2 Corinthians 3:6-13,18 NASB
who also made us adequate as servants of a new covenant, not of the letter but of the Spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life. [7] But if the ministry of death, in letters engraved on stones, came with glory, so that the sons of Israel could not look intently at the face of Moses because of the glory of his face, fading as it was, [8] how will the ministry of the Spirit fail to be even more with glory? [9] For if the ministry of condemnation has glory, much more does the ministry of righteousness abound in glory. [10] For indeed what had glory, in this case has no glory because of the glory that surpasses it. [11] For if that which fades away was with glory, much more that which remains is in glory. [12] Therefore having such a hope, we use great boldness in our speech, [13] and are not like Moses, who used to put a veil over his face so that the sons of Israel would not look intently at the end of what was fading away. [18] But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as from the Lord, the Spirit.
At the heart of the Law is man’s performance for God; but at the heart of grace is God’s performance for, in, and through man. The law is man’s best for God, and grace is God’s best for man. The purpose of the law was to expose the fact that man’s best for God was never good enough, and therefore the law was meant to tutor us to grace. The section of Scripture that I quoted above is comparing the covenant of law, and the new covenant of grace. One of the fascinating things about the Scriptures that I listed is what it says about Moses and the fading glory. When we think about Moses and of the glory of his face, we normally only think about the fact that having been in God’s presence the glory on his face was so bright that he had to cover his face with a veil so that the glory would not be so blinding to the people when they looked at him; but verse 7 and verse 13 indicate that there came a time when Moses continued to wear the veil to keep the people from seeing that the glory was fading. Paul is trying to tell us that this is what performance based Christianity cultivates. When you’re doing your best, out of sheer sincerity, to perform for God there will be glimpses of glory, but it is always a fading glory. Living under the law results in an erratic up-and-down Christian life, characterized by guilt and condemnation during those times of fading glory. The result of that kind of Christian life is veil wearing. I remember years ago as a 23-year-old starting Bible college, how much veil wearing I encountered. I had come out of a life of not walking with the Lord at all, and most of the students around me had been in church for many years and they knew all the right things to say, and they knew all the words to the songs, but as I got to know them better the vast majority had at some point during their life learned to wear veils, faking their way through Christianity. In their private lives, and in their personal thought life and emotions they were a mess, but they had learned how to pretend so that others wouldn’t see that the glory had faded. The sad part is, they thought this was normal Christianity, and this is the way everybody lived, and was supposed to live. The glorious truth of the New Covenant is that when we turn to the Lord the veil is removed. We don’t have to pretend any longer that we have it together when behind the scenes we know that we don’t. Instead, with unveiled faces, acknowledging that we can’t perform for God successfully, we look in utter dependent faith to Jesus to perform in and through us, and as a result, we find ourselves being transformed from the inside out into the same image of Christ from glory to glory, as a result of the work of the indwelling Holy Spirit. Performance based Christianity is outside in, while grace works inside out. No need for veils anymore because we can come clean about our weaknesses, looking to him, knowing that in our weaknesses, His strength will be made perfect.