Albert Barnes Commentary 2 Corinthians 3:14

"but their minds were hardened: for until this very day at the reading of the old covenant the same veil remaineth, it not being revealed [to them] that it is done away in Christ." — 2 Corinthians 3:14 (ASV)

But their minds were blinded. The word used here (pwrow) rather means to harden, to make hard like stone, and then to make dull or stupid. It is applied to the heart in Mark 6:52; Mark 8:17; to persons in Romans 11:7; and to the eyes in Job 17:7. Paul refers here to the fact that the understanding of the Jews was stupid, dull, and insensible, so that they did not see clearly the design and purpose of their own institutions. He states the fact simply; he does not refer to its cause. The fact that the Jews were thus stupid and dull is often affirmed in the New Testament.

For until this day... The meaning of this is that even up to the time when Paul wrote, it was a characteristic of the great mass of the Jewish people that they did not understand the true meaning of their own Scriptures. They did not understand its doctrines concerning the Messiah. A veil seems to be thrown over the Old Testament when they read it, just as there was over the face of Moses, so that the glory of their own Scriptures is concealed from their view, just as the glory of the face of Moses was hidden.

Of the old testament. In Greek, this is "of the old covenant." For an explanation of this word "testament," or covenant, see the comments on 1 Corinthians 11:25.

This, I believe, is the only instance in the Bible where the Scriptures of the Jews are called the "Old Testament," or covenant. It was, of course, not a name they used or would use, but it is now the common appellation among Christians. There can be no doubt that Paul uses the terms in the same manner we do now and refers to all the inspired writings of the Jews.

Which vail is done away in Christ. In the manifestation, or appearance, of Jesus the Messiah, the veil is removed. The obscurity that rested on the prophecies and types of the former dispensation is withdrawn. Just as the face of Moses could have been distinctly seen if the veil on his face had been removed, so it is with the true meaning of the Old Testament through the coming of the Messiah.

What was obscure is now made clear, and the prophecies are so completely fulfilled in him that his coming has removed the covering and shed a clear light over them all. Many prophecies, for example, appeared obscure and almost contradictory until the Messiah actually appeared.

Those prophecies that spoke of him—for illustration, as man and as God; as suffering, yet reigning; as dying, yet ever-living; as a mighty Prince, a Conqueror, and a King, yet as a man of sorrows; as humble, yet glorious—all seemed difficult to reconcile until they were seen to harmonize in Jesus of Nazareth. Then they became plain, and the veil was taken away. Christ is seen to fulfill all the previous descriptions of him in the Old Testament, and his coming casts a clear light on all that was previously obscure.