2 Corinthians 3:4

4. Such trust—Rather, such confidence; namely, the bold assurance that they are his epistle. 2Co_3:4-5, are flung in as a softener of all apparent arrogance in his bold assurance.

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Chapter 9

THE TWO COVENANTS.- 2Co_3:4-11 (R.V)

THE confidence referred to in the opening of this passage is that which underlies the triumphant Sentences at the end of the second chapter. The tone of those sentences was open to misinterpretation, and Paul guards himself against this on two sides. To begin with, his motive in so expressing himself was quite pure: he had no thought of commending himself to the Corinthians. And, again, the ground of his confidence was not in himself. The courage which he had to speak as he did he had through Jesus Christ, and that, too, in relation to God. It was virtually confidence in God, and therefore inspired by God.

It is this last aspect of his confidence which is expanded in the fifth verse: "not that we are sufficient of ourselves, to account anything as from ourselves; but our sufficiency is from God." This vehement disclaimer of any self-sufficiency has naturally been taken in the widest sense, and theologians from Augustine downward have found in it one of the most decisive proofs of the inability of man for any spiritual good accompanying salvation. No one, we may be sure, would have ascribed salvation, and all spiritual good accompanying it, entirely to God with more hearty sincerity than the Apostle; but it does seem better here to give his words a narrower and more relevant interpretation. The "sufficiency to account anything," of which he speaks, must have a definite meaning for the context; and this meaning is suggested by the words of 2Co_2:14-17. Paul would never have dared, he tells us-indeed, he would never have been able-on his own motion, and out of his own resources, either to form conclusions, or to express them, on the subjects there in view. It is not for any man at random to say what the true Gospel is, what are its issues, what the responsibilities of its hearers or preachers, what is the spirit requisite in the evangelist, or what are the methods legitimate for him. The Gospel is Gods concern, and only those who have been capacitated by Him are entitled to speak as Paul has spoken. If this is a narrower sense than that which is expounded so vigorously by Calvin, it is more pertinent, and some will find it quite as pungent. Of all things that are done hastily and inconsiderately, by people calling themselves Christian, the criticism of evangelists is one of the most conspicuous. At his own prompting, out of his own wise head, any man almost will both make up his mind and speak his mind about any preacher with no sense of responsibility whatever. Paul certainly did form opinions about preachers, opinions which were anything but flattering; but he did it through Jesus Christ and in relation to God; he did it because, as he writes, God had made him sufficient, i.e., had given him capacity to be, and the capacity of, a true evangelist, so that he knew both what the Gospel was, and how it ought to be proclaimed. It would silence much incompetent, because self-sufficient, criticism, if no one "thought anything" who had not this qualification.

The qualification having been mentioned, the Apostle proceeds, as usual, to enlarge upon it. "Our sufficiency is of God; who also made us sufficient as ministers of a new covenant; not of letter, but of spirit: for the letter killeth, but the spirit giveth life." At the first glance, we see no reason why his thought should take this direction, and it can only be because those whom he is opposing, and with whom he has contrasted himself in 2Co_2:17, are in some sense representatives of the old covenant, ministers of the letter in spite of their claim to be evangelists, and appealing not to a competency which came from God, but to one which rested on "the flesh." They based their title to preach on certain advantages of birth, or on having known Jesus when He lived in the world, or perhaps on certification by others who had known Him; at all events, not on that spiritual competence which Pauls ministry at Corinth had shown him to possess. That this was really the case will be seen more fully at a later stage (especially in 2Co_10:1-18. ff.).

With the words "ministers of a new covenant" we enter upon one of the great passages in St. Pauls writings, and are allowed to see one of the inspiring and governing ideas in his mind. "Covenant," even to people familiar with the Bible, is beginning to be a remote and technical term; it needs to be translated or explained. If no more than another word is to be used, perhaps "dispensation" or "constitution" would suggest something. Gods covenant with Israel was the whole constitution under which God was the God of Israel, and Israel the people of God. The new covenant of which Paul speaks necessarily implies an old one; and the old one is this covenant with Israel. It was a national covenant, and for that, among other reasons, it was represented and embodied in legal forms. There was a legal constitution under which the nation lived, and according to which all Gods dealings with it, and all its dealings with God, were regulated. Without entering more deeply, in the meantime, into the nature of this constitution, or the religious experiences which were possible to those who lived under it, it is sufficient to notice that the best spirits in the nation became conscious of its inadequacy, and eventually of its failure. Jeremiah, who lived through the long agony of his countrys dissolution, and saw the final collapse of the ancient order, felt this failure most deeply, and was consoled by the vision of a brighter future. That future rested for him on a more intimate relation of God to His people, on a constitution, as we may fairly paraphrase his words, less legal and more spiritual. "Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel, and with the house of Judah: not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt; which My covenant they brake, although I was a husband unto them, saith the Lord. But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, saith the Lord; I will put my law in their inward parts, and in their heart will I write it; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people: and they shall teach no more every man his neighbor, and every man his brother, saying, Know the Lord: for they shall all know Me, from the least of them unto the greatest of them, saith the Lord: for I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin will I remember no more." This wonderful passage, so profound, so spiritual, so evangelical, is the utmost reach of prophecy; it is a sort of stepping-stone between the Old Testament and the New. Jeremiah has cried to God out of the depths, and God has heard his cry, and raised him to a spiritual height from which his eye ranges over the land of promise, and rests with yearning on all its grandest features. We do not know whether many of his contemporaries or successors were able to climb the mount which offered this glorious prospect; but we know that the promise remained a promise - a rainbow light across the dark cloud of national disaster-till Christ claimed its fulfillment as His work. It was His to make good all that the prophets had spoken; and when in the last hours of His life He said to His disciples, "This is My blood of the covenant, which is shed for many, for the remission of sins," it was exactly as if He had laid His Hand on that passage of Jeremiah, and said. "This day is this scripture fulfilled before your eyes." By the death of Jesus a new spiritual order was established; it rested on the forgiveness of sin, it made God accessible to all, it made obedience an instinct and a joy; all the intercourse of God and man was carried on upon a new footing, under a new constitution; to use the words of the prophet and the apostle, God made a new covenant with His people.

Among the Christians of the first age, no one so thoroughly appreciated the newness of Christianity, or was so immensely impressed by it, as St. Paul. The difference between the earlier dispensation and the later, between the religion of Moses disciples and the religion of believers in Jesus Christ, was one that could hardly be exaggerated; he himself had been a zealot of the old, he was now a zealot of the new; and the gulf between his former and his present self was one that no geometry could measure. He had lived after the straitest sect of the old religion, a Pharisee; touching the righteousness which is in the law he could call himself blameless; he had tasted the whole bitterness of the legalism, the formality, the bondage, in which the old covenant entangled those who were devoted to it in his days. It is with this in his memory that he here sets the old and the new in unrelieved opposition to each other. His feeling is like that of a man who has just been liberated from prison, and whose whole mind is possessed and filled up with the single sensation that it is one thing to be chained, and another thing to be free. In the passage before us, this is all the Apostle has in view. He speaks as if the old covenant and the new had nothing in common, as if the new, to borrow Baurs expression, had merely a negative relation to "the old," as if it could only be contrasted with it, and not compared to it, or illustrated by it. And with this restricted view he characterizes the old dispensation as one of letter, and the new as one of spirit. Speaking out of his own experience, which was not solitary, but typical, he could truly speak thus. The essence of the old, to a Pharisee born and bred, was its documentary, statutory character: the law, written in letters, on stone tablets or parchment sheets, simply confronted men with its uninspiring imperative; it had never yet given any one a good conscience or enabled him to attain to the righteousness of God. The essence of the new, on the other hand, was spirit; the Christian was one in whom, through Christ, the Holy Spirit of God dwelt, putting the righteousness of God within his reach, enabling him to perfect holiness in Gods fear. The contrast is made absolute, pro tem. There is no "spirit" in the old at all; there is no "letter" in the new. This last assertion was more natural then than now; for at the time when Paul wrote this Epistle, there was no "New Testament of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ" consigned in documents and collected for the use of the Church. The Gospel existed in the world, not at all in books, but only in men; all the epistles were living epistles; there was literally no letter, but only spirit.

This, doubtless, is the explanation of the blank antithesis of the old covenant and the new in the passage before us. But it is obvious, when we think of it, that this antithesis does not exhaust the relations of the two. It is not the whole truth about the earlier dispensation to say that, while the new is spiritual, it is not. The religion of the Old Testament was not mere legalism; if it had been, the Old Testament would be for us an unprofitable and almost an unintelligible book. That religion had its spiritual side, as all but utterly corrupt religions always have; God administered His grace to His people through it, and in psalms and prophecies we have records of their experiences, which are not legal, but spiritual, and priceless even to Christian men. Nor would Paul, under other circumstances, have refused to admit this; on the contrary, it is a prominent element in his teaching. He knows that the old bears in its bosom the promise of the new, a sum of promises that has been confirmed and made good in Jesus Christ. {2Co_1:20} He knows that the righteousness of God, which is proclaimed in the Gospel, is witnessed to by the law and, the prophets. {Rom_3:21} He knows that the law, even, is "spiritual." {Rom_7:14} He knows that the righteousness of faith was a secret revealed to David. {Rom_4:6 f.} He would probably have agreed with Stephen that the oracles received and delivered by Moses in the wilderness were "living" oracles; and his profound mind would have thrilled to hear that great word of Jesus, "I am not come to destroy, but to fulfill." Had be lived to a time like ours, when the Gospel also has been embodied in a book, instead of using "letter" and "spirit" as mutually exclusive, he would have admitted, as we do, that both ideas apply, in some sense, to both dispensations, and that it is possible to take the old and the new alike either in the letter or in the spirit. Nevertheless, he would have been entitled to say that, if they were to be characterized in their differences, they must be characterized as he has done it: the mark of the old, as opposed to the new, is literalism, or legalism; the mark of the new, as opposed to the old, is spirituality, or freedom. They differ as law differs from life, as compulsion from inspiration. Taken thus, no one can have any difficulty in agreeing with him.

But the Apostle does not rest in generalities: he goes on to a more particular comparison of the old and the new dispensations, and especially to a demonstration that the new is the more glorious. He starts with a statement of their working, as dependent on their nature just described. One is letter; the other, spirit. Well, the letter kills, but the spirit gives life. A sentence so pregnant as this, and so capable of various applications, must have been very perplexing to the Corinthians, had they not been fairly acquainted beforehand with the Apostles "form of doctrine". {Rom_6:17} It condenses in itself a whole cycle of his characteristic thoughts. All that he says in the Epistles to the Romans and the Galatians about the working of the law, in its relation to the flesh, is represented in "the letter killeth." The power of the law to create the consciousness of sin and to intensify it; to stimulate transgression, and so make sin exceeding sinful, and shut men up in despair; to pass sentence upon the guilty, the hopeless sentence of death, -all this is involved in the words. The fullness of meaning is as ample in "the spirit giveth life." The Spirit of Christ, given to those who receive Christ in the Gospel, is an infinite power and an infinite promise. It includes the reversal of all that the letter has wrought. The sentence of death is reversed; the impotence to good is counteracted and overcome; the soul looks out to, and anticipates, not the blackness of darkness for ever, but the everlasting glory of Christ. When the Apostle has written these two little sentences-when he has supplied "letter" and "spirit" with the predicates "kill" and "make alive," in the sense which they bear in the Christian revelation-he has gone as far as the mind of man can go in stating an effective contrast. But he works it out with reference to some special points in which the superiority of the new to the old is to be observed.

(1) In the first place, the ministry of the old was a ministry of death. Even as such it had a glory, or splendor, of its own. The face of Moses, its great minister, shone after he had been in the presence of God; and though that brightness was passing away even as men caught sight of it (τὴν καταργουμένην is partic. impf.), it was so resplendent as to dazzle the beholders. But the ministry of the new is a ministry of spirit: and who would not argue a fortiori that it should appear in glory greater still? Both the μαλλον ("rather"), and the future (εσται) in 2Co_3:8, are logical. Paul speaks, to use Bengels expression, looking forward, as it were, from the Old Testament into the New. He does not say in what the glory of the New consists. He does not say that it is veiled at present, and will be manifested when Christ comes to transfigure His own. Even the use of "hope" in 2Co_3:12 does not prove this. He leaves it quite indefinite; and arguing from the nature of the two ministries, which has just been explained, simply concludes that in glory the new must far transcend the old.

(2) In vv. 9 and 10 {2Co_3:9-10} he puts a new point upon this. "Death" and "life" are here replaced by "condemnation" and "righteousness." It is through condemnation that man becomes the prey of death; and the grace which reigns in him to eternal life reigns through righteousness. {Rom_5:21} The contrast of these two words is very significant for Pauls conception of the Gospel: it shows how essential to his idea of righteousness, how fundamental in it, is the thought of acquittal or acceptance with God. Men are bad men, sinful men, under Gods condemnation; and he cannot conceive a Gospel at all which does not announce, at the very outset, the removal of that condemnation, and a declaration in the sinners favor. Perhaps there are other ways of conceiving men, and other aspects in which God can come to them as their Savior; but the Pauline Gospel has proved itself, and will always prove itself anew, the Gospel for the sinful, who know the misery of condemnation and despair. Mere pardon, as it has been called, may be a meager conception, but it is that without which no other Christian conception can exist for a moment. That which lies at the bottom of the new covenant, and supports all its magnificent promises and hopes, is this: "I will forgive their iniquities, and 1 will remember their sins no more." If we could imagine this taken away, what were left? Of course the righteousness which the Gospel proclaims more than pardon; it is not exhausted when we say it is the opposite of condemnation; but unless we feel that the very nerve of it lies in the removal of condemnation, we shall never understand the New Testament tone in speaking of it. It is this which explains the joyous rebound of the Apostles spirit whenever he encounters the subject; he remembers the black cloud, and now there is clear shining; he was under sentence then, but now he is justified by faith, and has peace with God. He cannot exaggerate the contrast, nor the greater glory of the new state. Granting that the ministry of condemnation had its glory-that the revelation of law "had an austere majesty of its own"-does not the ministry of righteousness, the Gospel which annulled the condemnation and restored man to peace with God, overflow with glory? When he thinks of it, he is tempted to withdraw the concession he has made. We may call the old dispensation and its ministry glorious if we like; they are glorious when they stand alone; but when comparison is made with the new, they are not glorious at all. The stars are bright till the moon rises: the moon herself reigns in heaven till her splendor pales before the sun; but when the sun shines in his strength, there is no other glory in the sky. All the glories of the old covenant have vanished for Paul in the light which shines from the Cross and from the Throne of Christ.

(3) A final superiority belongs to the new dispensation and its ministry as compared with the old-the superiority of permanence to transiency. "If that which passeth away was with glory, much more that which remaineth is in glory." The verbs here are supplied by the translators, but one may question whether the contrast of past and present was so definite in the Apostles mind. I think not, and the reference to Moses face does not prove that it was. All through these comparisons St. Paul expresses himself with the utmost generality; logical and ideal, not temporal, relations, dominate his thoughts. The law was given in glory (ἐγενήθη ἐν δόξῃ, 2Co_3:7) -there is no dispute about that; but what the eleventh verse makes prominent is that while glory is the attendant or accompaniment of the transient, it is the element of the permanent. The law is indeed of God; it has a function in the economy of God; it is at the very lowest a negative preparation for the Gospel; it shuts men up to the acceptance of Gods mercy. In this respect the glory on Moses face represents the real greatness which belongs to the law as a power used by God in the working out of His loving purpose. But at the best the law only shuts men up to Christ, and then its work is done. The true greatness of God is revealed, and with it His true glory, once for all, in the Gospel. There is nothing beyond the righteousness of God, manifested in Christ Jesus, for the acceptance of faith. That is Gods last word to the world: it has absorbed in it even the glory of the law; and it is bright forever with a glory above all other. It is Gods chief end to reveal this glory in the Gospel, and to make men partakers of it; it has been so always, is so still, and ever shall be; and in the consciousness that he has seen and been saved by the eternal love of God, and is now a minister of it, the Apostle claims this finality of the new covenant as its crowning glory. The law, like the lower gifts of the Christian life, passes away; but the new covenant abides, for it is the revelation of love-that love which is the being and the glory of God Himself.

These qualities of the Christian dispensation, which constitute its newness, are too readily lost sight of. It is hard to appreciate and to live up to them, and hence they are always lapsing out of view, and requiring to be rediscovered. In the first age of Christianity there were many myriads of Jews, the Book of Acts tells us, who had very little sense of the newness of the Gospel; they were exceedingly zealous for the law, even for the letter of all its ritual prescriptions: Paul and his spiritual conception of Christianity were their bugbear. In the first half of the second century the religion even of the Gentile Churches had already become more legal than evangelical; there was wanting any sufficient apprehension of the spirituality, the freedom, and the newness of Christianity as opposed to Judaism; and though the reaction of Marcion, who denied that there was any connection whatever between the Old Testament and the New, went to a false and perverse extreme, it was the natural, and in its motives the legitimate, protest of spirit and life against letter and law. The Reformation in the sixteenth century was essentially a movement of similar character: it was the rediscovery of the Pauline Gospel, or of the Gospel in those characteristics of it which made Pauls heart leap for joy-its justifying righteousness, its spirituality, its liberty. In a Protestant scholasticism this glorious Gospel has again been lost oftener than once; it is lost when "a learned ministry" deals with the New Testament writings as the scribes dealt with the Old; it is lost also-for extremes meet-when an unlearned piety swears by verbal, even by literal, inspiration, and takes up to mere documents an attitude which in principle is fatal to Christianity. It is in the life of the Church-especially in that life which communicates itself, and makes the Christian community what the Jewish never was, essentially a missionary community-that the safeguard of all these high characteristics lies. A Church devoted to learning, or to the maintenance of a social or political position, or even merely to the cultivation of a type of character among its own members, may easily cease to be spiritual, and lapse into legal religion: a Church actively engaged in propagating itself never can. It is not with the "letter" one can hopefully address unbelieving men: it is only with the power of the Holy Spirit at work in the heart; and where the Spirit is, there is liberty. None are so "sound" on the essentials of the faith as men with the truly missionary spirit; but at the same time none are so completely emancipated, and that by the self-same Spirit, from all that is not itself spiritual.

William Robertson Nicoll, ed., The Expositor's Bible (London: Hodder & Stoughton, 1887–1910) — public domain. 65 of 66 books (1 Corinthians is not separately keyed, as that volume carries no machine-parseable verse references); section-level commentary keyed to the opening verse. Introductory and overview sections not keyed to a specific passage are excluded.

3:4-18 The contrast between Paul’s ministry and the others’ ministries leads Paul to contrast the old covenant of written laws (Exod 31:18) with the new covenant written on human hearts (Jer 31:33).

3:4-6 The old written covenant is the Mosaic law as interpreted by the Jewish rabbis. It ends in death for adherents who see it as a way of salvation. The law is good (Rom 7:12-14), but those who use it to gain merit fail. It leads either to transgression or to pride; either way, the law brings condemnation (2 Cor 3:9).

Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

2Co 3:4. Πεποίθησιν, trust) by which we both determine and profess to be such as are here described. The antithesis is, to faint, 2Co 4:1.—διὰ τοῦ Χριστοῦ, through Christ) not through ourselves. This matter is discussed, 2Co 3:14, at the end, and in the following verses.—πρὸς τὸν Θεὸν, toward God) This is discussed, 2Co 3:6, and in the following verses.

Bengel's Gnomon of the New Testament — English translation (T&T Clark, Edinburgh, 1860) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

2Co_3:4. Πεποίθησιν is emphatic, and therefore precedes (otherwise in 2Co_1:15); confidence, however, of such a kind as is indicated in 2Co_3:2-3; for there Paul has expressed a lofty self-consciousness. Hence there is no reason for seeking a reference to something earlier instead of to what immediately precedes, and for connecting it with 2Co_2:17 (Grotius and others, including de Wette; comp. Rückert), or with 2Co_2:14-17, as Hofmann has done in consequence of his taking ἀρχόμεθα in 2Co_3:1 as not interrogative. Brief and apt is Luthers gloss: Confidence, that we have prepared you to form the epistle.

διὰ τοῦ Χριστοῦ] through Christ, who brings it about in us: for in his official capacity Paul knows himself to be under the constant influence of Christ, without which he would not have that confidence. Theodoret says well: τοῦ Χριστοῦ τοῦτο ἡμῖν δεδώκοτος τὸ θάρσος.

πρὸς τὸν θεόν] in relation to God, as bringing about the successful results of the apostolic activity. It denotes the religious direction, in which he has such confidence (comp. Rom_4:2; Rom_5:1), not the validity before God (de Wette).

Meyer — Critical and Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament — English translation by Peter Christie, edited by Frederick Crombie (T&T Clark, 1880) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

2Co 3:4-6 . HIS SUCCESS IN THE MINISTRY OF THE NEW COVENANT IS ALTOGETHER DUE TO GOD.

2Co 3:4 . πεποίθησιν δὲ τοιαύτην κ . τ . λ .: and such confidence have we through Christ towards God ( cf. Rom 4:2 ; Rom 5:1 for a like use of πρὸς τὸν Θεόυ ). That is “ we are sufficient for these things” (see 2Co 2:16-17 ); but he hastens to explain the true source of his confidence.

The Expositor's Greek Testament, edited by W. Robertson Nicoll (1897–1910) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

4. Πεποίθησιν δὲ τοιαύτην ἔχομεν. ‘And confidence of this kind we possess through Christ to God-ward.’ He refers to the πεποίθησις just expressed, viz. that he has no need of any credentials other than the testimony which the existence of the Corinthian Church bears: that fact by itself suffices to prove his Apostleship. But he at once hastens to show that in this confidence there is no self-praise and no claim to credit; for it is conditioned in two ways which entirely exclude vain-glorious thoughts; it is through Christ, and it is towards God. In LXX πεποίθησις occurs only in the taunt of Rabshakeh, Τί ἡ πεπ. αὕτη ἣν πέποιθας; but it is fairly freq. in other versions. It is found six times in Paul and nowhere else in N.T. See Index IV.

διὰ τοῦ Χριστοῦ. ‘Therefore not through any innate power of our own. Apart from Him we could do nothing (Joh 15:5). He gave us the power that we have’— τοῦτο ἡμῖν δεδωκότος τὸ θάρσος (Thdrt.).

πρὸς τὸν Θεόν. Erga Deum, which is the second security against boastfulness. ‘The quiet confidence which gives us strength (Isa 30:15) is not directed towards anything earthly as the ultimate source of strength, but towards God’ (Rom 15:16). The idea is that of looking towards the person on whom one relies. This use of πρός is rare; the usual prepositions after πεποίθησις are εἰς (8:22) and ἐν (Php 3:4), and after πεποιθέναι, which is very freq. in N.T. and LXX, εἰς, ἐν, and ἐπί with dat. (1:9) or acc. (2:3). In 2Th 3:4 we have πεποίθαμεν δὲ ἐν Κυρίῳ ἐφʼ ὑμᾶς, a construction which would have stood very well here.

4. 1 Seeing then that the Gospel is so glorious and is so unreservedly made known, and that we by God’s mercy have been made competent for the ministration of it, we have a courage which corresponds with that mercy. 2 We are not cowardly schemers,—far from it. We have from the first refused to adopt underhand methods of unworthy trickery; we follow no courses of unscrupulous cunning; we do not tone down or in any way tamper with God’s message. On the contrary, we set forth the truth so clearly and purely that this at once commends us to the conscience of our hearers, however much it may differ in different men. If, however, the verdict of all human consciences may err, we are not afraid to appeal to the judgment of God. 3 I do not deny that the Gospel which we proclaim so openly and honestly does not penetrate to the hearts of all who hear it; a veil intervenes. That is true, but only of those who are lost, 4 in whose case the god of this evil dispensation has blinded their understandings, unbelievers, as they are, so that for them there is no morning-glow from the light which is shed by the Gospel,—the Gospel which is charged with all the glory of Christ, who is the image of God. 5 Yes, the glory of Christ; for it is not our own claims that we press, but those of Christ Jesus, as the risen and glorified Lord. Our relation to you is that of bondservants, in the service of Him who Himself took the form of a bondservant. 6 Is say that we do not press our own merits, because we have none; all that is of value in us is derived. To the God who in the beginning said, Out of darkness light shall shine, we owe the light that has shined in our hearts, the light which springs from the knowledge of the glory of God, which we must pass on to others. I have knowledge of that glory, for I have seen it myself on the face of Christ.

The closing words of this section are a complete explanation of the statement made at the beginning of it and elaborated in 4:2. The man who has always in his heart the Divine light which shone into it from the face of the glorified Lord cannot be guilty of tricky artifices and double-dealing with a view to commending himself and winning applause. The light transfigures him, and he is ever transparent and open. He works to impart the light to others, not as coming from himself, but from God through Christ.

We may notice the close correspondence between the last seven verses of this chapter and the first six verses of the next chapter. In both we have three subjects in the same order; the excellence of the Gospel ministry, the sad condition of those who are so blind as to be unable to see the excellence of the Gospel, and the Divine source of the excellence. Both passages begin with similar words expressing the rich possession of those to whom the ministry of the Gospel has been entrusted, and in both the metaphor of the veil is used. In the first passage this metaphor is applied to the unbelieving Jews, in the second to unbelievers generally, especially, but not exclusively, Gentiles. The repetition of ἔχομεν and ἔχοντες of the treasure possessed by Christian misssionaries should be noted (3:4, 12, 4:1, 7, 13). See below on 4:1.

International Critical Commentary — older volumes (1896–1929), various authors — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

This boldness we show, and thus gloriously may we boast of the worthiness and fruit of our ministry.

Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain. Text via Bolls.life.

And--Greek, "But." "Such confidence, however (namely, of our 'sufficiency,' Co2 3:5-6; Co2 2:16 --to which he reverts after the parenthesis--as ministers of the New Testament, 'not hinting,' Co2 4:1), we have through Christ (not through ourselves, compare Co2 3:18) toward God" (that is, in our relation to God and His work, the ministry committed by Him to us, for which we must render an account to Him). Confidence toward God is solid and real, as looking to Him for the strength needed now, and also for the reward of grace to be given hereafter. Compare Act 24:15, "hope toward God." Human confidence is unreal in that it looks to man for its help and its reward.

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Verse 4. Such trust have we] We have the fullest conviction that God has thus accredited our ministry; and that ye are thus converted unto him, and are monuments of his mercy, and proofs of the truth of our ministry.

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

4. And such confidence As it was a magnificent commendation, that Paul had pronounced to the honor of himself and his Apostleship, lest he should seem to speak of himself more confidently than was befitting, he transfers the entire glory to God, from whom he acknowledges that he has received everything that he has. “By this boasting,” says he, “I extol God rather than myself, by whose grace I am what I am.” (1 Corinthians 15:10.) He adds, as he is accustomed to do by Christ, because he is, as it were, the channel, through which all God’s benefits flow forth to us.

John Calvin's Commentaries (1540-1563) — public domain. Text from the Calvin Translation Society English edition (1840s-50s) via the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (ccel.org). Calvin's coverage is partial (roughly two-thirds of the Bible); uncommented books and verses are honest gaps, never fabricated. The 19th-century editor's footnotes and remarks are omitted so the notes are faithfully Calvin's own voice.

(4) Such trust have we.—The words carry us back to the expressions of 2Co_3:2-3, perhaps, also, to the assertion of his own sincerity and sufficiency implied in 2Co_2:16-17. He has this confidence, but it is through Christ, who strengthens him (Col_1:11).

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

4. such trust] Better, perhaps, with the Rhemish version, confidence (Vulgate and Calvin fiducia), i.e. the confidence which St Paul had above expressed (ch. 2Co_2:14-17) in the reality of his mission and work, or in the fact that the Corinthian Church is in itself a sufficient guarantee of his Apostolic mission (2Co_3:2-3). See also 1Co_15:10.

through Christ to God-ward] So Tyndale and Cranmer. Calvin and Erasmus erga Deum. The Vulgate, which is followed by Wiclif, the Genevan and the Rhemish version, has, more literally, ad Deum. The words have been interpreted to mean (1) which will stand the test of God’s trial. (2) Which will be proved and rewarded in the judgment of God. (3) In our relation to God. Or the analogy of Joh_1:1 (“has His face continually directed towards the Eternal Father,” Liddon, Bampton Lectures) may lead us to conclude (4) that our eyes are directed towards God, the source of our confidence, and that it is through Jesus Christ alone that we possess the right thus to rely on Him. This interpretation is strengthened by a reference to Mat_19:8, where the preposition is equivalent to in regard to.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

And such trust have we,.... This refers to what he had said in the latter end of the foregoing chapter, and the beginning of this; as that they made manifest the savoury knowledge of God and Christ everywhere, and were the sweet savour of Christ to many souls; were sufficient in some measure, through the grace of Christ, to preach the Gospel sincerely and faithfully, and were attended with success, had many seals of their ministry, and particularly the Corinthians were so many living epistles of commendations of the power and efficacy of their ministry; such confidence and firm persuasion of the truth of grace on your souls, and of our being the happy instruments of it, we have

through Christ, the grace of Christ,

to God-ward: who is the object of our confidence and hope, and the ground thereof.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

4 And such trust have we through Christ to God-ward:

Ver. 4. Such trust have we] i.e. Such boldness of holy boasting. If Cicero could say, Two things I have to bear me bold upon, the knowledge of good arts and the glory of great acts; how much more might Paul!

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

And such trust have we - Such confidence have we that we are appointed by God, and that he accepts our work. Such evidence have we in the success of our labors; such irrefragable proof that God blesses us; that we have trust, or confidence, that we are sent by God, and are owned by him in our ministry. His confidence did not rest on letters of introduction from people, but in the evidence of the divine presence, and the divine acceptance of his work.

Through Christ - By the agency of Christ. Paul had no success which he did not trace to him; he had no joy of which he was not the source; he had no confidence, or trust in God of which Christ was not the author; he had no hope of success in his ministry which did not depend on him.

To God-ward - Toward God; in regard to God (πρὸς τὸν Θεόν pros ton Theon). Our confidence relates to God. It is confidence that he has appointed us, and sent us forth; and confidence that he will still continue to own and to bless us.

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

We are not infallible in the case; but I tell you what confidence we have, hoping in God concerning you, through the merits of Jesus Christ.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

Such trust. The confidence, namely, that we need no other recommendation to or from you. Through Christ. Who alone can inspire such confidence in myself and my mission. (1Co_15:10) To God-ward; i.e. in relation to God; towards whom the whole Being of Christ is directed, (Joh_1:1) and therefore all the work of his servants. (Rom_5:1)

Vers. 4-6.

The power, and the agency it uses.

The apostle here dwells upon the confidence he has in the Corinthian Church as the all sufficient commendation of his ministry and apostleship. But he will take no honour to himself over his successes at Corinth. He had but been the agent, and the power and sufficiency were altogether of God. St. Paul was always before men firm, confident, bold; but always before God humble and dependent. The expression, "through Christ to God-ward," probably means "that our eyes are directed towards God, the Source of our confidence, and that it is through Jesus Christ alone that we possess the right thus to lean on him." Illustrate, from Old Testament Scriptures, the Jewish habit of mind which referred all events to God"s direct working, confounding the cause with the agency. For instance, God is said to harden Pharaoh"s heart, and to send a lying spirit among the prophets. Such direct reference of all things to God is characteristic of the imaginative, uncultured, superstitions ages; but, in intelligent form, it is found in Christianity. There is no confusion of power and agent, but behind agency the "power" is fully and humbly recognized. This we further unfold, noting the following points:

I IN CHRISTIANITY THE MAN STILL WORKS. God proposes to save the world by man. He does not use miracle, but deals with men as moral beings, subject to various moral influences arising from their relations one to another. Every man is a force upon his fellow man. Some, by reason of particular positions and endowments, exert great influence on other men. It is at once true that man must be saved by man, and that man cannot be saved by man. The paradox is not a difficult one to explain from the Christian point of view. Christianity asks, therefore, from every man three things.

1. The consecration of his talents and trusts.

2. The sanctifying of his relationships.

3. And the faithful use of his opportunities.

True of man in his ordinary life spheres, this is more especially true of man as occupied in the Christian ministry.

II IN CHRISTIANITY THE MAN IS ONLY AGENT. He has no sort of independent authority. He is not fittingly likened to the plenipotentiary, who has a matter wholly committed to his judgment and decision. The Christian minister or worker is never free of his close and intimate relations with God. His "sufficiency" is never of himself.

1. He works for another, and has no self-seeking ends to gain.

2. He works at the will of another, holding himself ever in attitudes of dependent and submissive obedience, saying continually, "Lord, what wilt thou have me to do?

3. He works in the strength of another, leaning upon the "everlasting arms." Taking these as characteristic features of the Christian ministry, it will be readily shown in what a marked way they contrast with the spirit of the self-depending and self-seeking worldly man.

III IN CHRISTIANITY THE MAN IS ACTUALLY ENDUED WITH DIVINE POWER. "Our sufficiency is of God." It is this truth that needs such distinct assertion for the sake of the Christian worker himself, as well as for the sake of those to whom his work is a witness. The Christian is a man quickened with a new life; it is that new life" which finds expression in his working. The Christian is a man sealed by the Holy Ghost, who dwells in him, and that Holy Ghost is his secret strength and inspiration. Two figures may be contrasted. The water flowing in pipes, and the sap flowing in the branch. The latter is the only figure that efficiently represents the relation of power and agency in the Christian worker, and it is the figure used by our Lord himself. The union and relation are such that, while the full manhood is retained, and even nourished into vigour, the vitality, the real force behind the manhood, and the direction of all details of action, are God"s. The Christian conceives of himself as not even able to think anything as of himself, much less to do anything. He is "strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might. R.T.

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Such trust have we in God - That is, we trust in God that this is so.

John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.

The spirit contrasted with the letter:

v. 4. And such trust have we through Christ to God-ward;

v. 5. not that we are sufficient of ourselves to think anything as of ourselves; but our sufficiency is of God,

v. 6. who also hath made us able ministers of the New Testament, not of the letter, but of the Spirit; for the letter killeth, but the Spirit giveth life.

The work which Paul had done at Corinth as God’s servant was worthy of all commendation. And yet he avoids even the suspicion of self-glorification by writing: But such confidence we have through Christ toward God. That was the confidence, the quiet certainty, which Paul had, that the Corinthian congregation was his letter of commendation, that its condition in doctrine and life bore a continual testimony to his work. But this confidence was not the outgrowth of a false self-esteem, it was rather a persuasion to God, in respect to God, the Author of the work, and through Christ, in whose power he accomplished such great things in Corinth. "This boasting every preacher should have, that he be certain and that his heart also stand in that confidence and be able to say: This confidence and courage I have toward God in Christ that my doctrine and preaching is truly God’s Word. Thus also when he serves in other offices in the Church, baptizes a child, absolves and comforts a sinner, that, too, must be done in the certain confidence that it is the command of Christ."

The words of Paul concerning the ministry of the New Testament condemn all pride, presumption, self-conceit, and false confidence, as Luther says, and ascribe all honor and glory to God: Not that we are sufficient of ourselves to form any opinion as of ourselves, but our sufficiency is of God. The very suggestion as though he were praising himself and lauding his own efforts, commending his success in Corinth as due to his own ability, is here rejected. On the contrary, he says of himself and of all ministers of the Gospel, not only that they lack fitness for the service of the Word, but that they are not even able to have the right opinions, to form the proper judgments in anything connected with the office, whether it be great or small, as of themselves. If any preacher of the Gospel is depending upon his own natural ability, his own accumulated wisdom, his own practical shrewdness, then he is still lacking entirely in that sufficiency which the Lord demands for the proper service of Him whose unvarying requirement is the acknowledgment of one’s own insufficiency and unworthiness. There is only one way in which a man may become sufficient, may gain the proper qualifications for the work of preaching the Gospel, and that is by the free gift of God. Everything that a preacher thinks, does, and carries out successfully in his office is given to him by God, is performed through him by God, to whom therefore all glory and honor must at all times be given.

Incidentally, however, God takes care of the work which He has entrusted to weak human hands, to infirm human minds: Who also made us sufficient, gave us the proper qualifications, as ministers of the New Covenant, as ministers, namely, not of the letter, but of the spirit; for the letter kills, but the spirit gives life. God must and does truly give the ability, the necessary qualifications, to those that are ministers, that serve in the work of the Gospel, provided they are servants of the Gospel in truth, and not in name only. He enables them to be ministers of the New Covenant, to devote their time and energy to its propagation, to the distribution of the New Testament gifts of grace. For the word "new" implies that the apostle is here contrasting the present ministry with that of the Old Covenant which was made with the children of Israel on Mount Sinai. Of the former covenant he says that it was a covenant of the letter; of the latter, that it is a covenant of the Spirit; Be contrasts the Law and the Gospel. "For he uses the word ’letter’ somewhat contemptuously of the Law (which nevertheless is also the Word of God) over against the office and preaching of the Gospel... For ’letter’ is that which is called, and is, every form of commandment, doctrine, and preaching which remains only in the word or on the paper and in the letter, and nothing is done afterwards... Thus also the command of God, since it is not kept, although the highest doctrine and God’s eternal will, must yet suffer that men make of it a mere letter and empty shell, since without heart and fruit it does not bring life and salvation... On the other hand, there is an altogether different doctrine and preaching, which he calls the ministry of the New Testament and of the Spirit, which does not teach what you should do (for that you have heard before); but it indicates to you what God wants to do and give to you, yea, has done already, in this way, that he gave His Son, Christ, for us, because on account of our disobedience to the Law, which no man fulfills, we were under God’s wrath and condemnation, that he paid for our sins, reconciled God, and gave us His righteousness. " This contrast is brought out by the apostle in one brief sentence: The letter kills: the Law is the instrument of death, Rom 5:20; Rom 7:9; Rom 8:2, because no man is able to fulfill its demands, and therefore every person is under its condemnation of death; the Spirit gives life: the Gospel brings us the glorious news of the free grace of God in Christ Jesus, of the complete fulfillment of the Law, of the payment of all guilt, of the appropriation of perfect righteousness, life, and salvation. And the Gospel brings the Holy Spirit into the hearts, its power is that of the Spirit, who works a new spiritual life in the sinner, gives him the joyful confidence to know God as his dear Father, and to live a life of thankfulness, righteousness, and purity.

Paul E. Kretzmann, Popular Commentary of the Bible (1921–1924) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Observe here, How the apostle encourages himself, from the experience he had of the present success of his ministry, to hope for the favour of farther and future success: Such trust or confidence have we, through the grace of Christ, of the constant efficacy of our ministry, that he will still own and honour it, succeed and bless it.

When God has rendered our labours acceptable and successful amongst a people, either for conversion or edification, it should encourge us to trust in God for the efficacious assistance of our ministry, and render us yet more successful amongst them, and a greater blessing to them.

William Burkitt's Expository Notes on the New Testament (1700–1703) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

And such confidence have we through Christ to God-ward:

J. W. McGarvey (with Philip Y. Pendleton), Commentaries on the New Testament (The Fourfold Gospel, 1914; Acts; and the epistles) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

4. Such trust have we, etc. That the church of Corinth is such an epistle as has just been described.

B. W. Johnson's The People's New Testament with Notes (1889–1891) — public domain. Electronic text from the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (CCEL) ThML edition.

this is the confidence

This refers to what Paul has just said. His confidence comes from knowing that the Corinthians are the validation of his ministry before God.

competent in ourselves

"qualified in ourselves" or "sufficient in ourselves"

to claim anything as coming from us

Here the word "anything" refers to anything pertaining to Paul's apostolic ministry. AT: "to claim that anything we have done in ministry comes from our own efforts" (See: Assumed Knowledge and Implicit Information)

our competence is from God

"God gives us our sufficiency"

a covenant not of the letter

Here the word "letter" means letters of the alphabet and refers to words that people write down. The phrase alludes to the Old Testament law. AT: "a covenant not based on commands that men have written" (See: Synecdoche and Assumed Knowledge and Implicit Information)

but of the Spirit

The Holy Spirit is the one who establishes God's covenant with people. AT: "but a covenant based on what the Spirit does" (See: Ellipsis)

the letter kills

Paul speaks of the Old Testament law as a person who kills. Following that law leads to spiritual death. AT: "the written law leads to death" (See: Personification and Assumed Knowledge and Implicit Information)

translationWords

confidence

servant

covenant

life

unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.

4. Πεποίθησιν δὲ τοιαύτην ἔχομεν. And confidence of this kind we have through Christ to God-ward (see on 2Co 1:15). ‘We did not get it through our ability in reference to our own work.’ The confidence (first with emphasis), is that which is indicated in 2Co 3:1-3,—the sure testimony which the faith of the Corinthians afforded to the validity of S. Paul’s Apostleship; and the confidence is felt even when the Apostle puts himself in the presence of God.

Cambridge Greek Testament for Schools and Colleges (Cambridge University Press, 1896; 21 vols, various authors incl. Carr, Maclear, Plummer, Farrar, Lumby, Moule, M. R. James, Simcox) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

4-11.] His honour of his apostolic office was no personal vanity, for all the ability of the Apostles came from God, who had made them able ministers of the new covenant (4-6), a ministration infinitely more glorious than that of the old dispensation (7-11).

4.] The connexion with the foregoing is immediate: he had just spoken of his consciousness of apostolic success among them (which assertion would be true also of other churches which he had founded) being his worldwide recommendation. It is this confidence of which he here speaks. Such confidence however we possess through Christ towards God: i.e. ‘it is no vain boast, but rests on power imparted to us through Christ in regard to God, in reference to God’s work and our own account to be given to Him:’

Henry Alford, The Greek Testament (1849–1861) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Confidence. In the fact that he may appeal to them, notwithstanding their weaknesses and errors.

Through Christ to God - ward [δια του χριστου προς τον θεον] . Through Christ who engenders the confidence, toward God, with reference to God who gives us success, and to whom we must account for our work.

Marvin R. Vincent, Word Studies in the New Testament (1887–1900) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.