1 A re we starting to commend ourselves again? Or we do not, like some, need written credentials or letters of recommendation to you or from you, ?

¿COMENZAMOS otra vez á alabarnos á nosotros mismos? ¿ó tenemos necesidad, como algunos, de letras de recomendación para vosotros, ó de recomendación de vosotros?

2 y ou yourselves are our letter of recommendation (our credentials), written in your hearts, to be known (perceived, recognized) and read by everybody.

Nuestras letras sois vosotros, escritas en nuestros corazones, sabidas y leídas de todos los hombres;

3 Y ou show and make obvious that you are a letter from Christ delivered by us, not written with ink but with Spirit of living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of human hearts.

Siendo manifiesto que sois letra de Cristo administrada de nosotros, escrita no con tinta, mas con el Espíritu del Dios vivo; no en tablas de piedra, sino en tablas de carne del corazón.

4 S uch is the reliance and confidence that we have through Christ toward and with reference to God.

Y tal confianza tenemos por Cristo para con Dios:

5 N ot that we are fit (qualified and sufficient in ability) of ourselves to form personal judgments or to claim or count anything as coming from us, but our power and ability and sufficiency are from God.

No que seamos suficientes de nosotros mismos para pensar algo como de nosotros mismos, sino que nuestra suficiencia es de Dios;

6 W ho has qualified us as ministers and dispensers of a new covenant, not of the letter (of legally written code) but of the Spirit; for the code kills, but the Spirit makes alive.

El cual asimismo nos hizo ministros suficientes de un nuevo pacto: no de la letra, mas del espíritu; porque la letra mata, mas el espíritu vivifica.

7 N ow if the dispensation of death engraved in letters on stone, was inaugurated with such glory and splendor that the Israelites were not able to look steadily at the face of Moses because of its brilliance, that was to fade and pass away,

Y si el ministerio de muerte en la letra grabado en piedras, fué con gloria, tanto que los hijos de Israel no pudiesen poner los ojos en la faz de Moisés á causa de la gloria de su rostro, la cual había de perecer,

8 W hy should not the dispensation of the Spirit '> ministry whose task it is to cause men to obtain and be governed by the Holy Spirit] be attended with much greater and more splendid glory?

¿Cómo no será más bien con gloria el ministerio del espíritu?

9 F or if the service that condemns had glory, how infinitely more abounding in splendor and glory must be the service that makes righteous!

Porque si el ministerio de condenación fué con gloria, mucho más abundará en gloria el ministerio de justicia.

10 I ndeed, in view of this fact, what once had splendor '> the glory of the Law in the face of Moses] has come to have no splendor at all, because of the overwhelming glory that exceeds and excels it '> the glory of the Gospel in the face of Jesus Christ].

Porque aun lo que fué glorioso, no es glorioso en esta parte, en comparación de la excelente gloria.

11 F or if that which was but passing and fading away came with splendor, how much more must that which remains and is permanent abide in glory and splendor!

Porque si lo que perece tuvo gloria, mucho más será en gloria lo que permanece.

12 S ince we have such hope (such joyful and confident expectation), we speak very freely and openly and fearlessly.

Así que, teniendo tal esperanza, hablamos con mucha confianza;

13 N or like Moses, who put a veil over his face so that the Israelites might not gaze upon the finish of the vanishing.

Y no como Moisés, que ponía un velo sobre su faz, para que los hijos de Israel no pusiesen los ojos en el fin de lo que había de ser abolido.

14 I n fact, their minds were grown hard and calloused; for until this present day, when the Old Testament (the old covenant) is being read, that same veil still lies, not being lifted that in Christ it is made void and done away.

Empero los sentidos de ellos se embotaron; porque hasta el día de hoy les queda el mismo velo no descubierto en la lección del antiguo testamento, el cual por Cristo es quitado.

15 Y es, down to this day whenever Moses is read, a veil lies upon their minds and hearts.

Y aun hasta el día de hoy, cuando Moisés es leído, el velo está puesto sobre el corazón de ellos.

16 B ut whenever a person turns to the Lord, the veil is stripped off and taken away.

Mas cuando se convirtieren al Señor, el velo se quitará.

17 N ow the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty (emancipation from bondage, freedom).

Porque el Señor es el Espíritu; y donde hay el Espíritu del Señor, allí hay libertad.

18 A nd all of us, as with unveiled face, continued to behold as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are constantly being transfigured into His very own image in ever increasing splendor and from one degree of glory to another; from the Lord the Spirit.

Por tanto, nosotros todos, mirando á cara descubierta como en un espejo la gloria del Señor, somos transformados de gloria en gloria en la misma semejanza, como por el Espíritu del Señor.