2 Corinthians 3 — Clausal Layout (English)

independentparticipialrelativepurposecausecomparativecontentconditionalphrase modifierdashed = verbless / suspended

Flush-left = a main (independent) clause. Each dependent line begins directly beneath the word it attaches to in the line above — the anchor word is dotted-underlined, and lights up when you hover its dependent clause; each tag also names the attachment. A dashed border marks verbless, elliptical, or suspended lines. Where a long sentence's staircase runs wider than the page, the diagram scrolls sideways. (In print, or without JavaScript, lines fall back to stepped indent columns.)

Letters of recommendation — you are our letter 3:1–3

Are we beginning again to commend ourselves?independent — the anticipated charge — συνιστάνειν, the letter's key verb of commendation (cf. 5:12)

Or do we need, as some do, letters of recommendation to you or from you?independent — μή expects 'no' — τινες, the rivals who trade on credentials

You are our letter,independent — the answer — the church itself the credential

written on our hearts,participial — perfect — a standing inscription; 'our hearts' read with the better witnesses (v.l. 'your')

known and read by all people;participial — the wordplay γινωσκομένη / ἀναγινωσκομένη — a letter anyone can read

being made manifest —participial — masculine plural ad sensum with the Corinthians of v. 2

that you are a letter of Christ,content — the metaphor deepened — Christ the author

ministered by us,participial — Paul the courier and scribe, not the author — διακον-, seeding vv. 7–9

writtenparticipial — the inscription again — now contrasted by medium and surface

not with inkphrase modifier — the perishable medium negated

but with the Spirit of the living God,phrase modifier — the divine ink — Ezek 36:26–27

not on tablets of stonephrase modifier — the Sinai surface negated — Exod 31:18

but on tablets that are hearts of flesh.phrase modifier — καρδίαις in apposition to πλαξίν — Ezek 11:19; 36:26

Competence from God — ministers of a new covenant 3:4–6

Such is the confidence we have through Christ toward God.independent — the hinge — πεποίθησις fronted; confidence exercised before God, through Christ

not that we are competent of ourselves to reckon anything as coming from ourselves,content — οὐχ ὅτι — the disclaimer guarding v. 4 from self-sufficiency

but our competence is from God,content — the corrective — verbless; the ἱκαν- root passed from adjective to noun

who also made us competent as ministers of a new covenant,relative — on θεοῦ — God supplies what he requires (ἱκάνωσεν); Jer 31:31

not of letter but of Spirit;phrase modifier — the covenant's defining antithesis — genitives of quality

for the letter kills,cause — γάρ — the aphorism's first limb: the code alone condemns (Rom 7:9–11)

but the Spirit gives life.cause — the counter-limb — ζῳοποιεῖ, the engine of vv. 7–18

The two ministries — the glory that surpasses 3:7–11

vv. 7–8 — the first a fortiori: the death-ministry's glory vs. the Spirit's

Now if the ministry of death, engraved in letters on stones, came with glory,conditional — protasis — first-class, granted as true; leans on the question below; ἐντετυπωμένη kept in line as attributive

so that the sons of Israel could not gaze at the face of Mosespurpose — ὥστε + infinitive — actual result, not purpose; Exod 34:29–30

because of the glory of his face, fading as it was,cause — διά + accusative grounds — καταργουμένην, the section's keyword: already passing

how shall the ministry of the Spirit not be even more in glory?independent — apodosis as question — πῶς οὐχί demands assent; logical future

vv. 9–11 — condemnation vs. righteousness; the fading vs. what remains

For if the ministry of condemnation had glory,conditional — protasis — verbless; the ministries renamed by their verdicts

much more does the ministry of righteousness abound in glory.independent — apodosis — πολλῷ μᾶλλον; περισσεύει, awash in glory, not merely possessed of it

for indeed what once was glorified has in this respect no glory at all, because of the surpassing glory;cause — καὶ γάρ — the paradox pressed: the old glory eclipsed to nothing; polyptoton δεδόξασται / δεδοξασμένον

For if what was being annulled came through glory,conditional — protasis — verbless; the decisive labels: transient vs. permanent

much more is what remains in glory.independent — apodosis — verbless; note διά → ἐν: what abides rests in glory

The veil removed — with unveiled face, from glory to glory 3:12–18

vv. 12–13 — boldness, not Moses' veil

Having therefore such a hope,participial — causal — the fronted ground, leaning on the main clause below; οὖν draws on vv. 7–11

we act with great boldness,independent — παρρησία — open, unconcealed ministry, the antithesis of the veil

and not like Moses, who would put a veil over his face,comparative — elliptical comparison — 'we do not do as Moses did'; iterative imperfect, Exod 34:33–35

so that the sons of Israel might not gaze at the end of what was fading away.purpose — πρὸς τό + infinitive — purpose; τέλος: termination, and in Christ the goal (Rom 10:4)

vv. 14–16 — the veil on the heart, removed at the turning

But their minds were hardened.independent — the turn — the veil becomes a figure for dulled perception (cf. 4:4)

For to this very day the same veil remains at the reading of the old covenant,cause — γάρ — the evidence; 'old covenant' named for the first time, against καινῆς (v. 6); ironically it is the veil that remains (μένει, cf. v. 11)

not being unveiled,participial — the veil left unlifted — anticipating ἀνακεκαλυμμένῳ (v. 18)

because it is in Christ that it is being abolished;cause — the crux — ὅτι taken as causal with μὴ ἀνακαλυπτόμενον, per the data's punctuation; the alternative reads content, 'that the old covenant is abolished in Christ'

but to this day, whenever Moses is read,conditional — ἡνίκα ἄν + subjunctive — indefinite temporal, protasis-like, leaning on the clause below; ἕως σήμερον strictly with κεῖται, printed with the fronted temporal

a veil lies over their heart;independent — the veil relocated — from the text to the reader's heart

but whenever one turns to the Lord,conditional — ἡνίκα δὲ ἐάν — Exod 34:34 LXX echoed: Moses' turning universalized to conversion; subject unexpressed

the veil is removed.independent — περιαιρεῖται — the very verb of Exod 34:34 for the unveiling

vv. 17–18 — the Lord, the Spirit: freedom, and glory to glory

Now the Lord is the Spirit,independent — the exegetical gloss — the κύριος of v. 16 (Exod 34) is met as the life-giving Spirit (v. 6), not a collapse of persons

and where the Spirit of the Lord is — freedom.independent — doubly verbless — presence and consequence in five words (Gal 5:1; Rom 8:2)

And we all, with unveiled face beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord,participial — the fronted participial complex, leaning on the main verb below — ἡμεῖς πάντες vs. the one veiled mediator; κατοπτριζόμενοι: beholding-in-a-mirror, not 'reflecting'

are being transformed into the same image, from glory to glory,independent — the climax — μεταμορφούμεθα, divine passive; the image is Christ's (4:4)

just as from the Lord, the Spirit.comparative — καθάπερ — the agent named; κυρίου πνεύματος read as apposition, 'the Lord, the Spirit' (v. 17)

Analysis. 2 Corinthians 3 opens in diatribe and ends in doxology, and the shape tracks the turn. Verses 1–3 hang everything from two flush-left questions and one flush-left declaration — ἡ ἐπιστολὴ ἡμῶν ὑμεῖς ἐστε — from which a chain of letter-participles descends (written, known and read, made manifest, ministered) to the paired dashed antitheses that name the media: not ink but Spirit, not stone tablets but hearts of flesh. Verses 4–6 step down from one main verb, ἔχομεν, through the οὐχ ὅτι / ἀλλά corrective to the relative ὃς καὶ ἱκάνωσεν, and bottom out in the two-limb aphorism the rest of the chapter argues from: the letter kills, the Spirit gives life. Verses 7–11 are three olive protases leaning forward on their apodoses — death/Spirit, condemnation/righteousness, fading/remaining — the a fortiori engine visible as three matched overhangs, two of them verbless. Verses 12–18 return to flush-left declarations (their minds were hardened; the veil remains; a veil lies; the veil is removed; the Lord is the Spirit) until the climactic sentence, where a single fronted participial line — we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord — leans on μεταμορφούμεθα. Cruxes the layout takes a side on: κατοπτριζόμενοι (v. 18) is rendered 'beholding as in a mirror,' not 'reflecting' — transformation comes through contemplation, though the middle voice permits either; the ὅτι of v. 14 is attached causally to μὴ ἀνακαλυπτόμενον ('not unveiled, because it is in Christ that it is abolished'), per the data's punctuation, with the content-reading ('that the old covenant is abolished in Christ') noted as the live alternative; ὁ δὲ κύριος τὸ πνεῦμά ἐστιν (v. 17) is read as an exegetical gloss on the κύριος of v. 16 / Exod 34 — the Lord to whom one turns is met as the life-giving Spirit — not an ontological collapse of persons; and κυρίου πνεύματος (v. 18) is taken as apposition, 'the Lord, the Spirit.'