King James Version · Under Rome
2 Corinthians 3
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Do we begin again to commend ourselves? or need we, as some others, epistles of commendation to you, or letters of commendation from you? Ye are our epistle written in our , known and read of all men: Forasmuch as ye are manifestly declared to be the epistle of Christ ministered by us, written not with ink, but with of the living ; not in tables of stone, but in fleshy tables of . And such have we through Christ to -ward: Not that we are sufficient of ourselves to think any thing as of ourselves; but our sufficiency is of ; Who also hath made us able ministers of the new testament; not of the letter, but of : for the letter killeth, but giveth life. But if the ministration of , written and engraven in stones, was , so that the could not stedfastly behold the of for the of his countenance; which was to be done away: How shall not the ministration of be rather ? For if the ministration of condemnation be , much more doth the ministration of exceed in . For even that which was made had no in this respect, by reason of the that excelleth. For if that which is done away was , much more that which remaineth is . Seeing then that we have such , we use great plainness of speech: And not as , which put a vail over , that the could not stedfastly look to the end of that which is abolished: But their were blinded: for until this day remaineth the same vail untaken away in the reading of the old testament; which vail is done away in Christ. But even unto this day, when is read, the vail is upon their . Nevertheless when it shall turn to , the vail shall be taken away. Now is that : and where of is, there is . But we all, with open beholding as in a glass , are changed into the same from to , even as by of .
The 1611 translation, public domain. Its original printing included the Apocrypha, which is why the deuterocanonical books can be read here. Notes and cards are EKLI’s own.
The world at this moment · Under Rome, 63 BC to AD 100 ›
Judea as a client kingdom and then a province. Roads, garrisons, taxes, crucifixion, and a common Greek language that let a message travel the empire faster than any before it.
- Rome
- The republic tears itself apart in civil war and comes out as an empire under Augustus. What follows is two centuries of relative peace across the whole Mediterranean, enforced by legions and paid for by taxes, with safe roads and safe sea lanes. Every one of Paul's journeys depends on that.
- Judea
- Governed first through Herod the Great, a client king of enormous ability and enormous brutality who rebuilds the temple into one of the wonders of the ancient world, then directly by Roman prefects. Crucifixion is the standard penalty for sedition and is used often and publicly.
- The wider world
- Greek is spoken from Spain to Syria, which means a letter written in Corinth can be read in Rome without translation. Jewish communities already exist in most major cities, which is where the first Christian preaching lands. Mystery religions, imperial cult, and philosophy all compete in the same marketplace.
- Further afield
- The Han dynasty rules China and trades silk westward along routes that touch the Roman world at second hand. In Britain the Roman conquest begins within a decade of the crucifixion.