Today we’re sharing an excerpt from Lifeway Women’s new Bible study More Than Enough by Christine Hoover. Learn more about this impactful new Bible study!
We’ve seen Paul describe what true gospel ministry is all about. He wanted the Corinthians to know and understand its distinctives so they would be wary of insincere servants, greedy shepherds, and false teachers.
In 2 Corinthians 3:7-11, Paul continued his comparison of the old covenant ministry with new covenant ministry. He painted a beautiful picture of the gospel and essentially explained why he’d given his life to such service.
“Now if the ministry that brought death, chiseled in letters on stones, came with glory, so that the Israelites were not able to gaze steadily at Moses’s face because of its glory, which was set aside, how will the ministry of the Spirit not be more glorious? For if the ministry that brought condemnation had glory, the ministry that brings righteousness overflows with even more glory. In fact, what had been glorious is not glorious now by comparison because of the glory that surpasses it. For if what was set aside was glorious, what endures will be even more glorious.” (2 Corinthians 3:7-11)
By comparing the two ministries, Paul wasn’t saying one was bad and the other good. He was simply comparing their glory. He writes of the old covenant ministry: it “came with glory,” but it “brought condemnation,” and “was set aside.” In contrast, Paul writes of the new covenant ministry that it is “more glorious,” it “brings righteousness,” and it “endures.”
Glory refers to beauty, heft, value, and richness. When we speak of God’s glory, we mean that He is of infinite value, His character and nature are good and beautiful, and that He reveals these things about Himself through His actions in the world. When we give God glory, we don’t add to His value or His goodness; we simply acknowledge what is true about Him, draw attention to Him, and worship Him.
Aside from God, the Bible ascribes a certain glory to creation, to human beings, and—in today’s passage—to the law and to the gospel. Each of these have beauty, heft, value, and richness that reflect the glory of God Himself but, according to Paul, the glory of the gospel outweighs the glory of the law.
In verse 7, Paul alluded to the events of Exodus 32–34, where God responded to Israel after she broke her promise to keep the law (Ex. 24:1-3) by making and worshiping the golden calf. God purposed to release his full wrath upon Israel for this grievous sin, but Moses interceded and God, showing mercy, relented. Moses acted as the mediator of God’s presence and glory to Israel.
We see in Exodus 34 that Moses’s face was so bright from being in the Lord’s presence that he had to cover his face with a veil. The Israelites were afraid to look at Moses when he was unveiled because the glory of the Lord represented wrath and judgement to them.
The glory of the old covenant is that it results in judgment. In fact, Paul described the law as a “ministry of condemnation,” (v. 9) meaning it is characterized, or marked by, condemnation. The glory of the new covenant is that it results in righteousness.
Clearly, the glory of the new covenant in Christ’s blood far outweighs the glory of the old covenant, where God made Himself available to the Israelites through a mediator and through sacrifices and offerings. The law was good—a flickering flame lighting up a dark, endless night. But Christ’s sacrifice once and for all is like the midday sun. The flickering flame pales in comparison to the bright day.
Want to learn more about the More Than Enough Bible study? Watch the short video below or view a free sample and teaching video clips at lifeway.com/morethanenough.
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