St. Irenaeus Ministries

The all-holy glory of our Triune God is weighty and substantial, never ''fluffy.'' To illustrate this, one can look to Moses' veiled, radiant face after having seen God's glory. Paul takes up this image of veils and radiant glory in chapter three. He also contrasts the ''dispensation of death'' with the ''dispensation of the Spirit'' (v. 7-8). What is passing away contains an ephemeral glory, but what abides is situated in a glory that is eternal (cf. v. 11). In this, Paul does not wish to abolish the old covenant, but fulfill it with the Gospel of Christ. He writes, ''Since we have such a hope, we are very bold, not like Moses, who put a veil over his face so that the Israelites might not see the end of the fading splendor'' (v. 12) and ''Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom'' (v. 17). Powerfully, ''And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being changed into his likeness from one degree of glory to another; for this comes from the Lord