2 Corinthians 3:3

3:3 revealing ¹  that you are a letter of Christ, delivered by us, ²  written not with ink but by the Spirit of the living God, not on stone tablets ³  but on tablets of human hearts.

2 Corinthians 3:6

3:6 who made us adequate ⁴  to be servants of a new covenant ⁵  not based on the letter but on the Spirit, for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.

2 Corinthians 4:2

4:2 But we have rejected ⁶  shameful hidden deeds, ⁷  not behaving ⁸  with deceptiveness ⁹  or distorting the word of God, but by open proclamation of the truth we commend ourselves to everyone’s conscience before God.

2 Corinthians 4:18

4:18 because we are not looking at what can be seen but at what cannot be seen. For what can be seen is temporary, but what cannot be seen is eternal.

2 Corinthians 10:13

10:13 But we will not boast beyond certain limits, ¹⁰  but will confine our boasting ¹¹  according to the limits of the work to which God has appointed us, ¹²  that reaches even as far as you.

2 Corinthians 13:4

13:4 For indeed he was crucified by reason of weakness, but he lives because of God’s power. For we also are weak in him, but we will live together with him, because of God’s power toward you.

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¹ tn Or “making plain.”

² tn Grk “cared for by us,” an expression that could refer either to the writing or the delivery of the letter (BDAG 229 s.v. διακονέω 1). Since the following phrase refers to the writing of the letter, and since the previous verse speaks of this “letter” being “written on our [Paul’s and his companions’] hearts” it is more probable that the phrase “cared for by us” refers to the delivery of the letter (in the person of Paul and his companions).

³ sn An allusion to Exod 24:12; 31:18; 34:1; Deut 9:10-11.

⁴ tn Or “competent.”

⁵ sn This new covenant is promised in Jer 31:31-34; 32:40.

⁶ tn L&N 13.156; the word can also mean “to assert opposition to,” thus here “we have denounced” (L&N 33.220).

⁷ tn Grk “the hidden things [deeds] of shame”; here αἰσχύνης (aiscunh") has been translated as an attributive genitive.

⁸ tn Or “not conducting ourselves”; Grk “not walking” (a common NT idiom for conduct, way of life, or behavior).

⁹ tn Or “craftiness.”

¹⁰ tn Or “boast excessively.” The phrase εἰς τὰ ἄμετρα (ei" ta ametra) is an idiom; literally it means “into that which is not measured,” that is, a point on a scale that goes beyond what might be expected (L&N 78.27).

¹¹ tn The words “will confine our boasting” are not in the Greek text, but the reference to boasting must be repeated from the previous clause to clarify for the modern reader what is being limited.

¹² tn Grk “according to the measure of the rule which God has apportioned to us as a measure”; for the translation used in the text see L&N 37.100.