THE VEIL THAT OBSTRUCTS UNDERSTANDING
It is not surprising that some people are able to understand the deep things of God. Many claim to know the Bible well and can quote from it and teach from it for hours on end. If they were honest, however, they would be forced to admit that they only know what they know. They don’t know what they don’t know because they don’t spend any time trying to learn the difficult parts of the Bible. It is too hard for them, they don’t care about what they don’t know and no one else cares either. So why bother?

God knows that such people exist. He is not surprised that they exist because he has put a veil over them that limits their understanding. Consider this scripture:

2 Corinthians 3: Are we beginning to commend ourselves again? Or do we need, like some people, letters of recommendation to you or from you? 2 You yourselves are our letter, written on our hearts, known and read by everybody. 3 You show that you are a letter from Christ, the result of our ministry, written not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of human hearts. 4 Such confidence as this is ours through Christ before God. 5 Not that we are competent in ourselves to claim anything for ourselves, but our competence comes from God. 6 He has made us competent as ministers of a new covenant–not of the letter but of the Spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life. 7 Now if the ministry that brought death, which was engraved in letters on stone, came with glory, so that the Israelites could not look steadily at the face of Moses because of its glory, fading though it was, 8 will not the ministry of the Spirit be even more glorious? 9 If the ministry that condemns men is glorious, how much more glorious is the ministry that brings righteousness! 10 For what was glorious has no glory now in comparison with the surpassing glory. 11 And if what was fading away came with glory, how much greater is the glory of that which lasts! 12 Therefore, since we have such a hope, we are very bold. 13 We are not like Moses, who would put a veil over his face to keep the Israelites from gazing at it while the radiance was fading away. 14 But their minds were made dull, for to this day the same veil remains when the old covenant is read. It has not been removed, because only in Christ is it taken away. 15 Even to this day when Moses is read, a veil covers their hearts. 16 But whenever anyone turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away. 17 Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. 18 And we, who with unveiled faces all reflect the Lord’s glory, are being transformed into his likeness with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.

We read here that the written code kills. That refers first to the tablets on which God wrote his commandments, but it also refers to whatever was written after that by men to represent what God originally said. There is no way that mortal men can rewrite or preach the literal words of what God has said so that it can give life instead of death. This is shocking, to say the least, but we must conclude that what God wrote with his own fingers on stone is called a ministry of death. Paul  confirms this by saying that his own ministry is not based on the written letter which kills, but on the Spirit which gives life. This is a hard word for pastors, rabbis, writers and teachers who base their truths on the Bible. They must be very careful that they do not preach or write words that only repeat or rephrase what God has said.

AUTHORS’ NOTE: See this  link for more about the differences between the Old Covenant and the New Covenant.

It would appear from these scriptures that it is important, if not critical, for anyone who writes or teaches using the Bible as a source of truth must be very careful to know if they are using the letter or the Spirit as their source. It is a life or death issue. No wonder God said that teachers should be careful.