What is the meaning of 2 Corinthians 3:7? Now if the ministry of death • Paul calls the Old Covenant “the ministry of death” because the Law reveals sin and sentences the sinner to the just penalty of death (Romans 3:20; 6:23; 7:10–11). • The Law itself is “holy, righteous, and good” (Romans 7:12), yet its ministry is to expose guilt, not to impart life (Galatians 3:21–22). • By using “if,” Paul begins a greater-to-lesser argument: if even a covenant that ends in condemnation carried glory, the New Covenant must carry more. which was engraved in letters on stone • This pinpoints the Ten Commandments, literally chiseled by God onto tablets of stone (Exodus 31:18; 32:15–16). • Stone highlights permanence of God’s moral standards, but it also pictures coldness and externality—commandments outside of the heart (Jeremiah 31:33; 2 Corinthians 3:3). • The contrast Paul will draw is between fixed letters on stone and the living Spirit writing on human hearts. came with such glory that the Israelites could not gaze at the face of Moses • When Moses descended from Sinai, “the skin of his face shone because he had been speaking with the LORD” (Exodus 34:29–30). • The radiance confirmed that even a covenant that condemned still originated from the glorious presence of God (Psalm 19:7-9). • The Israelites’ inability to look steadily at Moses underscores humanity’s distance from God under the Law (Exodus 20:18-19; Hebrews 12:18-21). because of its fleeting glory • Moses’ glow faded, so he covered his face to keep Israel from watching the glory diminish (Exodus 34:33-35). • The temporary nature of that brightness symbolizes the temporary role of the Old Covenant, now “passing away” (2 Corinthians 3:11; Hebrews 8:13). • Paul is preparing to reveal the surpassing, permanent glory that belongs to the Spirit-empowered New Covenant (2 Corinthians 3:18). summary 2 Corinthians 3:7 teaches that the Law—though holy—served a “ministry of death,” exposing sin and pronouncing judgment. Even so, it was delivered with unmistakable divine glory, evidenced by Moses’ shining face. Yet that glory was transient, signaling the Old Covenant’s limited, preparatory role. If a covenant that could only condemn arrived in such splendor, the New Covenant, which grants righteousness and life through the Spirit, must be infinitely more glorious. |
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