2 CORINTHIANS CHAPTER 3.
The Glory of the New Testament Ministry. 2 Cor. 3, 1–18
The glory of the ministry of righteousness: 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 excelleth. V.11. For if that which is done away was glorious, much more that which remaineth is glorious.
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” (Luther, 11, 1768).
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 New 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” (Luther, 12, 859).
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” (Luther, 12, 857).