II Corinthians 3:6-11: "The New Covenant, Part 1"
Paul picks up where he left off the last section. He wants the Corinthians to be clear on his new covenant message, which is the gospel of Christ. As the false brethren had infiltrated the Corinthian church, they were preaching salvation through the keeping of ceremonial laws and rites. Instead of salvation through the new covenant in Christ where grace and righteousness are imparted to the repentant sinner through the sacrifice of Jesus Christ, they were teaching salvation through circumcision, adherence to law, and other ceremonial rites. Paul continues his assault on this heresy and the defense of the pure gospel message he preached to them.
Paul writes, "who also made us adequate as servants of a new covenant, not of the letter but of the Spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life". Reiterating what he had said in the previous verse, Paul makes clear that the false works salvation that was being preached leads to nothing but death, but the new covenant in Christ gives eternal life. To reiterate, MacArthur writes, "The Law kills in three ways. First, it kills by killing joy, peace, and hope, and replacing them with the frustration, sorrow, hopelessness, and guilt that come from one's inability to obey it. Second, sinners' inability to keep the Law perpetrates spiritual death (Gal. 3:10; cf. Rom. 6:23). Finally, the violated Law becomes the basis of eternal condemnation, actually killing those who seek to be saved by keeping it". What was misunderstood by the Jews for so long is that the Law was NEVER given as a means of salvation. Rather, it was given as a way to understand that man on his own could never fulfill this burdensome task because of our sinful flesh, and the law would show us sin and the need for a Redeemer. Instead, the Jews twisted the law and made it a means for salvation. Something the Law could never do. Romans 7:9-11, "I was once alive apart from the Law; but when the commandment came, sin became alive and I died; and this commandment, which was to result in life, proved to result in death for me; for sin, taking an opportunity through the commandment, deceived me and through it killed me". However, understood properly the Law was a wonderful tool that God used to show man his utter sinfulness, in order to help man understand his need for a savior. That is where the gospel of Christ that Paul preached came in. Once he could get them to understand they needed a Savior he could introduce them to the Savior, to the new covenant. He could show them that, "The law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set [them] free from the law of sin and of death" (Rom. 8:2).
Paul continues, "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". Paul, wanting his readers to recognize the difference between the gospel of the false apostles, attacks salvation through adherence to the Law. However, as Paul frequently did in his letters, he wanted his readers to understand he had a high regard for the Law. He recognized that the Law is perfect and good and when understood properly is necessary to bringing one to salvation. In this section, Paul speaks of the "glory" with which the Law was given in. He will do this in order to show that 1) the Law is good, and 2) how much better the new covenant is. MacArthur writes, "To illustrate the Law's glory, Paul turned to a familiar event in Israel's history- Moses receiving the Law on Mount Sinai. After he had been in the presence of God's Shekinah glory, the sons of Israel could not look intently at the face of Moses because of the glory of his face". From Exodus 34, we learn that after receiving the Holy Law from God Moses face shown the glory of his experience with God. The significance and glory of the document that God had dictated to Moses was evident to all those who came into contact with Moses. This was no doubt, directly from God and good in its purpose. MacArthur continues, "But if the old covenant had a certain fading glory how, Paul asked, will the ministry of the Spirit (the new covenant) fail to be even more with glory? The Law written on stone in the old covenant, which produced death and condemnation, had the glory of God in it because it revealed His glorious nature as holy and just. The new covenant reveals God's glory in a full manner because it not only reveals His holy nature, justice, wrath, and judgment (as did the old covenant), but it also manifests His compassion, mercy, grace, and forgiveness (cf. Ex. 33:19)". So here Paul shows us that the Law looked at for what it truly is, is a wonderful thing. It shows us are weakness and utter depravity. It shows us a moral standard that we can never attain, and helps us to understand our need to repent and turn to a Savior. In contrast, it also shows us how much more glorious and amazing the new covenant is which provides us with the compassionate love of the Father sacrificing His Son in our place to take the punishment from us and save us from our sins. David understood the importance of the Law when he wrote, "O how I love Your law! It is my meditation all the day" (Ps. 119:97), and the new covenant in which Paul could write, "But whatever things were gain to me, those things I have counted as loss for the sake of Christ.
More than that, I count all things to be loss in view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them but rubbish so that I may gain Christ, and may be found in Him, not having a righteousness of my own derived from the Law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which comes from God on the basis of faith, that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death; in order that I may attain to the resurrection from the dead". So in comparing the two as he does in this section, "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", Paul establishes that the law is good when understood properly, but the new covenant is even more glorious. The new covenant is the full revelation of God's wonderful plan of salvation for His children. Why then? Would the Corinthians settle for a less glorious plan which could not even save them. They were looking for righteousness through the Law, where Paul was saying they needed righteousness through Christ because of the Law. The Law was that which condemned them. The Law declared them unrighteous and unfit for eternity with God. The new covenant supplied them with the means to receive eternal life through Christ.
Paul also wanted the Corinthians to understand the difference in the permanency of the new covenant with the Law. "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". In this, it is clear that the old covenant was temporary. MacArthur writes, "The reflected glory in Moses' face, fading as it was, symbolized the impermanence of the old covenant. Like the glory on Moses' face, the old covenant was never intended to be permanent. Its glory (cf. v.7) was a fading, passing glory. It was not the solution to the plight of sinners, since it could not save them. The old covenant prescribed what men were to do but could not enable them to do it. It provided the basis for damnation, but not salvation; for condemnation, but not for justification; for moral culpability, but not for moral purity". It was even clear in the Old Testament that the old covenant was temporary. Jeremiah 31:31-34, "Behold, days are coming," declares the LORD, "when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah, not like the covenant which I made with their fathers in the day I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, My covenant which they broke, although I was a husband to them," declares the LORD. But this is the covenant which I will make with the house of Israel after those days," declares the LORD, I will put My law within them and on their heart I will write it; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people.
"They will not teach again, each man his neighbor and each man his brother, saying, 'Know the LORD,' for they will all know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them," declares the LORD, "for I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin I will remember no more". What a wonderful and clear testimony the Jews had to see that God would make a new covenant with them, one that was far superior and provided a way for eternal salvation through Christ. The old covenant faded away when it's function was complete, the new covenant, more glorious than the first is eternal.
Paul writes, "who also made us adequate as servants of a new covenant, not of the letter but of the Spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life". Reiterating what he had said in the previous verse, Paul makes clear that the false works salvation that was being preached leads to nothing but death, but the new covenant in Christ gives eternal life. To reiterate, MacArthur writes, "The Law kills in three ways. First, it kills by killing joy, peace, and hope, and replacing them with the frustration, sorrow, hopelessness, and guilt that come from one's inability to obey it. Second, sinners' inability to keep the Law perpetrates spiritual death (Gal. 3:10; cf. Rom. 6:23). Finally, the violated Law becomes the basis of eternal condemnation, actually killing those who seek to be saved by keeping it". What was misunderstood by the Jews for so long is that the Law was NEVER given as a means of salvation. Rather, it was given as a way to understand that man on his own could never fulfill this burdensome task because of our sinful flesh, and the law would show us sin and the need for a Redeemer. Instead, the Jews twisted the law and made it a means for salvation. Something the Law could never do. Romans 7:9-11, "I was once alive apart from the Law; but when the commandment came, sin became alive and I died; and this commandment, which was to result in life, proved to result in death for me; for sin, taking an opportunity through the commandment, deceived me and through it killed me". However, understood properly the Law was a wonderful tool that God used to show man his utter sinfulness, in order to help man understand his need for a savior. That is where the gospel of Christ that Paul preached came in. Once he could get them to understand they needed a Savior he could introduce them to the Savior, to the new covenant. He could show them that, "The law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set [them] free from the law of sin and of death" (Rom. 8:2).
Paul continues, "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". Paul, wanting his readers to recognize the difference between the gospel of the false apostles, attacks salvation through adherence to the Law. However, as Paul frequently did in his letters, he wanted his readers to understand he had a high regard for the Law. He recognized that the Law is perfect and good and when understood properly is necessary to bringing one to salvation. In this section, Paul speaks of the "glory" with which the Law was given in. He will do this in order to show that 1) the Law is good, and 2) how much better the new covenant is. MacArthur writes, "To illustrate the Law's glory, Paul turned to a familiar event in Israel's history- Moses receiving the Law on Mount Sinai. After he had been in the presence of God's Shekinah glory, the sons of Israel could not look intently at the face of Moses because of the glory of his face". From Exodus 34, we learn that after receiving the Holy Law from God Moses face shown the glory of his experience with God. The significance and glory of the document that God had dictated to Moses was evident to all those who came into contact with Moses. This was no doubt, directly from God and good in its purpose. MacArthur continues, "But if the old covenant had a certain fading glory how, Paul asked, will the ministry of the Spirit (the new covenant) fail to be even more with glory? The Law written on stone in the old covenant, which produced death and condemnation, had the glory of God in it because it revealed His glorious nature as holy and just. The new covenant reveals God's glory in a full manner because it not only reveals His holy nature, justice, wrath, and judgment (as did the old covenant), but it also manifests His compassion, mercy, grace, and forgiveness (cf. Ex. 33:19)". So here Paul shows us that the Law looked at for what it truly is, is a wonderful thing. It shows us are weakness and utter depravity. It shows us a moral standard that we can never attain, and helps us to understand our need to repent and turn to a Savior. In contrast, it also shows us how much more glorious and amazing the new covenant is which provides us with the compassionate love of the Father sacrificing His Son in our place to take the punishment from us and save us from our sins. David understood the importance of the Law when he wrote, "O how I love Your law! It is my meditation all the day" (Ps. 119:97), and the new covenant in which Paul could write, "But whatever things were gain to me, those things I have counted as loss for the sake of Christ.
More than that, I count all things to be loss in view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them but rubbish so that I may gain Christ, and may be found in Him, not having a righteousness of my own derived from the Law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which comes from God on the basis of faith, that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death; in order that I may attain to the resurrection from the dead". So in comparing the two as he does in this section, "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", Paul establishes that the law is good when understood properly, but the new covenant is even more glorious. The new covenant is the full revelation of God's wonderful plan of salvation for His children. Why then? Would the Corinthians settle for a less glorious plan which could not even save them. They were looking for righteousness through the Law, where Paul was saying they needed righteousness through Christ because of the Law. The Law was that which condemned them. The Law declared them unrighteous and unfit for eternity with God. The new covenant supplied them with the means to receive eternal life through Christ.
Paul also wanted the Corinthians to understand the difference in the permanency of the new covenant with the Law. "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". In this, it is clear that the old covenant was temporary. MacArthur writes, "The reflected glory in Moses' face, fading as it was, symbolized the impermanence of the old covenant. Like the glory on Moses' face, the old covenant was never intended to be permanent. Its glory (cf. v.7) was a fading, passing glory. It was not the solution to the plight of sinners, since it could not save them. The old covenant prescribed what men were to do but could not enable them to do it. It provided the basis for damnation, but not salvation; for condemnation, but not for justification; for moral culpability, but not for moral purity". It was even clear in the Old Testament that the old covenant was temporary. Jeremiah 31:31-34, "Behold, days are coming," declares the LORD, "when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah, not like the covenant which I made with their fathers in the day I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, My covenant which they broke, although I was a husband to them," declares the LORD. But this is the covenant which I will make with the house of Israel after those days," declares the LORD, I will put My law within them and on their heart I will write it; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people.
"They will not teach again, each man his neighbor and each man his brother, saying, 'Know the LORD,' for they will all know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them," declares the LORD, "for I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin I will remember no more". What a wonderful and clear testimony the Jews had to see that God would make a new covenant with them, one that was far superior and provided a way for eternal salvation through Christ. The old covenant faded away when it's function was complete, the new covenant, more glorious than the first is eternal.
posted by amesfam | 8:40 AM
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