哥林多后书 3
1
我们岂是又举荐自己吗?岂像别人,用人的荐信给你们,或用你们的荐信给人吗?

Are we beginning to commend ourselves again? Or do we need, like some people, letters of recommendation to you or from you?

2
你们就是我们的荐信,写在我们的心里,被众人所知道所念诵的。

You yourselves are our letter, written on our hearts, known and read by everybody.

3
你们明显是基督的信,借着我们修成的。不是用墨写的,乃是用永生神的灵写的。不是写在石版上,乃是写在心版上。

You show that you are a letter from Christ, the result of our ministry, written not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of human hearts.

4
我们因基督所以在神面前才有这样的信心,

Such confidence as this is ours through Christ before God.

5
并不是我们凭自己能承担什么事,我们所能承担的,乃是出于神。

Not that we are competent in ourselves to claim anything for ourselves, but our competence comes from God.

6
他叫我们能承当这新约的执事。不是凭着字句,乃是凭着精意。因为那字句是叫人死,精意是叫人活。(精意或作圣灵)。

He has made us competent as ministers of a new covenant--not of the letter but of the Spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.

7
那用字刻在石头上属死的职事,尚且有荣光,甚至以色列人因摩西面上的荣光,不能定睛看他的脸。这荣光原是渐渐退去的。

Now if the ministry that brought death, which was engraved in letters on stone, came with glory, so that the Israelites could not look steadily at the face of Moses because of its glory, fading though it was,

8
何况那属灵的职事,岂不更有荣光吗?

will not the ministry of the Spirit be even more glorious?

9
若是定罪的职事有荣光,那称义的职事,荣光就越发大了。

If the ministry that condemns men is glorious, how much more glorious is the ministry that brings righteousness!

10
那从前有荣光的,因这极大的荣光,就算不得有荣光了。

For what was glorious has no glory now in comparison with the surpassing glory.

11
若那废掉的有荣光,这长存的就更有荣光了。

And if what was fading away came with glory, how much greater is the glory of that which lasts!

12
我们既有这样的盼望,就大胆讲说,

Therefore, since we have such a hope, we are very bold.

13
不像摩西将帕子蒙在脸上,叫以色列人不能定睛看到那将废者的结局。

We are not like Moses, who would put a veil over his face to keep the Israelites from gazing at it while the radiance was fading away.

14
但他们的心地刚硬。直到今日诵读旧约的时候,这帕子还没有揭去。这帕子在基督里已经废去了。

But their minds were made dull, for to this day the same veil remains when the old covenant is read. It has not been removed, because only in Christ is it taken away.

15
然而直到今日,每逢诵读摩西书的时候,帕子还在他们心上。

Even to this day when Moses is read, a veil covers their hearts.

16
但他们的心几时归向主,帕子就几时除去了。

But whenever anyone turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away.

17
主就是那灵。主的灵在哪里,哪里就得以自由。

Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.

18
我们众人既然敞着脸,得以看见主的荣光,好像从镜子里返照,就变成主的形状,荣上加荣,如同从主的灵变成的。

And we, who with unveiled faces all reflect the Lord's glory, are being transformed into his likeness with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.