Online Resource Library
Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.comVincent Word Studies - 2 Corinthians 3:10 - 3:10
(Show All Books | Show All Chapters)
This Chapter Verse Commentaries:
That which was made glorious had no glory in this respect (οὐ δεδόξασται τὸ δεδοξασμένον ἐν τούτῳ τῷ μὲρει)
Rev., that which hath been made glorious hath not been made glorious. The peculiar form of expression is taken from Exo 34:29, Exo 34:35, Sept., “Moses knew not that the appearance of the skin of his face was glorified.” “The children of Israel saw the face of Moses that it was glorified.” Much unnecessary difficulty has been made, chiefly about the connection and meaning of in this respect. That which hath been made glorious is the ministry of death and condemnation (2Co 3:7, 2Co 3:9), the ministry of Moses in the giving of the law, which ministry was temporarily glorified in the shining of Moses' face. Hath not been made glorious is only another way of expressing was passing away (2Co 3:7): of saying that the temporary glory of Moses' ministry faded and paled before the glory of the ministry of Christ. The figure which pervades the whole passage (2Co 3:7-11) is that of a glorified face. The ministration of the law, impersonated in Moses, is described as having its face glorified. It is to this that in this respect refers. Paul says that the ministry of the law, which was temporarily glorified in the face of Moses, is no longer glorified in this respect; that is, it no longer appears with glorified face, because of the glory that excelleth, the glory of Christ ministering the Gospel, before which it fades away and is as if it had not been. This accords with ch. 4, where the theme is the same as here, ministry or ministration (2Co 4:1); and where the christian revelation is described as “the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ” (2Co 4:6). This is the key to our passage. To the same purpose is 2Co 4:18, where the Christian is represented as gazing, through the Gospel, with unveiled face, upon the glory of God in Christ, and as being changed thereby into the image of Christ. The glory of the law in the face of Moses has faded before the glory of the Gospel in the face of Jesus Christ.