SEV Biblia, Chapter 3:3
cuando es manifiesto que sois letra de Cristo administrada por nosotros, escrita no con tinta, sino con el Espíritu del Dios vivo; no en tablas de piedra, sino en tablas de carne del corazn.
Clarke's Bible Commentary - 2 Corinthians 3:3
Verse 3. Manifestly declared to be the epistle of Christ] Ye are in our hearts, and Christ has written you there; but yourselves are the epistle of Christ; the change produced in your hearts and lives, and the salvation which you have received, are as truly the work of Christ as a letter dictated and written by a man in his work. Ministered by us] Ye are the writing, but Christ used me as the pen; Christ dictated, and I wrote; and the Divine characters are not made with ink, but by the Spirit of the living God; for the gifts and graces that constitute the mind that was in Christ are produced in you by the Holy Ghost.
Not in tables of stone] Where men engrave contracts, or record events; but in fleshly tables of the heart-the work of salvation taking place in all your affections, appetites, and desires; working that change within that is so signally manifested without. See the parts of this figurative speech: 1.
Jesus Christ dictates. The apostle writes. 3. The hearts of the Corinthians are the substance on which the writing is made. And, 4. The Holy Spirit produces that influence by which the traces are made, and the mark becomes evident. Here is not only an allusion to making inscriptions on stones, where one dictates the matter, and another cuts the letters; (and probably there were certain cases where some colouring matter was used to make the inscription the more legible; and when the stone was engraved, it was set up in some public place, as monuments, inscriptions, and contracts were, that they might be seen, known, and read of all men;) but the apostle may here refer to the ten commandments, written by the finger of God upon two tables of stone; which writing was an evidence of the Divine mission of Moses, as the conversion of the Corinthians was an evidence of the mission of St. Paul. But it may be as well to take the words in a general sense, as the expression is not unfrequent either in the Old Testament, or in the rabbinical writers. See Schoettgen.
John Gill's Bible Commentary
Ver. 3. Forasmuch as ye are manifestly declared , etc..] 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 34:1) 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 f11 ; yea, that they were made before the creation of the world f12 , 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 f13 , were of an equal size; and were, as Abarbinel says f14 , 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 f15 , that they were six hands long, and as many broad, and three thick; nay, even the weight of them, which is said 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 f17 , Philo f18 , and the Talmudic writers f19 ; 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 7:3 Jeremiah 17:1) and very frequently in the writings of the Jews f20 .
Matthew Henry Commentary
Verses 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 the 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, a 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 Testamen 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 showe us a God above us, and a God against us; but the gospel makes know 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 Jesu 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 killin letter, if shown as a mere system or form, and without dependence of God the Holy Spirit, to give it a quickening power.
Greek Textus Receptus
φανερουμενοι 5319 5746 V-PPP-NPM οτι 3754 CONJ εστε 2075 5748 V-PXI-2P επιστολη 1992 N-NSF χριστου 5547 N-GSM διακονηθεισα 1247 5685 V-APP-NSF υφ 5259 PREP ημων 2257 P-1GP εγγεγραμμενη 1449 5772 V-RPP-NSF ου 3756 PRT-N μελανι 3188 A-DSN αλλα 235 CONJ πνευματι 4151 N-DSN θεου 2316 N-GSM ζωντος 2198 5723 V-PAP-GSM ουκ 3756 PRT-N εν 1722 PREP πλαξιν 4109 N-DPF λιθιναις 3035 A-DPF αλλ 235 CONJ εν 1722 PREP πλαξιν 4109 N-DPF καρδιας 2588 N-GSF σαρκιναις 4560 A-DPF
Vincent's NT Word Studies
3. An epistle of Christ ministered by us (epistolh Cristou diakonhqeisa uf hmwn). 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 ch. viii. 19, 20; 1 Pet. i. 12.Ink (melani). From melav black. Only here, 2 John 12 (see note), and 3 John 13.
The Spirit. Instead of ink.
Fleshy tables of the heart (plaxin kardiav sarkinaiv). The best texts read kardiaiv the dative case in apposition with tables. Render, as Rev., tables which are hearts of flesh. Compare Ezek. xi. 19; Jeremiah xvii. 1; xxxi. 33. For of flesh, see on Rom. vii. 14.
Robertson's NT Word Studies
3:3 {An epistle of Christ} (epistole cristou). He turns the metaphor round and round. They are Christ's letter to men as well as Paul's. {Not with ink} (ou melani). Instrumental case of melas, black. Plato uses to melan for ink as here. See also #2Jo 1:12; 3Jo 1:13. {Of stone} (liqinais). Composed of stone (liqos and ending -inos). {Of flesh} (sarkinais). "Fleshen" as in #1Co 3:1; Ro 7:14.
