2 Corinthians 3:7-11

There are three phrases in this passage that, I believe, supply the key to understanding it: …will not the ministry of the Spirit be even more glorious?…how much more glorious is the ministry that brings righteousness…how much greater is the glory of that which lasts! (8, 9b, 11). The New Covenant is much more glorious than the Old one. In fact it shines with surpassing glory (10b).

Paul here contrasts the two covenants:

  • The Old Covenant brought death (7) in that people broke that which was engraved in letters on stone. To sin is to die. To be sinful is to be in a state of death.
  • The Old Covenant condemns men (9). People who break God’s law are condemned by their actions. In fact they do not so much break it as they are broken by it.
  • The Old Covenant was glorious (9, 10, and see 7), but it was a fading glory (11): a point brought home by looking at the fading glory on Moses’ face (7b).

So what we have under the new covenant is better (as the writer of Hebrews keeps emphasising.)

  • The New Covenant is the ministry of the Spirit (8). As someone said, He, the third Person of the Trinity, is the executor of the God head. So we can say that whatever the Father has planned, and the Son made possible by His death on the cross, the Spirit makes real in our lives. An executor ensures you get what is yours.
  • The New Covenant brings righteousness (9). As the Spirit applies the God-ordained work of Calvary to our lives, we become right with  God (positionally) and we are enabled to live right before men (practically) by the Spirit’s power. Through His sanctifying work we become more and more righteous in life.
  • The New Covenant is one of surpassing glory (10)
  • The New Covenant lasts (11b). Its blessings are eternal.

Let’s realise, today, the enormous benefits of living in these New Covenant days. If you have put your trust in Christ to save you, and if God’s Spirit, thereby, has come to live in you, you have entered an era, a realm of indescribable glory. You have been brought out of darkness and into God’s marvellous light  (1 Peter 2:9; see also Prov.4:18). Take time today to adore the loving God who has so blessed you.

Prayer: Lord, I cannot fully grasp that I am able to see the light while so many grope around in the darkness, but I know that it is due to your sovereign grace.