to hold (used in very various applications · verb — present active participle, nominative plural masculine
such
τοιαύτηνtoiautēn
G5108
truly this · demonstrative pronoun — accusative singular feminine
hope
ἐλπίδαelpida
G1680
expectation (abstractly or concretely) or confidence · noun — accusative singular feminine
use
χρώμεθα,chrōmetha
G5530
to furnish what is needed · verb — present middle or passive deponent indicative, 1st person plural
great
πολλῇpollēa
G4183
(singular) much (in any respect) or (plural) many · adjective — dative singular feminine
speech
παρρησίᾳparrēsia
G3954
all out-spokenness · noun — dative singular feminine
Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890/1894), public domain; digitized by Open Scriptures (CC BY-SA). KJV word tagging: eBible.org (public domain). Original-language text, parsing and brief lexicon: STEPBible.org data from Tyndale House, Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).
Cross-references
2 Corinthians 7:4 Great is my boldness of speech toward you, great is my glorying of you: I am filled with comfort, I am exceeding joyful in all our tribulati…
Ephesians 6:19-20 And for me, that utterance may be given unto me, that I may open my mouth boldly, to make known the mystery of the gospel,
John 16:29 His disciples said unto him, Lo, now speakest thou plainly, and speakest no proverb.
Acts 4:13 Now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, and perceived that they were unlearned and ignorant men, they marvelled; and they took kno…
Philippians 1:20 According to my earnest expectation and my hope, that in nothing I shall be ashamed, but that with all boldness, as always, so now also Chri…
John 10:24 Then came the Jews round about him, and said unto him, How long dost thou make us to doubt? If thou be the Christ, tell us plainly.
John 16:25 These things have I spoken unto you in proverbs: but the time cometh, when I shall no more speak unto you in proverbs, but I shall shew you…
Acts 4:29-31 And now, Lord, behold their threatenings: and grant unto thy servants, that with all boldness they may speak thy word,
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on 2 Corinthians 3:12–end
In these verses the apostle draws two inferences from what he had said about the Old and New Testament: -
I. Concerning the duty of the ministers of the gospel to use great plainness or clearness of speech. They ought not, like Moses, to put a veil upon their faces, or obscure and darken those things which they should make plain. The gospel is a more clear dispensation than the law; the things of God are revealed in the New Testament, not in types and shadows, and ministers are much to blame if they do not set spiritual things, and gospel-truth and grace, in the clearest light that is possible. Though the Israelites could not look stedfastly to the end of what was commanded, but is now abol…
such hope--of the future glory, which shall result from the ministration of the Gospel (Co2 3:8-9).
plainness of speech--openness; without reserve (Co2 2:17; Co2 4:2).
Adam Clarke on 2 Corinthians 3:12
Seeing - we have such hope - Such glorious prospects as those blessings which the Gospel sets before us, producing such confidence, as the fulfillment of so many promises has already done, that God will still continue to work for us and by us;
We use great plainness of speech - Πολλῃ παρῥησιᾳ χρωμεθα· We speak not only with all confidence, but with all imaginable plainness; keeping back nothing; disguising nothing; concealing nothing: and here we differ greatly from the Jewish doctors, and from the Gentile philosophers, who affect obscurity, and endeavor, by figures, metaphors, and allegories, to hide every thing from the vulgar. But we wish that all may hear; and we speak so that all may…
Seeing then that we have such hope,.... Having this confidence, and being fully persuaded that God has made us able and sufficient ministers of the Gospel, has called and qualified us for such service; and since we have such a ministry committed to us, which so much exceeds in glory the ministry of Moses, a ministry not of death and condemnation, but of the Spirit and of righteousness; not which is abolished and done away, but which does and will remain, in spite of all the opposition of hell and earth:
we use great plainness of speech; plain and intelligible words, not ambiguous ones: or "boldness"; we are not afraid of men nor devils; we are not terrified by menaces, stripes, imprisonment…
The Church Fathers
What hope do we have? The hope that the grace of the Spirit will not be abolished like the law but that it will remain, even after the resurrection.
Paul is saying that we have a hope of seeing glory, not the kind that was on the face of Moses but the kind which the three apostles saw on the mountain when the Lord revealed himself. Therefore we ought to repay the love of God as far as we can by being more fervent in our love for him, who by cleansing us from our sins has given us this confidence. Now our confidence ought to increase, because what we eventually see will be in proportion to what we now believe.
For since when he had heard so many and so great things concerning the New [Covenant,] the hearer would be desirous of seeing this glory manifested to the eye, mark whither he hurleth him, [even] to the world to come. Wherefore also he brought forward the "hope," saying, "Having therefore such a hope." Such? Of what nature? That we have been counted worthy of greater things than Moses; not we the Apostles only, but also all the faithful. "We use great boldness of speech." Towards whom? tell me. Towards God, or towards the disciples? Towards you who are receiving instruction, he saith; that is, we speak every where with freedom, hiding nothing, withholding nothing, mistrusting nothing, but speaking openly; and we have not feared lest we should wound your eyesight, as Moses did that of the Jews.
The Church Fathers: public-domain translations (Ante-Nicene and Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers), verse-indexed by SermonIndex (CC BY 4.0).
Ministers · Should preach: With plainness of speech — Should preach: With plainness of speech
Mysteries · OF RE — OF RE
Preaching · UNCLASSIFIED SCRIPTURES RELATING TO — UNCLASSIFIED SCRIPTURES RELATING TO
Dictionary: Easton's (1897) and Smith's (1863), public domain. Topics: Nave's Topical Bible (1896) and Torrey's Topical Textbook (1897), public domain. Both as parsed by NEUU (CC BY 4.0).
2 Corinthians 3:12-18
12. Seeing then that we have such hope, we use great plainness of speech:
12. Habentes igitur hanc spem, multa fiducia (vel, libertate) utimur.
13. And not as Moses, which put a vail over his face, that the children of Israel could not stedfastly look to the end of that which is abolished:
13. Et non quemadmodum Moses (Exodus 34:33-35) ponebat velamen ante faciem suam, ut non intuerentur filii Israel in finem eius quod aboletur. [395]
14. But their minds were blinded: for until this day remaineth the same vail untaken away in the reading of the old testament; which vail is done away in Christ.
14. Sed excoecati sunt [396] sensus eorum: nam usque in hune diem velam…
