Paul saw the ten commandments as part of the "ministry of death."

death already reigned on earth since Adam's sin. The law made it official.

Romans 5

12 Therefore, as sin entered into the world through one man(Adam) and death through sin, so death passed to all men because all sinned. 13 For until the law, sin was in the world; but sin is not charged when there is no law. 14 Nevertheless death reigned from Adam until Moses, even over those whose sins weren’t like Adam’s disobedience, who is a foreshadowing of Him(Messiah) Who was to come.

But more importantly, the Law was for and about the Son through Whose obedience to the Law we might be saved by Him by grace through faith.

15 But the free gift isn’t like the trespass. For if by the trespass of the one(Adam) the many died, much more did the grace of EL(Theos, Elohim, YAH, God) and the gift by the grace of the one Man, Yeshua the Messiah, abound to the many. 16 The gift is not as through one who(Adam) sinned; for the judgment came by one(Adam) to condemnation, but the free gift followed many trespasses to justification. 17 For if by the trespass of the one(Adam), death reigned through the one; so much more will those who receive the abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness reign in life through the One, Yeshua the Messiah.

The Law was Messiah's path to life because of His obedience in offering His life as a Sacrifice for sin to suffer death for us, in obedience to the Law. The promise of life in the Law(Leviticus 18:5) was to Him and we are saved by His death for our sins and His resurrection life as promised in the Law.

18 So then as through one trespass, all men were condemned; even so through one act of righteousness, all men were justified to life. 19 For as through the one man’s(Adam) disobedience many were made sinners, even so through the obedience of the One(Messiah), many will be made righteous. 20 The law came in that the trespass might abound; but where sin abounded, grace abounded more exceedingly, 21 that as sin reigned in death, even so grace might reign through righteousness to eternal life through Yeshua the Messiah our Adonai.

Yet another reason why knowing that Psalm 119 is the Son's prayer for life because of His obedience to the law in offering His life as a Sacrifice for our sins to save us, as the law required of Him and according to the promise of Life in the Law to Him for doing it.

Yeah, you have to keep reading...

12Then Moses said to the LORD, “Look, You have been telling me, ‘Lead this people up,’ but You have not let me know whom You will send with me. Yet You have said, ‘I know you by name, and you have found favor in My sight.’ 13Now if indeed I have found favor in Your sight, please let me know Your ways, that I may know You and find favor in Your sight. Remember that this nation is Your people.”
14And the LORD answered, “My Presence will go with you, and I will give you rest.”
15“If Your Presence does not go with us,” Moses replied, “do not lead us up from here. 16For how then can it be known that Your people and I have found favor in Your sight, unless You go with us? How else will we be distinguished from all the other people on the face of the earth?”
17So the LORD said to Moses, “I will do this very thing you have asked, for you have found favor in My sight, and I know you by name.”

“The LORD, the LORD God,
is compassionate and gracious,
slow to anger,
abounding in loving devotion and faithfulness,
7maintaining loving devotion to a thousand generations,a
forgiving iniquity, transgression, and sin.
Yet He will by no means leave the guilty unpunished;
He will visit the iniquity of the fathers
on their children and grandchildren
to the third and fourth generations.”

I shouldn't be surprised; but I didn't know this- but, the scripture even calls them "tablets of the testimony". He wrote on the tablets "the words of the covenant".... but we know that God already gave him more than the ten commandments; and that Moses wrote them in a book already, and read them to the people before the rebellion and before God gave him the original tablets.... so the ministry of death is plain to see for me at this point.



28So Moses was there with the LORD forty days and forty nights without eating bread or drinking water. He wrote on the tablets the words of the covenant—the Ten Commandments.g
29And when Moses came down from Mount Sinai with the two tablets of the Testimony in his hands, he was unaware that his face had become radiant from speaking with the LORD. 30Aaron and all the Israelites looked at Moses, and behold, his face was radiant. And they were afraid to approach him.

Good post

John the Baptist said the following:
For the law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ.
John 1:17

This matches what Paul was taking about in 2 Cor 3:7 as the original poster noted.
Paul also wrote:

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.
2 Cor3:6

For sin shall not have dominion over you: for ye are not under the law, but under grace.
Rom 6:14

Blotting out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us, which was contrary to us, and took it out of the way, nailing it to his cross;
Col 2:14

Amen dead to the law "Therefore, my brethren, you also have become dead to the law through the body of Christ, that you may be married to another—to Him who was raised from the dead, that we should bear fruit to God. "

dead to sin, not dead to do not steal, do not murder, honor your mother and father....etc

I think you misunderstand Paul

Romans 3:28, “For we maintain that a person is justified by faith apart from the works of the Law.”

Romans 3:31, “Are we then doing away with the Law* through the faith? By no means! Rather, we establish the Law*!”

*“Law” is word # G3551 – nomos, Strong's Concordance, nomos: that which is assigned, hence usage, law, Original Word: νόμος, ου, ὁ, Part of Speech: Noun, Masculine, Transliteration: nomos, Phonetic Spelling: (nom'-os), Short Definition: a law, the Mosaic Law, Definition: usage, custom, law; in NT: of, law in general, plur: of divine laws; of a force or influence impelling to action; of the Mosaic law;, metion: of the books which contain the law, the Pentateuch, the Old Testament scriptures in general

Romans 6:16, "Do you not know that to whom you present yourselves servants for obedience, you are servants of the one whom you obey, whether of sin to death, or of obedience to righteousness?"

Romans, “6:1-2, "What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin* that grace may abound? By no means! How can we who died to sin still live in it?"

*What is sin, that we may not continue in it and thus have “died to sin”?

1 John 3:4, "Whoever commits sin, transgresses also the Law; for sin is the transgression of the Law."

Romans 7:25, “Thanks be to YHWH, I have deliverance through Yahshua Messiah our King! So then, with this same mind, I myself serve the Law of YHWH, while in the flesh that is yet subject to the law of sin.”

Romans 8:2, “Because through Yahshua Messiah, the Law of the Spirit has set me free from the law of sin and death.”





John 8:34-36, “יהושע answered them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, everyone doing sin is a servant of sin. And the servant does not stay in the house forever – a son stays forever. If, then, the Son makes you free, you shall be free indeed.”

“Blotting out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us, which was contrary to us, and took it out of the way, nailing it to his cross;”

“Do not think that I will accuse you to the Father:

there is one that accuseth you, even Moses, in whom ye trust.”
‭‭John‬ ‭5:45‬ ‭KJV‬‬


“Take this book of the law, and put it in the side of the ark of the covenant of the LORD your God, that it may be there for a witness against thee. For I know thy rebellion, and thy stiff neck: behold, while I am yet alive with you this day, ye have been rebellious against the LORD; and how much more after my death?”
‭‭Deuteronomy‬ ‭31:26-27‬ ‭KJV‬‬

“knowing this, that the law is not made for a righteous man, but for the lawless and disobedient, for the ungodly and for sinners, for unholy and profane, for murderers of fathers and murderers of mothers, for manslayers, for whoremongers, for them that defile themselves with mankind, for menstealers, for liars, for perjured persons, and if there be any other thing that is contrary to sound doctrine;”
‭‭1 Timothy‬ ‭1:9-10‬ ‭KJV‬‬

“Now we know that what things soever the law saith, it saith to them who are under the law: that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become guilty before God. Therefore by the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in his sight: for by the law is the knowledge of sin.”
‭‭Romans‬ ‭3:19-20‬ ‭KJV‬‬

If we try to keep the law of Moses we’re trying to follow god like sinners who aren’t born again and haven’t received remission of sins and do t believe they have been stoned for by the lords sacrifice they are still lookin at the outward letters given to sinners with no holy spirit no rebirth no remission of sins

and not accepting the word that is saying “ hear what I’m saying and believe me and take of seriously and follow give me your heart and you will be given eternal life I will save you if you trust in me truly “

We have to let go of the accuser beside the ark because now we have the advocate and intercessor at Gods right hand in heaven the book at the side of the ark by the mercy seat is only an earthly pattern of Jesus at Gods right hand not to accuse us but the opposite to intercede for our transgressions by his own sacrifice

He took the book away see revelation 5 and now he’s not there to make us know and guilty of sins he’s there to take them away and tesch us righteousness if we hear and believe him

Excellent post. I love the passages and reasoning you used.
The folloing passage was written by Paul. Note the present tense used, thus he was saved forever at that point.
Obviously, even Paul could not keep the 10 commandments.
7 What shall we say then? Is the law sin? God forbid. Nay, I had not known sin, but by the law: for I had not known lust, except the law had said, Thou shalt not covet.
8 But sin, taking occasion by the commandment, wrought in me all manner of concupiscence. For without the law sin was dead.
9 For I was alive without the law once: but when the commandment came, sin revived, and I died.
10 And the commandment, which was ordained to life, I found to be unto death.
11 For sin, taking occasion by the commandment, deceived me, and by it slew me.
12 Wherefore the law is holy, and the commandment holy, and just, and good.
13 Was then that which is good made death unto me? God forbid. But sin, that it might appear sin, working death in me by that which is good; that sin by the commandment might become exceeding sinful.
14 For we know that the law is spiritual: but I am carnal, sold under sin.
15 For that which I do I allow not: for what I would, that do I not; but what I hate, that do I.
16 If then I do that which I would not, I consent unto the law that it is good.
17 Now then it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me.
18 For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh,) dwelleth no good thing: for to will is present with me; but how to perform that which is good I find not.
19 For the good that I would I do not: but the evil which I would not, that I do.
20 Now if I do that I would not, it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me.
21 I find then a law, that, when I would do good, evil is present with me.
22 For I delight in the law of God after the inward man:
23 But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members.
24 O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death?
25 I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord. So then with the mind I myself serve the law of God; but with the flesh the law of sin.
Rom 7:7-25

1 John 5:17, “All unrighteousness is sin, and there is a sin not unto death.”

The “curse of the Law” is the death penalty for committing a sin worthy of death.

Deuteronomy 21:22-23, “And when a man has committed a sin worthy of death, then he shall be put to death and you shall hang him on a tree. Let his body not remain overnight on the tree, for you shall certainly bury him the same day – for he who is hanged is accursed of Yah – so that you do not defile the land which יהוה your Strength is giving you as an inheritance.”

The “curse of the Law” is not: “You shall have no other gods before Me, You shall make no idols, You shall not take the name of YHWH in vain, Keep the Sabbath day holy, Honor your father and your mother, You shall not murder, You shall not commit adultery, You shall not steal, You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor, You shall not covet.”

Yahshua/Jesus took that curse of the Law; the death penalty upon Himself for all those who abide in Him.

Galatians 3:13,, “Messiah redeemed us from the curse of the Torah, having become a curse for us – for it has been written, “Cursed is everyone who hangs upon a tree (Deut 21:22).”

Galatians 3:10-14, “10, For as many as are of works of Torah are under the curse, for it has been written, “Cursed is everyone who does not continue in all that has been written in the Book of the Torah, to do them.” (Deut 27:26) 11, "And that no one is declared right by Torah before YHWH is clear, for “The righteous shall live by belief. (Hab 2:4)” 12, And the Torah is not of belief, but “The man who does them shall live by them, (Lev 18:5)” 13, Messiah redeemed us from the curse of the Torah, having become a curse for us – for it has been written, “Cursed is everyone who hangs upon a tree. (Deut 21:23) 14, in order that the blessing of Aḇraham might come upon the nations in Messiah יהושע, to receive the promise of the Spirit through belief.”

Isaiah 53:4-5, “Truly, He has borne our sicknesses and carried our pains. Yet we reckoned Him smitten·, stricken by YHWH, and afflicted. But He was pierced for our transgressions, He was crushed for our crookedness. The chastisement for our peace was upon Him, and by His stripes we are healed.”

1 Peter 2:24, "who Himself bore our sins in His body on the timber, so that we, having died to sins, might live unto righteousness, by whose stripes you were healed.”

1 John 3:7, “Little children, let no man deceive you; he who practices righteousness is righteous, just as He is righteous.”

1 Peter 4:1-2, “Therefore, since Messiah suffered in the flesh, arm yourselves also with the same mind, because he who has suffered in the flesh has ceased from sin, so that he no longer lives the rest of his time in the flesh for the lusts of men, but according to the desire of Elohim.”



1 John 4:19, “We love Him because He first loved us.”

1 John 5:2-3, “By this we know that we love the children of Elohim, when we love Elohim and guard His commands. For this is the love for Elohim, that we guard His commands, and His commands are not heavy.”

2 John 1:6, “And this is the love, that we walk according to His commands. This is the command, that as you have heard from the beginning, you should walk in it.”

Exodus 20:6, “But showing love to thousands who love Me by keeping My Laws.”

John/Yahanan 14:15, “If you love Me, keep My commandments.”

Hebrews 10:16, “This is the covenant that I shall make with them after those days, says יהוה, giving My laws into their hearts, and in their minds I shall write them.”

Jeremiah 6:16-17, “Thus said יהוה, “Stand in the ways and see, and ask for the old paths, where the good way is, and walk in it; and find rest for yourselves.” But they said, ‘We do not walk in it.’ “And I raised up watchmen over you, and said, ‘Listen to a voice of the trumpet!’ But they said, ‘We do not listen.”

Yeah some would read it that way

The overall demand of the Ten Commandments under the Old Covenant was that if you broke even one of them, you were subject to "the Law of Sin and Death". That did not necessarily mean that under the New Covenant those commandments were null and void. So when Paul speaks of the ministry of death, it is under the Old Covenant. But under the New Covenant the Ten Commandments are a manifestation of the Law of Love in which the Holy Spirit is involved. See Romans 13.

Old Covenant: obey to live
New Covenant: live to obey

Here let me ask you this:

Were you (or your predecessors or representative elders) at Mount Horeb at the time of the ongoing multi-day negotiation and ratification process of the giving of the law? Did you personally pledge an oath to keep it?

No. Therefore you are DEFINITELY not under the Old Covenant. And Paul warns stridently over and over again that gentile Christians are NOT to make that oath/pledge/commitment.

Exo 19:5
Now therefore, if ye will obey my voice indeed, and keep my covenant, then ye shall be a peculiar treasure unto me above all people: for all the earth is mine:
Exo 19:8
And all the people answered together, and said, All that the LORD hath spoken we will do. And Moses returned the words of the people unto the LORD.

Exo 24:1
And he said unto Moses, Come up unto the LORD, thou, and Aaron, Nadab, and Abihu, and seventy of the elders of Israel; and worship ye afar off.
Exo 24:3
And Moses came and told the people all the words of the LORD, and all the judgments: and all the people answered with one voice, and said, All the words which the LORD hath said will we do.
Exo 24:7
And he took the book of the covenant, and read in the audience of the people: and they said, All that the LORD hath said will we do, and be obedient.

BTW....Moses was up and down and up and down Mt. Sinai at least EIGHT TIMES literally negotiating with The Eternal One on behalf of the Children of Israel.

And people say (wrongly!) that God is a tyrant and there is no free will. How ridiculous an accusation is that?

The law reveals sin. Sin is the transgression of the law.
Without the law, even today, right and wrong would not be defined. Paul planly said that without the law he would not have know sin.
Rom 7:7 What shall we say then? Is the law sin? God forbid. Nay, I had not known sin, but by the law: for I had not known lust, except the law had said, Thou shalt not covet.
Rom_3:20 Therefore by the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in his sight: for by the law is the knowledge of sin.
Rom_5:13 (For until the law sin was in the world: but sin is not imputed when there is no law.

So the law reveals sin and Sin = death.

Can you see the connection the law brings us to death if we transgress it.

All have sinned so all are guilty by the law and all should die. Rom_3:23 For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God;

Is that the laws fault or our fault? If the law is at fault, God is at fault for making a faulty law.

BUT......

Rom_8:2 For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death.

Free from the laws or free from the guilt and penalty of breaking the laws?
Did God change the law to save us or did God pay the price in full?

Paul continues to promote the keeping of the Ten Commandments. Not to be saved (because that isn't grace) but because we Love our savour.

Rom_8:3 For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh:
Rom 8:4 That the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.
Rom 8:5 For they that are after the flesh do mind the things of the flesh; but they that are after the Spirit the things of the Spirit.

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.

Gal 5:22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith,
Gal 5:23 Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law.
Gal 5:24 And they that are Christ's have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts.
Gal 5:25 If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit.

When you are walking in the Spirit (the Holy Spirit is controlling your action), how many of the 10 commandments are you going to break? None, but we are all sinners so we all need grace.

We are not under the old covenant, Jesus set up the covenant with His blood and we are to look to Jesus as our source of life and salvation.

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.

The law was not faulty the people were, God did not do anything wrong with the first covenant. The people failed and we will too if we don't trust our salvation to Jesus by faith.
Heb 10:16 This is the covenant that I will make with them after those days, saith the Lord, I will put my laws into their hearts, and in their minds will I write them;

Thereis always a debate about which laws??? But GODS laws are perfect the 10 commandments were written and spoken by GOD Himself and God does not make mistakes. The law is not at fault we are. and God did not solve the problem by changing the laws He paid the price Himself.

Yes, the external form for Israel provided them with death if they thought they could obey it to be saved. Rather, it takes God's gift of faith (Hebrews 11).

yes tbis part beforehand

“Wherefore, my brethren, ye also are become dead to the law by the body of Christ;

that ye should be married to another, even to him who is raised from the dead, that we should bring forth fruit unto God.

For when we were in the flesh, the motions of sins, which were by the law, did work in our members to bring forth fruit unto death. But now we are delivered from the law, that being dead wherein we were held;

that we should serve in newness of spirit, and not in the oldness of the letter.”( not by commands written on stone tablets outwardly observed but the gospel written in our hearts and lives from within )
‭‭Romans‬ ‭7:4-6‬ ‭KJV‬‬

when a sinner is executed under the law they are finished with it an adulterer is accused convicted and sentenced and then killed. The law says no more ever to that person they are dead to the law d it’s been fulfilled when they violate it and are put to death by it

The dead man the law doesn’t speak to Christ does speak to the dead men and calls them to life

Yes, you're right that the Ten Commandments and all the rest of the laws brought death under the old covenant when followed to obtain salvation. However, what was Jesus' view of the commandments? He said that murder was equal as a sin with anger and adultery, with lust. He seemed to take them seriously. In Paul's passage (2 Corinthians 3), he contrasts the OT laws as means to gain God's favor with the NT requirements as ways Christians show their gratitude to God for Jesus' rescue through his death and resurrection. The national-law, outward forms of the law are done away through Jesus' death (Colossians 2), and Christians receive resurrection power to make progress in obeying the moral principles of all the Scriptures through Jesus' rising from the dead (Colossians 3--exactly what Paul says in verse 1 with the rest of the chapter the way we need to show our thankfulness. That is the new covenant.