2 Corinthians 3:14 says that the minds of Paul’s Jewish contemporaries were hardened, so that a veil still covers the reading of the old covenant, and that this veil is removed only in Christ. In plain terms, Paul is explaining why many people who read the Hebrew Scriptures still fail to grasp what those writings point to. The verse was written by the apostle Paul to the church in Corinth, a mixed congregation in a Greek city, and it belongs to a longer argument about the difference between the old covenant of Moses and the new covenant brought through Christ.
But their minds were hardened, for until this very day at the reading of the old covenant the same veil remains, because in Christ it passes away.
2 Corinthians 3:14 (WEB)
What 2 Corinthians 3:14 Means
The first phrase, “their minds were hardened,” points to a settled resistance rather than an accident of ignorance. Paul is describing a people who heard the words of Moses but did not let them land. The image of hardening is one the Old Testament itself uses, and Paul borrows its weight: a heart or mind that has closed itself off to what God is saying.
The “veil” is drawn from the story in Exodus 34, where Moses covered his face after speaking with God. Paul reads that veil as a picture of something hidden in the reading itself. The verse does not say the old covenant was worthless; it says that people who read it without turning toward Christ still have a covering over the meaning. It does not promise that every reader will understand, and it does not describe the mechanics of how the veil is lifted. It states the condition and the remedy in one breath: the veil remains until it passes away in Christ.
The Context of 2 Corinthians 3:14
Second Corinthians is one of the letters Paul wrote to the church he had founded in Corinth, and in this section he is defending his ministry against rivals who questioned his authority and commended themselves more highly. He contrasts the ministry of the letter that kills with the ministry of the Spirit that gives life, and he argues that the new covenant surpasses the old in glory because it lasts. The surrounding verses carry that comparison forward.
Just before verse 14, Paul speaks of the glory on Moses’s face that faded, and in verse 13 he notes that Moses veiled himself so the people would not see the fading. Verses 15 and 16 then repeat the theme in the present tense: a veil lies on the heart when Moses is read, but whenever someone turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away. Read in that flow, verse 14 is the hinge. It explains the persisting veil and points forward to the turning described in verse 16, which is why the verse makes more sense as part of a movement from covering to removal than as a standalone complaint.
Key Phrases in 2 Corinthians 3:14
2 Corinthians 3:16
But whenever one turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away.
(WEB)
This verse completes the thought begun in verse 14, describing the turning to the Lord that removes the veil. Reading it alongside verse 14 shows that the hardening is not the last word, and that the way forward is a direction of the heart toward God.
Exodus 34:33-35
33 When Moses was done speaking with them, he put a veil on his face. 34 But when Moses went in before the LORD to speak with him, he took the veil off, until he came out; and he came out, and spoke to the children of Israel that which he was commanded. 35 The children of Israel saw Moses’ face, that the skin of Moses’ face shone: and Moses put the veil on his face again, until he went in to speak with him.
(WEB)
This passage tells the original story of Moses covering his face after speaking with God. Reading it helps you see the historical picture Paul draws on and why the veil carries such symbolic weight in his argument.
A Short Prayer From 2 Corinthians 3:14
Lord, I confess that I can read your word and still keep parts of it at a distance. Where my mind has grown hard, soften it, and where a veil lies over what I am reading, take it away. Turn my heart toward you in this moment and let your Spirit open what I have only skimmed. Thank you that in Christ the covering does not have to remain. Help me to read with humility and expectation today. Amen.
