2 Corinthians 3:14Meaning & Commentary from the Church Fathers

Why are you troubled if they do not believe in Christ, when they do not believe even the law? They failed to know grace because they knew neither the Old Covenant nor its glory. The glory of the law is to lead to Christ.

Do you see how here also he casts down the pride of the Jews? In the very thing in which they thought they had an advantage, the glory of Moses’ face, he turns it into a rebuke of their ignorance and coarseness.

Let them not boast of this. What praise and glory is there for the Jews in something they could not enjoy? This is why he so often returns to this subject.

At one time he says, “the same veil remains unlifted to this day in the reading of the Old Covenant, because it is taken away in Christ.” At another time he says, “to this day, when Moses is read, a veil lies upon their heart.”

He shows that it lies both upon the reading and upon their heart. Above he had also said, “they could not look steadily at the face of Moses because of the glory of his face, which was passing away.”

What could be worse than this? They cannot gaze upon a glory that was not only passing away, but almost nothing compared with the glory of the New Covenant. It is hidden from them, so they may not see the end of what passes away, that is, the law, which has an end.

“But their minds were blinded.” Someone may ask, “What connection has this blindness with the veil of that time?” It has this connection, that the veil prefigured what was to come.

Not only then did they fail to see the law, but even now they do not see it. The cause lies in themselves, because blindness comes from an insensible and coarse heart.

Only we now see the law. From them, not only grace is hidden, but the law itself. “For to this day,” he says, “the same veil remains unlifted in the reading of the Old Covenant, because it is taken away in Christ.”

His words have this meaning: the Jews do not know that this veil has been abolished, because they do not believe in Christ.

If it has been abolished through Christ, as indeed it has been abolished, and as the law itself foretold beforehand, how can those who have not received Christ know that the law has been abolished? For Christ is the One who abolished it.

If they do not know this, then clearly they do not know the power of the law itself, which speaks of this, nor all its glory.

But you will ask, “Where did the law say that it has its end in Christ?” It not only said this, but showed it in deed.

First, it showed this by confining all sacrifices and every sanctification to one place, the temple, and afterward destroying that very temple.

If it had not wished to abolish these sacrifices and all the laws concerning sacrifices, it would have done one of two things. Either it would not have destroyed the temple, or, after destroying it, it would not have forbidden sacrifices elsewhere.

But now it has made such sacred rites impossible both in all the world and in Jerusalem itself. By appointing only the one temple of Jerusalem as their place, and afterward destroying even that, the law showed by deed that the legal ordinances had at last ceased in Christ.

Christ condemned the temple itself to desolation.

If from the very words you wish to see how the law was to receive its end through Christ, listen to the lawgiver himself. He says, “The Lord your God will raise up for you a Prophet like me from among you, from your brethren. Him you shall hear.”

And again, “I will raise up for them a Prophet like you from among their brethren. I will put My words in His mouth, and He shall speak to them all that I command Him.”

“And whoever will not hear My words, which that Prophet shall speak in My name, I will require it of him” (Deut 18:15, 18; Acts 3:22, 23).

Do you see how the law showed that it has its end in Christ? This Prophet, that is, Christ according to the flesh, whom Moses commanded them to hear, abolished the Sabbath, circumcision, and all the rites of the Old Covenant.

David, foretelling the same thing, said of Christ, “You are a priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek” (Ps 109:4), and not according to the order of Aaron.

Therefore Paul, interpreting this place, clearly said, “For when there is a change in the priesthood, there is necessarily a change in the law” (Heb 7:12).

Elsewhere he also says, “Sacrifice and offering You did not desire. Burnt offerings and sacrifices for sin You were not pleased with. Then I said, Behold, I come” (Heb 10:5-7).

Besides these, many other testimonies from the Old Covenant may be brought forward. They show how the law receives its end in Christ.

Thus, when you leave the old law, then you understand the law rightly. But so long as you continue to cling to it and do not believe in Christ, you do not know even the law itself.

Where it says, “The Lord your God will raise up for you a Prophet; Him shall you hear” (Deut 18:15).

Therefore, when they are commanded to hear Him, and He abolished the Sabbath, circumcision, and everything else, it follows that the Law itself gave instruction about this abolition.

Moreover, since sacrifices were commanded to be offered in one temple, and Christ destroyed it, were not the sacrifices entirely abolished?

And: “You are a priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek” (Ps 109:4). Also: “Sacrifice and offering You did not desire” (Ps 39:7). All this constitutes the abolition of the Law.

To such people the order of events is revealed, and the causes of actions and sayings. The agreement of the Old Testament with the New is revealed, in which not the slightest disagreement remains.

The hidden truths of the figures are revealed. Enlightened by interpretation, they can influence even those who are more inclined to condemn than to understand.

The Law is called passing away, and Christ appeared as the end.” Chrysostom, pausing over the words “their minds were blinded,” asks, “But what connection does this blinding have with the veil of that time, someone may say?

The connection is that it prefigured the future. For they not only did not see the Law then, but they do not see it even now.

They themselves are the cause of this, because the blindness depends on their insensible and coarse heart. Only we now see the Law.

From them, not only grace is hidden, but even the Law itself... When they turn to the Lord, the veil is taken away...

He shows the remedy and the means of correction... For Moses, when he spoke with the Jews, covered his face. But when he turned to the Lord, he removed the veil from himself.

This prefigured what was to come afterward, namely, that when we turn to the Lord, we shall behold the glory of the Law.

He shows that one who comes to grace can not only look upon Moses, but himself partakes not merely of the same glory, but of a much better one.”

From this it is clear why neither the heralds of the New Testament had a veil, nor their hearers and followers needed coverings over the glory.

In the words of Blessed Theodoret, the Apostle Paul spoke as though saying: we had no need of a veil, as Moses did, because we converse with believers, and believers make use of the ray of intelligible light.

This was so not only before the coming of Christ, but also when He had already come and illumined with His light the meaning of the Old Testament order. The Apostle shows this here, placing the blame not on the Law, but on the blindness of those who cling to it.

Their thoughts, he says, were blinded, and they do not see the light hidden in the Law. For them, an impenetrable veil lies upon the Law to this day, just as it lay upon the face of Moses.

They will not be able to see within until they believe in Christ the Lord. As soon as they believe, the veil will be removed, and they will clearly see everything that was hidden in the Law.

Saint Paul speaks this from his own experience. How everything became clear to him in the Law is shown by his interpretations of the shadowy institutions of the Law, scattered throughout his Epistles.

Chrysostom says: “See where he directs his discourse. What Moses once did then has remained forever upon his Law. Yet what is said is not an accusation of the Law, nor an accusation of Moses because he then covered himself, but a rebuke of the coarseness of the Jews.

Therefore he says, ‘their thoughts were blinded.’ But what connection, someone will say, does this blindness have with that veil? It has this connection: the veil prefigured the future.

For they not only did not see the Law then, but they do not see it even now. They themselves are the cause of this, because their blindness depends on their insensible and coarse heart.

Only we now see the Law. From them not only grace is hidden, but even the Law itself. ‘To this day,’ he says, ‘the veil remains unlifted in the reading of the Old Covenant.’

That is, the Jews do not know that this veil has been destroyed, because they do not believe in Christ. ‘For in Christ it is taken away.’ If it has been destroyed through Christ, as indeed it has been destroyed by Him, and the Law itself foretold this beforehand, then those who have not received Christ, who abolished the Law, how can they know that this Law has been abolished?

Not knowing this, they obviously do not know the force of the Law itself, which speaks of this. You ask, ‘Where did the Law say that it has its end in Christ?’ Hear the Lawgiver himself, who speaks thus: ‘The Lord your God will raise up for you a Prophet from your brethren, like me. Him you shall hear in all that He says to you. And every soul that does not hear that Prophet shall be destroyed from among the people’ (Deut 18:15-18; Acts 3:22-23).

Do you see how the Law showed that it has its end in Christ? For this Prophet, that is, Christ the Lord in the flesh, whom Moses commanded them to hear, abolished the Sabbath, circumcision, and all the Old Testament rites.

David too, foretelling the same thing, said of Christ: ‘You are a Priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek’ (Ps 109:4), and not according to the order of Aaron.

Therefore Paul, interpreting this passage, clearly said that ‘when the priesthood is changed, of necessity there is also a change of the Law’ (Heb 7:12). Besides these, many other testimonies can be brought from the Old Testament, showing how the Law must receive its end in Christ.

Now, when you leave the old Law, then you understand the Law well. But if you continue to hold to the Law and do not believe in Christ, then you do not know even the Law itself.”