Removing the Veil, Part 1
In 2 Corinthians 3, Paul contrasts the letter of the law with the living Spirit. He is writing as a Jew who believes that the Jew, Jesus, has inaugurated a new covenant—not only for Israel , but for all people. Paul sees his mission as one of bringing the Jewish Messiah to the Gentile world. Paul, at times (such as in this text), can be a bit disparaging toward his own people, the Jews, which is understandable in light of the opposition he encountered from them in preaching a crucified Messiah. In passages like 2 Cor. 3 his frustration surfaces. But the veil Paul is talking about is not just a veil over the minds of his Jewish brothers and sisters, it’s a veil over all our minds. It keeps us from seeing the glory of the Lord and being changed by that glory. This is why when unconverted, unchanged people, without genuine God encounter, read the Bible, they often use the Bible in life diminishing and denigrating ways. We all know how the Bible has been (and in many cases co...