2 Corinthians 3:9

9 For if the service which pronounces doom had glory, far more glorious still is the service which tells of righteousness.

2 Corinthians 3:9 Meaning and Commentary

2 Corinthians 3:9

For if the ministration of condemnation be glory
So the Jews call the law, for they say, (hrwt ala dwbk Nya) , "there is no glory but the law" ^F6; 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.

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FOOTNOTES:

F6 Raya Mehimna in Zohar in Lev. fol. 33. 4.

2 Corinthians 3:9 In-Context

7 If, however, the service that proclaims death--its code being engraved in writing upon stones--came with glory, so that the children of Israel could not look steadily on the face of Moses because of the brightness of his face--a vanishing brightness;

8 will not the service of the Spirit be far more glorious?

9 For if the service which pronounces doom had glory, far more glorious still is the service which tells of righteousness.

10 For, in fact, that which was once resplendent in glory has no glory at all in this respect, that it pales before the glory which surpasses it.

11 For if that which was to be abolished came with glory, much more is that which is permanent arrayed in glory.