2 Corinthians 3:14 Commentary and Bible Study

‘Their minds were blinded’ because they had no desire and no sense of the need of forgiveness and of God’s mercy. ‘For until this day,’ says Paul, ‘remaineth the same vail untaken away in the reading of the old testament; which vail is done away in Christ.’ When Christ came and the full light of the gospel is known, what Christ has done to secure access to God and to bring about pardon and forgiveness, then any mystery disappears. And so it was in Old Testament days. If people believed the promise of Messiah and realised their need of him, then they saw him in the Old Testament throughout the Old Testament revelation. But if they felt no need, the veil was still there and they could not understand. Well, there was a great difference; in the Old Testament obviously Christ was centuries in the future. The people could not see how he would live, his power and his miracles, how he would suffer and die on Calvary’s cross. People could not see how he could remove sin. They had the promises and the types and the shadows. They all spoke of what God would do one day. The sacrifices spoke of Christ and his great coming sacrifice for sin. But they could not see the meaning of those types and shadows and sacrifices without first having a great sense of need of God, and desire for his forgiving love. Then they could see what the Messiah would one day do in fulfilment of those divine pictures in the ceremonial law.So it was revealed to them in a more obscure way, in types and shadows, but when Christ came all became so plain. And the apostle brings this argument to bear on the Corinthians. ‘What are you doing listening to these Judaisers who are taking you back to a more obscure revelation? And they themselves do not understand about Christ.’