2 Corinthians 3:4Meaning & Commentary from the Church Fathers

Then, raising them to a higher understanding, he calls them Christ's epistle, saying: "You show by yourselves that you are a letter of Christ" (2 Cor 3:3).

Having said this, he draws from it an occasion to speak about the law. He again calls them his epistle, but in another sense.

Above he called them an epistle because they serve as his approval. Here he calls them Christ's epistle, as those who have the law of God written within them.

"What God was pleased to reveal to all and to you," he says, "all this is written in your hearts. We prepared you to receive these letters.

As Moses worked the stones and tablets, so we prepared your souls." Therefore he says: "through our ministry."

Since he showed that the New Covenant is higher than the Old, one might naturally conclude that we Apostles, ministers of the New Covenant, are higher than Moses, who ministered to the Old Covenant.

But since this seemed arrogant, he says that nothing is ours. Our confidence, that is, our boasting, is in God through Christ.

Paul shows the dignity of the Apostles when he says, "Such confidence we have toward God through Christ." He writes this to show that the ancient prophets did not have such confidence toward God. Therefore their priesthood was comparatively lesser and preliminary.

The Apostle fittingly mentioned the God of all, because those who preached the contrary claimed that God was concerned with preserving the law. Therefore he says: we boldly hope in the God of all, because Christ has given us this boldness.

We do not think highly of ourselves, nor do we offer a preaching composed from our own thoughts.

Second, Christian revelation does not depend in the least on the dignity or abilities of its preachers (2 Cor 3:4-5).

"Such confidence," that is, confidence that the revelation we preach will always be our highest glory in itself and the best commendation by its effects, "we have toward God through Christ, not that we are sufficient of ourselves to think anything as from ourselves, but our sufficiency is from God."

Lest anyone think that the Apostle has expressed great self-confidence in what he has said, he shows that his confidence flows from the fullness of the revelation of grace given through Jesus Christ.

This grace is immeasurably higher and more life-bearing than the written revelation of the Old Testament, which acted upon the majority in a deadly way, through condemnation for sins.

Although earlier the Apostle referred everything to the word of the Gospel and to the grace of the Spirit, who had painted living images upon the hearts of the Corinthians, he could not remain silent about this.

Both the word and the grace existed and served salvation through them. They were the nearest instruments to the Corinthians of the divine action of grace upon them.

The Corinthians knew this from the very fact. From their mouths came the victorious word of the Gospel. Through baptism, performed either by them or according to their direction, regeneration to new life was given.

Through the laying on of their hands the gifts of the Holy Spirit descended. The Corinthians knew all this.