2 Corinthians 3:9

Contextual Overview

⁶He has made us competent as ministers of a new covenant—not of the letter but of the Spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life. ⁶ He has made us competent as ministers of a new covenant—not of the letter but of the Spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life. ⁶He signed us up as day hands of a new agreement from himself to his cowboys. This new agreement, or code, is not a set of written rules, but a written promise on our soul by the Spirit. ⁶ 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. ⁶who also made us sufficient as ministers of a new covenant, not of the letter but of the Spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life. ⁶ Who has made us able to be servants of a new agreement; not of the letter, but of the Spirit: for the letter gives death, but the Spirit gives life. ⁶ who has also made us competent, [as] ministers of [the] new covenant; not of letter, but of spirit. For the letter kills, but the Spirit quickens. ⁶ He has made us competent to be ministers of a new covenant, not of the letter, but of the Spirit. For the letter kills, but the Spirit produces life. ⁶ who also made us sufficient as servants of a new covenant; not of the letter, but of the Spirit. For the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life. ⁶ Who also hath made us able ministers of the new covenant, not of the letter, but of the Spirit; for the letter killeth, but the Spirit giveth life.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

the ministration of condemnation: 2 Corinthians 3:6, 2 Corinthians 3:7, Exodus 19:12-19, Exodus 20:18, Exodus 20:19, Romans 1:18, Romans 8:3, Romans 8:4, Galatians 3:10, Hebrews 12:18-21

the ministration of righteousness: 2 Corinthians 5:21, Isaiah 46:13, Jeremiah 23:6, Romans 1:17, Romans 3:21, Romans 3:22, Romans 4:11, Romans 5:15-21, Romans 10:3-10, 1 Corinthians 1:30, Galatians 5:4, Galatians 5:5, Philippians 3:9, 2 Peter 1:1

exceed: 2 Corinthians 3:10, 2 Corinthians 3:11, 1 Corinthians 15:41, Hebrews 3:5, Hebrews 3:6

Reciprocal: Deuteronomy 33:2 - a fiery law Haggai 2:9 - glory Luke 11:13 - how 2 Corinthians 4:4 - lest 2 Corinthians 5:14 - then 2 Corinthians 11:15 - the ministers Hebrews 5:13 - the word

Cross-References

Genesis 3:12
The man said, "The woman you put here with me-she gave me some fruit from the tree, and I ate it."

Genesis 3:12
The man said, "The woman you put here with me—she gave me some fruit from the tree, and I ate it."

Genesis 3:12
And the man said, "The woman whom You gave to be with me, she gave to me from the tree, and I ate."

Genesis 3:12
The man said, "The woman whom You gave to be with me, she gave me from the tree, and I ate."

Genesis 3:12
And Adam said: The woman whom thou gauest [to be] with me, she gaue me of the tree, and I dyd eate.

Genesis 3:12
The man said, "The woman you put here with me gave me fruit from that tree. So I ate it."

Genesis 3:12
The man said, "The woman whom thou gavest to be with me, she gave me fruit of the tree, and I ate."

Genesis 3:12
And Adam seide, The womman which thou yauest felowe to me, yaf me of the tre, and Y eet.

Genesis 3:12
And the man said, The woman whom thou gauest to be with mee, shee gaue me of the tree, and I did eate.

Genesis 3:12
And the man said, The woman whom thou gavest to be with me, she gave me of the tree, and I did eat.

Gill's Notes on the Bible

For if the ministration of condemnation be glory,.... So the Jews call the law, for they say, אין כבוד אלא תורה, "there is no glory but the law" f; this is another head of opposition or difference between the law and the Gospel, from whence the superior glory of the one to the other is argued. The law is "the ministration of condemnation"; as sin is a transgression of the law, it accuses for it, convinces of it, pronounces guilty, and adjudges to death on account of it; which is the condemnation it ministers; and this it does to all Adam's posterity, and for his sin too; and to all the actual transgressors of it, to all unbelievers, to all that are under it; even to God's elect themselves, as considered in Adam, and in themselves as transgressors; and this it ministers to their consciences when convicted, though it is never executed on them, because of the suretyship engagement and performances of Christ. The Gospel is

the ministration of righteousness; not of a legal one, or a man's own, but of the righteousness of Christ, by which the law is honoured, justice is satisfied, and God's elect justified from all sin and condemnation; this being perfect, pure, and spotless, and for ever: the Gospel is "the ministration" of it, as it is a means of stripping a man of his own righteousness, of revealing Christ's to him, and of working faith in him, and encouraging him to lay hold upon it for himself; and thus it is not to righteous persons, but sinners, to all believers, to all the second Adam's posterity; now as

much more as righteousness exceeds condemnation, and a justified state a condemned one, so "much more" does the Gospel

exceed the law

in glory.

f Raya Mehimna in Zohar in Lev. fol. 33. 4.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

For if the ministration of condemnation - Of Moses in giving the Law, the effect of which is to produce condemnation. Law condemns the guilty; it does not save them. It denounces punishment; it contains no provisions of pardon. To pardon is to depart from the Law; and must be done under the operation of another system - since a law which contains a provision for the pardon of offenders, and permits them to escape, would be a burlesque in legislation. The tendency of the Mosaic institutions, therefore, was to produce a sense of condemnation. And so it will be found by all who attempt to be justified by the Law. It will tend to, and result in, their condemnation.

Be glory - Be glorious; or be glory itself - It was glorious as a manifestation of the holiness and justice of God; and glorious in the attending circumstances. No event in our world has been more magnificent in the circumstances of external majesty and splendor than the giving of the Law on Mount Sinai.

The ministration of righteousness - The gospel; the promulgation of the plan of mercy. It is called “the ministration of righteousness,” in contradistinction from the Law of Moses, which was a “ministration of condemnation.” The word “righteousness,” however, does not exactly express the force of the original word. That word is δικαιοσύνης dikaiosunēs, and it stands directly opposed to the word κατακρισεως katakriseōs, “condemnation.” It should be rendered ‘the ministration of justification;’ the plan by which God justifies people; see the note, Romans 1:17. The Law of Moses condemns; the gospel is the plan by which man is justified. And if that which condemns could be glorious, much more must that be by which people can be justified, acquitted, and saved. The superior glory of the gospel, therefore, consists in the fact that it is a scheme to justify and save lost sinners. And this glory consists:

(1) In the fact that it can be done when all law condemns.

(2) In the showing forth of the divine character while it is done, as just, and merciful, and benevolent in doing it - blending all his great and glorious attributes together - while the Law disclosed only one of His attributes - His justice.

(3) In the manner in which it is done. It is by the incarnation of the Son of God - a far more glorious manifestation of deity than was made on Mount Sinai. It is by the toils, and sufferings, and death of him who made the atonement, and by the circumstances of awful and imposing grandeur which attended his death, when the sun was darkened. and the rocks were rent - far more grand and awful scenes than occurred when the Law was given. It is by the resurrection and ascension of the Redeemer - scenes far more sublime than all the external glories of Sinai when the Law was given.

(4) In the effects, or results. The one condemns; the other justifies and saves. The effect of the one is seen in the convictions of conscience, in alarm, in a sense of guilt, in the conscious desert of condemnation, and in the apprehension of eternal punishment. The other is seen in sins forgiven; in peace of conscience; in the joy of pardon; in the hope of heaven; in comfort and triumph on the bed of death, and amidst the glories of heaven.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse 2 Corinthians 3:9. The ministration of condemnation — The law, which ascertained sin, and condemned it to just punishment.

The ministration of righteousness — The Gospel, the grand business of which was to proclaim the doctrine δικαιοσυνης, of justification; and to show how God could be just and yet the justifier of him who believeth in Jesus.

Exceed in glory. — For great, glorious, and awful as the law may be, in its opposition to sin, which is a reproach to man, and a dishonour to God; and in its punishment of sin; yet it must be vastly exceeded by that system which, evidencing an equal abhorrence of sin, finds out a method to forgive it; to take away its guilt from the conscience, and remove all its infection from the soul. That this could be done the law pointed out by its blood of bulls and of goats: but every considerate mind must see that it was impossible for these to take away sin; it is the Gospel that does what the law signified; and forasmuch as the performance of a promise is greater than the promise itself, and the substance of a man is greater than the shadow projected by that substance; so is the Gospel of Jesus Christ greater than the law, with all its promises, types, ceremonies, and shadows.