2 Corinthians 3:16

Nevertheless when it shall turn to the Lord, the vail shall be taken away.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(16) Nevertheless when it shall turn to the Lord.—Better, But when it shall turn. The allegorising process is still carried on. Moses removed the veil when he went into the tabernacle to commune with the Lord (Exodus 34:35); so, in the interpretation of the parable, the veil shall be taken away when the heart of Israel shall turn, in the might of a real conversion, to the Lord of Israel. The very word for “turn” is taken from the same context: “Moses called them, and Aaron and all the rulers of the congregation turned to him” (Exodus 34:31).

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

3:12-18 It is the duty of the ministers of the gospel to use great plainness, or clearness, of speech. The Old Testament believers had only cloudy and passing glimpses of that glorious Saviour, and unbelievers looked no further than to the outward institution. But the great precepts of the gospel, believe, love, obey, are truths stated as clearly as possible. And the whole doctrine of Christ crucified, is made as plain as human language can make it. Those who lived under the law, had a veil upon their hearts. This veil is taken away by the doctrines of the Bible about Christ. When any person is converted to God, then the veil of ignorance is taken away. The condition of those who enjoy and believe the gospel is happy, for the heart is set at liberty to run the ways of God's commandments. They have light, and with open face they behold the glory of the Lord. Christians should prize and improve these privileges. We should not rest contented without knowing the transforming power of the gospel, by the working of the Spirit, bringing us to seek to be like the temper and tendency of the glorious gospel of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, and into union with Him. We behold Christ, as in the glass of his word; and as the reflection from a mirror causes the face to shine, the faces of Christians shine also.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Nevertheless - This is not always to continue. The time is coming when they shall understand their own Scriptures, and see their true beauty.

When it shall turn to the Lord - When the Jewish people shall be converted. The word "it" here refers undoubtedly to "Israel" in 2 Corinthians 3:13; and the sense is, that their blindness is not always to remain; there is to be a period when they shall turn to God, and shall understand his promises, and become acquainted with the true nature of their own religion. This subject the apostle has discussed at much greater length in the eleventh chapter of the Epistle to the Romans; see the notes on that chapter.

The vail shall be taken away - They shall then understand the true meaning of the prophecies, and the true nature of their own institutions. They shall see that they refer to the Lord Jesus, the incarnate Son of God, and the true Messiah. The genuine sense of their sacred oracles shall break upon their view with full and irresistible light. There may be an allusion in the language here to the declaration in Isaiah 25:7, "And he will destroy in this mountain the face of the covering cast over all people, and the vail that is spread over all nations." This verse teaches:

(1) That the time will come when the Jews shall be converted to Christianity; expressed here by their turning unto the Lord, that is, the Lord Jesus; see the note, Acts 1:24.

(2) it seems to be implied that their conversion will be a conversion of "the people" at large; a conversion that shall be nearly simultaneous; a conversion "en masse." Such a conversion we have reason to anticipate of the Jewish nation.

(3) the effect of this will be to make them acquainted with the true sense of their own Scriptures, and the light and beauty of the sayings of their own prophets, Now they are in deep darkness on the sub ject; then they will see how entirely they meet and harmonize in the Lord Jesus.

(4) the true and only way of having a correct and full meaning of the Bible is by turning unto God. Love to Him, and a disposition to do His will, is the best means of interpreting the Bible.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

16. Moses took off the veil on entering into the presence of the Lord. So as to the Israelites whom Moses represents, "whensoever their heart (it) turns (not as English Version, 'shall turn') to the Lord, the veil is (by the very fact; not as English Version, 'shall be') taken away." Ex 34:34 is the allusion; not Ex 34:30, 31, as Alford thinks. Whenever the Israelites turn to the Lord, who is the Spirit of the law, the veil is taken off their hearts in the presence of the Lord: as the literal veil was taken off by Moses in going before God: no longer resting on the dead letter, the veil, they by the Spirit commune with God and with the inner spirit of the Mosaic covenant (which answers to the glory of Moses' face unveiled in God's presence).

Matthew Poole's Commentary

When it shall turn, may be understood of the whole, or of the generality (at least) of the Jews; when they shall be converted to the faith of Christ, or when any particular person shall be converted to Christ, then

the veil shall be taken away; not the veil with which God covered and veiled the mysteries of the gospel, (that was already taken away upon Christ’s coming in the flesh), but the veil of blindness, which they had drawn over their own souls. Though the light of the gospel shineth clearly, and Christ be unveiled, yet until men, by a true faith, receive Christ, and turn from sinful courses to the obedience of the gospel, they see little or nothing of Christ. The taking away of this veil, and the turning to the Lord, are things done in souls at the same time; therefore nothing is to be concluded here, from the apostle’s naming the removal of the impediment, after the effect of which that is a cause.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

Nevertheless, when it shall turn to the Lord,.... The heart, upon which the veil now is; or the body of the Jewish nation, as in the latter day; when they "shall turn", or "be turned", by the Spirit, power, and grace of God, to the Lord Jesus Christ, and look upon him whom they have pierced, and mourn, and embrace him as the true Messiah and only Saviour:

the veil shall be taken away; the veil of blindness and ignorance, respecting themselves, case, state, and condition, and the way of salvation by Christ; the veil of unbelief, with regard to his person, offices, and grace, and of error in points of the greatest moment and importance; then all the darkness and obscurity that is upon the books of Moses and the prophets, and which is now upon their hearts in reading them, will be gone. The prophecies of the Old Testament will be seen in their proper light, and to be evidently fulfilled in Christ; the true nature, use, and end of the law, will be discovered; and both they and that will be freed from all darkness that now attends them. The Jews themselves acknowledge, that though the law is light, yet there is an obscurity in it, by reason of the several ways of interpreting it; and therefore,

"he that studies in it, has need to remove, , "veil after veil", which is upon the face of it, in order to come at the light of it (g):''

and intimate, that the veil on Moses's face was an emblem of this obscurity, which agrees with what the apostle hints in this context; and also own, that there is now upon them a veil of ignorance; and, say they (h), God has promised to remove, , perhaps it should be "the veil of folly off of our understanding", referring, as is thought, to Isaiah 25:7.

(g) R. Abraham Seba in Tzeror Hammor, fol. 90. 2.((h) Chobat Halebabot, par. 1. c. 3. apud L. Capell. in loc.

Geneva Study Bible

Nevertheless when it shall turn to the Lord, the vail shall be taken away.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Meyer's NT Commentary

2 Corinthians 3:16. When, however, it shall have turned to the Lord, shall have come to believe on Christ, the veil, which lies on their heart (2 Corinthians 3:15), is taken away; i.e., when Moses is read before them, it will no longer remain unperceived by them that the Old Covenant ceases in Christ. The subject to ἐπιστρέψῃ is ἡ καρδία αὐτῶν, 2 Corinthians 3:15 (Luther in the gloss, Beza, Grotius, Bengel, and several others, including Billroth, Olshausen, de Wette, Hofmann), not ὁ Ἰσραήλ (Chrysostom, Theodoret, Theophylact, Pelagius, Erasmus, and many others, including Osiander), nor Μωϋσῆς (Calvin, Estius[173]), nor the general ΤΊς (Origen, Storr, Flatt).

The common supposition, that in 2 Corinthians 3:16 there is an allegorical reference to Moses, who, returning from the people to God, conversed unveiled with God (Exodus 34:34), is in itself probable from the context, and is confirmed even by the choice of the words (Ex. l.c.: ἡνίκα δʼ ἂν εἰσεπορεύετο Μ. ἔναντι κυρίου … περιῃρεῖτο τὸ κάλυμμα), though the same veil with which Moses was veiled (ΤῸ ΑὐΤῸ ΚΆΛ., 2 Corinthians 3:14) is no longer spoken of, but a veil on the hearts of the Jew.

ἩΝΊΚΑ with ἌΝ and the subjunctive aorist[174] denotes: then, when it shall have turned (Luther wrongly: when it turned itself), and that as something conceived, thought of, not as an unconditioned fact. The πρὸς κύριον, however, does not affirm: to God, who is now revealed in the Lord (Hofmann), but, in simple accordance with ἐν Χριστῷ of 2 Corinthians 3:15 : to Christ. The conversion of Israel which Paul has in view is, now that it is wholly relegated to the experience of the future, the conversion as a whole, Romans 11:25. It was, however, obvious of itself that what is affirmed finds its application to all individual cases which had already occurred and were still to be expecte.

περιαιρ. has the emphasis, both of its important position at the head of the clause (removed is the veil) and of the future realized as present. The passive is all the more to be retained, seeing that the subject of ἐπιστρ. is the heart; the sense of self-liberation (Hofmann) may not be imported on account of Exodus 34:34. The conversion and deliverance of Israel is God’s work. See 2 Corinthians 3:17 and Romans 11:26 f. The compound corresponds to the conception of the veil covering the heart round about. Comp. Plato, Polit. p. 288 E: δέρματα σωμάτων περιαιροῦσα, Dem. 125,26: ΠΕΡΙΕῖΛΕ ΤᾺ ΤΕΊΧΗ, 802, 5 : ΠΕΡΙῌΡΗΤΑΙ ΤΟῪς ΣΤΕΦΆΝΟΥς, Jdt 10:3 : ΤῸΝ ΣΆΚΚΟΝ, Bar 4:34; Bar 6:58; Acts 27:40.

[173] Calvin thinks that Moses is here tantamount in meaning to the law, and that the sense is: When the law is referred to Christ, when Christ is sought in the law by the Jews, then will the truth dawn upon them. Estius, who refers κύριον to God, says: “Moses conversus ad Dominmuatque retectam habens faciem, typum gessit populi Christiani ad Deum conversi et revelata cordis facie salutis mysteria contemplantis.”

[174] See Ellendt, Lex. Soph. I. p. 773.

Expositor's Greek Testament

2 Corinthians 3:16. ἡνίκα δʼ ἄν κ.τ.λ.: but whensoever it, i.e., Israel, shall turn to the Lord, the veil is taken away; a paraphrase of Exodus 34:34, ἡνίκα δʼ ἄν εἰσεπορεύετο Μωσῆς ἔναντι Κυρίου λαλεῖν αὐτῷ, περιῃρεῖτο τὸ κάλυμμα ἔως τοῦ ἐκπορεύεσθαι.

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

16. when it shall turn to the Lord] The A. V. makes (1) Israel’s heart the nominative to the verb in this sentence. Wiclif and the other Protestant translators (2) make Israel itself the nominative, while (3) the Rhemish version makes Moses the nominative, referring to the fact that in the narrative in Exodus 34 he is said in almost the same words as here, to remove the veil when he turns to God. Origen (4) would supply any one. Each rendering is defended by commentators of note, but the first seems preferable. Cf. Romans 11:23; Romans 11:26; Romans 11:32.

the vail shall be taken away] The tense in the original is present, not future, and may be interpreted, (1) with Bp. Wordsworth, ‘is in process of removal,’ or perhaps better, (2) with Dean Alford, is there and then removed, i.e. at the moment when the heart turns to the Lord, just as Moses took off the veil when he turned to speak to God. See also Isaiah 25:7. It is to be observed that these words are a quotation of the LXX. of Exodus 34:34, substituting, however, the present for the past tense.

Bengel's Gnomen

2 Corinthians 3:16. Ἡνίκα δʼ ἂν—περιαιρεῖται τὸ κάλυμμα, but when the veil is taken away) This is a paraphrase on Exodus 34:34, ἡνίκα δʼ ἂν εἰσεπορεύετο Μωῦσης ἔναντι Κυρίου λαλεῖν αὐτῷ περιῃρεῖτο τὸ κάλυμμα. But when Moses went in before the Lord to speak to Him, the veil was taken away. Therefore ἡνίκα, meaning not if, but when, evidently affirms, as in the preceding verse, and frequently in the LXX., ἡνίκα ἐὰν, ἡνίκα ἂν, Genesis 24:41; Genesis 27:40; Exodus 1:10; Exodus 34:24; Leviticus 6:4; Leviticus 10:9; Deuteronomy 25:19. ἡνίκα δʼ ἂν, Exodus 33:8; Exodus 33:22; Exodus 40:36.—ἐπιστρέψῃ, shall be turned) namely their heart. The truth is acknowledged by repentance, 2 Timothy 2:25. The method, not of disputation, but of conversion, is to be applied to the Jews.—πρὸς Κυρίον, to the Lord) Christ, 2 Corinthians 3:14. A distinguished appellation, 2 Corinthians 4:5.—περιαιρεῖτιαι) περιαιροῦμαι is passive, Acts 27:20, and in the LXX., Leviticus 4:31; Leviticus 4:35; but middle very often in the LXX., and that too in the very passage to which Paul refers. The antithesis of 2 Corinthians 3:15-16 shows, however, that here the signification is passive. The veil lies [κεῖται, 2 Corinthians 3:15]; the veil is taken away. The present, is [that moment, and by that very fact] taken away, is emphatic [not as Engl. shall be taken away.]

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 16. - When it shall turn to the Lord. The nominative of the verb is not expressed. Obviously the most natural word to supply is the one last alluded to, namely, "the heart of Israel." The verb may have been suggested by Exodus 34:31. Shall be taken away; literally, is in course of removal. The tenses imply that "the moment the heart of Israel shall have turned to the Lord, the removal of the veil begins." Then "they shall look on him whom they pierced" (Zechariah 12:10); "He will destroy in this mountain the face of the covering cast over all people, and the veil that is spread over all nations" (Isaiah 25:7). 2 Corinthians 3:16

Vincent's Word Studies

It shall turn

The heart of Israel.

Shall be taken away (περιαιρεῖται)

Rev., correctly, is taken away. The verb occurs twice in Acts (Acts 27:20, Acts 27:40) of the taking away of hope, and of the unfastening of the anchors in Paul's shipwreck; and in Hebrews 10:11, of the taking away of sins. There is an allusion here to the removal of the veil from Moses' face whenever he returned to commune with God. See Exodus 34:34.