Fathers

2 Corinthians 3

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Do we begin again to commend ourselves? or need we, as some others, epistles of commendation to you, or letters of commendation from you? Ye are our epistle written in our hearts, known and read of all men: Forasmuch as ye are manifestly declared to be the epistle of Christ ministered by us, written not with ink, but with the Spirit of the living God; not in tables of stone, but in fleshy tables of the heart. And such trust have we through Christ to God-ward: Not that we are sufficient of ourselves to think any thing as of ourselves; but our sufficiency is of God; 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. But if the ministration of death, written and engraven in stones, was glorious, so that the children of Israel could not stedfastly behold the face of Moses for the glory of his countenance; which glory was to be done away: How shall not the ministration of the spirit be rather glorious? For if the ministration of condemnation be glory, much more doth the ministration of righteousness exceed in glory. For even that which was made glorious had no glory in this respect, by reason of the glory that excelleth. For if that which is done away was glorious, much more that which remaineth is glorious. Seeing then that we have such hope, we use great plainness of speech: And not as Moses, which put a vail over his face, that the children of Israel could not stedfastly look to the end of that which is abolished: But their minds were blinded: for until this day remaineth the same vail untaken away in the reading of the old testament; which vail is done away in Christ. But even unto this day, when Moses is read, the vail is upon their heart. Nevertheless when it shall turn to the Lord, the vail shall be taken away. Now the Lord is that Spirit: and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty. But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord.

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What the Fathers say

2 Corinthians 3:14

Eastern Fathers

John Chrysostom

See what he establisheth by this. For what happened then once in the case of Moses, the same happeneth continually in the case of the Law. What is said, therefore, is no accusation of the Law, as neither is it of Moses that he then veiled himself, but only the senseless Jews. For the law hath its proper glory, but they were unable to see it. …

Homily 7 on 2 Corinthians ↗

Cyril of Jerusalem

"Until this day" means not just until the time of Paul but until our time also, and indeed, till the end of the world.

Catechetical Lecture 15:32 ↗

Theophylact of Ohrid

Their mind has been blinded, he says, and therefore neither those who lived then saw, nor those who live now see, being blinded and having the same veil on the face of Moses during the superficial reading of the law. For Christ calls the law Moses, as in the following place: "they have Moses and the prophets" (Luke 16:29). And it is not revealed to them, it is not recognized by them, that Christ was to abolish the Old Testament. Therefore, their error is an error of the mind, because blindness is a sin of the mind. …

Commentary on 2 Corinthians ↗

Western Saints

Thomas Aquinas

What effect this voiding had on the Jews is shown. In regard to this he does two things. First, he shows that it was not removed from them in the state of unbelief; secondly, he shows that it will be removed when they are converted (v. 16). In regard to this he does two things: first, he shows why this voiding has no place among the Jews; secondly, from this he shows that they still have the veil (v. 15). He says, therefore, that it is removed for those who believe, but not for the unbelieving Jews. …

Commentary on 2 Corinthians ↗