3226.—The Veil of Moses
By Editor
Please explain 2 Cor. 3:3, especially the thought of nailing the law written on stone to the cross, and the veil of Moses. C. The passage in question does not refer to nailing the law written on stone to the cross. In fact it is utterly inconsistent to think of nailing a stone law to the cross. What are nailed to the cross are the human ordinances, as set forth in Colossians 2. What 2 Cor. 3:3 declares is that those converted Christians to whom Paul wrote were living epistles ministered by him, epistles written not with ink the same as other epistles are written, but with the Spirit of the living God, not in tables of stone where the law was written, but in fleshly tables of the heart. That is where God has wanted His law in all ages. That is what the psalmist declared, "Thy Word have I hid in mine heart, that I might not sin against Thee." That is the only place where the law will do us any good whatever, is in our heart. That is not against writing it on tables of stone, however. The Lord wrote it there in order that man might know what sin is; but when we learn what sin is, the only way to do is to go to the Saviour; have the sin forgiven, and that law which condemns the sin, written in our heart. It then becomes a power through Christ to keep us from sin. Then the apostle declares that they, the apostles, could not do this themselves; they were not sufficient, but their sufficiency was of God. With God they became able ministers not of the letter but of the Spirit. The letter killeth; the Spirit giveth life. This does not mean that the letter is wrong; the letter of the Ten Commandments is right in every respect. But just as long as they were held as a letter they were outside of the heart; and just so long as God's law is outside of the heart, it condemns, it does not justify; and when it condemns, it condemns to death, because "the wages of sin is death." That is what it did to Israel of old. When God came down and spoke the law, He wanted them to receive that law in their heart by faith; and if they had done so, it would have saved them, made them righteous, given them life and power and goodness. They would have become living epistles with the law written on the fleshly tables of the heart. But they said, "Let not God speak to us any more;" we do not want to hear His voice; and they went and stood afar off, and consequently became condemned. Moses said, "I beseech Thee, show me Thy glory," and God placed His glory upon him and within him so that Moses' face shone with the glory of the law that was written in his heart; but the children of Israel could not even bear that, and pleaded that Moses should put a veil over his face so that they would not see that glory which condemned them. See Ex. 34:29-35. Moses told the children of Israel that God came down to give them that law because He loved them and wanted to do them good. And He loved the people; but they would not believe that, and they pleaded that God should not speak to them. They did not want to hear Him, but Moses. Just as soon as they took that attitude, they showed their unbelief in separating themselves from God, and that unbelief was represented by that veil. And so the man who does not believe in God, and who will not look for the end of justification, has the veil upon the heart; but when he will turn not to man but to the Lord, that veil shall be taken away. The law coming to us in its written form or as it was spoken from Sinai was glorious, but it was the glory which condemned. God wants us to see the greater glory, the glory which justifies. The children of Israel saw the one, the glory which condemned. Moses saw the glory which condemned, but beyond that the greater glory which justified; so the Corinthian brethren saw the glory which justified and wrote the law in their hearts. That is what God wants us to see. Then we will say with the psalmist, "O how love I Thy law! it is my meditation all the day."