2 Corinthians 3:7

2Co_3:7-11

But if the ministration of death … was glorious

The peculiar glory of the gospel

I.

That contrasted with the law as the ministration of condemnation the gospel is the ministration of righteousness. That the law was the ministration of condemnation will require little proof. The very glory which attended the publication of it struck terror into the beholders. Its unequivocal language was, the soul that sinneth it shall die (Exo_19:16; Heb_12:21; Eze_18:4; Eze_18:20; Gal_3:10). Against this awful alternative the Mosaic dispensation provided no effectual resource (Heb_10:4). But herein is the incomparable glory of the gospel displayed: it is, the ministration of righteousness. Not as some have most erroneously represented it, a remedial law; neither as others would call it, a less rigorous dispensation, relaxing our obligations to duty. And hence we are led to notice what may be regarded as the peculiar glory of the gospel, that it discovers to us a way in which sin may be pardoned, and yet sinners be saved. The gospel alone reveals a righteousness sufficient for this purpose. The gospel is also the ministration of righteousness, because it enjoins and secures the practice of righteousness among men.

II. That contrasted with the law as the ministration of death, the Gospel is the ministration of the Spirit. The Christian as contrasted with the Jewish dispensation may be called the ministration of the Spirit, not only on account of its more spiritual nature, and as containing the spirit and substance of ancient rites and figures, but chiefly because it is distinguished by the clearer revelation of the Divine Spirit, and the more abundant communications of His influence to the children of men. Let us, then, attend to the surpassing glory of the gospel in this view. We have already seen that the law, which is the ministration of death, made no effectual provision for the justification of transgressors; and as little did it provide for their sanctification. All precepts, and threatenings, and promises, were insufficient for this purpose, without the quickening and renewing influence of the Holy Ghost. How refulgent, then, the glory of the gospel, when we consider that the Spirit, of whom it testifies, is Himself the eternal Jehovah! Under the ministration of the Spirit, how marvellous the success which attended the preaching of the apostles, amidst the combined opposition of earth and hell! Still farther, under the ministration of the Spirit the Church has been preserved in succeeding ages, since the apostles days to the present time. Finally, under the ministration of the Spirit, and by His benign influence, the Church throughout succeeding generations shall become gradually more enlightened, and sanctified, and enlarged. Is such, then, the glory of the gospel?

1. What an unspeakable honour is conferred upon those who are allowed to be the ministers of it!

2. Again, is such the glory of the gospel; how inestimable is your privilege? The Lord has not dealt so with every people. Blessed are your eyes, for they see, and your ears, for they hear, what many prophets and righteous men desired to see and to hear but were not permitted.

3. Still farther, is such the glory of the gospel? Let its ministers learn to be more and more faithful and earnest in declaring and recommending it.

4. Let me beseech you who attend on our ministrations to consider, that in proportion to the glory of the gospel must be the condemnation of those who do not esteem and improve it.

5. Once more, is the gospel the ministration of the Spirit? Let us all be solicitous to experience His saving influence on our own souls; and let us be earnest also for the communications of His grace to others. (D. Dickson.)

The ministrations of law and gospel

I. The law was a ministration of death, but nevertheless it was glorious.

1. There must ever enter into our thought on matters of religion continued reference to the unchangeableness of God. If we were setting ourselves to scrutinize the arrangements of a finite, and therefore changeable agent; if we found that at one time he had given a law to his inferiors which worked out their death, and that afterwards he had sent forth another law which allowed of their life, we might conclude that he had, in the first instance, been making an experiment, and that, warned by its failure, he had turned himself to a new course of treatment. But we must not so reason in regard of God. He knew perfectly well when He issued the law that it would prove a ministration of death. And if the law and the gospel had been altogether detached, there would have existed great cause for marvel at Gods appointing a ministration of death. But when it is remembered that the law was introductory to the gospel, so that the covenant of works literally made way for the covenant of grace, all surprise ought to vanish. From the earliest moment of human apostasy, Gods dealing with the fallen had always reference to the work of atonement. Though by itself the law was a ministration of death, yet those who live under it were not necessarily left to die. Know we not that whilst this legal dispensation was in the fulness of its strength, there passed many an Israelite into the kingdom of heaven? We carry you to the scenes of temple-worship, and bid you learn from the emblematical announcement of redemption that no man died because living under the ministration of death; but that, even whilst the moral law was unrepealed, as a covenant it could weigh no one down to perdition who looked onward to the long-promised sacrifice.

2. But while the Divine goodness in the appointment of a ministration of death is thus vindicated, the law was actually a ministration of death. Could man, with all his industry, obey truly the moral law? If not, then the ministration of the law must have been a ministration of death, seeing, that if it cannot be fulfilled, it must unavoidably condemn. You shall take the Crucifixion as an answer to all questioning on the law being aught else than a ministration of death. Why, if man had a capacity for working out by his own strivings obedience to the law, and he could win to himself a crown of glory--why did Divinity throw itself into humanity, and achieve, through the wondrous coalition, the mastery over death, and Satan, and hell?

2. Though the law was thus a ministration of death, it was nevertheless glorious. It was mainly as a consequence of its own perfection that the law proved a minister of death. Had the law been a defective law, constructed so as to be adapted to the weakness of the parties on whom it was imposed, and not to the attributes of Him from whom it proceeded, it is altogether supposable that the result might not have been the condemnation of mankind. But if a law had been constructed which man could have obeyed, would it have been glorious? You tell me, in the fact of its being a practical and saving law, and allowing the wretched to work out deliverance from their wretchedness. Then it is glory that the law should make loop-holes for offenders, in case of being a rampart against offences; while the whole of the universe must have been shaken at Gods overlooking of sin. We say not, it was glory that man should perish; but we do say it was glorious that the moral law was the transcript of the Divine mind.

II. The gospel as the ministration of the Spirit; and as, therefore, far exceeding the law in its glory.

1. The ministration of the Spirit is set in antithesis to the ministration of death. The great work which Christ effected was the procurement of life to those who were dead in trespasses and sins. We are legally dead--because born under the sentence of eternal condemnation--and we are morally dead, because insensible to our condition; and, if insensible, totally unable to reanimate ourselves. The legal death the Mediator may be said to have annihilated, for He bore our sins in His own body on the tree; and the moral death-for the destruction of this He made the amplest provision, procuring for us, by the merits of His passion, the Holy Spirit, the Lord and Giver of life.

2. The gospel in its every department is a ministration of righteousness, and therefore of spiritual life. It is the mightiest display of Gods righteousness. Where has God equally shown His hatred of sin, His settled determination to wring its punishment from the impenitent? It is a system, moreover, whose grand feature is the application to man of the righteousness of Christ; Christ is made unto us of God, wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption, and therefore is He our life. And this gospel, moreover, while displaying a perfect righteousness which must be wrought for us, insists peremptorily on a righteousness which must be wrought in us by Gods Spirit--the ministration of the Spirit thus making our own holiness, though it can obtain nothing in the way of merit, indispensably necessary in the way of preparation. (H. Melvill, B. D.)

The dispensations of the law and gospel compared

I. The law was glorious.

1. The perfection of the moral law was a favourite subject with the saints of old (Neh_9:13; Psa_19:7). But this glory, as regards God, made it to man, if he rested in it, the ministration of condemnation. It set before men a perfect rule of conduct, and therefore required more than fallen man could fulfil. Yet it pronounced a curse upon all who did not perfectly answer to its demands (Gal_3:10; Rom_3:19-20; Rom_7:9-11).

2. But the ceremonial law is also glorious, not in itself, but as it borrowed light from the gospel and prefigured it. Whereas the moral law doomed all under it to death, the ceremonial taw gave them some faint indications of mercy. The ceremonial law, then, must be greatly inferior to the gospel, inasmuch as Christ is the substance of all its types and shadows. Since He is come it has lost its glory. It is chiefly useful to show the necessity of atonement.

II. Wherein consists the glory of the gospel?

1. It is a republication of the moral law; therefore, what glory the law has the gospel has likewise. But it possesses far higher glory, inasmuch as it is the ministration of righteousness. As the law denounces all who rest upon it as a covenant of works to death, so the gospel, by its gift of righteousness, conveys life to all who receive it in faith. The law shows the holiness of God, and is therefore glorious, but the gospel shows the holiness, justice, and mercy of God in an inconceivable degree by the very method in which it freely dispenses righteousness, and therefore it is transcendently glorious.

2. It is superior to the law, as it is the ministration of the Spirit, who is the life and soul of the whole system. We may descant about the righteousness of Christ, and the demands of the perfect law, but we never could have attained to that righteousness unless the Spirit of God had been likewise bestowed, to write these truths in our hearts, and to bring home these doctrines with power.

Conclusion:

1. As regards the law--

(1) Do not neglect it by taking up your own rule of life, such as the customs of men and worldly maxims afford. The law of God is the only rule of duty (Mat_19:17), and is still our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ.

(2) Do not abuse it by looking to be saved by your own obedience to its commands.

2. As regards the gospel--

(1) Do not neglect it. It is Gods method of saving sinners; His mercy now flows in this one channel; if you seek His mercy in any other way, you will find yourselves in an evil case (Thessalonians 1:8).

(2) Do not abuse it. Remember that while Christ came to provide forgiveness, He came also to purify to Himself a peculiar people zealous of good works. (H. J. Hastings, M. A.)

The two ministrations

Why should the law be described as the ministration of death or the ministration of condemnation? Are not the terms unnecessarily harsh? Do they not suggest a false idea of the dignity of law? My first object is to defend a negative answer to this inquiry. The very fact of penal law being established presupposes either power or disposition to do that which is wrong. The simplest of illustrations shall bring the meaning of the assertion, that law defines and limits liberty, within the comprehension of a child. For a length of time you have been in the habit of regarding certain fields as common property; again and again you have struck your course across them to shorten or vary a journey. The idea that you were trespassing never occurred to you. So far as you knew there was no law whatever in the case. In process of time, however, the proprietor determines to assert his right to his own land. With this end in view he gives public intimation that all persons found upon his property will be dealt with as trespassers. He proclaims a law. He sets up in his field a ministration of condemnation. From that hour the whole question of your liberty undergoes a fundamental change. Yet, why should the law be designated the ministration of condemnation and the ministration of death? When the law is based on rectitude, what possible relation can it sustain to death or condemnation? All punishment stands on the plane of death. Death, absolutely so called, is the ultimate penalty; but the very gentlest blow, nay, the very shadow of a frown, is death in incipiency; that is to say, it belongs to the kingdom of death, and not in any sense to the kingdom of life; death is in the penalty as truly as the plant is in the seed. That law is correctly designated the ministration of condemnation, and the ministration of death, may be shown by another simple illustration. Let me suppose that as heads of houses you had not for a long time felt the necessity of requiring all the members of your households to be at home by a fixed hour. In the working of your family life, however, you find it necessary to determine an hour at which every child shall be with you. To that effect you proclaim your law. In process of events, I further suppose, one of your children is a mile off when the well-known hour strikes. What is the consequence in his own experience? He hears stroke after stroke without alarm, until, alas! the legal hour is pealed off. How that stroke shakes him! how reproachful the shivering tone! A week before he could have heard the same hour strike, and nothing would have alarmed him. He now feels that the law is the ministration of condemnation. He says, I am late; I should have been at home; my fathers eye will reprove me; I had not known sin but by the law, for I had not known irregularity in time, except the law had said, Thou shalt be punctual. Take the worlds first case of law. There was law in the Edenic life. There was a Thou shalt not in the programme of the worlds first experience of manhood, and over it fell the shadow of threatened death. Liberty was made liberty by law. Up to the very moment of touching the forbidden fruit, Adam knew not what was meant by the ministration of condemnation but the moment after, how vast his knowledge! The law said nothing to Adam of condemnation until he had broken it. So long as he kept the law he knew nothing of death, except by Observation. Fools are they who cavil because Adam did not physically expire. Is death a question of frozen marrow? Every man knows the killing power of sin. In darkness you have done some deed of iniquity. Your heart condemns you. When you come forward to the light, you feel yourself dead, your moral vitality is gone. Another inquiry is now suggested. Under circumstances so appalling, how can the ministration of condemnation be said to be glory?--for that is the royal word of the text. I answer, the glory is not in the condemnation and the death, except in the immediate connection with the law. That there is glory in law is open to decisive demonstration. The establishment of law implies authority on the part of the lawgiver. Law is the declared will of the superior. How is it amongst ourselves? Does the servant give law to the master, or the master to the servant? By whose authority is the table of regulations put up in all your great hives of industry? I repeat, then, that law implies authority on the part of the lawgiver. Carry these illustrations forward to the case argued in the text, then the glory will at once kindle upon us, and, like the children of Israel, we shall need the protecting veil. Recall the dread days of Sinai. Almighty God alights, and the mountain shudders at His presence. Every utterance of the eternal mind must have its own peculiar glory; alike the utterance designed to produce physical results and the utterance intended to operate in the moral kingdom: each shines with a glory distinctively its own, and in proportion as the moral is superior to the physical, so does the glory of the one exceed the glory of the other. When, therefore, I contemplate the dread issue of an infraction of Gods law, I can understand the apostle when he calls that law the ministration of condemnation; and as I further contemplate the sublime purpose of that law, I can understand how, upon such a ministration, there shone a glory which must have beamed from heaven! The gospel is described as the ministration of righteousness, and is affirmed to exceed in glory. In giving the law, God did not accommodate Himself to human weakness by imposing easy or elastic conditions and regulations. He declared that which was absolute in rectitude. The law rendered supremely important service to man if it did nothing more than bring him to the consciousness that he was powerless to fulfil requirements so holy. The law showed him the height to which he must ascend, and he trembled, and owned his weakness. Do we make void the law through faith? God forbid. Yea, we establish the law. The law is holy, and the commandment holy, and just, and good. The law was not designed to give life. It had but a schoolmasters work to do. There was an epoch of law; there is now an epoch of faith. Faith is younger than law; hence, before faith came, we were kept under the law, shut up into the faith which should afterwards be revealed. As the law was antecedent to faith, so also it stands in perfect contrast; the one being the ministration of condemnation, the other the ministration of righteousness. Yet what is meant by asserting that the law was antecedent to the gospel? I mean antecedent merely in the order of open manifestation. The promise that Christ should come into the world takes precedence of all other promises. The Lamb was slain before the foundation of the world. Love is from everlasting, law is but of yesterday; law is for a season, love is for ever;law is a transient flame, love an eternal orb. Sublime beyond full comprehension is the fact that the gospel is the ministration of righteousness. Those who exercise repentance towards God and faith in our Lord Jesus Christ are not merely pardoned; that would be much--infinitely more, indeed, than the law could ever do--but they are made righteous, they are cleansed, they are sanctified, they are transformed into the image of God. Law had no blood in its iron hand to apply to the depraved and guilty nature of man. It is impossible that law could forgive, law only can condemn. Here is the moral contrast in all its breadth. The law is weak, the gospel is mighty; the law touches the outer man, the gospel penetrates the heart. The ministration of righteousness exceeds the ministration of condemnation in glory. This is in strict harmony with Gods general method of government. He never goes from the greater to the less, but ever from the less to the greater. We thought nothing could exceed the splendour of Sinai, yet it was eclipsed by the transcendent magnificence of Calvary. The law was veiled under types and shadows, but the Son of God has been crucified before our eyes. The exceeding glory of the gospel, then, is seen in this, that while it comes to condemn sin, it also comes to destroy its power, and save those whom it has brought into bondage. The gospel has no word of pity for sin, or of extenuation for error, but it melts with infinite compassion as it yearns over the sinner. The law never had a loving word for the transgressor--it was stern, inflexible, rigorous. Some are endeavouring to reach heaven through obedience to the law. Are you wiser than God? Is the atonement a mistake? A man passes from one ministration to another, and so is brought nearer and nearer to God, we should remind ourselves that the advancing ages multiply our responsibilities. We cannot live under the exceeding glory without incurring proportionate obligations. (J. Parker, D. D.)

Divine revelation more glorious in Christ than in Moses

Note three facts in the context--

1. The infinite Father has made a special revelation to man. This is a fact answering to the a priori reasonings and intuitions of humanity.

2. That this special revelation has mainly come through two great general sources--Moses and Christ.

3. That while the essence of the revelation is the same, the forms differ, and the forms it assumes through Christ are most glorious.

I. This special revelation as it came through Moses was glorious. Note--

1. The wonderful display of Divinity attending the expression of it on Mount Sinai. The apostle seems to have had an eye to this in his reference to the supernatural brightness that rested on the face of Moses (Exo_34:29-30). What wonderful things did Moses hear and see during the forty days he was up on that mountain! What overwhelming display of glory there must have been when from His hand went a fiery law! (Exo_19:1-25; Exo_20:1-26; Heb_12:18-22).

2. The magnificence of its religious scenes and celebrations. The temple, how splendid in its architecture, materials, and furniture! The priesthood, how imposing in their costume and their services! The psalmody, how sublime! etc. Glorious things are spoken of the city of the living God.

3. The stupendous miracles that stand in connection with it. The wilderness was the theatre of great wonders.

4. The splendid intellects which were employed in connection with it. The philosophy of Solomon, the poetry of David, the eloquence of Isaiah, the imagery of Ezekiel, the strains of Jeremiah, etc. Divine revelation, as it stands hi connection with Moses, is associated with the most brilliant of human geniuses.

II. This special revelation is more glorious as it appears in connection with Christ.

1. The Christian form of Divine revelation is more adapted to give life than the Mosaic. Compare the effect of the words of the revelation as it came from Christ, addressed by Peter on the day of Pentecost, to the moral effect of the preaching of any of the prophets under the law, and you will find that the one may justly be called a ministration of death as compared with the other.

2. The Christian form of Divine revelation is more emphatically spirit than the Mosaic. It is called here the ministration of the spirit. There was much spirit in the Mosaic; but Christianity throbs through every sentence with the eternal spirit of truth. Then, too, the smaller amount of the spirit in the Mosaic was so overlaid with ceremony that it was almost buried out of sight; whereas the greater amount of the spirit of truth in connection with Christianity is stripped almost entirely of ceremony. Baptism and the Lords Supper are all.

3. The Christian form of Divine revelation is more restorative than the Mosaic. The apostle speaks of one as the ministration of condemnation, and the other, that of righteousness. The Mosaic revelation had an aspect of terrible severity. Contrast the curses of Moses (Deu_27:15-26) with the beatitudes of Christ (Mat_5:3-12).

4. The Christian form of Divine revelation is more lasting than the Mosaic. Christianity is the final revelation of God to our world.

Conclusion: The subject serves--

1. To expose the absurdity of making Moses the interpreter of Christ.

2. To show the wrongness of going to Moses to support opinions you cannot get from Christ.

3. To reveal the immense responsibility of men living in gospel times.

4. To indicate the serious position of a true minister. (D. Thomas, D. D.)

The glory of the gospel

Note--

I. The description of the law.

1. The ministration of condemnation.

2. The ministration of death. Its sentence is a death sentence. The soul that sinneth, it shall die. Now from the execution of this sentence the law provides no resource. Sacrifices for sin, it is true, were provided raider the Mosaic dispensation; but they were merely typical of that great sacrifice for sin, which was to form a part of another and more glorious dispensation. It is not possible that the blood of bulls and of goats should take away sins.

II. The description of the gospel.

1. It is the ministration of righteousness, because it provides for the believing sinner a complete satisfaction for the offences he has committed against the law of God, and an obedience perfectly commensurate with its demands, and so saves him from condemnation and death.

2. It is the ministration of Spirit, because of the great outpouring of the Spirit with which it commenced, and the abundant communication of the same Spirit with which it has ever since been attended.

III. The superior glory of the gospel above that of the law. The Jewish dispensation was glorious. It bad a glorious Author. Its object was glorious, viz., to unfold the infinite justice, purity, and majesty of God. It was published in a glorious manner. But, notwithstanding all this, the glory of the law sinks into nothing when compared with the gospel. The names which are here applied to the law and the gospel show us at once the propriety of this language. But the superior glory of the gospel may be made clear by other considerations.

1. It offers greater blessings to man than were offered by the law. The Mosaic dispensation had a reference principally to the present life, and most of its promises were temporal promises. The gospel places within our reach a share of that very joy which satisfies the Redeemer for the travail of His soul.

2. It offers these blessings more extensively. The promises of the law were confined to one nation, and even of this nation it was but a little remnant that inherited the spiritual benefits of the dispensation under which they lived. The blessings of the gospel, on the contrary, are thrown open to all the world.

3. It has a greater influence on the hearts of men. The law had no power to touch the heart, and to cause men to love and obey it. The gospel, on the contrary, was no sooner published than it made glorious changes in the characters and lives of multitudes who embraced it.

4. It has a glory which will last for ever.

5. It is a brighter display of the Divine law.

Conclusion:

1. How honourable an office is that of a minister of Christ!

2. How great is the privilege which we enjoy in living under the dispensation of the gospel!

3. How great a debt of gratitude and praise does every Christian owe to his crucified Lord!

4. How unwise are they who hope for pardon and salvation on the ground of their partial obedience to the law of God!

5. How ignorant are they of the gospel of Christ who make the influence of the Spirit the object of their scorn!

6. How anxiously should every hearer of the gospel desire that it may be made the ministration of the Spirit to himself, that he may experience its softening and purifying influence in his own heart! (C. Bradley, M. A.)

The glory of the gospel

I. The character of the Mosaic dispensation.

1. Sensuous.

2. Stationary.

3. Artificial.

4. Transitory.

5. Shadowy.

6. Dangerous.

II. The excellent glory of the gospel.

1. Spiritual.

2. Progressive.

3. Intrinsic.

4. Immortal.

5. Luminous.

6. Inviting. (W. W. Wythe.)

The gospel is

I. A ministration of the spirit. It was foretold that it should be so. The days come when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel, etc. Then, respecting Him who is the head of the new dispensation, His holy body was the immediate product of the Holy Ghost, at His baptism the Holy Spirit like a dove descended upon Him, His ministry was conducted by the power of the Spirit, He spake to the apostles of the Holy Ghost, and the last thing He said to them on earth was, that they should wait for the promise of the Spirit. On the day of Pentecost it was fulfilled. And whatever light and grace and purity there has been in the Church from that day to this has been by the same influence and power. What, then, was the ministry of Moses, compared with that economy at the head of which appeared Jesus Christ with this great title--He that baptized with the Holy Spirit and with fire?

II. A ministration of righteousness.

III. A ministration of life. The first Adam was made a living soul, the second a quickening spirit. We were dead in trespasses and sins, but we are said to be quickened. Christ hath abolished death, and hath brought life and immortality to light through the gospel.

IV. A ministry of plainness (verses 12, 13),that is, clearness of manifestation--not the obscurity of a type--not the difficulty of a prediction. All the gospel is as plain as language can make it. And having the light and plainness of the instruction of the N.T., the writers speak with confidence; they say, We know whom we have believed, etc.

V. A dispensation treat is to abide. Of the increase of His government there shall be no end. (J. Stratten.)

How shall not the ministration of the Spirit be rather glorious?--

The ministration of the Spirit

Who does not yearn over the long-lost joys of his boyhood--the light heart, the game, the holiday, and the prize? And yet we think manhood a nobler thing even with the wrinkles on its brow. Who does not long for the simple faith of his early years? Yet those who have gone through the agonies of honest doubt know that the faith which can survive such a test is worth more than that which never suffered a pang. The springing corn with its emerald glow of fresh young life is glorious; but the rich harvest is rather glorious. A scaffolding is sometimes a thing of beauty, but the building which it surrounds deprives it of permanent interest. There is a disposition to praise the good old times; yet no man of competent mind can say that the times of limited education, restricted commerce, slow transit and spiritual despotism were better than these. There is, however, and always has been this conservative tendency, and the Church has never been freed from it. Even in the days of Paul there were Gentile Christians whose very Christ had come to them so dressed up in Jewish garments that they were anxious to retain as much as possible of the older dispensation. So Paul had to reassert here the spiritual nature of the gospel he had been the first to proclaim at Corinth. In order to understand the ministration of the Spirit--

I. Contrast spirit with body.

1. If we see several things united to each other by some secret bond, and subserving some secret purpose, we speak of them as a body, and that purpose as their uniting spirit. So a company of individuals instinct with a common idea are spoken of as bodies of men, and their common object as the spirit which actuates them. This arises, doubtless, from our consciousness that we are ourselves compounds of many parts over which a presiding spirit rules. Paul often speaks of the Church under this image--it is the Body of Christ inhabited by His Spirit.

2. Under the old dispensation a similar body grew up, and the religion of Moses, Samuel and Solomon, might be termed a ministration of the body. It consisted of innumerable regulations for the external management of the individual and the community. But the prejudices of the Jews led them to suppose that the body was of more consequence than the spirit; and directly the body considers itself the chief end of existence, the spirit is impaired. The man who sinks into such a condition becomes a morbid valetudinarian, a slave of his poor body; the institution thus perverted becomes obstructive of the end that called it into existence; and the Church that does so quenches the Spirit of God. When the Spirit works upon us we can never rest satisfied with the most careful attention to the most venerable rubric, but shall be moved to live a Divine life.

3. We have many institutions and societies, the body of which has sprung into existence under the direction of the Spirit. In proportion as they are imbued with that Spirit, they are parts of His scheme of mercy for a ruined world. But if we in our vanity make our own sanctuary or schools, organisations, church principles, etc., ends rather than means we deplete them of all their power.

II. Contrast the spirit with the letter.

1. Take any word--of what does it consist? Of a few strokes in themselves, utterly unmeaning. Pronounce the word? It is a sound having no meaning in itself. You and others agree to represent certain ideas by that word; but there is no necessary connection between the word and the meaning; for the same word may convey ideas utterly dissimilar to different people or nations. Thus though the letter has great value, it is transitory, accidental, liable to change; but the thing connoted, or the spirit conveyed may have an undying worth.

2. We speak of the letter and the spirit of a law or a testament. The one may be observed while the other is violated. Often has the letter of the Divine law been kept, while its spirit has been trifled with, and vice versa. A Divine spirit penetrated the rules of the O.T. dispensation; the spirit of that covenant has been ministered afresh in the gospel, but the letter in which it has been conveyed by Moses and Christ has widely differed.

(1) At one time the nation and government of Israel was the form in which Gods love and providence were made known to the world; but now the holy nation is found wherever hearts beat with childlike love to God.

(2) So the spirit of sacrifice was seen in the thank and burnt-offerings; but while the mode of expressing this is changed the spirit is not lost.

(3) The idea of holiness--separation to Divine use--was traced out in a marvellous detail, which has been for the most part superseded; yet the gospel puts holiness on an even higher elevation, exhibits it to our view in an embodiment of its loftiest perfection, and assures us that the same Spirit that was given to Christ is sent forth into our hearts.

III. The contrast between the spirit and the flesh, i.e., the dwelling in us of a living Christ, overpowering both the lower and more cultivated passions by Christlike and heavenly longings--the quickening of our whole spiritual being and alliance with God Himself. Now we must not forget that the ministration of the flesh, i.e., all that man has been able to achieve unaided by the Divine Spirit, has been in some respects glorious. There is an appalling grandeur in the efforts of men. The daring of Prometheus, the wisdom of Confucius, the conscience of Socrates, the mental affluence of Aristotle, the insight of Plato, the self-sacrifice of Buddha--still all this has no glory by reason of the glory that excelleth. The spirit soars into a region where the flesh in its most refined form cannot penetrate; it deals with problems that science cannot solve, and induces in human nature a new series of forces transcending reason, satisfying conscience, glorifying God.

IV. The contrast between the ministration of death and that of the spirit.

1. The ministration of the body was a ministration of that which is perishable and must die, and hence it is a ministration of death. The ministration of the flesh is a ministration of that which has no real vitality in it, and hence it, too, is a ministration of death. The ministration of the letter of the law was a ministration of threatening and destruction. But the ministration of the Spirit is eternal.

2. The whole of the ministration of death had a glory of its own. The Lord of life employed it to teach mankind lessons of life and happiness; but as sunrise is more glorious than the sublimity of the midnight storm, and the dayspring than the dazzle of the lightning, and the smile of spring than the magnificence of iceberg or desert mirage, so does the ministration of righteousness exceed in glory all the ministration of death. (H. R, Reynolds, D. D.)

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

2Co 3:7-8. But — The apostle having signified that he and the other true servants of Christ were intrusted with the ministry of the new covenant, in opposition to the old, proceeds now to show the great superiority of their dispensation to that which had preceded it. This he does in three important particulars. If the ministration of death, written and engraven in stones — That is, the Mosaic dispensation, the most important part of which was engraven on two tables of stone, and which proved a ministration of death to those who preferred it to the gospel, and which still subjects such to death, pronouncing an awful curse upon all that in any respect violate it; was glorious — Was attended with a signal and undeniable glory, a glory even reflected on the face of its minister, in such a degree that the Israelites could not bear steadfastly to behold the splendour of his countenance; how shall not the ministration of the Spirit — The Christian dispensation, under which the Holy Spirit, in his gifts and graces, is much more largely communicated than it was under the law; be rather glorious — Since the operations and graces of the Spirit of God in the heart of a rational being are so much more important than any dead characters which could be engraven on insensible stones. To be a little more particular: — The law, even the best part of it, that engraven on stones, is here properly termed the ministration of death — Because, 1st, It condemned wilful transgressors in certain cases, (as sabbath-breakers, adulteresses, and those disobedient to parents,) to temporal death; so that they died without mercy under two or three witnesses attesting their guilt, Heb 10:28. nding all dead, or doomed to die, temporally, it had no resurrection to announce or promise. 3d, Spiritual, as well as temporal death, having entered into the world by the first great transgression, and all being involved therein, namely, destitute of the favour of God, (which is life, Psa 30:5,) of union with him, and a spiritual mind, (Rom 8:6,) it could not quicken them, or make them alive to God. Its sacrifices could not procure men God’s forfeited favour, much less assure them of it. Its precepts, through men’s inability to keep them, could not introduce them to union with him, and its carnal ordinances and worldly promises could not render them spiritually minded. Thus the letter, that external, emblematical, and shadowy dispensation, killed such as adhered to it, and rejected the gospel; but the Spirit giveth life. As the Spirit of God is the grand promise of the new covenant, (see Isa 44:3; Isa 59:21; Joe 2:28; Joh 7:37-38,) so by this the gospel doctrines, precepts, and promises, are made spirit and life to us; repentance unto life and living faith are begotten in us, the favour of God is manifested, and union with God imparted, productive of a spiritual mind, which is life and peace.

Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

THE VAIL OF MOSES

2Co 3:7-16.

Moses was the mediator of the old covenant of works, and hence a representative of Christ, who had not yet come in the flesh, and though on earth from the beginning of the mediatorial kingdom, yet never visible to human senses till after He was born in Bethlehem. However, He was real and manifest to human spirits in the days of the patriarchs, just as the children of Israel realized the personal presence of Moses when he covered his face with a vail, though they could not see his face. The vail was pertinent for the mediator while excarnate, and as Moses represented Christ before incarnation, when yet invisible, he must also be invisible, covering his face with a vail as his body was covered with his mantle, so that his entire person was in a sense invisible. And yet how exceedingly real to all Israel was the personal presence of Moses, even though covered from the contact of their senses. Hence we must not conclude that Jehovah (for this was the Old Testament name of Christ) was not manifested to the patriarchs. He was intensely real to them, as Moses was to Israel, even though he had a vail upon his face. This symbolism vividly represents the justified and sanctified experiences contrastively, while in both we realize the presence of our blessed Mediator. In the former, which is normal to the Mosaic dispensation, we are delighted with His presence, but conscious that there is an intervening vail somewhere, like the worshiper in the outer court of the temple separated from the effulgent glory of the Shekinah by the intervening vail. Yet he is assured that Jehovah in His glory is very nigh. He is no pagan, groping amid the mummeries of heathen priests, talking to dead gods who never give them an intelligent answer. While he is delighted with the privilege of worshipping Jehovah in his sanctuary, he longs to pass beyond that veil, and stand amid the clear effulgence of the glorious Shekinah, and meet Jehovah face to face. In the new dispensation the priesthood is transferred to the membership (1 Peter 2), the justified experience constituting you a priest and permitting you to offer sacrifices in the sanctuary; while sanctification rends the vail from top to bottom, so you have nothing to do but push it aside by the hand of faith, walk in, enjoy the worship of the cherubim, and abide amid the unutterable splendors of the Shekinah, flooded with the delectable realization of Jehovah’s presence. Hence, in this beautiful symbolism of Moses with a vail on his face, so that the children of Israel can not immediately behold his person and see him face to face, yet they are indubitably conscious of his presence. Now, do not forget that Moses, in his mediatorship, does not represent himself, but Christ; hence we see that the justified experience reveals Jesus to the senses beyond the possibility of doubt, yet there is a vail intervening But this vail is taken away in sanctification, which is normal to the new dispensation.

7. “And if the ministry of death, having been engraven in writing in the stones, was in glory, so that the sons of Israel were not able to look upon the face of Moses on account of the glory of his countenance, which is transitory,

8. “How much more shall the ministry of the Spirit be in glory?” Why is the ministry of the old covenant, i. e., justification, called the “ministry of death”? Because it means the death of the sinner, i. e., old Adam, who in justification is arrested and bound as a prisoner awaiting execution. Here Paul calls this ministry of death “transitory.” Why? Because it does not take long to kill a man. This ministry arrests the man of sin, and holds him for execution at the hands of the man of grace. Hence this ministry of death is superseded by the ministry of the Spirit. Why? Because the Holy Ghost slays Adam the first, thus putting an end to the ministry of death.

9. “For if the ministry in condemnation was in glory, how much more shall the ministry of right abound in glory.

10. “For that which was glorious became not glorious in this respect on account of the surpassing glory.

11. “For if the transitory is through glory, how much more is that which abides in glory?” The mediatorship of Moses was in its very nature transitory, as he was destined to be superseded by Christ, who is to abide forever. Yet you must not lose sight of the Antitype in the contemplation of any of these types, as that is the point where idolatry comes in and they proceed to the worship of types and symbols; but you must bear in mind that Christ was as real in the Old Testament as in the New, otherwise none could have been saved, for Moses had no more power to save a soul than I have, and God out of Christ is a consuming fire. John the Baptist said,

“I am the voice of one crying in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the Lord, and make His paths straight” (Mat 3:3).

John here means Christ, and if you will read his quotation from Isaiah, you will find he says “Jehovah.” Hence the Christ of John is the “Jehovah” of Isaiah. Paul says,

“Some of them tempted Christ and were destroyed by serpents” (1Co 10:19).

Hence you see the Christ of Paul is the Jehovah of Moses. By these two unimpeachable witnesses you see I prove the identity of Christ and Jehovah. Therefore, throughout the Old Testament, Jehovah means none other than the excarnate Christ. So they all had Christ with them, omnipotent to save from the days of Abel till the last trumpet sounds. Now you see in these Scriptures Paul calls this the ministry of condemnation, which is true throughout the gospel of justification, normal to the ministry of Moses, because justification condemns old Adam to die. The sheriff has a writ of prosecution against your house. You have the murderer on hand, taking care of him and feeding him. The only way you can save your own neck is to turn over that murderer to the sheriff for execution under the law, which says, “The soul that sinneth, it shall die.” Hence you are never justified till you actually assign old Adam’s death warrant. As here it says that the Mosaic dispensation was transitory, so your justification is really a transitory state, destined soon to wind up with the execution of Adam the first. These Scriptures clearly refute the possible conception of settlement and permanency in the justified experience, which in its very nature is transitory. Now Paul says that this ministry of condemnation (i. e., the condemnation of the sin-principle to execution) is glorious, but that glory is in its very nature transitory, and destined to wind up with the ministry of the Spirit, who supersedes Moses, the law-giver, and hence the representative of the law. But you must remember that the law can do nothing but define the offense and condemn the criminal. The law is a light revealing sin. A dozen rattlesnakes may be in this room unseen by the inmates because there is no light. When the light comes it reveals the venomous monsters, but has no power to kill a single one of them. So Moses the law-giver has no power to slay Adam the first. There is glory in his ministry of condemnation, because, pursuant to truth and righteousness, it condemns the man of sin to die. This ministry n its very nature is transitory, because it is verified and passes away when the criminal is executed. Hence the glory of justification consists in arresting the man of sin and holding him a prisoner for execution and turning him over into the hands of the Executive, who is none other than the Holy Ghost, the Omnipotent Spirit of Christ. Now when Adam the first is turned over to the Holy Ghost for execution, we pass triumphantly into the ministry of the Spirit. Why do I say triumphantly? Because the vexed problem is now gone out of our hands. The Omnipotent Spirit takes charge of our old enemy, who has given us all the trouble we ever had. Truly our victory has come. We need not trouble ourselves about what He has done with him. We know that He will never let him trouble us any more. As the law under Moses has already condemned him to die, and the Holy Ghost, the Executive of the law, has taken him into hand, of course there is nothing left for us to do but to reckon him dead (Rom 6:11), and raise the shout of triumph. Since this is no transitory affair, victory has come, and come to stay. Well does Paul here say that the transcendent glory normal to the ministry of the Spirit, which comes to abide, actually eclipses all the glory normal to the ministry of condemnation, which was destined to be transitory, passing away with the execution of Adam the first and superseded by the transcendent glory normal to the ministry of the Spirit, who not only executes Adam the first (Rom 6:6), but abides forever, filling the soul and life with glory ineffable. Hence we see the egregious folly on the part of anyone to abide in the justified state. He is committing the awful blunder of the Jews who held on to Moses, refusing to let him go into eclipse when Christ came. Moses was all right in his dispensation, but utterly effete and unsatisfactory after the expiration of his dispensation. The present Holiness Movement is destined to play a conspicuous part in the Judgment Day. When the Jews rejected Christ they plunged headlong into darkness, and have been sinking deeper into infidelity and atheism ever since. The same was true when the Roman Catholic Church rejected the light of the Lutheran Reformation. Before that day there were many bright lights and celebrated saints adorning her ranks, such as Augustine, Bernard, and a host of others. God raised up. Luther and his compeers to lead them into brighter light and better experiences. They rejected them with contempt, and have been sinking into blacker darkness, deeper debauchery and were terrible diabolism ever since. The same is true of the Episcopal Church ever since she rejected the light God gave her in the Wesleyan Holiness Movement. The present movement is not local, like that of Luther in Germany, Knox in Scotland and Wesley in England, but it is moving with the tread of a giant through every nation under Heaven, as her fire-baptized missionaries are now penetrating the hitherto unexplored regions of Hoonan, Thibet, in Eastern Asia, and the Soudan and Congo regions of Central Africa, as well as South America, the islands of the sea and all other nations, girdling the globe with salvation and holiness to the Lord. The saddest scene on which the angels look down is the rejection of the Holiness gospel by the Protestant churches, thus marking a notable epoch in their history, destined to astonish millions when we all stand before the great white throne. They have no idea of giving up their justification, yet they are everywhere doing this very thing, from the simple fact that it is utterly impossible to hold it after they reject sanctification. You have turned over the man of sin to the civil authorities for execution. You still have him on hand, a prisoner on your premises. The day of hanging has arrived and the sheriff comes after him. If you do not surrender him up to execution your loyalty is at once suspected, impeached, and ere long forfeited. You are like the Jews who held on to Moses after Christ came. God is as real in the church of the world today as when He flamed in the bush before Moses in the wilderness. I most obviously and unmistakably see to my sorrow the sad retreat of all the Protestant churches back into darkness and condemnation. It is because they reject sanctification.

13. “And not as Moses put a vail on his face, so that the sons of Israel could not see to the end of the transitory.” While in the justified experience this vail is on our face, so we do not see the glorious end of this transitory experience, when the man of sin is executed and we are sanctified wholly.

14. “But their minds were darkened.” The Jews could not clearly apprehend Christ till He came incarnate; hitherto their conceptions were more or less shadowy and vague. “For unto this day this same vail remains in the reading of the Old Testament, not taken away because it is done away in Christ.” We have this day thousands of witnesses to this fact. I preached fifteen years in the dispensation of Moses with that vail on my face, while reading my Bible so that I enjoyed no distinct vision, but a vague panorama like the fugitive scenes of a magic lantern moved before my eyes. Thirty years ago, when the Holy Ghost revealed Jesus to my spirit sitting on the throne of my heart, crowned and sceptered, King of kings and Lord of lords, ruling within and without and making my life a constant sunshine, what a light and a glory rolled over the inspired pages! Before that day I had never given a Bible reading, was utterly incompetent to do it. Oh, how wonderfully the blessed Holy Spirit has revealed to my happy soul His precious Word! The reason you find none but the Holiness people making any progress in Bible study is here solved, as they alone behold the living Word in clear and cloudless light, all justified people reading it with a vail over their faces, and the wicked neglecting it altogether.

15. “But unto this day, when Moses is read, the vail is upon their heart, but when he may turn to the Lord the vail is taken away —

William B. Godbey, Commentary on the New Testament (1896–1900) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

3:7-11 The old covenant had its moments of glory, such as when Moses’ face . . . shone from his communion with the Lord (Exod 34:29-35). • The old way has been replaced by the new way, which is eternal (Heb 8:8-13).

Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

2Co 3:7. Ἡ διακονία, the ministry) which Moses performed.—ἐντετυπωμένη) LXX. κεκολαμμένη, Exo 32:10.—λίθοις, in stones) There were then two different tables, not of one stone. Exo 34:1: engraven in stones, is an explanation of this clause, in letters.[17]—ἘΓΕΝΉΘΗ ἘΝ ΔΌΞᾼ, obtained glory [was glorious]) γίνομαι, I become, and εἰμὶ, I am [ἔσται], 2Co 3:8, are different.—ΜῊ ΔΎΝΑΣΘΑΙ ἈΤΕΝΊΣΑΙ) Exo 34:30, ἘΦΟΒΉΘΗΣΑΝ ἘΓΓΊΣΑΙ ΑὐΤῷ.—ΜΩΫΣΈΩς, of Moses) engaged in the duties of his office.

[17] ἐν γράμμασιν, in letters. Eng. Ver. written, etc., at the beginning of 2Co 3:7.

So AC, and acc. to Lachm. G (but Tisch. makes G support γράμματι) fg Vulg. Orig. 1, 708f: 3, 498c: 4, 448a. But B and D(Λ) corrected later. γράμματι.—ED.

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

2Co_3:7. Δέ] leads on to a setting forth of the great glory of the Christian ministry, which is proved from the splendour of the ministry of Moses by a conclusion a minori ad majus.[161]

ἡ διακονία τοῦ θανάτου] i.e. the ministry conducing to the rule of death; for τὸ γράμμα ἀποκτείνει, 2Co_3:6. It is not the law itself that is meant, but the ministry of Moses, which he accomplished by bringing down to the people the tables of the law from Sinai. Rückert erroneously thinks that the whole ministry of the Levitical priesthood is meant, against which what follows is clearly decisive. The reason assigned by Rückert, that Moses as μεσίτης τῆς παλ. διαθήκης can only be treated as on a parallel with Christ, and not with the apostles, is not valid, since in the context the prevailing conception is not that of μεσίτης but that of διάκονος, and as such Moses is certainly parallel to the ministers of the new covenan.

ἐν γράμμασιν ἐντετυπ. λίθοις] A comma is not to be put after γράμμ. (Luther, Beza, Piscator, Estius, and others, including Schrader and Ewald), which would require the repetition of the article before ἐν γρ., and would make the sentence drag; but it is: which was imprinted on stones by means of letters. The death-promoting ministry of Moses was really graven on stones, in so far as the Decalogue engraven on the two tables was actually the ministerial document of Moses, as it were the registration of his office. In this case ἐν γράμμασιν is not something of an idle addition (in opposition to de Wette, who defends the reading ἐν γράμματι, and attaches it to τοῦ θανάτου), but in fact an element emphatically prefixed, in keeping with the process of argument a minori, and depicting the inferior unspiritual character. Rückert (forced by his reference to the service of the Levitical priesthood) erroneously thinks that Paul means not only the tables of the law, but the whole Pentateuch, and that he has been not quite so exact in his use of the expression (ἐντετυπ. λίθοις!).

ἐγενήθη ἐν δόξῃ] took place in splendour, was surrounded by splendour, full of splendour, see Buttmann, neut. Gram. p. 284 [E. T. 330]. Bengel says rightly: nacta est gloriam; γίνομαι fio, et εἰμὶ sum, 2Co_3:8. differunt. Comp. Fritzsche in Fritzschior. Opusc. p. 284. It relates to the external radiance, which in the intercourse with God on Sinai passed from the divine glory (Exo_24:16 to the countenance of Moses, so that he descended from the mountain with his face shining (Exo_34:29 ff.). For a Rabbinical fiction that this splendour was from the light created at the beginning of things, see Eisenmenger, Entdeckt. Judenth. I. p. 369 f. Others (Vatablus, and more recently, Flatt, Billroth, Rückert) take ἐν δόξῃ, not of that glorious radiance, but of grandeur, glory in general. So also de Wette and Hofmann. But this is opposed to the context, for in what follows it is not merely a visible proof of the δόξα which is adduced (as Rückert thinks), or a concrete representation of it (Hofmann), but the high degree (ὥστε) of the very δόξα which is meant by ἐγενήθη ἐν δόξῃ. It is said, indeed, that 2Co_3:8, where the glory spoken of is no external one, does not admit of our reference. But even in 2Co_3:8 the δόξα is an external glory (see on 2Co_3:8); and further, we have here an argument a minori ad majus, in which every reader was historically aware that the minus, the δόξα of Moses, was an external one, while as to the majus, the δόξα of the ministry of the N. T., it was self-evident that it is before the Parousia merely something ideal, a spiritual possession, and only becomes also an external reality after the Parousia (and to this 2Co_3:8 applies).

ὥστε μὴ δύνασθαι κ.τ.λ.] Philo gives the same account, Vit. Mos. p. 665 A; Exodus 34 has only: ἐφοβήθησαν ἐγγίσαι αὐτῷ, which was more precisely explained by that statemen.

διὰ τὴν δόξαν τοῦ πρ. αὐτ.] would have been in itself superfluous, but with the addition τὴν καταργ. strengthening the conclusion it has a solemn emphasis. Philo, l.c., calls this δόξα: ἡλιοειδὲς φέγγος.

τὴν καταργουμένην] Claritas illa vultus Mosis transitoria erat et modici temporis, Estius. Ex. l.c. gives us no express information of this; but 2Co_3:13 clearly shows that Paul regarded the radiance which Moses brought down from his converse with God as only temporary and gradually ceasing, which, indeed, is self-evident and correctly inferred from the renewal of the radiance on each occasion. In this passing away of that lustre,which even during its passing away was yet so great that the Israelites could not gaze fixedly on him,

Paul undoubtedly (in opposition to Hofmann) found a type of the ceasing of the Mosaic ministry (2Co_3:13); but in our present passage this is only hinted at in a preliminary way by the historical addition τ. καταργ., without the latter ceasing to belong to the historical narration. Hence the participle is not to be taken, with Vulgate, Luther, Calvin, and others, including Rückert, in a purely present sense: which yet ceases, nor in the sense of transient (Ewald), but as the imperfect participle; the transitory, which was in the act of passing away.

[161] Without doubt this whole comparison of the ministry of the New Testament with that of Moses (vv. 711), as well as the subsequent shadow which is thrown on the conduct of Moses (ver. 13), and the digression on the obstinacy of the Jews (vv. 1418), is not put forward without a special purpose, but is an indirect polemic against the Judaists. Comp. Chrysostom: ὅρα πῶς πάλιν ὑποτέμνεται τὸ φρόνημα τὸ Ἰονδαϊκόν.

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 3:7-11 . DIGRESSION ON THE MINISTRY OF THE NEW COVENANT. IT IS ( a ) MORE GLORIOUS THAN THAT OF THE OLD.

2Co 3:7 . εἰ δὲ ἡ διακονία κ . τ . λ .: but if the Ministration of Death (see 2Co 3:6 ), written, and engraven in stones, came into existence in glory, etc. The reference is to the glory on the face of Moses (see reff.) when the Tables of the Law were brought down from Mount Sinai. St. Paul argues that for two reasons the glory of the New Covenant is greater, (i.) the former διακονία was one of condemnation, the latter of righteousness (2Co 3:9 ), and (ii.) the glory of the former was only a transient gleam, while that of the latter abides for ever (2Co 3:11 ). Of the first Tables which Moses broke in anger it is said that the writing was γραφὴ Θεοῦ κεκολαμμένη ἐν τοῖς πλαξίν (Exo 32:16 ); it is merely said of the second Tables that Moses wrote upon them “the words of the Covenant, the Ten Commandments” (Exo 34:28 ). Nevertheless the tradition (see Philo, Vit. Mos. , iii., 2) was that the second Tables, like the first, were not only “written” but “engraven” ( ἐντετυπωμένη ), as the Apostle has it. ὥστε μὴ δύνασθαι κ . τ . λ .: so that the Children of Israel could not ( sc. , through fear, Exo 34:30 ) look steadfastly upon the face of Moses on account of the glory of his face, transient as it was . καταργεῖσθαι is nearly always, if not always (for 1Co 2:6 is doubtful), passive in St. Paul (Rom 6:6 ; Rom 7:2 , 1Co 13:8 ; 1Co 15:26 , Gal 5:4 ), and as it must be taken passively in 2Co 3:14 below, there is a good deal to be said for regarding it as passive here and in 2Co 3:11 ; 2Co 3:13 (as the A.V. does; note, however, that the translation “which was to be done away” in this verse is wrong). Yet the sense seems to require the middle voice “which was passing away,” sc. , even as he spoke to the people. The position of τὴν καταργουμένην gives it emphasis. Pfleiderer is guilty of the extravagant supposition that the whole story of the Transfiguration ( cf. Luk 9:28 ff.) is built up on the basis of this passage ( cf. μεταμορφούμεθα , 2Co 3:18 ), the disappearance of Moses and Elijah, leaving Jesus alone with His disciples, indicating that the glory of the Old Covenant was passing away ( καταργουμένην )!

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

This word Glory, betokeneth a brightness, and a majesty, which was bodily in Moses, but spiritually in Christ.

Imprinted and engraven: so that by this place we may plainly perceive, that the Apostle speaketh not of the ceremonies of the Law, but even of the ten commandments.

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

the ministration of death--the legal dispensation, summed up in the Decalogue, which denounces death against man for transgression.

written and engraven in stones--There is no "and" in the Greek. The literal translation is, "The ministration of death in letters," of which "engraven on stones" is an explanation. The preponderance of oldest manuscripts is for the English Version reading. But one (perhaps the oldest existing manuscript) has "in the letter," which refers to the preceding words (Co2 3:6), "the letter killeth," and this seems the probable reading. Even if we read as English Version, "The ministration of death (written) in letters," alludes to the literal precepts of the law as only bringing us the knowledge of sin and "death," in contrast to "the Spirit" in the Gospel bringing us "life" (Co2 3:6). The opposition between "the letters" and "the Spirit" (Co2 3:8) confirms this. This explains why the phrase in Greek should be "in letters," instead of the ordinary one which English Version has substituted, "written and."

was glorious--literally, "was made (invested) in glory," glory was the atmosphere with which it was encompassed.

could not steadfastly behold--literally, "fix their eyes on." Exo 34:30, "The skin of his face shone; and they were AFRAID to come nigh him." "Could not," therefore means here, "for FEAR." The "glory of Moses' countenance" on Sinai passed away when the occasion was over: a type of the transitory character of the dispensation which he represented (Co2 3:11), as contrasted with the permanency of the Christian dispensation (Co2 3:11).

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 7. The ministration of death] Here the apostle evidently intends the law. It was a ministration, διακονια or service of death. It was the province of the law to ascertain the duty of man; to assign his duties; to fix penalties for transgressions, c. and by it is the knowledge of sin. As man is prone to sin, and is continually committing it, this law was to him a continual ministration of death. Its letter killed; and it was only the Gospel to which it referred that could give life, because that Gospel held out the only available atonement.

Yet this ministration of death (the ten commandments, written on stones; a part of the Mosaic institutions being put for the whole) was glorious-was full of splendour; for the apostle refers to the thunderings, and lightnings, and luminous appearances, which took place in the giving of the law; so that the very body of Moses partook of the effulgence in such a manner that the children of Israel could not look upon his face; and he, to hide it, was obliged to use a veil. All this was intended to show the excellency of that law, as an institution coming immediately from God: and the apostle gives it all its heightenings, that he may compare it to the Gospel, and thereby prove that, glorious as it was, it had no glory that could be compared with that of the Gospel; and that even the glory it had was a glory that was to be done away-to be absorbed, as the light of the stars, planets, and moon, is absorbed in the splendour of the sun. See the notes on the 7th chapter of Romans; and see those on Ex 19, 20, and Ex 34:29, &c., where this subject is treated in all its details.

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

7 But if the ministry of death. He now sets forth the dignity of the gospel by this argument — that God conferred distinguished honor upon the law, which, nevertheless, is nothing in comparison with the gospel. The law was rendered illustrious by many miracles. Paul, however, touches here upon one of them merely — that the face of Moses shone with such splendor as dazzled the eyes of all. That splendour was a token of the glory of the law. He now draws an argument from the less to the greater — that it is befitting, that the glory of the gospel should shine forth with greater lustre, inasmuch as it is greatly superior to the law.

In the first place, he calls the law the ministry of death. Secondly, he says, that the doctrine of it was written in letters, and with ink. Thirdly, that it was engraven on stones. Fourthly, that it was not of perpetual duration; but, instead of this, its condition was temporary and fading. And, fifthly, he calls it the ministry of condemnation. To render the antitheses complete, it would have been necessary for him to employ as many corresponding clauses in reference to the gospel; but, he has merely spoken of it as being the ministry of the Spirit, and of righteousness, and as enduring for ever. If you examine the words, the correspondence is not complete, but so far as the matter itself is concerned, what is expressed is sufficient. For he had said that the Spirit giveth life, and farther, that men’s hearts served instead of stones, and disposition, in the place of ink

Let us now briefly examine those attributes of the law and the gospel. Let us, however, bear in mind, that he is not speaking of the whole of the doctrine that is contained in the law and the Prophets; and farther, that he is not treating of what happened to the fathers under the Old Testament, but merely notices what belongs peculiarly to the ministry of Moses. The law was engraven on stones, and hence it was a literal doctrine. This defect of the law required to be corrected by the gospel, because it could not but be brittle, so long as it was merely engraven on tables of stone. The gospel, therefore, is a holy and inviolable covenant, because it was contracted by the Spirit of God, acting as security. From this, too, it follows, that the law was the ministry of condemnation and of death; for when men are instructed as to their duty, and hear it declared, that all who do not render satisfaction to the justice of God are cursed, (Deuteronomy 27:26,) they are convicted, as under sentence of sin and death. From the law, therefore, they derive nothing but a condemnation of this nature, because God there demands what is due to him, and at the same time confers no power to perform it. The gospel, on the other hand, by which men are regenerated, and are reconciled to God, through the free remission of their sins, is the ministry of righteousness, and, consequently, of life also.

Here, however, a question arises: As the gospel is the odor of death unto death to some, (2 Corinthians 2:16,) and as Christ is a rock of offense, and a stone of stumbling set for the ruin of many, (Luke 2:34; 1 Peter 2:8,) why does he represent, as belonging exclusively to the law, what is common to both? Should you reply, that it happens accidentally that the gospel is the source of death, and, accordingly, it the occasion of it rather than the cause, inasmuch as it is in its own nature salutary to all, the difficulty will still remain unsolved; for the same answer might be returned with truth in reference to the law. For we hear what Moses called the people to bear witness to — that he had set before them life and death. (Deuteronomy 30:15.) We hear what Paul himself says in Romans 7:10 — that the law has turned out to our ruin, not through any fault attaching to it, but in consequence of our wickedness. Hence, as the entailing of condemnation upon men is a thing that happens alike to the law and the gospel, the difficulty still remains.

My answer is this — that there is, notwithstanding of this, a great difference between them; for although the gospel is an occasion of condemnation to many, it is nevertheless, on good grounds, reckoned the doctrine of life, because it is the instrument of regeneration, and offers to us a free reconciliation with God. The law, on the other hand, as it simply prescribes the rule of a good life, does not renew men’s hearts to the obedience of righteousness, and denounces everlasting death upon transgressors, can do nothing but condemn. Or if you prefer it in another way, the office of the law is to show us the disease, in such a way as to show us, at the same time, no hope of cure: the office of the gospel is, to bring a remedy to those that were past hope. For as the law leaves man to himself, it condemns him, of necessity, to death; while the gospel, bringing him to Christ, opens the gate of life. Thus, in one word, we find that it is an accidental property of the law, that is perpetual and inseparable, that it killeth; for as the Apostle says elsewhere, (Galatians 3:10,)

All that remain under the law are subject to the curse.

It does, not, on the other hand, invariably happen to the gospel, that it kills, for in it is

revealed the righteousness of God from faith to faith, and therefore it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth. (Romans 1:17,18.)

It remains, that we consider the last of the properties that are ascribed. The Apostle says, that the law was but for a time, and required to be abolished, but that the gospel, on the other hand, remains for ever. There are various reasons why the ministry of Moses is pronounced transient, for it was necessary that the shadows should vanish at the coming of Christ, and that statement —

The law and the Prophets were until John — (Matthew 11:13)

— applies to more than the mere shadows. For it intimates, that Christ has put an end to the ministry of Moses, which was peculiar to him, and is distinguished from the gospel. Finally, the Lord declares by Jeremiah, that the weakness of the Old Testament arose from this — that it was not engraven on men’s hearts. (Jeremiah 31:32,33.) For my part, I understand that abolition of the law, of which mention is here made, as referring to the whole of the Old Testament, in so far as it is opposed to the gospel, so that it corresponds with the statement — The law and the Prophets were until John. For the context requires this. For Paul is not reasoning here as to mere ceremonies, but shows how much more powerfully the Spirit of God exercises his power in the gospel, than of old under the law.

So that they could not look. He seems to have had it in view to reprove, indirectly, the arrogance of those, who despised the gospel as a thing that was excessively mean, so that they could scarcely deign to give it a direct look. “So great,” says he, “was the splendor of the law, that the Jews could not endure it. What, then, must we think of the gospel, the dignity of which is as much superior to that of the law, as Christ is more excellent than Moses?”

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.

(7) But if the ministration of death, written and engraven in stones, was glorious.—More accurately, engraved in a writing (i.e., in a written formula) upon stones. The word for “writing” is the same as the “letter” of the preceding verse, and the whole might, perhaps, be best translated, if the ministration of death in the letter, engraved upon stones, was glorious. The English version, by using the two participles, creates a false antithesis between “written” and “engraved,” and misses the sequence of thought indicated by the continued use of the word for “letter” or “writing.” For “was glorious,” more accurately, came into being with glory. The thoughts of the Apostle have travelled to the record of the circumstances connected with the giving of the Law as the foundation of the first covenant, and of them he proceeds to speak fully. We can almost picture him to ourselves as taking up his LXX. version of the Law, and reproducing its very words and thoughts.

So that the children of Israel could not stedfastly behold . . .—The narrative in Exo_34:29-35 records that when Moses came down from the mount with the second tables of stone, “the skin of his face shone,” and the “people were afraid to draw nigh unto him.” The English version—that “till Moses had done speaking with them he put a vail on his face,” and that “when he went in before the Lord he took it off until he came out”—suggests the thought that he appeared to the people, after the first manifestation of the unconscious glory, as a veiled prophet. It is doubtful, however, whether this is the natural meaning of the Hebrew, and Exo_34:35 repeats the statement that the Israelites saw the glory. The LXX., Vulgate, and most modern versions give, “When he ceased speaking he put a veil on his face.” They saw the brightness, they shrank from it in awe, they were not allowed to watch it to the end and gaze on its disappearance. This was the sequence of facts that St. Paul had in his thoughts, and which he certainly found in the LXX.; and it is of this, accordingly, that he speaks. The children of Israel could not bear to look on the glory, even though it was perishing and evanescent. The English rendering, “which glory was to be done away,” reads into the participle a gerundial force that does not properly belong to it; and it may be noted that it is the first of the great English versions that does so, the others giving, “which is made void,” or “which is done away.” It would be better expressed, perhaps, by, which was in the act of passing away. The Greek word is the same as that on which our translators have rung so many changes in 1Co_13:8-11. It was a favourite word with St. Paul at this period of his life, occurring twenty-two times in 1 Corinthians, 2 Corinthians, Galatians, and Romans, and three times only in his other Epistles.

It may be noted that the Vulgate rendering of Exo_34:29, “ignorabat quod cornuta esset facies ejus” (“he knew not that his face was horned”), has given rise to the representations of Moses with horns, or rays of light taking the place of horns, as in Michael Angelo’s statue in the church of San Pietro in Vincoli at Rome, and pictorial representations generally.

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

7–18. The Ministration of the Spirit superior to that of the Law

7. But if the ministration of death] He does not say ‘which causeth,’ but ‘the ministration of death,’ for that which caused death was sin, while the Law made the sin manifest, but did not cause it. Chrysostom. See Rom_7:7; 1Co_15:56; Gal_3:10; Gal_3:21. As St Paul was the minister of Christ when he proclaimed the good tidings of salvation to mankind, so the law was the minister of death when it proclaimed the sentence of death to the soul that had sinned. See Eze_18:4.

written and engraven in stones] Wiclif, nearer to the original, writun lettris in stones. The reference is to the two tables of the law, Exo_31:18. Some editors read ‘the ministration of death in the letter, engraved in stones.’

was glorious] Perhaps rather, was constituted, came into being, in glory, i.e. accompanied by glory. Exo_19:16-20; Exo_24:6-11; Exo_34:4-8.

so that the children of Israel could not stedfastly behold (literally, gaze at) the face of Moses] The brightness of God’s glory was reflected upon the face of Moses (Exo_34:29-30) to such an extent that the children of Israel dared not approach him. See note on 2Co_3:13. The Hebrew word used for the rays of light emitted by Moses’ face is derived from a word signifying a horn, according to a simile common among Eastern writers by which the first rays of the sun are called horns, and even the sun itself a gazelle by the Arabs. This the Vulgate renders by cornuta, a rendering which, as Dr Plumptre reminds us, has been the cause why the celebrated Moses of Michael Angelo, familiar to all who have visited Rome and to many who have not, is represented with beams of light in the shape of horns upon the head.

which glory was to be done away] Rather, was being brought to nought. The original meaning of the word rendered ‘done away,’—which (see note on 1Co_13:8) is rendered in various ways in the A. V.—is to make thoroughly useless or unprofitable, and hence to do away with, abolish, bring to nought. The Apostle does not mean to say here that the brightness on Moses’ face was destined to fade, but that it was fading.

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.

But if the ministration of death,.... The apostle having observed the difference between the law and the Gospel, the one being a killing letter, the other a quickening spirit, enlarges upon it, and more, fully explains it; and proceeds to take notice of other things in which they differ; and to show the superior glory and excellency of the one to the other; for that by "the ministration of death", he means the law, as delivered to Moses on Mount Sinai, is clear from its being said to be

written and engraven in stones; as that was by the finger of God himself: rightly does the apostle say, that it was both "written" and "engraven"; for the two tables of the law are expressly said to be written with the finger of God, Exo 31:18 meaning either the Spirit of God, who is sometimes so called, Luk 11:20 compared with Mat 12:28 or the power of God, which at once caused this writing to exist; and it is in so many words affirmed, that "the writing" was "the writing of God"; and not of man, nor of any creature, no not of an angel, Exo 32:16 yea, even the two tables which were hewn out by Moses, after the first were broken, were written upon by the Lord himself, and not Moses, Exo 34:1. So that as the work of the tables was the work of God, and wonderfully made, the form of the letters, as Abarbinel (x) observes, were miraculously made by him; for this law was, , "in letters", as the apostle here says; and as it was written in the Hebrew language, very likely it was in the same form of letters now in use with the Jews; though some have thought that the Samaritan letters are the original ones: moreover, the law was not only written, but "engraved"; for so it is said, that the writing was graven upon the tables, Exo 32:16 and though the word so rendered is no where else used but there, it is rightly rendered graven, as appears by the apostle in this place; and which may lie confirmed by the Targumist on that, who renders it by "engraven"; and by the Septuagint which signifies the same; and so in the book of Zohar (y), the letters are said to be "engraven" on the tables: and that the tables were tables of stone, it is certain; they are often so called, Exo 24:12 wherefore the apostle very properly says, that the law was engraven "in stones"; but what stones these tables were made of cannot be said; the Jews, who affect to know everything, will have them to be precious stones, but what they were they are not agreed in; for though they generally say (z) they were made of the sapphire stone, and sometimes say (a) they were hewed out of the sapphire of the glorious throne of God; yet at other times they call them marble tables (b); and Aben Ezra (c) was of opinion, that the tables which Moses hewed were not of any precious stone, for he asks where should a precious stone of such size be found? though others pretend to say (d), that Moses in a miraculous manner was shown a sapphire quarry in the midst of his tent, out of which he cut and hewed the stones; but very likely they were common ones; however, certain it is, that the tables of stone, as written and engraven by the Lord himself, were made, as the apostle here says, "in glory", ; and so Jarchi on Exo 32:16 "and the tables were the work of God", says, this is to be understood literally "and in" or "for his glory"; or by his glorious power he made them: now this law, though thus written and engraven, and glorious, it was "the ministration of death"; and is so called, because it threatened and punished the transgressors of it with a corporeal death; they that sinned against it died without mercy upon proper evidence and witnesses; every precept of it had this penalty annexed to it, in ease of disobedience; as the having any other goals but one, making of graven images, taking the name of God in vain, the violation of the sabbath, dishonouring of parents, murder, adultery, theft, and covetousness; instances there are of each of these being punishable by this law with a bodily death: and besides, it is the ministration of eternal death, the wages of sin the transgression of the law; which is that wrath of God, a sense of which it is said to work; the curse it threatens with and the second death or lake of fire it casts into: and may be said to be the "ministration" of it; as it shows persons they are deserving of it, pronounces the sentence of it on them, and will execute it upon them, if grace prevent not; now though it was the ministration of death, yet it

was glorious. There were many things which made it so; but what the apostle here particularly takes notice of is the glory that was upon the face of Moses, when he received it and brought it from the Lord, which was very great;

so that the children of Israel could not steadfastly behold the face of Moses, for the glory of his countenance, which glory was to be done away. The history of this may be read in Exo 34:29 it was a real visible glory that was upon the skin of his face, so that it shone again; it is said, "the skin of his face shone"; and this shining of his face the apostle very properly calls "the glory of his countenance": agreeably to the Septuagint version, which renders it, "the appearance of the skin, or colour of his face, was glorified"; and still nearer to the paraphrase of Onkelos, which is, "the splendour of the glory of his countenance was great"; and to the Targum of Jonathan, which also assigns the reason of it, and which seems to be the true one, "the splendour of the form of his countenance was glorious, because of the splendour of the glory of the majesty of God, at the time he talked with him". The Vulgate Latin version has led many wrong, to paint Moses with two horns, rendering it, "his face was horned", the Hebrew word having the signification of an horn in its derivative; because glory darted from him like horns, as rays of light do from the sun; see Hab 3:4 and this brightness and glory were so very great, and so dazzling, that Aaron and the people of Israel were afraid to come nigh; which Jarchi, a Jewish writer, imputed to their sin, and shame, and fear, having worshipped the calf; but our apostle ascribes it to the lustre of his countenance, which was such that they could not steadfastly look upon it; they saw it indeed, as it is said in Exo 34:35 yet they could not look wistly at it, nor bear the splendour of it; though this was only a glory, which was to continue but a while; according to the opinion of Ambrose (e), this glory continued on Moses's countenance as long as he lived; but be it so, it at last was done away: now this glory was put there to bear a testimony to the divine authority of the law, that it came from God, and was to be received at the hands of Moses, with awful reverence as from God, and to make them afraid of violating a law which came with such majesty and glory; and also to command awe and respect from the Israelites to Moses, whom they were inclined at every turn to treat with contempt, and to let them see that he had communion with God, which this was the effect of: now this was a circumstance which rendered the law glorious, and was expressive of a real glory in it; which, though as this on Moses's face, "was to be done away"; wherefore the apostle argues;

(x) In loc. (y) In Exod. fol. 35. 1. (z) Zohar ib. Targum Jon. in Dent. xxxiv. 12. (a) Targum in Cant. 1. 11. Targum Jon. in Exod. xxxi. 18. (b) Targum Jon. in Deut. ix. 9, 10. (c) In Exod. xxxii. 15. (d) Jarchi in Exod. xxxiv. 1. Pirke Eliezer, c. 46. (e) Comment. in Psal. cxix. 135.

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

7 But if the ministration of death, written and engraven in stones, was glorious, so that the children of Israel could not stedfastly behold the face of Moses for the glory of his countenance; which glory was to be done away:

Ver. 7. The ministration of death] That is, the law. David was the voice of the law awarding death to sin, "He shall surely die." Nathan was the voice of the gospel awarding life to repentance for sin, "Thou shalt not die."

For the glory of his countenance] Which yet reflected not upon his own eyes. He shone bright and knew not of it: he saw God’s face glorious, he did not think others had so seen his. How many have excellent graces and perceive them not!

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.

But if the ministration of death - In the previous verses, Paul had referred incidentally to the institutions of Moses, and to the superiority of the gospel. He had said that the former were engraved on stones, but the latter on the heart 2Co 3:3; that the letter of the former tended to death, but the latter to life 2Co 3:6. This sentiment he proceeds further to illustrate, by showing in what the superior glory of the gospel consisted. The design of the whole is, to illustrate the nature, and to show the importance of the ministerial office; and the manner in which the duties of that office were to be performed. That the phrase “ministration of death” refers to the Mosaic institutions, the connection sufficiently indicates, 2Co 3:13-15. The word “ministration” (διακονία diakonia) means, properly, ministry; the office of ministering in divine things. It is usually applied to the officers of the church in the New Testament, Act 1:17, Act 1:25; Rom 11:13; 1Co 12:5.

The word here, however, seems to refer to the whole arrangement under the Mosaic economy, by which his laws were promulgated, and perpetuated. The expression “a ministration - written and engraved on stone,” is somewhat harsh; but the sense evidently is, the ministration of a covenant, or of laws written on stones. The word “ministration “there refers to the arrangement, office, etc. by which the knowledge of these laws was maintained; the ministering under a system like that of the Jewish; or, more strictly, the act and occasion on which Moses himself ministered, or promulgated that system to the Jews, and when the glory of the work was irradiated even from His countenance. And the purpose of the apostle is to show that the ministry of the gospel is more glorious than even the ministry of Moses, when he was admitted near to God on the holy mountain; and when such a glory attended his receiving and promulgating the Law. It is called the “ministration of death,” because it tended to condemnation; it did not speak of pardon; it was suited only to deepen the sense of sin, and to produce alarm and dread; see the note on 2Co 3:6.

Written and engraven in stones - The Ten Commandments - the substance of all the Mosaic institutes, and the principal laws of his economy - were written or engraved on tables of stone.

Was glorious - Was attended with magnificence and splendor. The glory here referred to, consisted in the circumstance of sublimity and grandeur in which the Law of Moses was given, It was:

The glory of God as he was manifested on Mount Sinai, as the Lawgiver and Ruler of the people.

(2)The glory of the attending circumstances, of thunder, fire, etc. in which God appeared. The Law was given in these circumstances. Its giving - called here the “ministration” - was amidst such displays of the glory of God. It was,

A high honor and glory for Moses to be permitted to approach so near to God; to commune with him; and to receive at his hand the Law for his people, and for the world. These were circumstances of imposing majesty and grandeur, which, however, Paul says were eclipsed and surpassed by the ministry of the gospel.

So that the children of Israel ... - In Exo 34:29-30, it is said, that “When Moses came down from Mount Sinai with the two tables of testimony in Moses’ hand, when he came down from the mount, that Moses did not know that the skin of his face shone, while He talked with him. And when Aaron and all the children of Israel saw Moses, behold, the skin of his face shone; and they were afraid to come nigh him.” The word rendered “steadfastly behold” (ἀτενίσαι atenisai), means to gaze intently upon; to look steadily, or constantly, or fixedly; see the note on Act 1:10. There was a dazzling splendor, an irradiation; a diffusion of light, such that they could not look intently and steadily upon it - as we cannot look steadily at the sun. How this was produced, is not known. It cannot be accounted for from natural causes, and was doubtless designed to be to the Israelites an attestation that Moses had been with God, and was commissioned by him. They would see:

That it was unnatural, such as no known cause could produce; and, Not improbably they would recognize a resemblance to the manner in which God usually appeared - the glory of the Shechinah in which he so frequently manifested himself to them. It would be to them, therefore, a demonstration that Moses had been with God.

Which glory was to be done away - The splendor of that scene was transitory. It did not last. It was soon destroyed (τὴν καταργουμένην tēn katargoumenēn. It was not adapted or designed long to continue. This does not mean, as Doddridge supposes, “soon to be abolished in death;” or, as others, “ceasing with youth;” but it means, that the shining or the splendor was transitory; it was soon to cease; it was not designed to be permanent. Neither the wonderful scenes accompanying the giving of the Law on Sinai, nor the shining on the countenance of Moses, was designed to abide. The thunders of Sinai would cease to roll; the lightenings to play; the visible manifestations of the presence of God would all be gone; and the supernatural illumination of the face of Moses also would soon cease - perhaps as Macknight, Bloomfield, and others suppose, as a prefiguration of the abrogation of the glory of the whole system of the Levitical law. Paul certainly means to say, that the glory of Moses, and of his dispensation, was a fading glory; but that the glory of the gospel would be permanent, and increasing forever.

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

Now if the ministration of death: he meaneth the former[1] law, which by giving them a greater knowledge, and not giving graces of itself to fulfil those precepts, occasioned death, was notwithstanding glorious, accompanied with miracles on Mount Sinai, and so that the Israelites, when Moses came down from the mountain, could not bear the glory of his countenance, which he was forced to cover with a veil, when he spoke to them. Shall not the ministration of the Spirit in the new law, which worketh our sanctification and salvation, abound with much greater glory? especially since the old law was to be made void, and pass away. --- Neither was that glorified, or to be esteemed glorious, in comparison of the new law, the blessings of the new so far surpassing those of the old law. (Witham) --- If the law of Moses, written on tables of stone, which was only able to cause death, inasmuch as it gave us light sufficient to know what was right, though it did not give us strength or graces to comply with the obligations imposed by it; if this law, nevertheless, was accompanied with so much glory, that Moses was obliged to put a veil over his face, what must we think of the ministry of the Spirit, and of the glorious duties of the apostleship? How ought our glory to be manifest, and who is fit for such an undertaking. If I thus extol the excellency of my ministry, do not imagine that I attribute any thing to myself. I am unworthy of this office, which so far surpasseth that of Moses, that his glory (ver. 10.) could not be truly called glory, when compared with this of ours, which so far excelleth his. (Calmet) --- The letter of the New Testament also, not truly taken or expounded by the Spirit of God, which is in his Church, must in the same manner be said to kill. See St. Augustine, serm. 70. & 100. de tempore. & l. de spirt. & lit. chap. 5. 6. & dein.

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[BIBLIOGRAPHY]

Ministratio mortis, Greek: diakonia thanatou. Thus, says St. John Chrysostom, he calls the law, Greek: ton nomon legei. p. 584.

George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).

The apostle is manifestly comparing the ministry of the gospel with the ministry of the law, and showing the excellency of the former above the latter. In the former verse he had called the law, the letter; and the gospel, in opposition to it, he had called, the spirit: here he calleth the ministration of the law,

the ministration of death; because it only showed man his duty, or things to be done, but gave no strength or help by which he should do them; only cursing man, but showing him no way by which he might escape that curse: so it did kill men, and led them to eternal death and condemnation, without showing them any means of life and salvation. He also undervalueth the law, in comparison with the gospel, as being only

written and engraven in stones; whereas (as he had said before) the gospel is written in the fleshy tables of men’s hearts. Yet (saith he) the ministration of the law (which was indeed but the ministration of death) was glorious: there was a great deal of the glory and majesty of God attended the giving of the law, of which we read, Exo 19:1-25.

So that the children of Israel could not stedfastly behold the face of Moses for the glory of his countenance: of this we read, Exo 34:29,30; When Aaron and all the children of Israel saw Moses, behold, the skin of his face shone; and they were afraid to come nigh him. So as it was glorious to be but a minister of the law, that is, of the revelation of the will of God, as to man’s duty,

which glory (saith the apostle) was to be done away: Moses’s face did not always so shine, neither was the glory of his ministration to abide always, but to cease by the coming in of the new covenant.

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

7. Ministration of death—The law, so far as it designates the old testament, or the old testament system, revealed not only wrath, but mercy; yet it waited for the new testament to reveal clearly the true source of that mercy in the mediation of Christ. But law here signifies the decalogue, as is shown by the words engraven in stones. The decalogue revealed not mercy; and to all sinners its ministration was an administration of death. Yet though engraven on stones, and of death, it had its glory.

Was glorious—Literally, was in glory.

So that—Proves the glory by the fact to be stated.

Face of Moses—When Moses came down from Mount Sinai, from communion with God, his face shone so resplendently with the divine glory that the people could not gaze upon it. Exo_34:29-35. Moses, therefore, vailed his face to the people and unvailed it before God. Using this beautiful image as a type of the glory of the dispensation of the law, Paul draws a comparison to show how much more truly glorious is the (apostolic) ministration of the gospel. And it is to be specially noted that it is from one of the most brilliant points of the Mosaic history that the genius of Paul infers the evanescence of the Mosaic dispensation.

The glory of the law dispensation was not only of death, but, as symbolized by the radiance upon Moses’s face, was transient—was visible to the eye, was varied, and has left a vail on Israel’s heart. The gospel ministration is of the spirit, of justification, permanent, open, freedom, unfolding in evolutions of glory. To the Gentile Corinthians, anxious for freedom from the Jewish ritual, as well as to the Jews who sympathized with the progressive spirit of Paul, this comparison must have been very welcome. To the Judaists it must have appeared very powerful and very unacceptable.

To be done away—As figured by its evanescence upon Moses’s face.

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

The ministration of death. The ministration, that is, of the Law, of "the letter which killeth." St. Paul here begins one of the arguments a minori ad majus which are the very basis of the Epistle to the Hebrews. Written and engraven in stones; literally, engraved in letters on stones. (Exo_31:18) The reference shows that, in speaking of "the letter," St. Paul was only thinking of the Mosaic Law, and indeed specifically of the Decalogue. Was glorious; literally, occurred in glory, or, proved itself glorious. In itself the Law was "holy, just, and good", (Rom_7:12) and given "at the disposition of angels"; (Act_7:53) and its transitory glory was illustrated by the lustre which the face of Moses caught by reflection from his intercourse with God. (Exo_24:16) Could not steadfastly behold the face of Moses. (Exo_34:29, Exo_34:30) St. Paul has been led quite incidentally into this digression in the course of defending himself by describing the nature of his ministry; but it bore very definitely on his general purpose, because his chief opponents were Judaists, whose one aim it was to bind upon the Church the yoke of Mosaism. That they could not "behold" the face of Moses is the hagadah, or traditional legend, derived from Exo_34:30, which says that "they were afraid to draw nigh to him. The reader may recall the beautiful lines of Cardinal Newman

Lord l grant me this abiding grace Thy words and saints to know; To pierce the veil on Moses" face, Although his words be slow.

Because of the glory of his countenance. This circumstance is so often alluded to as to have become identified with the conception of Moses. The Hebrew words for "a ray of light" and "a horn" are identical; hence, instead of saying that his face was "irradiated," the Vulgate says, Cornnta erat ejus facies; and even in our version of Hab_3:4 we find "And he had horns (i.e. "rays of light coming out of his hand." To this is due the mediaeval symbol of Moses with horns, as in the matchless statue by Michael Angelo. Which glory was to be done away. The Greek might be expressed by "the glory the evanescing glory of his countenance." It was not "to be done away," but from the first moment they saw it it began to vanish. The verb "to do away," implying annulment, and the being abrogated as invalid, is a characteristic word in this group cf Epistles, in which it occurs twenty-two times. This illustrates the prominence in St. Paul"s thoughts of the fact that the Law was now "antiquated" and "near its obliteration". (comp. Heb_8:13) But in dwelling on the brief and transient character of this radiance, St. Paul seizes on a point which (naturally) is not dwelt upon in Ex 34.

Vers. 7-11.

Divine revelation more glorious in Christ than in Moses.

if the ministration," etc. At the outset three facts are noteworthy.

1. The infinite Father has made a special revelation of himself to his humanoffspring.

2. This special revelation of himself has mainly come through two greatgeneral sources Moses and Christ.

3. The special revelation of himself, as it came through Christ, fartranscends in glory the form it assumed as it came through Moses. The essence of the revelation is the same, but the forms differ, and the form it assumes in Christianity are the most glorious. There are two facts here.

I That the special revelation as it came through MOSES WAS GLORIOUS. It was so glorious that "the children of Israel could not steadfastly behold the face of Moses." Four things impress us with its glory as revealed in Moses.

1. The wonderful display of divinity attending its manifestation on Mount Sinai. The expression, "the face of Moses," refers to this. (Exo_34:1) What wonderful things Moses saw and heard during the forty days he was on the mount! "The Lord rose up and came from Seir with ten thousand of his saints," etc.

2. the magnificence of its religious scenes and celebrations. The temple, hew splendid! the priesthood, how imposing! the psalmody, how inspiring! "Glorious things are spoken of thee, O thou city of God.

3. The stupendous miracles that stand in connection with it. The wilderness was the theatre of magnificent manifestations the pillar, the manna, the flowing rock, the riven sea, etc.

4. The splendid intellects which were employed in connection with it. Solomon, Elijah, Daniel, David, Ezekiel. For these reasons Divine revelation as it came through Moses was truly glorious.

II That although this special revelation was glorious as it came in connection with Moses, it was MORE GLORIOUS as it came in connection with CHRIST. "How shall not the ministration of the spirit be rather glorious?" etc. Confining our illustrations on this point to the passage before us, we observe:

1. The Christian form of revelation is more likely to give life than the Mosaic. In Moses it was the ministration of death." The Jews exalted the "letter" that "killeth" above the "spirit that giveth life," and they got buried in forms. In Christ the revelation is the gospel in life.

2. The Christian form of Divine revelation is more emphatically spiritual than the Mosaic. It is here called the "ministration of the spirit." In Moses it was associated with numerous forms and ceremonies; in Christ there are only two simple rites, and the spirit throbs in every sentence.

1. The Christian form of Divine revelation is more restorative than the Mosaic. The apostle speaks of the one as the "ministration of condemnation," of the other as the "ministration of righteousness." Maledictions thunder in the former, beatitudes in the latter.

2. The Christian form of Divine revelation is more enduring than the Mosaic. "For if that which is done away which passeth away was glorious, much more that which remaineth is glorious." Judaism is gone; Christianity is the "Word of God, which abideth forever." It is the final revelation of Heaven to our world.

Such, then, is a brief illustration of the apostle"s position; and the subject, in conclusion, serves several important purposes.

1. It serves to expose the absurdity of making Moses the interpreter of Christ. It has been common with professing Christians to look at the New Testament through the spectacles of Moses, and thus to Judaize Christianity. Much in popery, much, alas! in old puritanism, much even in modern theology, is but Christianity Judaized, a going back to the "beggarly elements.

2. It serves to show the wrongness of going to Moses to support opinions which you cannot get from Christ. You can support war, slavery, capital punishment, by going to Moses; but you cannot find the shadow of a foundation for these in Christ.

3. It serves to reveal the glorious position of a true gospel minister. To show this was the object of the apostle in the text. The position of Moses, David, Isaiah, and all the great teachers under the old administration was glorious, but it is scarcely to be compared with the position of him who preaches that Christ of "whom Moses and the prophets did write.

Vers. 7-11.

Ministry of the Old Testament compared with that of the New, and the superiority of the latter shown.

He speaks now of the "ministration of death," not of it as the ministry of the letter; and yet it was "glorious." Compared with the revelation made to Enoch, Abraham, Jacob, it was "glorious." Whether witnessing to the unity of God or to his providence over an elect race, it was an illumination, or splendour, unequalled in the centuries before Christ. Tribes were organized as a nation, bondmen transformed into free men; and, despite their proclivity to heathenish idolatry, they came finally to hold and defend the doctrine of one God, their Jehovah, their Lord of hosts, their Benefactor and Friend, as the doctrine underlying all their hopes and aspirations. The sanctity of human life which the great lawgiver made the foundation of his system, the rights of persons and property, the obligations of brotherhood among themselves, duties to the poor and the stranger, duties to their nation, reverence for the sabbath and its worship, obedience to God in the minutest things, were taught them with a precision and a force that largely succeeded in producing the only phenomenon of its kind in history a nation educated in the sense of God, of his presence in their midst, and of his providence as an unceasing and omnipotent agency in their homes and business. What a "glory" there was in their literature we all know. No psalmody is given in the New Testament; none was wanted; inspired poetry reached its full measure of excellence in King David and his poetic successors; and the Christian heart, whether in prayer or praise, finds much of its deepest and most devout utterance in these ancient Judaean hymns. Reproduction is the test of enduring greatness. In this respect the genius and piety of David stand unrivalled. Whenever men worship God, he is the "chief singer" yet; nor have we any better standard by which to try the merit of our religious poetry and music than the similarity of their effect upon us to that produced by the Psalms of David. Last of all in the order of time, first in its importance, what a "glory" in him born of the Virgin Mary! On this system St. Paul made no war. What he antagonized was the misunderstanding and abuse of the system in the hands of Pharisees and Sadducees, and, especially in the shape it assumed among the Judaizers at Corinth and in Galatia. He calls the old covenant "glorious," a word he never uses but in his exalted moods of thought, True, it was "written and engraven in stones," but by whose hand? Even "the face of Moses" was more than the Israelites could bear, "for the glory of his countenance." The splendour irradiating Moses was transient glory was to be done away;" but it did what it was intended to do by demonstrating where he had been and on what mission. Yet the glory acknowledged it was "the ministration of death." All the sublimity was that of terror, none that of beauty, when Sinai became the shrouded pavilion of Jehovah. "Whosoever toucheth the mount shall be surely put to death." This external characterization was a symbol of its condemning power. "When the commandment came, sin revived, and I died." It was not in the language of the Law that David prayed, "Cast me not away from thy presence, and take not thy Holy Spirit from me;" nor in sympathy with the Law that Isaiah spoke of the Anointed One, "The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me;" bat in contemplation of grace beyond Law, and therefore extra to the ordinary workings of the Mosaic economy. A provision existed for these spiritual anticipations, and it was a part of its excellence, the highest part, that it had on a few minds this prevenient influence. Still, the distinctive feature stands, "a ministration of death;" and to the hour when Jerusalem and her temple fell, Sinai was the mount that could not be touched without death.

It had a glory, a derived and subordinate glory, and the glory itself was to die. Certain qualities of Hebrew mind under the system, methods of thought, poetic modes of looking at nature, cultivated instincts of providence, yearnings for spirituality, were to survive and attain their completeness; but the system was to end by the law of limitation organic in its structure. Now, on this basis, the glorious economy of which Moses was the minister, and the transientness of its duration, St. Paul builds an argument for the superior glory of the gospel. It is the "ministration" of the Holy Ghost. It is "the ministration of righteousness." Under the economy of grace the righteousness of God was first secured. That done, the justice of God appeared in the sinner"s justification. And in this justification the converted man realizes that sense of demerit and guilt which arises in his personal instinct of justice, is met and satisfied; while, at the same time, gratitude and love are awakened by the unmerited goodness of God in Christ. The two stand together. They are inseparable in the constitution of the universe. They are inseparable by the laws of the human mind. The joy of the one is vitally blended with the gladness of the other; so that if the renewed heart feels its indebtedness to the mercy of God in Christ, it feels also that its salvation rests on the vindicated righteousness of God in Christ. It is what Christ is to the Father that makes him precious as the Christ of his faith, hope, and love. Most fitly, then, St. Paul presents the antithetic emphasis on condemnation and righteousness. Condemnation and righteousness are legal terms. The element of similarity in their common relation to Law is clearly recognized. Without this common element the antithesis could have no meaning. The dissimilarity is thus made vivid. "Much more doth the ministration of righteousness exceed in glory." Each is a "ministration," each a "ministration" of "glory," but the "ministration of righteousness doth exceed in glory." The idea is explained and strengthened yet further. A favourite thought of the Jews, and particularly of the Pharisees, was the perpetuity of the Law. After the Exile, this was the stronghold of patriotism, sentiment, and religion. On no other ground could Pharisaism have acquired its popular ascendency. This was the battle it was ever fighting for the nation the dignity of the Law as seen in its permanent utility, since only thereby could Israel attain her true destiny and far surpass her ancient renown. Of course the anti-Pauline party at Corinth had much to say on St. Paul"s view of the Law. Here, then, is an opportunity for him to defend his ministry. The point now is that the Mosaic ministration had no glory "in this respect," that is, in respect to the succeeding dispensation, which had entirely obscured its lustre. The once stately figure was not erect, but prostrated; it was disrobed of its gorgeous vestments; it wore no longer the breast, plate with its precious stones; its glory had departed; and all this "by reason of the glory that excelleth." If so, then how transcendent the splendour of the Spirit"s dispensation? "If that which is done away was glorious, much more that which remaineth is glorious." In the former Epistle he had written of various glories one of the sun, another of the moon, still another of the stars, the radiance distributed over immeasurable spaces and among orbs widely different, each preserving from age to age its own distinctive splendour, every ray of light imaging the world whence it issued. A firmament was before his eye in its circles of magnificence. But now the glory, on which in other days he had looked with so much pride as a Pharisee, had passed forever from his sight. Yet, so far from feeling that there was loss, he exulted in the infinite gain, because "of the glory that excelleth. L.

Vers. 7-11.

The old covenant and the new.

In some sense it may be said that teachings respecting the relations between the older revelation in Judaism and the newer revelation in Christianity were special to the Apostle Paul. On this point he had direct revelations from Christ, and the liberal form which his teachings took exposed him to the peril of being misunderstood and misrepresented, and brought persecutions around him. No man could be found more truly loyal to the older revelation than the apostle of the Gentiles, but while he honoured it he saw clearly that it had its day and its mission. That day had now passed; that mission had been fulfilled. The older covenant had made open and plain the way for the new, and it was loyalty to the old for Paul to accept fully the new, in which it found its fulfilment, its completion, its glory; for the ministration of Jesus and the Spirit is but Judaism glorified, the gospel of the letter passed into the gospel of the spirit. Three contrasts are here dwelt upon. The old covenant and the new are conceived as

I A MINISTRATION OF DEATH AND A MINISTRATION OF LIFE. St. Paul had said (ver. 6) that the "letter killeth." He meant that it crushed hope and effort, since no man could reach a perfect obedience. The old covenant condemned all who failed even in the least thing. It provided no life, no strength in which obedience could become possible. On the other band, the new covenant provided a new life for the will and a new grace unto obedience. The old crushed down heart and hope, and made a man cry out, "I cannot." The new cheered him, lifted him up, and made him say, "I can, through him who strengtheneth me.

II A MINISTRATION OF CONDEMNATION AND A MINISTRATION OF RIGHTEOUSNESS. The old covenant said, "Thou shalt not," and it denounced its penalties on the offenders. The new covenant says, "Thou shalt," holds before us the model life of obedience lived by the Lord Jesus, and provides grace unto changing us into his image.

III A MINISTRATION THAT WAS PASSING AND A MINISTRATION THAT WAS PERMANENT. (Ver. 11.) The older covenant was of necessity transitory. It had but a temporary and preparatory mission. The new is abiding, for there can be nothing higher than or beyond that spiritual righteousness which is its sublime aim to accomplish. 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.

And if the ministration of death - That is, the Mosaic dispensation, which proves such to those who prefer it to the gospel, the most considerable part of which was engraven on those two stones, was attended with so great glory.

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

The glory of the ministry of righteousness:

v. 7. But if the ministration of death, written and engraven in stones, was glorious, so that the children of Israel could not steadfastly behold the face of Moses for the glory of his countenance, which glory was to be done away,

v. 8. how shall not the ministration of the Spirit be rather glorious?

v. 9. For if the ministration of condemnation be glory, much more doth the ministration of righteousness exceed in glory.

v. 10. For even that which was made glorious had no glory in this respect, by reason of the glory which excels.

v. 11. For if that which is done away was glorious, much more that which remaineth is glorious.

The contrast of v. 6 is here carried out in detail, probably on account of the Judaizing opponents in Corinth, whose aim was to exalt the preaching of the Law, to place it by the side of the Gospel as being necessary for salvation. The apostle concedes: But if the ministry of death, engraved in letters upon stones, was, or came into existence, in glory, so that the children of Israel could not look steadily on the face of Moses on account of the glory, the brightness, of his face, transient as it was. The office and the preaching of the Law is an office unto death, for as conditions are here on earth, in the midst of fallen mankind, no man can keep the Law, and therefore all men are under its condemnation. The Law is and must remain to sinful men a dead letter, unable to give life. It was indeed, in the form of the Decalogue, engraved upon tablets of stone by the finger of the Lord Himself, Exo 32:16. But that very fact indicates to the apostle that the Law, so far as all men are concerned, is and remains to them something external. It is a fixed letter, formed and engraved in stone; it cannot transmit to the sinner life and power to keep it, it cannot work spiritual ability. It is true, indeed, that the Law and its ministry came into existence in glory; for when the Lord had given to Moses the entire Law with all its explanation, and when Moses then returned to the camp of the children of Israel, the skin of his face had assumed such a degree of brightness on account of his having been in the presence of God’s glory, Exo 34:29-30, that the children of Israel found themselves unable to look at Moses for any length of time, being blinded by the brightness of his face. Yet this brightness was of a transitory nature, it was visible when Moses came from the divine presence, and faded away when the occasion was past.

Now Paul’s argument is: If even this ministry, as here described, was connected with divine glory, though of a transient character, how shall not rather the ministry of the Spirit be with glory? If the office that could not but serve death was glorious, surely the office which gives the Spirit of God, that transmits Him with all His gifts to the hearts of the believers, is much rather entitled to that distinction. The ministry of the New Testament is indeed not connected with an external, physical brightness of the face, but it possesses a spiritual glory, which far transcends any bodily brightness, a glory which is imparted to the mind, heart, and body of every believer, making his life a reflection of the divine, eternal glory. "The glory of the Lord is the knowledge of God. Moses also has glory, that is, the knowledge and understanding of the Law. If I have the knowledge of the Law, I see in it His face plainly, I look into His bright light. But now we have gone through this and have a higher knowledge of Christ the Lord; whosoever knows Him as the man that helps, that gives the power to fulfill the Law, through whom we have received forgiveness of sins, there His glory is reflected in us, that is: As the brightness of the sun is reflected in water or in a mirror, thus Christ is reflected and sheds His brightness into the heart, that we are glorified from one glory to another, that we daily grow and know the Lord ever more clearly."

The apostle repeats the same thought with a slightly different emphasis: For if the ministry of condemnation is glory, by a great deal more does the ministry of righteousness exceed in glory, The office of the Law is a ministry of condemnation, it cannot but pronounce condemnation upon all men, since all men are transgressors of the Law; it must state that all men are under the curse, that they have all sinned and come short of the glory of God, that they have deserved His wrath and displeasure, temporal death, and eternal damnation. If, therefore, even this ministry has glory, with such inevitable results accompanying its work, how much more glorious must the ministry of the Gospel be! For the preaching of the Gospel is a ministry of righteousness: it shows us how we may become righteous in the sight of God; it imputes to us the perfect righteousness earned for us by our Redeemer; it reveals to us the righteousness which comes by faith to all and upon all that believe, Rom 3:22. On the one hand, the sentence of condemnation, opening up before us death and hell; on the other hand, the sentence of mercy, giving us the assurance of eternal salvation: how much does the latter exceed the former!

So emphatically does the apostle want to bring out the superiority of the New Testament ministry that he rises to a very climax: For that which was made glorious, the ministry of the Old Covenant, has not been made glorious in this respect, on account of the surpassing glory (of the ministry of the Sew Testament); for if the transient thing was with glory, much more that remaining is in glory. The apostle means to say that when a person really carries out the comparison in all its features and from all sides, it will finally come to this, that there is really no glory left for the ministry of the Old Covenant; its glory disappears when held beside that of the New Testament ministry, just as the light of the stars fades before the majesty of the rising sun. "If one looks upon this brightness and sanctity properly which we have in Christ through the preaching of the Gospel, then that part of the glory, namely, that of the Law (which is only a small, temporary, passing glory), is really a non-glory, rather nothing but dark clouds beside the light of Christ, which now illumines the way for us out of sin, death, and hell to God and eternal life. " For if the transitory thing, the ministry of the Law, which was intended for a short apace of time only, had glory, then that which remains, the office of the Gospel, the ministry which is active as long as the world stands and whose fruits are eternal, will abide in glory. "It is also a particularly comforting word that he says, that the ministry and preaching of the Law is such a ministry as passes away; for if that were not the case, nothing but eternal damnation would be there. But the doing away happens when the Gospel’s preaching of Christ begins; to that Moses must yield and allow it to have supreme sway, so that he no longer shall rule with his terror in the conscience of the believers,... that the glory of Christ may shine into the heart with His sweet, consoling light."

Paul E. Kretzmann, Popular Commentary of the Bible (1921–1924) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Our apostle in this and the following verses, goes on with his comparison betwixt the law and the gospel, and shows the transcendency of the latter above the former.

Where note, 1. He calls the law again a killing law, or a ministration of death; because it condemns men for the breach of it to temporal and eternal death, without opening to them any door of hope.

Note, 2. This law (he speaks of it by way of diminution) was only written upon and engraven in stone; whereas the gospel is written in the fleshly tables of men’s heart’s.

Note, 3. How the apostle declares that this ministration of the law was glorious; glorious in the minister of it, Moses, who had such a lustre upon his face, that the children of Israel could not bear the sight of it: and glorious in the manner of giving it; there was a great deal of the glory and majesty of God attended the giving of the law to Moses; the ministration of the law was glorious.

Note, 4. The comparison which the apostle makes between the law and the gospel, and the preference which he gives to the one above the other.

1. As the glory of Moses’s face ceased after a while, so the glory of the law ceased at the coming of the gospel.

2. The law was delivered by angels to Moses, but the gospel was delivered to the apostles by the Son of God, who is the brightness of his Father’s glory, and the express image of his person.

3. Whereas the glory of Moses did more and more decrease; the glory put upon the apostles, and derived from Christ, was still more and more increasing upon them.

But, 4. The chief glory of the gospel which the apostle here insists upon, is the ministration of the Spirit, in the large effusions of it under the gospel dispensation, giving spiritual and eternal life to believers, instead of death spiritual and eternal coming by the law. Well therefore might our apostle here say, the ministration of the Spirit, or the gospel, is much more glorious; and consequently a greater reverence and honour is due to it, and to the ministers of it.

William Burkitt's Expository Notes on the New Testament (1700–1703) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

But if the ministration of death, written [literally, "in letters"], and engraven on stones, came [was introduced] with glory, so that the children of Israel could not look stedfastly upon the face of Moses for the glory of his face [ Exo_34:29-35 ]; which glory was passing away:

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.

7–11. But if the ministration of death. The Old Covenant, the law is so called, because it places under the sentence of death. Written and engraven on stones. Only the Decalogue was written on stones. It was the central and most important part of the Old Covenant. Let it be noted that when Paul speaks of the law, or Old Testament, he includes the Decalogue, and does not mean simply the ceremonial law, as some have urged (Exod. 34:1). Was glorious. So glorious that even the face of Moses was made to shine as he carried down the tables of the law (Exod. 34:29) so that he had to veil his face. Which glory was to be done away. It was only temporary.

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.

Connecting Statement:

Paul contrasts the fading glory of the old covenant with the superiority and freedom of the new covenant. He contrasts the veil of Moses with the clarity of present revelation. The time of Moses was a less clear picture of what is now revealed.

Now the service that produced death ... came in such glory

Paul emphasizes that although the law leads to death, it was still very glorious. (See: Irony)

the service that produced

"the ministry of death." This refers to the Old Testament law that God gave through Moses. AT: "the ministry that causes death because it is based on the law" (See: Assumed Knowledge and Implicit Information)

engraved in letters on stones

"carved into stone with letters." This can be stated in active form. AT: "that God carved into stone with letters" (See: Active or Passive)

in such glory

"in so much glory"

This is because

"They could not look because"

How much more glorious will be the service that the Spirit does?

Paul uses this question to emphasize that "the service that the Spirit does" must be more glorious than "the service that produced" because it leads to life. AT: "So the service that the Spirit does must be even more glorious" (See: Rhetorical Question)

the service that the Spirit does

"the ministry of the Spirit." This refers to the new covenant, of which Paul is a minister. AT: "the ministry that gives life because it is based on the Spirit" (See: Assumed Knowledge and Implicit Information)

translationWords

glory

Israel

Moses

Holy Spirit

unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.

7–11. The inferiority of the Law to the Gospel is set forth in a detailed argument directed against the Judaizers: ὅρα πῶς πάλιν ὑποτέμνεται τὸ φρόνημα τὸ Ἰουδαικόν (Chrysostom).

7. γράμμασιν (אACD2D3KLP, Vulg. Copt. Goth.) rather than γράμματι (BDG, Arm.); and λίθοις (אABC) rather than ἐν λίθοις (א3KL, Vulg. Arm.).

7. ἐν γράμμασιν ἐντετυπωμένη λίθοις. Engraven in letters (see critical note) on stones. The thought of the πλαξὶν λιθίναις is still in his mind. The Ten Commandments are here put for the whole Mosaic Law.

ἐγενήθη ἐν δόξῃ. Came with glory (R.V.), was inaugurated in glory. Comp. κἀγὼ ἐν ἀσθενειᾳ ἐγενόμην (1Co 2:3).

ὤστε μὴ δύνασθαι ἀτενίσαι. The glory of that dispensation was so great that even its manifestation on the face of the lawgiver was overpowering to those who received it. At this point the reference to Exo 34:29-35 begins. For τοὺς υἱοὺς Ἰσραήλ, the regular phrase in the LXX., comp. Rom 9:27; Heb 11:22; Rev 2:14.

τὴν καταργουμένην. Which was being done away. Comp. 1Co 13:8; 1Co 13:10; Gal 5:11. The point is, that, however dazzling, it was only temporary and very transitory. This is an emphatic afterthought, which is taken up again 2Co 3:11.

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.

7-11.] And this ministration is infinitely more glorious than was that of Moses under the old Covenant. He argues from the less to the greater: from the transitory glory of the killing letter, to the abiding glory of the life-giving Spirit.

7.] But (passing to another consideration,—the comparison of the two διακονίαι) if the ministration of death in the letter (of that death which the law, the code of literal and formal precept, brought in. This not having been seen, it was imagined that γράμματι belonged to ἐντετυπωμένη, and hence it was altered, as more according to fact, into γράμμασιν, the received reading.

No art. is required before γράμματι, as Meyer objects,—on account of the preposition ἐν) engraven on stones (it seems strange that ἐντετ. λίθ. should he the predicate of διακονία; but the ministration is the whole putting forth of the dispensation, the purport of which was summed up in the decalogue, written on stones. The decalogue thus written was, as in ver. 3, διακονηθεῖσα ὑπὸ Μωυσέως) was (constituted) in glory (as its state or accompanying condition:—the abstract as yet, to be compared with the glory of the other: the concrete, the brightness on the face of Moses, is not yet before us), so that the sons of Israel could not fix their eyes on (they were afraid to come nigh him, Exo 34:30—so that μὴ δύνασθαι is not said of physical inability, but of inability from fear) the face of Moses, on account of the glory of his face, which was transitory (‘transitoria et modici temporis,’ Estius;—supernaturally conferred for a season, and passing away when the occasion was over), how shall not rather the ministration of the Spirit (= ἡ διακονία τῆς ζωῆς ἐν πνεύματι, as formally opposed to the other:—but not so expressed, because the Spirit is the principle of life, whereas the Law only led to death) be (future, because the glory will not be accomplished till the manifestation of the kingdom: according to Billroth, ‘esse invenietur si rem recte perpenderimus:’ or as Bengel, ‘loquitur ex prospectu veteris Testamenti in novum:’ but I much prefer the above, as giving the contrast, by and by expressed, between τὸ καταργούμενον and τὸ μένον) in glory?

Henry Alford, The Greek Testament (1849–1861) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

7. ἡ διακονία τοῦ θανάτου. See on 1Co 15:56 and comp. Gal 3:10, which quotes Deu 27:26: διακονία is not abstract for concrete, ‘ministry’ for ‘ministers’; it means the whole dispensation of the Mosaic Law. The Apostle’s main object is to show the superiority of the Christian ministration. This involves disparaging the Jewish ministration, which he does in strong language, because of the mischief done by the Judaizers. “See,” says Chrys., “how he again cuts the ground from under the Judaistic point of view.” He adds that the Apostle does not say that the Law produced death, but that its ministry tended to death, when it declared ‘the soul that sinneth, it shall die’ (Eze 18:4).* The inferiority of the Law to the Gospel is shown in three different aspects, the second of which is an explanation or justification of the first; it is a ministration of death, a ministration of condemnation, and a ministration which was designed to be only temporary.

ἐν γράμμασιν, ἐντετυπωμένη λίθοις. ‘In letters, and engraven on stones.’ It is necessary to insert ‘and,’ in order to make clear that we have here two attributes of the διακονία, which was in writing that might never be read or understood, and written on dead and heavy material. ‘Graven in letters on stones’ would give only one of these ideas. Κεκολαμμένη ἐν ταῖς πλαξίν is said of the writing made by God on the first tables (Exo 32:16). It is not said who wrote on the second tables (the nom. may be God or Moses), nor whether the writing was engraved or not (Exo 34:28). The Commandments, as the centre and basis of the Mosaic code, are here put for the whole of it, as the Sermon on the Mount is sometimes put for the whole of the Christian code. ‘In writing’ would be better than ‘in letters’; but the connexion between γράμμα and ἐν γράμμασιν must be preserved.

ἐγενήθη ἐν δόξῃ. ‘Came into existence in glory,’ i.e. had a glorious inauguration; or ‘came to be in glory,’ i.e. was transported into a glorious condition. Bachmann defends the latter rendering by a number of instances from papyri in which γίγνεσθαι ἐν seems to mean ‘pass into a certain state’; ἐν νόσῳ γενόμενος, ἐν ἀσφαλεῖ γενέσθαι, κ.τ.λ. This use is not rare in N.T. Cf. [Luk 22:44]; Act 22:17; Php 2:7; 1Ti 2:14; 1Ti 1:10, 1Ti 1:4:2; but it does not fit the context here. The Law was not given in an inglorious condition and afterwards promoted to a glorious one; it was ἐν δόξῃ from the first. Driver notices that St Paul’s key-words in this passage (δόξα, δεδόξασται) are suggested by the LXX rendering of ‘shone’ in Exo 34:29, Exo 34:35, viz. δεδόξασται. We may contrast the aor. here with the fut. ἔσται in v. 8; the latter implies permanence, the former not.

ὥστε μὴ δύνασθαι ἀτενίσαι. Exo 34:30 says no more than that ‘they were afraid to come nigh him’; but Philo (Vita Moys. i. 2, p. 665) gives the current belief; κατέβαινε πολὺ καλλίων τὴν ὄψιν ἢ ὅτε ἀνῄει, ὡς τοὺς ὁρῶντας τεθηπέναι καὶ καταπεπλῆχθαι, καὶ μηδὲν ἐπιπλέον ἀντέχειν τοῖς ὀφθαλμοῖς δύνασθαι κατὰ τὴν προσβολὴν ἡλιοειδοῦς φέγγους ἀπαστράπτοντος. There was a Jewish tradition that the light which shone in Moses’ face was the light which inaugurated the Creation. Vulg. here varies the translation of πρόσωπον in a capricious way; ut non possent intendere filii Israhel in faciem Mosi propter gloriam oultus ejus, quae evacuatur. See Index IV. On the difference between ὥστε with the infinitive and ὥστε with the indicative, see T. S. Evans in Expositor, 3rd series, iii p. 3. Excepting here and v. 13, ἀτενίζειν is peculiar to Luke in N.T.; it is freq. in Acts. In LXX it is rare and late.

τήν καταργουμένην. ‘Which was being done away’; imperfect participle. It was very splendid, but it was very transient. This is not stated in Exodus, but it seems to be implied, and it is brought in here with much effect at the end of the sentence, to be enlarged upon as a separate point of inferiority in v. 11. ‘Was to be done away’ (AV) is certainly wrong,* and ‘was passing away’ (RV) is doubtful. In v. 14, as generally in Paul, the verb is passive, and it may be passive here and in vv. 11, 13; see on 1Co 1:28, 1Co 15:26 and on Luk 13:7 for the meaning of the verb.

γράμμασιν (א A C D2 and 3 E K L P, d e f g Vulg. Copt. Syr. Pesh. Goth.) rather than γράμματι (B D* F G). f Vulg. omit the ἐν before γραμμ, אc D2 and 3 E K L, d e f Vulg. Arm. insert ἐν before λίθοις. In all three cases note the divergence between Greek and Latin in bilingual MSS.

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

The ministration of death [η διακονια του θανατου] . Because it is the ministry of the letter which killeth. The law meant death to the sinner. Written and engraven in stones [εν γραμμασιν εντετυπωμενη λιθοις] . Lit., engraven on stones by means of letters. The use of these words to describe a ministration is peculiar. The ministration of death (see above) is that of Moses, and does not apply to his entire career as Israel 's lawgiver, but to his particular ministry in receiving on Sinai and transmitting to the people the law of God. The ministration may be said to have been graven on stones, since the whole purport of that economy which he represented was contained in the tables, and he was its minister in being the agent through whom God delivered it to the people.

Was glorious [εγενηθη εν δοξη] . A very inadequate translation. Egenhqh means came to pass or took place, not simply was. A glory passed from God to Moses, so that his face became shining. It is much more graphic and truthful to render ejn doxh literally, in or with glory, than to convert the two words into a single adjective, glorious. Rev., much better, came with glory.

Steadfastly behold [ατενισαι] . See on Luk 4:20.

Passing away [καταργουμενην] . Lit., being done away or brought to nought. See on Luk 13:7; Rom 3:3.

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