(But if the ministry of death, in letters, graven in stones, began with glory, so that the children of Israel could not fix their eyes on the face of Moses, on account of the glory of his face, [a glory] which is annulled;
Paul grants the law given at Sinai all its splendour. Yet he calls that same shining system "the ministry of death," and says its glory was already fading.
The problem was never the law. It was the person the law addressed.
The law is holy, just and good, but man is unholy, unjust, and bad, and cannot fulfil its requirements. "If there had been a law given which could have given life, then righteousness would indeed be by the law" (Gal. 3:21); but the law is the ministry of death (2 Cor. 3:7). It judges man for not obeying its commands, and demands his death as the penalty of disobedience.
That sets up a hard irony — and a contrast with the gospel.
But the law demands righteousness, and man is a sinner who cannot give it. So the law can only be a ministry of death (v. 7). The brighter God's goodness shines, the worse it is for the sinner, for it only proves him more worthless and guilty. In the gospel God reveals righteousness to faith instead of demanding it, for Christ Himself is the righteousness of the believer.
Paul points back to the second moment at Sinai, not the first — after God had spared a guilty nation.
It is worth noticing that the apostle reasons here on Exodus 34, not on Exodus 20 as in Hebrews 12. This is not about law pure and simple, when God's voice shook the earth... It is about the law given a second time, along with the mercy that not only forgave but accepted a mediator. It was a mixture of law with grace, and precisely what people now conceive to be Christianity. Yet this is what Scripture calls the ministry of death in letter, engraved on stones... The mercy that had spared Israel did not change its character. Neither did the glory that shone in the Mediator's face.
Two things are worth watching here: what that brightness did to the people, and what it said about Moses himself.
Yet this fatal ministry was "in glory." What God does glorifies Him, whether as a Lawgiver or a Saviour... But the glory of that earlier ministry clothed the Mediator with an outward radiance. Even so, it shed no light and no joy into the people's hearts. It was a brightness that dazzled and repelled. It had no power to attract, and it put no living warmth into the soul. The glory Israel saw also rested on the face of a man who was only mortal. He was a servant, under the same law he delivered... Moses broke the law he ministered, and came under its sentence like everyone else.
Paul adds that this glory "was being brought to an end." Other translations point to its start rather than its end.
First, the law was but a ministry of death: the Gospel is a ministry of the life-giving Spirit. Yet there was a glory connected with the law: a glory so great that the children of Israel could not look at it... That glory was to be done away. Before long it faded from the face of Moses, and in time the signs of God's presence left the top of Sinai. So our verse says the law system "began with glory," not just that it "was glorious." It began, but it did not continue.
The light on Moses' face was never his own.
Yet this glory was only temporary, a glory only reflected in the face of Moses, not by any means intrinsic.
If God calls the stone tablets a ministry of death, they cannot double as a believer's rule of life.
Yes, my reader, so far from the moral law being your rule of life, it will be found as God describes it — the rule of death (2 Cor. 3:7). As a young man said to me the other night, "I have been trying for twenty-five years to keep the law, as I was told I must, and I have only got worse."
- Death — the law is holy, but it meets an unholy man, so it can only judge him and demand his death as the penalty.
- Glory — Paul grants Sinai its splendour. He points to Exodus 34, where law came mixed with mercy and Moses' face shone.
- Reflected — the glory was borrowed light, not Moses' own. It dazzled and repelled; it warmed no one's heart.
- Fading — the system began with glory. It began, but it did not continue, and its light left Moses' face.
- Freedom — God Himself calls the stone tablets a ministry of death. They are a rule of death, not the Christian's rule of life.
how shall not rather the ministry of the Spirit subsist in glory?
Paul has just called himself a minister of a new covenant, and now he argues from the lesser to the greater. If the ministry that killed still came with glory, the ministry of the Spirit must shine far brighter.
The comparison is not with the thunder of Sinai. Paul looks at Moses coming down the mountain the second time, after God had shown mercy. So the law he weighs here already had mercy mixed into it.
It is important to notice that the apostle reasons here on Exodus 34, not on Exodus 20 as in Hebrews 12. This is not a question of law pure and simple, when God's voice shook the earth. It is a question of law given the second time, along with the mercy that not only forgave but accepted mediation. It was a mixture of law with grace, and precisely what people now think Christianity is. But this is what is called the ministry of death in letter, engraved on stones.
The Spirit is not a wage for obedience. God gives Him because of what Christ has done.
It is a ministry of the Spirit also. God never even proposed to give this as the result of law-keeping. The holy anointing oil could not be poured on flesh (Ex. 30:31-32). God could not grant the Spirit as the reward of man's work. But God has put this honour on the work of Jesus. The Spirit has come out from the glory into which He has entered, and is God's gift to all who believe the gospel of God's salvation.
The old ministry could only make a claim on a person. The new one works the other way round.
It would be impossible for the law from Sinai to shape anyone, either in its nature or in its effects. If it gave anything to man, it would stop being what it was in principle — a demand upon man. But it is not so with this ministry from the heavens, whose very nature is to impart and so to be formative. In this respect its contrast with the law is its glory. It ministers righteousness and the Spirit. By these the believer has both the title and the power to gaze at the full and undimmed glory of God, seen in the face of Jesus Christ.
Some translations say the old covenant began with glory, while the new one subsists in glory. One was a flash; the other is a foundation.
The law that is done away was introduced with a glimpse of glory; that which abides not only exceeds in glory, but subsists in glory. It depends for its existence upon the full revelation of the glory of God in Christ.
Moses' face carried a glory that had to give way. The glory that replaced it does not fade, and it does not drive a sinner back.
The glory on the face of Moses must give way to the glory in another Face, and the ministry of death to the ministry of the Spirit, who reveals Christ. Here the glory remains, for it is glory which the sinner, hopeless in himself, may see with gladness and satisfaction.
The Spirit's witness is not about our record. It is about a Man, and about what His death settled.
The Spirit testifies to a man at God's right hand, who suffered once for sins on the cross. He declared that through Him everyone who believes is justified from all things — things the law of Moses could never justify them from. So the Holy Spirit sealed Christ the righteous One without blood while He was on earth. Now He seals us once His blood has washed our sins away, and He rests on us as the Spirit of glory and of God. We are therefore put in association with Christ on high, and we wait for His coming to bring us there.
- Demand — the law could only ask. By its very nature it had nothing to put into a person.
- Death — the second giving of the law came with mercy and with glory on Moses' face. It is still called a ministry of death. Mixing grace into law does not change what law is.
- Gift — God never offered the Spirit as payment for law-keeping. The Spirit comes out from the glory Christ has entered, as God's gift to everyone who believes.
- Glory — the old covenant began with a glimpse of glory that had to give way. This ministry does not just have more glory. It stands in glory, resting on the full revelation of God in Christ.
- Abides — a hopeless sinner can now look at that glory with gladness. The Spirit points him to a Man at God's right hand, and links us to Him until He comes.
For if the ministry of condemnation [be] glory, much rather the ministry of righteousness abounds in glory.
Paul sets two ministries side by side. One was carved in stone and sentenced its hearers. The other brings righteousness to them. Verse 9 does not ask which one had glory. Both did. It asks how much more glory belongs to the ministry that gives what the other only demanded.
The difference lies in what each one does to the person who meets it. One asks for something man does not have. The other supplies it.
Again, the law was a ministry of condemnation, while the Gospel is a ministry of righteousness. The law demanded righteousness from man, and because he had none, it condemned him completely. The Gospel brings righteousness and gives it to man through faith. Without question, a ministry that gives righteousness, and so lets sinful man stand in the presence of God, far exceeds in glory a ministry that only demands righteousness where there is none, and condemns as a result.
The fault was never in the law itself. It presses a righteous claim on people who cannot meet it, so its verdict is guilt. And the brighter God's goodness shines through it, the clearer that guilt becomes.
But the law requires righteousness, and man, being a sinner, cannot give it. So the law has to be a ministry of death. The brighter God's goodness shines, the worse it is for the sinner, because he is only shown up more clearly as worthless and guilty. In the gospel God reveals righteousness to faith; He does not demand it. Christ Himself is the righteousness of the believer, and the work was done and accepted before God sent out the gospel of His grace to man… The law, on the other hand, not only kills but condemns. It brings a sense of guilt to the conscience, and it shows God as a judge of the evil that has been done.
Paul draws his illustration from Moses coming down the mountain a second time. Israel had made the golden calf, and God had spared them. Mercy was in the scene, yet the result was still a ministry of death.
The question here is not about law on its own, when God's voice shook the earth… but about the law given a second time, along with the mercy that both forgave and accepted a mediator. It was a mixture of law and grace — exactly what people today take Christianity to be. Yet this is what is called the ministry of death, written in letters carved on stone… The mercy that had spared Israel did not change what the law was, and neither did the glory that shone on the Mediator's face.
The phrase "ministry of righteousness" turns the direction around. Righteousness is no longer something God waits for us to produce. It is handed to us, and that is where the greater glory comes from.
The law made a claim for righteousness, but it could never minister righteousness. Righteousness is now given to us, not worked out by us, and so the glory of God is shown as nothing else could show it. His deepest heart is told out in righteousness — but love in righteousness, and what a marvellous love, shown in the gift of Christ for men!
The glory on Moses' face was real, but it was second-hand. He had caught that light in God's presence, and it shone only on the outside of him.
The covenant of law was made glorious, seen in the shining skin of Moses' face — the outside of him. This was reflected glory, and it cannot begin to compare with the surpassing glory that is God's own, seen in the face of Jesus Christ. So the first is rightly set aside, to make room for the second, which remains in glory.
This ministry gives instead of demanding. So it does something to the believer that the law from Mount Sinai never could.
The law from Sinai could never shape a person, either in its nature or in its effects… but this ministry from heaven is different. Its very nature is to give, and so to shape. That contrast with the law is its glory. Through what it gives — righteousness and the Spirit — the believer has both the right and the power to gaze at the full, undimmed glory of God, seen in the face of Jesus Christ… Righteousness and the Spirit are the basis; being transformed into the same image, from one degree of glory to another, is the result.
- Demand. The law asked righteousness of people who had none. Its only verdict could be condemnation. The failure lay in man, not in the law.
- Gift. The gospel does not demand righteousness. It reveals and gives it. Christ Himself is the believer's righteousness, and His work was finished before the message went out.
- No blend. Law mixed with mercy is still the ministry of condemnation. Moses climbed the mountain a second time, but mercy beside the law never changed what the law was.
- Excess. The comparison is not good against bad. It is glory against greater glory: borrowed light on a man's face against the glory that belongs to the face of Jesus Christ.
- Result. This ministry gives rather than demands, so it reshapes the one who receives it. Righteousness and the Spirit are the basis; transformation from glory to glory is the outcome.