What is meant by the veil that lies on the hearts of some?

Paul the Apostle says, “unlike Moses, who put a veil over his face so that the children of Israel could not look steadily at the end of what was passing away. But their minds were blinded. For until this day the same veil remains unlifted in the reading of the Old Testament, because the veil is taken away in Christ. But even to this day, when Moses is read, a veil lies on their heart” (2 Cor. 3:13–16). The children of Israel were not capable of beholding the brilliance of Moses’ face, which was a temporary and passing glory. But God this to them, that they might seek that which is greater: the eternal glory that never passes away.

St. Basil the Great comments on these words of the Apostle Paul, saying, “Why does he say this? For he who dwells at the abstract literal meaning, and occupies himself by keeping the law, he shall be as if his heart has been covered with the acceptance of the Jewish letter as a veil lies on him. This happens to him because of his ignorance that the physical keeping of the law has been invalidated in the presence of Christ, that is for the symbols to become facts for the future …

“He who has the power to look to the depths of the meaning of the Law, and then cross through the mystery of the letter as through a veil to reach inexpressible things shall be like Moses who takes away the veil when speaking with God; this takes back the letter to the spirit.

“[T]he obscurity of the teachings of the Law is analogous to the veil on the face of Moses, while spiritual vision, to the turning to the Lord. Therefore, he who strips off the letter in his reading of the Law turns to the Lord … becomes similar to Moses whose face was glorified by God’s epiphany.

“For, as those things that are near brilliant colors are themselves colored because of the rays of light that flow around them, so he who clearly fixes his eyes on the Spirit is somehow transformed by the Spirit’s glory into something brighter as his heart is illuminated by the truth of the Spirit, as if by a light. And this is the transformation from the glory of the Spirit to his own glory; it does not happen in any insignificant or faint way, but in a manner that is suitable for one who is enlightened by the Spirit.”¹⁴⁶

And St. Augustine says, “The truth is that the Old Testament of Mount Sinai, ‘bringing forth children unto bondage’ (Gal. 4:24), now serves no purpose but to bear witness to the New. Otherwise, the words of St. Paul would not be true: ‘Yes, down to this very day when Moses is read, the veil covers their hearts’; but when any of them turn from the Old Testament to Christ, ‘ the veil shall be taken away .’ What happens is that the deepest aspirations of those who make the change are shifted from the Old Testament to the New, whereupon they begin to look for spiritual — rather than earthly — happiness.”¹⁴⁷

“Doubtless, there is a veil in the Old Testament, which will be removed as soon as one comes to Christ. At His Crucifixion, ‘the veil of the temple was rent,’ (Matt. 27:51) to signify what the Apostle said about the veil of the Old Testament, ‘Because in Christ it is made void’ (2 Cor. 3:14).”¹⁴⁸

“For there is made void in Christ, not the Old Testament, but its veil: that so through Christ that may be understood, and, as it were, laid bare, which without Christ is obscure and covered. Forasmuch as the same Apostle straightway adds, ‘But when you shall have passed over to Christ, the veil shall be taken away ’ (2 Cor. 3:16). For he does not say, the Law shall be taken away, or, the Old Testament. Not therefore through the Grace of the Lord, as though useless things were there hidden, have they been taken away; but rather the covering whereby useful things were covered . In this manner all they are dealt with, who earnestly and piously, not disorderly and shamelessly, seek the sense of those Scriptures, and they are carefully shown both the order of events, and the causes of deeds and words, and so great agreement of the Old Testament with the New, that not a jot is left that does not agrees; and so great secrets of figures, that all the things that are drawn forth by interpretation force them to confess that they are wretched, who will to condemn these before they learn them.”¹⁴⁹

Because they pored over the letter rather than the spirit and closed their eyes so as not to see the light of the Gospel presented to them, their hearts were hardened (Acts 14:2) and they were filled with foolishness. The veil that obscured the brightness of the face of Moses was still present. The veil of darkness and ignorance that prevents access to the glory of the gospel lay over their hearts, preventing it from shining upon them.

146 St. Basil of Caesarea, On the Holy Spirit , trans. Stephen Hildebrand (SVS Press, 2011) 21(52): p. 90.

147 St. Augustine of Hippo, City of God 17.7 (FOTC 24:46).

148 St. Augustine of Hippo, Letter 140, To Honoratus 10 (FOTC 20:79).

149 St. Augustine of Hippo, On the Profit of Believing 9 (NPNF I/3:351) amended.

St. John Chrysostom says, “For what happened then once in the case of Moses, the same happens continually in the case of the Law. What is said, therefore, is no accusation of the Law, nor of Moses that he then veiled himself, but only of the senseless Jews. For the law has its proper glory, but they were unable to see it. ‘Why therefore are you troubled,’ he says, ‘that the Jews do not believe Christ, seeing at least that they do not even believe the Law?’”¹⁵⁰

He also says, “The veil lies upon their heart … because of the grossness and carnal mind of the Jews … Do you see that not over the face of Moses was there that veil, but over the eyesight of the Jews? For it was done, not that the glory of Moses might be hidden, but that the Jews might not see. For they were not capable. So that in them was the deficiency, for it caused not him to be ignorant of anything.”¹⁵¹

The scholar Origen says, “Turning the pages of the prophets one by one … [the Bride, i.e., the Church] finds Christ springing forth from them and, now that the veil that covered them before is taken away, she perceives Him breaking out and emerging from individual passages in her reading, and bursting out of them in a manifestation that is now quite plain.”¹⁵²

“[S]o long as someone has not turned to a spiritual understanding, ‘a veil lies over his heart’, by which veil, that is, a duller understanding, Scripture itself is said or thought to be veiled; and this is what is meant by the veil placed over the countenance of Moses when he spoke to the people, that is, when the Law was publicly read aloud. But if we ‘turn to the Lord’, where also is the Word of God, and where the Holy Spirit reveals spiritual knowledge, then ‘the veil is removed’, and thus with an ‘unveiled face we shall behold the glory of the Lord’ in the holy Scriptures.”¹⁵³

“The brightness of the coming of Christ through the light of the Law of Moses by the honor of truth takes away the veil that covers the letter of the Law and shuts it up, for whoever believes in it and hides within it these good things.”¹⁵⁴

“Thus the Lord Himself, the Holy Spirit Himself must be entreated by us to remove every cloud and all darkness which obscures the vision of our hearts hardened with the stains of sins so that we may be able to the spiritual and wonderful knowledge of His Law.”¹⁵⁵

“Let us beware, therefore, lest not only ‘ when the Moses is read ,’ but also when Paul is read ‘a veil’ be ‘placed over’ our ‘heart.’ And clearly, if we hear negligently, if we bring no zeal to learning and understanding, not only are the Scriptures of the Law and prophets but also of the apostles and Gospels covered for us with a great veil. I fear, however, lest by too much negligence and dullness of heart the divine scriptures are not only veiled to us but also

150 St. John Chrysostom, Homilies on 2 Corinthians 7.2 (NPNF I/12:311).

151 St. John Chrysostom, Homilies on 2 Corinthians 7.3, 4 (PG 61:484; NPNF I/12:312) amended.

152 Origen, Commentary on the Song of Songs 3:11 (ACW 26:214).

153 Origen, On First Principles, vol. 1 , trans. J. Behr (Oxford University Press, 2017) 1.1.2: p. 27.

154 Origen, De Principiis (On First Principles) 4.1.6 from the Latin (ANF 4:354)

155 Origen, Homilies on Leviticus 1.4 (FOTC 83:30).

sealed, so that if a book should be put into the hands of a man who cannot read to be read, he would say, ‘I cannot read’; if it should be put into the hands of a man who can read, he would say, ‘It is sealed’ (Isa. 29:12, 11). Whence it is shown that we must not only employ zeal to learn the sacred literature, but we must also pray to the Lord and entreat ‘day and night’ that the lamb of ‘of the tribe of Judah’ may come and himself taking ‘the sealed book’ may deign to open it. For it is He who ‘opening the Scriptures’ kindles the hearts of the disciples so that they say, ’Was not our heart burning within us when He opened to us the Scriptures?’ (Luke 24:32). May He, therefore, even now, see fit to open to us what it is which He inspired His Apostle to say, ’But the Lord is the Spirit; and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom’ (2 Cor. 3:17).”¹⁵⁶

St. Gregory of Nyssa says, “And the removal of the veil, so that the eye, freed of what obscures it, gazes without interference on the Beauty it desires, is a good thing, as none can doubt who pays attention to the apostle. He attributes the removal of the veil to the power of the Spirit when he says: ‘But when one turns to the Lord, the veil is removed; and the Lord is the Spirit’ (2 Cor. 3:16–17).”¹⁵⁷

“Such a boon as this, however, is not within any man's reach to lay hold of, but the Divine intention lies hid under the body of the Scripture, as it were under a veil, some legislative enactment or some historical narrative being cast over the truths that are contemplated by the mind. For this reason, then, the Apostle tells us that those who look upon the body of the Scripture have ‘a veil upon their heart’ (2 Cor. 3:15), and are not able to look upon the glory of the spiritual law, being hindered by the veil that has been cast over the face of the lawgiver. Wherefore he says, ‘The letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.’”¹⁵⁸

St. Ambrose says, “Thus the holy one is bidden by the Lord to cross over to the stream, for he who has drunk of the New Testament not only is a river, but from his belly will flow rivers of living water, rivers of understanding, rivers of meditation, spiritual rivers.”¹⁵⁹

“Rightly, then, does Paul say, ‘ The letter kills, but the Spirit gives life ’ (2 Cor. 3:6). The letter circumcised a small part of the body, the understanding spirit keeps the circumcision of the entire soul and body, so that chastity might be preserved, frugality loved, with the unnecessary parts cut off (for nothing is so unnecessary as the vices of greed, the sins of lust, which do not belong to nature but which sin has caused). Bodily circumcision is the symbol, but the reality is the spiritual circumcision; the one cuts off a member, the other sin.”¹⁶⁰

156 Origen, Homilies on Exodus 12.4 (FOTC 71:371–372) amended.

157 St. Gregory of Nyssa, Homilies on The Song of Songs , trans. Richard A Norris Jr., eds. Brian E. Daley SJ and John T Fitzgerald (Society of Biblical Literature, 2012) 12: p. 381.

158 St. Gregory of Nyssa, Against Eunomius 7.1 (NPNF II/5:192).

159 St. Ambrose, Letter 59, To the Church at Vercelli (Letter 63 in PL 16; FOTC 26:350).

160 St. Ambrose, Letter 68, To Clementianus (Letter 75 in PL 16; FOTC 26:407).

St. Augustine says, “Therefore, you who fear the Lord, praise Him, and that you may worship Him, not as slaves but as free men, learn to love Him whom you fear, and you will be able to praise what you love. The men of the Old Testament, fearing God, because of the letter which terrifies and kills, and not yet possessing ‘the spirit which quickens,’ (2 Cor. 3:6) ran to the Temple with sacrifices and offered up bloody victims, ignorant of what was foreshadowed by them, although they were a figure of the Blood to come, by which we have been redeemed.”¹⁶¹

“God commands chastity and He gives chastity; He commands by the Law, He gives by His grace; He commands by the letter, He gives by the spirit; for the Law without grace makes sin abound (Rom. 5:20), and the letter without the spirit kills (2 Cor. 3:6). He commands so as to make us learn how to ask the help of grace when we try to obey His commandments, and in our weakness fall wearied under the Law, and also to make us grateful to Him who helps us if we have been able to perform any good work.”¹⁶²

“For, if you take away the Spirit, how does the Law avail? It makes a prevaricator. On that account the Scripture says: ‘The letter kills’ (2 Cor. 3.6). The Law orders, and you do not obey … Something is commanded, and you do not do it; something is forbidden, and you do it. Behold, ‘the letter kills.’”¹⁶³

“Let the Spirit be joined to the Law, because, if have received the Law, and if you lack the help of the Spirit, you do not fulfill what is of the Law, you do not carry out what is commanded you … Let the Spirit be added, let Him help, [and] that which is commanded is accomplished. If the Spirit is absent, the letter kills you … You cannot excuse yourself on the plea of ignorance since you have received the Law. Now, because you have learned what you should do, ignorance does not excuse you … But why does the Apostle say, ‘ The letter kills but the spirit gives life ’ (2 Cor. 3:6)? How does the Spirit give life? Because He causes the letter to be fulfilled so that it may not kill. The sanctified are those who fulfill the Law of God according to the gift of God. The Law can command; it cannot help. The Spirit is added as a helper, and the commandment of God is fulfilled with joy and delight. Certainly many observe the Law from fear, but those who keep the Law from fear of punishment would prefer that what they fear did not exist. On the contrary, those who observe the Law through love of justice rejoice even in that respect because they do not consider it hostile to them.”¹⁶⁴