2 Corinthians 3:7-11 (WEL) So if what ministers death—letters engraved on stones—was so glorious that the children of Israel could not take a long look at Moses’ face, because of the glory of his face (a glory which was going to end), 8 How much more glorious is the ministry of the Spirit? 9 For if the ministry of condemnation is glorious, so much more surpassing is the ministry of righteousness in glory. 10 For what was glorious really had no glory when compared to the glory that succeeds it. 11 For if what is going to end was glorious, so much more what permanently remains is more glorious.
V7 So if what ministers death—letters engraved on stones—was so glorious that the children of Israel could not take a long look at Moses’ face, because of the glory of his face (a glory which was going to end),
The laws etched in stone by God’s own finger had weaknesses: 1) laws that could not be perfectly obeyed in thoughts, desires, words, and deeds and 2) no sacrifice could permanently cleanse from sin and guilt. Nevertheless, it was so glorious that Moses’s face shone because of his time with God on the mountain. See Exodus 34:29-35. The glory begins to fade.
Jesus stated that He did not receive honor from men but God (John 5:41). Whatever glory we receive must come from God also. God works in us to know and be changed into the people God wants. Compare 2 Corinthians 3:18.
V8 How much more glorious is the ministry of the Spirit?
If Moses’s ministry was so glorious, the ministry of the Holy Spirit is off the charts. Moses’s ministry was temporary, but God’s ministry is permanent. Compare Psalm 84:11 and 2 Corinthians 3:18.
The Holy Spirit initiates salvation (John 16:8), opens a person’s heart and mind freeing them from bondage to sin and darkness (Acts 16:14), calls the person to place their faith in Jesus Christ (Matthew 11:28 and Acts 2:39), and gives the new birth (John 3:3).
Opening the heart and mind is a recognition, admission, acceptance, and an understanding of a person’s sinful self.
V9 For if the ministry of condemnation is glorious, so much more surpassing is the ministry of righteousness in glory.
Mosaic law was to convict and reveal the impossibility of pleasing God by ourselves. See Galatians 3:19. It is impossible for any human, other than the Lord Jesus, to live sinlessly.
The glorious ministry of the Holy Spirit is not condemnation but righteousness.
The purpose of the law was to condemn; the ministry of the Holy Spirit was to bring salvation.
V10 For what was glorious really had no glory when compared to the glory that succeeds it.
The past was glorious but when compared to the ministry of the Holy Spirit, the past cannot hardly be seen.
V11 For if what is going to end was glorious, so much more what permanently remains is more glorious.
The glory of the giving of the Law was to fade and disappear, so the Law itself, the Old Covenant, fades (Hebrews 8:13 and Romans 7:6). The Holy Spirit’s ministry is greater and permanent.
Hebrews 8:13 (WEL): For if you live according to the flesh, you will die, but if with the Spirit’s help you put to death the sinful actions of the body, you will live.
The Greek word for decays/fades, etc. is G3822 παλαιόω palaióō, which means to make old, invalid, obsolete.
(Theological Dictionary of the New Testament (Abridged – Little Kittel)) “Paul, too, sets the old over against the new. Indeed, in 1 Cor. 5:6ff. the old leaven is evil, the reference being to the old life of sin. The antithesis of the old and the new man in Rom. 6:6; Col. 3:9; Eph. 4:22 is along similar lines. The old, crucified with Christ (Rom. 6), is incompatible with the new, and is thus to be put off and to give place to the new (Col. 3:9; Eph. 4:22). Vices mark the old man, but the new is renewed in God’s image (Col. 3:5ff.). One may see here an allusion to baptism (cf. Gal. 3:27-28). The law brings no renewal, and its covenant is thus the old one (2 Cor. 3:14) which is the letter that kills. Christ has brought the new covenant of righteousness which replaces it. The old covenant, however, is still a covenant of God.”
(Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament Based on Semantic Domains (Louw & Nida)) “to cause to become old and obsolete, and hence no longer valid – to make old, to make out of date.”
We learn:
• The New Covenant (promised in Jeremiah 31:31 and fulfilled by the Lord Jesus in Luke 22:20) is superior.
• To not earn salvation by keeping Mosaic Law but believing in the Lord Jesus brings salvation.
Questions:
• Are you still trying to be good and earn God’s favor?
• Can you see your failure?