God’s Work in Progress

⁴ This is the confidence that we have through Christ in the presence of God. ⁵ It isn’t that we ourselves are qualified to claim that anything came from us. No, our qualification is from God. ⁶ He has qualified us as ministers of a new covenant, not based on what is written but on the Spirit, because what is written kills, but the Spirit gives life. ⁷ The ministry that brought death was carved in letters on stone tablets. It came with such glory that the Israelites couldn’t look for long at Moses’ face because his face was shining with glory, even though it was a fading glory. ⁸ Won’t the ministry of the Spirit be much more glorious? ⁹ If the ministry that brought condemnation has glory, how much more glorious is the ministry that brings righteousness? ¹⁰ In fact, what was glorious isn’t glorious now, because of the glory that is brighter. ¹¹ If the glory that fades away was glorious, how much more glorious is the one that lasts! ¹² So, since we have such a hope, we act with great confidence. ¹³ We aren’t like Moses, who used to put a veil over his face so that the Israelites couldn’t watch the end of what was fading away. ¹⁴ But their minds were closed. Right up to the present day the same veil remains when the old covenant is read. The veil is not removed because it is taken away by Christ. ¹⁵ Even today, whenever Moses is read, a veil lies over their hearts. ¹⁶ But whenever someone turns back to the Lord, the veil is removed. ¹⁷ The Lord is the Spirit, and where the Lord’s Spirit is, there is freedom. ¹⁸ All of us are looking with unveiled faces at the glory of the Lord as if we were looking in a mirror. We are being transformed into that same image from one degree of glory to the next degree of glory. This comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.