Translation & Sermon by
Nate Wilson for Christ The Redeemer Church, Manhattan, KS, 21 Sept.
2025
Underlined words in Scripture quotes indicate words that
are in common with the Greek text of the sermon passage. Otherwise,
underlining indicates words to emphasize when reading this transcript
out loud.
The so-called “super-apostles” who moved in to Corinth after Paul had planted the church there and moved on, were apparently Jewish proselytizers interested in changing the allegiance of the Corinthian church from Jesus Christ (and Paul) to Moses (and themselves).
So in chapter 3, Paul and Timothy enter in earnest into their argument that Christianity is far superior to Christless Judaism.
Such an idea, however was hard-to-fathom for many. Christianity was just a Johnny-come-lately fad that had been around for, what, a mere 25 years.
Judaism, on the other hand, had been around for over 4,000 years! Judaism had
famous authors known world-wide,
a fabulous temple that drew visitors from every nation on earth,
and a rich store of traditions that formed a deep and meaningful culture.
As for Christians, they had
no buildings – they just met in homes,
they had no famous authors (yet!),
and, for crying out loud, their leader had been executed as a criminal.
In the eyes of the world, it was a social, political, and economic dead-end to become a Christian. How could the apostles begin to demonstrate what Christianity had over Judaism?
They chose to focus on the idea of “glory” (doxa- in Greek), using this root word seven times in five verses:
Read my translation of this passage, starting at verse 5:
It
is not that we are sufficient of ourselves to reckon anything as
being from ourselves, but rather our sufficiency [comes] out of God,
who also made us sufficient ministers of a new covenant, not
consisting of legal-code, but rather of the Spirit, for the
legal-code kills, but the Spirit gives life! Now, if the ministry of
death consisting of legal-codes engraved in stones was brought into
being with glory (such that the descendants of Israel were not able
to gaze into the face of Moses, on account of the decomposing glory
of his face), how much more shouldn’t it be that the ministry of
the Spirit will be with glory! For, if the ministry of condemnation
was glorious, in much more does the ministry of justification
abound in glory! For indeed what had been glorified has been
de-glorified in this respect: on account of the glory surpassing it.
For if what is being put out of commission has been through glory,
much more must that which remains be associated-with glory.
An important thing to note is that it was not the beliefs of the Old Testament saints which the “super-apostles” were promoting (and which the apostles were combating), but rather a form of Judaism which had fundamentally shifted from honoring Yahweh (and following His word) to instead honoring rabbis (and following their words).
The final break between Christianity and Judaism came when Jesus arrived on the scene, and the Jews who were committed to the man-made aspects of their religion rejected Jesus as their Messiah. That was the Christless Judaism against which Paul & Timothy argued.
Paul, on the other hand, was one of many Jews who had accepted Jesus as the fulfillment of all the Messianic prophecies and who had become followers of Jesus, so it is possible to be a Jewish Christian.
(I am not intending to speak on Christianity practiced by ethnic Jews, but I just want to be clear on that distinction.)
In the context of our church at this time, the temptation to convert to Judaism is not as strong, as it apparently was for the first-Century Corinthians.
A few in our day still feel the allure of Jewish culture to replace the faddish shallowness of contemporary evangelical culture with something – anything – of historical significance and symbolic meaningfulness.
And, for that same reason, Roman Catholicism, Eastern Orthodoxy, Bhuddism, and even Islam have also been winning converts from Protestants
who have forgotten how glorious “justification by grace through faith alone” is, or
who lack the conviction and creativity to build a culture rich enough to reflect the “surpassing glory” of Christian theology.
But in our day, the biggest competitor is not other world religions, but secularism.
Money, power, influence, and health are the glories which blind us today to the greater glory of the Gospel.
And the glories of contemporary secular society are similar to “the glory of Moses,” in that they can be “seen by the bodily eyes,” whereas “that of the New covenant is perceived [only] by the understanding.” ~Chrysostom, Homilies, c. 400 AD
As we study what the apostles wrote in 2 Corinthians, keep this in mind and apply it to yourself in terms of what things distract you from the glory of Christ in the Gospel.
One of the ways that Paul and Timothy began to make this distinction was by crafting polemic language to contrast Christless Judaism with Biblical Christianity. Although the word for “glory” is all over the Greek Old Testament, the adjectives and phrases describing that glory here in 2 Corinthians 3:7-11 are not rooted in the Greek Old Testament; they are polemic terms the apostles developed to draw distinctions.
One of these polemic terms is the “ministry of death” in verse 7. This is a development on Paul’s previous statement in verse 6 that “the letter kills.” It’s the same ministry of the letter of the Law which brings death.
It brings death1 by drawing the lines between right and wrong and pointing out all that you have done wrong, “for where there is no law there is no transgression” (Rom. 4:15),
so it forces us to see that we “all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God” (Rom. 3:23), and it forces us to realize that we all deserve eternal death, for “the soul that sins shall die” (Ezekiel 18:4 & 20).
So, every worship service in the Old Testament was a “service of death,” in which animals were slaughtered, hacked to pieces, and burned to ashes, as a substitutionary death to cover the sins of God’s people.
And yet that ministry of death was very impressive.
Any visitor to the temple couldn’t help but be impressed by the towering white stone walls, the shiny gold plating, the beautiful carvings of bulls and pomegranates, the phalanxes of priests in their spotless-white robes bordered with royal blue, the trumpet fanfares, and the throngs of people filling the courtyards to worship Yahweh.
Even more impressive was the first time God gave the Law to Moses: Exodus 19:16-20 “...there were thunderings and lightnings, and a thick cloud on the mountain; and the sound of the trumpet was very loud, so that all the people who were in the camp trembled. And Moses brought the people out of the camp to meet with God, and they stood at the foot of the mountain. Now Mount Sinai was completely in smoke, because the LORD descended upon it in fire. Its smoke ascended like the smoke of a furnace, and the whole mountain quaked greatly. And when the blast of the trumpet sounded long and became louder and louder, Moses spoke, and God answered him by voice...” (NKJV)
At that time, God etched the Ten Commandments on two stone tablets (Ex. 31:18), and this “lettering/writing/law-code” is what was referred-to in 2 Corinthians 3:7 as being at the heart of the “ministry of death.”
Exodus 34:29-35 “Now it was so, when Moses came down from Mount Sinai (and the two tablets of the Testimony were in Moses' hand when he came down from the mountain), that Moses did not know that the skin of his face shone while he talked with Him [that is, with the LORD]. So when Aaron and all the children of Israel saw Moses, behold, the skin of his face shone, and they were afraid to come near him... Afterward all the children of Israel came near, and he gave them as commandments all that the LORD had spoken with him on Mount Sinai. And when Moses had finished speaking with them, he put a veil on his face. But whenever Moses went in before the LORD to speak with Him, he would take the veil off until he came out; and he would come out and speak to the children of Israel whatever he had been commanded. And whenever the children of Israel saw the face of Moses, that the skin of Moses' face shone, then Moses would put the veil on his face again, until he went in to speak with Him.” (NKJV)
“As coming from God, it was necessarily glorious.” ~P. Hughes, 1962 AD
And yet, as marvelous as that glory was, 2 Corinthians 3:7 calls attention to the fact that it was “passing/fading/away/ending.”
Apparently the glow2 did not remain permanently on Moses’ face after his meetings with God.
Then Moses died, and no other man has experienced that kind of glory since. Deuteronomy 34:10 says, “...since then there has not arisen in Israel a prophet like Moses, whom the LORD knew face to face.” (NKJV)
Finally, even the Jewish worship services associated with that kind of glory, ceased entirely in the first century AD.
Now, in verse 8, Paul and Timothy employ a grammar structure commonly used in a fortiori (arguments from the letter to the greater), and the contrastive language is emphatic:
“If the Old Testament with its law was glorious, how much more glorious shouldn’t we expect the Spirit in the New Testament to be!” Why would you want to associate with religion that has law-code at its heart when Jesus can connect you with the Spirit of God Himself!
The gloriousness of the ministry of the Spirit may not be immediately apparent to the eye, but, as Paul argues in verse 8, we should logically expect it to have more glory, so let’s look for its glory.
The whole Bible points towards the surpassing greatness of the ministry of the Spirit of Christ in the New Testament:
Romans 10:4 “For Christ is the end [goal] of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes.” (NKJV) The “end” does not mean the “abolition” of God’s law, but rather, the “goal” of God’s law. The purpose of the law is to point us beyond law to Christ, so we can have righteousness.
Galatians 3:10 “For as many as are of the works of the law are under the curse; for it is written, ‘Cursed is everyone who does not continue in all things which are written in the book of the law, to do them.’” (NKJV)
Joel 2:28-29 “And it shall come to pass afterward That I will pour out My Spirit on all flesh; Your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, Your old men shall dream dreams, Your young men shall see visions. And also on My menservants and on My maidservants I will pour out My Spirit in those days.” (NKJV)
In Acts 2:33, Peter recognized that Joel’s prophecy came true at Pentecost after Jesus’ ascension: “Therefore [Jesus] being exalted to the right hand of God, and having received from the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, He poured out this which you now see and hear.” (NKJV)
So the Apostle Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians 3:16, “Haven't y'all known that... the Spirit of God resides in y'all?” (NAW)
This may not have a lot of sex-appeal, or likelihood of going viral on the Internet, and it won’t have the buying-power of large-denomination U.S. Dollars, but, if we realize the eternal value of this “ministry of the Spirit” of Christ, we will prize it above all the other things that compete for our attention!
In verses 9, 10, and 11, Paul and Timothy give us three reasons why we should expect the glory of Jesus’ Messiahship to be greater than the glories which God bestowed on His people in the Old Testament.
Each verse starts with the word “for” in the Greek manuscripts3 (and in all the best English translations), introducing three reasons to expect more glory.
The first reason, in verse 9, compares the goals of each ministry.
In verses 7 & 8, Paul’s polemical terms were “ministry of death” vs. “ministry of the Spirit.” In verse 9, he pulls out more polemics, focusing on the goals of the different administrations, calling the ministry death the “ministry of condemnation” and the ministry of the Spirit the “ministry of righteousness/justification.”
Once again, keep in mind that this is not a contrast between Old Testament faith and New Testament faith, but a contrast between Judaism which sought to earn God’s favor by obeying laws, and Christianity which sees the law as a guide to Christ and which trusts Christ to make us right with God. (Note that the “glory” spoken-of is that of the man Moses, not the glory of the law of God itself.4)
Paul calls Christless, Jewish legalism the “ministry of condemnation,” because, as we’ve seen before, all that the law can do is condemn – all that the law is designed to do is to define the areas where you have done wrong and to condemn you for it.
Christ’s “ministry of righteousness/justification,” on the other hand, is about making condemned sinners right with God, undoing “condemnation5” with “justification”!
Anyone who is not impressed with this is like a journalist who witnesses an amazing Coast Guard rescue of a man from an icy river and then, instead of writing an article about the rescue, writes an article about river temperatures or helicopters – missing the meaningful part of the story and the value of the life that was saved!
“It takes only the letter of the law engraved on slabs of stone to condemn… but it required the blood of God’s own Son and the Spirit’s quickening power to make… an heir of… everlasting righteousness.” ~Geoffrey Wilson, A Digest of Reformed Comment, 1979
The book of Romans was the next thing Paul published after 2 Corinthians, and there he explained in more detail the contrast of the goals between the administration of law and the administration of grace:
Romans 3:21-22 “But now the righteousness of God apart from the law is revealed, being witnessed by the Law and the Prophets, even the righteousness of God, through faith in Jesus Christ, to all and on all who believe...” (NKJV)
Romans 5:14-21 “...death reigned from Adam to Moses... But the free gift is not like the offense. For if by the one man's offense many died, much more the grace of God and the gift by the grace of the one Man, Jesus Christ, abounded to many. And the gift is not like that which came through the one who sinned. For the judgment which came from one offense resulted in condemnation, but the free gift which came from many offenses resulted in justification. (For if by the one man [Adam]'s offense death reigned through the one, much more those who receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness will reign in life through the One, Jesus Christ.) Therefore, as through one man's [Adam’s] offense judgment came to all men, resulting in condemnation, even so through one Man's [Jesus’] righteous act the free gift came to all men, resulting in justification of life. For as by one man's disobedience many were made sinners, so also by one Man's obedience many will be made righteous. Moreover the law entered that the offense might abound. But where sin abounded, grace abounded much more, so that as sin reigned in death, even so grace might reign through righteousness to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.” (NKJV)
Romans 8:1-4 “There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death. For what the law could not do in that it was weak through the flesh, God did by sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, on account of sin: He condemned sin in the flesh, that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.” (NKJV)
And yet, in many churches, the community of the church is still a reflection of the “ministry of condemnation” instead of a reflection of the “ministry of justification.”
How readily we critique one another with an eye toward establishing our superiority in doctrine or practice or intelligence, and when people who are different from us walk in the door of our church building, now natural it is to think of excuses not to bring them into our circle of acquaintance. That is the “ministry of condemnation”: If you are not up-to-snuff, you’re not one of us.
The “ministry that brings righteousness” (which Paul later calls, in 2 Corinthians 5:18, the “ministry of reconciliation”) is the opposite. The heart attitude is that of Christ who, even when “He was despised and rejected,” loved people anyway and looked for how to make broken people whole again and how to make sinners right with God again. It’s what He still does in heaven right now, interceding for those He loves, to keep us in a right relationship with God.
Which attitude do you have? Condemnation or Justification/Reconciliation? Will you ask God to help you be a “minister of justification” and reconciliation in His church?
Verse 10 gives us a 2nd reason why we should expect to see more glory in the service of the Biblical gospel than in the service of the Mosaic law, and that has to do with its excellence:
The ministry of letter/Mosaic law/death/condemnation “had been made glorious” by God through the glory He revealed of Himself in the Old Testament, but this Old Testament glory “got de-glorified by reason of/in comparison with the surpassing/excelling glory” revealed in Jesus Christ.
“Christ as the Sun of Righteousness has thrown Moses in the shade.” ~A. T. Robertson, Word Pictures In The New Testament
This new glory which would eclipse the old was prophesied in Haggai 2:7 “and I will shake all nations, and they shall come to the Desire of All Nations, and I will fill this temple with glory, says the LORD of hosts.” (NKJV)
Some of this new glory was revealed in Jesus’ transfiguration6, when Peter saw the glory of Moses and Elijah next to Jesus and suggested giving equal honor to all three, but God reprimanded him, saying, “This is my beloved Son, listen to Him!” The glory of Jesus surpassed the glory of Moses and Elijah.
More often, Jesus’ glory has been revealed in the amazing grace which He bestows upon sinners. As John put it in the first chapter of his gospel: “And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth. John bore witness of Him and cried out, saying, ‘This was He of whom I said, “He who comes after me is preferred before me, for He was before me.”’ And of His fullness we have all received, and grace for grace. For the law was given through Moses, but grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.” (John 1:14-17, NKJV) Praise the Lord for the glory of His kindness to save sinners from God’s eternal judgment and even from many of the ravages of sin in this life!
And there is more glory in Him yet “to be revealed” (Rom. 8:18; 1 Pet. 4:13) when we get to heaven! Jesus Himself said, “...whenever the Son of Man shall come in His glory and all the holy angels with Him, then He will sit upon His throne of glory” (Matt. 25:31, NAW), and we will be “forever with the Lord” (1 Thes. 4:17) in that “city [that has] no need of the sun or of the moon to shine in it, for the glory of God illuminates it” (Rev. 21:23).
In His letter to the Ephesians, Paul describes what he means by “surpassing/exceeding:”
Ephesians 1:18-21 “...knowing: what the hope of His call is, what the wealth of the glory of His inheritance in the saints is, and what the exceeding greatness of His power into us believers is, according to the energy of the might of His strength, which He worked in the Christ when He raised out of the dead and seated Him in His right hand in the heavens above every ruler and authority and power and lordship and every name being named (not only in this age but also in the one which is about to be)” (NAW)
Ephesians 2:3-7 “...we all once conducted ourselves in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, just as the others. But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), and raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, that in the ages to come He might show the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.” (NAW)
And in 2 Corinthians 9:13-14, Paul describes what happens to God’s people when they recognize this “surpassing” glory: “...the exceeding grace of God in you… [is] the obedience of your confession to the gospel of Christ, and... your liberal sharing…” (NKJV)
Speaking the good news and generous giving mark those who have experienced God’s “surpassing” grace.
Pray for these things to characterize you!
In verse 11, we get the third reason why we should expect Paul’s good news of Christ to be glorious. This one has to do with longevity:
The “glory” which God imparted to Moses was described at the end of verse 7 as “fading/ passing/being done away with/being brought to an end,” so that is what the beginning of verse 11 refers-to as what is being “put out of commission.7”
And I might add that this verb is present tense, so, even after Jesus’ death and resurrection, there are still glorious things that haven’t been faded-out fully yet.
But there is another ministry which carries God’s glory on past the time of Moses, beyond the administration of the Mosaic law, and into eternity future, and that is the ministry of Jesus as the Anointed priest and eternal king of God’s people!8
Paul had already mentioned this briefly in 1 Corinthians 13:8-12 “...whenever the completion comes, that which is of a part will be put out of commission...” (NAW)
In Galatians 3:16-29, Paul explained the temporariness of the Mosaic administration more in-depth: “Now to Abraham and his Seed were the promises made [that through Abraham’s ‘seed, all the nations of the earth will be blessed’ - Gen. 18:18]. He does not say, ‘And to seeds,’ as of many, but as of one, ‘And to your Seed,’ who is Christ. And this I say, that the law, which was four hundred and thirty years later, cannot annul the covenant that was confirmed before by God in Christ... God gave it to Abraham by promise. What purpose then does the law serve? It was added because of transgressions, ‘till the Seed should come to whom the promise was made... But before faith came, we were kept under guard by the law, kept for the faith which would afterward be revealed. Therefore the law was our tutor to bring us to Christ, that we might be justified by faith. But after faith has come, we are no longer under a tutor. For you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus... And if you are Christ's, then you are Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the promise.” (NKJV)
Since
Jesus’ ministry far outlasts that of Moses,
preaching about Jesus is more glorious.
2
Timothy 1:8-11
“Therefore do not be ashamed of the testimony of our Lord, nor of
me His prisoner, but share with me in the sufferings for the gospel
according to the power of God, who has saved us and called us with a
holy calling, not according to our works, but according
to His own purpose and grace which was given to us in Christ Jesus
before time began, but has now been revealed by the appearing of our
Savior Jesus Christ, who has abolished
death and brought life and immortality to light through the gospel,
to which I was appointed a preacher, an apostle, and a teacher of
the Gentiles.” (NKJV)
Whatever lasts the longest has the most glory!
Are you investing your life in what will last forever, or are you investing your life in things that will go out of style, rust and decay, and burn up at the end of this world?
“Only one life, ’twill soon be past, Only what’s done for Christ will last.” ~C.T. Studd, founder of WEC International
It is important for us as Christians to recognize the glory of the faith which we possess so that we don’t go chasing after competing ideas and relationships that offer inferior glory.
C. S. Lewis famously said in his “Weight Of Glory” sermon at the University Church in Oxford in 1941, “It would seem that Our Lord finds our desires not too strong, but too weak. We are half-hearted creatures, fooling about with drink and sex and ambition when infinite joy is offered us, like an ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies in a slum because he cannot imagine what is meant by the offer of a holiday at the sea. We are far too easily pleased.”
Brothers and sisters, don’t miss the glory of Christ!
ByzantineB |
NAW |
KJVC |
RheimsD |
MurdockE |
5 οὐχ ὅτι ἱκανοί ἐσμενF ἀφ᾿ ἑαυτῶν λογίσασθαί τι ὡς ἐξ ἑαυτῶν, ἀλλ᾿ ἡ ἱκανότης ἡμῶν ἐκ τοῦ Θεοῦ, |
5 It is not that we are sufficient of ourselves to reckon anything as being from ourselves, but rather our sufficiency [comes] out of God, |
5 Not that we are sufficient of ourselves to think any thing as of ourselves; but our sufficiency is of God; |
5 Not that we are sufficient to think any thing of ourselves, as of ourselves: but our sufficiency is from God. |
5 Not that we are sufficient X X to think any thing as of ourselves; but our efficiency is from God: |
6 ὃς καὶ ἱκάνωσενG ἡμᾶς διακόνους καινῆς διαθήκης, οὐ γράμματος, ἀλλὰ πνεύματος· τὸ γὰρ γράμμα ἀποκτέννειH, τὸ δὲ πνεῦμα ζῳοποιεῖ. |
6 who also made us sufficient ministers of a new covenant, not consisting of legal-code, but rather of the Spirit, for the legal-code kills, but the Spirit gives life! |
6 Who also hath made us able ministers of [the] new testament; not of the letter, but of the spirit: for the letter killeth, but the spirit giveth life. |
6
Who also hath made
us fit
ministers
of [the]
new testament, not |
6
who hath fitted
us to be ministers
of [the]
new Testament, not |
7 ΕιI̓ δὲ ἡ διακονία τοῦ θανάτου ἐνJ γράμμασιν ἐντετυπωμένηK ἐνL λίθοις ἐγενήθη ἐνM δόξῃ, ὥστε μὴ δύνασθαι ἀτενίσαιN τοὺς υἱοὺς ᾿Ισραὴλ εἰς τὸ πρόσωπον Μωϋσέως διὰ τὴν δόξαν τοῦ προσώπουO αὐτοῦ τὴν καταργουμένην, |
7 Now, if the ministry of death consisting of legal-codes engraved in stones was brought into being with glory (such that the descendants of Israel were not able to gaze into the face of Moses, on account of the decomposing glory of his face), |
7
But if the ministration
of death, X
|
7 Now if the ministration of death, engraven with letters upon stones, was glorious (so that the children of Israel could not steadfastly behold the face of Moses for the glory of his countenance), which is made void: |
7 Now if the ministration of death was engraved upon stones in writing, [and] was so glorious that the children of Israel could not look on the face of Moses, on account of the glory upon his face which vanished away; |
8 πῶς οὐχὶ μᾶλλονP ἡ διακονία τοῦ πνεύματος ἔσται ἐν δόξῃ; |
8 how much more shouldn’t it be that the ministry of the Spirit will be with glory! |
8 How shall not the ministration of the spirit be rather glorious? |
8 How shall not the ministration of the spirit be rather in glory? |
8 how [then] shall not the ministration of the Spirit be still more glorious? |
9 εἰ γὰρ ἡQ διακονία τῆς κατακρίσεως δόξα, πολλῷ μᾶλλον περισσεύει ἡ διακονία τῆς δικαιοσύνης ἐνR δόξῃ. |
9 For, if the ministry of condemnation was glorious, in much more does the ministry of justification abound in glory! |
9 For if the ministration of condemnation be glory, X much more doth the ministration of righteousness exceed in glory. |
9 For if the ministration of condemnation be glory, X much more the ministration of justice aboundeth in glory. |
9
For if there was glory
in the ministration
of condemnation,
|
10 καιS̀ γὰρ οὐT δεδόξασταιU τὸ δεδοξασμένον ἐν τούτῳ τῷ μέρειV ἕWνεκεν τῆς ὑπερβαλλούσης δόξης. |
10 For indeed what had been glorified has been de-glorified in this respect: on account of the glory surpassing it. |
10 For even that which was made glorious had no X glory in this respect, by reason of the glory that excelleth. |
10 For even that which was X glorious in this part was not glorified by reason of the glory that excelleth. |
10
For X that
which was
X
glorious, was
|
11 εἰ γὰρ τὸ καταργούμενον διὰX δόξης, πολλῷ μᾶλλον τὸ μένον ἐν δόξῃ. |
11 For if what is being put out of commission has been through glory, much more must that which remains be associated-with glory. |
11 For if that which is done away was glorious, much more that which remaineth is glorious. |
11 For if that which is done away was glorious, much more that which remaineth is in glory. |
11 For if that which is abolished was glorious, much more must that which abideth be glorious. |
1“[H]e
said not, ‘which causeth death,’ but, ‘the ministration of
death;’ for it ministereth unto, but was not the parent of, death;
for that which caused death was sin; but [the Law] brought in the
punishment, and showed the sin, not caused it.” ~Chrysostom
(c.400)
Cf. Turretin (1682): “When the law is called a
killing letter, and the ministry of death and condemnation, it must
be understood to be so, not in itself and in its own nature, but
accidentally, in consequence of man’s corruption…”
Cf.
Hughes (1962): “The Apostle is particularly careful not to give
the impression that the law is in itself something evil or
inglorious…”
2“The law was rendered illustrious by many miracles. Paul, however, touches here upon one of them merely — that the face of Moses shone…” ~J. Calvin, Commentary, 1546 AD
3Of course, since γαρ is postpositive it cannot be the first word, so it is technically the second word, but it nevertheless is the introductory word to each sentence in all the thousands of known Greek manuscripts (except for one 13th century manuscript which negligently omitted the gar in v. 11).
4“And again he doth not say, ‘for the glory of the tables,’ but, ‘for the glory of his countenance, which glory was passing away;’ for he showeth that he who beareth them is made glorious, and not they. For he said not, ‘because they could not look steadfastly upon the tables,’ but, ‘the face of Moses;’ and again, not, ‘for the glory of the tables,’ but, ‘for the glory of his face.’” ~Chrysostom
5“...although the gospel is an occasion of condemnation to many, it is nevertheless, on good grounds, reckoned the doctrine of life, because it is the instrument of regeneration, and offers to us a free reconciliation with God.” ~J. Calvin
6Luke 9:29-35 “As He prayed, the appearance of His face was altered, and His robe became white and glistening. And behold, two men talked with Him, who were Moses and Elijah, who appeared in glory and spoke of His decease which He was about to accomplish at Jerusalem. But Peter and those with him were heavy with sleep; and when they were fully awake, they saw His glory and the two men who stood with Him. Then it happened, as they were parting from Him, that Peter said to Jesus, ‘Master, it is good for us to be here; and let us make three tabernacles: one for You, one for Moses, and one for Elijah’—not knowing what he said. While he was saying this, a cloud came and overshadowed them; and they were fearful as they entered the cloud. And a voice came out of the cloud, saying, ‘This is My beloved Son. Hear Him!’” (NKJV)
7Calvin took a slightly different approach, saying, “I understand that abolition of the law, of which mention is here made, as referring to the whole of the Old Testament, in so far as it is opposed to the gospel, so that it corresponds with the statement — ‘The law and the Prophets were until John.’ (Matthew 11:13) For the context requires this. For Paul is not reasoning here as to mere ceremonies, but shows how much more powerfully the Spirit of God exercises his power in the gospel, than of old under the law.”
8“There is nothing to intervene, no new revelation, no new economy, between the gospel and its ministry, and the final consummation.” ~Charles Hodge, II Corinthians, 1959
AWhen
a translation adds words not in the Greek text, but does not
indicate it has done so by the use of italics or greyed-out text, I
put the added words in [square brackets]. When one version chooses a
wording which is different from all the other translations, I
underline it. When a version chooses a translation which, in my
opinion, either departs too far from the root meaning of the Greek
word or departs too far from the grammar form of the original text,
I use strikeout. And when a version omits a word
which is in the original text, I insert an X. I also place an X at
the end of a word if the original word is plural but the English
translation is singular. I occasionally use colors to help the
reader see correlations between the various editions and versions
when there are more than two different translations of a given word.
NAW is my translation. My original chart includes annotated copies
of the NKJV, NASB, NIV, and ESV, but I erase them from the online
edition so as not to infringe on their copyrights.
BThis Greek New Testament is the 1904 "Patriarchal" edition of the Greek Orthodox Church. As published by E-Sword in 2016. The Robinson-Pierpont Byzantine majority text of the GNT and the Textus Receptus are very similar. The Westcott-Hort, Nestle-Aland, and UBS editions, however, are a slightly-different family of GNTs developed in the modern era, focusing on the few manuscripts which are older than the Byzantine manuscripts. Even so, the practical differences in the text between these two editing philosophies are minimal.
C1769 King James Version of the Holy Bible; public domain. As published by E-Sword in 2019.
DRheims New Testament first published by the English College at Rheims, A.D. 1582, Revised and Diligently Compared with the Latin Vulgate by Bishop Richard Challoner, Published in 1582, 1609, 1752. As published on E-Sword in 2016.
EJames Murdock, A Literal Translation from the Syriac Peshito Version, 1851, Robert Carter & Brothers, New York. Scanned and transcribed by Gary Cernava and published electronically by Janet Magierra at http://www.lightofword.org and published on E-Sword in 2023.
FThis is the reading of the majority of Greek manuscripts, the oldest dating to the 5th century, and therefore is the reading of the Textus Receptus and Greek Orthodox editions or the Greek New Testament (GNT). The three oldest-known Greek manuscripts (P46, B, and C) plus a half-dozen others put the preceding phrase two words later in the verse, but this doesn’t affect the meaning of the verse.
GProtestant Commentators from Calvin to Hughes noted that the KJV’s “able ministers” was a bad translation influenced by the Vulgate (and Wycliffe’s English translation of the Vulgate), reflecting Roman Catholic theology of natural ability within mankind to respond to God and to do good apart from God’s work of regeneration. Calvin wrote, “Paul, on the other hand, declares that man is in want, not merely of sufficiency of himself (αὐτάρκειαν) but also of competency (ἱκανότητα)... He could not, therefore, more effectually strip man bare of every thing good.” This verb is Aorist. Hughes noted, “The past tense implies significantly that Paul, unlike his rivals in Corinth, could actually point back to a definite occasion when God called him to the office of an apostle… Acts 9:3ff.; 26:16-18; 22:14f.”
HThis is the reading of a dozen Greek manuscripts, the oldest dated to the 9th century (although it is also found in a correction to P46, which is older, but the date of the correction is uncertain), and this is the spelling used by contemporary critical editions of the GNT. The majority of Greek manuscripts, including most of the oldest-known ones (P46, א, A, C, and D) read without the doubled ν at the end. The Vaticanus Greek manuscript (dated at 4th century) reads αποκτεινει, which is the reading followed by the St. Spyrion Greek Orthodox edition and the Textus Receptus. However, these are all just different ways of spelling the same word; all of these spellings are considered to denote the Present Active Indicative 3rd person singular form, so there is no difference in meaning.
I“[C]ondition of first class, assumed as true.” ~A. T. Robertson, Word Pictures In The New Testament
JThe Textus Receptus, Patriarchal, St. Spiridon, Nesle-Aland, UBS, Tishendorf, Tregelles, Robinson-Pierpont, and Hodges-Farstad editions of the GNT all agree on the spelling of this phrase. AGNT labeled this “in” with Louw & Nida semantic domain # 89.141 (“in a state of”), but I suggest it is instead 89.141 (“consisting of”). Geneva, NIV, NET, & ESV interpreted it as 90.10 (“by the instrumentality of”), and the KJV, ASV, RV and NKJV translated this phrase (which literally means “in letters” and has no variants in the Greek manuscripts) surprisingly paraphrastically as “written and.”
KHapex Legomenon. Compound of “in” plus “type/symbol.”
LThis is the reading of the majority of Greek manuscripts (the oldest dating to the 9th century, although it is also found in the margin of a 4th century manuscript and a 6th century manuscript), and is the reading of the Textus Receptus and Greek Orthodox editions of the GNT. However, the original hand of the 6 oldest-known Greek manuscripts (P46, B, א, A, C, and D) plus three more recent manuscripts (followed by all the contemporary critical editions of the GNT) omit the preposition (“in”). It makes no difference in meaning, however, because “stones” is in the dative case, so, even without a separate preposition, it can be translated “in stone” (and, by extension, “on stones” as some of the most recent English versions put it, but it should be noted that “stones” is plural in the Greek, so the NIV and ESV singular “stone” is not technically accurate.) The same thing happens at the end of v.9, although there the D manuscript switches to support the majority.
MAGNT labels this as L&N #13.8 (“in a state of glory”). However, 89.80 (“with attendant circumstances of glory”) would also be appropriate, considering the thunder and lightening over Mt. Sinai at the giving of the law. (This might also support 89.84 “in a glorious manner.”)
N“connect by stretching” Only here & v. 13 in all of Paul’s writings. Nowhere else in any other apostles’ writings, but common in Luke’s writings.
O“The figure which pervades the whole passage (2 Cor. 3:7-11) is that of a glorified face. The ministration of the law, impersonated in Moses, is described as having its face glorified. It is to this that ‘in this respect’ refers. Paul says that the ministry of the law, which was temporarily glorified in the face of Moses, ‘is no longer glorified in this respect;’ that is, it no longer appears with glorified face, because of the glory that excelleth, the glory of Christ ministering the Gospel, before which it fades away and is as if it had not been. This accords with 4:1, where the theme is the same as here, ministry or ministration; and where the christian revelation is described as ‘the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ’ (4:6). This is the key to our passage. To the same purpose is 4:18, where the Christian is represented as gazing, through the Gospel, with unveiled face, upon the glory of God in Christ, and as being changed thereby into the image of Christ. “ ~M. Vincent, Word Studies Of The New Testament, 1886 AD
PCf.
the only two other times in the Greek Bible ouxi mallon
occurs: 1 Cor. 5:2 (“Shouldn’t you rather have
mourned?”) and 1 Cor. 6:7 (“Shouldn’t you rather
let yourself be treated unjustly?”)
Three of the four other
times the first two words pws ouxi occur in the Greek Bible
are in a fortiori arguments: “such being the case at a
smaller level, ‘how much more’ at a larger level.” (Deut.
31:27, Prov. 15:11, and Rom. 8:32 – the 4th one, Jer.
30:31, is just an expostulation).
QThis is the reading of the majority of the Greek manuscripts (including the 4th century Vaticanus) and of the Textus Receptus and Greek Orthodox editions of the GNT, but contemporary critical editions of the GNT follow 11 Greek manuscripts (including 4 of the 5 oldest-known and the Peshitta) with a dative spelling of the definite article instead of the traditional nominative spelling. The NET and ESV are the only English versions which follow the dative variant (“For if there was glory in the ministry of condemnation...”), but that meaning is not essentially different from the nominative meaning: “If the ministry of condemnation was glorious” – or “had glory,” as the NASB, NIV, and NKJV put it).
RLike the variant in v. 7, this is the reading of the majority of Greek manuscripts (the oldest dating to the 7th century, although it is also found in the margin of a 4th century manuscript), and is the reading of the Textus Receptus and Greek Orthodox editions of the GNT. However, the original hand of 5 out of the 6 oldest-known Greek manuscripts (P46, B, א, A, and C) plus three more recent manuscripts (followed by all the contemporary critical editions of the GNT) omit the preposition (“in”). It makes no difference in meaning, however, because “glory” is in the dative case, so, even without a separate preposition, it can be translated “in glory.” (The NIV and NLT changed the Greek prepositional phrase into a predicate nominative “glorious,” which, while not technically precise, still conveys the same meaning.)
SAGNT follows the determination by the Geneva/KJV, ASV/NASB and RV/ESV that this conjunction is ascensive in meaning “even, indeed” (L&N#89.93a, according to Smith’s Supplement). NIV omitted it, presumably on the (false) conclusion that it was an untranslatable marker of transition in discourse (L&N 91.3a).
TThere is an error in the CNNTS apparatus, stating that the majority of Greek manuscripts (or at least that the Robinson-Pierpont edition of the majority text) reads ουδε here (adding a conjunction “and/but/yet”). This is not the reading of the 2005 edition of the R-P in my possession, nor is it the reading of my Hodges-Farstad Majority Text edition of the GNT. It is only the reading of the Textus Receptus and of the Spyridon edition of the Greek Orthodox GNT. The fact that the next word starts with a reduplicated δε makes it seem likely, in the absence of any manuscript support, that this was a mis-copy by Erasmus.
UMoule noted that this Perfect verbal corresponds to the Aorist ginomai verb in v. 7. It should also be noted that this verb is passive (and not deponent), an aspect missed by the NIV, NET, and NLT, so the glory was not intrinsic, but, as the KJV, RV, and ASV translated it, it was “made glorious,” or better, as the Geneva translated it, “glorified,” just as God also “de-glorified” it in the next repetition of the same verb.
VThis phrase occurs in one other place in the Greek Bible, although the word order is changed, and that is 2 Cor. 9:3 ἐν τῷ μέρει τούτῳ (“in this respect/case/behalf/matter”). Cf. Col. 2:16 and Heb. 9:5 where the meaning is similar. Meros has a range of meaning about as wide as the English word “part,” but AGNT suggested it be narrowed down to Louw & Nida semantic domain # 63.14 “...a part in contrast with a whole - ‘part, aspect, feature.’” or 89.5 “...activity which bears some relation to something else - ‘in, about, in the case of, with regard to.’” It is also used to speak of the incompleteness of OT faith compared to NT faith in Rom. 11:25 and of NT faith compared to eschatological faith in 1 Cor. 13:9-12.
WThis is the reading of the majority of Greek manuscripts, and thus of the Textus Receptus and Greek Orthodox editions of the GNT, but some 20 manuscripts (including 5 of the 6 oldest-known) insert and extra letter ι here, and that spelling is followed in all the contemporary critical editions of the GNT. It makes absolutely no difference in meaning; this is merely two different ways to spell the same word.
XIt
has been the tradition of English versions to render this phrase
identically to the other prepositional phrases in this passage
(either “glorious” or “with glory”). In 1963, Turner
interpreted this preposition in the sense of accompaniment (“with
glory”), which is not a meaning found in L&N’s lexicon for
this preposition (although it is in Smith’s Supplement to
L&N as 89.79a).
However, this prepositional phrase is
different from all the others. It is genitive rather than dative,
and it uses a different preposition normally associated with means
or instrumentality. The Vulgate accurately rendered the Greek here
with “per” instead of
“in.” (The
language of the Peshitta does not distinguish association from
agency in its b-
preposition, so it is not helpful here.) The fact that this phrase
immediately follows a phrase which speaks of how the new ministry
de-glorified the law-code by surpassing it, makes the likelihood all
the higher that this preposition speaks, not of association (“put
out of commission [came]
with glory”) but of instrumentality (“put out of commission by
[something with more] glory”).
Cf.
Hughes: “‘through glory’: that is, it was accompanied
with the manifestation of the divine glory at mount Sinai when it
was mediated to the people through Moses, whose face also shone with
that glory. The permanence of the gospel dispensation,
on the other hand, is confirmed by the fact that it is ‘in glory’:
that is, it is established in the sphere of glory.”