Chapter 3
V1 It is commonplace for pastors, especially those visiting a church to be accompanied by not only letters of commendation, but also introduction to the congregation visited by resident pastors, by use of great words of flattery and vainglory ad nauseum. There is nothing new under the sun. What we see transpiring in the churches of today, also bedevilled the churches in Paul’s day cf Eccl 1:9. We must never as church leaders or proclaimers of the gospel, seek vain accolades from others, but should endeavour to exhibit humility and give all praise to Elohim, who by His grace and mercy spared us from the fiery furnace of the lake of which we justly deserve. If anything, we should preach with much fear and trembling, to ensure we do not heap coals upon ourselves by misleading the flock of Messiah through vain conduct and promotion of pride cf 2 Cor 5:12; 10:12; 12:11.
V2 cf 1 Cor 9:1-2 Rather the Corinthian ecclesia was a testimonial of Paul’s hard labour and success in bringing converts into the Kingdom. It is abundantly clear in 1st Corinthians that the ecclesia was one filled with great sin, contention, confusion and in need of intensive rehabilitation, of which Paul, Timothy and Titus through Messiah, were victorious in achieving. They quite literally were an epistle of commendation in their hearts, and did not need pomp and fanfare for one to acknowledge this glaring truth.
V3 The rehabilitated ecclesia of Corinth was self-evident in their turnaround, which was thanks to the power of the workings of the Holy Spirit through the dedicated perseverance of the apostles. Such a spiritual wonder did not require evidence in writing or engraving, but was manifested in the fleshly hearts of men. Paul uses Tanakh imagery of the finger of Elohim represented by His Holy Spirit, writing in the hearts of men, as opposed to tablets of stone cf Jer 31:31-33; Eze 36:26-27. The Corinthians were hence described as a living testimony of the workings of the new covenant by the hand of the Holy Spirit through the diakoneo/ministers,servants Paul, Timothy, Titus and other apostles of Yeshua. No amount of positive writing on ink, inclusive of this very commentary, can surpass a righteous life of a saint, which personifies the true epistle of Yeshua.
V4-5 Pepoithesis translated trust also may be translated reliance or confidence. Hikanotes translated sufficiency may also be rendered ability or competency to do a thing. All source of reliance and trust emanates from Elohim the Father cf Acts 17:28. However, we can only receive this confidence and ability through Messiah. Even the wicked that refuse to acknowledge Yeshua as Saviour, are only still living by virtue of Messiah’s longsuffering as he patiently waits and hopes for their repentance, just as we saints once were afforded cf Matt 5:45. At death does this ability cease to be offered to the wicked, but continues in the afterlife for the saints. We must therefore at no moment in time ever consider any success in our lives as deriving from our self-confidence and abilities, but rather give all praise to Elohim, who by His grace and mercy allows us to continue breathing on this earth.
V6 It is Elohim through His Son Yeshua the Messiah who made Paul and his fellow apostles capable of administering the gospel to the lost. Without the Holy Spirit residing in them, priests, Sadducees, Pharisees and any other gatekeepers of Torah were incapable of ministering the Torah perfectly, as because of our carnal nature, we succumb to the curses of Torah through sin. The New Testament provides a means for us to be able ministers of the Torah, through sanctification of our bodies and souls by the supernatural power of the Holy Spirit. The Old Testament saints did not have this access available to them, as Yeshua had not yet lived, shed His blood, died and resurrected for the Holy Spirit to be able to enter our hearts.
Paul and the apostles did not preach as the Pharisees and Sadducees, a message of condemnation and death found in the curses written in the law; but rather a proclamation of life in Messiah through the Holy Spirit, as prophesied in Jer 31:31-33 and Eze 36:26-27. The Torah although holy, just and good, was the agent through which Satan and his cohorts worked by sin to condemn us unto the curses leading to death, as immutably written in Torah cf Rom 7:6-14. The New Testament on the other hand differs from the old in that we have a High Priest, Yeshua the Just, who shed His blood for us once and for all, in order to atone for our sins of conscience, which the Old Testament sacrifices failed to do cf Heb 9:11-15. The blood of Yeshua sanctifies us, whereby His Holy Spirit in our born-again hearts promises us eternal life. The Torah in the Old Testament killed the sinner by the letter of the curses attached to it.
No animal sacrifice could reverse these sins of conscience. Yet the Torah in this state was en doxa/glorious.Yeshua, however by dying became a curse for us Gal 3:13. By so doing, believers in Yeshua the Messiah are no longer affected by the curses of Torah, provided they do not deliberately return to wilful sinning and make an open shame of Him cf Heb 6:4-6. Yeshua’s life death and resurrection hence did away with the letter which killeth, and what remained was not the Torah of the letter bringing curses unto wrongdoers, but the Torah of the Spirit which gives life through faith in Yeshua the Justifier!
V7-9 cf Ex 34:29-35. It is imperative to note from the outset that the law is holy, just and good, given from the very courts of heaven, and is immutable. The Torah being of Elohim is still relevant and alive to this day and forever, and is en doxa/glorious, this attribute only being sourced from Elohim who is full of doxa/glory. It was never done away with as Yeshua expressly confirmed in Matt 5:17-19. V9 cannot be challenged no matter which way one may attempt to juggle with the argument that Torah was done away with. It clearly states that the service of Torah in the Old Testament, carried out by saints pre-Messiah, lacking indwelling of the Holy Spirit in their hearts, was still of a Torah that was en doxa/glorious. This is strictly an attribute of Elohim.
To claim that Torah which is of Elohim, is done away with, is actually a great heresy and insult to the glory of Elohim. What deceived Christians throughout the ages have failed to understand is that Torah in the Old Testament, was compromised in efficacy by the fact that flawed man was performing the priestly duties, and hence could not atone for sins of the conscience. This is what is referred to as the diakonia/service, ministration of death in v7 and service of condemnation in v9. The Aaronic High priests needed replacing through their condemnation and death, necessitated by the Adamic flawed nature. Our High Priest of the order of Melchizedek, Yeshua of Nazareth, however, perfected the law through His diakonia/service as the eternal High Priest, our second Adam, free from sin which leads to death.
Because of this the New Testament is still handling the glorious Torah, but through the ministry that is of greater glory in the sense that the saints have the Holy Spirit of Yeshua the righteous in their hearts to allow for the Torah to be ministered perfectly. Through this new covenant, whereby the priesthood of the order of Melchizedek replaced that of the Aaronic order, we are now capable of having our sins of conscience atoned for, which permits eternal life to prevail, as opposed to the previous testament which through sin led to death. The law was never at fault. The priesthood was so, and needed replacing, as the book of Hebrews goes to great lengths to explain.
The face of Moses did shine because the law which had come directly from YHVH Himself in the mount, is holy and en doxa/glorious. Being upgraded by our new flawless, eternal High priest, the New covenant is more en doxa/glorious. Moses, Aaron and the priestly descendants in other words diminished the full expression of the law and its glory by virtue of being fallen men, who had to die and needed constant replacing. Yeshua residing in the hearts of post resurrection saints through His Holy Spirit, allows for the full glory/doxa of Torah to be expressed.
V10 It must be pointed out from the outset that the glory being referred to here, pertains to the service or ministration of Torah carried out in the old versus the new covenant. It is not the glory of Torah being scrutinized here, but rather the human bearers of it in its service. The service of Torah in the New Covenant which allows the Holy Spirit to dwell in the hearts of men through Yeshua’s life, death and resurrection, is more glorious than the service of Torah in the old covenant which depended upon the sacrifice of rams and bulls by flawed men. In essence the Torah/law never changed, but the order of priestly service was upgraded to the perfect order of Melchizedek through Messiah taking over the flawed and subsequently defunct Aaronic priesthood. It is very important to understand this concept to avoid jumping on the Torah-bashing bandwagon of misinterpreted scriptural commentary.
V11 This verse is poorly translated as very important Greek words are excluded, resulting in a very important concept being missed. The Greek dia doxa translated was glorious, should be translated through glory. En doxa translated is glorious, should be translated in glory. Hence the verse should read If that which is done away was through glory, much more that which remaineth in glory. So, in essence the writing in stone of condemnation came through glory, and was made redundant by the greater glory found in the righteousness of the Spirit in glory! The Old Testament which constituted Torah under the Aaronic priesthood was done away with. The New Testament which constitutes Torah under the priesthood of the order of Melchizedek took over and is more glorious, as it brings forth life through the Holy Spirit dwelling within the believer in Messiah Yeshua, our eternal High priest cf Heb 5:1-10; 7:11-28.
V12 Elpis translated hope, is better translated expectation of good. Paul’s epistles ironically if read in context and not foolishly in titbits, plainly explains over and over and over again, unreservedly, that Yeshua the Messiah brought about great hope and expectation to the heirs of Abraham, of eternal life through shedding His blood for us, and defeating death and Hades. Simple belief in Him gives us the opportunity to no longer be under the shackles of sin, which used the perfect law of liberty to condemn us, but rather to be indwelt by the Holy Spirit of Yeshua Himself in our hearts, to follow Torah in Spirit and in truth. He plainly expresses this in his voluminous writings to the Gentile ecclesia, and also to his fellow countrymen the Hebrews, yet the impatient and deluded mind which loves sin, prefers to misinterpret Paul’s epistles to its detriment cf 2 Peter 3:14-17.
V13 Paul uses analogous speech regarding the veil over the face of Moses to mask the fading glory of his face, to that of the fading glory of the old covenant ministered by the Aaronic priesthood borne by fallen man, which was to be replaced with an everlasting new covenant, whose glory under the everlasting High priesthood of sinless Messiah, would never cease. The children of Israel never understood this concept as it was a mystery, which even escaped Satan himself, and his emissaries, for had they known, they would never have allowed for Yeshua to be crucified, leading to their defeat forever cf 1 Cor 2:6-8.
V14-15 This statement is true to this very day, as orthodox Jews still refuse to accept Yeshua as their Messiah unto New Testament life in the Spirit, and continue to live the Old Testament life of condemnation and death through their sins in the flesh. By placing the veil upon their hearts, the Israelites are refusing to allow the Holy Spirit to enter their hearts of stone to transform them to hearts of flesh as we have seen prophesied of the new covenant in Eze 36:26-27. Simple belief in Yeshua as Messiah is all it takes to remove the veil, but great is their stubbornness.
V16 The Greek word ‘an’ translated it, has no exact English equivalent. This is the only place where ‘an’ is ever translated as it, which does not make sense especially in the context of Paul’s thought process. In this case ‘an’ would be better translated ‘whosoever’, as more greatly rendered in the rest of the New Testament writings. Not every Israelite shall turn to Messiah, as this is a matter of freewill prevailing in this decision cf Ex 34:34 It was the preincarnate Yeshua in the form of YHVH the Son that Moses went in to speak with. He took of his veil in so doing, as he completely believed in and lived in the glory of YHVH. Israelites shall in due course also remove that veil that is upon their hearts when they eventually turn to YHVH the Son and accept Him as their Messiah Rev 14:1.
V17 Paul then states quite boldly that the Spirit he is referring to is none other than YHVH the Son referred to in verse 16, and Ex 34:34 from which he draws his analogy. The Spirit of YHVH is liberty. Yeshua is liberty, and the Torah is liberty. Yeshua is the personification of Torah life cf Ps 119:44-45; Jn 8:31-32; Jm 1:25; 2:12. How can Yeshua so full of glory and being the personification of Torah itself, be done away with as falsely preached by deluded pastors. It is not only ludicrous but heretic in nature, of which the consequences upon one’s eternal destiny could be dire.
V18 Just as the priests beheld their reflections in the brass laver when washing their hands and feet, so also must we behold with open face i.e. without veiled hearts, and examine ourselves in the word of Elohim i.e. the Torah, so as to repent and have our sins washed away by the cleansing blood of Messiah cf Ex 30:18-20; Ps 24:4-5; Jm 4:8; Eph 5:25-26; Heb 6:1.I have failed to find a single commentary that has managed to explain the latter half of this verse which states ‘are changed into the same image from glory to glory even as by the Spirit of YHVH.’ kathaper apo translated ‘even as by’ is Greek for ‘according as of separation or origin’.
Hence when the whole context is taken into consideration of verses 7 through to 18, it is clear that one needs to transform from the Old Testament service which was en doxa/glorious to the New Testament service which is of greater doxa/glory. Hence the term from doxa/glory to doxa/glory i.e. from inferior glory to greater glory. After having examined himself and repented of his wicked life, a born-again Christian baptized by the Holy Spirit is changed into the same image as YHVH, from an inferior form of glory which was Torah ministered through fallen man, to a superior form of glory which is Torah ministered through Messiah the righteous, our eternal High Priest.