the ministration committed to Paul ; and also from the reason assigned for the superiority of the latter, which is not what is to be realized in the future, but what is experienced in the present. It was because it is the ministration of the spirit that it is more glorious than the ministration of death. The ideas of life and life-giving are inseparable from that of spirit. Hence the Holy Gliost in the ancient creeds of the church is designated as to Trvev/xa to aycov, to Kvpiov, to ^(dottolov. And hence the gospel as the source of life is called spirit. It is doubtful, however, whether the word spirit here refers to the Holy Spirit, or to the gospel. Luther renders the phrase y SiaKovta Tov Trvev/xaros, das Amt, clcis den Geist gieht^ i. e. the of- fice which gives the Spirit ; because it is by the ministration of the gospel the Holy Sj^irit is imparted to men. This view is perhaps commonly adopted. But as in v. 6, sjnrit, as op- posed to letter^ evidently means the gospel as opposed to the law, and as the things compared are the law and gospel, or the ministry of the one and the ministry of the other, the prob- ability is that Paul intended tlie word to be so understood here. The gospel is spirit because it is the source of life. Instead of being something external and powerless, it is in- ward and saving ; and this is the ground of its superiority to the law.
9. For if the ministration of condemnation (be) glory, much more doth the ministration of righteous- ness exceed in glory.
This verse is a confirmation of the preceding. The gospel is more glorious than the law, for the ministration of righteous- ness is more glorious than the ministration of condemnation. The mi7iistration of condemnation is that ministration which brings men into a state of conscious condemnation ; that is, which makes them know and feel that they are condemned. The ministration of righteousness is that ministration which reveals a righteousness by which men are justified, and thus freed from the condemnation pronounced upon them by the law. As much better therefore as justification is than con- demnation to eternal death, so much better is the gospel than the law. Although the words KaraKptort?, condemnation^ and hiKo.iocrm'y]^ righteousness^ are here in antithesis, it does not fol- low that the latter means justification^ which is a sense it
62 II. CORINTIIIAlSrS 3, 10.
never has in the ISTew Testament. It retains its proper mean- ing, righteousness^ i. e. that which the law demands. It is not justification, but the ground of it ; that on account of which a man is justified or pronounced righteous. Tiie gos- pel, being the ministration of the spirit, is the ministration of righteousness, because as what is spirit is life-giving, the gos- pel must reveal a righteousness which satisfies the demands of the laAV, and thus free us from judicial death, or it could not be the source of life. It is true that the life of which the gospel is the source is more than mere justification ; but as justification is the necessary condition of spiritual life, Paul here exalts the gospel by making it the means of securing that righteousness which is necessary to sanctification and in- separable from it. The use of the present tense, TTeptaa-evu, doth abound^ in this verse, serves to confirm the explanation given of V. 8. Paul in both instances is speaking of the glory which now belongs to the ministry of the gospel, not of what is to be hereafter.
10. For even that wliicli was made glorious liatli no glory in this respect, by reason of the glory that excelleth.
For even, koX yap, for moreover. Too little was said in simply asserting that the gosj^el excelled the law. The law, though glorious in itself, ceased to be glorious in the presence of the gospel, as the moon loses its brightness in the presence of the sun. That laJiich toas made glorious, to SeSo^acr/xeVor, that icJiich loas and is glorious, viz. the ministry of Moses, and, by implication, the law or dispensation of which he was the minister. Hath no glory, ov SeSo^'aorai, is not glorious, iu rovTco TO) /xepet, i?i this particular. This is explained by what follows. Because of the glory that excelleth. The ministry of the gospel so much excels the ministry of the law, that the latter ceases in the comparison to be glorious at all. This is the common and natural interpretation of the text. Two other explanations have been proposed. First, the words Iv tot;tw Tw /xcpet are connected Avith S^So^aafxivov, that ichich was glori- ous (viz. the ministry of Moses), in this particular, viz. that the face of Moses was rendered luminous. This gives a very in- significant sense. Tlie shining of the face of Moses was not the glory of his ministry or of the old economy. It was but