2 Corinthians 3:6

Here the apostle makes a comparison between the Old Testament and the New, the law of Moses and the gospel of Jesus Christ, and values himself and his fellow-labourers by this, that they were able ministers of the New Testament, that God had made them so, Co2 3:6. This he does in answer to the accusations of false teachers, who magnify greatly the law of Moses.

I. He distinguishes between the letter and the spirit even of the New Testament, Co2 3:6. As able ministers of the New Testament, they were ministers not merely of the letter, to read the written word, or to preach the letter of the gospel only, but they were ministers of the Spirit also; the Spirit of God did accompany their ministrations. The letter killeth; this the letter of the law does, for that is the ministration of death; and if we rest only in the letter of the gospel we shall be never the better for so doing, for even that will be a savour of death unto death; but the Spirit of the gospel, going along with the ministry of the gospel, giveth life spiritual and life eternal.

II. He shows the difference between the Old Testament and the New, and the excellency of the gospel above the law. For, 1. The Old Testament dispensation was the ministration of death (Co2 3:7), whereas that of the New Testament is the ministration of life. The law discovered sin, and the wrath and curse of God. This showed us a God above us and a God against us; but the gospel discovers grace, and Emmanuel, God with us. Upon this account the gospel is more glorious than the law; and yet that had a glory in it, witness the shining of Moses's face (an indication thereof) when he came down from the mount with the tables in his hand, that reflected rays of brightness upon his countenance. 2. The law was the ministration of condemnation, for that condemned and cursed every one who continued not in all things written therein to do them; but the gospel is the ministration of righteousness: therein the righteousness of God by faith is revealed. This shows us that the just shall live by his faith. This reveals the grace and mercy of God through Jesus Christ, for obtaining the remission of sins and eternal life. The gospel therefore so much exceeds in glory that in a manner it eclipses the glory of the legal dispensation, Co2 3:10. As the shining of a burning lamp is lost, or not regarded, when the sun arises and goes forth in his strength; so there was no glory in the Old Testament, in comparison with that of the New. 3. The law is done away, but the gospel does and shall remain, Co2 3:11. Not only did the glory of Moses's face go away, but the glory of Moses's law is done away also; yea, the law of Moses itself is now abolished. That dispensation was only to continue for a time, and then to vanish away; whereas the gospel shall remain to the end of the world, and is always fresh and flourishing and remains glorious.

Matthew Henry's Commentary on the Whole Bible (1708–1710) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

2Co_3:6

Who hath made us able ministers of the New Testament.

An able minister of the New Testament

Two things are implied.

I. First, Gifts--natural endowments. A minister of the New Testament ought to have intellectual qualifications.

II. But now, in the second place, there are spiritual qualities which are higher, more wonderful, and even more essential. One would rather have a feeble intellect with a pure and devout heart than the brightest intellect without these glorifications of the soul. What are these spiritual qualities which unite to make an able minister of the New Testament?

1. First and most manifest is that which Paul himself indicates in the account of his own mission. The man who is to preach so as to move mens hearts must preach out of the depth of the faith that is in his own heart; he must be a man of faith. How can a man preach the New Testament unless he believes it?

2. Yet, again, a man who would be an able minister of the New Testament must be one who is emphatically true. What a mighty force is the man to whom, as we listen, our secret heart says, We know that he believes and feels all that. The transparency of truth is one of the grandest qualifications for a New Testament preacher.

3. Yet, again, another qualification for such work is courage. If he sees error he must point it out, even though he may wound some in doing it; if he sees fashionable folly and sins drawing men away from the simplicity that is in Christ, he must expose them.

4. And then, finally, an able minister of the New Testament will think only of Christ and not of himself. (J. G. Rogers, B. A.)

For the letter killeth, but the spirit giveth life.--

The letter and the spirit in the ministry of Christianity

1. The New Testament means Gods revelation through Christ, in contradistinction to His revelation through Moses. Though both are admitted to be glorious, the latter is shown to be more glorious; for the one is the dispensation of righteousness, the other of condemnation; the one is permanent, the other is done away; the one so opens the spiritual faculties that the mind can look at it with open face, the other through the prejudices of the Jewish people was concealed by a veil.

2. This Christianity is the grand subject of all true ministry.

(1) Not naturalism. Had man retained his primitive innocence nature would have been his grand text. But since the Fall men cannot reach the spiritual significance of nature, and if they could, it would not meet their spiritual exigencies.

(2) Not Judaism. Judaism, it is true, came to meet mans fallen condition; it worked on for centuries and rendered high services. But it had its day, and is no more; it is done away. Note--

I. The twofold ministry. I do not think that Mosaism and Christianity are here contrasted. It would scarcely be fair to denominate Judaism a letter. There was spirit in every part; think of the revelations of Sinai and of the prophets. Christianity itself has letter and spirit. If it had no letter, it would be unrevealed, and if it had letter only, it would be empty jargon. All essences, principles, spirits, are invisible, they are only revealed through letters or forms. The spirit of a nation expresses itself in its institutions; the spirit of the creation expresses itself in its phenomena; the spirit of Jesus in His wonderful biography. The text therefore refers to two methods of teaching Christianity.

1. The technical. The technical teachers are--

(1) The verbalizes, who deal mainly in terminologies. In the Corinthian Church there were those who thought much of the words of mans wisdom.

(2) The theorists. I underrate not the importance of systematising the ideas we derive from the Bible; but he who exalts his system of thought, and makes it a standard of truth, is a minister of the letter. Can a nutshell contain the Atlantic?

(3) The Ritualists. Men must have ritualism of some kind. What is logic but the ritualism of thought? What is art but the ritualism of beauty? What is rhetorical imagery but the ritualism of ideas? Civilisation is but the ritualising of the thoughts of ages. But when the religious teacher regards rites, signs, and symbols as some mystic media of saving grace, he is a minister of the letter.

2. The spiritual. To be a minister of the spirit is not to neglect the letter. The material universe is a letter. Letter is the key that lets you into the great empire of spiritual realities. To be a minister of the spirit is to be more alive to the grace than the grammar, the substances than the symbols of the book. A minister of the spirit requires--

(1) A comprehensive knowledge of the whole Scriptures. To reach the spirit of Christianity it will not do to study isolated passages, or live in detached portions. We must compare spiritual things with spiritual, and, by a just induction, reach its universal truths. Can you get botany from a few flowers, or astronomy from a few stars, or geology from a few fossils? No more can you get the spirit of Christianity from a few isolated texts.

(2) A practical sympathy with the spirit of Christ. We must have love to understand love. The faculty of interpreting the Bible is of the heart rather than the intellect. Christianity must be in us, not merely as a system of ideas, but as a life, if we would extend its empire.

II. The twofold results.

1. The result of the technical ministry of Christianity.

(1) The verbalist kills. Words are the counters of wise men, but the money of fools. Words in religion, when they are taken for things, kill inquiry, freedom, sensibility, earnestness, enthusiasm, moral manhood.

(2) The theorist kills. The Jews formulated a theory of the Messiah; He did not answer to their theory; so they rejected Him. Souls cannot feed upon our dogmas. The smallest seed requires all the elements of nature to feed on and grow to perfection; and can souls live and grow on the few dogmas of an antiquated creed?

(3) The Ritualist kills. The ceremonial Church has ever been a dead Church. Letter teaching reduced the Jewish people to a valley of dry bones.

2. The result of the spiritual ministry of Christianity. It giveth life. It is the Spirit, said Christ, that quickeneth, etc. He who in his teaching and life brings out most of the spirit of the gospel will be most successful in giving life to souls. His ministry will be like the breath of siring, quickening all it touches into life. Such a ministry was that of Peters on the day of Pentecost. Words, theories, rites, to him were nothing. Divine facts and their spirit were the all in all of his discourse, and dead souls bounded into life as he spoke (D. Thomas, D. D.)

Ministry of the letter and of the spirit

I. The ministry of the letter.

1. The ministry of Moses was a formal ministry. It was his business to teach maxims and not principles; rules for ceremonials, and not a spirit of life. Thus, e.g., truth is a principle springing out of an inward life; but Moses only gave the rule: Thou shalt not forswear thyself, and so he who simply avoided perjury kept the letter of the law. Love is a principle; but Moses said simply, Thou shalt not kill, nor steal, nor injure. Meekness and subduedness before God--these are of the spirit; but Moses merely commanded fasts. Unworldliness arises from a spiritual life; but Moses only said, Be separate--circumcise yourselves. It was in consequence of the superiority of the teaching of principles over a mere teaching of maxims that the ministry of the letter was considered as nothing.

(1) Because of its transitoriness--it was to be done away with. All formal truth is transient. No maxim is intended to last for ever. No ceremony, however glorious, can be eternal. Thus when Christ came, instead of saying, Thou shalt not forswear thyself, He said; Let your yea be yea, and your nay, nay; and instead of saying, Thou shalt not say, Fool, or Raca, Christ gave the principle of love.

(2) Because it killed; partly because, being rigorous in its enactments, it condemned for any nonfulfilment (2Co_3:9). He that despised Moses law died without mercy. And partly it killed, because technicalities and multiplicities of observance necessarily deaden spiritual life. It was said by Burke that no man comprehends less of the majesty of the English constitution than the Nisi Prius lawyer, who is always dealing with technicalities and precedents. In the same way none were so dead to the glory of the law of God as the Scribes, who were always discussing its petty minutiae. Could anything dull the vigour of obedience more than frittering it away in anxieties about the mode and degree of fasting? Could aught chill love more than the question, How often shall my brother offend and I forgive him? Or could anything break devotion more into fragments than multiplied changes of posture?

2. Now observe: No blame was attributable to Moses for teaching thus. St. Paul calls it a glorious ministry; and it was surrounded with outward demonstrations. Maxims, rules, and ceremonies have truth in them; Moses taught truth so far as the Israelites could bear it; not in substance, but in shadows; not principles by themselves, but principles by rules, to the end of which the Church of Israel could not as yet see. A veil was before the lawgivers face. These rules were to hint and lead up to a spirit, whose brightness would have only dazzled the Israelites into blindness then.

II. The ministry of the New Testament.

1. It was a spiritual ministry. The apostles were ministers of the spirit, of that truth which underlies all forms of the essence of the law. Christ is the spirit of the law, for He is the end of the law for righteousness to every one that believeth. And St. Pauls ministry was freedom from the letter--conversion to the spirit of the law. Where the Spirit of the Lord is there is liberty.

2. It was a life-giving ministry.

(1) Note the meaning of the word. It is like a new life to know that God wills not burnt-offering, but rather desires to find the spirit of one who says, Lo! I come to do Thy will. It is new life to know that to love God and man is the sum of existence. It is new life to know that God be merciful to me a sinner! is a truer prayer in Gods ears than elaborate liturgies and long ceremonials.

(2) Christ was the spirit of the law, and He gave, and still gives, the gift of life (2Co_3:18). A living character is impressed upon us: we are as the mirror which reflects back a likeness, only it does not pass away from us: for Christ is not a mere example, but the life of the world, and the Christian is not a mere copy, but a living image of the living God. He is changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord.

3. Now such a ministry--a ministry which endeavours to reach the life of things--the apostle calls--

(1) An able--that is, a powerful--ministry. He names it thus, even amidst an apparent want of success.

(2) A bold ministry. We use great plainness of speech. Ours should be a ministry whose very life is outspokenness and free fearlessness, which scorns to take a via media because it is safe, which shrinks from the weakness of a mere cautiousness, but which exults even in failure, if the truth has been spoken, with a joyful confidence. (F. W. Robertson, M. A.)

Letter and spirit

I. The relation between letter and spirit.

1. A letter is a sign of a certain sound; an integral pert of a word, with no meaning out of a word; and if one should occupy himself with any one letter, even all the letters in succession, and never form the word, he misses the purport for which the letters exist. On the other hand, if you take away the letters of a word, thinking them nothing, you find yourself at last without the word. The vocable is gone, and what comes of the meaning?

2. Everything that God has made has a letter and a spirit. The sun, stars, flowers, brooks, and the great sea itself are letters. And God has taken care to keep us from looking at these things as only letters. He has surrounded them with a certain glory which is continually reminding us that they are intended to be formed into words and sentences to express great truths regarding God. What idea would infinitude convey to me unless I had the picture in the great vault of heaven or the wide sea? Yet there are some who go through the world and recognise only one letter and another. To them a tree is only a tree, the sea only a body of water, and the sky a great concave in which the stars appear to be. Others perceive a connection between the different facts. Others go farther and observe law. Others, however, see the grand truth which the whole was made to teach regarding the character of God and His will, and the natural and moral history of man. He only sees the spirit who sees this.

3. As opposed to spirit, then, the letter means

(1) Outwardness. He who confines himself to form, whether as to the world, the Bible, worship or conduct, is a man of the letter. The Pharisees were such, and failed utterly to see the spirit, and lost all wish for it. All O.T. worshippers who saw nothing in the ceremonial higher than the ceremony; those who imagine that a mere outward observance of Gods laws is all; those who think their presence in the church, or their bodily communicating at the Lords table is all that is required, all belong to the letter. Extreme partisans of the spirit are perhaps not more exempt from this danger than others. The cry for spirit may be a phrase by which painfully solid things are made nebulous, and little left strong and certain but self. The last degradation of the word is reached when it indicates a superfine way of making things that are too real--thin, hazy, and uncertain.

(2) Isolation.

(a) Take a letter of a word and place it out by itself. It was more than a letter while in the word, but now it is only letter. So with a word taken out of a sentence, a sentence out of a paragraph era passage out of a book. The meaning of each separate part is that which is intended to be expressed by the whole.

(b) This holds in the book of nature. Take a tree, e.g. Can it be understood without reference to air and light and soil? But its meaning is visible when placed in the general economy of nature. So it is with the stream that runs down the hillside, the bird that sports in the air, etc. There is no object so small that you can grasp it by itself. For the understanding of a blade of grass you require a knowledge of all the sciences.

(c) The principle holds, too, as to the Bible. No word, or phrase, or chapter of it has its true meaning looked at apart from the rest. The spirit of the Bible is the meaning of the whole Bible. The spirit of Christianity is its grand central idea and purpose of bringing men to Gods likeness and fellowship, and glorifying God in the salvation of men. In this gospel there are many parts, and all are needed, but all have only one end and aim, and that one end and aim is the spirit; and if the separate parts are taken away from this one end and aim, they become letter. Hence, if any one part is contemplated habitually apart from the great aim, it becomes letter. If a man take up any promise, commandment, doctrine, or ceremony, and think of it as if it were the be all and the end all, he is making it letter. Any attribute of God by itself is letter, for Gods attributes are not separate existences, but each is in reference to all. It is doubt, less to guard us against this ever-pressing danger that the Word of God mixes up ideas in a way almost unparalleled in human literature. Doctrines are intertwined with duties, and so blended with facts that it is often a task of difficulty to sunder them and look at one by itself.

4. The way to reach the spirit is not by destroying or making light of the letter--or any letter. It is by the letter and all the letters that we reach the spirit; and our concern ought to be to know what is genuine letter, and to keep every letter in constant connection with the central spirit. Suppose a scholar spend his time on the mere words of his lesson, without trying to grasp the meaning, would the remedy be to erase the words? Or because some might dwell exclusively on pictures in the book, meant to illustrate the text, and never think of the meaning--would that be a good reason for taking out the pictures? And yet this minimising process forms nearly the whole plan of many for getting at spirit. Their recipe is short and simple--destroy the letter. Let them apply this to the study of human institutions, to the study of botany or astronomy, and see what wealth of insight into law and principle will accrue. Do the millions of stars, the multiplicity of herbs and flowers, seem intended for such a formula?

5. All the letters of a word are, or ought to be, needful to the word. Sometimes the only difference between two words that mean very different things is found in one letter. And no letter, nor any number of letters, will ever be anything without the grand spirit of the whole; but no letter, however trivial it look, is poor with the spirit in it. The greatest truths shine in a single rite or word when filled with the spirit of the whole, as the laws of light and gravitation are shown in a single drop of dew. The little creek, so insignificant and even unseemly when the sea has ebbed, is a fine sight when it is filled and brimming with the swelling tide. That is the water of the great sea that floods it, and there, too, great ships that have crossed the ocean can float.

II. The opposite influences of letter and spirit.

1. The letter killeth, not, of course, in virtue of its being letter, for God made the letter, which was never intended by Him to kill, but to give life by leading to the spirit. But--

(1) Letter kills when men take it as the whole and never go beyond it, or when they are so much occupied about it as to have no thought for the spirit. Thus, the very grandeur of the material universe leads some men to rest in it. Many are so occupied with the arrangements and laws of nature that they never think of its spirit. And many more are so engrossed in the material business of the world that they seldom think of any significance in it at all. Some are killed by the beauty of the letter, some by the wonderful shape and order of the letters, others by the immediate utility they find in the letter. Do not imagine that it is only the letter of Gods Word that kills; the letter of His works kills also. And the letter of other books often kills men mentally. When men read without thinking, or for amusement, or for the sake of reading, or, worst of all, of being able to say that they have read; they will certainly by and by have the capacity of thought dwarfed or quite killed out. It is known even that men have been intellectually killed by a liberal education. The faculties are so gorged with facts and words, which remain only facts and words, that they never play spontaneously and naturally again. So, men are killed by the letter in a far more serious sense when they look merely to the beauty of the Bible, or when they dwell on some other external aspects of it, or when they lose themselves in forms and ceremonies and outward observances. Sometimes they cherish hostility to the truths that dare to seem to rival their favourite doctrines, or come in the least competition with them. Whenever men arrive at this they are in process of being killed.

(2) The abundance of letter kills. It is well known how dangerous to the spirit a multitude of Ceremonies is. And a great number of doctrines marked off with minute logic, and pressed upon the soul, has the like effect.

(3) The letter kills with certainty when formally installed in room of the spirit, as it was in our Lords time. The Jews, as a whole, clung so fondly to the letter that they hated the spirit.

(4) The letter kills by being made hostile to the spirit through disproportion and caricature, as when the doctrine of the Divine Sovereignty is so held as to be in actual opposition to the grand revelation that God willeth not that any should perish, etc. If God is love, what can His Sovereignty mean, but the reign of love? The letter kills, when the doctrine of Justification by faith is so held as to clash with the imperative and absolute obligation on all to obey always all the commandments of God.

2. The spirit gives life.

(1) It alone mingles with our spirits. This is the great reason. We live on meaning, not on form or husks. And it is not any partial sense, but the central idea of the whole that sustains. The Spirit of God does not use the mere outward observance, but the drift or object of it.

(2) The spirit of the Bible gives life, for the spirit is Christ. The Lord is that spirit. The testimony of Jesus is the spirit of the Bible; and the spirit of the Bible gives life, because when one imbibes the spirit of the Bible he embraces Christ. Let our idea of Christ be drawn from all parts of the Bible, and let the idea of Christ in turn illuminate and vivify all; thus only, and thus surely, shall we escape from the letter that killeth to the spirit that giveth life.

(3) The spirit gives life by awakening love to God, which is life. (J. Leckie, D. D.)

The letter killeth, the spirit giveth life

The text teaches--

I. The powerlessness of Divine commands alone to produce obedience. This does not prove any imperfection in the law, which, being Divine, is perfect. The failure of obedience is due to the imperfection of human nature, which does not yield to the obligation. The conscience, indeed, is on the laws side, but such is the strength of the lower nature that the man is hurried by animal impulse to sin.

1. Then one of two things happens. Either the habitual failure of the conscience produces habitual wretchedness, in a consciousness of powerlessness against evil, which may well be named death, or the law becomes the occasion of sin. The appearance of prohibition provokes the lower nature and irritates it to impatience of restraint. Now the consciousness of sin renders the man reckless, and to get rid of the uneasiness, the rider is thrown. When conscience thus loses dominion and ceases resistance, the man is given over to the licence of self-will and undergoes moral death.

2. On the other hand, the Spirit which characterises Christianity has a quickening power. The Spirit of Christ quickens--

(1) By means of a perfect and most moving instance of obedience. In the Old Testament we do not meet with any such instance. Christ not only obeyed the law as it was intended to be obeyed, but opened it in a new and sublimer meaning, so that the imitation of Him is a new command. His example is presented in a form most intimate and intelligible, and it is the example of One who, in His very obedience, binds us to Himself by the tie of the tenderest and mightiest gratitude. And then, since Christ is God, and the revelation of the Father, the gratitude which He inspires becomes Divine love, and throws its full strength into obedience to the Divine commands.

(2) By a secret influence on the heart. He is the Creator, and His noblest creative work is the moral regeneration of the human soul. He renders the heart perceptive of the beauty of Christs character, and sensitive of the proper impressions. Thus our higher nature receives an incalculable increase of power. Conscience is re-enthroned and governs, but the law is obeyed not so much because it is obligatory, as because it is loved.

II. The intellectual deficiency and mischievousness of mere writing as a means of instruction.

1. As a vehicle of meaning, writing is immeasurably inferior to a living presence. The correspondence of distant friends is but a poor comfort in their separation. It is often obscure, and is liable to misunderstanding. If the writing in question is holy writing, the evil arising from ignorance or misunderstanding is augmented. To receive a falsehood as Gods word is intellectual and moral death. Spiritual death is sometimes the effect of the letter of theological system. Technical terms are regarded by many with a reverence as great as are the words of Scripture. There are congregations to whom a man may preach with living eloquence the very truths which kindled the zeal of St. Paul and St. John, but his audience, not hearing the familiar dialect, are deaf to the music, blind to the glory, and dead to the spirit of the discourse.

2. Knowledge of the author, and sympathy with him, is indispensable to the understanding of his writings. Unless we had something in common with writers, not a line of the literature of the world would be intelligible. By the human nature, common to all ages, we understand the writings of Greece and Rome; but a higher than the spirit of man is necessary to the reading of Holy Scripture, even the living Spirit of truth and holiness, by whom it is inspired. (Homilist.)

The letter killeth, but the spirit giveth life

I. The letter, or the law, killeth, because--

1. It denounceth death.

2. It can only convince and condemn.

3. It awakens the sense of sin and helplessness.

4. It excites sin and cannot either justify or sanctify.

II. the Spirit, or the Gospel, giveth life, because--

1. It declares the way of life. It reveals a righteousness which delivers us from the law and frees us from the sentence of condemnation.

2. It is that through which the Spirit is communicated as a source of life. Instead of a mere outward exhibition of truth and duty, it is a law written on the heart. It is a lifegiving power.

3. The state of mind which it produces is life and peace. The Spirit is the source of eternal life. (C. Hodge, D. D.)

The letter killeth, but the spirit giveth life

By the letter is meant the moral law. Note--

I. How and why the letter kills.

1. By its manifestation of that disruption which lay concealed under the happy outflow of young and brimming life. That strong energy, which is the core of our human nature, is brought up sharp by a relentless voice that refuses it its unhindered joy. It clashes against the obstinate resistance which bars its road with its terrible negative, Thou shalt not covet; and, in the recoil from that clashing, it knows itself to be subject to a divided mastery. It knows itself to be capable of violent variance with God, to be somehow spoilt, disordered, corrupt. The unity of sound organic health has suffered rupture. It has in it the evidences of a disorganisation and a dissolution, which is death. I was alive without the law once; but when the commandment came, sin revived, and I died.

2. And the law not only declared sin to be there, but it also provoked the sin, which fretted at its checks, into a more abundant and domineering extravagance. Sin, taking occasion by the commandment, wrought in me all manner of concupiscence. Curiosity, imagination, vanity, impulsiveness--all are set astir to overleap the barrier, to defeat the obstacle that so sharply traverses its instinctive inclinations. The law entered that offence might abound, and where offence abounded, death reigned, for the end of sin is death.

3. And the letter killed also by convicting. Over against the very men whom it irritated into revolt it stood as a judgment which could not be gainsaid nor denied. And they knew the sting of its terrible truth. Its wrath unnerved them, and-its presence confounded. They were shut up within the prison-house of a criminal doom, and that justly. It killed, and this by Gods own intention. Yea, sin, that it might appear sin, worked death by that which is good, that sin by the commandment might become exceeding sinful. Better far that the secret poison should be brought out into violent action. Its sickness, its pain--these are, after all, proofs of capacity to struggle; these are methods of liberation. The body is releasing itself from disease through these bitter experiences; and let, then, the letter kill. Let death dig in its fangs. Let the doom deepen and darken. So only shall at the last the spirit of the resurrection quicken.

II. Through sin the letter slew, and what is more, there was no hope of relief or escape through mans spiritual advance, for the higher the law the sharper its sword of judgement. As mans apprehension grew more spiritual, the discovery of his fall become more desperate. The law slew because it was just and pure and holy, and the quickened spiritual instincts would but learn the touch of a more biting terror; so that when at the last hour of that old covenant there stood upon the earth a Jew greater than Moses or Abraham, who accepted the hereditary law and promulgated it anew, with all the infinite and delicate subtlety which the mind of One who was one with the Giver of the law could convey into its edicts, so that it comprehended the entire man in its grip, why, such a gospel, if that Sermon of the Mount had been all, would have struck the very chill of the last death into the despairing soul, who listened and learned that not one jot or tittle of that law could fail. The sermon that some lightly affect to be the whole gospel of Christ would be by itself but a message of doom.

III. Man lies there dead before his God--dead, until--what is it, this sweet and secret change? What is it, this breaking and stirring within his bones, as when the force of the spring pricks and works within the wintry trunks of dry and naked trees? As he lies stung and despairing, there is a change, there is an arrival. Far, far within, deeper than his deepest sin, behind the most secret workings of his bad and broken will, there is a breaking and a stir, there is a motion and a quiver and a gleam, there is a check and a pause in his decay, a quickening is felt as of live flame. What is it? He cannot tell; only he knows that something is there and at work, strong and fresh and young; and as it pushes and presses and makes way, a sense of blessing steals into his veins, and peace is upon his hunted soul, and the sweet soundness of health creeps over his bruises and his sores; and he who has faith just suffers all the strange change to pass over him and to work its goodwill, as he lies there, feeding on its blessedness, wondering at its goodness, sending up his heart in silent breaths of unutterable thanks. So it is come. St. Paul saw those lame and impotent men rise and leap and sing at the coming of the new force, under the handlings of the new ministry; and, so seeing, he knew the full meaning of the Lords promise that the Spirit should come, and that every one born of the Spirit should be even as the Spirit. And the essence of the change is this--that God, Who in His manifestation of the letter stood there over against man, has now passed over on to the side of the men whom His appeal has overwhelmed. He, the good Father, is bending over the sinner, and entering within his human spirit by the power of His own Holy Spirit, is inspiring him with His own breath. God Himself in us fulfils His own demands on us. God Himself moves over to our side to satisfy the urgency of His own will and word. In Him we do what we do, and we are not afraid, though the Son of God has come not to destroy that law, but to fulfil it --yea, even though from us is required a righteousness exceeding that of Scribe and Pharisee. We are not afraid for the Spirit giveth life. God has come over to our side, but He has not ceased to stand over there against us. There He still stands as of old, and His demands are the same; still it is true as ever that without holiness no man shall see the Lord. The revelation of the letter of the moral law holds good for us as much as for the Jew; and it is because that letter inevitably holds good that God has Himself entered within us, and striven for its fulfilment. (Canon Scott-Holland.)

The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Who also. Either, "And he it is who;" or, "Who besides this power, has made us adequate ministers." Hath made us able ministers; rather, made us sufficient ministers. Of the new testament; rather, of a fresh covenant. (Jer_31:31) The "new testament" has not the remotest connection with what we call "The New Testament," meaning thereby the book which, indeed, had at this time no existence. The word "testament" means a will, and in this sense implies neither the Hebrew berith nor the Greek diatheke, both of which mean "covenant." In one passage only of the New Testament (Heb_9:16, Heb_9:17) does diatheke mean a "testament" or "will." For the thought, see Eph_3:7; Col_1:25; 1Ti_1:11, 1Ti_1:12. Not of the letter, but of the spirit. In other words, "not of the Law, but of the gospel;" not of that which is dead, but of that which is living; not of that which is deathful, but of that which is life-giving; not of bondage, but of freedom; not of mutilation, but of self-control; not of the outward, but of the inward; not of works, but of grace; not of menace, but of promise; not of curse, but of blessing; not of wrath, but of love; not of Moses, but of Christ. This is the theme which St. Paul develops especially in the Epistles to the Romans and the Galatians. (see Rom_2:29 Rom_3:20 Rom_7:6, Rom_7:10, 11 8:2; Gal_3:10; Gal_5:4, etc.)

Not of the letter. Not, that is, of the Mosaic Law regarded as a yoke of externalism; a hard and unhelpful "thou shalt" and "thou shalt not;" a system that possessed no life of its own and inspired no life into others; a "categoric imperative," majestic, indeed, but unsympathetic and pitiless. Both the Law and the gospel were committed to writing; each covenant had its own book; but in the case of the Mosaic Law there was the book and nothing more; in the case of the gospel the book was nothing compared to the spirit, and nothing without the spirit. Out of the spirit. That is, of the gospel which found its pledge and consummation in the gift of the Spirit. The Law, too, was in one sense "spiritual", (Rom_7:14) for it was given by God, who is a Spirit, and it was a holy Law; but though such in itself (in se) it was relatively (per aceidens) a cause of sin and death, because it was addressed to a fallen nature, and inspired no spirit by which that nature could be delivered. (see Rom_7:7-25) But in the gospel the spirit is everything; the mere letter is as nothing. (Joh_6:63) For the letter killeth, but the spirit giveth life. This is one of the very numerous "texts" which have been first misinterpreted and have then been made, for whole centuries, the bases of erroneous systems. On this text more than any other, Origen, followed by the exegetes of a thousand years, built his dogma that the Scripture must be interpreted allegorically, not literally, because "the letter" of the Bible kills. The misinterpretation is extravagantly inexcusable, and, like many others, arose solely from rending words away from their context and so reading new senses into them. The contrast is not between "the outward" and the inward sense of Scripture at all. "The letter" refers exclusively to "the Law," and therefore has so little reference to "the Bible" that it was written before most of the New Testament existed, and only touches on a small portion of the Old Testament. Killeth. Two questions arise.

(1) What and whom does it kill? and

(2) how does it kill?

The answers seem to be that

(1) the letter the Law regarded as an outward letter passes the sentence of death on those who disobey it. It says, "He who doeth these things shall live in them;" and therefore implies, as well as often says, that he who disobeys them shall be cut off. It is, therefore, a deathful menace. For none can obey this Law with perfect obedience. And

(2) the sting of death being sin, the Law kills by directly leading to sin, in that it stirs into existence the principle of concupiscence (Rom_7:7; 1Co_15:56; Gal_3:10, Gal_3:21) But the spirit giveth life. This contrast between a dead and a living covenant is fundamental, and especially in the writings of St. Paul (Rom_2:27-29 Rom_7:6 Rom_8:11; Gal_5:8; 1Co_15:45) The Law stones the adulteress; the gospel says to her, "Go, and sin no more.

The ministry of the letter and the ministry of the spirit.

"The letter killeth, but the spirit giveth life." Notice

I The twofold MINISTRY. "Ministers... not of the letter, but of the spirit." What does this mean? Not the two dispensations, the Mosaic and the Christian; for both alike had "letter" and "spirit." Nor does it mean a double interpretation of the Scripture, the literal and the spiritual It means, I think, the word and the thought, the sentence and the sentiment. Christianity has both "letter" and "spirit." If it had no "letter," it would be unrevealed, a thought shut up in the mind of God; if it had no "spirit," it would be but a hollow sound. The words point to two distinct methods of teaching Christianity.

1. The technical method. Who are the technical teachers?

(1) The verbalist. There were men in the Corinthian Church who thought much of words. "The words of man"s wisdom," high-sounding sentences, oratoric periods, they scrupulously studied. The spirit of thought is so subtle that it goes off in the attempt to give it grand verbal costume.

(2) The theorist. Those who throw into a logical system the ideas they have derived from the gospel; he who exalts his system of thought or creed and makes it a standard of truth is a minister of the "letter." The grandest system of theology can no more contain the whole truth than a nutshell can the Atlantic.

(3) The ritualist. Men must have ritualism of some kind. What is logic but the ritualism of thought? art but the ritualism of beauty? rhetoric but the ritualism of ideas? civilization but the ritualism of the thoughts of ages? But those who represent those symbols as supernatural powers and mystic media of saving grace are ministers of the "letter" rather than of the "spirit.

2. The spiritual. What is it to be a minister of the "spirit"? He is a man more alive to the grace than the grammar, to the substance than the symbols of revelation. He is a man who has a comprehensive knowledge of those eternal principles that underlie all Scriptures, and has a living sympathy with those eternal elements.

II The twofold RESULTS. "The letter killeth, but the spirit giveth life.

1. The result of the technical ministry. It "killeth.

(1) The verbalist kills. It was said by Burke "that no man understands less of the majesty of the English constitution than the nisi prius lawyer, who is always dealing with the technicalities of precedence." And truly no man understands less of the gospel than he who is constantly dealing with its verbalities. Words in religion, when taken for realities, "kill," kill inquiry, freedom, sensibility, moral manhood.

(2) The theorist kills. He who preaches his own little creed instead of the gospel of God kills souls. The Jews formulated a theory concerning the Messiah from their Scriptures. In their theory he was to appear in such a form, do such a work, reach such a destiny. He came, but did not answer to their theory, and they rejected him and were damned. Man"s theory of the gospel is not the gospel, any more than pneumatical science is the life-breathing atmosphere.

(3) The ritualist kills. He who exalts even the authorized ritualism of the gospel, such as baptism and the Lord"s Supper, to say nothing of the unauthorized rites, kills souls. The ceremonial Church has ever been a dead Church. The ministry of the "letter" then "killeth;" it reduced the Jewish people to the valley of dead bones, entombed the souls of Europe for many a long century.

2. The result of the spiritual ministry. "The spirit giveth life." "It is the spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing; the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life." "The spirit giveth life life to the intellect, conscience, sympathies, the whole soul.

CONCLUSION. How little of this soul-life we have in congregations! Creed-life, sect-life, Church-life, we have in abundance; hut where is soul-life, the life of holy love, earnest inquiry, independent action, spiritual freedom in relation to all that is Christlike and Divine?

Vers. 6-11.

The old and the new.

The warm and affectionate nature of the apostle had embraced the religion of Christ with a fervour, an attached devotion, exceeding even that which he had shown in his earlier days towards the dispensation in which he had been nurtured, Not that he had lost any of the reverence, the affection, he had cherished towards the covenant which God had established with his Hebrew ancestors; but that the new dispensation was so glorious to the view of his soul that it shed its brightness upon the economy which it replaced. The contrast drawn here seems almost depreciatory of that Law which was "given by Moses," when that Law was brought into comparison with the "grace and truth which came by Jesus Christ.

I THE NEW IS BETTER THAN THE OLD. If God is a God of order, if progress characterizes his works, if development is a law of his procedure, then it is only reasonable to believe, what we find to be the ease, that that which displaces and supersedes what was good is itself preferable and more excellent.

II THE SPIRIT IS BETTER THAN THE LETTER. Yet "the letter" was adapted to the childhood of the race, and was indeed necessary for the communication of the spiritual lesson to be conveyed from heaven. But Christianity cannot be compressed into any document; it is itself a spirit, unseen and intangible, but felt to be mighty and pervasive.

III RIGHTEOUSNESS IS BETTER THAN CONDEMNATION. The old covenant abounded in prohibitions and in threats of punishment. The Law, when broken, as it incessantly was broken, is a sentence of condemnation to all who are placed under it. But it is the distinctive honour of Christianity that it brings in a new, a higher, an everlasting righteousness. It has thus more efficacy than the most faultless law of rectitude, for it supplies the motive and the power of true obedience.

IV LIFE IS BETTER THAN DEATH. "The soul that sinneth, it shall die such is the import of the old covenant, which thus ministered death to those who were under it. "The gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord such is the evangel of the new covenant to mankind. Death is the emblem of all that is dark, dreary, and repulsive; life is fraught with brightness, beauty, joy, and progress. Well might the apostle rise to fervid eloquence when depicting the incomparable moral excellence and beauty of the covenant of Divine grace. And justly might he deem his office one of highest honour and happiness, as bringing salvation and a blessed immortality to the lost and dying sons of men.

V ETERNAL GLORY IS BETTER THAN TRANSITORY AND PERISHABLE SPLENDOUR. There was a glory in the scene and circumstances amid which the Law was given; there was a glory in that code of piety and rectitude which was then conferred upon the chosen nation; there was a glory in the illumined countenance of the great lawgiver when he came down from the mount. But this glory was for a season, and indeed it almost lost its title to be spoken of as glory, by reason of the glory that excelleth. The ministration of the Spirit, of righteousness, that which remaineth, this is encompassed with a halo, an aureole, of spiritual and heavenly splendour which shall brighten until it merges in the ineffable glory of eternity. T.

The new covenant.

I A COVENANT OF THE SPIRIT. The old covenant, the Law which came by Moses, was the "letter precepts laid down to be literally obeyed, fixed and rind, external and ritual. The new covenant, the gospel, is the covenant of love, of spiritual obedience. The Jew, under the old covenant, could not be exempted by any piety of spirit from the letter of the legal ordinance; but under the new covenant the spirit of the observance is chief. The old covenant did not supply the inward Power producing obedience it was something outside of man, imposed upon him. But the new covenant has for an essential feature the Power of God operating in the heart, leading to newness of life. The old covenant approached man from without, the new covenant works from within. One is "letter external; the other is "spirit internal.

II A COVENANT OF LIFE. In the old covenant there was the holy Law and the command to fully obey it: "The Law is not of faith; but, The man that doeth them shall live in them". (Gal_3:12) The old covenant demanded perfect obedience: "Cursed is every one that continueth not in all things which are written in the book of the Law to do them". (Gal_3:10) Thus the old covenant tended to condemnation and death, because fallen human nature failed to keep the perfect Law of God. The "letter" of unswerving righteousness convicted man of sin, and then "killed" him. Not that the Law was evil, but that it showed the evil in man. "The wages of sin is death." The Law , by discovering sin, showed that the wages were due. The old covenant thus left man condemned, and, if man was to be justified and restored, there was urgent need of a new covenant. We find, thus, that the old covenant is ever Pointing to the new, and that the design of the former was to lead to the latter: "The Law was our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ". (Gal_3:24) Moreover, the Jew possessed the new covenant as well as the old, though not so fully unfolded as we have it. Men condemned by the old covenant lived the life of faith upon the Son of God who was to come, and thus participated in the life giving principle of the new covenant. This new covenant is a covenant of life:

1. Because Christ has perfectly fulfilled the Law of God on man"s behalf,and to man this perfect obedience is imputed. Condemnation is thus avoided. Life is secured for man by man"s Substitute.

2. Man"s personal transgressions are atoned for by the sacrifice of Christ.

3. The Holy Ghost is given to kindle spiritual life in man, to sanctify hisnature, to bring him at last into full accord with the perfect Law of God.

III A COVENANT NOT TRANSITORY. The old covenant has passed away. The new covenant puts men in a position with relation to God which is an everlasting one. Death and the next world will not call for the abrogation of this covenant, nor any changes occurring during the residence of the human family in the world. The old covenant was imperfect; it demanded something beyond itself; it was designed to do this. There is no such element in the new. It is complete; it calls for nothing outside of its own provisions.

IV A COVENANT OF SURPASSING GLORY. This arises largely from points already noticed.

1. Its spiritual character.

2. Its issues in bringing life, not death, to fallen man.

3. Its enduring character.

4. Its direct initiation and administration by the Son of God. "The Law wasgiven by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ". (Joh_1:17) The inauguration of the old. covenant saw the face of Moses illumined. The new covenant came with the transfiguration of Christ.

5. Its marvellous revelation of Divine love. The old covenant laid the emphasis upon Divine righteousness; the new, whilst displaying with untarnished lustre this attribute of Deity, exhibits pre-eminently the love of God. H.

The letter and the spirit.

The contrast between letter and spirit is in Scripture peculiar to the pages of St. Paul. (see Rom_2:29 Rom_7:6) The subject specially occupied him, as the champion of Christian liberty and a profound thinker on the relations of the Old and New Testaments.

I THE CONTRASTED TERMS LETTER AND SPIRIT. A more frequent opposition is between flesh and spirit (see Joh_3:6 Joh_6:63; Rom_8:1-13; Gal_5:16-25) The distinction is obvious between a fleshly and a spiritual disposition, and the alternative is shown to be one of life or death. "To be carnally minded is death; but to be spiritually minded is life and peace." But, by letter and spirit must be intended things of which it is possible for men to be ministers. St. Paul was a minister, not of the letter, but of the spirit; and the context shows that by letter he meant the old covenant, and by spirit the new. Not that there was nothing but letter in the one and nothing but spirit in the other. The contrast is between predominant characteristics; and characteristically, though not exclusively, the old covenant was letter and the new covenant was spirit. Therefore the latter excelled in glory. The old economy, or testament, is not spoken of with disrespect. It was adapted in the wisdom of God to the training of the Hebrew people as his chosen nation. It was not a mere dead writing, but had a meaning in it which was Divine. The very term "letter" implies some import or significance. And there was enough in the Old Testament to educate the minds of men in religious ideas, and bring home sacred obligations and hopes to their hearts. But it is called "the letter" because that which bulked largely in it was a code of law and a handwriting of ordinances. In its prescription of law it was to sinful men a ministration of death; and in its ritual of worship it was inferior to that holy liberty which we now enjoy in everywhere worshipping the Father in spirit and in truth. The old covenant had shadows, the new has substance; the old had rudiments and elements, the new has perfection; the old had patterns of heavenly things, the new has heavenly things themselves; the old was a dispensation of dimness as of light seen through a veil, the new is one of unveiled faces and God"s marvellous light. The new economy, or testament, while characteristically one of "spirit," is not altogether without letter. As every soul must have a body, and every essence a form, in order to be known among men, so has the spirit of the New Testament embodiment and exact expression. But here lies the contrast. Pre-Christian religion contained a small proportion of spirit and life in a large bulk of letter and ordinance. Christianity has a large proportion of spirit and life in a bulk of law and form as small and light as possible. The teachings of Christianity are facts and principles, not propositions and restrictions; its institutions are simple outlines, not precise ceremonies; and its laws are moral sentiments, not minute mechanical directions.

II THE EFFECTS WHICH FLESH AND SPIRIT SEVERALLY PRODUCE. The letter, void of spirit, kills. The spirit, in whatever form or letter conveyed, gives life. We must still be on our guard against making that absolute which is intended only as a strong comparative. We must not say or suppose that under the Mosaic economy there was nothing but condemnation, bondage, and death. Beneath and within the letter which had such prominence, there was spirit; and men who knew how to penetrate the letter got the spirit, and with it got life. But the more that men made of mere traditional letter and form, the less they knew of the spirit of liberty and the power of godliness. Most apparent was the killing power of the letter in that generation of Hebrews to which Paul himself belonged. They gloried in circumcision, but had it in the flesh only, and not in the heart. They sought life by the law of works, and fell under its condemnation. The more devoted they were to religious peculiarities and ceremonial restrictions, the more did a shadow of death cover them. They clung to the types and would not recognize the Antitype. They trusted to a covenant which had exhausted its use and was passing away. So this letter worship destroyed spiritual life. Israel after the flesh fell under a ministration of death. On the other hand, in that new dispensation, of which St. Paul was such an earnest minister, and in which spirit predominates, there is abundance of the grace of life. True that, under this dispensation also, a formalist or one who is self-righteous may turn the life into death. Externalism and traditionalism are as powerless as ever to make alive. But, when the letter which in some manner is indispensable to mortal worshippers is kept in due subordination, the spirit gives life, and the ministration of righteousness is exceeding glorious. And the Lord is that Spirit. The Lord is the Life giver and the Life.

III LIGHT CAST BY THIS STATEMENT ON SUNDRY QUESTIONS.

1. On the interpretation and use of certain precepts and usages mentioned in Scripture. Reverence for antiquity is good, is in some degree essential to historical Christianity; but there is a pedantry about the forms of things which is unintelligent and unspiritual. To correct this we must always distinguish between letter and spirit, and bear in mind that, in the long course of time and in altered conditions of society, there not only may be but must be circumstantial changes of form and expression in order to the conservation of spirit and truth. Apply this to

1. the precept of turning the cheek to the smiter;

2. that of washing one:mother"s feet;

3. the forbiddal of lawsuits between Christians;

4. the salutation with a holy kiss.

5. On the corruptions of Christianity. Some harm, no doubt, has been done by the endeavour to abstract the spirit of the gospel too much from its letter, and to dispense altogether with definite forms of doctrine and service. But a greater danger has shown itself on the opposite side. The most formidable corruptions of Christianity have resulted from magnifying letter over spirit, and giving to our religion an imposing exterior while its heart fainted and all but perished. The great bane of the Church has been in the direction of exaggerated ceremonial and tyrannical insistence on outward usage and form.

6. On the propagation of the gospel. The old dispensation was not intendedfor world wide diffusion; but the new has a gospel for all nations, and is meant to live in every climate and among all the tribes and races of mankind. But of its ever reaching its consummation we should despair if it were a religion of unbending, unelastic literalism, and committed itself to the maintenance of dry and rigid forms. We take courage when we remember that "the kingdom of God is not in word, but in power;" that the emphasis in Christianity lies on its active, spiritual, penetrating force; and that the Lord himself "is that Spirit." We do not set Christian form against heathen form, but preach Christ Jesus the Lord. The letter and the ritual will appear quickly enough, and may be expected to vary in a Church of all nations. What we should be most concerned about is the world wide proclamation el him in whom all nations of the earth are to be blessed. F.

The letter and the spirit.

It does not appear that St. Paul had in mind the different senses in which Scripture can now be read. Such distinctions as the literal, the allegorical, and the mystical belong to modern times. The apostle is contrasting the Old Testament with the New. The older revelation consisted of exact directions for the guidance of life and conduct. The new revelation consists of principles and examples by the help and application of which a man may guide his own conduct. But, while this distinction is carefully noted, it should be observed that, in the older revelation, there was both letter and spirit, and devout souls recognized and lived in the light of the inner principles, the spiritual truth which precise injunctions did but illustrate. F. W. Robertson says, "It was the business of Moses to teach maxims, andnot principles; rules for ceremonial, and not a spirit of life. And these things rules, ceremonials, maxims, law are what the apostle calls here the letter. Thus, for instance, truth is a principle springing out of the inward life; but Moses only gave the rule: "Thou shalt not forswear thyself." It is impossible not to see how plainly inadequate this rule is to all that truth requires; for he who scarcely avoided perjury may have kept nevertheless to the letter of the Law! Again, love is a principle; but Moses said simply, "Thou shalt not kill, nor steal, nor injure." Again, meekness and subduedness before God, these are of the Spirit; but Moses merely commanded fasts. It was in consequence of the superiority of the teaching of principles over a mere teaching of maxims that the ministry of the letter was considered as nothing." "The difference between the old covenant and the new was that the former prescribed, the latter inspired; the former gave written precepts, the latter the power to fulfil them; the former laid down the rules, the latter brought man"s heart into the condition in which such rules became a part of his nature." In an educational point of view the letter must come first, the child must have precise direction of his conduct, and only through this will he be helped to grasp principles, and apply them himself to his conduct and duties. So that we must not undervalue the letter, but give it a proper place as a stepping stone to higher and better things. The distinction between the letter and the spirit may be illustrated in a variety of spheres.

I IN THE EARLY MOSAIC RECORDS. The imaginative and the historical records of the first ages. Perplexities and difficulties abound when we force literal meanings. The first principles of morals and religion come to view when we read the spirit of them.

II IN THE JUDAIC RELIGIOUS SYSTEM. That does seem to be a round of formal injunctions, covering all the various family, social, and religious relations of the people, and yet our Lord taught us, in his sermon on the mount, to find spiritual principles within it. He showed that the spirit of hate underlay the sin of murder, and the spirit of purity assured the maintenance of right marriage relations.

III IN THE TEACHINGS OF THE PROPHETS. It was almost the one essential thing in their work that they were to set free the spirit of the older revelation, which was in danger of being overcrushed by the letter of commandment and ceremonial rule. It may even be shown that, in the prophets, there was a tendency to undervalue the letter, in the earnestness of their effort to get a right value set on the spirit of obedience.

IV IN THE LIFE AND GOSPEL OF THE LORD JESUS. Illustrate by our Lord"s parables, and by his teaching as in Joh_6:63.

V IN THE APOSTOLIC MINISTRY. Especially illustrated in St. Paul"s teachings respecting the relation of the Judaic and Christian systems, and equally illustrated in St. John"s revelation of the inner and mystical meanings of the Christian truth and requirements. Conclude by showing how this distinction is still applicable to modern religious teaching.

1. The "letter" is needed. In some stages of religious experience andattainment precise directions are the best helps.

2. The mere "letter" may still be exaggerated, so as to become amischievous bondage.

3. The true teacher uses the formal "letter" only to carry the "spirit." Butthe higher teaching of the very spirit of Christianity demands from the teacher a very marked and cultured spirituality, or spiritual insight. R.T.

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

who also made us sufficient as ministers of a new covenant; not of the letter, but of the spirit [i. e., not a minister of the old, legal dispensation, but of the new, spiritual dispensation]: for the letter killeth, but the spirit giveth life. [And I have such bold assurance through Christ that God will thus consider you to be my epistle. Not that I am sufficient of myself to account myself as having truly done any part of that which makes you an epistle, save as I have received the power from God. The truth which, written in your hearts, has thus transformed you, is wholly of God; so that our ability or sufficiency to write such an epistle as ye are, is all from God, who made us thus sufficient by calling us to be ministers of that new covenant which performs such wonders of regeneration, instead of calling us to be (as my Judaizing opponents ever seek to coerce me to be) a minister of the old covenant. This old covenant was given in letters graven on stone, and hence was a law of letters governing us wholly from without. But the new covenant, though also committed to writing, and hence in a sense external to us, is a code of principles governing us from within, through the power of the Holy Spirit. This law of letters without could only bring upon us condemnation and death ( Rom_7:7-11 ; 1Co_15:56 ); but this law of the spirit within us ( 2Co_3:2 ) gives us life ( Rom_2:27-29 ; Rom_6:4 ; Rom_6:11 ; Rom_8:2 ; Rom_8:10-11 ; 1Co_15:45 ; Gal_5:18 ). The contrast in 2Co_3:6 is not between the outward and inward sense of Scripture, but between the outward and inward power of those two great dispensations, Jewish and Christian. That perversion of the passage which gave it the former meaning, has been used to countenance those baneful allegorical interpretations of Scripture which have been the pest of the church from the days of Origen to the present time. Having shown that the minister of the new covenant had a power not enjoyed by that of the old, Paul proceeds to show that he likewise has a glory (and Paul's enemies were criticizing him for glorying) not enjoyed by any minister of the old dispensation; no, not even by Moses himself.]

J. W. McGarvey (with Philip Y. Pendleton), Commentaries on the New Testament (The Fourfold Gospel, 1914; Acts; and the epistles) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

2Co 3:6. Καὶ, also) An emphatic addition [to the previous assertion. Epitasis. Append.] He has given sufficiency to us, even the sufficiency of ministers of the New Testament, which demands much more in order to realize it [than ordinary sufficiency].—ἡμᾶς διακόνους, us ministers) Apposition.—καινῆς, new) An antithesis to old, 2Co 3:14.—οὐ, not) of the New Testament, i.e., not of the letter, but of the spirit, see Rom 7:6, and the following verses, with the annot.—γράμματος, of the letter) Even while Paul wrote these things, he was the minister not of the letter, but of the spirit. Moses in that his peculiar office, even when he did not write, was yet employed about the letter.—πνεύματος, of the Spirit) whose ministry has both greater glory, and requires greater ability [sufficiency].—ἀποκτείνει, kills): the letter rouses the sinner to a sense of death; for if the sinner had life, before the letter came, there would have been no need of quickening by the Spirit. With this comp. the following verse, of death.

Bengel's Gnomon of the New Testament — English translation (T&T Clark, Edinburgh, 1860) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

2Co_3:6. Ὃς καὶ ἱκάνωσεν ἡμᾶς] ὅς, he who, in the sense of οὗτος γάρ. See Kühner, ad Xen. Mem. i. 2. 64; van Hengel, Annot. 220. And καί is the also of the corresponding relation (Baeumlein, Partik. p. 152), so that there is expressed the agreement between what is contained in the relative clause and what was said before: who also (qui idem, comp. Klotz, ad Devar. p. 636) has made us capable (ἀρκοῦσαν ἐχωρήγησε δύναμιν, Theodoret) as ministers, etc. According to Bengel, Rückert (comp. also de Wette, Osiander, Hofmann), the sense is: that God has bestowed on him not only the ability mentioned in 2Co_3:5 but also the more comprehensive one of a διάκονος κ.τ.λ. But in that case the words must have stood thus: ὃς καὶ διακόνους καινῆς διαθήκης ἱκάνωσεν ἡμᾶς. The notion of ἱκανότης is thrice put in front with the same emphasis. Of ἱκανόω (Col_1:12) only the passive, in the sense of to have enough, occurs in the (later) Greek writers, such as Dion. Hal. ii. 74, and in the LX.

διακόνους καινῆς διαθήκ.] as ministers of a new covenant (comp. Eph_3:7; Col_1:23; 2Co_11:15; Luk_1:2), i.e. to be such as serve a new covenant, as devote to it their activity. Καιν. διαθ., without the article, is conceived qualitatively. The new covenant (Heb_12:24) of God with men, which is meant, isin contrast to the one founded by Mosesthat established by Christ, in which the fulfilling of the law is no longer defined as the condition of salvation, but faith on the atonement in Christ, 1Co_11:25; Rom_10:5 ff.; Gal_4:24 ff.; Mat_26:28.

οὐ γράμματος, ἀλλὰ πνεύμ.] is since Heumann usually (also by Billroth, Rückert, Ewald) regarded as governed by καινῆς διαθήκης (Rückert, of a covenant, which offers not γράμμα, but πνεῦμα), but without reason, since the sequel, by ἡ διακονία τοῦ θανάτου and ἡ διακ. τοῦ πνεύματος (2Co_3:7-8), rather points to the fact that Paul has conceived οὐ γρ. ἀλλὰ πν. as dependent on διακόνους (so also de Wette, Neander, Osiander, Hofmann), as an appositional more precise definition to the καινῆς διαθήκης: to be ministers not of letter (which we would be as ministers of the old covenant), but of spirit. Γράμμα characterizes the Mosaic covenant according to the specific manner in which it occurs and subsists, for it is established and fixed in writing (by means of the written letter), and therebyalthough it is divine, yet without bringing with it and communicating any principle of inward vital efficacysettled as obligatory. On the other hand, πνεῦμα characterizes the Christian covenant, in so far as its distinctive and essential mode of existence consists in this, that the divine living power of the Holy Spirit is at work in it; through this, and not through a written instrument, it subsists and fulfils itself. Comp. Rom_2:29; Rom_7:6; Heb_10:29; Heb_8:7 ff. Not letter therefore, but spirit, is that to which the teachers of the gospel minister, the power, whose influence is advanced by their labours;[159] οὐ γὰρ τὰ παλαιὰ τοῦ νόμου προσφέρομεν γράμματα, ἀλλὰ τὴν καινὴν τοῦ πνεύματος δωρεάν, Theodoret. It is true that the law also is in its nature ΠΝΕΥΜΑΤΙΚΌς (see on Rom_7:14), and its ΛΌΓΙΑ are ΖῶΝΤΑ (see on Act_7:38), but it is misused by the power of sin in man to his destruction, because it does not furnish the spirit which breaks this powe.

ΤῸ ΓᾺΡ ΓΡΆΜΜΑ ἈΠΟΚΤΕΊΝΕΙ, ΤῸ ΔῈ ΠΝΕῦΜΑ ΖΩΟΠΟΙΕῖ] specifies quite simply the reason, why God has made them capable of ministering not to the letter, but to the spirit. It is therefore quite unnecessary to presuppose, with Fritzsche, Billroth, and Rückert, a suppressed intermediate thought (namely, that the new covenant is far more excellent). We may add that the γάρ does not extend also to what follows (2Co_3:7-8), so as to make the sentence ΤῸ ΓΡΆΜΜΑ Κ.Τ.Λ. merely introductory to the sequel, and the whole a vindication of the apostles referring his capacity of judgment to God. This view of Hofmann is connected with his interpretation of ΛΟΓΊΣ. ΤΙ, 2Co_3:5, and has besides against it the fact, that the weighty antithesis ΤῸ Γ. ΓΡΆΜΜΑ Κ.Τ.Λ. is neither adapted to be a mere introductory thought, nor betokened as being such, the more especially as it contains completely in itself the ground establishing what immediately precedes, and with 2Co_3:7 a new discussion begins, which runs on to the end of the chapter without a brea.

ἈΠΟΚΤΕΊΝΕΙ] does not refer to the physical death (Käuffer; ζωὴ αἰών. p. 75), in so far as that is the consequence of sin (Rom_5:12), and sin is occasioned and furthered by the law (Rom_7:9 ff; Rom_6:23; 1Co_15:56, al.). Against this interpretation it is decisive that according to Rom_5:12 ff. (see in loc.) bodily death is the consequence, extending to all, of Adams sin, and has, since Adam, reigned over all even before the law. Nor yet are we to understand spiritual (Billroth), ethical (de Wette, Krummel), or spiritual and bodily death (Rückert), or the mere sensus mortis (Bengel, comp. Neander), but according to Rom_6:21; Rom_6:23; Rom_7:5; Rom_7:9-11; Rom_7:13; Rom_7:24, eternal death,[160] the opposite of the eternal life, which, by means of the Holy Spirit becoming operative in the heart through the gospel, is brought about for man who is liable to eternal death (Rom_8:2; Rom_8:6; Rom_8:10-11)which here (comp. Joh_6:63) is expressed by τὸ δὲ πνεῦμα ζωοποιεῖ, comp. on 2Co_2:16. How far the law works eternal death, is shown from Rom_7:5; Rom_7:7 ff.; comp. 1Co_15:56. Through its prohibitions, namely, it becomes for the power of sin in man the occasion of awakening evil desire, and therewith transgression sets in and the imputing of it for condemnation, whereby man is liable to eternal death, and that by means of the curse of the law which heaps up sin and produces the divine anger, see on 2Co_3:9; Gal_3:10. Comp. Rom_4:15; Rom_5:20. After Chrysostom and his followers (also Ambrosiaster), Grotius explains it as. morte violenta punit peccatores, and Fritzsche: lex supplicia sumit. This is to be rejected, because in this way the law would not be the very thing that kills, but only that which determines death as a punishment; and consequently no corresponding contrast to ζωοποιεῖ would result. Finally, we can only consider as historically remarkable the interpretation of Origen regarding the literal and mystical sense of Scripture, the former of which is injurious, the latter conducive, to salvation. Something similar is still to be found in Krause and Royaards. Against the visionaries, who referred γράμμα to the outward and πνεῦμα to the inward word, see Calovius.

[159] Bengel acutely and justly remarks: Paulus etiam dum haec scripsit, non literae, sed spiritus ministrum egit. Moses in proprio illo officio suo, etiam cum haud scripsit, tamen in litera versatus est.

[160] With this is connected certainly moral death (the negation of the moral life), but only the eternal death is here meant, which is the consequence of the κατάκρισις, ver. 9. This in opposition to Osiander. Nor is the ἀποκτείνει meant of the letter conditionally (so soon as we abide by it alone and deify it), but the killing is the specific operation of the law; how? see Rom_7:9 f.; 1Co_15:56. This in opposition to Ewald.Hofmann unites the various meanings of the death to which the sinner is liable, inasmuch as he defines the notion as the existence of the whole man shut out from the life of God and for ever. This collective definition of the notion, however, does not relieve us from the labour of showing from the various contexts in what special sense death and dying are conceived of in the several passages.

Meyer — Critical and Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament — English translation by Peter Christie, edited by Frederick Crombie (T&T Clark, 1880) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

2Co 3:6 . ὃς καὶ ἱκάνωσεν κ . τ . λ .: who also (“qui idem”; cf. 1Co 1:8 ) made us sufficient as ministers of the New Covenant [ministers] not of the letter ( i.e. , the Law), but of the Spirit; for the letter killeth, but the Spirit giveth life . The Apostle’s opponents at Corinth were probably Judaisers (2Co 11:22 ), and thus the description of his office as the διακονία καινῆς διαθήκης leads him to a comparison and a contrast of the Old Covenant and the New. The “covenants” (Rom 9:4 , Eph 2:12 ) between Jehovah and Israel were the foundation of Judaism. They began (not to speak of the Covenant with Noah) with the Covenant of Circumcision granted to Abraham (Gen 17:2 ) and repeated more than once (Gen 22:16 ; Gen 26:3 ), which is often appealed to in the N.T. (Luk 1:72 , Act 3:25 ; Act 7:8 , etc.). This was not abrogated (Gal 3:17 ) by the Covenant of Sinai (Exo 19:5 ; cf. , for its recapitulation in Moab, Deu 29:1 ), which, as the National Charter of Israel, was pre-eminently to a Hebrew “the Old Covenant”. The great prophecy of a Deliverer from Zion (Isa 59:21 ) is interpreted by St. Paul (Rom 11:27 ) as the “covenant” of which the prophet spoke in the next verse; and Jeremiah, in a passage (Jer 31:31-33 ) from which the Apostle has just now (2Co 3:3 above) borrowed a striking image, had proclaimed a New Covenant with Israel in the future. The phrase had been consecrated to the Gospel, through its employment by Christ at the Institution of the Eucharist (Mat 26:28 , Luk 22:20 , 1Co 11:25 ); and in that solemn context it bore direct allusion to the Blood of Sprinkling which ratified the Old Covenant of Sinai (Exo 24:8 ). It is of this “New Covenant” that St. Paul is a διάκονος (Christ is its μεσίτης , Heb 9:15 ); i.e. , he is a διάκονος οὐ γράμματος ἀλλὰ πνεύματος , not of the letter of the Law (as might be wrongly inferred from his statement in 2Co 3:3 that the ἐπιστολὴ Χριστοῦ was “ministered” [ διακονηθεῖσα ] by him), but of the “Spirit of the living God” (2Co 3:3 ). This is a much more gracious διακονία , inasmuch as the Law is the instrument of Death ( cf. Rom 5:20 ; Rom 7:9 ; Rom 8:2 , in all which passages the Apostle brings into closest connexion the three thoughts of the Law, Sin , and Death ), but the Spirit of God is the Giver of Life (see reff. and cf. Gal 3:21 , where he notes that the law is not able, ζωοποιεῖν , “to give life”). It will be observed that the article is wanting before καινῆς διαθήκης , as it is before γράμματος and πνεύματος ; but we need not on that account with the Revisers translate “ a new covenant”. The expression “New Covenant,” like the words “Letter” (for the Law) and “Spirit” for the Holy Spirit, was a technical phrase in the theology of the day; and so might well dispense with the article. The contrast between “letter” and “Spirit” here (so often misunderstood, as if it pointed to a contrast between what is verbally stated and what is really implied, and so justified an appeal from the bare “letter” of the law to the principles on which it rests) is exactly illustrated by Rom 7:6 , where St. Paul declares that the service of a Christian is ἐν καινότητι πνεύματος καὶ οὐ παλαιότητι γράμματος , i.e. , “in newness of the Spirit and not in oldness of the letter”. And (though not so plainly) the same contrast is probably intended in Rom 2:29 . In St. Paul’s writings πνεῦμα , when used for the human spirit, is contrasted with σῶμα (1Co 5:3 ), σάρξ (2Co 7:1 ) and νοῦς (1Co 14:14 ), but never with γράμμα . This is a technical term for the “Law” (like γραφή , Scripture; cf. 2Co 3:7 , ἐν γράμμασιν ), and is properly set over against the “Spirit” of God, whose office and work were first plainly revealed in the Gospel.

The Expositor's Greek Testament, edited by W. Robertson Nicoll (1897–1910) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

He amplifieth his ministry and his fellows: that is to say, the ministry of the Gospel, comparing it with the ministry of the Law, which he considereth in the person of Moses, by whom the Law was given: against whom he setteth Christ the author of the Gospel. Now this comparison is taken from the very substance of the ministry. The Law is as it were a writing of itself dead, and without efficacy: but the Gospel, or new covenant, is as it were the very virtue of God itself, in renewing, justifying, and saving men. The Law propoundeth death, accusing all men of unrighteousness: The Gospel offereth and giveth righteousness and life. The governance of the Law served for a time to the promise: The Gospel remaineth to the end of the world. Therefore what is the glory of that in comparison of the majesty of this?

Not of the Law, but of the Gospel.

Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain. Text via Bolls.life.

able--rather, as the Greek is the same, corresponding to Co2 3:5, translate, "sufficient as ministers" (Eph 3:7; Col 1:23).

the new testament--"the new covenant" as contrasted with the Old Testament or covenant (Co1 11:25; Gal 4:24). He reverts here again to the contrast between the law on "tables of stone," and that "written by the Spirit on fleshly tables of the heart" (Co2 3:3).

not of the letter--joined with "ministers"; ministers not of the mere literal precept, in which the old law, as then understood, consisted; "but of the Spirit," that is, the spiritual holiness which lay under the old law, and which the new covenant brings to light (Mat. 5:17-48) with new motives added, and a new power of obedience imparted, namely, the Holy Spirit (Rom 7:6). Even in writing the letter of the New Testament, Paul and the other sacred writers were ministers not of the letter, but of the spirit. No piety of spirit could exempt a man from the yoke of the letter of each legal ordinance under the Old Testament; for God had appointed this as the way in which He chose a devout Jew to express his state of mind towards God. Christianity, on the other hand, makes the spirit of our outward observances everything, and the letter a secondary consideration (Joh 4:24). Still the moral law of the ten commandments, being written by the finger of God, is as obligatory now as ever; but put more on the Gospel spirit of "love," than on the letter of a servile obedience, and in a deeper and fuller spirituality (Mat. 5:17-48; Rom 13:9). No literal precepts could fully comprehend the wide range of holiness which LOVE, the work of the Holy Spirit, under the Gospel, suggests to the believer's heart instinctively from the word understood in its deep spirituality.

letter killeth--by bringing home the knowledge of guilt and its punishment, death; Co2 3:7, "ministration of death" (Rom 7:9).

spirit giveth life--The spirit of the Gospel when brought home to the heart by the Holy Spirit, gives new spiritual life to a man (Rom 6:4, Rom 6:11). This "spirit of life" is for us in Christ Jesus (Rom 8:2, Rom 8:10), who dwells in the believer as a "quickening" or "life-giving Spirit" (Co1 15:45). Note, the spiritualism of rationalists is very different. It would admit no "stereotyped revelation," except so much as man's own inner instrument of revelation, the conscience and reason, can approve of: thus making the conscience judge of the written word, whereas the apostles make the written word the judge of the conscience (Act 17:11; Pe1 4:1). True spirituality rests on the whole written word, applied to the soul by the Holy Spirit as the only infallible interpreter of its far-reaching spirituality. The letter is nothing without the spirit, in a subject essentially spiritual. The spirit is nothing without the letter, in a record substantially historical.

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Verse 6. Who hath made us able ministers] This is a more formal answer to the question, Who is sufficient for these things? προς ταυτα τις ἱκανος; 2Co 2:16. God, says the apostle, has made us able ministers; ἱκανωσεν ἡμας διακονους, he has made us sufficient for these things; for the reader will observe that he uses the same word in both places. We apostles execute, under the Divine influence, what God himself has devised. We are ministers of the new covenant; of this new dispensation of truth, light, and life, by Christ Jesus; a system which not only proves itself to have come from God, but necessarily implies that God himself by his own Spirit is a continual agent in it, ever bringing its mighty purposes to pass. On the words καινη διαθηκη, new covenant, see the PREFACE to the gospel of St. Matthew.

Not of the letter, but of the Spirit] The apostle does not mean here, as some have imagined, that he states himself to be a minister of the New Testament, in opposition to the Old; and that it is the Old Testament that kills, and the New that gives life; but that the New Testament gives the proper meaning of the Old; for the old covenant had its letter and its spirit, its literal and its spiritual meaning. The law was founded on the very supposition of the Gospel; and all its sacrifices, types, and ceremonies refer to the Gospel. The Jews rested in the letter, which not only afforded no means of life, but killed, by condemning every transgressor to death. They did not look at the spirit; did not endeavour to find out the spiritual meaning; and therefore they rejected Christ, who was the end of the law for justification; and so for redemption from death to every one that believes. The new covenant set all these spiritual things at once before their eyes, and showed them the end, object, and design of the law; and thus the apostles who preached it were ministers of that Spirit which gives life.

Every institution has its letter as well as its spirit, as every word must refer to something of which it is the sign or significator. The Gospel has both its letter and its spirit; and multitudes of professing Christians, by resting in the LETTER, receive not the life which it is calculated to impart. Water, in baptism, is the letter that points out the purification of the soul; they who rest in this letter are without this purification; and dying in that state they die eternally. Bread and wine in the sacrament of the Lord's Supper, are the letter; the atoning efficacy of the death of Jesus, and the grace communicated by this to the soul of a believer, are the spirit. Multitudes rest in this letter, simply receiving these symbols, without reference to the atonement, or to their guilt; and thus lose the benefit of the atonement and the salvation of their souls. The whole Christian life is comprehended by our Lord under the letter, Follow me. Does not any one see that a man, taking up this letter only, and following Christ through Judea, Galilee, Samaria, c., to the city, temple, villages, seacoast, mountains, &c., fulfilled no part of the spirit and might, with all this following, lose his soul? Whereas the SPIRIT, viz. receive my doctrine, believe my sayings, look by faith for the fulfilment of my promises, imitate my example, would necessarily lead him to life eternal. It may be safely asserted that the Jews, in no period of their history, ever rested more in the letter of their law than the vast majority of Christians are doing in the letter of the Gospel. Unto multitudes of Christians Christ may truly say: Ye will not come unto me that ye may have life.

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

6. Who hath made us competent. He had acknowledged himself to be altogether useless. Now he declares, that, by the grace of God, he has been qualified for an office, for which he was previously unqualified. From this we infer its magnitude and difficulty, as it can be undertaken by no one, that has not been previously prepared and fashioned for it by God. It is the Apostle’s intention, also, to extol the dignity of the gospel. There is, at the same time, no doubt, that he indirectly exposes the poverty of those, who boasted in lofty terms of their endowments, while they were not furnished with so much as a single drop of heavenly grace.

Not of the letter but of the spirit He now follows out the comparison between the law and the gospel, which he had previously touched upon. It is uncertain, however, whether he was led into this discussion, from seeing that there were at Corinth certain perverse devotees of the law, or whether he took occasion from something else to enter upon it. For my part, as I see no evidence that the false apostles had there confounded the law and the gospel, I am rather of opinion, that, as he had to do with lifeless declaimers, who endeavored to obtain applause through mere prating, and as he saw, that the ears of the Corinthians were captivated with such glitter, he was desirous to show them what was the chief excellence of the gospel, and what was the chief praise of its ministers. Now this he makes to consist in the efficacy of the Spirit. A comparison between the law and the gospel was fitted in no ordinary degree to show this. This appears to me to be the reason why he came to enter upon it.

There is, however, no doubt, that by the term letter, he means the Old Testament, as by the term spirit he means the gospel; for, after having called himself a minister of the New Testament, he immediately adds, by way of exposition, that he is a minister of the spirit, and contrasts the letter with the spirit. We must now enquire into the reason of this designation. The exposition contrived by Origen has got into general circulation — that by the letter we ought to understand the grammatical and genuine meaning of Scripture, or the literal sense, (as they call it,) and that by the spirit is meant the allegorical meaning, which is commonly reckoned to be the spiritual meaning. Accordingly, during several centuries, nothing was more commonly said, or more generally received, than this — that Paul here furnishes us with a key for expounding Scripture by allegories, while nothing is farther from his intention. For by the term letter he means outward preaching, of such a kind as does not reach the heart; and, on the other hand, by spirit he means living doctrine, of such a nature as worketh effectually (1 Thessalonians 2:13) on the minds of men, through the grace of the Spirit. By the term letter, therefore, is meant literal preaching — that is, dead and ineffectual, perceived only by the ear. By the term spirit, on the other hand, is meant spiritual doctrine, that is, what is not merely uttered with the mouth, but effectually makes its way to the souls of men with a lively feeling. For Paul had an eye to the passage in Jeremiah, that I quoted a little ago, (Jeremiah 31:31,) where the Lord says, that his law had been proclaimed merely with the mouth, and that it had, therefore, been of short duration, because the people did not embrace it in their heart, and he promises the Spirit of regeneration under the reign of Christ, to write his gospel, that is, the new covenant, upon their hearts. Paul now makes it his boast, that the accomplishment of that prophecy is to be seen in his preaching, that the Corinthians may perceive, how worthless is the loquacity of those vain boasters, who make incessant noise while devoid of the efficacy of the Spirit.

It is asked, however, whether God, under the Old Testament, merely sounded forth in the way of an external voice, and did not also speak inwardly to the hearts of the pious by his Spirit. I answer in the first place, that Paul here takes into view what belonged peculiarly to the law; for although God then wrought by his Spirit, yet that did not take its rise from the ministry of Moses, but from the grace of Christ, as it is said in John 1:17 —

The law was given by Moses; but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ.

True, indeed, the grace of God did not, during all that time, lie dormant, but it is enough that it was not a benefit that belonged to the law. For Moses had discharged his office, when he had delivered to the people the doctrine of life, adding threatenings and promises. For this reason he gives to the law the name of the letter, because it is in itself a dead preaching; but the gospel he calls spirit, because the ministry of the gospel is living, nay, lifegiving.

I answer secondly, that these things are not affirmed absolutely in reference either to the law or to the gospel, but in respect of the contrast between the one and the other; for even the gospel is not always spirit. When, however, we come to compare the two, it is truly and properly affirmed, that the nature of the law is to teach men literally, in such a way that it does not reach farther than the ear; and that, on the other hand, the nature of the gospel is to teach spiritually, because it is the instrument of Christ’s grace. This depends on the appointment of God, who has seen it meet to manifest the efficacy of his Spirit more clearly in the gospel than in the law, for it is his work exclusively to teach effectually the minds of men.

When Paul, however, calls himself a Minister of the Spirit, he does not mean by this, that the grace of the Holy Spirit and his influence, were tied to his preaching, so that he could, whenever he pleased, breathe forth the Spirit along with the utterance of the voice. He simply means, that Christ blessed his ministry, and thus accomplished what was predicted respecting the gospel. It is one thing for Christ to connect his influence with a man’s doctrine. and quite another for the man’s doctrine to have such efficacy of itself. We are, then, Ministers of the Spirit, not as if we held him inclosed within us, or as it were captive — not as if we could at our pleasure confer his grace upon all, or upon whom we pleased — but because Christ, through our instrumentality, illuminates the minds of men, renews their hearts, and, in short, regenerates them wholly. It is in consequence of there being such a connection and bond of union between Christ’s grace and man’s effort, that in many cases that is ascribed to the minister which belongs exclusively to the Lord. For in that case it is not the mere individual that is looked to, but the entire dispensation of the gospel, which consists, on the one hand, in the secret influence of Christ, and, on the other, in man’s outward efforts.

For the letter killeth. This passage was mistakingly perverted, first by Origen, and afterwards by others, to a spurious signification. From this arose a very pernicious error — that of imagining that the perusal of Scripture would be not merely useless, but even injurious, unless it were drawn out into allegories. This error was the source of many evils. For there was not merely a liberty allowed of adulterating the genuine meaning of Scripture, but the more of audacity any one had in this manner of acting, so much the more eminent an interpreter of Scripture was he accounted. Thus many of the ancients recklessly played with the sacred word of God, as if it had been a ball to be tossed to and fro. In consequence of this, too, heretics had it more in their power to trouble the Church; for as it had become general practice to make any passage whatever mean anything that one might choose, there was no frenzy so absurd or monstrous, as not to admit of being brought forward under some pretext of allegory. Even good men themselves were carried headlong, so as to contrive very many mistaken opinions, led astray through a fondness for allegory.

The meaning of this passage, however, is as follows — that, if the word of God is simply uttered with the mouth, it is an occasion of death, and that it is lifegiving, only when it is received with the heart. The terms letter and spirit, therefore, do not refer to the exposition of the word, but to its influence and fruit. Why it is that the doctrine merely strikes upon the ear, without reaching the heart, we shall see presently.

John Calvin's Commentaries (1540-1563) — public domain. Text from the Calvin Translation Society English edition (1840s-50s) via the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (ccel.org). Calvin's coverage is partial (roughly two-thirds of the Bible); uncommented books and verses are honest gaps, never fabricated. The 19th-century editor's footnotes and remarks are omitted so the notes are faithfully Calvin's own voice.

(6) Able ministers of the new testament.—Better, perhaps, as keeping up the stress on the word that had been used in 2Co_2:16, in the English as in the Greek, sufficient ministers. The noun is used as carrying out the thought implied in the “ministered by us” in 2Co_3:3. In the “new covenant”—new, as implying freshness of life and energy—we have a direct reference, both to our Lord’s words, as cited in 1Co_11:25, and given in the Gospel narrative of the Last Supper (see Notes on Mat_26:28), and to Jer_31:31. The Greek omits the article before all three words, “of a new covenant, one not of a written letter, but of spirit.” The idea of “spirit” comes from Eze_11:19; Eze_36:26-27.

For the letter killeth, but the spirit giveth life.—The word “letter” (gramma) stands, not for what we call the literal meaning of Scripture, as contrasted with one which is allegorical or spiritual, but for the whole written code or law of Judaism. St. Paul does not contrast the literal meaning of that code with the so-called mystical exposition of it (a view which has often led to wild and fantastic interpretations), but speaks of the written code as such. So the plural “the writings, the Scriptures” (grammata), are used of the sacred Books of Israel (Joh_5:47; 2Ti_3:15), and the scribes (grammateis) were those who interpreted the writings. The contrast between the “letter” in this sense and the “spirit” is a familiar thought with St. Paul (Rom_2:27-29; Rom_7:6). Of this written code St. Paul says that it “killeth.” The statement seems startlingly bold, and he does not here stop to explain its meaning. What he means is, however, stated with sufficient fulness in the three Epistles written about this time (1Co_15:56; Gal_3:10; Gal_3:21; Rom_7:9-11; Rom_8:2-3, the references being given in the chronological order of the Epistles). The work of the Law, from St. Paul’s view, is to make men conscious of sin. No outward command, even though it come from God, and is “holy, and just, and good” (Rom_7:12), can, as such, do more than that. What was wanting was the life-giving power of the Spirit. The word here (as in Rom_2:27; Rom_7:6) appears to hover between the sense of “spirit” as representing any manifestation of the Divine Life that gives life—in which sense the words of Christ are “spirit and life” (Joh_6:63), and Christ Himself is a “quickening spirit” (1Co_15:45, and 2Co_3:17 of this chapter)—and the more distinctly personal sense in which St. Paul speaks of “the Spirit,” the Holy Spirit, and to which we commonly limit our use of the name of “the Holy Ghost” in His relation to the Father and Son. Of that Spirit St. Paul says that “it quickens:” it can rouse into life not only the slumbering conscience, as the Law had done, but the higher spiritual element in man—can give it strength to will, the healthy energy of new affections, new prayers, new impulses. If we cannot suppose St. Paul to have been acquainted with our Lord’s teaching, as recorded in Joh_6:63 (where see Note), the coincidence of thought is, at any rate, singularly striking.

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

6. Who also hath made us able ministers] None of the old English versions have given the threefold repetition of the word by St Paul, who writes, ‘Who hath made us sufficient ministers.’ The word St Paul uses signifies the having reached a certain standard of ability.

of the new testament] We must dismiss all notions here of the book called the “New Testament.” The word in the original (see note on 1Co_11:25) signifies both testament and covenant. The latter should be the rendering here. St Paul is contrasting the Mosaic with the Christian covenant. There is also no article. The Apostle’s meaning may be thus paraphrased: ‘Who hath endowed us with qualifications sufficient for us to become the ministers of a new covenant.’ It is not to the covenant, but to its newness, that the Apostle would here ask our attention.

not of the letter, but of the spirit] See Jer_31:31-34, and Eze_11:19, before cited. There is an obvious reference to these passages in the text. The difference between the old covenant and the new was that the former prescribed, the latter inspired; the former gave written precepts, the latter the power to fulfil them; the former laid down the rules, the latter brought man’s heart into the condition in which such rules became a part of his nature. “The old form was superseded by the principle. Instead of saying, ‘Thou shalt not say Fool, or Raca,’ Christ gave the principle of Love.” Robertson. The words ‘of the letter,’ and ‘of the spirit,’ however, depend not on the word covenant, but on the word ministers. See also Rom_1:16; 1Co_1:18; 1Co_1:24 and notes. Also, for the expression, Rom_2:27; Rom_7:6. “What then, was not that law spiritual? How then did he say, ‘We know that the law is spiritual?’ Spiritual indeed, for it came from God, but it bestowed not a spirit” Chrysostom.

for the letter killeth, but the spirit giveth life] Quykeneth, Wiclif. Cf. 1Co_15:45. The formal enactment, whether positive or negative, can only kill. For while it makes no difference whatever in the condition of the man who fulfils it, it condemns him who disobeys or neglects to perform its precepts. See Joh_3:17-18; Rom_3:20; Rom_4:20; Rom_5:13; Rom_7:10. The spirit, the breath or influence proceeding from God, can only give life, since it comes from Him who is life, and by breathing into man a new heart, enables him to perform naturally, without the aid of any enactments, the things that are pleasing to God. “The law, if it lay hold of a murderer, putteth him to death; the Gospel, if it lay hold of a murderer, enlighteneth and giveth him life.” Chrysostom. Cf. Joh_6:63; Rom_8:11; 1Co_15:45; Gal_6:8; 1Pe_3:18. Calvin remarks on a singular misconception of the meaning of this passage by Origen and others, who supposed that the reading of Scripture would be useless or even injurious, unless it were allegorically expounded. “Sensus ad Origenis damnata dogmata rejiciendus.” Estius.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Who also hath made us able ministers,.... This is an answer to the question in Co2 2:16 who is sufficient for these things? no man is of himself; we are indeed sufficient for them, but not of ourselves; our sufficiency is of God, he hath made us able, or sufficient ministers: such ministers as are not of men's, but God's making, are sufficient ones; and none are sufficient but whom God makes so; and those he makes able and sufficient, by giving them spiritual gifts, fitting them for the ministry: and these are ministers

of the New Testament, or "covenant"; the covenant of grace, of which Christ is the Mediator and surety; called "new", not because newly made, for it was made with Christ from everlasting; nor newly revealed, for it was made known to Adam after his fall, and to all the Old Testament patriarchs, and was exhibited under the legal dispensation, though but darkly, in types, shadows, sacrifices, &c. which therefore waxing old is vanished away; and the covenant of grace is now more clearly revealed under the Gospel dispensation, free from all the obscurity it before laboured under; and therefore is called "new", as well as because it will always continue so, and never give way to another covenant: now the Gospel, and the ministry of it, is nothing else but an exhibition of the covenant of grace, its blessings and promises; and the work and business of those who are ministers of it is not to insist upon the covenant of works, the terms, conditions, obligations, promises, and threatenings of that covenant; but to open and explain the nature, promises, and blessings of the covenant of grace: for such who are fit and proper ministers, are ministers

not of the letter, but of the spirit; which is to be understood, not of any difference between the books of the Old and the New Testament, for a faithful minister of the word may and will bring forth things new and old, out of the one as well as the other; nor of the literal and allegorical, or mystical sense of the Scriptures, as if the latter and not the former was only to be attended to; nor of the difference of communicating the Gospel by letters, and preaching it by word of mouth; since both methods may be used for the spread of it, as were by the apostles themselves; but of the difference there is between the law and the Gospel. The law is "the letter", not merely because written in letters, for so likewise is the Gospel; but because it is a mere letter, hereby showing what is to be done or avoided, without any efficacy in it, or communicating any to enable persons to obey its commands, to give life to its observers, or either to sanctify or justify any who are under it, or of the works of it; it is a mere letter, as observed by an unregenerate man, who only regards the externals of it, being unacquainted with its spirituality. The Gospel is "the spirit"; see Joh 6:63 it contains spiritual things, and not things merely natural, moral, and civil, as does the law, but spiritual blessings and promises; it penetrates into the spirit and soul of man, and comes from, and is attended with the Spirit of God. The law is

the letter that

killeth, by irritating and provoking to sin, the cause of death, which though not the design and natural tendency of the law, and therefore not to be blamed, yet so it is, through the corruption of human nature; and by convincing of sin when the sinner is killed, and it dead in his own apprehension; and by not only threatening with death, but by cursing, condemning, and punishing with it:

but the Gospel is

the spirit, which

giveth life; it is a means in the hand of the Spirit of God, of quickening dead sinners, of healing the deadly wounds of sin, of showing the way of life by Christ, and of working faith in the soul, to look to him, and live upon him; it affords food for the support of the spiritual life, and revives souls under the most drooping circumstances. The apostle may allude to a distinction among the Jews, between the body and soul of the law; the words, they say, are , "the body of the law"; and the book of the law is the clothing; and besides these, there is , "the soul of the law"; which wise men look into (w).

(w) Zohar in Numb. fol. 63. 2.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

6 Who also hath made us able ministers of the new testament; not of the letter, but of the spirit: for the letter killeth, but the spirit giveth life.

Ver. 6. Not of the letter] To wit, of the law, which requireth perfect obedience, presupposing holiness in us, and cursing the disobedient; but the gospel (called here the Spirit) presupposeth unholiness, and, as an instrument, maketh us holy, Joh 17:17; Act 10:32. For we preach Christ, 1Co 1:23. We give what we preach. The Spirit is received by the preaching of faith, Gal 3:2. This manna is rained down in the sweet dews of the ministry of the gospel, 1Pe 1:22.

For the letter killeth] Many popish priests, that hardly ever had seen, much less read, St Paul’s writings, having gotten this sentence by the end, "The letter killeth," took care of being killed, by not meddling with good literature. Hence that of Sir Thomas Moore to one of them,

" Tu bene cavisti, ne te ulla occidere possit

Littera: nam nulla est littera nota tibi."

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Who also hath made us able ministers ... - This translation does not quite meet the force of the original. It would seem to imply that Paul regarded himself and his fellowlaborers as people of talents, and of signal ability; and that he was inclined to boast of it. But this is not the meaning. It refers properly to his sense of the responsibility and difficulty of the work of the ministry; and to the fact that he did not esteem himself to be sufficient for this work in his own strength 2Co 2:16; 2Co 3:5; and he here says that God had made him sufficient: not able, talented, learned, but sufficient ἱκάνωσεν ἡμᾶς hikanōsen hēmas; he has supplied our deficiency; he has rendered us competent, or fit; if a word may be coined after the manner of the Greek here, “he has sufficienced us for this work.” There is no assertion, therefore, here, that they were people of talents, or special ability, but only that God had qualified them for their work, and made them by his grace sufficient to meet the toils and responsibilites of this arduous office.

Of the New Testament - Of the new covenant (note, Mat 26:28), in contradistinction from the old covenant, which was established through Moses. They were appointed to go forth and make the provisions of that new covenant known to a dying world.

Not of the letter - Not of the literal, or verbal meaning, in contradistinction from the Spirit; see the notes on Rom 2:27, Rom 2:29; Rom 7:6. This is said, doubtless, in opposition to the Jews, and Jewish teachers. They insisted much on the letter of the Law, but entered little into its real meaning. They did not seek out the true spiritual sense of the Old Testament; and hence, they rested on the mere literal observance of the rites and ceremonies of religion without understanding their true nature and design. Their service, though in many respects conformed to the letter of the Law, yet became cold, formal, and hypocritical; abounding in mere ceremonies, and where the heart had little to do. Hence, there was little pure spiritual worship offered to God; and hence also they rejected the Messiah whom the old covenant prefigured, and was designed to set forth.

For the letter killeth - compare notes on Rom 4:15; Rom 7:9-10. The mere letter of the Law of Moses. The effect of it was merely to produce condemnation; to produce a sense of guilt, and danger, and not to produce pardon, relief, and joy. The Law denounced death; condemned sin in all forms; and the effect of it was to produce a sense of guilt and condemnation.

But the spirit giveth life - The spirit, in contradistinction from the mere literal interpretation of the Scriptures. The Spirit, that is, Christ, says Locke, compare 2Co 3:17. The spirit here means, says Bloomfield, that new spiritual system, the gospel. The Spirit of God speaking in us, says Doddridge. The spirit here seems to refer to the New Testament, or the new dispensation in contradistinction from the old. That was characterized mainly by its strictness of Law, and by its burdensome rites, and by the severe tone of its denunciation for sin. It did not in itself provide a way of pardon and peace. Law condemns; it does not speak of forgiveness. On the contrary, the gospel, a spiritual system, is designed to impart life and comfort to the soul. It speaks peace. It comes not to condemn, but to save. It discloses a way of mercy, and it invites all to partake and live. It is called “spirit,” probably because its consolations are imparted and secured by the Spirit of God - the source of all true life to the soul. It is the dispensation of the Spirit; and it demands a spiritual service - a service that is free, and elevated, and tending eminently to purify the heart, and to save the soul; see the note on 2Co 3:17.

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

This verse plainly openeth what he had said before, and lets us know what sufficiency of God that was of which he there spake. He hath (saith the apostle) not found, but made us sufficient. We were men before, and, through the creating power and providence of God, we had an ability to think and to speak; but God hath made us sufficient, by a supervening act and influence of his grace, to be ministers of the new testament, that is, of the gospel; which being the new revelation of the Divine will, and confirmed by the death of Christ, is called the new testament.

Not of the letter, but of the Spirit: by the letter, here, the apostle understandeth the law; for the law is called the letter, Rom 2:27; Rom 7:6; Who by the letter and circumcision dost transgress the law; that is: While thou, by some external acts, professest a subjection to the law (particularly by circumcision) in a multitude of other actions, (which are more valuable in the sight of God than those external acts), thou transgressest the law. The law, in opposition to the gospel, is called the letter, sometimes a dead letter; because it was only a revelation of the will of God concerning man’s duty, no revelation of God’s grace, either in pardoning men their omissions of duty, and doing acts contrary to duty, or assisting men to the performance of their duty. As the gospel is also called the Spirit, both in opposition to the carnal ordinances of the law, and because Christ is the matter, subject, and argument of it; and chiefly because, that the preaching of it is so far attended by the Spirit of grace, that where men do not turn their ears from the hearing of it, nor shut their eyes against the light of it, nor harden their hearts against the precepts and rule of it, it becomes (through the free grace of God) effectual to change their hearts, and to turn them from the power of Satan unto God, and to make them truly spiritual and holy.

For the letter (that is, the law) killeth; the law showeth men their duty, accuseth, condemneth, and denounceth the wrath of God against men for not doing their duty, but gives no strength for the doing of it. But the

spirit (that is, the gospel) giveth life: the gospel, in the letter of it, showeth the way to life; and the gospel, in the hand of the Spirit, or with the Spirit, working together with it, (the Holy Spirit using it as its instrument), giveth life; both that life which is spiritual, and that which is eternal, as it prepareth the soul for life and immortality.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

6. Able—Same word as sufficient, 2Co_3:5.

The new testament—Rather, of a new covenant. To the popular reader the phrase the new testament suggests the idea of a book. But the meaning is, that whereas under Moses there was what is now an old covenant or compact between God and the Jewish people, so now, in the place of that, is substituted a new covenant or compact, by which God, in consideration of Christ’s mediation, engages to pardon and save all who place obedient faith in Christ. Note on Luk_22:20. Thus has God made us, the apostles and preachers in the Christian Church, efficient ministers of a new covenant.

Not of the letter— Prescribing a complex ritual, as recorded in the Pentateuch, to be obeyed with a mechanical precision.

But of the Spirit—Which Spirit, accepted by our faith, breathes into our hearts, and creates in us a spirit of love, emancipated from rituals, and running into the path of a free and joyous obedience. This letter, however once effective to salvation, now pertinaciously adhered to, as by these Judaists, killeth. That circumcision prescribed by this letter, which they claim as necessary for our future Christianity, cramps its true free life, and killeth it. And claimed as necessary to the salvation of the soul, it crowds out Christ, and killeth the soul. It is emancipation from their letter into the freedom of the spirit that alone giveth life.

This superiority of the new over the old covenant, St. Paul now (2Co_3:7-18) illustrates with rich Old Testament imagery, and with much power, against the factious advocates of the old.

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Who also hath made us able ministers of the new covenant - Of the new, evangelical dispensation. Not of the law, fitly called the letter, from God's literally writing it on the two tables. But of the Spirit - Of the gospel dispensation, which is written on the tables of our hearts by the Spirit. For the letter - The law, the Mosaic dispensation. Killeth - Seals in death those who still cleave to it. But the Spirit - The gospel, conveying the Spirit to those who receive it. Giveth life - Both spiritual and eternal: yea, if we adhere to the literal sense even of the moral law, if we regard only the precept and the sanction as they stand in themselves, not as they lead us to Christ, they are doubtless a killing ordinance, and bind us down under the sentence of death.

John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.

for the letter killeth

(See Scofield "Rom 7:6").

The Scofield Reference Bible (1917 edition), notes by C. I. Scofield — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

6. Who hath made us able ministers of the New Testament. God gave Paul and his fellow-ministers their “sufficiency” (verse 5), who had made them able ministers of the gospel. New Testament. The New Covenant, the Covenant of Christ. This is here contrasted with the Old Covenant, the Jewish. One is the Law; the other the Gospel. Compare Hebrews, chapter 8. Not of the letter, but of the Spirit. The first, the law, was written (by letters written and engraven on stones, hence of the letter); the gospel is the dispensation of the Spirit. The letter killeth. The law. It condemns all who do not obey its commands, but could make no man perfect. The law places under the sentence of death. See notes on Romans 7:9, 10. The Spirit giveth life. The gospel bestows eternal life.

B. W. Johnson's The People's New Testament with Notes (1889–1891) — public domain. Electronic text from the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (CCEL) ThML edition.

6. ὃς καὶ ἱκάνωσεν ἡμᾶς διακόνους. Who also made us sufficient as ministers (R.V.). The repetition, ἱκανοί, ἱκανότης, ἱκάνωσεν, must be preserved; also the aorist, which (as in Col 1:12) points to the moment when the gift of competency was bestowed. For διάκονος comp. 2Co 11:15; Eph 3:7; Col 1:23; Col 1:25.

καινῆς διαθήκης. Of a new covenant (R.V.). The thought is suggested by πλαξὶν λιθίναις, and the phrase comes from Jeremiah 38[31]:31 (Heb 8:8). It is used of Christianity first in 1Co 11:25. The emphasis is on καινῆς, and perhaps for that reason the article is omitted. But in Heb 9:15 διαθήκης precedes, and there also the article is omitted. Here, and in all other passages where καινός occurs, the meaning is ‘fresh, not obsolete, not worn out.’ In Heb 12:24 we have διαθήκης νέας, which means a covenant that is ‘recent, not ancient.’ Comp. ‘new wine into fresh wine-skins’ (Mat 9:17; Luk 5:38). New wine may or may not be better than old: fresh skins must be better than skins that are worn out. So here, καινῆς implies that the new covenant is better than the obsolete one (Heb 8:13). It is valid and effective, with plenty of time to run. See Trench, Synonyms § LX. On the rival translations of διαθήκη, ‘covenant,’ and ‘testament,’ see Westcott’s detached note on Heb 9:16, pp. 298–302.

οὐ γράμματος ἀλλὰ πνεύματος. Jer 31:31-33 is still in his mind, with Eze 11:19. The important word καινῆς gives an abrupt, but very natural turn to the argument. He has been urging the superiority of his own claims on their affection and obedience to those of his Judaizing opponents. He now points to the boundless superiority of the dispensation of which he is a minister to that which the Judaizers represent. Even if as an individual he had nothing to urge, the claim of the Gospel which he brought to them would be paramount, and that in three particulars. This dispensation of grace is καινή, πνεύματος, ζωοποιεῖ. 1. It is not obsolete, like the Jewish Law, but of full force. 2. It is not an external legal instrument, but an indwelling power. 3. It is not a judicial enactment, putting those who transgress it to death; its spirit gives life to all who accept it. The Law simply said, ‘Thou shalt not,’ and imposed a penalty for transgression. So far from giving any power to keep its enactments, by its prohibitions it provoked men to transgress (Rom 8:5-13; Rom 5:20). The spirit of the Gospel is really the Spirit of God, entering the heart and making the recipient, not only able, but willing, to obey. Chrysostom has a fine passage in which he contrasts the Law and Grace under this third head. The Law finds a man gathering sticks on the Sabbath, and stones him. Grace finds thousands of robbers and murderers, illuminates them, and gives them life. The one turns a living man into a dead one: the other out of dead men makes living ones. Christ says, ‘Come unto Me all ye who are heavy laden,’ not ‘and I will punish you,’ but ‘and I will give you rest.’ Comp. the contrast in Joh 1:17.

It matters little whether we regard the genitives, γράμματος and πνεύματος, as characterizing διακόνος or διαθήκης: but ἡ διακονία τοῦ πνεύματος (2Co 3:8) is in favour of the former. The Apostles are ministers, not of a covenant that is literal and formal, but of one that is spiritual: therefore, as ministers, they are not of letter, but of spirit. It is perhaps safer not to insert the article in translation. For the characterizing genitive comp. Luk 4:24; Luk 16:8; Luk 18:6; Jas 1:25; Jas 2:4. Winer, p. 297; Blass, § 35. 5.

τὸ γὰρ γρὰμμα ἀποκτείνει. Eternal death, as the opposite of eternal life, is meant: that is the tendency of the letter. The prohibitions of the Law incite to sin which involves death. And, with regard to physical death, the Law gave no promise of resurrection. Origen was strangely mistaken in supposing that this passage supports his view that the literal interpretation of Scripture is harmful, and that, to be profitable, interpretation must be mystical and ‘spiritual,’ or at least moral. And, however true it may be that to keep insisting upon the letter becomes fatal to the spirit, that is not what is meant here. The point here is, that the Law is incomparably inferior to the Gospel.

The form ἀποκτέννει, which is believed to be Aeolic, is found here (אFGKP) for ἀποκτείνει (B), and is accepted by some editors here and Mat 10:28; Mar 12:5; Luk 12:4; Rev 6:11. WH. accept it Rev 6:11. None accept ἀποκτενει (ACDL).

Cambridge Greek Testament for Schools and Colleges (Cambridge University Press, 1896; 21 vols, various authors incl. Carr, Maclear, Plummer, Farrar, Lumby, Moule, M. R. James, Simcox) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

6. ὃς καὶ ἱκάνωσεν ἡμᾶς. ‘Who also made us sufficient as ministers,’ where ‘who’ = ‘for He.’ No English version before the RV. marks the repetition, ἱκανοί, ἱκανότης, ἱκάνωσεν: nor does the Vulgate, which has sufficientes, sufficientia, idoneos fecit. There is a similar repetition in διακονηθεῖσα, διακόνους, διακονία, and this is followed by δόξα (eight times in five verses), δεδόξασται, τὸ δεδοξασμένον. As in 1Co 3:5, διάκονος is used in quite a general sense. There is no evidence that at this time διάκονος had an exclusively official sense, or designated any particular class of Christian minister: see Westcott on Eph 4:12. The aorist ἱκάνωσεν points to the time when St Paul was called to be an Apostle; at that crisis he was made competent (Col 1:12) to respond to the call. See Index IV.

καινῆς διαθήκης. ‘Of a new covenant’ (RV): ‘of the New Testament’ (AV) is misleading. The covenant is fresh and effective, with plenty of time to run, in contrast to the old covenant, which is worn out and obsolete. Thiss is the constant meaning of καινός as distinct from νέος, so that καινός always implies superiority to that which is not καινός, whereas what is νέος may be either better or worse than what is not νέος. See Trench, Syn. § lx. and Lightfoot on Col 3:10.

The usual word for ‘covenant’ is συνθήκη, which occurs thirteen times in LXX, but not at all in N.T. It is not suitable for a covenant between God and man, for it suggests that the parties meet on equal terms. See on 1Co 11:25. Here the emphasis is on καινῆς. Contrast διαθήκης καινῆς μεσίτης (Heb 9:15), where the emphasis is on διαθήκης. To be ministers of the old covenant was no great distinction; there were large numbers of them, and their duties were largely matters of routine. But to be made competent ministers of a new covenant with God was an extraorinary grace. In Heb 12:24 we have διαθήκης νέας μεσίτης, the only passage in which διαθήκη νέα occurs. Christianity was both νέα and καινή, it was of recent origin and it was effective, whereas Judiasm was old and effete. It was also αἰωνία. ‘I will make a new covenant (διαθήκην καινήν) with the house of Israel’ (Jer 31:31. ‘And I will make an everlasting covenant (δ. αίωνίαν) with them, that I will not cease to do them good’ (Jer 32:40).

We are not yet in a position to say the final word respecting the rendering of διαθήκη in N.T., where the word occurs thirtythree times, mostly in Paul (nine) and in Hebrews (seventeen). Probably the extremists on both sides are in error. It seems to be reasonable to hold that διαθήκη cannot always be rendered ‘covenant’ in accordance with LXX use, and that it cannot always be rendered ‘testament’ in accordance with the usage of classical writers and that of Greek-speaking populations in the East in the first century. Among the crucial passages are Gal 3:15-18 (see Lightfoot) and Heb 9:16, Heb 9:17 (see Westcott). It does not follow that, because ‘covenant’ is the meaning elsewhere in N.T., therefore ‘covenant’ is the meaning in both these passages; or that, because ‘testament’ is the meaning in one or both of these, therefore ‘testament’ is the meaning everywhere. Deissmann (Light from Anc. East, p. 341; Licht von Osten, p. 243) says; “There is ample material to back me in the statement that no one in the first century a.d. would have thought of finding in the word διαθήκη the idea of ‘covenant.’ St Paul would not, and in fact did not. To St Paul the word meant what it meant in his Greek O.T., ‘a unilateral enactment,’ in particular ‘a will or testament.’ This one point concerns more than the superficial question whether we write ‘New Testament’ or ‘New Covenant’ on the title-page of the sacred volume; it becomes ultimately the great question of all religious history; a religion of grace, or a religion of works? It involves the alternative, was Pauline Christianity Augustinian or Pelagian?” On this Lietzmann rightly remarks that, however true it may be that διαθήκη almost always means ‘testament’ in profane literature, yet in the very numerous passages in LXX in which a διαθήκη between God and man is mentioned it cannot have this meaning; and this is true also of the passages in N.T. which have been influenced by the LXX. “I know of no instances of ‘a unilateral enactment’ (einseitige Verfügung). We must abide by the Hebrew and translate ‘covenant.’ One instance of this usage we at any rate have in Aristoph. Birds, 440. Peisthetairos refuses to have any dealings with the birds, ἢν μὴ διάθωνταί γʼ οἵδε διαθήκην ἑμοί—not to peck him.” See Ramsay’s valuable dissertation, Galatians, §§ 33, 34, pp. 349-370; A. Lukyn Williams, Galatians, pp. 68-70; Wickham, Hebrews, pp. 71-73; Expositor, Dec. 1908, pp. 563-565; E. Riggenbach, Der Begriff der Diatheke im Hebraerbrief, 1908; Muntz, Rome, St Paul, and the Early Church, pp. 146 f., 165 f.

οὐ γράμματος ἀλλὰ πνεύματος. ‘Not of letter, but of spirit, for the letter puts to death but the spirit gives life.’ This saying holds good of many other things besides the Law and the Gospel; everywhere letter prescribes, spirit inspires. But we must not be misled by the common contrast in English between ‘letter’ and ‘spirit,’ which means the contrast between the literal sense and the spiritual or inward sense of one and the same document or authority. By γρμάμα and πνεύμα St Paul means two different authorities; γράμμα is the written code of the Law, πνεῦμα is the operation of the Spirit in producing and promulgating the Gospel. See on Rom 2:29, Rom 7:6.* This passage is almost a summary of the Ep. to the Romans. St Paul mentioned the tables of stone (v. 3) in preparation for this comparison between the old ministration and the new. The old put forth a written code of duty, so onerous as to kill hope and love; the new is inspired by the spirit, which is able to revive what is ready to die. See Swete, The Holy Spirit in N.T., p. 319.

We see here once more (see on 1Co 9:20; Dobschütz, Probleme, p. 82) how completely St Paul had broken with the Jewish Law.† He has now reached the main topic in this portion of the Epistle (3:1-6:10), viz. the glory of Apostleship under the new covenant. The Judaizing teachers had not been able to extricate themselves from the trammels of the old covenant. But experience has taught St Paul that the embrace of the Law has now become deadly. It is effete and cannot adapt itself to the new conditions. It is purely external; ‘Thou shalt not do this overt act,’ ‘Thou shalt do this overt act.’ It has no power to set free and strengthen the moral elements in man. It makes heavy demands, but it gives nothing. It commands and imposes a punishment for disobedience; but it gives no power or encouragement to obey. The spirit of Christianity is the opposite of this. It is a living force. Instead of pressing the man down from without, it lays hold of him from within; it supplies, not slavish rules, but emancipating principles. It enriches and quickens those who welcome it, and it makes them both desirous and able to follow its inspirations. “The Law,” says Chrys., “when it takes a murderer, puts him to death; grace, when it takes a murderer, gives him light and life.”

It is evident from the language used that the Apostle is contrasting the spirit of the Gospel, not merely with ceremonial regulations, but with the whole code, whether ceremonial or moral, of the Mosaic Law. That Law said to the Jew, “Obey, or it will be worse for you.” The Christian says to the Gospel, “Obedience is the thing that I long for.”

The genitives, γράμματος and πνεύματος, probably depend on διακόνους (see v. 8); but the meaning is much the same if we take them after διαθήκης. They are qualifying or characterizing genitives and are equivalent to adjectives: we might translate, ‘not letter-ministers, but spirit-ministers.’ Winer, p. 297; Blass, § 35. 5.

τὸ γὰρ γράμμα ἀποκτ. This does not refer to capital punishment, which the Law inflicted for a variety of crimes, such as adultery, blasphemy, dishonour to parents, idolatry, murder, prophesying falsely, sabbath-breaking, witchcraft, etc., although there may be some indirect allusion. In a much more serious sense the Law kills, in that it sends men along the road which leads to eternal death. It does this by its prohibitions, which at once suggest the doing of what is prohibited, and also make men conscious of having sinned and merited punishment. “By giving edge to the conscience, it intensifies the sense of remorse. A child will go on doing a wrong act ignorantly, till it has become a habit, without any inward dissatisfaction; till at length some authoritative voice says, ‘That is a wicked act.’ Then everything is changed. Each recurrence of the evil habit brings misery to the child. It has the sentence of condemnation in itself. The commandment has slain the child” (Lightfoot). Again, the letter kills by setting up lofty standards, which it does not help men to reach, and which without help they cannot reach. This takes the heart out of them, for they feel from the first that disastrous failure is certain. Moreover, the Law held out no hope of a resurrection, by means of which the failures of this life might be rectified. Lex non est adjutrix legentium, sed testis peccantium quae mortificat peccatores (PseudoPrimasius). Spiritus vivivicat qui intus docet animam qualiter ea quae audit intelligere debeat (Herveius). With St Paul the principle that ‘the letter puts to death’ is an axiom; and it was confirmed by his own experience. See on Rom 7:7-25, pp. 184-189. But this verse would have been very obscure if we had not possessed Romans, which was written in Corinth and shows what St Paul had been teaching there. In all this disparagement of τό γράμμα there was no danger of seeming to disparage Christian writings, for as yet there were no Christian Scriptures. The Apostle, without being aware of it, was beginning to make such writings.

The excellent cursive 17 has οὐ γράμματι ἀλλὰ πνεύματι, which is supported by Lat-Vet. non litera sed spiritu; but Vulg. has non litterae sed spiritus. B has ἀποκτείνει, א G K P 17 have ἀποκτέννει, a form said to be Aeolic, A C D E L ἀποκτενει which D3 L accentuate ἀποκτένει.

International Critical Commentary — older volumes (1896–1929), various authors — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Hath made us able ministers [ικανωσεν ημας διακονους] . An unfortunate translation, especially in view of the conventional sense of able. The verb iJkanow from iJkanov sufficient (see on Rom 14:23), means to make sufficient or fit. It occurs only here and Col 1:12. The correct sense is given by Rev., hath made us sufficient as ministers. Compare enabled [ενδυναμωσαντι] , 1Ti 1:12.

Of the new testament [καινης διαθηκης] . See on Mt 26:28, 29. There is no article. Render, as Rev., of a new covenant, in contrast with the Mosaic. See on Heb 9:15. Of course the term is never applied in the gospels or epistles to the collection of New - Testament writings.

Of the letter [γραμματος] . Depending on ministers, not on covenant. For letter, see on writings, Joh 5:47. Here used of the mere formal, written ordinance as contrasted with the Gospel, which is "spirit and life." Compare Rom 2:29; Rom 7:6.

Killeth. See on Rom 5:12, 13; Rom 7:9; Rom 8:2. Compare 1Co 14:56. "The living testimony borne to his authority in the Corinthian Church suggests strongly the contrast of the dreary, death - like atmosphere which surrounded the old, graven characters on which his opponents rested their claims" (Stanley).

Marvin R. Vincent, Word Studies in the New Testament (1887–1900) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.