"Do we begin again to commend ourselves? or need we, as some others, letters of recommendation to you, or letters of recommendation from you? 2 You are our letter written in our hearts, known and read of all men: 3  It is being revealed that you are a letter of Messiah being ministered by us—enrolled not so much with ink, as by the Spirit of the living God; not so much on plaques of stone, as in fleshy plaques of the heart. 4 And likewise, we have confidence through the Messiah toward God. 5 Not that we are competent by ourselves to think any thing as by ourselves; but our competence is of God" (2Cor. 3:1-5, torahtimes.org, DLT).

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comment: Paul is not denying that the faithful are enrolled with ink.  One only need see Revelation 20:15 "And whosoever was not found written in the scroll of life was cast into the lake of fire" to know that such a book exists and that the names of the faithful are written in it."  Paul is using a rhetorical comparison here.   What is written on the heart is more important than what is written in a scroll or in stone.   Neither is Paul denying that the names of the faithful are written in stone: Revelation 21:12, "And had a wall great and high, and had twelve gates, and at the gates twelve angels, and names written thereon, which are the names of the twelve tribes of the children of Israel."  Paul's rhetoric is to put earthly recognition either of official membership or having one's name written somewhere in proper perspective.
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enrolled : εγγεγραμμενη.  BDAG 3rd, edition, "εγγραφω write in, record ... enroll among the number ...the names are recorded in heaven Lk 10:20".   The context has to do with official recognition.  The way this was done was by writing names in a book or by inscribing them on synagogue walls or plaques.  Making a donation, or great contribution, was a good way to get one's name put on a plaque.  The Christian equivalent  is official Church membership, which is a record or certificate that one is a member of a particular denomination.  Often this official membership is equated with official recognition of one's salvation.  In many synagogues a Christian will be stunned to find the names of the members inscribed on the walls, or the names of the principle financial donors on a plaque.

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so much ...as : ουκ ... αλλα. αλλα = ει μη =  אלא = unless, except. (cf. BLASS, §448).  The sense is explained in the Greek by Thayer, "ουκ ...αλλα sometimes is logically equivalent to not so much ... as ";  Liddell and Scott, "used adversatively to limit ...clauses".  The word means "unless" or "except": Mt. 20:23, '...is not mine to give, unless for whom it is prepared of my Father"; Mt. 22:32, "Not he is the God of the dead unless of the living".  The conjunction limits the first clause, i.e. "He is not the God of the dead" (which standing alone would be a false statement) to "He is not the God of the dead [only], except [also] of the living".  John 3:13, "no man hath ascended up to heaven, unless he that came down from heaven".  This usage is very important since the Semitic Apologetical Method, likes to introduce a statement with a seeming "untruth" only to qualify it in the next clause to make it true.  It's a rhetorical teaching method that gets the attention of the audience.  It is needed to understand a lot of biblical arguments like the classic "God is not the God of the dead, unless of the living" for proof of the resurrection.  The point is that God is not the God of the persons who are just to be dead unless he plans to raise them.  For why would they have him as God when only to be dead, or why would God be their God for them to be only dead.

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plaques : πλαξιν. Liddell and Scott, "flat stone, tablet ".  I have transliterated it plaques because this corresponds more closely to the way modern recognition is given, as in a plaque on a wall or a trophy.   The same word is used for the tablets of the ten commandments in the LXX.  It was not Paul's intention to put down the Law, but merely to introduce the term for rhetorical shock value.   His Greek syntax and context make it clear that that's all it was—to get the attention of his audience.  If one listens closely, then it is clear that Paul's teaching is totally in agreement with the Torah and the Prophets.   Paul's original audience would have understood easily is they listened and were not predisposed to hate him.  Now it is not so easy, because we live in the legacy of 19 centuries of scripture twisting by Paul's enemies and anti-Torah Christians with no understanding of rhetorical methods in the ancient near east or the biblical context.   Key to understanding Paul is knowledge of the usage of ουκ ... αλλα.  See above note.  The normal Greek would have no problem with this, nor the normal speaker of Aramaic, since the equivalent is אלא" (torahtimes.org, DLC).

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Daniel's Literal Translation and Commentary: (http://www.torahtimes.org/translation/2cor0301.html)