2 Corinthians 3:12-18

"Since, then, we have such a hope, we act with great boldness, not like Moses, who put a veil over his face to keep the people of Israel from gazing at the end of the glory that was being set aside. But their minds were hardened. Indeed, to this very day, when they hear the reading of the old covenant, that same veil is still there, since only in Christ is it set aside. Indeed, to this very day whenever Moses is read, a veil lies over their minds; but when one turns to the Lord, the veil is removed. Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. And all of us, with unveiled faces, seeing the glory of the Lord as though reflected in a mirror, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another; for this comes from the Lord, the Spirit" (2 Corinthians 3:12-18).  

Comment:

The epistle we call 2 Corinthians is actually a confusing blend of fragments from several letters Paul wrote to the church in Corinth, at different times and in different moods. He had founded the church, but after he left Corinth for Ephesus, other teachers came whose views of Jesus were greatly at odds with Paul's. They taught that Jesus was a great Jewish prophet calling people to be obedient to the Law of Moses. To Paul, the religious movement of Moses and the Law was complete. Jesus had opened a new door to a new relationship with God.

In this chapter Paul begins by reminding the Corinthians of their long history together. He doesn't need letters of reference; they know him firsthand. Indeed, the fact that they are even aware of the Christ energy 'written on their hearts' is due to his work and ministry. Paul then quietly draws the line in the sand that sets his message apart from the teachings of the Law. The Law was written on tablets of stone; the message of the Christ is written on "tablets of human hearts." Obedience to the 'letter of the Law' produces a consciousness that believes in judgment, punishment, and the finality of death. Acceptance of the Christ produces a heart-centered consciousness of eternal spiritual life. The "ministry of death" was not wrong; it was fine for its time. But in the teaching and example of Jesus that time is complete, and a new ministry is born. If the limited understanding of the Law produced a powerful glory on Moses' face, how much more glorious will be the coming of the Christ?

Metaphysically, we're talking about the age-old conflict between head and heart. The Law is important, as Jesus makes clear again and again. But the heart—the Christ Presence of God expressing as us—is meant to place the Law in a perspective of creative love. Our intellect works with sensory input from the dualistic world of appearance in which we live. This information is important and useful. The heart, however, frames it all in an essential understanding of spiritual Truth that allows us to see beyond the obedience-directed Law to the creation-directed Christ.

The imagery of the veil makes all this very clear, I think. Moses covers his face with a veil because he fears that the Israelites could not stand the splendor of his own spiritual awareness, which had to do only with the aspect known as Law. So we experience spiritual Truth through a filter, as it were—useful but incomplete. "Only through Christ" is the veil taken away, so that we behold the Lord "with unveiled face." Thus the veil represents the limited understanding of our relationship with the Divine that is all we can achieve until we come into full Christ awareness.

Blessings!

Rev. Ed