2 Corinthians 3: – The New Covenant – The Missing Piece

Reid Ferguson

Maybe you’ve heard the saying that a little knowledge is a dangerous thing.

There was this old Mountain man who in later years found felling trees and cutting them up for firewood was getting too laborious. He heard about a newfangled machine called a chain saw that could really make his life easier, and went into town one day to buy one.

A week later he brought it back to the store and told the guy it didn’t help at all. That in fact he worked 10 times as hard and only got about 1/2 the results he would normally get from a week of cutting wood. He only got 2 trees down and cut.

The clerk thought the saw was malfunctioning and asked to see it. He pulled the starter cord and it roared to life like it should – when the Mountain man reared back and shouted “what’s that noise!?”

He knew a chain saw was supposed to make cutting wood easier – but he didn’t know how it worked. With the end result that it actually made things much worse.

In a nutshell, that is a major part of what was going on in the Church at Corinth. And it was not just making Paul’s life miserable, it was tearing the Church apart and creating all sorts of problems.

Getting to that key piece of knowledge they were missing is what this large section of 2 Corinthians up to Chapter 7 has at its core. And we get our hint of that in 1:13-14

2 Corinthians 1:13–14 / For we are not writing to you anything other than what you read and understand and I hope you will fully understand— just as you did partially understand us—that on the day of our Lord Jesus you will boast of us as we will boast of you.

Clearly they had misunderstood some things Paul had written earlier.

We see that in 1 Cor. 5, where he says that when he had written to them not to associate with sexually immoral people – he didn’t mean they couldn’t interact with anyone who wasn’t a Christian.

You’d have to exit the planet to do that.

No, his concern was not letting people who profess to be Christians and are acting in sexually immoral ways, or being drunkards, verbally abusive or swindlers – go on like nothing is wrong. In fact, if they won’t repent, they need to be excommunicated from the Church.

These types of misunderstandings along with the other issues that were plaguing that Church, he ties back to this problem of “partial understanding.”

They were missing something crucial in their understanding of what it means to be a Christian and the Church. Something which impacted every issue he had to address in his previous letters. And what he will take great pains to clarify in this letter.

I don’t know if you’ve ever played whack-a-mole, but that is how Paul must have felt in his dealing with this Church.

As soon as he addressed one problem, another popped up.

And in what must have seemed to have been in endless and exhausting succession.

Divisions over personalities; idolatry; immorality; misuse and abuse of spiritual gifts; materialism; competition for recognition in the Church; abusing the Lord’s table; un-severed ties from idolatry, etc..

And now, after his “severe letter” that we don’t have, some group – foisting themselves off as apostles – were trying to undermine Paul’s authority and ministry.

They said his sufferings; his unwillingness to treat the Corinthians like benefactors in refusing to take their money; his need to change plans in visiting them; his apparently lackluster preaching style and lack of credentials – all disqualified him from service.

So how is he to get to the bottom of all of this?

He has to fill in that critical piece of missing information I mentioned earlier.

Something they just did not get so far – never made the connection to rightly – that would re-shape their understanding of him, his ministry, the Church overall, and especially the false teaching which apparently was creeping in. In 2:17 Paul called such “peddlers of God’s Word”.

He’ll go on later in this letter to label them: “disgraceful”, “underhanded”, “unbelievers”, “false apostles”, “deceitful workmen”, and as they called themselves “super-apostles.”

The only reason they could gain a foothold in the Church is the same reason why all of these other problems kept popping up.

And the key point – getting ahead of myself is this: The Corinthian Christians had no real grasp of what it meant that they were living in the New Covenant.

And so they could not live in the implications of that status.

And this is what he begins to tackle in earnest in this 3rd chapter.

So let’s read it.

2 Corinthians 3 / Are we beginning to commend ourselves again? Or do we need, as some do, letters of recommendation to you, or from you? You yourselves are our letter of recommendation, written on our hearts, to be known and read by all. And you show that you are a letter from Christ delivered by us, written not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of human hearts.

Such is the confidence that we have through Christ toward God. Not that we are sufficient in ourselves to claim anything as coming from us, but our sufficiency is from God, who has made us sufficient to be ministers of a new covenant, not of the letter but of the Spirit. For the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.

Now if the ministry of death, carved in letters on stone, came with such glory that the Israelites could not gaze at Moses’ face because of its glory, which was being brought to an end, will not the ministry of the Spirit have even more glory? For if there was glory in the ministry of condemnation, the ministry of righteousness must far exceed it in glory. Indeed, in this case, what once had glory has come to have no glory at all, because of the glory that surpasses it. For if what was being brought to an end came with glory, much more will what is permanent have glory.

Since we have such a hope, we are very bold, not like Moses, who would put a veil over his face so that the Israelites might not gaze at the outcome of what was being brought to an end. But their minds were hardened. For to this day, when they read the old covenant, that same veil remains unlifted, because only through Christ is it taken away. Yes, to this day whenever Moses is read a veil lies over their hearts. But when one turns to the Lord, the veil is removed. Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit.

What seems obvious from vs. 1, is that these “peddlers of God’s Word”, came to the Church at Corinth claiming some sort of endorsement as revered teachers or leaders. Where they got these endorsements we don’t know. Perhaps Jerusalem or some other Church or Churches. But from Paul’s comment, we can infer that an objection raised against Paul was that he had no such credentials.

2 Corinthians 3:1 / Are we beginning to commend ourselves again? Or do we need, as some do, letters of recommendation to you, or from you?

Incredulous, Paul says “really”? Do you really need to raise this issue now? After all this time and after all that God has done among you?

2 Corinthians 3:2–3 / You yourselves are our letter of recommendation, written on our hearts, to be known and read by all. And you show that you are a letter from Christ delivered by us, written not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of human hearts.

In other words, the proof of my authenticity is your conversion to Christ!

I came and preached the Gospel, and you believed it and were saved. What more could possibly be needed to authenticate me?

These guys show up with letters written on paper with ink – but our letter of recommendation is the work of the Spirit in your hearts!

A permanent, supernatural inscription. And so…

2 Corinthians 3:4 / Such is the confidence that we have through Christ toward God.

We stand secure in our authenticity because we have seen the results IN YOU!

But there’s more.

And this is where Paul begins to get to the heart of all of the issues plaguing that Church while opening it up to us as well – where the key piece of missing truth left them vulnerable to these interlopers:

2 Corinthians 3:5–6 / Not that we are sufficient in ourselves to claim anything as coming from us, but our sufficiency is from God, who has made us sufficient to be ministers of a new covenant, not of the letter but of the Spirit. For the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.

Paul is arguing that he operates on a totally different set of principles.

The qualifying aspect of his ministry isn’t about his abilities. He doesn’t even try to defend himself as a great preacher or organizer or anything else. The only sufficiency for the work he did among them was that he preached Christ – and brought them into the New Covenant.

This is vitally important.

Based on what he says here – which will be borne out later in the letter – these new guys were apparently trying to persuade the Church that they needed to go back and start living their lives in accord with the Law of Moses.

They weren’t necessarily Judaizers – saying Gentile Christians had to become Jewish in order to be good Christians. That issue is taken up in the book of Galatians.

This is far more subtle and can easily creep into churches today as well.

The idea is that once you are saved, the way to make progress in the Christian life is to go back and order your life by the 10 commandments.

They might well have been arguing: Paul’s preaching was great as far as it went – but if there is still so much sin and disarray – then it’s obvious they aren’t living according to the Law – the commandments.

Now this is a serious problem in the Christianity of Corinth, and today. For it soon leads to harsh legalism and abusive leadership. Abuse of authority by these men will be brought later in Ch. 11.

So Paul rears up and says “whoa!” We are ministers of a new covenant, one that is NOT based upon an external written code of conduct, but upon the indwelling Spirit of God in Believers. If you want to direct people to advance in their Christian lives by bringing them back to the Law of Moses, then you are unaware that the letter of the law kills. It is the Spirit that gives life.

Now I need a moment to unpack this covenant idea in order to really grasp what Paul is after. We toss this language around a lot and sometimes don’t define it well.

When God chose the Jewish people group out of all the ethnicities on the earth to be His chosen people – he set down the terms of an agreement between Himself and them: He formalized their relationship.

That agreement is called the Old Covenant, the Law of Moses or just “The Law” in the Bible.

Not long ago I officiated at the wedding for some friends.

And in that ceremony they took certain vows. Vows that are a binding agreement between them; a set of promises they pledge to each other in terms of their relationship. That is called a marriage covenant.

So God’s covenant or agreement with Israel is spelled out in the Old Testament – mainly in Exodus. It details how God will act toward them, and how they are expected to act toward Him. And both parties agreed to it.

But God also told them later, after they had long broken the terms of that agreement in every way conceivable and over centuries of time – that someday He would institute a New Covenant. A new agreement with those who really believed Him. That, is spelled out for us in detail in Jeremiah 31 and then again in Hebrews 8. You can read that on your own. The point being these are two radically different arrangements.

And it is this radical difference between the covenants that the Corinthians hadn’t really grasped.

It is behind why they were living such messed up lives, had messed up theology and were sitting ducks for messed up false teachers.

Paul is going to need this entire letter to tease out all of the implications of this – but the foundation of it all is what he says in this chapter.

Now the very heart, the core of God’s Old Covenant was the 10 commandments. Good in every way. Holy and righteous and not to be disregarded. But for all of its wonder, this covenant was never meant to be the permanent agreement between God and His people.

It was never designed to be used the way these new teachers were apparently trying to use it.

So he begins to put the two covenants side by side to show why going back to the commandments is NOT the way the Christian is meant to live.

The 2 covenants will not contradict one another. But they arrive at different ends and use different means.

The very heart of the New Covenant is NOT a new set of commandments, but the sending of the Holy Spirit to indwell us and give us new hearts.

We can only focus on 3 of the key differences between them this morning.

1st difference: The OC Letter kills. The NC Spirit gives life.

2 Corinthians 3:7–8 / Now if the ministry of death, carved in letters on stone, came with such glory that the Israelites could not gaze at Moses’ face because of its glory, which was being brought to an end, will not the ministry of the Spirit have even more glory?

Why would Paul call the 10 Commandments a “ministry of death”?

Because no one could keep them. And as the Old Testament repeats numerous times: The soul that sins will die. This is repeated again in the New Testament: “The wages of sin is death.” Rom. 6:23

And even if they (or we) COULD keep them perfectly – we have Jesus’ words in Luke 17:10 “So you also, when you have done all that you were commanded, say, ‘We are unworthy servants; we have only done what was our duty.’ ””

It provided a picture of what salvation would take – a substitutionary death – but merely obeying the code – couldn’t save anyone.

Obeying the Law perfectly is only our duty. Nothing more. It can’t earn us anything. It is why is does not save.

Galatians 3:21–22 / Is the law then contrary to the promises of God? Certainly not! For if a law had been given that could give life, then righteousness would indeed be by the law. But the Scripture imprisoned everything under sin, so that the promise by faith in Jesus Christ might be given to those who believe.

The Law had glory because it revealed God’s holiness. But there was a greater glory to come.

2nd difference: The OC was temporary. The NC is permanent.

2 Corinthians 3:9–11 / For if there was glory in the ministry of condemnation, the ministry of righteousness must far exceed it in glory. Indeed, in this case, what once had glory has come to have no glory at all, because of the glory that surpasses it. For if what was being brought to an end came with glory, much more will what is permanent have glory.

Paul doesn’t denigrate the Law in any way, but at the same time calls it “the ministry of condemnation.”

Its glory – its bright and shining light was that it revealed the holiness of God.

And when we are exposed to that light – all of our defects really come into view.

Just like an X-ray can expose a broken bone but contributes nothing toward healing that broken bone, so the Law could reveal sin in the light of God’s holiness, but was never designed to fix the sin problem. It could – and still can – condemn. But it cannot justify. No matter how much anyone obeys it, it cannot make them right with God. Something else is needed.

So as glorious as the Law is, as an external code it was meant as a temporary arrangement.

Hebrews 9:9–10 / (which is symbolic for the present age). According to this arrangement, gifts and sacrifices are offered that cannot perfect the conscience of the worshiper, but deal only with food and drink and various washings, regulations for the body imposed until the time of reformation.

2 Corinthians 3:12–16 / Since we have such a hope, we are very bold, not like Moses, who would put a veil over his face so that the Israelites might not gaze at the outcome of what was being brought to an end. But their minds were hardened. For to this day, when they read the old covenant, that same veil remains unlifted, because only through Christ is it taken away. Yes, to this day whenever Moses is read a veil lies over their hearts. But when one turns to the Lord, the veil is removed.

So since we have this more glorious – permanent hope in the finished work of Christ revealed in the Gospel we operate in an entirely different way than those who try to bring you to heel under rules and regulations.

Now this 13th verse needs some explaining.

Paul is recounting an event from Exodus 34.

When Moses came down from Sinai after meeting with God the 2nd time, the narrative says his face was so radiant from the encounter that the people were afraid to go near him. So he put a veil over his face to calm them. He would take it off when he went into the Tabernacle to talk with God, but put it back on when he came out. And this appears to have continued to be the case the rest of his life.

So what is Paul getting at?

The Law was a ministry of condemnation and death. Break the Law and you die. That was the basic reality.

When Moses’ face shone the way it did from being in God’s presence, that beaming light was terrifying, exposing every blemish and giving no relief – even though it was in fact only a temporary covenant. Moses’ covered his face, softening the blow. Easing the terror.

The end of the Law is condemnation. Period. Nothing else. What was in the process of fading away (the Law covenant) was nothing but condemnation. And Moses gave them some relief from being assaulted by the holiness of God exposing their sinfulness.

However, in the NC, the glory of this administration far, far outshines the Old.

It’s permanent, not temporary. It’s filled with the promise of the Spirit renewing the heart and mind and doesn’t leave the individual condemned in their sin.

Above all, it reveals the mercy and grace of God in the cross, in the face of Jesus Christ.

And now, we can see God in the full radiance of His holiness without terror – because the Gospel tells us that the blood of Jesus cleanses us from all sin and shame.

We can face our sin in all of its wickedness, and not flee in terror, because it is revealed now, not in a written code, but in the face of the One who died for our sins.

This covenant still reveals all the same holiness of God that terrifies the sinner, but also reveals the Gospel of forgiveness and change. And the more we stare into it, the more we are transformed by it.

We move from terror to transformation.

2 Corinthians 3:18 / And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit.

The sad thing is, many people still look at that old law and imagine if they can just regulate their lives by it – God will accept them.

Paul says that is like reading the Old Testament with a bag over your head. You’re still trying to hide from the way it exposes sin by thinking it is something you can do.

Just as bad – and horrendously confusing is the Christian who comes to believe the Gospel, and then goes BACK to the Law to try and deal with the remainder of indwelling sin. Instead of looking to Christ and His finished work which brings the Holy Spirit to indwell them, they fall back to living by an external code of conduct and live in frustration and condemnation when they find they can’t do it. Or they live as hypocrites claiming they can do it. All the while knowing they’re lying.

Only when one comes to Christ in faith taking Him as their sin-bearer on Calvary, and the giver of the Holy Spirit to give them new ability to war against their sin – can they begin to see rightly. To take the bag off of their heads and put all of their hope in Christ – removing all the terror of God’s judgment.

They don’t know their sin any less, or think less of how horrible it is. But they know the remedy and the promise that in Jesus, they can face the unveiled holiness of God that devours all sin and wickedness – without fear.

This then is the 3rd key difference between the covenants.

3rd difference: The OC could only regulate actions. The NC transforms the very soul.

And it accomplishes this transforming work by our looking to Jesus and Jesus alone for our righteousness.

Where is freedom from condemnation?

2 Corinthians 3:17 / Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.

Where is freedom from the power of sin?

Where is freedom from living by some external code that we cannot keep?

Where is freedom from false teachers who would try to bring us back under the Law of Moses to be right with God?

Where is freedom from the bondage of trying kill sin by just taking on more and more duties?

It is where the Spirit of the Lord is.

The OC Letter kills. The NC Spirit gives life.

The OC was temporary. The NC is permanent.

The OC could only regulate actions. The NC transforms the very soul.

Why is all of this so important for them and for us?

If you are not a Christian here today then the chief importance is this: No amount of being a good person or obeying even the commandments of God can rid you of your guilt and shame.

Only crying out for mercy, and trusting in the substitutionary death of Jesus in your place on the Cross – can clear the way for you to face this ineffably holy God without fear – and be reconciled to Him as your loving Father.

This is of the utmost importance. This is what salvation is. Coming to and trusting in Jesus Christ and His finished work on Calvary.

And for Believers, I will mention just 3 critical areas of importance.

1. Without this understanding of the New Covenant replacing the Old, one cannot know how the Bible fits together correctly.

It is why you find people confused about whether or not we need to follow the dietary codes of the Old Testament, or try to appropriate the land promises given to Israel or the material promises that were meant as types and shadows of our spiritual inheritance.

It gives fuel to people trying to blend Jewish ceremonies, feasts and customs with Christianity – in order to be more “complete” Christians.

Some will try to re-create an Israel-like Theocracy in today’s society because they confound the 2 covenants and do not understand we are operating under and entirely new arrangement.

2. It will lead either to Legalism or Libertarianism.

On the legalism side – Those who fall into this error will:

Become very harsh and censorious with others.

They will measure their own spirituality by how they follow the code – which will lead either to rank hypocrisy since they know they can’t keep the Law, or frustration and depression because they can’t keep the Law.

And they will never rest secure in the love of Christ.

They will fixate on behaviors rather than sins of the heart and mind, inward attitudes and dispositions. As long as they act OK, they don’t need to deal with inward greed, prejudice, hatred, unforgiveness, lust or covetousness, etc.

There is little doubt these super-apostles came into town and said: You know why this Church has so many sin problems? You’re not living according to the commandments.

And why is Paul’s ministry so ineffective to deal with it? Because you’re not living according to the commandments.

You people just need to shape up! To live according to the 10 commandments and God will bless you.

And Paul is saying, NO! – the reason why there are divisions, is because you are not walking according to the Spirit.

The real reason why you are still caught up in certain sins, is because you are not walking in the Spirit.

The real reason why you are so easily fooled by false teaching, so immature, factioned, competitive, argumentative, sensual and materialistic is because you are not walking in the Spirit.

We live in the New Covenant. The Spirit has been sent from the Father and the Son when He ascended on high. He gives new, holy impulses and leads you walk in a whole new way. But you are walking like you are still under that old covenant which has passed away.

On the Libertarian side: Some will imagine that since the New Covenant is not law or rules based, then it doesn’t matter what we do!

And of course this ignores the New Covenant’s chief feature: The gift of the indwelling Spirit of God who is the HOLY Spirit.

As the Puritan Thomas Brooks wrote:

The Spirit never loosens where the Word binds;

The Spirit never justifies where the Word condemns;

The Spirit never approves where the Word disapproves;

The Spirit never blesses where the Word curses.

The Spirit of God never leads us into sin or contrary to the holiness of God as revealed in His Word.

Those who walk by the Spirit will NOT fulfill the lusts of the flesh as Galatians 5 spells out in no uncertain terms.

3. Apart from the New Covenant: One will not know how to grow in Christ.

We will pursue behavior modification instead of transformation.

We will focus on externals instead of internals.

And look to one-time spiritual experiences and supposed spiritual secrets instead of learning to live in constant, conscious, deliberate dependence upon the Holy Spirit.

With the Corinthians we need to hear Paul as he presses us to grasp just how revolutionary the New Covenant Gospel is.

That Christianity is not just a better form of Judaism or any other religion, but a radically new relationship to God in Christ, whereby the Spirit is working in us new wills, new desires, and deep intimacy with Christ.

And this is worked out in us as we move from the glory of the Old Covenant, to the wonder of mercy and grace in the New Covenant, until we are at last fully conformed to the image of Christ.

From one stage of glory to another.

Going back to Moses, is going backward. Period.

We must learn a new way to live fixed upon Christ, empowered by the Spirit, resting in His promises.

Visit and read the original article and many more great articles by Reid at his blog.