2 Corinthians 3:6

NET Bible® (New English Translation)

who made us adequate to be servants of a new covenant not based on the letter but on the Spirit, for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.

📖 Grammatical Analysis

Original Text

Ὃς καὶ ἱκάνωσεν ἡμᾶς διακόνους καινῆς διαθήκης· οὐ γράμματος, ἀλλὰ πνεύματος: τὸ γὰρ γράμμα ἀποκτείνει, τὸ δὲ πνεῦμα ζωοποιεῖ.

Transliteration

Who also hikanōsen us diakonous of new diathēkēs; not of grammatos, but of pneumatos: the for gramma apokteinnei, the de pneuma zōopoiei.

Grammar Details

• *hikanōsen*: aorist active indicative, 3rd person singular - made sufficient/qualified
• *diakonous*: noun, accusative plural masculine - servants/ministers
• *diathēkēs*: noun, genitive singular feminine - of covenant/testament
• *grammatos*: noun, genitive singular neuter - of letter/writing
• *pneumatos*: noun, genitive singular neuter - of spirit
• *gramma*: noun, nominative singular neuter - letter/writing
• *apokteinnei*: present active indicative, 3rd person singular - kills
• *de*: conjunction - but/and
• *pneuma*: noun, nominative singular neuter - spirit
• *zōopoiei*: present active indicative, 3rd person singular - gives life

Word Meanings

• *hikanōsen*: made sufficient/qualified/enabled/equipped
• *diakonous*: servants/ministers/attendants
• *diathēkēs*: covenant/testament/contract
• *grammatos*: letter/writing/document/literal meaning
• *pneumatos*: spirit/breath/wind
• *apokteinnei*: kills/puts to death/destroys
• *zōopoiei*: gives life/makes alive/vivifies

Referenced Verses

• Jer 31:31 : 31 “Indeed, a time is coming,” says the LORD,“when I will make a new covenant with the people of Israel and Judah.
• John 6:63 : 63 The Spirit is the one who gives life; human nature is of no help! The words that I have spoken to you are spirit and are life.
• Rom 7:6 : 6 But now we have been released from the law, because we have died to what controlled us, so that we may serve in the new life of the Spirit and not under the old written code.
• Luke 22:20 : 20 And in the same way he took the cup after they had eaten, saying,“This cup that is poured out for you is the new covenant in my blood.
• 1 Cor 11:25 : 25 In the same way, he also took the cup after supper, saying,“This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, every time you drink it, in remembrance of me.”
• Eph 2:5 : 5 even though we were dead in offenses, made us alive together with Christ– by grace you are saved!–
• Eph 3:7 : 7 I became a servant of this gospel according to the gift of God’s grace that was given to me by the exercise of his power.
• 2 Cor 3:14 : 14 But their minds were closed. For to this very day, the same veil remains when they hear the old covenant read. It has not been removed because only in Christ is it taken away.
• Rom 8:2 : 2 For the law of the life-giving Spirit in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and death.
• 1 Cor 3:5 : 5 What is Apollos, really? Or what is Paul? Servants through whom you came to believe, and each of us in the ministry the Lord gave us.
• 1 John 1:1 : 1 ¶ The Prologue to the Letter This is what we proclaim to you: what was from the beginning, what we have heard, what we have seen with our eyes, what we have looked at and our hands have touched(concerning the word of life–
• Deut 27:26 : 26 ‘Cursed is the one who refuses to keep the words of this law.’ Then all the people will say,‘Amen!’
• 1 Cor 3:10 : 10 According to the grace of God given to me, like a skilled master-builder I laid a foundation, but someone else builds on it. And each one must be careful how he builds.
• 2 Cor 5:18-20 : 18 And all these things are from God who reconciled us to himself through Christ, and who has given us the ministry of reconciliation. 19 In other words, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting people’s trespasses against them, and he has given us the message of reconciliation. 20 Therefore we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were making his plea through us. We plead with you on Christ’s behalf,“Be reconciled to God!”
• Gal 3:10-12 : 10 For all who rely on doing the works of the law are under a curse, because it is written,“Cursed is everyone who does not keep on doing everything written in the book of the law.” 11 Now it is clear no one is justified before God by the law, because the righteous one will live by faith. 12 But the law is not based on faith, but the one who does the works of the law will live by them.
• Gal 3:21 : 21 Is the law therefore opposed to the promises of God? Absolutely not! For if a law had been given that was able to give life, then righteousness would certainly have come by the law.
• Eph 2:1 : 1 New Life Individually And although you were dead in your offenses and sins,
• Eph 4:11-12 : 11 And he himself gave some as apostles, some as prophets, some as evangelists, and some as pastors and teachers, 12 to equip the saints for the work of ministry, that is, to build up the body of Christ,
• Col 1:25-29 : 25 I became a servant of the church according to the stewardship from God– given to me for you– in order to complete the word of God, 26 that is, the mystery that has been kept hidden from ages and generations, but has now been revealed to his saints. 27 God wanted to make known to them the glorious riches of this mystery among the Gentiles, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory. 28 We proclaim him by instructing and teaching all people with all wisdom so that we may present every person mature in Christ. 29 Toward this goal I also labor, struggling according to his power that powerfully works in me.
• 1 Tim 1:11-12 : 11 This accords with the glorious gospel of the blessed God that was entrusted to me. 12 I am grateful to the one who has strengthened me, Christ Jesus our Lord, because he considered me faithful in putting me into ministry,
• 1 Tim 4:6 : 6 By pointing out such things to the brothers and sisters, you will be a good servant of Christ Jesus, having nourished yourself on the words of the faith and of the good teaching that you have followed.
• 2 Tim 1:11 : 11 For this gospel I was appointed a preacher and apostle and teacher.
• Heb 7:22 : 22 accordingly Jesus has become the guarantee of a better covenant.
• Heb 8:6-9 : 6 But now Jesus has obtained a superior ministry, since the covenant that he mediates is also better and is enacted on better promises. 7 For if that first covenant had been faultless, no one would have looked for a second one. 8 But showing its fault, God says to them,“Look, the days are coming, says the Lord, when I will complete a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah. 9 “It will not be like the covenant that I made with their fathers, on the day when I took them by the hand to lead them out of Egypt, because they did not continue in my covenant and I had no regard for them, says the Lord. 10 “For this is the covenant that I will establish with the house of Israel after those days, says the Lord. I will put my laws in their minds and I will inscribe them on their hearts. And I will be their God and they will be my people.
• Heb 9:15-20 : 15 And so he is the mediator of a new covenant, so that those who are called may receive the eternal inheritance he has promised, since he died to set them free from the violations committed under the first covenant. 16 For where there is a will, the death of the one who made it must be proven. 17 For a will takes effect only at death, since it carries no force while the one who made it is alive. 18 So even the first covenant was inaugurated with blood. 19 For when Moses had spoken every command to all the people according to the law, he took the blood of calves and goats with water and scarlet wool and hyssop and sprinkled both the book itself and all the people, 20 and said,“This is the blood of the covenant that God has commanded you to keep.”
• Heb 12:24 : 24 and to Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood that speaks of something better than Abel’s does.
• Heb 13:20 : 20 Benediction and Conclusion Now may the God of peace who by the blood of the eternal covenant brought back from the dead the great shepherd of the sheep, our Lord Jesus,
• 1 Pet 3:18 : 18 Because Christ also suffered once for sins, the just for the unjust, to bring you to God, by being put to death in the flesh but by being made alive in the spirit.
• 1 Cor 12:28 : 28 And God has placed in the church first apostles, second prophets, third teachers, then miracles, gifts of healing, helps, gifts of leadership, different kinds of tongues.
• 1 Cor 15:45 : 45 So also it is written,“The first man, Adam, became a living person”; the last Adam became a life-giving spirit.
• 2 Cor 3:7 : 7 The Greater Glory of the Spirit’s Ministry But if the ministry that produced death– carved in letters on stone tablets– came with glory, so that the Israelites could not keep their eyes fixed on the face of Moses because of the glory of his face(a glory which was made ineffective),
• 2 Cor 3:9 : 9 For if there was glory in the ministry that produced condemnation, how much more does the ministry that produces righteousness excel in glory!
• John 5:21 : 21 For just as the Father raises the dead and gives them life, so also the Son gives life to whomever he wishes.
• Rom 7:9-9 : 9 And I was once alive apart from the law, but with the coming of the commandment sin became alive 10 and I died. So I found that the very commandment that was intended to bring life brought death! 11 For sin, seizing the opportunity through the commandment, deceived me and through it I died.
• Rom 1:5 : 5 Through him we have received grace and our apostleship to bring about the obedience of faith among all the Gentiles on behalf of his name.
• Rom 2:27-29 : 27 The physically uncircumcised man, by keeping the law, will judge you to be the transgressor of the law, even though you have the letter and circumcision! 28 For a person is not a Jew who is one outwardly, nor is circumcision something that is outward in the flesh, 29 but someone is a Jew who is one inwardly, and circumcision is of the heart by the Spirit and not by the letter. This person’s praise is not from people but from God.
• Rom 3:20 : 20 For no one is declared righteous before him by the works of the law, for through the law comes the knowledge of sin.
• Rom 4:15 : 15 For the law brings wrath, because where there is no law there is no transgression either.
• Rom 4:17 : 17 (as it is written,“I have made you the father of many nations”). He is our father in the presence of God whom he believed– the God who makes the dead alive and summons the things that do not yet exist as though they already do.
• Matt 13:52 : 52 Then he said to them,“Therefore every expert in the law who has been trained for the kingdom of heaven is like the owner of a house who brings out of his treasure what is new and old.”
• Matt 26:28 : 28 for this is my blood, the blood of the covenant, that is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins.
• Mark 14:24 : 24 He said to them,“This is my blood, the blood of the covenant, that is poured out for many.