II. CORINTHIANS 3, 0. 55

determine whether the words " new covenant " refer to the gospel dispensation introduced by Christ, or to the covenant of grace inaugurated in the first promise made to our fallen parents. And in like manner it is not easy always to decide whether the words the " old covenant " designate the Mosaic covenant or the covenant of works. The context must in every case be our guide in deciding these questions. In the present case it is plam that by the New Covenant the apostle means the gospel as distinguished from the Law, — the Chris- tian as distinguished from the Mosaic dispensation. It was of that he was made a minister, and it is that which he contrasts with the Old Testament economy. Kot of the letter^ hut of the spirit. These words admit of two constructions. They may depend on the word covenant. ' Covenant not of the letter, but of the spirit.' They thus determine the nature of the New Covenant as being not of the letter but of the spirit. This is the construction adopted by perhaps the majority of modern commentators. The older interpreters, followed by our translators, make the words in question depend on minis- ters. " Ministers not of the letter, but of the spirit." This latter is not only more familiar to the readers of the English version, but is favoured by the whole context. Paul contrasts two dispensations ; one he calls the letter, the other the spirit. He says he is minister of the one, not of the other, and after- wards, vs. 7. 8, he speaks of the mmistry of death and min- istry of the spirit; the ministry of condemnation and the ministry of righteousness. That the words letter and spirit as here used mean the law and the gospel is plain, first, because it is the law and the gospel which he proceeds to compare in the following verses ; and secondly, because these are terms which he- elsewhere uses in the same sense. Thus in Rom. 7, 6 he speaks of the oldness of the letter and newness of the spirit. In Rom. 2, 27 he characterizes the Jew as being of the letter, i. e. as having the law. Comp. also Gal. 3, 3. If it be asked what is the ground of these designations, why the law is called letter, and the gospel spirit, it may be answered in the first place, that the law is called ypa/^/xa, lette?\ for the same reason that it is called ypa^"*?, scrij^ture. It was some- thing written. Not only was the decalogue, the kernel of the Mosaic economy, originally written on stones, but the whole law was a volume known as the icritings. And in the second place, the law as written was something external and object- ive. It was addressed to the eye, to the ear, to the under-