2 Coríntios 3
Charles Spurgeon · Citado em PreceptAustin
2 Coríntios 3
Spurgeon - 2 Corinthians 3:17 Do you understand how it is that the very guilt of the sinner is taken away? Here I stand today a guilty and condemned traitor; Christ comes for my salvation, he bids me leave my cell. “I will stand where you are; I will be your substitute; I will be the sinner; all your guilt is to be imputed to me; I will die for it, I will suffer for it; I will have your sins.” Then stripping himself of his robes, he says, “There, put them on; you shall be considered as if you were Christ; you shall be the righteous one. I will take your place, you take mine.” Then he casts around me a glorious robe of perfect righteousness; and when I behold it, I exclaim, “Strangely, my soul, art thou arrayed”, with my elder brother’s garments on. Jesus Christ’s crown is on my head, his spotless robes are round my loins, and his golden sandals are the shoes of my feet. And now is there any sin? The sin is on Christ; the righteousness is on me. Ask for the sinner, Justice! Let the voice of Justice cry, “Bring forth the sinner!” The sinner is brought. Who does the executioner lead forth? It is the incarnate Son of God. True, he did not commit the sin; he was without fault; but it is imputed to him: he stands in the sinner’s place. Now justice cries, “Bring forth the righteous, the perfectly righteous.” Whom do I see? Lo, the Church is brought; each believer is brought. Justice says, “Are these perfectly righteous?” “Yes they are. What Christ did is theirs; what they did is laid on Christ; his righteousness is theirs; their sins are his.” John
2 Coríntios 3:1-4
Spurgeon: The best thing in the best place, producing the best results. Well might the man's talk be so admirable when his heart was so well stored. To love holiness, to have the motives and desires sanctified, to be in one's inmost nature obedient to the Lord -- this is the surest method of making the whole run of our life efficient for its great ends, and even for securing the details of it, our steps from any serious mistake. To keep the even tenor of one's way, in such times as these, is given only to those whose hearts are sound towards God, who can, as in the text, call God their God. Policy slips and trips, it twists and tacks, and after all is worsted in the long run, but sincerity plods on its plain pathway and reaches the goal. John
2 Coríntios 3:1-4
Spurgeon: Yea, thy law is within my heart. No outward, formal devotion was rendered by Christ; his heart was in his work, holiness was his element, the Father's will his meat and drink. We must each of us be like our Lord in this, or we shall lack the evidence of being his disciples. Where there is no heart work, no pleasure, no delight in God's law, there can be no acceptance. Let the devout reader adore the Saviour for the spontaneous and hearty manner in which he undertook the great work of our salvation. James Denney sums up this section writing that "Amid all these details let us take care not to lose the one great lesson of the passage. Christian people owe a testimony to Christ. His name has been pronounced over them, and all who look at them ought to see His nature. We should discern in the heart and in the behavior of Christians the handwriting, let us say the characters, not of avarice, of suspicion, of envy, of lust, of falsehood, of pride, but of Christ. It is to us He has committed Himself; we are the certification to men of what He does for man; His character is in our care. The true epistles of Christ to the world are not those which are expounded in pulpits; they are not even the gospels in which Christ Himself lives and moves before us; they are living men and women, on the tables of whose hearts the Spirit of the living God, ministered by a true evangelist, has engraved the likeness of Christ Himself. It is not the written Word on which Christianity ultimately depends; it is not the sacraments, nor so-called necessary institutions: it is this inward, spiritual, Divine writing which is the guarantee of all else. (2 Corinthians 3 Commentary) Here is a illustration of a living epistle from Christ = The Life of Adoniram Judson - Many years ago when the great missionary Adoniram Judson was home on furlough, he passed through the city of Stonington, Connecticut. A young boy playing about the wharves at the time of Judson’s arrival was struck by the man’s appearance. Never before had he seen such a light on any human face (cp 2Co 3:18-note, 1Co 15:49). He ran up the street to a minister to ask if he knew who the stranger was. The minister hurried back with him, but became so absorbed in conversation with Judson that he forgot all about the impatient youngster standing near him. Many years afterward that boy—who could never get away from the influence of that wonderful face—became the famous preacher Henry Clay Trumbull. (author of the insightful and fascinating book The Blood Covenant A Primitive Rite And Its Bearings on Scripture) In a book of memoirs he penned a chapter entitled: "What a Boy Saw in the Face of Adoniram Judson." That lighted countenance had changed his life. Even as flowers thrive when they bend to the light, so shining, radiant faces come to those who constantly turn toward Christ! D Thomas refers to this section as "Soul (Heart) Literature" — Christianity written on the soul is Christianity — I. IN THE MOST LEGIBLE FORM. II. IN THE MOST CONVINCING FORM. Books have been written on the evidences of Christianity; but one life permeated by the Christian spirit furnishes an argument that baffles all controversy. III. IN THE MOST PERSUASIVE FORM. There is a magnetism in gospel truth embodied which you seek for in vain in any written work. When the “Word is made flesh” it is made “mighty through God.” IV. IN THE MOST ENDURING FORM. The tablet is imperishable. Paper will crumble, institutions will dissolve, marble or brass are corruptible. V. IN THE DIVINEST FORM. The hand can inscribe it on parchment or stone, but only God can write it on the heart, (The Biblical illustrator) Bogue comments on Christ is the "Writer" and Christians as His "Letter"... Christ has blotted out “guilty” and written in “no condemnation.” He has erased “earthly” and supplied “heavenly.” Licentiousness has given place to purity, profanity to prayerfulness, selfishness to love, etc. We judge of the authorship of an epistle, not merely by the penmanship and signature, which a clever forger might imitate, but also by its contents. A hypocrite, a false professor, is like a forged letter. Its design. To convey the mind of Christ to men. Men may refuse to listen to the gospel, but they cannel ignore the testimony of a consistent Christian life. 1. As a letter is written for the purpose of being seen, a Christian should let his Christianity be visible. We do not write letters merely for the sake of writing them, but that they may be read. So, if Christians do not let their Christianity be seen in their lives, they defeat one chief end which Christ had in view in making them what they are. Those who are Christians in name only are in no sense of the term epistles of Christ; ii were vain to exhort such to let what Christ has written in them be seen by men, for they have nothing to show. 2. A letter being written for the purpose of being read should be legible. A letter may be so written that it is impossible to make out the writer’s meaning. Such a letter may be worse than useless, for, owing to its illegibility, it may convey a wrong meaning. When the letters of men are illegible ii is the fault of the writers, but this is not the case with Christ’s epistles. He never writes illegibly. The fault lies on the side of the epistles themselves. Note one or two things which render writing illegible. (1) Indistinctness of character. One word may be mistaken for another, and thus the whole meaning of a sentence may be altered. And Christians may be illegible as epistles of Christ through the wavering, unsteady character imparted to the writing that is in them by their want of decision for Christ and their compromises with the world. What we want is boldness on the part of Christians in testifying for Christ in their everyday lives. (2) Blots. Perhaps the most important word in a sentence is completely hidden by a blot. Alas! in how many cases is the testimony of a Christian for Christ made of none effect by the unsightly blot of some gross inconsistency, some dark sin, which the eye of the world rests continually on, and refuses to see anything else. 3. A letter is written that it may be understood. What prevents letters from being intelligible? (1) Omissions. Were the little word “not,” e.g., left out, the meaning of a sentence would be entirely reversed. In like manner, the lack of one essential Christian grace-charity, e.g. — if it do not render the character of a Christian unintelligible, makes it less easily understood. (2) Contradictions. We cannot possibly make out the meaning if one sentence says one thing and the next the opposite. And haw can men understand our testimony for Christ if we have one kind of conduct for the Church and another for the world? (The Biblical illustrator) F B Meyer's devotional "An Autograph Letter" - THE APOSTLE Paul's life was made weary by the incessant opposition of his enemies and critics, who sowed discord in the churches which he had formed in Europe. Amongst others, they visited Corinth and challenged him to produce letters of commendation from the leaders of the Church. With justifiable indignation he cries: "Why should I carry letters, when my converts, given me by the Lord, are circulating everywhere, with the attesting signature of Christ upon them?" Surely they are a sufficient guarantee and proof that I have been commissioned and sent forth by the Lord Himself. St. Paul gave utterance to a true and striking description of a Christian disciple. He is an autograph letter, the Author and Writer is the Lord Himself--"an epistle of Christ." The ink is "the Spirit of the Living God." The pen is the teacher or preacher of the Gospel, "ministered by us." The Material is the heart and life--"not on tables of stone, but on hearts of flesh." We ought to be Christians in large type, so that it would not be necessary to be long in our society, or to regard us through spectacles, in order to detect our true discipleship. The message of our lives should resemble the big advertisements which can be read on the street-hoardings by all who pass by. The merit of good letter-writing is to state what the writer wants to say as clearly and concisely as possible. Sometimes we have to wade through long and weary pages before we can get at the gist of our correspondent's meaning. Let us take care that the message of our lives is clear, concise, and unmistakable. We are to be pens in the hand of Christ--our sufficiency is of God, who makes us ministers. Milton's pen had only to yield itself relentlessly to the hand of the daughter or amanuensis, to whom the blind master dictated his immortal words. And the messages which we are to inscribe on the hearts and lives of men do not originate in us, but with Christ. If others are used more than we are, it is because they are more meet for His use (2Ti 2:15-21). PRAYER- Live in us, blessed Lord, by Thy Holy Spirit, that our lives may be living epistles of helpfulness and blessedness. May the Name of the Lord Jesus be glorified in us. AMEN. Keep On Writing - The following poem written by Paul Gilbert is intended to encourage us as Christians to be persuasive, flesh-and-blood testimonies for our Savior. You’re writing a “gospel,” A chapter each day, By the deeds that you do, By the words that you say; Men read what you write, Whether faithless or true; Say, what is the “gospel” According to you? Sometimes, however, our writing is done with scratchy pens. Maybe it’s badly blurred and so illegible that God’s message can’t be deciphered. Hannah More, an outstanding witness for the gospel in 19th-century England, sometimes felt discouraged about the quality of her spiritual penmanship. Although she organized schools for the unevangelized poor and wrote many tracts and hymns, she had a low opinion of her effectiveness. This was her self-appraisal: “God is sometimes pleased to work with the most unworthy instruments—I suppose to take away every shadow of doubt that it is His own doing. It always gives me the idea of a great author writing with a very bad pen.” We're not called to work for God, but to let God work through us. Living Stones - I’ve seen a number of recent reports about efforts to remove monuments with the Ten Commandments from public places in the US. It’s regrettable, for the monuments celebrate righteousness, and “righteousness exalts a nation” (Pr 14:34). I believe that removing these reminders is a reflection of our crumbling moral foundations. There is one enduring monument to righteousness, however, that cannot be removed: the truth of Christ, written on human hearts by the Spirit of God (2 Corinthians 3:3). Those who have the law of God written on their hearts love the Lord with all their mind, soul, and strength. They demonstrate this love to the world by showing honor to their parents, faithfulness in their marriage, and integrity in their work. They respect human life and treat all men and women with dignity and honor. They don’t speak evil of anyone, no matter how much evil has been done to them. They are content with God and what He has given them, and they want nothing more. These are the outward signs that God’s law is alive, written on our hearts “by the Spirit of the living God” (2Co 3:3). God's laws engraved on our hearts can never be removed from the public arena. W Grant describes.... HOW WE MAY SO USE THIS EPISTLE (referring to the believer a letter written by Christ) THAT IT MAY SERVE THE PURPOSE FOR WHICH IT WAS WRITTEN. We may commend Christ — 1. With our lips. Our conversation may be an epistle to make known His praises. The circulation of the epistle written with ink — the printed Bible — is our duty. Even so it is our duty to publish the living epistle. It was intended to be an open letter, known and read of all men. How many are there with whom we daily associate who never read the written Bible, the only hope of whose salvation is that they may read or hear the living epistle! By our silence we conceal that epistle from them, and leave them to perish. 2. By our lives. It is in vain that we speak of Christ with our lips if our lives belie our words. Our actions, like a pen full of ink, trace certain characters, leave certain impressions on the mind and memory of those who see them. In beholding our actions, have men been led to say of us, “These men have been with Jesus”? 3. By our character. A man’s outward manner may be in direct opposition to his inward character. To be true epistles of Christ we must reflect His image, not in word only, or in action, but in our dispositions and desires., (The Biblical illustrator) William Arnot (author of one of the better commentaries on the Book of Proverbs [Laws from Heaven for Life on Earth) has a sermon entitled...Epistles of Christ From the example of the Master Paul had acquired the habit of gliding softly and quickly from a common object of nature to the deep things of grace. The practice of asking and obtaining certificates seems to have been introduced at a very early period into the Christian Church, and already some abuses had crept in along with it. We gather from this epistle that some very well recommended missionaries had been spoiling Paul’s work at Corinth. Virtually challenged to exhibit his own certificates, he boldly appeals to those who had been converted through his ministry, and now he glides into a greater thing — Christians are an epistle of Christ. Regarding these epistles, consider — I. THE MATERIAL WRITTEN ON. 1. Many different substances have been employed in writing; but one feature is common to all — in their natural state they are not fit to be used as writing materials. They must undergo a process of preparation. Even the primitive material of stone must be polished ere the engraving begin. The reeds, and leaves, and skins, too, which were used by the ancients, all needed preparation. So with modern paper, of which rags are the raw material. These are torn into small pieces, washed, cast into a new form, and become a “new creature.” A similar process takes place in the preparation of the material for an epistle of Christ. You might as well try to write upon the rubbish from which paper is made as to impress legible evidence for the truth and divinity of the gospel on the life of one who is still “of the earth, earthy.” 2. The paper manufacturer is not nice in the choice of his materials. The clean cannot be serviceable without passing through the process, and the unclean can be made serviceable with it. Let no man think he can go into heaven because he is good; but neither let any one fear he will be kept out of it because he is evil. II. THE WRITING. It is not Christianity printed in the creed, but Christ written in the heart. A person’s character may be gathered from his letters. How eagerly the public read those of a great man printed after his death! Our Lord left no letters, yet He has not left Himself without a witness. When He desires to let the world know what He is, He points to Christians. Nay, when He would have the Father to behold His glory, He refers Him to the saved: “I am glorified in them.” A Christian merchant goes to India or China. He sells manufactured goods; he buys silk and tea. But all the time he is a living epistle, sent by Christ to the heathen. A Christian boy becomes an apprentice, and is now, therefore, a letter from the Lord to all his shop mates. III. THE WRITER. “The Spirit of the living God.” Some writings are easily rubbed off by rough usage or with age. Only fast colours are truly valuable. The flowers and figures painted upon porcelain are burned in, and therefore cannot be blotted out. No writing on a human spirit is certainly durable except that which the Spirit of God lays on. In conversion there is a sort of furnace through which the new-born pass. In the widespread religious activity of the day some marks are made on the people — not made by the Spirit of God — shown by the event to have been only marks on the surface made by some passing fear or nervous sympathy. IV. THE PEN. In photography it is the sun that makes the portrait; yet a human hand prepares the plate and adjusts the lens. A similar place is assigned to the ministry of men in the work of the Spirit. Printing nowadays is done by machines which work with a strength and regularity and silence that are enough to strike an onlooker with dismay. Yet even there a watchful human eye and alert human hand axe needed to introduce the paper into the proper place. Agents are needed even under the ministry of the Spirit — needed to watch for souls. V. THE READERS. 1. The writing is not sealed or locked up in a desk, but exposed all the day to public view. Some who look on the letters are enemies, and some are friends. If an alien see Christ represented in a Christian, he may thereby be turned from darkness to light; but, if he see sin, self, and the world, he will probably be more hardened in his unbelief. Those who already know and love the truth are glad when they read it clearly written in a neighbour’s life, are grieved when they see a false image of the Lord held up before the eyes of men. 2. Many readers, however, fail to see the meaning of the plainest letters. None so blind as those who will not see. Considering how defective most readers are either in will or skill, or both, the living epistles should be written in characters both large and fair. Some MSS. are so defectively written that none but experts can decipher them. Skilled and practised men can piece them together, and gather the sense where, to ordinary eyes, only unconnected scrawls appear. Benevolent ingenuity has produced a kind of writing that even the blind can read. Such should be the writing of Christ’s mind on a Christian’s conversation. It should be raised in characters so large that even the blind, who cannot see, may be compelled, by contact with Christians, to feel that Christ is passing by., (The Biblical illustrator) 2 Corinthians 3:4 Such confidence we have through Christ toward God. (NASB: Lockman) Greek : Pepoithesin de toiauten echomen (1PPAI) dia tou Christou pros ton theon. NEB It is in full reliance upon God, through Christ, that we make such claims. Amplified: Such is the reliance and confidence that we have through Christ toward and with reference to God. (Lockman) The Living Bible We dare to say these good things about ourselves only because of our great trust in God through Christ, that he will help us to be true to what we say, ESV: Such is the confidence that we have through Christ toward God. . (ESV) KJV: And such trust have we through Christ to God-ward: NET: Now we have such confidence in God through Christ. (NET Bible) NIV: Such confidence as this is ours through Christ before God. (NIV - IBS) NLT: We are confident of all this because of our great trust in God through Christ. (NLT - Tyndale House)
2 Coríntios 3:5-6
Spurgeon notes that "ALL God’s dealings with men have had a covenant character. It hath so pleased him to arrange it, that he will not deal with us except through a covenant, nor can we deal with him except in the same manner." New (2537) (kainos) is an adjective which refers to that which is new in kind = "fresh", unprecedented, novel, uncommon, unheard of. Kainos describes something that was not previously present and in describing the covenant as "new" clearly implies that the "old" one has been replaced. A T
2 Coríntios 3:5-6
Spurgeon - Brethren, if Paul is not sufficient of himself, what are you and I? Where are you … Do you indulge the dream of self-sufficiency? Be ashamed of your folly in the presence of a great man who knew what he said, and who spoke under the direction of the Spirit of God, and wrote deliberately, ‘Not that we are sufficient of ourselves.'....Our sufficiency is of God; let us practically enjoy this truth. We are poor, leaking vessels, and the only way for us to keep full is to put our pitcher under the perpetual flow of boundless grace (ED: DISPENSED BY THE SPIRIT OF GRACE - Heb 10:29b). Then, despite its leakage, the cup will always be full to the brim." Murray Harris - Still speaking of this confidence (2Co 3:4) before God, he disowns any ability to form a competent judgment on the results of his own ministry or any personal right to lay claim to the results of what was in reality God’s work. His qualification and source of competence for the work of the ministry, including the assessment of its success, were not natural ability or personal initiative but divine enabling. Paul’s confidence came through Christ, his competence from God, and he says all this against the background of his opponents’ claim to be self-sufficient. (Expositor's Bible Commentary) P E
2 Coríntios 3:7-11
Spurgeon wrote that Christ has made for us a New Covenant. The Old Covenant was, Do this and live That covenant was a sentence of death upon us all. We could not do, therefore we could not live, and so we died. The New Covenant has nothing in it contingent upon creature doing, but it bases all its provisions upon Christ having done the work. I will, and you shall This is the language of the new covenant. The Covenant of Law, in which we were weak through the flesh, left us mangled and broken. The Covenant of Grace reveals God's kindness towards us, and our part thereof has been fulfilled for us by our surety, Christ Jesus. Thus it runs, Their sins and their iniquities will I remember no more for ever; a new heart also will I give them, and a right spirit will I put within them. The old world (Ed: All who have not entered into the New Covenant) is still under the Old Covenant of works, and its children perish, for they cannot carry out the conditions of the covenant, they cannot keep God's law, they break it constantly, and they die. But the children of grace are under the New Covenant of grace, and through the precious blood, which is the penalty of the old broken covenant, and through the spotless righteousness of Christ, which is the fulfilment and magnifying of the Old Covenant, the Christian stands secure, and rejoices that he is saved. Christ has thus made His people dwell under a New Covenant, instead of under the old one. (Ed: This begs the question - Under which covenant are you living your Christian life? Be introspective. Be honest! Be free!) (Spurgeon's entire sermon - A New Creation) More of C H Spurgeon on the New Covenant... WHAT a glorious covenant the second covenant (New Covenant) is! Well might it be called a better covenant, which was established upon better promises.” Hebrews 8:6. It is so glorious that the very thought of it is enough to overwhelm the soul, when it discerns the amazing condescension and infinite love of God, in having framed a covenant for such unworthy creatures, for such glorious purposes, with such disinterested motives. It is better than the other covenant, the "covenant of works", which was made with Adam; or that covenant which is said to have been made with Israel, on the day when they came out of Egypt. It is better, for it is founded upon a better principle. The Old Covenant was founded on the principle of merit; it was Serve God and you shall be rewarded for it. If you walk perfectly in the fear of the Lord, God will walk well towards you, and all the blessings of Mount Gerizim shall come upon thee, and you shall be exceedingly blessed in this world, and the world which is to come. But that covenant fell to the ground, because, although it was just that man should be rewarded for his good works, or punished for his evil ones, yet man being sure to sin, and since the fall infallibly tending towards iniquity, the covenant was not suitable for his happiness, nor could it promote his eternal welfare. But the New Covenant, is not founded on works at all, it is a covenant of pure unmingled grace; you may read it from its first word to its last, and there is not a solitary syllable as to anything to be done by us....(the) New Covenant has now nothing whatever to do with the creature, so far as the creature has to do anything, but only so far as he is to receive: the idea of change is utterly and entirely gone. It is God’s Covenant, and therefore it is an unchanging covenant. If there be something which I am to do in the covenant, then is the covenant insecure. And although happy as Adam, I may yet become miserable as Satan. But if the covenant be all on God’s part, then if my name be in that covenant, my soul is as secure as if I were now walking the golden streets. And if any blessing be in the covenant, I am as certain to receive that blessing as if I already grasped it in my hands; for the promise of God is sure to be followed by fulfillment. The promise never fails. It always brings with it the whole of that which it is intended to convey, and the moment I receive it by faith, I am sure of the blessing itself. Oh! how infinitely superior is this Covenant to the other in its manifest security! It is beyond the risk or hazard of the least uncertainty. But I have been thinking for the last two or three days, that the Covenant of Grace excels the other covenant most marvellously in the mighty blessings which it confers. What does the covenant of grace convey? I had thought this morning of preaching a sermon upon “The covenant of grace; what are the blessings it gives to God’s children?” But when I began to think of it, there was so much in the covenant, that if I had only read a catalogue of the great and glorious blessings, wrapped up within its folds, I should have needed to occupy nearly the whole of the day in making a few simple observations upon each of them. Consider the great things God has given in the covenant. He sums them up by saying he hath given ALL THINGS! He has given you eternal life in Christ Jesus; yea, he has given Christ Jesus to be yours; He has made Christ heir of all things, and He has made you join their with Him; and hence He has given you everything. Were I to sum up that mighty mass of unutterable treasure which God has conveyed to every elect soul by that glorious covenant, time would fail me. I therefore commence with one great blessing conveyed to us by the covenant, and then on other Sabbaths I will, by Divine permission, consider separately, one by one, sundry other things which the covenant conveys. We commence then by the first thing, which is enough to startle us by its immense value; in fact, unless it had been written in God’s Word, we never could have dreamed that such a blessing could have been ours. God himself, by the covenant becomes the believer’s own portion and inheritance. I WILL BE THEIR GOD! ...Stop just one moment and think it over before we start. In the Covenant of Grace God Himself conveys Himself to you and becomes yours. Understand it: God — all that is meant by that word — eternity, infinity, omnipotence, omniscience, perfect justice, infallible rectitude, immutable love — all that is meant by God — Creator, Guardian, Preserver, Governor, Judge, — all that that great word “GOD” can mean all of goodness and of love, all of bounty and of grace — all that, this covenant gives you, to be your absolute property as much as anything you can call your own: “I will be their God.” We say, pause over that thought. If I should not preach at all, there is enough in that, if opened up and applied by the all-glorious Spirit, to excite your joy during the whole of the Sabbath-day. “I will be their God.”(Excerpt from God in the Covenant = based on Jer 31:33 "I will be their God.") Thomas Brooks - The covenant of grace (New Covenant) is the saint's original title to heaven...The whole covenant is a bundle of promises. Related resources: New Covenant in the Old Testament Covenant: Why the New is Better Covenant: Abrahamic vs Old vs New John MacArthur makes the point that in 2Corinthians 3 Paul teaches truths that will help his readers... understand the transition from the Old covenant to the New.It isn't that the Old Covenant and New Covenant are opposites. It isn't that they are opposed to each other. It is that one gives way to the next. The Old Covenant in and of itself was not complete, it could not save, it could not grant righteousness. It had to pass away and be replaced by the New. The Old Covenant, however, did serve a purpose, a very good purpose and that purpose was fulfilled historically (Ed: See Why the Law?). And when the time came for that purpose to fade, it faded and the New Covenant came in its place. (The Glory of the New Covenant, Part 3 - this sermon also includes an interesting discussion on what Dr MacArthur refers to as the three "categories" of Old Covenant Law - civil, moral and ceremonial.) Murray Harris writes that Paul's allusion to the NT "now prompts him to compare the old and new economies. Each involved a distinctive ministry that was accompanied by glory, but so superior was the glory of the new covenant that the glory of the old faded into insignificance by comparison...in the remainder of the chapter Paul provides a commentary on selected points of the narrative in Exodus 34:29–35. (Expositor's Bible Commentary) Ministry of death - The Greek is subjective genitive meaning "marked by death in its outcome" (A T Robertson) and was a graphic description of the ministry of Moses (and the Old Covenant of Law), because as Paul had just stated, the letter kills (2Co 3:6-see explanation of why the letter killed). THE GREATEST MASS MURDERER OF ALL TIME!