World English Bible · Under Rome
2 Corinthians 3
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Are we beginning again to commend ourselves? Or do we need, as do some, letters of commendation to you or from you? You are our letter, written in our , known and read by all men, being that you are a letter of Christ, by us, written not with ink, but with of the living ; not in tablets of stone, but in tablets that are of . Such confidence we have through Christ toward , not that we are sufficient of ourselves to account anything as from ourselves; but our sufficiency is from , who also made us sufficient as servants of a , not of the letter but of . For the letter kills, but gives life. But if the of , written engraved on stones, came with , so that the could not look steadfastly on the of for the of , which was passing away, won't of be with much more ? For if the of condemnation has , the of exceeds much more in . For most certainly that which has been made has not been made in this respect, by reason of the that surpasses. For if that which passes away was with , much more that which is in . Having therefore such a , we use great boldness of speech, and not as , who put a on so that the wouldn't look steadfastly on the end of that which was passing away. But their were hardened, for until this very day at the reading of the old the same , because in Christ it passes away. But to this day, when is read, a lies on their . But whenever someone turns to , is taken away. Now is ; and where of is, there is . But we all, with seeing as in a mirror, are transformed into the same from to , even as from , .
A public domain modern English translation, free to read and share. 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.