Forasmuch as ye are manifestly declared to be the epistle of Christ ministered by us, written not with ink, but with the Spirit of the living God; not in tables of stone, but in fleshy tables of the heart.
Declared. The letter is so legible that it can be 'read by all men' (2 Corinthians 3:2). Literally, '(Ye) being manifested that ye are an letter of Christ,' though "our letter" (2 Corinthians 3:2), one coming manifestly from Christ, and 'ministered by us' - i:e., carried about and presented by us as its bearers to the world. Christ is the Writer, ye are the letter recommending us. 'What God wished to manifest to all (His Gospel law), He hath written on your hearts: we prepared you to receive the letters, as Moses hewed the stone-tables' (Chrysostom).
Written not with ink, but with the spirit of the living God. Paul was the ministering pen, as well as the bearer and presenter of the letter. "Not with ink," in contrast to the letters of commendation which "some" at Corinth (2 Corinthians 3:1) used. "Ink" includes all outward materials for writing on, such as the Sinaitic tables of stone. These were not written with ink, but "graven" by "the finger of God" (Exodus 31:18; Exodus 32:16). Christ's letter (his believing members converted by Paul) is better: it is written not merely with the finger, but with the "Spirit of the living God:" it is not the "ministration of death," as the law, but of the 'living Spirit,' that "giveth life" (2 Corinthians 3:6-8).
Not in - not on tablets of stone, as the Ten Commandments (2 Corinthians 3:7).
In fleshy tablets of the heart. So Delta f g, Vulgate. But 'Aleph (') A B C G read х kardiais (G2588)] 'On (your) hearts (which are) tables of flesh.' Once your hearts were spiritually what the tables of the law were physically-tables of stone; but God has 'taken away the stony heart out of your flesh, and given you a heart of flesh' х sarkinais (G4560), not sarkikais; fleshy, not fleshly - i:e., carnal; hence, 'out of your flesh' - i:e., your carnal nature] (Ezekiel 11:19; Ezekiel 36:26). Compare 2 Corinthians 3:2, As "ye are our letter written in our hearts," so Christ has first made you 'HIS letter written with the Spirit in (on) your hearts.' I bear on my heart, as a testimony to all, that which Christ has by His Spirit written in your heart (Alford) (cf. Proverbs 3:3; Proverbs 7:3; Jeremiah 31:31-34). This passage (Paley) illustrates one peculiarity of Paul-namely, his going off at a word into a parenthetic reflection: here it is on "letter." So "savour," 2 Corinthians 2:14-17.