journaL

2 Corinthians 2:16-17International Children’s Bible (ICB)

To those who are lost, we are the smell of death that brings death. But to those who are being saved, we are the smell of life that brings life. So who is able to do this work? We do not sell the word of God for a profit as many other people do. But in Christ we speak the truth before God. We speak as men sent from God.

2 Corinthians 3International Children’s Bible (ICB)

Servants of the New Agreement

Are we starting to brag about ourselves again? Do we need letters of introduction to you or from you, like some other people? You yourselves are our letter, written on our hearts. It is known and read by everyone.You show that you are a letter from Christ that he sent through us. This letter is not written with ink, but with the Spirit of the living God. It is not written on stone tablets.^[a] It is written on human hearts.

We can say this, because through Christ we feel sure before God. I do not mean that we are able to say that we can do this work ourselves. It is God who makes us able to do all that we do. God made us able to be servants of a new agreement from himself to his people. This new agreement is not a written law. It is of the Spirit. The written law brings death, but the Spirit gives life.

The law that brought death was written in words on stone. It came with God’s glory. Moses’ face was so bright with glory that the people of Israel could not continue to look at his face. And that glory later disappeared. So surely the new way that brings the Spirit has even more glory. That law judged people guilty of sin, but it had glory. So surely the new way that makes people right with God has much greater glory.That old law had glory. But it really loses its glory when it is compared to the much greater glory of this new way. If that law which disappeared came with glory, then this new way which continues forever has much greater glory.

We have this hope, so we are very brave. We are not like Moses. He put a covering over his face so that the people of Israel would not see it. The glory was disappearing, and Moses did not want them to see it end. But their minds were closed. Even today that same covering hides the meaning when they read the old agreement. That covering is taken away only through Christ. But even today, when they read the law of Moses, there is a covering over their minds. But when a person changes and follows the Lord, that covering is taken away. The Lord is the Spirit. And where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. Our faces, then, are not covered. We all show the Lord’s glory, and we are being changed to be like him. This change in us brings more and more glory. And it comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.

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