Notice also it says we are not sufficient of ourselves but our sufficiency is of God.
Notice also that it says the Letter Kills but the Spirit Gives Life.
Notice also that it calls the Law the Ministration of Death and the Ministration of Condemnation.
Notice also that the Ministration of the Spirit is the Ministration of Righteousness.
Notice also that where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is Liberty.
Notice also that it says the Letter Kills but the Spirit Gives Life.
Notice also that it calls the Law the Ministration of Death and the Ministration of Condemnation.
Notice also that the Ministration of the Spirit is the Ministration of Righteousness.
Notice also that where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is Liberty.
2Co 3:1 Do we begin again to commend ourselves? or need we, as some others, epistles of commendation to you, or letters of commendation from you?
2Co 3:2 Ye are our epistle written in our hearts, known and read of all men:
2Co 3:3 Forasmuch as ye are manifestly declared to be the epistle of Christ ministered by us, written not with ink, but with the Spirit of the living God; not in tables of stone, but in fleshy tables of the heart.
First thing we notice here is that Paul talks about letters of commendation. Then he turns to the fact that the Corinthian are a letter “written in our hearts.” Then in verse 3 Paul breaks down exactly what he means by this.
You are a letter written about Christ not with ink on paper but by the Spirit of God.
What does God write?
Answer: not on tables of stone/Ten Commandments. But on the tables of the heart.
Ok Paul just said that instead of a lifeless letter written with Ink, he says that the Corinthian’s are living letters of Righteousness written on their hearts by God.
With this in mind lets continue with Paul’s argument.
2Co 3:4 And such trust have we through Christ to God-ward:
Paul says he has confidence of God for this is through Christ.
2Co 3:5 Not that we are sufficient of ourselves to think any thing as of ourselves; but our sufficiency is of God;
Hear he reiterates this by saying that it is not of us but of God. In other words the righteousness of the law in the heart comes from God not from man. Righteousness by faith.
2Co 3:6 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.
Notice that he now says that God has made them ministers of the new covenant. Not of the letter but of the Spirit. Remember context, Paul has just said that the Spirit writes the 10 commandments on the heart. In fact that is the new covenant.
Heb 8:10 For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, saith the Lord; I will put my laws into their mind, and write them in their hearts: and I will be to them a God, and they shall be to me a people:
Eze 36:26 A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh.
Eze 36:27 And I will put my spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes, and ye shall keep my judgments, and do them.
So Paul makes it clear that the Spirit confirms the New Covenant by writing the 10 commandments on our hearts and in our minds that we become living letters for Christ.
What els did he say in this verse:
”for the letter killeth, but the spirit giveth life.”
Ok we know that the Spirit confirms the law on our hearts so what is this letter that killeth?
Answer:
Remember he has been just talking about the letters from them as opposed to living letters from God on the heart. So here the letter would be the law without the Spirit. In other words works of the law as opposed to law of faith. Or Mans works vs Gods works in us.
We know that he is contrasting the law as the letter by the next verse:
2Co 3:7 But if the ministration of death, written and engraven in stones, was glorious, so that the children of Israel could not stedfastly behold the face of Moses for the glory of his countenance; which glory was to be done away:
Notice “written and engraved in stones,” remember that He has said in verse 3 that this same letter on stone is written on our hearts now by God/Spirit. Why was the Glory of the letter/law on stone to be done away?
Jer 31:31 Behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel, and with the house of Judah:
Jer 31:32 Not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt; which my covenant they brake, although I was an husband unto them, saith the LORD:
Jer 31:33 But this shall be the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel; After those days, saith the LORD, I will put my law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts; and will be their God, and they shall be my people.
Answer: The Law on stone was to be replaced by the same law put by God on our hearts and minds.
2Co 3:8 How shall not the ministration of the spirit be rather glorious?
So the Law on the heart is more Glorious than the law on Stone because it is in Gods people and they obey and are living examples of the law. Paul said this of the gentiles who even when they don’t have the law still live according to the law in their hearts and thusthey become the law to others.
Rom 2:14 For when the Gentiles, which have not the law, do by nature the things contained in the law, these, having not the law, are a law unto themselves:
Rom 2:15 Which shew the work of the law written in their hearts…
Notice the Law is written where? On their hearts.
2Co 3:9 For if the ministration of condemnation be glory, much more doth the ministration of righteousness exceed in glory.
Notice what exceeds in Glory?
Answer: the ministration of righteousness.
Paul has just said the the ministration of condemnation had glory/Ten Commandments on stone. But the ministration of Righteousness has exceeding Glory/Ten commandments written on our heart by God.
David knew what Righteousness was:
Psa 119:172 My tongue shall speak of thy word: for all thy commandments are righteousness.
2Co 3:10 For even that which was made glorious had no glory in this respect, by reason of the glory that excelleth.
2Co 3:11 For if that which is done away was glorious, much more that which remaineth is glorious.
2Co 3:12 Seeing then that we have such hope, we use great plainness of speech:
Again reiterating the same point he has just made. As shown in Jeremiah the former glory of the letter of stone passed away and was replaced by the same letter on our hearts.
2Co 3:13 And not as Moses, which put a vail over his face, that the children of Israel could not stedfastly look to the end of that which is abolished:
2Co 3:14 But their minds were blinded: for until this day remaineth the same vail untaken away in the reading of the old testament; which vail is done away in Christ.
2Co 3:15 But even unto this day, when Moses is read, the vail is upon their heart.
Now this is important. Paul is trying to make a point about the Jewish people here. How they are unable to perceive the old covenant just as they were unable to look upon the face of mosses. So they could not see that the new covenant is the law on the heart and not by their own works. They were unable to see that the Old covenant was in Faith of the New Covenant. Old was the law on stone New is the Law in our hearts by God. Yet it was not the actual law that was the problem. For if it was God would not have written it on the heart but notice that the vial is on their heart so that they were unable to accept the truth of the new Covenant and thus have the law put in their hearts.
2Co 3:16 Nevertheless when it shall turn to the Lord, the vail shall be taken away.
But If they look to God they Shall be able to see clearly.
2Co 3:17 Now the Lord is that Spirit: and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty.
Notice the Lord is the Spirit and the Spirit is Liberty. Remember what Paul has been saying all along that the Spirit writes the law on our heart. So in other words Paul is saying that the Law of God on our hearts written by God brings liberty.
See what James says on this matter:
Jas 1:25 But whoso looketh into the perfect law of liberty, and continueth therein, he being not a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work, this man shall be blessed in his deed.
And again he says speaking of the 10 commandments:
Jas 2:8 If ye fulfil the royal law according to the scripture, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself, ye do well:
Jas 2:9 But if ye have respect to persons, ye commit sin, and are convinced of the law as transgressors.
Jas 2:10 For whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all.
Jas 2:11 For he that said, Do not commit adultery, said also, Do not kill. Now if thou commit no adultery, yet if thou kill, thou art become a transgressor of the law.
Jas 2:12 So speak ye, and so do, as they that shall be judged by the law of liberty.
So Paul and James are in agreement that obedience to Gods 10 commandments brings freedom. But only by faith through the Spirit.
Now let’s see Paul finish with a punch.
2Co 3:18 But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord.
Ok remember he talked about looking to the lord takes the vail away so we can see clearly. So with open face we behold in a mirror the glory of the lord. What is this mirror?
James said it is the Law.
Jas 1:23 For if any be a hearer of the word, and not a doer, he is like unto a man beholding his natural face in a glass:
Jas 1:24 For he beholdeth himself, and goeth his way, and straightway forgetteth what manner of man he was.
Jas 1:25 But whoso looketh into the perfect law of liberty, and continueth therein, he being not a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work, this man shall be blessed in his deed.
So we look to the law and see the Glory of the Lord/His righteousness. And are changed into that same image by who?
“even as by the Spirit of the Lord.”
So in conclusion. Paul is clearly teaching that by accepting the Holy Spirit the Law is written in our hearts and we become obedient to the law and are thus free from condemnation. This is only possible because of the blood of Christ in the new Covenant.
Blessings.