:11. Hence, derivatively, the
minds themselves. The word occurs but once outside of this epistle,
Philippians 4:7. Some render here thoughts. So Rev., in margin.
Were blinded (ἐπωρώθη)
See on the kindred noun πώρωσις hardening, Mark 3:5. Rev., correctly, were
hardened.
The same veil (τὸ αὐτὸ κάλυμμα)
The expressiontheir minds were hardened is carriedout figuratively. There is
a veil over their minds when the law is read, as there was overMoses'face.
They cannot yet recognize the end of the Mosaic ministry.
Untaken away(μὴ ἀνακαλυπτόμενον)

Rev., admirably - giving the force of ἀνά up-unlifted. But both A.V. and Rev.
construe unlifted with veil: the same veil remaineth untaken away(unlifted).
This is objectionable, because καταργεῖταιis done awayis used throughout
the chapterof the glory of the Mosaic ministry, while another word is
employed in 2 Corinthians 3:16 of the taking awayof the veil. Further, the
reading of the best texts is ὅτι that or because, and not ὅ τι which. Because is
not true to the fact, since the veil remains unlifted, not because it is done away
in Christ, but because ofthe hardness of their hearts. It is better, therefore, to
take μὴ ἀνακαλυπτόμενον unlifted, as a nominative absolute, and to render, it
not being revealedthat it (the veil) is being done awayin Christ. This falls in
naturally with the drift of the whole passage. The veil remains on their hearts,
since it is not revealedto them that the Mosaic economyis done awayin
Christ.
PRECEPTAUSTIN RESOURCES
MichaelP. Andrus
This “veil” is a symbol of the spiritual blindness still plaguing Old Covenant
followers.
Verse 14, 15: “to this day the same veil remains when the old Covenantis
read. It has not been
removed. . . . Even to this day when Moses is read, a veil covers their hearts.”
Spiritual
blindness, friends, is a very realphenomenon, and a large percentage of
Jewishpeople suffer

from it. The reasonmay be, ironically, that they are so close to the truth. Do
you realize that
exposure to the truth of God can make some people much worse off, for they
can become
extremely proud and self-confident, while all the time missing the principal
point. The Law of
Moses came from God, so when Jewishpeople appeal to it they are appealing
to God’s own
revelation. But then they ignore their own prophets’ teaching (such as Isaiah
53) to the effect that
the Law cannever save them and the animal sacrifices cannot take awaysin–
instead they need a
perfect sacrifice, theyneed MessiahJesus. That’s the stumbling block they
cannot getover.
The Old Covenantmentality puts all its marbles in the works basket. Think
about this for a
moment: If you are working your way to heaven and someone comes along to
tell you that
salvationis free, you’re going to reactviolently, because you’ve invested a
tremendous amount
of time and resources in those works, and you don’t want the props knocked
out from under you.
My experience is that the more devout a personis in pursuing righteous
performance–whether
through Jewishceremonialismor liberal do-goodismor fundamentalist
legalism–the more blind
they become to the truth of the Gospelof grace and mercy.

Friends, Paul makes it clearthat only Christ can remove the blindness. In
verse 14 he says of the
veil over the minds of the Old Covenant reader, “Only in Christ is it taken
away.” Thenin verse
7
16 he adds, “But whenever anyone turns to the Lord, the veil is takenaway.”
The crux of
everything is one’s attitude to Jesus. Becoming more obedient won’t resolve
the spiritual
blindness; trying harder won’t do it; being more faithful at rituals won’t do it.
Only Jesus can
remove the blindness. And He will–for anyone and everyone who turns to
Him. That’s a great
promise there in verse 16:“But whenever anyone turns to the Lord, the veil is
takenaway.” The
spiritual blindness is removed.
True spiritual freedom comes only through the Holy Spirit. “Now the Lord is
the Spirit, and
where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.” The point Paul seems to be
making here is that
the Holy Spirit is deity. The same God who gave the Law to the Jewishpeople
in the OT, is the
One who has given His Holy Spirit under the New Covenant. And it is only
through that Holy
Spirit that any one finds true spiritual freedom–freedomfrom bondage to the
Law, from Satan,
from fear, from sin, and from death.

New Covenantministers leave their faces unveiled so they can reflectthe
Lord’s
glory. (17, 18) “And we, who with unveiled faces allreflect the Lord’s glory,
are being
transformed into his likeness withever-increasing glory, which comes from
the Lord, who is the
Spirit.” This is not an easyverse to understand. It seems to be saying that
unlike Moses, we have
the privilege of gazing into the face of Jesus, and we don’t have to hide the
results because they
are not physical but spiritual. The result of our looking at the face of Jesus is
not a physical
glowing that fades with time, but a spiritual transformation of characterthat
increases withtime.
I think the keyto this verse is understanding the nature of sanctification, or
spiritual growth.
There are some who teachthat the life of the Spirit is a secondblessing that
one achieves when
he receives the baptism of the Spirit and speaks in tongues. In other words,
the Christian life is of
two stages:when you confess faith in Christ you are here, and when you get
the secondblessing
you’re suddenly up here. In fact, some even teachthat you can reacha place
of full
sanctification.
But the Bible teaches that there is not only a secondblessing, but a third, a
fourth, and an infinite

number of blessings available. We are transformed into the likeness ofJesus
progressivelyand
with ever-increasing glory. In other words, the Christian life is a continual
process ofgrowing
into the likeness of Jesus. This process willculminate in the believer’s
glorification, when Christ
“will transform our lowly bodies so that they will be like his glorious body”
(Phil. 3:21).
May I ask that we searchour own hearts to see if that is the case. Canthe
people around us see
growth in Christlikeness?Canthey see the ever-increasing gloryof Christ
reflectedin our lives?
Conclusion:May I return to where I started today? Do we borrow our
worship practices from
the Old Covenant or the New Covenant? Here at First Free it’s probably a
combination. What’s
far more important is this question: “Do we understand and acceptNew
Covenanttruth, or are
we still laboring under an Old Covenantmind set?” Are we laboring under
the false notion that
we can keepenough laws and perform enough gooddeeds that we will earn
God’s approval? If
so, we are leaning on a broken reed.
WILLIAM BARCLAY

THE VEIL WHICH HIDES THE TRUTH (2 Corinthians 3:12-18)
3:12-18 It is because we possess sucha hope that we speak with such freedom.
We do not draw a veil over things, as Moses did over his face so that the
children of Israel should not gaze at the end of the glory which was doomedto
fade away. But their minds were dulled. To this very day the same veil
remains, still not drawn aside, when they read the record of the old
relationship betweenGod and man, because only in Christ is that veil
abolished. Yes, to this day, wheneverthe books that Moses wrote are read, the
veil rests upon their heart. But, whenever a man turns to the Lord, the veil is
takenaway. The Lord is the Spirit. Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is
liberty. And we all, with no veil upon our faces, seeas in a mirror the glory of
the Lord, and we go on changing this image from glory to glory, even as it
comes from the Lord who is the Spirit.
All the pictures in this passageemerge directly from the passagewhichgoes
before. Paul begins from the thought that when Moses came downfrom the
mount the glory upon his face was so bright that no one could gaze steadily
upon it.
(i) He thinks back to Exodus 34:33. The King James Version has it that Moses
put a veil upon his face until he had finished speaking;but the correct
translation of the Hebrew, is that Moses, as in the R.S.V., did this when he had
finished speaking. Paultakes this to mean that Moses veiledhis face so that
the people should not have to see the slow fading of the glory that once was
there. His first thought is that the glory of the old covenant, the old
relationship betweenGod and men, was essentiallya fading one. It was
destined to be overpassed, not as the wrong is overpassedby the right, but as
the incomplete is overpassedby the complete. The revelation that came by
Moses was true and great, but it was only partial; the revelation that came in
Jesus Christ is full and final. As Augustine so wisely put it long ago, "We do

wrong to the Old Testamentif we deny that it comes from the same just and
goodGod as the New. On the other hand we do wrong to the New Testament,
if we put the Old on a level with it." The one is a stepto glory; the other is the
summit of glory.
(ii) The idea of the veil now takes hold of Paul's mind and he uses it in
different ways. He says that, when the Jews listento the reading of the Old
Testament, as they do every Sabbath day in the synagogue,a veil upon their
eyes keeps them from seeing the real meaning of it. It ought to point them to
Jesus Christ, but the veil keeps them from seeing that. We, too, may fail to see
the realmeaning of scripture because our eyes are veiled.
(a) They may be veiled by prejudice. We, too, often go to scripture to find
support for our own views rather than to find the truth of God.
(b) They may be veiled by wishful-thinking. Too often we find what we want
to find, and neglectwhatwe do not want to see. To take an example, we may
delight in all the references to the love and the mercy of God, but pass over all
the referencesto his wrath and judgment.
(c) They may be veiled by fragmentary thinking. We should always regardthe
Bible as a whole. It is easyto take individual texts and criticize them. It is easy
to prove that parts of the Old Testamentare sub-Christian. It is easyto find
support for private theories by choosing certaintexts and passages and
putting others aside. But it is the whole messagethat we must seek;and that is
just another way of saying that we must read all scripture in the light of Jesus
Christ.

(iii) Notonly is there a veil which keeps the Jews from seeing the realmeaning
of scripture; there is also a veil which comes betweenthem and God.
(a) Sometimes it is the veil of disobedience. Very often it is moral and not
intellectual blindness which keeps us from seeing God. If we persist in
disobeying him we become less and less capable of seeing him. The vision of
God is to the pure in heart.
(b) Sometimes it is the veil of the unteachable spirit. As the Scots saying has it,
"There's none so blind as those who winna see."The best teacheron earth
cannot teachthe man who knows it all already and does not wish to learn.
God gave us free will, and, if we insist upon our own way, we cannot learn his.
(iv) Paul goes onto say that we see the glory of the Lord with no veil upon our
faces, and because ofthat we, too, are changed from glory into glory. Possibly
what Paul means is that, if we gaze at Christ, we in the end reflect him. His
image appears in our lives. It is a law of life that we become like the people we
gaze at. People hero-worshipsomeone and begin to reflect his ways. If we
contemplate Jesus Christ, in the end we come to reflecthim.
Paul sets for many a theologicalproblem when he says, "The Lord is the
Spirit." He seems to identify the RisenLord and the Holy Spirit. We must
remember that he was not writing theology;he was setting down experience.
And it is the experience of the Christian life that the work of the Spirit and the
work of the RisenLord are one and the same. The strength and guidance we
receive come alike from the Spirit and from the Risen Lord.
Where the Spirit is, says Paul, there is liberty. He means that so long as man's
obedience to God is conditioned by obedience to a code of laws he is in the

position of an unwilling slave. But when it comes from the operationof the
Spirit in his heart, the very centre of his being has no other desire than to
serve God, for then it is not law but love which binds him. Many things which
we would resentdoing under compulsion for some strangerare a privilege to
do for someone we love. Love clothes the humblest and the most menial tasks
with glory. "In God's service we find our perfect freedom."
-Barclay's Daily Study Bible (NT)
BRIAN BELL
Veil Removal!
I. Slide#1 Intro:
A. Slide#2 Everything continues in a state of rest unless it is compelledto
change by forces
impressed upon it. Issac Newton, FirstLaw of Motion.
1. As human beings we normally do not like change, but it is inevitable.
2. As Christians we normally do not like change, but it is inevitable.
B. Have you ever cried out to God, “God, what are You doing? What do you
want from me?
Why did you leave me here”
1. If He only had 1 verse to sum up what He wants...Ithink He’d answer
2Cor.3:18.
a) It is vital that day by day we live w/in this conceptualframework so that in
everything we

do or think we promote the growth of Christlikeness (orglorification) within
our lives.1
b) See, the gospelof Christ not only illuminates our darkened lives; equally
remarkably, it
transforms them little by little so that they increasinglyresemble the moral &
spiritual
characterof the Lord Jesus.
C. Slide#3 Paul points out to us 4 greatcomparisons betweenthe OT Law &
the NT Grace:
1. [1] From Tablets of Stone to Tablets of Flesh[2] From Deathto Life
[3] From Fading Glory to Lasting Glory [4] From Bondage to Freedom
II. Slide#4 FROM TABLETS OF STONE TO TABLETS OF FLESH! (1-3)
A. (1) Commendations & Credentials!
B. Paul here defends himself againstthe Jewishlegalists.
C. Slide#5,6 Diogenes, the cynic philosopher, was once askedto give a letter of
commendation for
someone & he answered, Thatyou are a man he will know at a glance;but
whether you are a
goodor a bad man he will discoverif he has the skill to distinguish between
good& bad, & if
he is without that skill he will not discoverthe facts even though I write to him
1000’s oftimes.
D. These letters were popular in Paul’s day.
1. Here’s one that was found on papyri, “To Julius Domitius, military tribune
of the

legion, from Aurelius Archelaus, his beneficiaries (a soldierexempt from
menial
duties), greeting. I have already before this recommended to you Theon, my
friend
& now also, I ask you sir, to have him before your eyes as you would myself.
For he
is man such as to deserve to be loved by you, for he left his own people, his
goods
& his business & followedme, & through all things he has kept me safe. I
therefore
pray you that he may have the right to come & see you. He can tell you
everything
about our business…Ihave loved the man…I wish you, sir, greathappiness &
long
1
1 Paul Barnett, BST, Pg.75
life w/your family & goodhealth. Have this letter before your eyes & let it
make you
think that I am speaking to you. Farewell.”
E. Paul sees a need to give one of these commendations in Rom.16:1,2 I
commend to you Phoebe
our sister, who is a servantof the church in Cenchrea, that you may receive
her in the Lord in a
manner worthy of the saints, and assisther in whatever business she has need
of you; for indeed
she has been a helper of many and of myself also.

1. Yet Paul here says he needs no letter of commendation…because “the
Corinthian
believers” were his commendation!
a) The change in their character& life is the only commendation that he
needs.
F. Slide#7,8 Notw/ink – years before Plato had said, “The goodteacherdoes
not write his
messagein ink that will fade; he writes it upon men.”
1. Jobsaid, Oh, that my words were written! Oh, that they were inscribed in a
book!
That they were engravedon a rock With an iron pen and lead, forever!
19:23,24.
2. This is what Jesus had done. He wrote His messageupon the Corinthians
hearts,
…through his servant Paul. - Notw/Fading Ink but w/His Permanent Marker
Spirit; not on tablets of stone (as they were 1stwritten) but on the tablet of
their hearts.
a) The Law was external - You could hold the tablets of stones in your hands
your whole
life & it could never change your life.
b) The NT ministry is internal – The Spirit of God living inside & empowering
you.
3. We ought to be Christians in large type, in bold font, underlined,
highlighted, &
exclamationmarked!
G. The Law only reveals sin; it cannot do anything about it!

H. (2) All men - Christianity is essentiallya lay movement.
1. Every believer is an open letter for Jesus.
2. Every Christian is an advertisement for Christianity.
a) We judge a store by the quality of goods it sells;
We judge a craftsman on his quality of work;
We judge a Church by the kind of Christians it produces;& therefore
The world judges Christ by His Followers!
(1) Dick Sheppard said, “The greatesthandicapthe church has is the
unsatisfactorylives of professing Christians. ”
b) Slide#9 When we step out into our world everyday we are “openletters”,
“advertisements” forChrist & His church. We are “Sandwichboards for the
Savior”!
3. Slide#10 Poem:You are writing a Gospel, a chapter every day,
By the deeds that you do & the words that you say.
2
Men read what you write, whether faithful or true.
Just what is the gospelaccording to you?
I. The Spirit wants to write a new version of His Word on your heart…Will
you let Him?
J. George Whitefieldsaid, “Godhas condescendedto become an Author, and
yet people will not
read his writings. There are very few that evergave this Book of God, the
grand charter of
salvation, one fair reading through.”

K. What are your thoughts when I say, “you may be the only letter from
Christ that some people
ever read?”
III. Slide#11 FROM DEATHTO LIFE! (4-6)
A. (6) Our sufficiency is from God – At one time Paul tried to find his
sufficiency in his pedigree,
background, & education.
1. We often work overtime to get people to notice us. We want to show them
how
adequate we are, how competent, how gifted, how important. [Dr.Bell -
Hhmmmm, has a sort
of ring to it!]
2. It’s not important that they see us, only HIM!
3. Often our impressive qualifications & accomplishments only obscure the
view!
B. Slide#12 New covenant – The Greek has 2 main words for “new”.
1. neos – new in point of time. Like a young person because he is a newcomer
into
the world.
2. kainos – new in quality. It brings something fresh into the situation.
a) This is the word used here.
C. How was the Old Cov. a deadly thing?
1. Note:the letter kills(6); the ministry of death(7); the ministry of
condemnation(9).
2. The Law was never given to impart life!

3. Becauseit produced a legalrelationship betweenGod & man.
a) It basically said, “keepthese laws if you want to maintain relationship
w/God.”
4. God was the judge, & man was the criminal forever in default before the
bar of
God’s judgment.
5. Slide#13 The OT law was deadly because it killed Hope (just frustrated
man); killed
life (for it only brought condemnation); & killed strength (for it could only
“tell” a
person what to do but gave them no power to “do it”!)
D. The New Cov. was much different!
1. It is a relationship of Love!
2. It is no longer a Judge/criminal relationship; but now a Father/son
relationship!
3
3. It changes a man, not imposing a new law but by changing his heart!
4. It not only tells man what to do but gives him power to do it (via the H.S.)
E. The Old Cov. wasn’ta bad thing; it was a step on the way!
1. “Whenthe sun rises the lamp is no longerneeded!”
a) Some still bring the lamp out in the sunlight though???
IV. Slide#14 FROM FADING GLORYTO LASTING GLORY! (7-16)
A. Background:ReadEx.34:29-35.
B. There definitely was a glory to the OT Law: the Temple, the priesthood, the
ceremonies, the

awesome revelationsofGods power, the cloud by day & the pillar of fire by
night!
1. But it doesn’t compare to the Glory of the New Covenant which grows more
& more
glorious.
a) Prov.4:18 the path of the just is like the shining sun, That shines ever
brighter unto the
perfect day.
2. Augustine said, “We do wrong to the OT if we deny that it comes from the
same just
& goodGod as the New. On the other hand we do wrong to the NT, if we put
the
Old on a level with it.”
a) “The one is a step to glory; the other is the summit of glory!”
3. Picture glory as light! – The stars & moon have their certain shine at night;
but
when the sun comes up in the morning, these other luminaries pale in
comparison!
a) Why? Becausethe glory of the sun outshines that of the moon & stars!
C. Slide#15,16 (13)Passing away – Why do you think Mosescoveredhis face
from Ex.34?
1. Paul let’s us know why Moses coveredhimself. Notbecause the people were
scaredof his glow, but so people couldn’t see it fading away!
a) But God never meant for it to stay…it was supposedto fade before the
abounding glory
of the gospel.

Jesus was the veil remover

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