Verse By Verse Devotional On 2 Corinthians By Pastor Jack #71

The Surpassing Glory of the New Covenant

3:7-11 "But if the ministry of death, in letters engraved on stones, came with glory, so that the sons of Israel could not look intently at the face of Moses because of the glory of his face, fading as it was, how will the ministry of the Spirit fail to be even more with glory? For if the ministry of condemnation has glory, much more does the ministry of righteousness abound in glory. For indeed what had glory, in this case has no glory because of the glory that surpasses it . For if that which fades away was with glory, much more that which remains is in glory."

Here are the contrasts Paul brings out in this passage:

old covenant                                     new covenant

of the letter (the letter kills)               of the Spirit (the Spirit gives life)
the ministry of death                         the ministry of the Spirit
in letters engraved on stones           written with God’s Spirit on human hearts
came with (fading) glory                   much more with glory
the ministry of condemnation          the ministry of righteousness
that which fades away                     that which remains

But the strongest emphasis, and really the main point of Paul in this paragraph, is the surpassing glory of the new covenant. In order to contrast his ministry with the "peddlers of the word" (2:17), Paul contrasts the glory of the old covenant with the surpassing glory of the new. This leads us to the conclusion that Paul’s detractors, the "false apostles" he repeatedly opposes in this letter, are still preaching a Jesus that is confined in the context of the old covenant. This is not the same Jesus that Paul preaches (see 11:4). The real Jesus, the One Paul preaches, has so much more glory than Moses that the old, though it "had glory, in this case has no glory because of the glory that surpasses it." In other words, the glory of the new exceeds the glory of the old to such an extent that it makes it look like the old had no glory at all.

Paul understood well the old covenant mentality, which he lived in until Christ confronted him on the road to Damascus. Now he had seen and come to know the glorious Christ, and he knew that to confine Him to the old covenant context was out of the question. For one thing, the exclusively Jewish old covenant context was too small to contain the majestic vastness of Christ’s glory:

He [God] says [to the Christ], "It is too small a thing that You should be My Servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob, and to restore the preserved ones of Israel; I will also make You a light of the nations so that My salvation may reach to the end of the earth." (Is.49:6)

His opponents had tried to add Christ to the old covenant context, but He would not fit. New wine required new wine skins. Jesus came and turned the water of the old into the wine of the new.

Christ has come. He has poured out His Spirit upon His people. The blessings which were portioned out in small measure have now been lavished in abundance. We are the people upon whom the ends of the ages have come (1Cor.10:11). The OT prophets longed to see what we see but couldn’t (1Pet.1:10-12), for "it was revealed to them that they were not serving themselves, but you, in these things which now have been announced to you through those who preached the gospel to you by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven." They are even "things into which angels long to look."

"For what the Law could not do, weak as it was through the flesh, God did: sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and as an offering for sin, He condemned sin in the flesh, so that the requirement of the Law might be fulfilled in us, who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit." (Rom.8:3-4)

We might also be tempted to try to fit Jesus into an old covenant attitude. If we focus on the law and give little attention to our magnificent Savior, if we focus on obedience and forget about the Holy Spirit who empowers us to obey, if we dwell on the outward and ignore the inward, if we emphasize the form and neglect the content, if we forget that the greatest responsibility and privilege of life is to know Jesus, then we also are preaching a different Jesus.

Dear Lord Jesus, Your coming has changed everything. Your transforming power has brought me from death to abundant life. You have brought fullness and joy. Because of You, light and life and love have burst out upon the earth. By the coming of Your Spirit You have made it so that rivers of living water flow from our inmost being. You are indeed to be praised above all others. For the law came through Moses, but grace and truth have come through You, Jesus Christ. To us it has been granted to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven. How blessed are our eyes that they see and our ears that they hear!