2 Corinthians 3:3

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.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(3) Forasmuch, as ye are manifestly declared.—The metaphor appears to shift its ground from the subjective to the objective. It is not only as written in his heart, but as seen and known by others, that they (the Corinthians) are as a letter of commendation. They are as a letter which Christ had written as with the finger of God. That letter, he adds, was “ministered by us.” He had been, that is, as the amanuensis of that letter, but Christ was the real writer.

Written not with ink.—Letters were usually written on papyrus, with a reed pen and with a black pigment (atramentum) used as ink. (Comp. 2John 1:12.) In contrast with this process, he speaks of the Epistle of Christ as written with the “Spirit of the living God.” It is noteworthy that the Spirit takes here the place of the older “finger of God” in the history of the two tables of stone in Exodus 31:18. So a like substitution is found in comparing “If I with the finger of God cast out devils,” in Luke 11:20, with “If I by the Spirit of God,” in Matthew 12:28. Traces of the same thought are found in the hymn in the Ordination service, in which the Holy Spirit is addressed as “the finger of God’s hand.”

Not in tables of stone.—The thought of a letter written in the heart by the Spirit of God brings three memorable passages to St. Paul’s memory:—(1) the “heart of flesh” of Ezekiel 11:19; Ezekiel 36:26-27; (2) the promise that the law should be written in the heart, which was to be the special characteristic of the new covenant (Jeremiah 31:31-33); and (3) the whole history of the circumstances of the first, or older, covenant; and, from this verse to the end of the chapter, thought follows rapidly on thought in manifold application of the images thus suggested.

But in fleshy tables of the heart.—The better MSS. give in tables (or, tablets), which are hearts of flesh, reproducing the words of Ezekiel 11:19. The thought of the letter begins to disappear, and that of a law written on tablets takes its place, as one picture succeeds another in a dissolving view.

MacLaren's Expositions

Jeremiah

SIN’S WRITING AND ITS ERASURE

Jeremiah 17:1. - 2 Corinthians 3:3. - Colossians 2:14.

I have put these verses together because they all deal with substantially the same metaphor. The first is part of a prophet’s solemn appeal. It describes the sin of the nation as indelible. It is written in two places. First, on their hearts, which reminds us of the promise of the new covenant to be written on the heart. The ‘red-leaved tablets of the heart’ are like waxen tables on which an iron stylus makes a deep mark, an ineradicable scar. So Judah’s sin is, as it were, eaten into their heart, or, if we might so say, tattooed on it. It is also written on the stone horns of the altar, with a diamond which can cut the rock {an illustration of ancient knowledge of the properties of the diamond}. That sounds a strange place for the record of sin to appear, but the image has profound meaning, as we shall see presently.

Then the two New Testament passages deal with other applications of the same metaphor. Christ is, in the first, represented as writing on the hearts of the Corinthians, and in the second, as taking away ‘the handwriting contrary to us.’ The general thought drawn from all is that sin’s writing on men’s hearts is erased by Christ and a new inscription substituted.

I. The handwriting of sin.

Sin committed is indelibly written on the heart of the doer.

‘The heart,’ of course, in Hebrew means more than merely the supposed seat of the affections. It is figuratively the centre of the spiritual life, just as physically it is the centre of the natural. Thoughts and affections, purposes and desires are all included, and out of it are ‘the issues of life,’ the whole outgoings of the being. It is the fountain and source of all the activity of the man, the central unity from which all comes. Taken in this wide sense it is really the whole inner self that is meant, or, as is said in one place, ‘the hidden man of the heart.’ And so the thought in this vigorous metaphor may be otherwise put, that all sin makes indelible marks on the whole inward nature of the man who does it.

Now to begin with, think for a moment of that truth that everything which we do reacts on us the doers.

We seldom think of this. Deeds are done, and we fancy that when done, they are done with. They pass, as far as outward seeming goes, and their distinguishable consequences in the outward world, in the vast majority of cases, soon apparently pass. All seems evanescent and irrecoverable as last year’s snows, or the water that flowed over the cataract a century ago. But there is nothing more certain than that all which we do leaves indelible traces on ourselves. The mightiest effect of a man’s actions is on his own inward life. The recoil of the gun is more powerful than the blow from its shot. Our actions strike inwards and there produce their most important effects. The river runs ceaselessly and its waters pass away, but they bring down soil, which is deposited and makes firm land, or perhaps they carry down grains of gold.

This is the true solemnity of life, that in all which we do we are carrying on a double process, influencing others indeed, but influencing ourselves far more.

Consider the illustrations of this law in regard to our sins.

Now the last thing people think of when they hear sermons about ‘sin’ is that what is meant is the things that they are doing every day. I can only ask you to try to remember, while I speak, that I mean those little acts of temper, or triflings with truth, or yieldings to passion or anger, or indulgence in sensuality, and above all, the living without God, to which we are all prone.

{a} All wrong-doing makes indelible marks on character. It makes its own repetition easier. Habit strengthens inclination. Peter found denying his Lord three times easier than doing it once. It weakens resistance. In going downhill the first step is the only one that needs an effort; gravity will do the rest.

It drags after it a tendency to other evil. All wrong things have so much in common that they lead on to one another. A man with only one vice is a rare phenomenon. Satan sends his apostles forth two by two. Sins hunt in couples, or more usually in packs, like wolves, only now and then do they prey alone like lions. Small thieves open windows for greater ones. It requires continually increasing draughts, like indulgence in stimulants. The palate demands cayenne tomorrow, if it has had black pepper to-day.

So, whatever else we do by our acts, we are making our own characters, either steadily depraving or steadily improving them. There will come a slight slow change, almost unnoticed but most certain, as a dim film will creep over the peach, robbing it of all its bloom, or some microscopic growth will steal across a clearly cut inscription, or a breath of mist will dim a polished steel mirror.

{b} All wrong-doing writes indelible records on the memory, that awful and mysterious power of recalling past things out of the oblivion in which they seem to lie. How solemn and miserable it is to defile it with the pictures of things evil! Many a man in his later years has tried to ‘turn over a new leaf,’ and has never been able to get the filth out of his memory, for it has been printed on the old page in such strong colours that it shines through. I beseech you all, and especially you young people, to keep yourselves ‘innocent of much transgression,’ and ‘simple concerning evil’-to make your memories like an illuminated missal with fair saints and calm angels bordering the holy words, and not an Illustrated Police News. Probably there is no real oblivion. Each act sinks in as if forgotten, gets overlaid with a multitude of others, but it is there, and memory will one day bring it to us.

And all sin pollutes the imagination. It is a miserable thing to have one’s mind full of ugly foul forms painted on the inner walls of our chamber of imagery, like the hideous figures in some heathen temple, where gods of lust and murder look out from every inch of space on the walls.

{c} All wrong-doing writes indelible records on the conscience. It does so partly by sophisticating it-the sensibility to right and wrong being weakened by every evil act, as a cold in the head takes away the sense of smell. It brings on colour-blindness to some extent. One does not know how far one may go towards ‘Evil! be thou my good’-or how far towards incapacity of distinguishing evil. But at all events the tendency of each sin is in that direction. So conscience may become seared, though perhaps never so completely as that there are no intervals when it speaks. It may long lie dormant, as Vesuvius did, till great trees grow on the floor of the crater, but all the while the communication with the central fires is open, and one day they will burst out.

The writing may be with invisible ink, but it will be legible one day. So, then, all this solemn writing on the heart is done by ourselves. What are you writing? There is a presumption in it of a future retribution, when you will have to read your autobiography, with clearer light and power of judging yourselves. At any rate there is retribution now, which is described by many metaphors, such as sowing and reaping, drinking as we have brewed, and others-but this one of indelible writing is not the least striking.

Sin is graven deep on sinful men’s worship.

The metaphor here is striking and not altogether clear. The question rises whether the altars are idolatrous altars, or Jehovah’s. If the former, the expression may mean simply that the Jews’ idolatry, which was their sin, was conspicuously displayed in these altars, and had, as it were, its most flagrant record in their sacrifices. The altar was the centre point of all heathen and Old Testament worship, and altars built by sinners were the most conspicuous evidences of their sins.

So the meaning would be that men’s sin shapes and culminates in their religion; and that is very true, and explains many of the profanations and abominations of heathenism, and much of the formal worship of so-called Christianity.

For instance, a popular religion which is a mere Deism, a kind of vague belief in a providence, and in a future state where everybody is happy, is but the product of men’s sin, striking out of Christianity all which their sin makes unwelcome in it. The justice of God, punishment, sinfulness of sin, high moral tone, are all gone. And the very horns of their altars are marked with the signs of the worshippers’ sin.

But the ‘altars’ may be God’s altars, and then another idea will come in. The horns of the altar were the places where the blood of the sacrifice was smeared, as token of its offering to God. They were then a part of the ritual of propitiation. They had, no doubt, the same meaning in the heathen ritual. And so regarded, the metaphor means that a sense of the reality of sin shapes sacrificial religion.

There can be no doubt that a very real conviction of sin lies at the foundation of much, if not all, of the system of sacrifices. And it is a question well worth considering whether a conviction so widespread is not valid, and whether we should not see in it the expression of a true human need which no mere culture, or the like, will supply.

At all events, altars stand as witnesses to the consciousness of sin. And the same thought may be applied to much of the popular religion of this day. It may be ineffectual and shallow but it bears witness to a consciousness of evil. So its existence may be used in order to urge profounder realisation of evil on men. You come to worship, you join in confessions, you say ‘miserable sinners’-do you mean anything by it? If all that be true, should it not produce a deeper impression on you?

But another way of regarding the metaphor is this. The horns of the altar were to be touched with the blood of propitiation. But look! the blood flows down, and after it has trickled away, there, deep carven on the horns, still appears the sin, i.e. the sin is not expiated by the sinner’s sacrifice. Jeremiah is then echoing Isaiah’s word, ‘Bring no more vain oblations.’ The picture gives very strikingly the hopelessness, so far as men are concerned, of any attempt to blot out this record. It is like the rock-cut cartouches of Egypt on which time seems to have no effect. There they abide deep for ever. Nothing that we can do can efface them. ‘What I have written, I have written.’ Pen-knives and detergents that we can use are all in vain.

II. Sin’s writing may be erased, and another put in its place.

The work of Christ, made ours by faith, blots it out.

{a} Its influence on conscience and the sense of guilt. The accusations of conscience are silenced. A red line is drawn across the indictment, or, as Colossians has it, it is ‘nailed to the cross.’ There is power in His death to set us free from the debt we owe.

{b} Its influence on memory. Christ does not bring oblivion, but yet takes away the remorse of remembrance. Faith in Christ makes memory no longer a record which we blush to turn over, or upon which we gloat with imaginative delight in guilty pleasures past, but a record of our shortcomings that humbles us with a penitence which is not pain, but serves as a beacon and warning for the time to come. He who has a clear beam of memory on his backward track, and a bright light of hope on his forward one, will steer right.

{c} Its influence on character.

We attain new hopes and tastes. ‘We become epistles of Christ known and read of all men,’ like palimpsests, Homer or Ovid written over with the New Testament gospels or epistles.

Christ’s work is twofold, erasure and rewriting. For the one, ‘I will blot out as a cloud their transgressions.’ None but He can remove these. For the other, ‘I will put My law into their minds and will write it on their hearts.’ He can impress all holy desires on, and can put His great love and His mighty spirit into, our hearts.

So give your hearts to Him. They are all scrawled over with hideous and wicked writing that has sunk deep into their substance. Graven as if on rock are your sins in your character. Your worship and sacrifices will not remove them, but Jesus Christ can. He died that you might be forgiven, He lives that you may be purified. Trust yourself to Him, and lean all your sinfulness on His atonement and sanctifying power, and the foul words and bad thoughts that have been scored so deep into your nature will be erased, and His own hand will trace on the page, poor and thin though it be, which has been whitened by His blood, the fair letters and shapes of His own likeness. Do not let your hearts be the devil’s copybooks for all evil things to scrawl their names there, as boys do on the walls, but spread them before Him, and ask Him to make them clean and write upon them His new name, indicating that you now belong to another, as a new owner writes his name on a book that he has bought.

Benson Commentary

2 Corinthians 3:3-4. Forasmuch as ye — Some of whom were once so immoral, but who are now so pious and virtuous; are manifestly declared to be the epistle of Christ — Which he has formed and published to the world; ministered by us — Whom he has used herein as his instruments; therefore ye are our letter also; written, not with ink — As epistles generally are; but with the Spirit of the living God — Influencing your hearts, and producing that variety of graces and virtues, which render many of you so conspicuous for holiness and usefulness; not in tables of stone — Like the ten commandments, which did so great an honour, and gave such authority to Moses; but in fleshly tables of the heart — To which no hand but that by which the heart was made could find access, in such a manner as to inscribe these characters there. The sense of this verse, as Mr. Locke justly observes, is plainly this; “That he needed no letters of commendation to them, but that their conversion, and the gospel written, not with ink, but with the Spirit of God in the tables of their hearts, by his ministry, was as clear an evidence and testimony to them of his mission from Christ, as the law written on tables of stone was an evidence of Moses’s mission; so that he, St. Paul, needed no other recommendation.” Such trust have we through Christ to God-ward — That is, we trust in God that this is so. This the apostle adds, and also what follows, to obviate all imputation of vanity or vain-glory, on account of what he had advanced in the two preceding verses.

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

3:1-11 Even the appearance of self-praise and courting human applause, is painful to the humble and spiritual mind. Nothing is more delightful to faithful ministers, or more to their praise, than the success of their ministry, as shown in the spirits and lives of those among whom they labour. The law of Christ was written in their hearts, and the love of Christ shed abroad there. Nor was it written in tables of stone, as the law of God given to Moses, but on the fleshy (not fleshly, as fleshliness denotes sensuality) tables of the heart, Eze 36:26. Their hearts were humbled and softened to receive this impression, by the new-creating power of the Holy Spirit. He ascribes all the glory to God. And remember, as our whole dependence is upon the Lord, so the whole glory belongs to him alone. The letter killeth: the letter of the law is the ministration of death; and if we rest only in the letter of the gospel, we shall not be the better for so doing: but the Holy Spirit gives life spiritual, and life eternal. The Old Testament dispensation was the ministration of death, but the New Testament of life. The law made known sin, and the wrath and curse of God; it showed us a God above us, and a God against us; but the gospel makes known grace, and Emmanuel, God with us. Therein the righteousness of God by faith is revealed; and this shows us that the just shall live by his faith; this makes known the grace and mercy of God through Jesus Christ, for obtaining the forgiveness of sins and eternal life. The gospel so much exceeds the law in glory, that it eclipses the glory of the legal dispensation. But even the New Testament will be a killing letter, if shown as a mere system or form, and without dependence on God the Holy Spirit, to give it a quickening power.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Forasmuch as ye are manifestly declared - You are made manifest as the epistle of Christ; or you, being made manifest, are the epistle, etc. They had been made manifest to be such by their conversion. The sense is, it is plain, or evident, that ye are the epistle of Christ.

To be the epistle of Christ - That which Christ has sent to be our testimonial. He has given this letter of recommendation. He has converted you by our ministry, and that is the best evidence which we can have that we have been sent by him, and that our labor is accepted by him. Your conversion is his work, and it is his public attestation to our fidelity in his cause.

Ministered by us - The idea here is, that Christ had employed their ministry in accomplishing this. They were Christ's letter, but it had been prepared by the instrumentality of the apostles. It had not been prepared by him independently of their labors, but in connection with, and as the result of those labors. Christ, in writing this epistle, so to speak, has used our aid; or employed us as amanuenses (copyists).

Written not with ink - Paul continues and varies the image in regard to this "epistle," so that he may make the testimony borne to his fidelity and success more striking and emphatic. He says, therefore, that that it was not written as letters of introduction are, with ink - by traces drawn on a lifeless substance, and in lines that easily fade, or that may become easily illegible, or that can be read only by a few, or that may be soon destroyed.

But with the Spirit of the living God - In strong contrast thus with letters written with ink. By the Spirit of God moving on the heart, and producing that variety of graces which constitute so striking and so beautiful an evidence of your conversion. If written by the Spirit of the living God, it was far more valuable, and precious, and permanent than any record which could be made by ink. Every trace of the Spirit's influences on the heart was an undoubted proof that God had sent the apostles; and was a proof which they would much more sensibly and tenderly feel than they could any letter of recommendation written in ink.

Not in tables of stone - It is generally admitted that Paul here refers to the evidences of the divine mission of Moses which was given by the Law engraved on tablets of stone, compare 2 Corinthians 3:7. Probably those who were false teachers among the Corinthians were Jews, and had insisted much on the divine origin and permanency of the Mosaic institutions. The Law had been engraved on stone by the hand of God himself; and had thus the strongest proofs of divine origin, and the divine attestation to its pure and holy nature. To this fact the friends of the Law, and the advocates for the permanency of the Jewish institutions, would appeal. Paul says, on the other hand, that the testimonials of the divine favor through him were not on tablets of stone. They were frail, and easily broken. There was no life in them (compare 2 Corinthians 3:6 and 2 Corinthians 3:7); and valuable and important as they were, yet they could not be compared with the testimonials which God had given to those who successfully preached the gospel.

But in fleshly tables of the heart - In truths engraved on the heart. This testimonial was of more value than an inscription on stone, because:

(1) No hand but that of God could reach the heart, and inscribe these truths there.

(2) because it would be attended with a life-giving and living influence. It was not a mere dead letter.

(3) because it would be permanent. Stones, even where laws were engraved by the finger of God, would moulder and decay, and the inscription made there would be destroyed. But not so with that which was made on the heart. It would live forever. It would abide in other worlds. It would send its influence into all the relations of life; into all future scenes in this world; and that influence would be seen and felt in the world that shall never end. By all these considerations, therefore, the testimonials which Paul had of the divine approbation were more valuable than any mere letters of introduction, or human commendation could have been; and more valuable even than the attestation which was given to the divine mission of Moses himself.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

3. declared—The letter is written so legibly that it can be "read by all men" (2Co 3:2). Translate, "Being manifestly shown to be an Epistle of Christ"; a letter coming manifestly from Christ, and "ministered by us," that is, carried about and presented by us as its (ministering) bearers to those (the world) for whom it is intended: Christ is the Writer and the Recommender, ye are the letter recommending us.

written not with ink, but with the Spirit of the living God—Paul was the ministering pen or other instrument of writing, as well as the ministering bearer and presenter of the letter. "Not with ink" stands in contrast to the letters of commendation which "some" at Corinth (2Co 3:1) used. "Ink" is also used here to include all outward materials for writing, such as the Sinaitic tables of stone were. These, however, were not written with ink, but "graven" by "the finger of God" (Ex 31:18; 32:16). Christ's Epistle (His believing members converted by Paul) is better still: it is written not merely with the finger, but with the "Spirit of the living God"; it is not the "ministration of death" as the law, but of the "living Spirit" that "giveth life" (2Co 3:6-8).

not in—not on tables (tablets) of stone, as the ten commandments were written (2Co 3:7).

in fleshy tables of the heart—ALL the best manuscripts read, "On [your] hearts [which are] tables of flesh." Once your hearts were spiritually what the tables of the law were physically, tables of stone, but God has "taken away the stony heart out of your flesh, given you a heart of flesh" (fleshy, not fleshly, that is, carnal; hence it is written, "out of your flesh" that is, your carnal nature), Eze 11:19; 36:26. Compare 2Co 3:2, "As ye are our Epistle written in our hearts," so Christ has in the first instance made you "His Epistle written with the Spirit in (on) your hearts." I bear on my heart, as a testimony to all men, that which Christ has by His Spirit written in your heart [Alford]. (Compare Pr 3:3; 7:3; Jer 31:31-34). This passage is quoted by Paley [Horæ Paulinæ] as illustrating one peculiarity of Paul's style, namely, his going off at a word into a parenthetic reflection: here it is on the word "Epistle." So "savor," 2Co 2:14-17.

Matthew Poole's Commentary

He had told them before that they were his epistle, his epistle recommendatory, the change which God had wrought in their hearts did more recommend him than all the epistles in the world could; but here he tells them that they were

the epistle of Christ, it was Christ that wrote his law in their hearts, (which writing was that which commended the apostle, who himself had but a ministration in the work), nor was it a writing

with ink, but the impression of

the Spirit of the living God. An epistle

not written in tables of stone, but in

the fleshy tables of the heart: he alludeth to the writing of the law, which was written in

tables of stone, Exodus 31:18, and also to the promises, Ezekiel 11:19 Ezekiel 36:26. That work of grace in the hearts of these Corinthians, which recommended the apostle, was wrought by Christ, and the apostles were but ministers in the working of it; it was a work more admirable than the writing of the law in tables of stone, and this work (he saith) was

manifestly declared.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

Forasmuch as ye are manifestly declared,.... But lest it should be thought that the apostle attributed too much to himself, by saying that the Corinthians were our epistle; here he says, they were "manifestly declared"

to be the epistle of Christ ministered by us; so that the apostles and ministers of the word were only amanuenses, Christ was the author and dictator; yea, he himself is the very matter, sum, substance, and subject of the epistle; he is formed in the hearts of his people in conversion, his image is stamped, his grace is implanted, his word, his Gospel dwells richly, his laws and ordinances are written here; he also is the exemplar, believers are but copies of him, in grace and duty, in sufferings, in the likeness of his death and resurrection: and they are "manifestly declared" to be so, by the impresses of Christ's grace upon them; by the fairness of the copy; by the style and language of the epistle; by their likeness to Christ; by their having not the form only, but the power of godliness; and by their lives and conversations: now in writing these epistles, the ministers of the Gospel are only instruments, "ministered by us". They are made use of to show the sinner the black characters which are written upon him, and that what is written in him, and to be read by him, by the light of nature is not sufficient for salvation; they are employed as instruments in drawing the rough draught of grace in conversion, and in writing the copy over again, fairer and fairer; being the happy means blessed by God, for the building up of souls in faith and holiness, in spiritual knowledge and comfort. These epistles are

not written with ink; of nature's power, or of rhetorical eloquence and moral persuasion;

but with the Spirit of the living God: every grace that is implanted in the soul is wrought there by the Spirit of God; or he it is that draws every line, and writes every word and letter; he begins, he carries on and finishes the work of grace on the soul; and that as "the Spirit of the living God": hence saints become the living epistles of Christ; and every letter and stroke of his making, is a living disposition of the soul in likeness to him; and such are written among the living in Jerusalem, and shall live and abide for ever as the epistles of Christ: again, the subjects of these epistles, or that on which they are written, are

not tables of stone; such as the law was written upon, on Mount Sinai: of these tables there were the first and second; the first were the work of God himself, the latter were hewed by Moses, at the command of God, Exodus 32:16 the former being broken when he came down from the mount, which by the Jewish writers are said to be miraculously made, and not by the means and artifice of men (l); yea, that they were made before the creation of the world (m), and which, they commonly say, were made of sapphire; See Gill on 2 Corinthians 3:7 these, as the latter, were two stones, which, Jarchi says (n), were of an equal size; and were, as Abarbinel says (o), in the form of small tables, such as children are taught to write upon, and therefore are so called: some pretend to give the dimensions of them, and say (p), that they were six hands long, and as many broad, and three thick; nay, even the weight of them, which is said (q) to be the weight of forty "seahs", and look upon it as a miracle that Moses should be able to carry them; on these stones were written the ten commands; and the common opinion of the Jewish writers is, that five were written on one table, and five on the other; this is the opinion of Josephus (r), Philo (s), and the Talmudic writers (t); and the tables are said to be written on both sides, Exodus 32:15. Some think that the engraving of the letters perforated and went through the tables, so that, in a miraculous manner, the letters were legible on both sides; others think, only the right and left hand of the tables are meant, on which the laws were written, five on a side, and which folded up like the tables or pages of a book; though others are of opinion, that they were written upon, both behind and before, and that the law was written twice, both upon the fore part and back part of the tables, yea, others say four times; and some think the phrase only intends the literal and mystical, the external and internal sense of the law: however, certain it is, as the apostle here suggests, that the law was written on tables of stone, which may denote the firmness and stability of the law; not as in the hands of Moses, from whence the tables fell and were broken, but as in the hands of Christ, by whom they are fulfilled; or else the hardness of man's heart, his stupidity, ignorance of, and not subject to the law of God:

but fleshly tables of the heart: alluding to Ezekiel 36:26 and designs not carnal hearts, but such as are made soft and tender by the Spirit of God. The table of the heart is a phrase to be met with in the books of the Old Testament; see Proverbs 3:3 and very frequently in the writings of the Jews (u).

(l) R. Levi ben Gersom in Pentateuch, fol. 113. 2.((m) Zohar in Exod. fol. 35. 1.((n) Perush in Exodus 31.18. (o) In Pentateuch, fol. 209. 2. & 211. 3.((p) T. Hieres Shekalim, fol. 49. 4. Shemot Rabba, c. 47. fol. 143. 2. Bartenora in Misn. Pirke Abot, c. 5. sect. 6. (q) Targum Jon. in Exodus 31.18. & in Deuteronomy 34.12. (r) Antiqu. l. 3. c. 5. sect. 8. (s) De Decalogo, p. 761, 768. (t) T. Hieros. Shekalim, fol. 49. 4. Shemot Rabba, sect. 47. fol. 143. 2. Zohar in Exod. fol. 35. 1.((u) Vid. Targum Jon. in Dent. vi. 5, & in Cant. iv. 9.

Geneva Study Bible

Forasmuch as ye are {a} manifestly declared to be the epistle of Christ {b} ministered by us, written not with ink, but with the Spirit of the {c} living God; {1} not in tables of stone, but in fleshy tables of the heart.

(a) The apostle says this wisely, that by little and little he may come from the commendation of the person to the matter itself.

(b) Which I took pains to write as it were.

(c) Along the way he sets the power of God against the ink with which epistles are commonly written, to show that it was accomplished by God.

(1) He alludes along the way to the comparison of the outward ministry of the priesthood of Levi with the ministry of the Gospel, and the apostolical ministry, which he handles afterward more fully.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Meyer's NT Commentary

2 Corinthians 3:3. Φανερούμενοι] attaches itself in construction to ὑμεῖς ἐστε, to which it furnishes a more precise definition, and that in elucidative reference to what has just been said γινωσκομένη … ἀνθρώπων: since you are being manifested to be an epistle of Christ, i.e. since it does not remain hid, but becomes (continually) clear to every one that you, etc. Comp. on the construction, 1 John 2:19.

ἐπιστολὴ Χριστοῦ] genitivus auctoris (not of the contents—in opposition to Chrysostom, Oecumenius, Theophylact): a letter composed (dictated) by Christ. Fritzsche, l.c. p. 23, takes the genitive as possessive, so that the sense without figure would be: homines Christiani estis. But in what follows the whole origin of the Epistle is very accurately set forth, and should the author not be mentioned—not in that case be placed in front? Theodoret already gives the right vie.

ἐπιστολή is here not again specially letter of recommendation (2 Corinthians 3:2), but letter in general; for through the characteristic: “you are an epistle of Christ, drawn up by us,” etc., the statement above. “you are our letter of recommendation,” is to be elucidated and made good.

In the following διακονηθεῖσα … σαρκίναις Paul presents himself and Timothy as the writers of the epistle of Christ (διακον. ὑφʼ ἡμ.), the Holy Spirit as the means of writing in lieu of ink, and human hearts, i.e. according to the context, the hearts of the Corinthians, as the material which is written upon. For Christ was the author of their Christian condition; Paul and Timothy were His instruments for their conversion, and by their ministry the Holy Spirit became operative in the hearts of the readers. In so far the Corinthians, in their Christian character, are as it were a letter which Christ has caused to be written, through Paul and Timothy, by means of the Holy Spirit in their hearts. On the passive expression διακονηθ. ὑφʼ ἡμ., comp. 2 Corinthians 8:19 f.; Mark 10:45; note also the change of the tenses: διακονηθ. and ἐγγεγραμμ. (the epistle is there ready); likewise the designation of the Holy Spirit as πνεῦμα θεοῦ ζῶντος, comp. 2 Corinthians 3:6. We may add that Paul has not mixed up heterogeneous traits of the figure of a letter begun in 2 Corinthians 3:2 (Rückert and others), but here, too, he carries out this figure, as it corresponds to the thing to be figured thereby. The single incongruity is οὐκ ἐν πλαξὶ λιθίναις, in which he has not retained the conception of a letter (which is written on tablets of paper), but has thought generally of a writing to be read. Since, however, he has conceived of such writing as divinely composed (see above, πνεύματι θεοῦ ζῶντος), of which nature was the law of Sinai, the usual supposition is right, that he has been induced to express himself thus by the remembrance of the tables of the law (Hebrews 9:4; comp. Jeremiah 31:31-33); for we have no reason to deny that the subsequent mention of them (2 Corinthians 3:7) was even now floating before his mind. Fritzsche, indeed, thinks that “accommodate ad nonnulla V. T. loca (Proverbs 3:3; Proverbs 7:3) cordis notionem per tabulas cordis expressurus erat, quibus tabulis carneis nihil tam commode quam tabulas lapideas opponere potuerit.” But he might quite as suitably have chosen an antithesis corresponding to the figure of a letter (2 John 1:12; 2 Timothy 4:13); hence it is rather to be supposed that he came to use the expression tabulae cordis, just because he had before his mind the idea of the tables of the law.

The antitheses in our passage are intended to bring out that here an epistle is composed in quite another and higher sense than an ordinary letter (which one brings into existence μέλανι σπείρων διὰ καλάμου, Plato Phaedr. p. 276 C)—a writing, which is not to be compared even with the Mosaic tables of the law. But the purpose of a contrast with the legalism of his opponents (Klöpper) is not conveyed in the context.

That there is a special purpose in the use of σαρκίναις as opposed to λιθίναις, cannot be doubted after the previous antitheses. It must imply the notion of something better (comp. Ezekiel 11:19; Ezekiel 36:26), namely, the thought of the living receptivity and susceptibility: δεκτικὰς τοῦ λόγου (Theophylact, Calvin, Stolz, Flatt, de Wette, Osiander, Ewald, and others). The distinctive sense of σαρκινός is correctly noted by Erasmus: “ut materiam intelligas, non qualitatem.” Comp. on 1 Corinthians 3:1. Καρδίας is also the genitive of material, and the contrast would have been sufficiently denoted by ἀλλʼ ἐν πλαξὶ καρδίας: it is, however, expressed more concretely and vividly by the added σαρκίναις: in fleshy tablets of the heart.

Expositor's Greek Testament

2 Corinthians 3:3. φανερούμενοι ὅτι ἐστὲ κ.τ.λ.: being made manifest that ye are an epistle of Christ (sc., written by Christ), ministered by us (the Apostle conceiving of himself as his Master’s amanuensis).—ἐγγεγραμμένη οὐ μέλανι κ.τ.λ.: written not with ink, but with the Spirit of the living God; not in tables of stone but in tables that are hearts of flesh. This “writing” which the Corinthians exhibit is no writing with ink on a papyrus roll, but is the mystical imprint of the Divine Spirit in their hearts, conveyed through Paul’s ministrations; cf. Jeremiah 31:33, Proverbs 7:3. And this leads him to think of the ancient “writing” of the Law by the “finger of God” on the Twelve Tables, and to contrast it with this epistle of Christ on tables that are not of stone but are “hearts of flesh” (see reff.). For σάρκινος (cf. λίθινος, ὀστράκινος) see on 2 Corinthians 1:12 above.

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

3. Forasmuch as ye are manifestly declared] The Corinthians ‘fell short in no gift,’ but were ‘enriched by Christ in all utterance and in all knowledge,’ 1 Corinthians 1:7. These were notorious facts that could not be gainsaid, capable of being ‘known of all men.’

to be the epistle of Christ ministered by us] i.e. brought into existence through our instrumentality. It can hardly be said that St Paul has varied the figure of speech here. The Corinthians are an epistle. Of that epistle Christ is the author; the thoughts and sentiments are His. St Paul (cf. 1 Corinthians 3:5; 1 Corinthians 3:7; 1 Corinthians 3:9; 1 Corinthians 4:1; 2 Corinthians 6:1) is the instrument by which the epistle was written. Its characters were preserved by no visible or perishable medium, but by the invisible operation of the Spirit. It was graven, not on stone, but on human hearts. And it was recognized wherever St Paul went as the attestation of his claim to be regarded as a true minister of Christ, and this equally in his own consciousness (see last verse) and in that of all Churches which he visited. Dean Stanley remarks on the number and variety of the similes with which this chapter is crowded.

ink] A black pigment of some kind was used by the ancients for all writings of any length. For shorter writings recourse was frequently had to waxen tablets. See Jeremiah 36:18; 2 John 1:12; 3 John 1:13, and articles Atramentum, Tabulae, Stilus, Liber, in Smith’s Dictionary of Antiquities.

the Spirit of the living God] St Paul never seems to lose sight of the fact that Christianity is a communication of life,—the life of Him who alone is the fountain of life. See note on 1 Corinthians 15:1, and Romans 8:2; Romans 8:10. Cf. also John 1:4; John 5:26; John 5:40; John 14:6; 2 Timothy 1:10; 1 Peter 2:5.

not in tables of stone] See Exodus 24:12; Exodus 34:1; Deuteronomy 9:9-11; Deuteronomy 10:1. Here the Apostle first hints at what is to be the subject of the next section of the Epistle, the inferiority of the law to the Gospel. There is a slight incongruity thus introduced into the simile. One does not write with ink on tables of stone. But the Apostle, in the pregnant suggestiveness of his style, neglects such minor considerations when he has a great lesson to convey. Dean Stanley refers us to Ezekiel 11:19; Ezekiel 36:26-27 and also suggests that the form of the expression ‘tables of the heart,’ may be derived from Proverbs 3:3; Proverbs 7:3, not however from the LXX., which there has a different translation of the Hebrew word.

of the heart] Most recent editors read ‘in fleshy tables, namely, hearts.’ All the old English versions, however, follow the Vulgate here. It is extremely difficult to decide between the two readings, which depend upon the absence or presence of a single letter in the Greek. It should be noted here that the word translated fleshy does not mean carnal, i.e. governed by the flesh, but made of flesh.

Bengel's Gnomen

2 Corinthians 3:3. Φανερούμενοι, manifested) construed with ὑμεῖς, ye, 2 Corinthians 3:2. The reason assigned [aetiologia, end.] why this epistle may be read.—Χριστοῦ—ὑφʼ ἡμῶν, of Christ—by us) This explains the word our, 2 Corinthians 3:2. Christ is the author of the epistle.—διακονηθεῖσα) The verb διακονέω, has often the accusative of the thing, 2 Corinthians 8:19-20; 2 Timothy 1:18; 1 Peter 1:12; 1 Peter 4:10. So Paeanius, τὴν μάχην διακονούμενος, directing the battle, b. 7, Metaphr. Eutr. The apostles, as ministers, διηκόνουν, presented the epistle. Christ, by their instrumentality, brought spiritual light to bear on the tablets of the hearts of the Corinthians, as a scribe applies ink to paper. Not merely ink, but parchment or paper and a pen are necessary for writing a letter; but Paul mentions ink without paper and a pen, and it is therefore a synecdoche [one material of writing put for all. end.] Τὸ μέλαν does not exactly mean ink, but any black substance, for example, even charcoal, by which an inscription may be made upon stone. The mode of writing of every kind, which is done by ink and a pen, is the same as that of the Decalogue, which was engraved on tables of stone. Letters were engraved on stone, as a dark letter is written on paper. The hearts of the Corinthians are here intended; for Paul was as it were the style or pen.—οὐ μέλανι, not with ink) A synecdoche [ink for any means of writing]; for the tables in the hands of Moses, divinely inscribed without ink, were at least material substances.—ζῶντος, of the living) comp. 2 Corinthians 3:6-7.—λιθίναις, of stone) 2 Corinthians 3:7.—πλαξὶ καρδίας σαρκίναις, in fleshly tables of the heart) Tables of the heart are a genus; fleshly tables, a species; for every heart is not of flesh.

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 3. - Manifestly declared. The fame and centrality of Corinth gave peculiar prominence to the fact of their conversion. The epistle of Christ ministered by us. The Corinthians are the epistle; it is written on the hearts of St. Paul and his companions; Christ was its Composer; they were its amanuenses and its conveyers. The development of the metaphor as a metaphor would be somewhat clumsy and intricate, but St. Paul only cares to shadow forth the essential fact which he wishes them to recognize. Not with ink, but with the Spirit of the living God; i.e. not with visible or perishable materials, but spiritual in its origin and character. The notion of "the finger of God" naturally recalled the notion of "the Spirit of God" (comp. Matthew 12:28 with Luke 11:20). Not in tables of stone. God's writing by means of the Spirit on the heart reminds him of another writing of God on the stone tablets of the Law, which he therefore introduces with no special regard to the congruity of the metaphor about "an epistle." But in fleshy tables of the heart. The overwhelming preponderance of manuscript authority supports the reading "but in fleshen tablets - hearts." St. Paul is thinking of Jeremiah 31:33, "I will put my Law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts;" and Ezekiel 11:22, "I will take the stony heart out of their flesh, and will give them a heart of flesh." The tablets were not hard and fragile, but susceptible and receptive. Our letters of introduction are inward not outward, spiritual not material, permanent not perishable, legible to all not only by a few, written by Christ not by man. 2 Corinthians 3:3

Vincent's Word Studies

An epistle of Christ ministered by us (ἐπιστολὴ Χριστοῦ διακονηθεῖσα ὑφ' ἡμῶν)

An epistle written by Christ through our ministry; that is, you, as the converted subjects of our ministry, are an epistle of Christ. Others explain: an epistle of which Christ forms the contents, thus making the apostles the writers. For the expression ministered by us, compare 2 Corinthians 8:19, 2 Corinthians 8:20; 1 Peter 1:12.

Ink (μέλανι)

From μέλας black. Only here, 2 John 1:12 (see note), and 3 John 1:13.

The Spirit

Instead of ink.

Fleshy tables of the heart (πλαξὶν καρδίας σαρκίναις)

The best texts read καρδίαις the dative case in apposition with tables. Render, as Rev., tables which are hearts of flesh. Compare Ezekiel 11:19; Jeremiah 17:1; Jeremiah 31:33. For of flesh, see on Romans 7:14.