2 CORINTHIANS CHAPTER 3.
The Glory of the New Testament Ministry. 2 Cor. 3, 1–18
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?
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 Decalog, engraved upon tablets of stone by the finger of the Lord Himself, Ex. 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, Ex. 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.