"For if the ministry of condemnation had glory, the ministry of righteousness exceeds much more in glory" (2 Cor. 3:9).
The law in all its forms, whether the moral law as revealed in the Scriptures, as written in heart, or as the Mosaic law, was designed to bring men to knowledge of sin and guilt. It produces a longing for redemption; thus it functions as a schoolmaster to bring men to Christ (Gal. 3:24). This is a necessary function of the law, and therefore it is glorious: “But if the ministry of death … was glorious” (2 Cor. 3:7). Yet, how can that which only makes us realize our sinfulness and condemnation before the holiness of God compare with that (the Gospel) which delivers us from sin and condemnation?
Paul answers this question by establishing that the law is glorious; the glory that he specifically refers to here is that which was reflected in the face of Moses. “This brightness of the face of Moses was in two respects a symbol of the glory of the old dispensation,” Hodge wrote. “In the first place, it was an outward brightness. So too the glory of the Mosaic dispensation was derived in large measure from its pompous ritual, its temple, its priesthood, its sacrifice, and, above all, its Shekinah, or visible symbol of the divine presence. But what was all this to the glory of the Gospel? What was a bright cloud overhanging the cherubim to the light of God’s presence filling the soul?… The Gospel is spirit because it is the source of life. Instead of being something external and powerless, it is inward and saving; and this is the ground of its superiority to the law.”
The ministry of righteousness is greater because it reveals a righteousness by which men are freed from sin. “As much better therefore as justification is than condemnation to eternal death, so much better is the gospel than the law,” Hodge explains. The glory of the Gospel is that it reveals the righteousness of Christ, by which the demands of the law are met. In this way, it is a source of life and glorious to all who believe.
Because the Gospel is so glorious, the law loses its glory in light of it, just as the moon pales before the presence of the sun. Paul even says that when you compare the law to the Gospel, it has no glory at all because the Gospel and its ministry of life are “much more glorious.”
Just as the Israelites were filled with awe when they beheld the glory that surrounded the temple, so must Christians be filled with awe when they hear the proclamation of the Gospel—in fact, more so. Let the glorious nature of the Gospel fill you with awe as you worship God. Praise Him today in prayer.
