From Fading Stone to Living Spirit Text: 2 Corinthians 3:12-18
Introduction: Two Kinds of Glory
The world is obsessed with glory, but it has a thin and watery definition of it. The world's glory is the kind that fades. It is the glory of a championship season that is forgotten by the next, the glory of a political victory that turns to ash in the mouth, the glory of a Hollywood star who is celebrated today and a trivia question tomorrow. It is a flash in the pan, a momentary brightness that only serves to make the subsequent darkness seem darker.
The Apostle Paul, in this portion of his letter to the Corinthians, is contrasting two glories. He is not contrasting something glorious with something drab and inglorious. No, he grants that the old covenant, the ministry of Moses, had a genuine, God-given glory. It was so glorious that the Israelites could not bear to look at Moses' face after he had been in the presence of God. It was a real glory, but it was a glory with a built-in expiration date. It was a fading glory, a glory that was glorious in its time but was always intended to point to something better, something permanent.
The glory of the new covenant in Jesus Christ is a different kind of thing altogether. It is not a fading glory but an ever-increasing one. It is not the glory of external rules carved on stone but the glory of an internal transformation wrought by the Spirit. It is not a glory that requires a veil to hide its diminishment but a glory that takes the veil away so that we can see. We live in an age that is trying to live off the fumes of a Christian heritage, keeping some of the external forms while denying the power. They are like men trying to keep Moses' face shining by putting a battery pack on the back of his head. But the glory was never in Moses; it was from God. And that God has now revealed His glory fully and finally in the face of Jesus Christ.
This passage is intensely practical. It tells us why we can be bold, why some people cannot see the truth of the gospel, what happens at the moment of conversion, what true freedom is, and what the lifelong process of being a Christian is all about. It is a charter for the Christian life, moving us from the temporary to the eternal, from the veiled to the unveiled, from glory to glory.
The Text
Therefore having such a hope, we use great boldness,
and are not like Moses, who used to put a veil over his face so that the sons of Israel would not look intently at the consequence of what was being brought to an end.
But their minds were hardened; for until this very day at the reading of the old covenant the same veil remains unlifted, because it is brought to an end in Christ.
But to this day whenever Moses is read, a veil lies over their heart,
but WHENEVER a person TURNS TO THE LORD, THE VEIL IS TAKEN AWAY.
Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.
But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as from the Lord, the Spirit.
(2 Corinthians 3:12-18 LSB)
Unveiled Boldness (v. 12-13)
Paul begins by connecting the superiority of the new covenant to the way its ministers conduct themselves.
"Therefore having such a hope, we use great boldness, and are not like Moses, who used to put a veil over his face so that the sons of Israel would not look intently at the consequence of what was being brought to an end." (2 Corinthians 3:12-13)
The "hope" Paul mentions is the solid confidence that comes from the new covenant. It is not a ministry of death and condemnation, but of the Spirit and righteousness. Because this new arrangement is permanent, glorious, and life-giving, its ministers do not have to be coy or evasive. We can use "great boldness." The word is parrhesia, which means frankness, openness, plain-speaking. We don't have to hide anything in the fine print. The gospel is not a product with a hidden flaw; it is all glory.
This is contrasted directly with Moses. Now, Paul's point here is subtle and devastating. The traditional reading of the Exodus story is that Moses wore the veil because the people were afraid of the glory. Paul adds another layer. He says Moses wore the veil so they would not see the "consequence of what was being brought to an end." That is, he veiled his face to hide the fact that the glory was fading. The old covenant was glorious, but it was a temporary, diminishing glory. Moses, in a sense, had to manage the glory's public relations, to keep the people from seeing that this arrangement was not the final word. The ministry of the new covenant has no such need. We do not have to hide anything. The glory of Christ is not fading; it is the rising sun, and our task is simply to announce the dawn.
The Enduring Veil of the Heart (v. 14-15)
Paul then takes the physical veil of Moses and applies it as a spiritual metaphor for the condition of his fellow Jews who reject Christ.
"But their minds were hardened; for until this very day at the reading of the old covenant the same veil remains unlifted, because it is brought to an end in Christ. But to this day whenever Moses is read, a veil lies over their heart." (2 Corinthians 3:14-15)
The problem was not with the Old Testament Scriptures. The problem was with the readers. "Their minds were hardened." This hardening is a judicial act of God in response to unbelief. The result is that the very thing that should have led them to Christ, the writings of Moses, becomes a veil. When they read the Torah, they see the fading glory of the covenant of works, but they cannot see its purpose, which was to point to the permanent glory of Christ.
Notice the location of the veil. It is not on the text; it "lies over their heart." The issue is not intellectual but spiritual. It is a heart problem, a refusal to see what is plainly there. The Old Testament is saturated with Christ. He is the substance of its shadows, the fulfillment of its prophecies, the point of its sacrifices. But if the heart is veiled in rebellion, the mind will not see. The veil remains because they will not come to the one who alone can remove it. The old covenant is "brought to an end in Christ," not in the sense of being discarded as worthless, but in the sense of being fulfilled, like an acorn is brought to an end by becoming an oak tree. To cling to the acorn when the oak is standing right there is to be veiled indeed.
The Great Unveiling (v. 16-17)
But this condition is not permanent. Paul describes the great turning point, the moment of conversion.
"but WHENEVER a person TURNS TO THE LORD, THE VEIL IS TAKEN AWAY. Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom." (2 Corinthians 3:16-17)
The solution to the veiled heart is beautifully simple: "turns to the Lord." This is the essence of repentance and faith. It is a turning from self-righteousness and a turning to Christ. The moment this happens, the veil is removed. The Old Testament suddenly makes sense. The glory is no longer a fading memory on a mountain but a present reality in the person of Jesus. The Scriptures are unlocked. What was a book of rules becomes a book about Him.
And what is the result of this unveiling? "Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom." The "Lord" here is Christ. Paul is saying that the way we experience the lordship of Christ now is through the indwelling Holy Spirit. And the signature mark of the Spirit's presence is freedom. This is not the modern, licentious idea of freedom, which is the freedom to do whatever you want. That is just slavery to your appetites. Biblical freedom is freedom from sin, freedom from the condemnation of the law, and freedom to obey God with joy and delight. The old covenant, with its external commands, could only condemn. The new covenant, through the Spirit, writes God's law on our hearts and gives us the desire and the power to obey. It is the freedom of a fish returned to the water, the freedom to be what you were created to be.
The Transforming Gaze (v. 18)
Paul concludes with one of the most magnificent descriptions of the Christian life in all of Scripture.
"But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as from the Lord, the Spirit." (2. Corinthians 3:18)
This is the destiny of every believer. "We all." This is not for a spiritual elite. This is for every person whose heart has turned to the Lord. With the veil gone, we now have an "unveiled face." We can look directly at the glory of God. But where do we look? We are "beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord." The mirror here is the Word of God, the gospel. As we look into the Scriptures, we do not see ourselves; we see the glory of God revealed in the face of Jesus Christ.
And here is the miracle. As we behold Him, we are changed. We "are being transformed into the same image." The verb is a present passive participle. This is not something we do to ourselves; it is being done to us. And it is a continuous, ongoing process. Sanctification is the process of becoming what we behold. You become like what you worship. If you worship money, you become greedy. If you worship pleasure, you become dissipated. If you worship the state, you become a slave. But if we, with unveiled faces, behold the glory of Christ in the gospel, the Spirit transforms us into His likeness.
This transformation happens "from glory to glory." It is an ever-increasing glory. Unlike the fading glory on Moses' face, the glory in the heart of a believer is designed to grow. It is a progressive, steady, and certain transformation. There will be setbacks, to be sure, but the trajectory is upward. And the source of this entire process is "from the Lord, the Spirit." It is a supernatural work from beginning to end. He removes the veil, He grants us freedom, and He is the one who transforms us as we fix our gaze on His Son.
Conclusion: Look and Live
The contrast could not be clearer. The old way was a ministry of stone, veils, fading glory, and condemnation. The new way is a ministry of the Spirit, unveiled faces, ever-increasing glory, and freedom. The central activity of the Christian life, therefore, is to behold the glory of the Lord.
This is why preaching must be the central act of our worship. It is where the mirror of the Word is held up, polished, and focused so that we can see Christ clearly. This is why daily Bible reading and meditation are not optional extras but are as essential as breathing. It is how we keep our gaze fixed. We are not transformed by looking at our own sin, our own failures, or our own spiritual progress. We are transformed by looking away from ourselves to Christ.
The world is perishing under a veil of its own making, hardened in its mind and heart, unable to see the light of the glory of God. Our task is to speak with the great boldness that comes from this new covenant, proclaiming the one who is the end of the law for righteousness. We are to call men and women to do the one thing that can save them: to turn to the Lord. For when they do, the veil is taken away, the Spirit grants freedom, and the glorious, lifelong work of transformation begins.