HOW TO UNDERSTAND THE EXPRESSION 'MINISTRY OF DEATH' IN 2 CORINTHIANS 3:7?

“And if the ministry of death, engraved in letters on stones, was clothed with glory, so that the children of Israel could not look at the face of Moses, because of the glory of his face, though it faded away.” (2 Corinthians 3:7).

Reading carefully the entire chapter of 2 Corinthians 3, one can see that Paul speaks of “ministry” and not of “law”. The term 'law' is not used, which will be fundamental for our analysis of the text, because if it does not mention the law of God, then we cannot say that it has been abolished.

“The apostle draws several contrasts between the covenants, which, in brief, are these:

OLD CONCERT => NEW CONCERT

1. “ministry of death” =>1. “ministry of the spirit”

2. “ministry of condemnation” =>2. "Justice ministry"

3. “letter that kills” =>3. “spirit that gives life”

4. “was abolished” =>4. “remains”

5. “in glory” =>5. “in excellent glory”

6.It is outside the man IICo3:6 =>6.It is inside, it is the spirit 2Co3:6

THEREFORE, THE OLD COVENANT WAS TO MINISTRY SYMBOLIC ELEMENTS THAT POINTED TO THE FUTURE REALITY (JO 1:29; MT 27:51) AND THE NEW COVENANT IS A CONCERT OF THE SPIRIT (2 COR 3:6) .

LET'S ANALYZE THESE CONTRASTS, FOR BETTER CLARIFICATION

“1 and 2. What was this “ministry of death” or “ministry of condemnation?” It most certainly does not mean 'law', because ministry or ministration has never been synonymous with law. The administration of a law is one thing, the law itself is another thing.

The ministration, or ministry, is nothing more than the means by which the law is applied, taught and lived, only ill will can confuse it. Therefore, it is beyond doubt that the "ministry of death" or "ministry of condemnation" unmistakably refers to the ancient ministry or administration of the law which was "engraved in letters on stone" - i.e. the covenant based on the decalogue, covenant this one that, due to the incapacity of the Israelites, found reality in the acts of Christ in our favor, ending with the death of the Lamb.

The new covenant, in contrast, Paul calls the "ministry of the spirit" or "ministry of righteousness." It is evident that, in vivid and comparative language, the apostle seeks to show that Christ and his ministry are the effulgent glory, beside which the glory of the ministry of former times paled and faded.

The book of Hebrews is full of these contrasts, a book that was written for the Jewish believers, who until they accepted Christ naturally believed that the glory of Sinai - the ministration (ministry) of the divine law by the priests, Levites and governors - was the last word in the celestial plane. However, they later saw that the glory of Christ far surpassed it.

“It is evident also that the comparative metaphor “boards of stone” and “boards of flesh of the heart” is indicative of the contrast between the two covenants.

Compare carefully with Jer. 31:31-34 and Ezeq. 11:19, 20. But there cannot be found the slightest allusion to the abrogation (annulment) of God's law. It should also be remembered that there are expressions in the Bible that must be understood for what they actually mean and not so much for the form of words.

By simple literary figure, the ministry of the law in the old covenant is called "death" or "condemnation", this because the transgression of the law (sin) had its wages of death or condemnation. Also in the days of Elisha, once upon a time, the sons of the prophets gathered around the “big pot” in which colocynthide was boiled.

Evidently they were poisonous herbs because those who ate them cried out, "Man of God, there is death in the pot." II Kings 4:38-40. In exact language, they wanted to say that there was something inside the pot that would cause death, but, changing the cause for the effect, they shouted, expressing themselves in that way. But it's easy to find the meaning. Just be sincere, and want to discover it. Thus Paul's relation to the "tables of stone."

3. Consider the "letter that kills" in contrast to the "spirit that gives life." A ministry of law, based on its letter, results only in death for its transgressors; but a ministry of law, based on the righteousness of Christ through the working of the Spirit in the sinner's heart, results in life.

The first ministry was a dead letter, due to default on the part of the people; the latter, the spirit that quickens, because it is Christ who enables man to obey. Always in focus the two concerts. Nothing suggests the abolition of the decalogue.

4. As to what "was done away," verse 14 says, in the original, that it was the old covenant (diatheke) and not the law of God. The new remains. If the Bible says it remains, it is because it does, whether the enemies of the truth like it or not. Do not contradict the Word of God with exegetical juggling. Nothing is here asserted concerning the decalogue.

5. Finally, regarding the “glory” mentioned by Paul, it concerns the glory proportionate to the two ministries. Divine justice shone fearfully on Mount Sinai, when the law was solemnly proclaimed. God was there at Sinai a consuming fire.

But how incomparably greater, infinitely greater, is the glory of God shedding its life-giving rays upon the earth, when Christ descended to "save a people from their sins."

See Matthew 1:21 "She will give birth to a son, and you shall name him Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins.

The last "glory" paled the first. That first – which reflected on Moses' face – was abolished, surpassed as it was by the unparalleled radiance of the second. The Bible clearly says that the veil was placed on Moses' face, not on the tables of the law. It was his face that shone, not the boards; and it was the brightness of his face that faded, not the decalogue.

“Commenting on this chapter, wrote the scholars and fundamentalists Jamieson, Fausset, at Brown: ‘The moral law of the ten commandments, being written by the finger of God, is as binding now as it ever was; but still under the gospel with a spirit of love, than under the letter of a slavish obedience; now with much more intense and deeper spirituality (S. Matthew 5:17-48; Rom. 13:9)'.

"THEREFORE, II CORINTHIANS 3 REAFFIRMS THE RIGHT OF THE LAW!"

Note that the New Covenant does not abolish the Decalogue. Our being in the New Covenant does not end with God's command. Read:

“For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the LORD: I will write my laws in their minds, in their hearts I will write them; I will be their God, and they will be my people.” (Jeremiah 31:33).

“For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the Lord: I will put my laws in their minds, and in their hearts I will write them; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people.” (Hebrews 8:10).

Do you understand? In the New Covenant we do not keep the law “in the letter”, but in the spirit, that is, from the heart, inwardly. In the New Covenant, the law will be written by God in our minds and hearts to obey automatically, through communion with the Creator.

Where in these texts do you see the abolition of the law just because we are in the New Covenant? Now, if in the New Covenant the law will be written in the 'heart and mind', how can it be annulled? The New Covenant reaffirms God's law; it puts the law of God in a new perspective, which is not to save but to direct the believer's life so that he turns away from sin and turns to God. In the New Covenant, the law springs from the heart because it was the Holy Spirit who placed it there; it is not like the Old Covenant where obedience was by the “letter of the law” (and not inwardly), only outwardly.

“A careful study of both covenants reveals that the difference between them was not in the law, but in how mankind related to the law...

The law was written on stone tablets during the old covenant. Under the terms of the new covenant, it is written in the heart. In Hebrews 8:10, Paul uses Jeremiah's words for the new covenant, explaining that now the law is not written on stones, but "I will put my law in their inward parts, and in their hearts I will write it." He did not abolish the law, nor did he change it. He wrote it on the minds of those who follow Him.”

SOURCE: AM + JESUS IASD