CORINTHIANS
CHAPTER 3
The gospel surpasses the law of Moses—Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty.
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?
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.
5 Not that we are sufficient of ourselves to think any thing as of ourselves; but our sufficiency is of God;
6 Who also hath made us able ministers of
the new testament; [The word testament is a translation
of the Latin testamentum, which was the translation of the Greek word
for “covenant.” A person’s last will and testament (or death covenant)
is an example of the true meaning of the word. However, when new testament
and old testament are used, most of us immediately think of the two divisions
of the Bible. We should remember that those two divisions were so called
because the first continued the writings and records of the people of
God under the old covenant (the Mosaic law) and the second, his dealings
under the new covenant (the law of Christ). The New Testament, as we
know it in the Bible, was not even compiled until long after Paul’s death.
so in verse 6, Paul states that they are ministers of the new covenant
of Christ, which does away with the old. Even in verse 14, though it
is obvious that Paul refers to the scriptural records when he talks of
the reading of the old testament, he is not using it in the same sense
we think of the Old Testament, but rather in the sense of the Mosaic
law, or the old covenant. Religion 121-122 Manual pg 303] not
of the letter, but of the spirit: for the letter killeth, but the spirit giveth
life.
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:
9 For if the ministration of condemnation be glory, much more doth the ministration of righteousness exceed in glory.
10 For even that which was made glorious had no glory in this respect, by reason of the glory that excelleth.
13 And not as Moses, which put a vail over his face, [ The splendour of Moses' countenance was so great that the Israelites could not bear to look upon his face, and therefore he was obliged to veil his face ] , that the children of Israel could not stedfastly look to the end of that which is abolished:
14 But their minds were blinded: for until this day remaineth the same vail untaken away in the reading of the old testament; which dvail is done away in Christ.
15 But even unto this day, when Moses is read, [ Even at this point they have been so blinded, their hearts so hardened, just as they were in the day s of Moses where they were hidden behind the veil. Called here "palaia diaqhkh", or the old covenant. And what was the covenant that they would not take upon themselves? It is the covenants made with their forefathers: Abraham, Issac and Jacob. They were to renew those covenants that God had made with their father Abraham. It was the very covenants of the Temple. Exo 19:10 God wanted to santify them. ] , the vail is upon their heart.