“Christ Takes Away the Veil” 2 Corinthians 3:12-18

One of my favorite shows of the 60’s was a spy spoof called “Get Smart.” It had a lot of sight gags and zany takeoffs of James Bond and such.

One of my favorite parts of the show was when they had to go under the “cone of silence.” The ongoing gag was that the cone was intended to keep conversations safe from anyone outside the cone. Of course, the gag was that the only two people who couldn’t hear were the ones inside the cone, while everyone else could hear what was being said.

I thought of the cone of silence when I read this passage, only here the cone is replaced with a veil of ignorance. Unlike the cone, though, there is nothing humorous about the veil.

Background

Paul references the events of Moses speaking with God throughout the long exodus. Whenever God would speak with Moses, Moses’ face would become radiant, according to Exodus 34:29ff. The first time it happened, Moses had just come down from Sinai. When the people saw his radiant face, they were afraid. Moses had to speak to them to let them know that he was Moses, then they would come near to hear what he had to say. This continued on throughout the remainder of the exodus, so Moses, after telling the people what God had said, would then put a veil over his face to keep his radiance from distracting the people.

Paul references this to describe the surpassing glory of the Gospel. He argues immediately before our passage that if Moses’ face radiated with the glory of the Law, how much more should we radiate with the glory of the Gospel. Paul argues, “For what was glorious has no glory now in comparison with the surpassing glory. And if what was fading away come with glory, how much greater is the glory of that which lasts!” (vs. 10-11).

Paul then uses the idea of the veil to go from hiding the fading glory on Moses’ face to a veil of ignorance when it comes to the old law. That’s why it’s so important that we understand what it means for us that Christ has taken away the veil from us. According to the Bible, the veil remains unless Christ removes it—“only in Christ is it taken away.”

Central Truth: As Jesus removes the veil of ignorance from us, He also works to transform us into His image.

The Veil of Ignorance (12-13)

Ignorance is a dangerous thing if it’s not corrected. It’s possible to be extremely intelligent and be ignorant at the same time. Ignorance merely means lacking the knowledge of something. It can be a skill or a truth, but as long as we are unable or unwilling to learn the skill or the truth, we remain in ignorance.

For some people, some people choose to remain ignorant. We hold on to certain traditions or beliefs with such a strong attachment, that we are afraid to consider whether they are valid or not. Or we are so convinced that we are right that we refuse to consider the possibility of being wrong. Since we hold to this, we choose to remain ignorant.

The Pharisees were like that. They had become so convinced that their religious practices and rituals were pleasing to God and were consistent with God’s will that they couldn’t see the Word of God standing in front of them, telling them they needed to change. They didn’t see Jesus for Who He was because they couldn’t conceive that He might be right. Repeatedly they asked Him for a sign to prove He was the Son of God, even though He fed 5000 people with a boy’s lunch, healed the sick, rose the dead and any number of other miracles that could only be attributed to God. When confronted with the miracles, the Pharisees attributed it as an act of Satan through Jesus.

Paul uses these verses to demonstrate that, unlike Moses, we are not to cover up the glory of God’s Gospel through Jesus Christ. Moses would speak to the people, then hide his face. But we are not to be that way. Jesus tells us we are the light of the world, and that such a light isn’t hidden. Instead, this light is used to draw people to Him. While Jesus also says He is the light of the world (cf. John 8:12), He also tells us we are that light (cf. Matthew 5:14-16).

In fact, Paul tells us we have a boldness about us because we reflect the light of Christ and because we are His light in our world. We’re not afraid to speak the truth of God (or we shouldn’t be) because we know His truth is real. It is a boldness built upon our hope, and our hope is grounded in Christ. Therefore, we do not hide behind a veil of ignorance, but let the glory of God shine through us.

Christ Removes the Veil (14-16)

Sometimes, we are ignorant because we do not have access to the information that could remove our ignorance. We live in a day and age where information is at our fingertips, thanks to the internet. We can access information that can teach us foreign languages, gain certain skills and learn different crafts.

Of course, we also live in a day and age when lies are easily disseminated through the very same internet. And, unfortunately for us, we can pick and choose the things we want to hear and believe and never have to have our beliefs challenged. When we are challenged, we’ve been taught to label such things as “fake news” or “alternate facts.”

Paul, continuing on the issue of a veil, now transfers it from a means of covering Moses’ radiance to representing a dullness of understanding and ignorance. “But their minds were made dull, for to this day the same veil remains when the old covenant is read.” Referring back to 1 Corinthians 2:14, when Paul wrote that those without the Spirit are incapable of understanding spiritual things, here he is stating that their awareness is dulled because of the veil that covers their spirit.

Think about it. A veil that is thick enough to hide the face would greatly hinder our ability to see clearly that which is right in front of our noses. It’s not impossible to see through such a veil, but it makes it very difficult to do so.

The only thing that can remove this veil of ignorance is Christ Himself. And that is one of the critical statements of faith that must shape our walk with God.

The Bible contrasts the difference between the lost and the saved. The lost, even today, have hearts covered with the veil of ignorance. “But whenever anyone turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away” (v. 16).

What does this mean?

It means that Christ took the initiative to open our eyes, to show us His ways and to light our path. Because of what Jesus did, we are now the light of the world, and we have the same Spirit that gives us the mind of Christ (cf. 1 Corinthians 2:16b).

Because Jesus has removed the veil from our hearts, He has enabled us to know what it means to fellowship with Him through prayer and through His Spirit that lives in us. Because the veil has been removed, there is a clarity to our vision and our awareness. We no longer walk around in a fog, but now we have a knowledge of where we are going and what God calls us to do. Because of what Jesus has done, we are set apart and made His friend (cf. John 15:15). By His grace and His mercy, God chose to remove the veil from us through His Son, Jesus Christ.

All of this is part and parcel in all that we have considered over the past few months. We are a new creation, made holy, crucified with Christ and dead to sin, alive in Him, and we are in fellowship with Him through the presence of the Spirit which lifts the veil from our hearts. We are, by God’s power, transformed into ones who can work with Him as He lives through us.

“But whenever anyone turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away.”

In Christ, We Find Freedom and Transformation (17-18)

I was in my first quarter of law school. One of the classes I was taking was contract law. Under contract law, there are two references that apply to drawing up contracts. One is the Uniform Code of Contracts, and the other one is something with “second edition” in the title. I was studying for class, and was confused about when we used the UCC and when we used the other source. I went to my professor and asked him. His advice: Read over my notes and review the reading. I did. And I learned that the UCC is used for business contracts; the other source is used for contracts between people, such as leases. Once I reviewed things, the veil of ignorance was lifted and I can still remember when to use the UCC in drawing up a contract. Once I got that down, it freed me to concentrate on other aspects of contract law.

That’s what the Bible is telling us in these next two verses. Now that Jesus has lifted the veil by the power of the Spirit, He has freed us to walk and grow and learn from Him. We are set free from sin’s control, and we are free to follow Christ. When we are trapped by fear, we are restricted in what we can and can’t do. If we’re afraid, we are looking over our shoulders, feeling defeated, controlled by our fear. But once we overcome our fear, a great weight is lifted from us and we are almost giddy with our feeling of accomplishment. That’s freedom. Christ sets us free from fear and from failure and from ignorance.

Not only does He set us free, but He works to bring us into His likeness. It’s interesting how Paul weaves the ideas of glory, transformation, Christ and the Spirit all together. Because Jesus removed the veil, we now reflect His glory. Because we reflect Christ’s glory, He is working on us to transform us into His likeness and the glory increases. It is a glory that is not ours, because it originates from Christ and is found in us through the indwelling Spirit.

In other words, Paul wants us to understand that, because Jesus has removed the veil from our hearts, He is able to bring glory and honor to Himself and to the Father as the Spirit works in and through us to become more like Him each day. And all of this is because the veil has been removed.

Conclusion

It’s frustrating dealing with ignorant people. Some are ignorant because they haven’t heard. Others are ignorant because they don’t want to know. And even more are ignorant because they don’t care to know.

And here’s the hard part. Jesus calls us to love the ignorant. We were ignorant once ourselves. We also walked with a veil over our hearts. But God saved us, and Jesus removed that veil. Our ignorance is replaced with knowledge.

Let us now commit ourselves to the faith statement that we are no longer under the veil. We are set free in Christ for His glory and by His Spirit.